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RYAN PACED BACK AND forth in the bullpen at Little Creek on Sunday evening, muttering under his breath. Men from both SEAL teams were seated around the table, poring over information. Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since Sarah had been kidnapped. Twenty. Four. Hours.
Ryan knew the odds—the first day someone went missing was critical. Crucial to their discovery and rescue.
Sarah could be anywhere in the world by now. Anywhere.
Bile rose in the back of his throat as he thought of someone touching her—harming her. He didn’t even want to imagine the worst of what those monsters had done to her.
After contacting the police yesterday, they’d thoroughly searched the hotel suite that Ryan and Sarah were supposed to spend their wedding night in, detectives taking fingerprints and interviewing Morgan and Bree. Seeing the room he was supposed to come back to with his wife cordoned off by police tape was a sight he’d never forget.
Instead of walking down the aisle, she’d simply vanished without a trace.
Instead of spending the night making love to his wife, he’d been up for hours working with the police and out of his mind with worry.
Investigators had searched the hotel room of the hairstylist shortly afterward, but she’d been nowhere to be found either.
Ryan and the other men had swarmed the lobby and hotel perimeter, unwilling to let anyone get away with Sarah. The Virginia Beach boardwalk and strand were packed though. While they’d been in the initial phases of the search, she could’ve been hustled out the back door amidst the crowds, never to be seen again.
The police were currently running background checks on the hairdresser and Juan, but given that he was using an alias and they didn’t have another name to go off of yet, they had zero leads.
Damn it all to hell.
He paused for a beat, his gaze sweeping the room.
Christopher and Lexi each sat at a laptop, culling through surveillance footage surrounding the hotel. The police had their investigators reviewing it as well, but Ryan wanted as many eyes on the footage as possible to see if they could get a license plate, a picture of other people that were involved, anything. Lexi had even hacked into some nearby security systems to obtain additional footage more quickly. There was no need to wait for the police to legally obtain it when time was of the essence.
Matthew and Evan were reading through the latest SITREPs from Mexico on the off-chance any information on the men who’d escaped or their sex-trafficking ring was mentioned.
Jacob and Noah were researching the background of the hairdresser and everyone else associated with the salon. Although Ryan was certain that Juan had ties to the criminals down in Mexico, everyone at the salon seemed to be clean. And until they had an actual name to go off of, it was impossible to search Juan’s background and contacts.
Several other men were gathered around, having conversations in hushed tones as Ryan paced the room.
Brent was down at the hotel with one of the detectives, trying to catch any witnesses who might’ve seen something yesterday. Ryker was down on the boardwalk with Mason, helping to hand out missing person flyers.
Missing person flyers. For the woman who should’ve been his wife.
He groaned in frustration, feeling like none of this was moving fast enough. He wanted to rush down to Mexico himself, but what the hell could he do?
They didn’t know who Juan’s contacts were. They didn’t know where he’d taken Sarah. And the men who’d bribed their way out of jail a month ago had been lying low ever since.
The door to the bullpen burst open, and Ryan met Hunter’s gaze as he walked in.
“I just spoke with Patrick,” Hunter said hurriedly. “He brought Sarah’s and his parents back to the house. They’ll be there waiting with Rebecca and the kids so Patrick can come into base and assist in the search.”
Ryan nodded, his mind whirling.
Hell.
He’d barely spoken to his own family or Sarah’s since she’d disappeared. But every moment, every damn second counted. If he didn’t do everything in his power to find her as quickly as possible, he’d go crazy. And it might be too late.
“Did the police have any new updates on the investigation into Juan?” Ryan asked.
“They’re running all the prints found in the hotel room—unfortunately, ours were there, too, which slowed things down.”
“Damn it. We should’ve been more careful.”
“We didn’t know what we were dealing with,” Hunter said in a low voice. “Let’s not forget that at first we were worried she’d simply gotten sick or something. And Bree and Morgan had stayed in the room with her the night before.”
Ryan nodded. “It’s possible Juan was never in the hotel room though. Are they running prints from the hairdresser’s room? We need a real name to track this asshole down.”
“They are. I just spoke with Brent, and the police are swarming the area interviewing witnesses, too. If she’s nearby, we’ll find her.”
Ryan clenched his jaw. “That’s the damn problem—she’s probably long gone. You know as well as I do that she could be anywhere now. They didn’t kidnap her to keep her locked in a hotel room in Virginia Beach.”
His phone buzzed with an incoming call, and he answered immediately. “Captain Mitchell.”
“This is Detective Bryant down at the precinct. I wanted to let you know that we’ve located the missing hairdresser.”
Ryan’s heart nearly stopped. “Is she alive?”
All eyes swerved to him. “They found the hairstylist, not Sarah,” he said grimly.
The others returned to their work, and Ryan clenched his fist as he listened to the detective. “The woman is alive,” he confirmed. “She was found bound and gagged in the next hotel room. She’s being taken to the local hospital and will give a statement to the police after she’s treated.”
Ryan muttered a curse and pounded his fist on the table. “She was right next door?”
“Next to the room she’d booked for herself. There’s more. We found Miss Foster’s belongings in the room, too—her wedding dress and some other articles of clothing.”
Ryan paled, his heart skipping a beat. They found her clothing? As in those assholes had stripped her wedding dress off of her? He’d fucking rip them apart with his bare hands. Pummel them to death for every ounce of hurt they’d given Sarah. For a split second, he was so angry he couldn’t even breathe or see straight. His world literally stopped right in front of his eyes.
Hunter moved toward him, and then Ryan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“And Sarah?” he asked, his voice cracking.
Fuck.
He commanded missions all over the world. He’d jumped out of planes himself under the dark of night and gone after enemies unknown. He’d killed violent men with no remorse because it was for the protection of others.
But this?
He couldn’t handle a phone call telling him what had happened to his future wife.
“She wasn’t there, but there also wasn’t any sign of a struggle. There was no blood, nothing disturbed in the room aside from her belongs being left there. The other woman was found locked in the bathroom. It seems Miss Foster was only there for a short period of time and was likely moved to another location.”
“Goddamn it. So where the hell is she?”
“We’re reviewing all surveillance footage and searching every room on the floor.”
“Search the entire goddamn hotel!”
“We’re interviewing any and all guests. I’ll be in touch with additional updates. Until we run all the prints from the third room, our best bet is to see what type of vehicle our potential suspect was traveling in. Knowing they took her unharmed is good news. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s better than the alternative. She’s out there somewhere. We’ll follow up on all leads and find her.”
Ryan nodded, realizing the detective couldn’t see the motion over the phone. His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt sick to his stomach. She was out there, helpless and scared, and he couldn’t do a fucking thing.
He wanted to race down to the hotel ASAP, grab any and every person he saw, asking if they’d seen anything suspicious yesterday. He wanted to search the damn hotel himself room by room until he found her, but he knew the odds were that she was long gone.
He ran a hand through his cropped hair, beginning to pace again.
The detective was still talking, and Hunter finally took the phone from his hand.
“This is Hunter Murdock, leader of the Delta SEAL team. We’re here with the commander at Little Creek.”
Ryan walked over toward the table of men sitting there, letting Hunter continue the conversation with the detective as he pounded his fist on the table in frustration. He was used to being calm and collected on missions. To being the level-headed one amidst the chaos and a leader his men could depend on. Now he couldn’t even handle a damn phone call.
“What’s the latest intel?” Jacob asked.
Ryan relayed the latest information as everyone in the room gathered round.
Hunter walked over a few minutes later, handing Ryan back his cell phone. “The detective just got some new information. Evidently, Juan knew the hairstylist from years ago, and he forced her to cooperate with him in the kidnapping. It seems that he threatened her family. The detectives will question her fully after she’s examined at the hospital, but from their brief conversation, it sounds like he’s been living here in the States under an assumed name.”
Ryan raised his eyebrows, his heart pounding. “They have a name?”
“Jesus Lopez. They’re running a trace now. She knew him by that name years ago. We already know he’s operating under an alias, so it could very well turn up nothing but old information, but it’s all they have to go on right now.”
Lexi flipped her sleek black hair over her shoulder. “We can run a trace of our own and see what turns up, see what names Jesus Lopez is tied to. And let’s make sure Brent knows the latest since he’s down there with the police.”
“I’ll call him,” Evan said, standing up. “Which reminds me, I talked to Ali a few minutes ago about what they used to drug Sarah. Apparently, it’s extremely powerful stuff. She could’ve been out for hours.”
Ryan let out a breath. “They could’ve taken her out of the hotel before we even realized she was missing. The only good news, if you can call it that, is she was taken unharmed. They drugged her but didn’t injure her based on the evidence. But we need leads immediately on Juan and whatever the hell other names and connections he has so we can find her.”
He shook his head and stepped away as the others continued to discuss updates, trying to collect himself.
Hunter walked back over to him. “I still can’t believe the goddamn hairdresser was in on all of this,” Ryan spat out. “Morgan said she seemed a little nervous when she arrived at the room yesterday. Damn it. Why didn’t I ask Sarah more about the people she was hiring for the wedding?”
“You couldn’t have known,” Hunter said in a low voice. “None of us did. What bride worries that her florist or hairdresser is trying to kidnap her?”
Jacob shifted from his own seat at the table. “We were all on alert, sir. Any one of us could’ve checked into it.”
“None of you were planning your wedding,” he ground out. “Sarah wanted to handle the majority of the planning, but it was stupid of me not to do a background check on every damn one of them.”
“Negative,” Hunter said. “Absolutely no one thought she would be in danger because of them. The woman was forced to work with Juan and then tied up and left alone. He’s the only person to blame here.”
“We’re already running a trace on the new name,” Christopher assured him. “It may be old, but if we can find a connection to anyone down in Mexico, that will widen our search and give us some new leads.”
Ryan clenched his jaw. “I told everyone to be on alert because the leaders of the sex trafficking ring had men here in the U.S. He’s the bastard we should’ve been watching for. He was right here in front of us, and he fucking took her!”
“We don’t know—” Hunter started to say.
“It’s them,” Ryan said, his blood running cold. “There’s no way a common criminal would have orchestrated something like this. You know that as well as I do.”
“We should pull ties to the leaders that were arrested last month,” Christopher said. “The guys that bribed their way out of jail. Contacts, family members, everything. We’ll keep running searches on Juan/Jesus/whatever the hell his name is, but let’s start expanding our scope, too. If Sarah’s already been moved out of Virginia Beach, then let’s start searching elsewhere.”
Ryan nodded, adrenaline beginning to course through him. “Yes, and let’s contact our guys down in Mexico, see if they’ve heard of this asshole. She could be on a goddamn plane down there right now.”
“We’ll find him,” Christopher assured everyone. “And we’ll find Sarah.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed as he walked over to look at the traces being run on Christopher and Lexi’s laptop screens. “Hell, we’ll search the homes of every damn person he knows if we have to. Nothing is going to stop me from finding her.”
The door to the bullpen opened just then, and Patrick stormed in, his eyes furious as he looked at Ryan and the other men. “Tell me the latest,” he said, clenching his fists. “We need to find my sister.”
