Chapter 29
Pain. That’s the first thing I register.
The kind that blurs the edges of reality, pounding through my skull like a bass drum and aching throughout my body.
My eyelids feel heavy, and for a long, disoriented moment, I can’t tell which way is up.
Everything smells like metal and smoke. The sharp, acrid tang of gasoline burns my throat when I try to breathe.
I groan and force my eyes open. The world around me swims into focus, sideways and wrong. The Humvee is upside down, the roof crushed in, glass scattered across the dirt, and blood smeared on the inside of the windshield.
My blood.
Or hers.
“Reese…” Her name tears out of my chest. The sound of it echoes back at me, hollow and empty.
A bolt of terror slams into my gut. I twist, ignoring the slice of pain that shoots through my ribs. She’s not here. The seat beside me is empty. The seatbelt dangles loosely, and the door hangs open like it’s been ripped off its hinges.
“Reese!” I shout again, louder this time, the sound of my own voice causing my head to throb. But there’s no answer. Only the howl of the wind.
Panic grips me, fast and suffocating. My seatbelt digs into my shoulder, locking me in place. I press the release and yank at it, but it doesn’t budge. “Come on, damn it,” I grouse, fighting through my fuzzy thoughts and flooded vision. I can’t stop.
The buckle won’t shift. I reach for the knife strapped to my thigh. My blood-slick fingers fumble over the sheath, but I finally manage to free it. The blade glints faintly in the dim light as I work it between the belt and my body.
One sharp slice, and the strap gives. I drop hard against the roof—no, the floor—and a jolt of white-hot sharpness lances across my side. I grit my teeth and push through the agony, crawling through the shattered window of the door.
“Reese!” I scream, looking desperately around the wreckage for her.
There is no sign of her. Not far from the mangled Humvee, deep tire marks burrow into the dirt where another vehicle must have stopped.
My gut twists when I see the boot prints beside them, two sets of large boots and one set of tiny feet.
They took her.
My knees give out, and I crumple to the ground. I try to suck in a breath, but my chest feels like it’s caving in. Reese… I stagger to regain my footing, swaying. My head is spinning, and my vision is narrowing at the edges, but I can’t stop now. I have to move. I have to find her.
I look back at the wreckage. The Humvee, twisted and mangled, is lying like a carcass in the road. There is blood on the glass scattered across the ground. Her blood.
My hands curl into fists. I failed her. Again.
I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing my fingers into the bridge of my nose, trying to steady myself. My skull is pounding so much it feels like it might split in half, but none of that matters. Not when she’s out there. Not when they have her.
I start the long walk back to the base. Every step feels wrong. My boots drag through the dirt, my balance off. I clutch my side, struggling to draw in breaths as I move. The horizon sways, distant and hazy, but the glow of the lights ahead keeps me moving.
One foot. Then the other.
The mile between here and the compound feels endless. I stagger and fall, catching myself on scraped palms. The pain of the impact is grueling, and I crumple into the dirt, my breath coming in short, ragged bursts. My ribs burn, and my shoulder throbs, but I push myself from the dirt and press on.
When I finally see the chain-link fence and the guards posted at the gate, relief floods me so fast it almost buckles my knees.
“Sir?” one of them calls, eyes wide as I flash my identification to grant me access. “Jesus Christ, man. What the hell happened to you?”
I can’t answer. My mouth opens, but no words come.
They rush forward, grabbing my arms to steady me. Someone shouts for a medic.
“I’m fine,” I rasp, jerking away.
“Sir, you’re bleeding—”
“Let me go,” I snap, louder this time, the sharpness in my tone cutting through the noise. I shoulder past them, stumbling toward the cluster of tents near the east of the camp. My vision tunnels, everything pulsing in time with the pounding in my skull.
I shove through the flap of the tent, and the light hits me hard. It’s too bright. Jagger’s head snaps up from the table, eyes narrowing. “Fuck, Hawk. What the hell happened?”
When I try to open my mouth, my throat closes around the words. I’m shaking, covered in dirt and blood, but I can still see her face—smiling at me just hours ago, eyes full of fire and hope. “They took her,” I manage to grind out.
Jagger’s brows furrow. “What?”
I take a step forward, legs barely holding me. “Reese,” I choke. “They took Reese.”
His chair scrapes across the floor, the sound screeching through my brain. “Who? When?”
But I can’t answer. The words don’t come. The world sways again, my vision swirling out of focus. The pain hits like a hammer behind my eyes, and my knees buckle. I hear Jagger shout my name and feel hands catching me as I hit the ground, and everything goes black.
When I come to, it’s to the sound of rain tapping against canvas and the steady beep of a monitor. Antiseptic and metal hand in the air, and my head feels like it’s been split open.
I blink against the light and realize I’m in the medical tent. An IV runs into my arm. Someone’s bandaged my shoulder and taped what I can only imagine are broken ribs.
Reese.
I jolt upright, ignoring the flare of pain in my side. “Where is she?”
A medic hurries over. “Lay back, Sir. You—”
“Where is she?” I growl, tearing the needle from my arm. Gunnar is at my bedside within seconds. “Reese. I need to know she’s okay.”
He studies me for a moment, then sighs, his eyes falling momentarily to the floor. “We’ve been looking since you got back last night. The crash site was about a mile north of the ridge and has been fully swept.”
“And?” I repeat.
He nods slowly. “There were tracks. Two sets of footprints, maybe three. Someone pulled her out. But whoever took her didn’t want us to find her fast. They wiped the tracks half a mile out.” He leans close and lowers his voice. “We’ve been searching the base, but there’s no sign of her yet.”
Rage surges hot in my veins. I swing my legs off the cot, ignoring the debilitating dizziness in my head.
“Hawk,” Gunnar warns. “You’re not going anywhere. You’ve got a concussion. Two cracked ribs. You’ll collapse before you make it out of camp.”
“I don’t care.” I’d give my life for hers without hesitation.
He steps into my path. “You go out there like this, you’ll get yourself killed. Then she really is alone.”
“Then you better make sure I stay alive,” I huff, painfully pushing from the bed. “She’s out there, Gunnar. She’s probably hurt, scared—” My voice breaks. “And it’s my fucking fault.”
Gunnar’s expression tightens. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is,” I refute, pulling on my boots. “I should’ve seen it coming. Should’ve protected her… like I was supposed to.”
He hesitates, then grips my shoulder. “We’ll find her, Hawk. I swear to God, we’ll fucking find her.”
I’ve already lost her once, and I can’t—won’t—let it happen again. I’m too close to the life I wanted to let someone take that from me. To take her from me.
“I’ll find you, baby,” I whisper into the dark, struggling to make the walk back to our tent. It’s not a promise; it’s a vow. One I will uphold at all costs.
And when I do, whoever took her won’t live long enough to regret it.