on a couple of occasions. She’d been in Bagram on TDY as an Army Reservist. She had some military training but nothing like the regular troops. Nothing like his SEAL team. They drilled daily for missions and combat. She worked in an office at the Pentagon.
Hailey had been terrified after the explosion and fearful for Kimberly’s life. Ethan had helped watch over Hailey when she’d been in danger, and something about that made him feel even closer to the woman who’d been kidnapped. He didn’t know his friends’ women well, but he was definitely closer to Hailey than the others. He knew it meant everything to her that Kimberly made it home safely.
Grabbing the remote, Ethan turned on his TV and flipped to a news station. “Okay, just turned it on,” he said in a low voice. “It’s just the anchorman on this channel.”
“Holy fuck,” Grayson said.
Ethan stiffened. Footage of some rocky terrain likely at the base of a mountain rolled across the screen. A blonde woman’s body lay in the distance. She looked like a ragdoll tossed on the ground. The image cut to Kimberly. She looked scared out of her mind staring at the camera, and then she slowly began to speak.
Ethan froze in place, watching. Without even knowing her, he could see the fear in her blue eyes. Her dark hair was tangled and her face dirty, but she didn’t appear to be injured. Just frightened. Who had filmed her? The terrorists who’d kidnapped her? Some other asshole?
“I had to turn it off,” Grayson said abruptly. “What if Hailey woke up and saw that? Shit. She’ll probably see it tomorrow on the news, and we’ll be gone by then. Damn it! Why is the media broadcasting this shit?”
Ethan let out a breath. “We don’t even know when this footage was taken. I’m assuming it was after the first video where she didn’t speak, but who the hell knows? Both could be weeks old. Months.”
“The CO will update us tomorrow. They’ve got ways to authenticate and date the footage.”
“I sure the hell hope so,” Ethan said. He frowned, watching the footage of Kimberly continuing to play. The anchorman was talking over it, announcing that the terror cell was demanding a ransom from the U.S. government for her release. But it was her haunted blue eyes that slayed him.
He could see the fear etched across her face. She was trying to be stoic but was clearly terrified. What had she been through during these past few months?
The anchorman continued talking about the ransom, and Ethan’s blood boiled. Like hell. The entire world knew that the U.S. didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Ethan’s team would storm in and save her. Get her away from those terrorist assholes and back to the States. She just had to hold on a bit longer.
***
Ethan rolled into base at oh-four-hundred the following morning. He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and strode toward the building, ready to gather the weapons and gear they needed with his teammates. They’d get their supplies, brief with the CO, and then hop on the flight across the Atlantic.
He’d slept fitfully last night after watching that damn footage on the news. He’d stared at the ceiling of his bedroom for hours, the haunted look in Kimberly’s blue eyes the only thing he could see. Normally he could shut his mind off and sleep practically on command. They were used to grabbing some shuteye whenever they could on missions, and sleeping in his own bed would be a hell of a lot more comfortable than the tents they’d potentially have to pitch up in the mountains.
Damn.
He didn’t even know the woman, but how the hell wouldn’t she be frightened? Although he and his teammates trained for all possible scenarios, including what to do if they ever were captured, he’d never been kidnapped before. He’d never been held by armed men against his will for months.
And let’s face it. He was a man. He would be tortured if the enemy ever did capture him or his teammates, but Kimberly was an innocent woman. She could’ve been raped or abused. His gut churned even imagining it.
Ethan barely made a sound as he crossed the parking lot, his combat boots quiet on the pavement. Headlights pierced the early morning darkness, and he knew his teammates were pulling in as well. He wasn’t ready to see anyone yet. He was tired and in a piss-poor mood. Neither were a great way to start a