Chapter 5

Aaron drummed his fingers on the table of the conference room the following night, muttering under his breath as their CO took a secure phone call. Naturally, the team would get sent out now. When was the last time Aaron had been looking forward to seeing a woman this much? Never. Even the casual dates he'd gone on recently hadn't gotten his pulse pounding the way being around Emersyn did. Now he'd have to cancel on her as his team went to locate and rescue a kidnapped American couple vacationing in Mexico in coordination with the Mexican Special Forces.

While the Alpha SEAL teams in Coronado and Little Creek were no doubt closer, they were deployed on other ops. Patrick "Ice" Foster's team in Virginia had to be only about three hours from Cancun by air. Aaron had only met Ice once since the Hawaii team typically teamed up with the men stationed on the west coast, but he knew Virginia had a team of highly-trained operators.

"Shit timing," Hudson said as he sank into the chair beside him.

Aaron's gaze slid to his friend. "No kidding. At least we got Emersyn moved into her place, but damn. I had plans to wine and dine her this weekend."

Hudson smirked. "I'm sure she'll still be interested when we return."

"Hope so. I don't want her to think I'm blowing her off."

Sawyer's laughter filled the air. "You literally hauled all our asses over to help a woman you just met move into her apartment. Think she realizes you're interested, Anchor."

"Hell," he muttered. "I'm just disappointed to cancel on her. I guess if she's the type of chick that gets pissed every time I deploy, it doesn't bode well for any type of future. We get sent out when we receive our orders. End of discussion."

Wyatt was watching them from across the table. "You said she's DEA, right? Emersyn's here on TDY herself. She can hardly fault you for doing your job."

"Yeah, yeah. You're not wrong." Emersyn would be the type of woman who'd understand his career to some extent. All of the men on the teams led busy, complicated lives. They went wheels up when given orders, deployed around the world, and couldn't tell their family or friends a damn thing about where they went, who they were with, what they did, or how long they'd be gone.

"I'm not too happy about leaving Callie," Wyatt admitted. "The engagement ring we custom designed is finally ready. She doesn't know it yet, but I was going to surprise her this weekend and propose."

Austin clapped him on the back, shaking his head. "That's awesome, but you're married to the military."

"No kidding. I still can't wait to get a ring on her finger though."

Aaron eyed him curiously. Out of all the women the men had met over the years, Callie would understand what they did more than most. The team had literally stormed the hijacked plane Callie was on, rescuing her and the other passengers. Most civilians would never know about the ops they went on, but she'd been right in the middle of it with Wyatt himself helping her to safety.

Commander Harrison "Harley" Madden slammed the phone down, cursing as he looked up at his men. At forty-five, with short-cropped, dark blond hair and chiseled features, he was older than the guys on the team but had the strength and endurance to keep up with any of them. He was tough and no-nonsense but a well-respected leader amongst the SEALs.

"They've sped up the timeline for departure," Commander Madden announced. "The team goes wheels up at oh-four-hundred tomorrow morning."

"Jesus," Sawyer said as he leaned back in his chair. "Why the goddamn rush?"

"Watch your mouth, Sawyer!" Commander Madden barked, shooting him a hard look.

"What's the plan, sir?" Wyatt asked.

Commander Madden crossed the bullpen, moving to a laptop at the front of the room. With a few clicks of a button, the images of a man and woman appeared on the big screen. "Eric Wilder and his fiancée Kim Burgess were kidnapped in Mexico three days ago. The State Department was notified of their disappearance when they failed to fly home to Dallas, Texas as scheduled. They never made it to the airport. Family members have been unable to reach them and notified the authorities. Eric Wilder is a civilian contractor with DEA and the son of a U.S. representative. His father greased some wheels with his contacts to get a team in and stage a rescue."

"Well damn," Sawyer said. "I need those kinds of connections in my life. A woman to vacation with in Mexico wouldn't be bad either."

"Can it."

Wyatt shot Sawyer a look. While Sawyer had been known to clash with their CO from time to time, no one wanted to hear his flippant remarks at the moment.

The commander clicked to the next slide, and the photograph of a middle-aged Mexican man appeared. "Alejandro Lopez is a leader of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. It's believed that Eric Wilder made contact with him several days prior to his disappearance. While Eric was in Mexico unofficially, on travel with his fiancée, we believe he sought out one of the heads of the notorious drug cartel for a private meeting."

Aaron frowned, not liking the sound of any of it. There was no reason for a civilian contractor to request a meeting with a cartel leader, official business or not.

"Was Wilder under investigation by the DEA, sir?" Aaron asked.

His commander eyed him. "Negative. He's squeaky clean and has a high-level security clearance. While the Mexican Special Forces agreed to move in and retrieve the missing Americans, this will be a joint operation. Wilder's position at DEA has multiple national security implications due to his knowledge of the cartel's movements and overall drug trade. He'd also be aware of any pending U.S. operations against the cartel, possibly why he'd wanted a meeting with Alejandro Lopez.

DEA wants Wilder out of enemy hands and back on American soil. If he's suspected of providing classified information on U.S. counternarcotic measures to Lopez, he'll be taken into custody."

"Jesus," Austin muttered. "What'd this guy get himself into?"

Aaron frowned, mulling that over. Emersyn was a DEA analyst. Did she know about the missing civilian contractor? Aaron assumed she couldn't access her work emails and information until she began her new position here, given it was likely all classified material. The kidnapping of two Americans wasn't open-source information yet. No doubt once it hit the mainstream media, it would be blasted all over the world.

Wouldn't it be wild if Emersyn went to work on Monday morning and read about the man and woman that Aaron and his teammates had been tasked to save? She wouldn't necessarily know his team was the one moving in, but damn. What were the chances he'd meet a DEA analyst and then be sent on an operation to rescue a contractor from the very same agency?

"When was the couple kidnapped?" Aaron asked.

His CO's eyes swung back to him. "It's believed they were with Lopez on Saturday evening. The State Department is working with the Mexican authorities to procure surveillance footage from the hotel where they were staying and determine a timeline leading up to their disappearance."

"What's the girlfriend do?" Wyatt asked.

"Fiancée," Sawyer said with a smirk.

"She's a model. Up-and-coming, from my understanding," the CO said. "She had some type of photoshoot on the beach one day while they were vacationing in Cancun."

"Figures."

"Spell it out, Sawyer," the commander said harshly.

"She's probably one of those high-maintenance chicks who wants him to buy her expensive jewelry and shit. Lover boy couldn't afford it on his contractor salary but likely knows the ins-and-outs of ongoing DEA investigations, including what the U.S. has on Lopez. Wilder requests a meeting to tip off the drug lord, pockets the cash for providing information, and is the hero in his girl's eyes because he can now afford her lavish lifestyle."

"Well shit," Hudson said. "Sounds like you should've been an analyst instead of a Navy SEAL."

The CO grumbled to himself. "DEA is gathering background information on Wilder and his fiancée as we speak as well as analyzing the possible motivations for Wilder's actions. Our job isn't to investigate whatever trouble Wilder found himself in, just to save his dumb ass. At the moment, they're two American citizens who've gone missing on foreign soil. Our mission is to move in with the Mexican military and rescue them, returning both civilians stateside."

"How do we know they were kidnapped and not killed?" Wyatt asked bluntly.

"Let's move to the next slide." The CO clicked a button, and a photograph of the two hostages bound and gagged appeared on the massive screen. The woman, Kim Burgess, was in tears, wearing only a bikini, and Eric Wilder was in swim trunks, looking grim.

"Shit," Aaron spat out.

The CO nodded at the picture. "They were so goddamn fast to send the photo demanding ransom, they forgot to crop any identifying details from the picture."

"Is that a hotel?" Ryan asked, leaning closer to examine the image on the big screen.

"It goddamn is," the CO said. "A Google image search identified the pool in the background as part of the Paradise Vista Cancun."

"They're not at the hotel," Wyatt said, his gaze narrowing.

An aerial image appeared on the screen next, two buildings circled in red. "The Paradise Vista Cancun is directly across the street from the Baja Nightclub. While the club is on the bottom two levels of the building, there are apartments above it. We believe Wilder and his fiancée are being temporarily held in a residence above the nightclub."

"And all Lopez wants for the couple is a ransom?" Wyatt asked.

The commander frowned. "They've demanded a hefty ransom, yes, but we have reason to believe they'll be forced to act as drug mules before any government negotiations can occur."

"Well, how the fuck are they going to manage that?" Sawyer asked. "If they're forced to swallow drugs and carry them across the border, they'll both be free as a bird. Bye-bye ransom. They'll go to the nearest ER, and Lopez's drugs will be down the toilet as well."

"They're not sending both of them," Aaron said, recognition dawning on him as he met his commander's hard gaze. "They'll send Eric and keep the woman as collateral. She'll be left alone to fend for herself, possibly raped and killed in his absence."