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 heavyin 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.”
“Copy. Three, Four, status?”
“South edge secure. No sign of hostiles,” Boone reported. “Just more jungle.”
Liam sighed. His ear felt empty without Raven’s voice guiding him through terrain, reading heat signatures, marking potential traps. She’d been his constant for the past several years. Her voice, a safety net. But now? He hated the silence. Raven was his team’s lifeline. The woman who could walk them out of hell with nothing but a satellite feed and her intuition. He kept expecting her to cut in and say,Charlie One, you’ve got movement at your six.And that nagging void in his comms fueled the sense that this mission wasn’t what it seemed.
“Copy. Charlie Mike.” In that moment, he vowed they’dcontinue missionuntil they found the missing woman, no matter the obstacles.
The team moved in silence, sweeping through the edge of the Sierra Oscura foothills where the intel had led them. Liam had been on dozens of rescues, and this one felt off from the start. The girl—allegedly a contractor’s daughter—had vanished from a resort in Bahía Sombra. Witnesses saw her walk to the parking lot and never return. According to the information relayed to histeam, her belongings remained in her room. The story should’ve ended with a ransom note. A message. Something.
And the location? It reeked of misdirection. After twenty-four hours, he’d made the executive decision to expand the search from the oceanside town where Agent Scott had directed them to the jungle nearby, without informing his government contact.
A root snapped beneath Liam’s boot. He paused and scanned the foliage. Movement caught the corner of his eye, or maybe his paranoia had gotten the best of him. At this point, he didn’t know.
His satellite phone vibrated in his pocket. He inspected his surroundings one more time and answered it. “McKnight.”
“Liam, this is Special Agent Scott.”
He listened to the agent’s news. “I understand.” He hung up and switched to his comms. “HQ reported the package was killed in a car accident. We have orders to abort mission.”
The air thickened, like the jungle had sucked out the oxygen. Or maybe it was his doubt. His gut clenched.
“Charlie One, what areyourorders?” Dax asked.
Leave it to his men not to assume his intentions.
“It’s too clean. Too convenient.” He’d lay odds the eyewitness account of the woman in the parking lot was a ruse.
