their surroundings, on alert even when others might have let their guard down. Were they like this even back home?
“I’m still tired but otherwise not bad given the circumstances,” Emily said.
Hunter nodded. “I spoke with our CO. Of course military personnel will be meeting us when we land at Andrew’s, but State Department officials will be there to greet you as well. You’ll be transported by ambulance to a local hospital. They’ll get you checked out and hopefully released soon after. State has taken care of notifying your family. I understand you spoke with them already?”
“Yeah, I talked to my parents. And I was able to call my best friend, which felt surreal.”
“I bet. So you live in Washington?” he asked.
“Yep. I’ve got a condo in Georgetown.”
“Nice. Emma and I have visited there—my girlfriend,” he added. “Actually fiancée.”
“Oh, congratulations,” Emily said.
Hunter chuckled. “I guess I need to get used to saying that—we recently got engaged. Our team’s based down in Little Creek, but I’ll give you my contact information in case you need to reach one of us for anything. I know you’ve got friends and coworkers up here, but you never know.”
“Thanks. I did exchange contact info with Ryker. He said he found my necklace?”
Hunter nodded. “He did—it was kind of crazy for him to see it lying on the ground outside that makeshift camp we searched. I guess it was fate.”
“Fate.”
Hunter shrugged. “Whatever you want to call it. He tucked it in his pocket and forgot completely about it—he thought he lost it as we moved out.”
“He said he has it.”
“Yep. He found it again a week ago. Then we got new intelligence on your location and flew over here. Craziest damn thing, huh? Anyway, you’ve been through a lot. My own girlfriend—”
“Fiancée,” Emily interrupted with a smile.
“Shit—fiancée,” Hunter corrected, scrubbing his hand over his jaw. “She was on the run from some terrorist assholes in London.”
“Seriously?” Emily asked, her curiosity piqued. “Is she in the military, too? Or some sort of spy?”
Hunter chuckled. “Neither. She’s an archeologist. But she found something that had information they wanted back. They followed her to London and then all the way to the U.S. to get it back.”
“Damn,” Emily said.
“That’s how we met. I happened to be in a pub with Mason in London on R&R, and Emma literally ran right into me. Anyway, I know you’re a special agent and have training, but watch your six,” Hunter said. “You never know.”
“You think they’ll come after me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Do I? No. Ryker’s convinced you’re in danger though.”
“Ryker? Why on Earth would he think that?” she asked, wrinkling her brow. It was bad enough they’d held her for a month intending to make her one of that assholes many wives. But to track her down back in the states? That seemed unlikely at best.
“Izallah escaped, remember? But he doesn’t even know who you are. I mean, I’m assuming you didn’t give him your home address and cell number.”
“God, no. They just kept talking to each other in Arabic most of the time. Except for that—hey, did you guys see a teenage girl when you rescued me?”
“A teenager? No, there weren’t any teenagers. There were mostly just women and children around. And the guards that we shot and killed.”
“Oh.” She puzzled over this new piece of information. Had the girl been killed? Or somehow escaped in the chaos? She shuddered, hoping she hadn’t fallen prey to Izallah. Maybe he’d intended to make the teenager one of his wives, but if he’d cleared out of there, it was possible she’d escaped during all the commotion.
“They have my ID,” she said.
Hunter raised his eyebrows.
“I had my government-issued ID on me in the Humvee. They took all my things, save for the clothes I was wearing.”
“Hmm. Well that’s something to consider. Are you sure they have it and it wasn’t just lost in the scuffle?”
“Pretty sure. I mean they could have discarded it without giving it much attention, I suppose. But they took my weapons and identification when they searched me.”
“All right. I’ll notify the CO. And of course you’ll have the opportunity to give a full report to State officials after we’re back on U.S. soil. I’ll let you get some rest,” he said, standing.
Emily watched him walk back to the rear of the plane. Swagger was really a more apt description—those guys commanded the attention of any room they were in and knew it. She was more than lucky that they’d been