“I’m with you,” he said simply.
Clint nodded. The answer didn’t seem to surprise him, and Johnny wondered if the older man knew just how to play him into doing what he wanted.
“Good,” he said. “We’re really going to need you since Kadin has gone completely into hiding, and we’ve lost contact with him.”
Johnny had been thinking about his other friend and how scared he must have been. As a requirement for their work, they only took native speakers who had no family that might suffer from their involvement. However, he did vaguely remember a distant cousin Kadin had mentioned.
The cousin’s name had to be in notes somewhere, and that was who the man was probably with. If Johnny were going to hide, he’d do it where he felt safe.
“I think I might have a lead on that, sir,” Johnny said. “I just need to go over some of my notes.”
Clint nodded. “So can I consider you back from leave?”
Johnny nodded. Being in the service had taught him that there was no better time than the present to get shit done. That was just what he planned on doing.
His phone rang loudly in his pocket, and he glanced down at it. Trent.
He looked back up to Clint.
“Sorry, sir, it’s Trent. Just a second?”
Clint nodded.
Johnny pressed the green talk screen button.
“Have you seen her? Tell me Maddy is with you?”
His pulse quickened. Trent wasn’t a man exactly prone to panic, but his voice was rushed and tense.
“What’s going on?” He looked over to Clint, who leaned in a bit.
“Damn it, I don’t have time for fucking games. I know you two have been seeing each other. Is she there with you?”
Johnny’s heart sped up more. This wasn’t just concern on Trent’s part. This was open panic.
“Maddy’s not here,” Johnny said slowly. “What the hell is going on?”
“Fuck,” Trent grunted. He could hear the sound of something being thrown. “Her purse is tossed all over her apartment, and she’s not fucking here.”
“Maddy disappeared?” Johnny stood, gritting his teeth. Not really sure what the hell he was going to do, but it was better than just sitting there. “Do you have any leads on what happened?”
He could hear his friend struggling to maintain some sort of control. Rich spoke to someone in the background, likely the police.
“Police talked to the neighbors. One said she saw her get in the car with some bald guy with a scar.”
“Bald guy with a scar?” he repeated. “You have any clue who this guy is?”
It didn’t make sense. Why would she leave with someone? He had been with her all night, and not once did she act like she had somewhere else to be.
“Not a clue,” Trent said, his voice shaking as he spoke.
Johnny glanced over to Clint as he flipped furiously through a file on his desk, grimacing all the while.
“Son of a bitch,” Clint mumbled and turned the file to face Johnny.
A bald man with a scar stared back at him.
He looked up to Clint. This was unreal. That bastard Williamson had sent his henchman to go after Maddy? What the fuck?
Clint shook his head. “Tell Trent he needs to come to the base so we can talk about what the hell we’re going to do next. This is now not just about kidnapping. This is a matter of national security.”
* * *
Trent paced the conference room like a caged animal. He was pissed he wasn’t being included on the mission deployment, but there was no way they could. Not unless they wanted to have even a little chance of actually getting over to Chotastan in time to do anything about it.
The other men present, all standing in uniforms, many already mostly geared up, waited in silence.
Clint had been in contact with a whole mess of people. Miraculously, the bureaucracy seemed on their side, even though everybody from the FBI to the State Department was now in the loop. Hell, even some CIA assets were involved.
They’d thought about trying to keep the operation mostly quiet, but the FBI had contacted the Navy, passing along a cryptic e-mail they’d received from what appeared to just be a spam account:
PRETTY GIRLS SHOULDN’T SUFFER FOR THE SINS OF NOSY SEALS, PETTY OFFICER DAVIS. JUST LIKE TRANSLATORS SHOULDN’T. TOO MUCH BARKING. KEEP YOUR NOSE TO YOURSELF.
Intelligence indicated that a private plane had taken off from the East Coast and was on its way to Chotastan. Even though they’d lost tracking on the plane, some on-the-ground assets reported unusual activity at an airport near the weapons storage site in Chotastan.
The US government didn’t take kindly to being taunted. Apparently, the higher-ups wanted this handled quickly and quietly with extreme force, especially since they had already approved the initial weapons raid.
Time was of the essence. Intel indicated that sarin gas canisters might be the next shipment going through. Something like that in the area could lead to more than just a little civil unrest. In the wrong hands, the gas could be used to commit genocide.
So, the squad had two missions: save the girl and stop the bad guys.
Another mission, another day. Or at least Johnny tried to tell himself that. In truth he wanted to pace right alongside Trent, but he knew that wasn’t going to help anything. He needed to keep his focus, or he wouldn’t be able to help save Maddy or stop the gas from being shipped.
“Peterson,” Clint barked at Trent, “take a damn seat before you wear a hole in my carpet.”
Trent glared at Clint but sat down at the table next to Johnny.
“Delta Force units are being deployed as well. We’re to recon with the team there and assess the situation. As soon as they have word, she’s in the area, they will radio us.”
Clint looked between Trent and himself.
“Until we know what we’re walking into, we just need to embrace the suck and move on.”
Trent grunted in annoyance but kept quiet. As it was, he was just barely being allowed to remain stateside as an EOD contractor and adviser on the mission. Bombs were his specialty.
“I’ll have a direct line set up to Peterson here. Between him and the Delta Force unit, we will find those bombs, and we will disarm the threat. This is top priority above all else.”
Johnny clenched his fists but knew that Clint had to pass on the orders as they were given to him. They worked as a unit and to keep that going, it meant they took orders they didn’t always like.
“Davis will try to make contact with his people there,” Clint said, his gaze making there rounds but stopping on Johnny. “Once he has that contact, things will move quickly. I want everyone at the ready at all times. This isn’t a joy ride. There are lot of lives riding on this mission.”
The gathered men nodded their understanding.
“Good,” Clint said to the men in the room. “Now get your shit. We’re out in twenty.”
The men stood and started checking gear. To most of them, this was just another day at the office.
“You find her,” Trent said quietly. He gripped Johnny by the shoulder and forced him to look at him. “You find her and bring her home for me.”
Johnny nodded. He placed a hand on his friend’s arm. “For both of us.”
Chapter Nineteen
The plane bounced down on the runway as they landed. It had been a long-ass flight, and no matter how hard he tried, Johnny hadn’t been able to do much besides rest his eyes and think.
It was those moments that killed him really, sitting there forever, running over and over in his head how stupid he had been. If he had just stayed there with her like he’d wanted, none of this would have happened.
He swallowed hard. Or if he had stayed, maybe they would have just waited for him to leave and taken her then.
Either way she was just a tool to get to him, and it burned his ass even more. Fucking Williamson. The bastard would pay. For Emir. For Kadin having to hide. For Maddy.
“
Everyone ready up,” Clint shouted over the roar of the engine as they taxied down the runway. “We just got word from the Delta Force unit that both the weapons and the woman have been confirmed to be in the area.”
Clint paced the open floor through the middle of the plane, already in full gear and looking like he did on every mission, ready to hand the next person their ass.
“Williamson has money and connections, so he isn’t going to be easy to nail down, but we’ll show him just how resourceful SEALs can be. We’re going to find this piece of shit, and at all costs, bring him in so he can be tried for his crimes.”
Johnny strapped on his helmet and gathered the rest of his equipment as the back hatch opened. Hot air rushed in, and he grimaced.
He had been wrong before. Being back home wasn’t as bad. At least there he’d been able to wear cooler clothes. With all the gear they had on, it was like stepping onto the surface of the sun.
He squinted as he stepped out and immediately found their ride, a column of three Humvees.
Two men in Army uniforms stepped out of the leading Humvee. Just like when he had been stationed there, they sported bushy beards.
It wasn’t surprising considering how much the Delta Force worked with the civilians in the area. The men were from the team sent in to deal with any potential hostage situations and were always damn good at their jobs.
Clint walked over to one of the men. It was actually the first time Johnny had personally seen a Delta Force operator in a uniform. Most wore street clothes so they blended in better and nearly all kept their rank and insignia a secret.
They were a tight knit bunch and often given leeway to do what they needed to in order to get the job done.
Having two of them there only indicated to him just how worried the government was about these weapons being passed around. His role in the whole thing had just been one piece of the puzzle, and it seemed like all those parts were now coming together.
“Thanks for getting things together early,” Clint said.
The man he spoke with had light brown hair and seemed to be the one in charge.
“We’re still working on a few kinks, but we’ve been able to get a hold of Kadin thanks to your man’s information. He’s spooked by the whole thing and will only meet with him.”
Clint waved for Johnny to come over.
“Davis here is your man,” he said and looked over to Johnny. “Colton and Blake are going to be our chances of getting Maddy back and getting the intel we need from Kadin.”
Johnny nodded. They were there to negotiate if need be and kick ass if negotiations didn’t go well.
Clint nodded to the other man. He was a big guy with a dark, imposing beard. “Blake has some experience with disarming bombs, but Trent is still the expert in this. We’ll have him on call when the time comes.”
Johnny nodded.
The men opened the doors to the Humvees and waved inside.
“Let’s get out of here while we still have some light. The streets aren’t dangerous, but we’re leaving nothing to chance,” Colton shouted to the men.
Clint stepped to the passenger side of the vehicle, and Johnny slid in the back with several other guys. They loaded up and headed to the local forward operating base for further briefing.
* * *
Maddy groaned and placed her hand gingerly on the top of her head. It hurt like hell, and the act of sitting up made her a little nauseous. She forced herself to sit.
She looked down and was surprised to see she had been placed on an actual bed. The room spun a little as she looked around, but it wasn’t in bad shape like she might have expected for someone who had just been kidnapped by some strange, creepy guy.
There was a small window just above the bed. If she could get up there, maybe she would have a better idea of where she was.
She stood on the bed, taking her time. The frame groaned as she did so, but Maddy ignored it. As gently as she could, she stood on the two twin size posts to lift herself up just enough to grab a hold of the window frame.
With all the strength she could muster, Maddy pulled herself up.
Her eyes peeked just over the edge, but it wasn’t enough to help. Only a blinding sunset greeted her.
She pulled herself even further up and let her mouth fall in shock.
Sand. She definitely wasn’t anywhere in her town, or her state, for that matter.
Dust and sand dominated the area. Sure, there was a tree here and there, a bit of scrub in the distance and some mountains, but that was really beside the point. Somehow she was in the fucking desert.
Arizona, maybe? Nevada? California?
She heard sounds from outside the room and lowered herself quickly. No point in them knowing she had been looking out the window. The less they knew about her plans to get the hell out of there, the better. If she could just get into town or a road somewhere, maybe she could flag down a cop.
Just as she sank onto the bed, the door clicked opened, and the tall scary man walked in, followed by another far less scary man. He reeked of money. Every part of him just looked like he’d been fed a healthy diet of money his whole life.
She glared at the rich blond man.
“Oh, good, she’s awake,” he said with a smile. His voice was accented, but she couldn’t quite place it.
He waved to someone in the hall. They carried in a tray of food. Despite herself, her stomach rumbled loudly.
“I dare say you must be hungry after a flight like that,” he said and nodded for the man to place the tray on the bed.
Maddy stared at the food and then to the man. His accent sounded like an odd mix of an English accent with something else vaguely northern European.
“Where am I?” she asked, ignoring the hunger pains that were now clearly there.
The tall man stepped forward and glowered down at her. “Eat your food.”
The blond man held up his hand to stop the big guy.
“Now, let’s not be rude to our guest, Hans,” the blond man said and took another step forward.
Maddy could tell Hans didn’t much like his boss getting so close to her. He wasn’t wrong really.
She might not be a Navy SEAL or a cop, but she sure as hell grew up with them, and over the years had learned a thing or two. From the looks of the blond man, it didn’t seem like he’d been trained in much besides how to spend money.
“Please,” the rich guy said and waved to the food. “Eat. It doesn’t hurt me for you not to eat, but it’ll definitely hurt you.”
Unable to resist whatever was in the bowl and the fresh bread, Maddy picked it up and shoved a mouthful in.
It was different. It was good but had spices she’d never tasted before. She tore off a piece of bread and shoved that in as well.
“Right now, we’re just outside of Chotastan,” the blond man said.
Maddy frowned. She’d never heard of the place.
“Chotastan? Is that in Arizona, Nevada, California, maybe…?” She furrowed her brow.
The man laughed. “Ah, I do so love American geographical ignorance. We’re not in your sad, arrogant country. We’re in the Republic of Chotastan in the Middle East. It’s the newest independent country in this tumultous region.”
Her eyes widened. The Middle East? They’d taken her half-way across the world.
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie about something like that?”
She was almost too surprised to be scared.
“You see,” he said, holding up a finger, “we’re actually waiting on your boyfriend to come here. We have some unfinished business.”
Maddy snorted. She didn’t care where they had taken her. If they had let Johnny know where she was, they had pain coming.”
“Good,” she said and gave him a sweet smile. “I hope you two have a good chat.”
The man smiled back at her. His eyes had an evil little twinkle that killed her appetite.
“Oh, I won’t be here waiting, but you
will. I detest violence, you see.”
A chill ran down her spine. This man might be polite, but he was evil. She could see it clearly down to his soul.
Maddy jumped up, but Hans was faster. His fist slammed hard into her stomach, and she struggled to keep down the few bites she’d just eaten.
She crumpled to the ground, gasping. After a few seconds she recovered her wind. “Thought you said you didn’t like violence.”
The blond man leaned down to look her in the face as he spoke. “I do, but Hans here has no problem with it. It makes him a very valuable employee.”
She slumped back onto the bed, not sure if she was going to pass out again.
“Now you just be a good girl and wait right here,” the man said. “You’re going to play a very special role later.”
Chapter Twenty
When they reached the forward operating base, the men moved quickly into a large, rigid tent. Inside Johnny found his friend and contact, Kadin, sitting at a table.
The black-haired, tanned-skin man had lost weight since the last time he’d seen him. He’d shaved off his beard, and in most ways, looked like a different person.
Johnny assumed that some of that had been done to conceal his identity from the dangerous men looking to kill him, whether locals or working for Williamson.
He stepped up to Kadin and pulled him in for a quick hug.
“I’m really glad to see you, man,” Johnny said.
Kadin, a bit stiff, pulled back a little and looked around the room. “Your large friend came and said there wasn’t much point in trying to run.”
Shame stabbed at Johnny at dragging the poor man back into all this shit, especially knowing that Emir had died doing the exact thing.
He opened his mouth to say something, but it was Colton who actually spoke first.
“The US Government knows how difficult this must be for you.”
Kadin sat back in his seat at the table and scoffed. “Difficult? Maybe they should tell that to Emir.”
Johnny winced. They had signed up for this. Kadin was just a man who wanted to protect the people of his homeland.
Johnny: #2 (Special Forces) Page 10
