Chapter 2
Bahía Sombra, Mexico
Six Months Later
Code Name: Raven
Jade Mitchell stood at the edge of the balcony, gripping the metal railing of her suite at the Palmas del Sol Resort. Below, the surf tumbled against the shore, soothing her battered nerves. The breeze rustled the palms, and the salty air hit her nose. She closed her eyes and inhaled.
She’d done it. She’d made it to Mexico. Even if it meant she’d used the medication her therapist had prescribed, she’d call it a win.
Next on the list—leaving her resort room.
Daylight gave her an edge on her phobias, making it possible to enter the outside world, sweaty palms and all. But nighttime? No. Just no.
The therapist called it exposure therapy. She called it torture.
Baby steps into the real world away from the screens, the task force, and her small house in Benton Harbor, Virginia. A week in the coastal town of Bahía Sombra, Mexico, where no one knew her name, her job, or her fear of open spaces and night.
Bahía Sombra had been the compromise to the large resorts. Medium-sized. Quiet. Off-season with fewer people. Nestled between a cliff and the ocean, and the surrounding Sierra Oscura mountains, the resort had just enough forest cover to keep her anxiety at bay.
But now, the thought of leaving her room and walking the beach stole the air from her lungs.
When she’d arrived, she’d hidden in her room for two hours like a coward until her anxiety diminished enough for her to step out onto the balcony. She loosened her death grip on the rail and tilted her face to the sun. A bird called from somewhere in the trees, and the water rolled in rhythm below.
Familiar to home. Peaceful. But wrong.
Her skin itched, and every instinct screamed she’d made a mistake coming here.
She didn’t trust the calm anymore after Echo Team’s situation six months ago.
Not after the silence that followed her report.
Not after realizing how easy it was to vanish without a trace.
How close Echo had come to being erased like bad data.
If not for Liam and his team, Echo wouldn’t have survived.
The trip was supposed to help her control her fears, not make matters worse. She had to get out of her head.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Releasing a long breath of air and settling her runaway thoughts, she retrieved it and glanced at the message from her therapist, Breana.
Breana: You made it!
Jade huffed and texted back:
Barely. But yes, I’m here. The room is nice, and I’ve ventured out onto the balcony.
Breana: Excellent. I knew you could do it. You’ve come so far over the past few months.
Jade: Yeah, well, my therapist is cruel.
A smile formed on Jade’s lips. Breana was the sweetest and didn’t have a mean bone in her body.
Breana: And don’t you forget it. LOL! So, how is it?
Jade: The resort is beautiful.
What she’d seen of it when she arrived, anyway.
Jade: I plan to take a walk on the beach in a few minutes.
Breana: Good idea. Don’t push yourself into exploring at night yet. We’ll tackle that later.
As if.
Jade: Trust me, I won’t.
Breana: Remember, allowing yourself to work through the fear means your brain is rewiring. That’s progress. Be kind to yourself.
Jade: I’ll try.
Breana: Good enough. I won’t bother you again. Call or text if you need me.
Jade: Thank you. I really mean that.
Breana: I know you do.
Jade stared at her phone. Breana had helped her move beyond the walls of her house to sit on her front porch.
Then she’d pushed herself to take walks in downtown Benton Harbor.
Usually, after business hours, to avoid the crowds.
But she’d done it. Comfortable with it? Not even close, but she was no longer a prisoner in her own home.
Stepping outside at night—not happening.
She noted the low battery on her phone. Two percent wouldn’t last long. Jade debated for all of five seconds, then plugged her phone into the charger.
Time to take that walk she’d promised herself. After slipping on her sports sandals, she headed down the garden path to the beach. Her heart rate increased, and her stomach churned. Her gaze scoured the foliage for danger.
Why did she think she could do this?
No. She refused to let her fear take over. This trip would be another puzzle piece in the journey to freedom from her phobia. The anxiety that ruled her day-to-day life wouldn’t win.
Pausing on the path, she closed her eyes, breathed in and out, and allowed her mind to settle.
When she opened her eyes, she looked at the world around her with a new perspective.
The vibrant pinks, oranges, and yellows dotted among the lush green leaves wrapped her in a sense of calm.
She almost felt normal for once in her life.
This whole immersion therapy might work after all.
The thud of footsteps rushed toward her.
Jade spun.
The first blow hit her ribs. The second took the air from her lungs. She collapsed to the ground and curled into a ball, gasping.
“You sure this is the one?”
“Facial match says she’s the contractor’s daughter.” The muffled voices spoke in a Spanish accent.
Contractor’s daughter? She had no one—an orphan raised in the foster system.
“Grab her, and let’s get out of here.”
She whimpered and fought the urge to give up. Determined, she kicked out and landed a blow to the man closest to her. He cursed and latched on to her wrist. She bit and clawed, but the man’s strength overpowered hers.
Zip ties looped her wrists. The attacker yanked. The sturdy plastic dug into her skin. Once secure, a sack was shoved over her head.
Her heart rate spiked.
“She really knows the information?”
“If she doesn’t, her daddy will cough up the intel for her release.”
There was no father to fight for her. Only one person knew her whereabouts. Breana. And she wouldn’t call again until the end of the week. Friends? She didn’t have any, except for Charlie Team. But they wouldn’t miss her anytime soon.
At that realization, the air vacated her lungs. She gasped, hoping for a sip of precious oxygen, but her anxiety meter had pegged its limit.
Her world tilted.
The side of her head exploded at another strike from her abductors. Pain bloomed behind her ear. Then—nothing.
Jade woke with no sense of time and no clue where those men had taken her.
Her wrists throbbed from where the now-removed zip ties had cut deep.
The rope used to re-bind her wrist rubbed against the raw skin.
The air around her smelled of earth and mildew.
A half-wood, half-thatch hut had become her prison.
The dampness of the dirt floor soaked into the material of her shirt and shorts.
Funny. The shack should scare the daylights out of her. Instead, it soothed her. She lay on her side, tethered to a wooden pole in the middle of the small hovel, for heaven’s sake. But she was inside, not out in the open. The mind was a weird thing at times.
Jade shifted to sit upright and cried out. Pain shot through her torso. The abuse from when the men grabbed her came rushing back. A multitude of shallow pants later, the agony subsided. Her face ached, and her mouth mimicked the Sahara Desert.
This time, when she tried to sit up again, she moved at a sloth’s pace, breathing through the pain. She scooted backward and propped herself up against the wooden wall of the hut. Lightheadedness claimed her. Closing her eyes, she willed the world to stop spinning.
A tear leaked out and slid down her cheek. Would anyone find her? Would anyone care that she went missing? Probably not.
Jade pondered the why of it all and came up empty. She shifted her focus to the who. Who had kidnapped her? One thing for sure—the men who had taken her were confused. They thought she was someone else—someone valuable—a contractor’s daughter.
She sucked in a breath through her teeth and forced herself to work the problem.
The only contractor that made sense linked back to the Echo Team’s capture and the comms system someone hijacked to hunt down the Delta Force team and make them disappear.
She’d done a deep dive into the code but failed to find the leak.
Deep male voices came closer, arguing, but she couldn’t make out the words. She listened as boots crunched on the ground and stopped outside the hut.
Would they hurt her again? Or would they kill her this time and leave her to rot?
Her mind grasped for any glimmer of hope to hold on to and came up with nothing. Except… “Liam,” she whispered.
The door creaked, and a shadow blocked the opening.
She steeled herself for what came next.
God, please help me survive and send Liam to save me.
However, no matter what these men did to her, Jade had God’s promise of heaven. And the knowledge that Liam McKnight didn’t leave his people behind.
Please find me.
Her body shook, and her tears poured over her lashes. She had to survive long enough for Charlie Team to realize she’d gone missing and come save her.
The man entered and closed the door behind him. “Time to talk.”
Sierra Oscura Foothills, Mexico
Tuesday–1600 Hours
Call Sign: Charlie One
Humidity hung heavy in the air. Liam crouched behind a twisted tree trunk, his gaze sweeping the undergrowth for movement.
Sweat trickled down his temples and between his shoulder blades.
The jungle was alive with the warbles and trills of birds.
Other creatures joined the symphony. Everything but humans—so far.
Forty-eight hours ago, Special Agent Gunther Scott called BlackKnight Security for assistance.
The daughter of a U.S. defense contractor had gone missing from a beachside resort outside Bahía Sombra.
Charlie Team hadn’t hesitated to take the job.
But once they’d arrived in country, Liam had questioned the sparse intel.
And the strangest part of the mission—no Raven in his ear.
Crouching ten feet to his left, Rafe whispered, “Northwest quadrant clear.”