Because she knew exactly what was about to happen.
The man hadn’t been shooting at her. He’d kept his bullets for her friends. But her…
He isn’t trying to kill me. He’s taking me with him.
And no matter how hard she fought to prevent that very thing from happening, Ellie realized her efforts were all in vain. The man was too strong, and his hold was too tight. Yet, she continued using every ounce of strength she had to try her damnedest to rip her arm free.
“Help!” Ellie shouted to anyone else who might possibly hear. “Please! Somebody—”
The man picked her up as if she weighed nothing and threw her bodily into the van’s bare metal interior. Ellie cried out in pain when she landed on her side with a dull thud. Her hipbone and shoulder taking the brunt of the fall.
She’d no more hit the van’s uneven floor when she pushed herself up in a wild attempt to escape. Ellie’s gaze met with Cassie’s for only a second, the other woman’s frantic, tear-filled eyes wide with agonizing fear.
And still lying on the ground beside her was Natalie. Her eyes were closed, and she still wasn’t moving. From here, Ellie couldn’t even tell if the woman was breathing. But what she did see—what was plain as day, even from here—was the blood.
Ohmygod, no! Please not Natalie! Please!
The man’s gloved fist came out her so fast, she didn’t have time to even think about ducking. And it struck the side of her face with enough force, she was out cold before her body ever hit the metal floor.
Seconds later, the van was gone…and so was Ellie.
Chapter 17
“What the fuck do you mean, you can’t find him?”
Van’s angry snarl was directed at the man on the screen, and for once, Lucky couldn’t say he blamed him.
After rescheduling this meeting three different times over the past week, SECNAV hadfinallygotten back to them about the CIA’s so-called asset. The entire team had, yet again, rearranged their entire schedules to make this one, and now they were being told the asset—a man who’d previously reported he had vital intel regarding their last mission as SEALs, as well as their fallen brother’s murder—was nowhere to be found?
Another dead fucking end.
“Take it down a notch, Braddock,” Secretary Webb ordered Van to chill. “I want to find this guy as badly as you do.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“We know you’re doing what you can, Sir,” Chase quickly intervened. “It’s just really frustrating when we keep coming up against a bunch of damn walls.”
Lucky’s lips twitched with the urge to smile at his younger teammate.
Always the peacemaker.
“I understand that more than you know, Boyer.” Naval Secretary gave his head a grim nod. “And I assure you, I have my best people from all over the globe looking for Farzad Akimi. If he’s out there, we will find him.”
Farzad Akimi. A name that, a little over a week ago, Lucky had never heard of. Now, he was the one person Lucky wantedto see more than anyone else in the world. Aside from Ellie, of course.
My Ellie.
The group of men sitting around the table continued listening as SECNAV went on about the heroic efforts he and his “people” were making to find the only real lead the team has had in nearly a year, but Lucky was only half-listening.
Partially because the song-and-dance Webb was performing was the same bit they’d heard countless times before. The real distraction that had been pulling Lucky’s attention away all damn day was the woman who’d spent last night—and the night before—wrapped up in his arms.
Ellie’s gorgeous face filled his vision as it had since they’d kissed each other goodbye a few hours before.
It was funny. He’d never pictured himself as a kiss-the-wife-before-leaving-for-work kind of guy. But now, with her…
She’s not your wife, dumbass.
No, she wasn’t. But that could change, right? Someday. If he didn’t fuck this whole thing up before then. And wasn’t that a kick in the nuts he hadn’t seen coming?