Ryan nodded, his mind whirling.
Hell.
He’d barely spoken to his own family or Sarah’s since she’d disappeared. But every moment, every damn second counted. If he didn’t do everything in his power to find her as quickly as possible, he’d go crazy. And it might be too late.
“Did the police have any new updates on the investigation into Juan?” Ryan asked.
“They’re running all the prints found in the hotel room—unfortunately, ours were there, too, which slowed things down.”
“Damn it. We should’ve been more careful.”
“We didn’t know what we were dealing with,” Hunter said in a low voice. “Let’s not forget that at first we were worried she’d simply gotten sick or something. And Bree and Morgan had stayed in the room with her the night before.”
Ryan nodded. “It’s possible Juan was never in the hotel room though. Are they running prints from the hairdresser’s room? We need a real name to track this asshole down.”
“They are. I just spoke with Brent, and the police are swarming the area interviewing witnesses, too. If she’s nearby, we’ll find her.”
Ryan clenched his jaw. “That’s the damn problem—she’s probably long gone. You know as well as I do that she could be anywhere now. They didn’t kidnap her to keep her locked in a hotel room in Virginia Beach.”
His phone buzzed with an incoming call, and he answered immediately. “Captain Mitchell.”
“This is Detective Bryant down at the precinct. I wanted to let you know that we’ve located the missing hairdresser.”
Ryan’s heart nearly stopped. “Is she alive?”
All eyes swerved to him. “They found the hairstylist, not Sarah,” he said grimly.
The others returned to their work, and Ryan clenched his fist as he listened to the detective. “The woman is alive,” he confirmed. “She was found bound and gagged in the next hotel room. She’s being taken to the local hospital and will give a statement to the police after she’s treated.”
Ryan muttered a curse and pounded his fist on the table. “She was right next door?”
“Next to the room she’d booked for herself. There’s more. We found Miss Foster’s belongings in the room, too—her wedding dress and some other articles of clothing.”
Ryan paled, his heart skipping a beat. They found her clothing? As in those assholes had stripped her wedding dress off of her? He’d fucking rip them apart with his bare hands. Pummel them to death for every ounce of hurt they’d given Sarah. For a split second, he was so angry he couldn’t even breathe or see straight. His world literally stopped right in front of his eyes.
Hunter moved toward him, and then Ryan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“And Sarah?” he asked, his voice cracking.
Fuck.
He commanded missions all over the world. He’d jumped out of planes himself under the dark of night and gone after enemies unknown. He’d killed violent men with no remorse because it was for the protection of others.
But this?
He couldn’t handle a phone call telling him what had happened to his future wife.
“She wasn’t there, but there also wasn’t any sign of a struggle. There was no blood, nothing disturbed in the room aside from her belongs being left there. The other woman was found locked in the bathroom. It seems Miss Foster was only there for a short period of time and was likely moved to another location.”
“Goddamn it. So where the hell is she?”
“We’re reviewing all surveillance footage and searching every room on the floor.”
“Search the entire goddamn hotel!”
“We’re interviewing any and all guests. I’ll be in touch with additional updates. Until we run all the prints from the third room, our best bet is to see what type of vehicle our potential suspect was traveling in. Knowing they took her unharmed is good news. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s better than the alternative. She’s out there somewhere. We’ll follow up on all leads and find her.”
Ryan nodded, realizing the detective couldn’t see the motion over the phone. His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt sick to his stomach. She was out there, helpless and scared, and he couldn’t do a fucking thing.
He wanted to race down to the hotel ASAP, grab any and every person he saw, asking if they’d seen anything suspicious yesterday. He wanted to search the damn hotel himself room by room until he found her, but he knew the odds were that she was long gone.
He ran a hand through his cropped hair, beginning to pace again.
The detective was still talking, and Hunter finally took the phone from his hand.
“This is Hunter Murdock, leader of the Delta SEAL team. We’re here with the commander at Little Creek.”
Ryan walked over toward the table of men sitting there, letting Hunter continue the conversation with the detective as he pounded his fist on the table in frustration. He was used to being calm and collected on missions. To being the level-headed one amidst the chaos and a leader his men could depend on. Now he couldn’t even handle a damn phone call.
“What’s the latest intel?” Jacob asked.
Ryan relayed the latest information as everyone in the room gathered round.
Hunter walked over a few minutes later, handing Ryan back his cell phone. “The detective just got some new information. Evidently, Juan knew the hairstylist from years ago, and he forced her to cooperate with him in the kidnapping. It seems that he threatened her family. The detectives will question her fully after she’s examined at the hospital, but from their brief conversation, it sounds like he’s been living here in the States under an assumed name.”
Ryan raised his eyebrows, his heart pounding. “They have a name?”
“Jesus Lopez. They’re running a trace now. She knew him by that name years ago. We already know he’s operating under an alias, so it could very well turn up nothing but old information, but it’s all they have to go on right now.”
Lexi flipped her sleek black hair over her shoulder. “We can run a trace of our own and see what turns up, see what names Jesus Lopez is tied to. And let’s make sure Brent knows the latest since he’s down there with the police.”
“I’ll call him,” Evan said, standing up. “Which reminds me, I talked to Ali a few minutes ago about what they used to drug Sarah. Apparently, it’s extremely powerful stuff. She could’ve been out for hours.”
Ryan let out a breath. “They could’ve taken her out of the hotel before we even realized she was missing. The only good news, if you can call it that, is she was taken unharmed. They drugged her but didn’t injure her based on the evidence. But we need leads immediately on Juan and whatever the hell other names and connections he has so we can find her.”
He shook his head and stepped away as the others continued to discuss updates, trying to collect himself.
Hunter walked back over to him. “I still can’t believe the goddamn hairdresser was in on all of this,” Ryan spat out. “Morgan said she seemed a little nervous when she arrived at the room yesterday. Damn it. Why didn’t I ask Sarah more about the people she was hiring for the wedding?”
“You couldn’t have known,” Hunter said in a low voice. “None of us did. What bride worries that her florist or hairdresser is trying to kidnap her?”
Jacob shifted from his own seat at the table. “We were all on alert, sir. Any one of us could’ve checked into it.”
“None of you were planning your wedding,” he ground out. “Sarah wanted to handle the majority of the planning, but it was stupid of me not to do a background check on every damn one of them.”
“Negative,” Hunter said. “Absolutely no one thought she would be in danger because of them. The woman was forced to work with Juan and then tied up and left alone. He’s the only person to blame here.”
“We’re already running a trace on the new name,” Christopher assured him. “It may be old, but if we can find a connection to anyone
down in Mexico, that will widen our search and give us some new leads.”
Ryan clenched his jaw. “I told everyone to be on alert because the leaders of the sex trafficking ring had men here in the U.S. He’s the bastard we should’ve been watching for. He was right here in front of us, and he fucking took her!”
“We don’t know—” Hunter started to say.
“It’s them,” Ryan said, his blood running cold. “There’s no way a common criminal would have orchestrated something like this. You know that as well as I do.”
“We should pull ties to the leaders that were arrested last month,” Christopher said. “The guys that bribed their way out of jail. Contacts, family members, everything. We’ll keep running searches on Juan/Jesus/whatever the hell his name is, but let’s start expanding our scope, too. If Sarah’s already been moved out of Virginia Beach, then let’s start searching elsewhere.”
Ryan nodded, adrenaline beginning to course through him. “Yes, and let’s contact our guys down in Mexico, see if they’ve heard of this asshole. She could be on a goddamn plane down there right now.”
“We’ll find him,” Christopher assured everyone. “And we’ll find Sarah.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed as he walked over to look at the traces being run on Christopher and Lexi’s laptop screens. “Hell, we’ll search the homes of every damn person he knows if we have to. Nothing is going to stop me from finding her.”
The door to the bullpen opened just then, and Patrick stormed in, his eyes furious as he looked at Ryan and the other men. “Tell me the latest,” he said, clenching his fists. “We need to find my sister.”
Chapter 21
SARAH WINCED AS JUAN gripped her upper arm, forcing her to move to the front of the airplane. The men had left her alone for the flight, and she’d been too scared to so much as move a muscle when she’d been awake.
Whatever they’d drugged her with still hadn’t completely left her system either, and after they’d taken off, she’d slept for several hours.
Her stomach roiled as they moved forward, and she didn’t know how long it had been since she’d last had something to eat or drink. Every hour she was awake seemed endless, and every moment was taking her farther and farther away from Ryan.
The door to the plane opened, and she felt the hot air against her face.
Blinking at the bright sunlight, her mouth nearly fell open in shock as her eyes adjusted. They’d landed on a dirt airstrip somewhere, but that wasn’t what was most concerning. The mountains in the distance let her know she sure the hell wasn’t on the East Coast of the U.S. anymore.
Juan had said they were going to Mexico, but a part of her had hoped that he was bluffing. He’d actually kidnapped her and taken her to another country. No one knew where she was. No one could help her.
Sarah began to tremble, and Juan shoved her forward.
Taking shaky steps down the stairs, she grabbed hold of the metal railing.
There were several armed men standing around the perimeter of the airstrip, which was fenced in with barbed wire, and she wondered if this was also some sort of drug operation. It seemed like an insane amount of work had gone into kidnapping her. Were there more women being kept somewhere else around here? Were they trafficking women from all around the U.S.?
None of this made any sense. She’d befriended Juan, sort of, and he’d orchestrated this entire thing. Was it because of Ryan? Because of her brother?
Certainly it would be easier to kidnap a woman alone late at night than to drug and take someone from a hotel.
Maybe they had some other sort of illegal operation that she’d accidentally gotten involved in.
She shuddered and heard Juan’s harsh laugh behind her.
Stepping onto the dirt ground, she felt the soft earth beneath her bare feet. Would they give her shoes to put on? Expect her to walk around barefoot everywhere?
Where were they even taking her?
A man walked over and began talking to Juan and the others in Spanish. She picked up a few words but couldn’t follow what they were saying.
“We’ll be traveling to my home for the night,” Juan said, his fingers gripping her upper arm more tightly. “The buyer has been delayed until tomorrow, but there’s no point in keeping you with the other women when I can have you all to myself. He is thrilled to be purchasing you. I’ll collect a hefty sum for my troubles, and you’ll never see U.S. soil again.”
Her stomach tightened, but she held her chin up, determined not to let him see how frightened she was.
Tomorrow. She could survive twenty-four more hours.
Ryan and Patrick and all the men on the SEAL teams had to be looking for her by now. It’s not like Juan had kidnapped her off the streets—someone had been in the hotel. And hotels had security cameras. Witnesses.
She gasped as she suddenly remembered the hairstylist bringing her the tea.
Had she been in on this whole thing, too?
Ryan would do everything in his power to find her. Everything. He had connections at the Pentagon, at military bases around the world, and he knew people everywhere. He had two SEAL teams at his disposal. He’d been a Navy SEAL himself. She just had to hold on until he got here.
Juan released her arm and began talking to some of the other men in Spanish, and she tried not to appear frightened. Some of the heavily armed men began moving their way, and she saw a car driving up in the distance. The guards at the gate let it pull in, and Juan grinned.
“That’s our ride.”
“Where are we?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Mexico. And not to worry, I own the police in this town. No one will touch you unless I say so. If you cooperate and do as I say, it will go much easier for you.”
The car pulled to a stop in front of them, and one of the men walked over and opened the back door. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she didn’t know which was worse—going somewhere alone with Juan or staying here with all these strange men.
“Follow behind us,” Juan instructed, nodding toward some other vehicles parked in the distance. His dark gaze landed on Sarah. “Get in.”
She swallowed nervously but nodded, climbing into the car.
Rather than getting in the passenger seat, Juan slid in beside her. He grabbed two bottles of water and passed one her way. She gratefully took it, twisting the cap and swallowing. She was so damn thirsty she wanted to gulp the whole thing down, but it seemed like a horrible idea on an empty stomach.
A Jeep pulled up with several armed men, and Juan nodded in approval. “They will lead the way,” he told the driver. “The other two can bring up the rear.”
Sarah took another tiny sip of the water as the car began moving, watching as some men began to work on refueling the plane. A moment later, they pulled through the gates of the tiny airstrip and sped up along the dirt road.
Her gaze drifted out the window toward the mountains, and she wondered where in Mexico they were and how Ryan would ever find her. If they kept moving her around, she had no hope of being rescued. But Ryan and his men did this sort of thing for a living—they tracked people down. Dangerous men. Terrorists. Drug lords.
They’d find her.
Juan’s dark gaze landed on her, and he didn’t say anything for a moment before he chuckled. “It’s amazing the amount of trouble I went through to get you.”
“Why?” she croaked, looking over at him.
His gaze raked over her, and she resisted the urge to shudder.
“Ah. Your husband and his men ruined a large part of our operation, as you may know. Of course, we can easily bring many women down here to start over again, and we will, but nothing is sweeter than revenge.”
Her eyes widened as her heartbeat sped up.
“They destroyed part of something that took us years to build. We lost a substantial amount of money thanks to them. Now we will destroy him.”
“By taking me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Si. Nothing is more valuable to
a man than the woman he loves.” Juan chuckled, leaning back in his seat. “It was too easy to find out about your life, to find someone to work with me. I just needed to wait for the right moment, and I’ll earn a hefty sum for delivering you.”
“Delivering me to who?”
“That’s not your concern,” Juan said. “You’re his property now. You’ll be his to use as he pleases.”
The water she’d just sipped began to roil in her stomach, and before she could stop herself, she leaned over and threw up.
SARAH AWOKE HOURS LATER, lying in a dark cellar on the cool ground. She wasn’t sure if she’d passed out on the car ride or if they’d drugged her again with something. The water bottle she’d drank from had been sealed though.
She shifted and shivered slightly.
Were they at Juan’s house? Or had he stashed her somewhere else and left her here?
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized that it had to be night. Juan had claimed she was worth a lot of money to him. He wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble to kidnap her just to leave her alone to die.
She moaned as she tried to sit up, her entire body aching. Her arms buckled beneath her, and she collapsed back onto the ground, the cool floor against her cheek. She had a sour taste in her mouth from vomiting earlier and would’ve given anything for a nice, cool glass of water and maybe a warm shower.
Had they even left her any food or water?
She wouldn’t survive if they starved her to death.
Taking a deep breath, she felt drowsiness began to overtake her again. Maybe if she rested a few more minutes, she’d feel better. Then she’d figure out a plan and what to do next.
She’d find a way to escape and get home.
She closed her eyes and surrendered to the darkness.
Chapter 22
RYAN GROANED IN HIS sleep and then awoke with a start, reality slamming back into him. He jumped up from the small cot in his office on base, nearly knocking the damn thing over. Fumbling for his cell phone on his desk, he saw there were no missed calls. His eyes landed on his office phone, but he would’ve heard that ringing. Besides, if anything urgent had come up, his men would’ve woken him.
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