SEAL's Embrace - Makenna Jameison Page 0,67

staff, but he was there late every night. He was a DOD employee like her, not military, and she’d gone back into the office several times late in the evening to make sure reports got out. She hadn’t thought anything of his being there, too. If she had to work late, why wouldn’t others?

“He’s a fucking idiot,” the security officer muttered, catching the expression on her face. “You didn’t suspect a damn thing. Well, it’s too late now. He’s gotten too many people involved in this little operation.”

Hailey looked over at him, baffled. Dave from her old office had been relatively quiet, always working on his computers, but she hadn’t suspected he was involved in anything nefarious. Her gut clenched as she thought back to the bombing. Was he somehow involved in all of that? Did he know about her missing friend?

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, hating how her voice shook.

The security officer unrolled his window as they pulled onto the on-ramp for the highway, and he tossed her phone outside the window as she gasped. “Just for a little drive,” he said.

“This is crazy,” she said, taking a deep breath. “People saw you leave with me. They’re going to figure out what happened and come looking for us.”

He chuckled. “I’ve worked there a hell of a lot longer than you. You were injured and confused. Scared. I didn’t expect you to take your own life, but I couldn’t stop you.”

She froze, staring at him in shock. He was going to kill her over this? Her hand slid toward the doorknob, ready to open it as soon as they hit traffic. She’d get hurt throwing herself out of a moving vehicle, but she wasn’t about to let this guy kill her.

“Fucking bitch!” he yelled, smacking her in the face with the gun as he realized what she was doing. She cried out in shock, the pain of it reverberating right through her. Blood began to drip down her forehead, and she realize he’d reopened her wound.

She turned toward him, opening her mouth to say something, but he struck her once again, and everything went black.

***

Grayson’s hands gripped the wheel as he raced toward Hailey’s office. She wasn’t answering her phone or replying to his texts. He knew she could very well be in meetings or training and be perfectly fine, but his gut churned with worry.

Something wasn’t right.

Ever since Ethan had told him about this morning’s incident, he’d been on edge. Someone had fucking come looking for her. Would they harm her? Kill her? Did they just want to talk to her about what they thought she knew?

None of it mattered at the moment, because he instinctively knew something was wrong. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up, and he couldn’t get to her quickly enough. Grayson jumped out his car in the parking lot, flashing his military ID to get into the building. He was wearing his camo working uniform, which wasn’t unusual around this town. Trying to remember what Hailey had told him about her new job, he hit the elevator button for the fifth floor. Someone would have to buzz him into her office, but he assumed there’d be someone at the front desk on her floor.

Grayson strode down the hallway, nodding at several people he passed. When he finally got to her office, he asked the secretary at the front desk if she knew where Hailey was.

“You just missed her,” the woman said with a smile. “She had to head over with our security officer to base.”

Grayson raised his eyebrows. It seemed unlikely she’d need to go there since this was her office building and she wasn’t in the military. “Are you sure?” he asked urgently.

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Black Howell is our security officer, and he said he needed to take Ms. Fletcher there for something.”

“All right, thank you,” Grayson said brusquely. He was already turning and jogging back the way that he’d come, pulling his phone from his pocket. His teammates were set to begin their training exercise soon, but he’d see if they could check around base to see if Hailey was actually there.

“This is Raptor,” Blake said as he answered the phone.

“It’s Ghost. Supposedly Hailey went over to base with someone named Black Howell—he’s a security officer with DOD. Something doesn’t sit right with me though.”

“I’m on it,” Blake said. “Yo! Hurricane!”

Grayson heard Blake quickly updating his teammates in the background as Grayson walked out to