Kidnapped by a SEAL - Makenna Jameison Page 0,18

agent with State. She’s highly trained and capable of defending herself.”

“She’s injured,” Ryker said. “And she was moved from place to place for over a month. That shit can mess with your mind. We should be more concerned about her safety.”

Hunter crossed his arms, leaning back in the hard airplane seat. He glanced toward the front of the plane where Emily was still sound asleep. “So what, you think we should tell the CO she needs a bodyguard or something? That seems crazy. She’ll be back on U.S. soil. And there’s no proof she was specifically targeted.”

“We need to run with the idea that there was a mole,” Ryker insisted.

“What makes you so sure of that?” Mason asked. “There’s no evidence. We work with all kinds of locals—guides, translators. And she’d just gotten there. If she was somehow targeted, it happened awfully damn fast.”

“It did,” Hunter agreed. “But money talks. If Izallah was paying his guys enough to bring him an American woman, they’d probably go along with it. What would they care if their only job was to get her to him? Maybe they couldn’t touch her, but they’d get paid, and they’re other women out there.”

“So if they wanted some pussy they could get it without messing with her,” Jacob said bluntly.

Hunter shrugged. “Exactly. I don’t see it being a big issue that she was being saved just for him—not her specifically anyway. I think his men knew he wanted a woman. Another wife. It could’ve been anyone.”

“Not just Emily,” Ryker said. At her name, she tossed and turned at the front of the plane. It had to be a coincidence, because the engines were so damn loud, there was no way she could’ve heard him say her name.

Ryker stood up anyway. “I’m going to check on her.”

Hunter nodded, and the other men continued to talk as Ryker moved toward her. Her eyelids fluttered as she slept, and his chest clenched as he saw how fragile she really looked. Jesus Christ, she didn’t deserve any of what she’d been through.

Had she been singled out? Or did she just have some shitty luck?

None of that mattered now, because as he crouched down beside her, her beautiful eyes opened.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” she said quietly. “How long was I asleep?”

Ryker lifted a shoulder. “An hour or so? The guys and I moved to the back of the plane so we didn’t bother you.”

She nodded, trying to sit up, and Ryker reached over and helped her. “Damn, your hands are freezing. Do you need another blanket or something? I can see what we have stashed around here.”

“Yeah, I am cold,” she said, shuddering.

“You need to eat more,” he chastised.

“I’ll remember that the next time I’m taken hostage,” she quipped.

Ryker grabbed the first thing he saw, his camo jacket, and draped it across her slender shoulders. “Touché,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that. What can I say? Sometimes I’m bossy.”

“Sometimes,” she said sarcastically.

He chuckled, realizing that was probably the first time she’d joked with him. A woman like Emily probably wouldn’t appreciate him telling her what to do. Not usually, at any rate. She’d gone along with most of it for now, being injured and out of her element. She was probably used to being in control though, which was just another reason things wouldn’t ever work between them.

“We don’t exactly have meal service on these trans-Atlantic flights, but I can rustle you up an MRE if you think you can stomach it.”

“Yeah, maybe in a few minutes. I haven’t been too hungry lately.”

The plane jostled as it went through some turbulence, and Emily reached out and grabbed Ryker’s hand. He unconsciously let his thumb skim over her knuckles as she held onto him, barely even realizing what he was doing. “It’s all right,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she said, shakily pulling her hand away. “I didn’t mean to grab onto you. I’ve just been a bit on edge since—well. You know.”

“Since we rescued you,” he said, his voice rough.

Warm brown eyes met his, and she nodded. Hell. They’d rescued people before, but they didn’t typically fly them back home with them. Usually the injured remained in the hospital or were sent off to Landstuhl.

And the men they rescued were usually that—men. American soldiers. Not a beautiful woman that clung to him when she was frightened.

He should move back to where his buddies were and just let her rest. It was a hell of a long flight, and Ryker knew Emily had to be exhausted.