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JACOB FROWNED, CROSSING his arms as he leaned back in his chair in the bullpen. His desert-camo fatigues and combat boots weren’t exactly what he’d planned on wearing this morning. Such was the life of a SEAL. He served God and country first—everything else had to be put on the back burner. One of the SEAL team commanders, Ryan Mitchell, stood at the front of the technology-laden room, pulling up satellite images onto the massive TV screen before the briefing began.
Ryker slid into the seat beside Jacob, smirking.
“Looks like someone got laid last night,” Noah quipped from across the table as the other men chuckled. “Nothing else would put you in such a damn good mood.”
“Did you stay at their place all night?” Jacob asked, raising his eyebrows. Ryker and Michelle had seemed more than happy when he’d said goodnight to Jessica yesterday, letting her walk him to the door. The last he’d seen, Michelle had been leading Ryker down the hallway, presumably to her room.
“Fuck yeah,” Ryker said. “Nearly scared your girl to death this morning though—guess she wasn’t expecting to see me first thing.”
“Hell,” Jacob muttered, a tiny twinge of jealously working its way through him. He would’ve been more than happy to stay the night, even if it meant just holding Jess in his arms. Feeling all her soft curves up against his muscles would’ve been torture—yet one hundred percent fucking worth it.
And now to know that she’d seen Ryker before they deployed on their op? That he’d gotten to see what she looked like first thing in the morning? Regret churned through him.
Seeing Jessica’s tousled brown waves, what she’d slept in the night before, how she’d look with no makeup on—that was supposed to be for his eyes.
And hell.
He should’ve sent Jessica a text and told her that he’d be gone for a little while. She knew he was stationed at Little Creek—that he was in the military. She’d understand why he couldn’t give her details of where he was going.
But now Ryker of all people had told the women they were leaving?
Fucking perfect.
Mason cleared his throat across the table, and Jacob glanced back at the front of the room where their commander stood.
“We just received word from the Pentagon that an American who was TDY in Afghanistan went missing yesterday at oh-five-hundred local time. Sat imagery shows unusual movement around insurgent camps outside of Kabul. We have reason to believe this is where the woman is being held.”
“Woman?” Jacob asked, his ears perking up.
“Affirmative. She’s with State and was traveling with only one bodyguard and a local guide.”
“Fuck,” Hunter muttered, pounding his fist on the table. “Why the hell would anyone allow that?”
“Clearly it’s not standard procedure,” Ryan said. “It goes against all protocols. She should’ve had an entire security detail. But State was trying to maintain a low profile as she moved around.”
“A low profile—by getting her goddamned kidnapped?” Noah asked in irritation. “Even troops on the move travel in a damn convoy. Now every mother fucker in the area will want to get his hands on her. An American woman—and a government official at that?”
Jacob clenched his jaw. “So what’s the op? We go in and grab her?”
“Affirmative,” Ryan said, clearing his throat. “Wheels up in one hour. We have reason to believe they’ll be moving her to another camp located nearby—a high value target is there.” He pointed to a small section of the map on the big screen. “The leader of the terror cell would be very much interested in an American woman. We’ve been tracking his movements thanks to a tip from an informant. The Alpha team may be deployed soon to grab him—but our priority is the State department official. We’ll ambush them as they’re traveling west. It’s likely they’ll make an announcement to the world that they have her—and we’re trying to avoid exactly that.”
“And we’re positive on her last known location?” Colton asked.
Jacob narrowed his gaze as their commander moved through a series of additional satellite imagery.
“Are they being tracked by UAVs?” Hunter asked, referring to the Unmanned Air Vehicles flying reconnaissance.
“Affirmative. We’ll know precisely when they’re on the move. Troops in the area can intercept if necessary, but the Pentagon wants a SEAL team moving in on this to avoid any mishaps.”
Mason crossed his arms, a frown on his face. His girlfriend Taylor had recently been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend’s accomplices—no doubt this reminded him of that situation. None of them took the idea of a woman in harm’s way lightly. Their job was to defend and protect the innocent—and while women were more than capable of handling themselves on the battlefield, this woman wasn’t a soldier. She was a U.S. Government official. She might not know the first thing about defending herself against the enemy.
“It’s not in the media yet,” Jacob said. “Which is a good thing.”
“Agreed,” their commander said. “We’re anticipating they’ll make an announcement after she’s with the leader of the terror cell. And we want to prevent that from happening.”
“So they don’t know she’s U.S. government?” Colton asked.
“We can only speculate. It’s probably assumed she’s military at this point.”
Jacob nodded, grim. It was no secret how the Middle Eastern terror groups felt about western women. He hoped they were treating her well, but it was quite possible she’d end up raped or tortured. Killed.
Getting her out of the situation ASAP was imperative.
“Was she TDY from Washington or stationed at an embassy?”
“My understanding is that she’s from DC. The Pentagon hasn’t given us much detail yet about her position or reason for being there—and that doesn’t matter. We’re being sent in to get her home safely. That is our mission and primary concern.”
“Understood,” Hunter said, all business. “What else do we need to know?”
Ryan delved into additional details as the men watched him move through more specs on the screen. Jacob felt uneasiness in his gut. They’d conducted plenty of rescue missions before. It wasn’t that that was bothering him. Briefly, Jessica’s face flashed through his mind.
Hell. No wonder he never dated. He barely even knew her yet couldn’t get her out of his head.
