Chapter 4
Garnet wasn’t sure how long they’d traveled or which direction they’d gone. When she was finally allowed out of the back of the truck, the place didn’t look like Beirut. Actually, it didn’t seem like they were in Lebanon because it was way too quiet. Where had they taken her?
She had no names for the men who held her captive, so she tagged them in her mind as Tall, Short, and Grumpy.
Tall wasn’t as nice as Short, and it didn’t seem like Grumpy had traveled with them to this new location.
Tall shoved her, telling her to get inside.
Short had been the one who’d cut her bindings off earlier and allowed her to use the restroom.
She still had no clue why they’d taken her. Were they going to force her to do something?
The bindings on her wrists came off, and she rubbed her hands and wrists. The blood had dried, leaving flakes that came off as she massaged her skin.
“Use the restroom.” Short pointed to the room to her right. She nodded and headed over, closing the door behind her. There were no windows in this room, so they didn’t have to worry about her escaping.
After using the toilet, she washed her hands and then her face. The towel she used was rough. The soap was likely homemade. There wasn’t any decoration in the bathroom to indicate where she was, and without a window, she couldn’t see any buildings or streets to give her a clue where they were.
She opened the door slowly, hoping to sneak out, but Tall was there, an angry scowl on his face. He pointed to the left. She moved out in front of him, hoping to avoid more confrontation but knowing something was going to happen that would push her too far.
“Sit,” Tall barked when they moved into a room with only a desk and a chair.
If she asked why they wanted her, would they tell her why? She didn’t want to think about the depraved things they might do to her.
Then Short entered the room and set a laptop computer down in front of her. She was both glad and terrified. They weren’t going to use her for sex, but they wanted her to hack into a computer somewhere. It would go against everything she stood for.
“We need access to the US military systems,” Tall said.
She stared up at him, unsure how to break it to him. “There are multiple systems, some of them closed with no way in. I can’t just break into the military’s system because there isn’t one cohesive system.”
He slapped his hand on the desk, and she jumped back. His lips curled with anger, and his eyes filled with hate. “You’ll break in and get us what we want.”
The ache in her head grew, and exhaustion still clawed at her.
This man didn’t understand what the military systems were like, and she didn’t even know which one he wanted her to break into.
It wasn’t like she could just get into the weapons systems and have access to all the weapons on ships and airplanes.
The system used to control drones was separated from the system used to control weapons on naval ships.
The systems for planes were totally separated from everything.
“What do you want?” She might as well figure out what they were doing so that if she escaped, she could inform the government what these jerks wanted.
Tall’s hand flew, raking across her face, causing her head to snap to the right. Pain exploded through her face and head and then down her neck.
Being beaten wouldn’t help her focus. Breaking into military sites would take great concentration. Focus was key to hacking, especially into systems she designed to be unbreakable.
“Hey, hey,” Short said as he moved between them. “Don’t do that. Don’t hit her. Just let her work. Maybe she’s right, and she can’t just break into one system and get what we want.”
Tall threw up his hands and paced away. “They told us it would be easy. We just have to get the codes. It should be easy. Maybe she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
Short put his hands on Tall’s shoulder. “No, they said she was the best. If she can’t do it, no one can, that’s what they said.”
Now Garnet had to know who had said that about her. Was someone in the government on the side of evil? Who would do such a thing?
Bean slept during the last part of the flight, waking when the plane touched down. Since they’d taken off in the States, their mission had become more defined.
Too much was popping off on this side of the globe, and they’d been chosen to come in and take over the rescue of a computer nerd who’d been working at the embassy.
It seemed weird to Bean that a computer person would be taken instead of a diplomat.
It wasn’t like they could make much change.
If they’d kidnapped the ambassador, they might actually get something to happen.
He took a moment and stretched before getting into the vehicle that would take them to the embassy. The drive over was quick, and he started reviewing the information they had on the way over.
They were about a block from the embassy when he turned the page in the folder of information he’d been given and saw a photo of Garnet. His heart stalled, and his stomach tightened. The person they’d been sent in to rescue was Garnet.
Everything seemed to stop, then it all shifted into fast forward, like he was careening toward a cliff, about to slide off into oblivion. Losing his shit wouldn’t help anyone. He had to keep it together, or he would do more harm than good.
“Tell us everything,” Chase said as they took a seat at the conference table.
Bean listened to every word, piecing together what happened. Instead of staying on the embassy property, Garnet had been staying at a nearby hotel. That was the normal operating procedure.
She’d been abducted after leaving her room. No one had any idea why she’d left her room after going in and changing clothes. There were theories, but the facts were lacking.
One man entered the elevator with her, and another guy was waiting for them on the second floor. There were no cameras on that floor that worked. She was carried out of the building and put into a food truck.
“Of course, the cameras outside the building weren’t active at the time of the abduction.
We don’t know what these guys looked like or which vehicle they were in.
But we believe she was moved into Syria.
There’s a new terrorist group operating in the area.
A food truck was seen driving into their compound.
It wasn’t a truck our informant expected or had seen before. ”
“Have they made any demands?” Link asked.
“No. We’re not sure why they took Miss Stratton, but they knew where she was staying. They were looking for her specifically. We’ve questioned the man who escorted her to the hotel. He is still being held while we investigate him.”
“Any chance he was in on it?” Bean asked. If the guy was instrumental in Garnet being taken, he wanted time with the man.
The guy giving the briefing shook his head. “No. We’re fairly certain he wasn’t involved. We need to track down a few more things to make sure, but we haven’t found any evidence.”
The rest of the guys were busy studying the papers in front of them. Bean wanted to get moving, but first they had to know what they were walking into.
“It’s a couple of hours on a bird, then about a twenty-minute hike to the compound. You should eat something and maybe get a little rest before you head out in two hours. That will put you there close to dark.”
Bean stood with the rest of his team. He was antsy to get moving, but going in with the sun still up would cause more problems than it solved. They needed darkness to get in and rescue Garnet. Once he got her out, he would make sure she stayed safe.