Chapter 20 #2
Or it had been destroyed. Or taken. Or Mara was dead and the equipment was scattered across the Iraqi countryside.
Sloane pushed the thoughts away and kept moving.
They found Mara's overwatch position first. Evidence of her presence was there. Disturbed rocks where she'd set up. Indentations in the ground where she'd been prone with her rifle. But no spent casings, no equipment left behind. She'd cleaned up properly before moving out.
"She was here," Harper confirmed. "Packed out clean. Moved that direction." She pointed toward the extraction point.
They followed the trail. Sloane had trained with Mara for years. Knew how she moved. Knew the choices she'd make. She read the landscape the way Mara would have, choosing the path that offered best cover and fastest movement.
Two kilometers from the compound, they found the site.
Sloane saw it first. Mara's pack. Lying on the ground, partially hidden behind a rock formation. She approached carefully, rifle up, scanning for threats. But the area was clear. Whoever had been here was long gone.
The pack was intact but had been searched. Contents scattered. Mara's rifle was gone. So was her sidearm. Her comm unit was smashed, ground into pieces under someone's boot. But her other gear was there. Medical kit. Extra ammunition. Water. Everything except the weapons and the comms.
And no blood. Sloane checked carefully, looking for any sign that Mara had been injured. But the ground was clean. No blood spatter. No signs of a sustained fight. Just evidence that someone had searched her gear and taken what they wanted.
Quinn was scanning the area with her tablet. "I'm picking up vehicle tracks. Recent. Leading away from this position heading..." She checked the coordinates. "Northeast. Toward Mosul."
Mosul. The same city where they'd pulled Steele. Where Nazari had held him. Where everything had started months ago.
Sloane's stomach went cold.
Harper found something else. A piece of fabric caught on a rock. She bagged it carefully. "This is from tactical pants. Looks like Mara's kit."
"So she was here. They took her." Sloane stood up, looking at the terrain. "Someone knew her route. Set up an ambush. Professional job."
"How did they know?" Harper asked. "We were careful. No electronic signatures. No advance reconnaissance that would have tipped anyone off."
"I don't know. But they knew." Sloane keyed her radio. "Shadow Lead to Actual. We found Overwatch's position. She's not here. Evidence suggests capture, not casualty. Vehicle tracks heading northeast toward Mosul."
Nadia's voice came back tense. "Orders?"
Sloane looked at the vehicle tracks. Looked at Mara's scattered gear. Looked at the direction someone had taken her. Every instinct screamed to follow. To track them down. To get Mara back right now.
But fifteen women were sitting at the extraction point needing medical care. Her team was exposed in hostile territory. And chasing after Mara without intelligence or a plan would likely get them all killed.
"Fall back to staging area," Sloane said, the words tasting like ash. "We regroup. We plan. Then we get her back."
"Sloane—"
"That's an order, Actual. We don't have the resources to mount a rescue operation right now. We get the packages to safety first. Then we come back for Mara." Sloane started gathering what was left of Mara's gear. "One hour. Be ready to move."
She ended the transmission and looked at Quinn and Harper. "Bag everything. Every piece of evidence. Every track. Every indication of who took her and where they went. When we come back for her, I want to know exactly who we're dealing with."
They worked quickly, documenting the scene. Quinn took photos and GPS coordinates. Harper collected physical evidence. Sloane bagged Mara's gear and tried not to think about what was happening to her right now.
When they were done, they moved back toward the extraction point. Fast. Efficient. Professional. But Sloane's mind was racing. Someone had taken Mara. Someone who knew their operation. Someone who'd set a deliberate trap.
And they were heading toward Mosul. Toward Nazari's territory.
That couldn't be coincidence.
They reached the extraction point forty-five minutes later. The team was loaded and ready to move. Nadia took one look at Sloane's face and knew. "How bad?"
"Bad. Someone knew her route. Professional ambush. They took her alive based on the evidence." Sloane climbed into the lead vehicle. "We need to get these women to safety. Then we need to make some calls."
"What kind of calls?" Winter asked.
Sloane looked at her team. At the women they'd just rescued. At the empty seat where Mara should have been. "The kind where we ask for help from people who know this region better than we do."
Nadia's eyes widened slightly. "You're talking about Delta. About Steele's team."
"I'm talking about anyone who can help us get Mara back." Sloane's voice was hard. "She went into Iraq without telling them. Without backup. Without letting the one person who might have actually been able to help know she was in danger. Now she's gone and we need all the help we can get."
The vehicles pulled out, heading toward the staging area. Fifteen rescued women. One missing operator. And a team that was about to learn that sometimes the mission didn't end when you thought it did.
Sloane pulled out her phone and looked at the contact information Quinn had given her months ago. Ghost. Delta Force communications specialist. The man who'd helped coordinate Steele's rescue.
She started typing a message. Brief. Direct. The kind that would get attention.
"We have a problem. Mara's missing. Taken during op near Mosul. Need your help."
She hit send and watched the message go out into the void.
Then she started planning how to get her teammate back.
Because Shadow Veil didn't leave people behind.
Not ever.
Not even when the mission said they should.