Chapter 7

The plane touched down, and the SEALs unloaded quickly, ready to be briefed on the latest developments. Jay was ready to take on whatever they encountered to rescue Nichole.

After grabbing food, they headed into the room set up as command for this mission. His desire to get Nichole back made him feel antsy. Moving out and getting to the compound where they were being held was his primary focus.

The briefing started with updates to everything they’d found, from satellite imagery to information on each of the terrorists and all the people who’d been taken. The urge to get started was almost overpowering. Then, the worst news was given to them.

“We’re thinking about holding off. We’re not sure they will actually start killing captives,” the lieutenant said.

Jay wanted to tackle the man and ask him what the fuck he was playing at. But that wasn’t how it worked in the Navy. He had to remain calm, even when he violently disagreed with command.

Thankfully, Griz spoke up. “Why wait? What makes you think they won’t kill again? They killed the man who wouldn’t make their statement. And they killed other people at the compound.”

The lieutenant shook his head. “This group never has done anything exactly like this before.”

Griz crossed his arms over his chest, not blinking once. “It’s a huge mistake not moving now. They aren’t expecting us to have moved this quickly. If we wait, they’ll be more prepared for us, and they will kill their hostages.”

The lieutenant shook his head, and his lips turned down in a frown. “Going in without all the information is too huge of a risk.”

“So is not going in.”

Jay nodded in agreement with Griz. They needed to find a way to get the brass to listen to reason. If they didn’t execute fast, the terrorists would have more information about their movements. There were probably spies who’d seen their plane landing. They knew the military had shipped in more people. Word would get back to the terrorists, and it would be much harder to breach their compound.

The lieutenant cleared his throat and then held Griz’s gaze. “What do you suggest we do?”

“We move out. We’ll wait until nightfall and take the compound. They have eight people, and we’ll pick them off one by one.”

“The captives could get caught in the crossfire.”

Griz nodded. “Yeah, but we’d have them, and who’s to say the terrorists aren’t going to start killing their captives right now? They can’t be trusted.”

“We should move in now,” Squat said.

Jay nodded, hoping the decision was made to go in. Seal teams were given some autonomy, but they still had to operate in the structure of command. They were the best of the best, but even with being the best, questions rose and people second- guessed them. They’d had some setbacks with the amount of sabotage they’d experienced recently. Sharp’s old team had been destroyed when they’d been blindsided. The enemy was learning how they operated. That was dangerous. Now, more than ever before, there were SEALs sent out alone or in small groups to do intelligence operations they’d never participated in before. He didn’t know exactly what Sharp had been sent out to do before joining this team, but there’d been rumors. Things were changing, but one thing remained the same. SEALs rescued people from impossible situations.

“We should go in.” Griz’s voice stayed steady, his expression serious.

The rest of the guys nodded. Jay felt the atmosphere in the room shift. Maybe they would still be forced to wait, but he felt they would be given the go-ahead for the rescue.

Nothing was said for a long moment that seemed to stretch on to the point Jay wanted to scream at the lieutenant that he was being an asshole. It was probably only a minute or less, but he felt like forever as the lieutenant looked over the information again.

“I’m not giving the go-ahead yet, but prepare to move in.”

Jay pumped his arm, and Squat shot him a weird look. None of them knew about Nichole. He hadn’t known them when it happened, and he didn’t talk about her. Not because he didn’t think of her but because he thought it would be lame to pine for some woman he’d met during a vacation.

Besides, there wasn’t really anything between them. Sure, he’d received an email from Nichole the night she’d been taken. How far in advance had she sent that note to him? It hadn’t been coded, had it?

Guilt filled him. Maybe he should have brought it up when he first saw Nichole on that screen, but his team had already been tagged for going in, and he hadn’t wanted to take them off the mission.

They were dismissed to prepare for their incursion. He was preparing his pack when Squat moved closer, his voice low.

“What’s up? You seem like, I don’t know. Something is up.”

He shook his head. “It’s all cool.”

“Dude, don’t do that.”

He turned to face Squat. “I’m not.”

“That’s a lie. Something is up, and we don’t go into situations with something potentially messing us up.”

Jay blew out a breath and then shook his head. He had to tell Squat. “The woman. I know her.”

Squat narrowed his eyes for a brief second, and then shock filled his face. “Fucking A.”

“Hey, it’s cool. I should say I knew her. We slept together long before I was a SEAL. We met at a resort and had wild sex. I haven’t had contact with her again.”

Squat narrowed his gaze. “I feel like you just lied to me again.”

“I received an email asking if I wanted to get together for a week or weekend. It had to have been sent just before the medical compound was invaded.”

A frown turned Squat’s lips down. “And you didn’t think to say anything?”

“Say anything about what?” Griz asked as he came over.

Jay groaned. He didn’t want everyone scrutinizing his sex life.

Squat shook his head. “Just tell them. It’s too late to pull back now.”

Worry slithered down Jay’s spine. He should have said something to Griz on the flight over, but he needed to go in and rescue Nichole. Now, he had no choice but to reveal the truth. “The woman they filmed giving the message. I know her. We hooked up at a resort during a week of leave four years ago. We didn’t exchange contact information, so that was the extent of our relationship.”

Squat rolled his eyes. “Tell them about the email.”

“What email?” Griz asked.

“I got an email the night before we heard about them being taken. I didn’t reply, though. She wanted to know if we could have a repeat week.”

Griz grabbed his beard and squeezed as his eyes went unfocused before meeting Jay’s gaze. “Not a coded message?”

“No. Seriously, she just wanted to get together for sex, nothing more. We weren’t friends. We didn’t spend much time chatting that week. I honestly hadn’t heard from her since I said goodbye at the end of my vacation.”

Griz’s lips thinned, and he gave a sharp nod. “Next time, tell us. I don’t think your previous relationship with her plays into our current mission. Or it won’t have a negative impact. It might give us some insight into who she is.”

“Really, I don’t know her. We had sex, a lot of it, but that was it. She has no clue I’m Navy. I told her I drove a boat. I didn’t say what kind, and she didn’t ask.”

“She didn’t know you were in the Navy?” Squat asked.

Jay shook his head. “No. She had no clue.”

Griz held his gaze. “Don’t say anything else about this. It won’t serve any of us. Just keep your head about you as we move out. Once we are in the rescue phase, if anything goes wrong and you identify yourself, it might earn your trust with her. Hopefully, she has made friends with the people she’s being held with and can assert some influence over them when we need for them to move.”

“Got it.” Relief filled Jay. The guys could have been mad. Heck, they could still be mad, but they weren’t holding this against him.

Griz had a great head on his shoulders and could assess a situation quickly. Jay was glad Griz understood that he would never put the mission or his friends at risk. If there’d been anything in the email that made him suspect Nichole was working to ambush them, he would have said something.

They had about an hour before they would board a helicopter that would take them close to the compound. Nichole and the rest of the captives would be rescued by morning. He just hoped the ones holding them hostage didn’t do something stupid.