Page 54 of SEAL's Sunshine
Quickly getting dressed she slid the phone underneath her breast inside her bra, it seemed to be the best chance of her captors not finding it. If he’d followed her into the bedroom she’d never have gotten away with it, but she heard him talking and by the time he came into the doorway she was dressed.
Stepping into the room, he grabbed her and dragged her toward the door. It brought back all the horrors of Afghanistan and she kicked and fought. “Stop fighting. I was told to bring you. It can be dead or alive. If I have to kill you I will make it slow and as painful as possible. You will scream for me to let you die.”
Of course, he would. He was just like the others who’d taken her. They hated her because she was an American and a woman. In their eyes, she wasn’t sure which was worse. Not that it mattered. But she stopped struggling. She had to give Cam a chance to find her.
“You will not fight me.” It wasn’t a question. It was an order. She wanted to kick him in the balls. Damn, she was so tempted. But as he walked her down the hallway to the elevator an older woman with a little boy passed them. She knew without a doubt if she made any trouble he’d kill them both. Instead, she cooperated, as the hand on her back directed her down the stairwell instead of the elevator.
Again she contemplated an escape, if she shoved him would he fall and give her a chance to get away? It was possible, but then she had no idea how many ‘friends’ he had waiting for them outside.
“Don’t try it. You think I am an amateur?” The ass could read minds. Wonderful, adrenaline raced through her, but how long it would last was another story. If they got her alone, she’d never survive a second time.
Before he pushed open the stairwell door, he looked through the window. He must have had a communications device like the SEALs because he spoke to someone without pulling out a phone, or maybe it was just Bluetooth. Why it mattered she had no idea, except that it gave her something to think about instead of what he’d do to her.
As soon as he pushed open the door, another man grabbed her, also covered in black. He put a black sack over her head so she couldn’t see. Then each of them grabbed an arm and dragged her outside and shoved her into the back of some kind of vehicle. They zip-tied her wrists and ankles and slammed the door.
Alone. Restrained. Blindfolded. This was her nightmare. Except this time she wasn’t asleep.
Hope that the tracker was on was all that kept her from losing it. If Tex could track her, Cam could find her, as long as he was alive. He had to be. The alternative was not an option. Somehow, she’d managed to hold it together. The roads were rough, and she was banged into the side of the vehicle so many times she’d have bruises. But they were nothing compared to what she imagined was coming.
At some point during the trip, memories she had blocked, came back in living color. For the first time, she remembered every minute of her captivity, every minute of their torture, and she curled into a ball on the floor. Silent tears soaked the hood, as she tried to deal with the memories, knowing the same was waiting for her.
* * *
The last fewhours were amazing. Cam couldn’t remember the last time he’d come so many times in one evening. It didn’t seem possible at his age, but damn if that woman didn’t bewitch him. With his mind full of Miranda, he wasn’t watching his surroundings like he should have been. So when he went, he didn’t notice the two men off to the left near a white delivery truck.
The truck should have triggered alarm bells, it was Saturday night, and much too late for deliveries. Halo growled, but Cam was so focused on having him do his business so he could get back upstairs to Miranda, he didn’t listen.
The distinctive sound of a bullet shot through a silencer was his first indication of trouble. It whizzed past him and hit Halo. The dog went down. Cam went for his gun, but he was too slow. A second shot struck his shoulder and the force knocked him to his knees. Halo whimpered and tried to get up, as a pool of blood spread across the concrete.
Fuck. He’d put them all in danger. How could he have been so careless? He didn’t have a chance to answer his question. One of the men hit him on the back of the head and the world went black.
When he opened his eyes, his first thought was Miranda. Had they gotten to her? As he struggled to get up, he realized he wasn’t on the sidewalk, he was in the hospital. Fuck.
Then it all came back, Halo, the gunshots, Miranda. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He must have said the last fuck out loud.
“It’s okay, well not okay, but you have a smart woman. I don’t know how she did it, but she kept her phone with her. Tex has been tracking her. And if one of those fucks was for Halo, he’s going to be fine, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked,” Jake said.
“Thank God.”
“You’ve got a nasty knot on your head and you lost a lot of blood, but it was a through and through. Another nice scar to show the lady. They’re keeping you overnight for observation. You know how it goes with the concussion thing.”
“Yeah and I don’t give a fuck. How long was I out?
“About an hour. It’s been about two since they took her as best we can tell.”
“I’m not staying in here while Miranda is being tortured or worse.”
“Easy, kid. That’s why the others aren’t here. They’re following the tracker. The fuckers got about an hour’s head start before the police called me. But we’ll get them.”
“Yeah, we will. Help me get out of here.” Jake was just as stubborn as Cam, but he didn’t care. Jake wouldn’t stay put if it was his woman, and he wasn’t about to either. He’d been shot, stabbed, taken shrapnel, and concussed more times than he could remember. He was a fucking SEAL and he was going to rescue his woman.
Cam pushed the bell for the nurse. When she came in, he was already sitting on the edge of the bed. Either she was going to remove the IV or he would.
“What are you doing, Chief Petty Officer?”
“Discharging myself. Can you please remove this IV?”
“But the doctor…”
