“Matthews is right,” Ryker spoke up again. “Winters, what happened after they took the first shot?”
Leaving his eyes locked with Coop’s a fraction of a second longer, Trace took a step back and faced the Homeland Agent directly.
“I covered Emma and returned fire. I got her into the bathroom, gave her a gun, and had her lock the door behind me.”
The memory of that last, hard kiss had been playing through his mind ever since.
“Then what?”
“I chased the shooter into the trees,” Trace continued running through the morning’s events. “Caught up with him, took him out, and grabbed his phone and weapon before heading back to the cabin.”
They’d fired on each other enough times he hadn’t even heard the gun he’d given Emma discharge. But it had...twice.
“And that’s when you discovered Emma had been taken?” Trevor asked.
He nodded. “The bathroom door kicked in, and there was blood...” A sudden rush of emotion returned with the memory, clogging his throat. Clearing it, he went on. “There was blood on the bathroom wall and a smaller amount on the floor near the tub.”
Trevor gave him a sobering nod. “What did you do next?”
“I searched the rest of the cabin. When I found it empty, I went outside. There was no sign of Emma, but I found Agent Donovan’s body. That’s when I called you.”
Derek rubbed his jaw and gritted his teeth. “They pulled a bait and switch.”
“And Winters fell for it,” Coop huffed out a humorless laugh. “Hook, line, and fucking sinker.”
Ignoring the comment—because yeah, he fuckinghadfallen for that shit—Trace turned to Ryker. “How do we find her?”
“Good question.” Coop looked to Trevor. “Especially considering we still have no idea where this Khaled asshat even is, or why he wants to take us all out.”
“Actually, I have a solid theory about that.” Ryker looked to Derek. “Pull up the file I sent you?”
Derek walked over to a small, wooden table where his computer was already booted up. The group gathered around him as best they could, and for obvious reasons, Trace positioned himself away from Coop.
Wasting no time, Ryker began his explanation. “After Winters left the cabin, I sent a team to process the scene. The blood on the wall belongs to this man...” He pressed a button on Derek’s laptop, and a mugshot of a dark-haired man appeared.
“So, it wasn’t Emma’s blood?” Trace asked for clarification.
“On the wall, no.” Ryker shook his head. “However, the blood on the floor near the tub matched hers.”
Trace’s chest tightened at the thought of her being injured inanyway. But her blood loss was minimal compared to what he’d seen on the wall, so at least that was something.
“Who’s the guy?” he asked.
“A fairly well-known mercenary for hire by the name of Thomas Cook. He has suspected connections to multiple criminal organizations and extremists groups.” Ryker looked around the group before adding, “He also has known ties to Asad Al-Karim.”
The group erupted in a barrage ofwhat-the-fucks.
From what Trace knew, Karim—the former Syrian president—had been planning a deadly revolution in order to take over the countries bordering Syria.
According to what Jake had told him after all that shit went down a couple months back, Karim had envisioned himself the next great leader of what would’ve become the world’s greatest enemy in the war against drugs and human trafficking.
But Jake and the others made sure that didn’t happen.
As the story went, the woman Ryker was now engaged to had been caught up in the entire mess. Jake had shared that he and the others had not only helped in the efforts to keep the woman safe, but then afterward, they were the team sent in to capture Al-Karim.
They went in, secured their target, and brought him to the States where he was currently being held on a slew of terrorist-related charges, among others.
“Karim is locked away in one of the most secure holding facilities in this country,” Coop barked at the man in charge. “It’s run byyouragency. How the hell could he orchestrate something like this from the inside?”