“The mountains will be your home now,” he said, his voice harsh.“Afghanistan will have your loyalty.And you—you will belong to no one but me.”
Chapter 10
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KNOX STOOD IN HOLT’Shome on Sunday afternoon, his gaze scanning the crowded living room.The entire team was there, celebrating their successful op to stop the homegrown terror cell.Xaden and Cooper were chatting off to one side of the room.Gage was deep in conversation with Holt.Boone and Radley had arrived late, the two of them completely lost in one another.Logan was there, too, tipping back a beer, along with a few other IT staffers.Knox scanned the room again and frowned, noting who was missing.Quinn.He hadn’t heard from her at all yesterday.While he didn’t typically text her on the weekend, he’d shot off a brief text to make sure she was okay.He didn’t think she’d outright ignore him, and he was concerned to not receive any reply.Then again, maybe she was really sick and sleeping it off, preferring to be left alone.
Laughter filled the room, the team celebrating their success, but uneasiness settled in Knox’s gut.He’d ask the IT staff if they’d heard from her.Something felt off, and he didn’t like it.
The doorbell rang, and a U.S.servicemember and his sister arrived—the woman Boone and Radley had rescued in L.A.It was damn lucky they’d found her.More conversation ensued, and Knox piped up, joining in the conversation.“Fortunately, we found your notes,” Knox told her.“Both of them.We knew someone was being held against their will by the terror cell.”
Her confused gaze slid toward him.“Both notes?”
“The first was written in sawdust at the cabin,” Knox patiently explained, recalling how Radley and Boone had made that crucial find.“We discovered the second on one of the crates when we intercepted the vehicle in Seattle.They both saidhelp.”
“But I—I didn’t leave two notes.”Her voice trembled, and Knox crinkled his brow.There were no other hostages that they were aware of.The woman exchanged a worried look with her brother.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Knox said, frowning.“There was definitely the wordhelpwritten on the crate we discovered.”
Cooper and Xaden were already moving toward him, seeming puzzled as well.“It was clear as day,” Cooper agreed.“Someone used a pencil to scribble on the outside of the wooden crate.”
Knox’s mind was already flooding with possibilities.If someone at the warehouse or cabin hadn’t written on the crate, had there been a person in the trunk with it?What other explanation was there for what they’d found?
Shock washed over him.
They’d been focused on locating the explosives, but had they missed something?
“Where’s the vehicle now?”he pressed.“We had it towed, but where did the Seattle PD impound it?I want to search it again.”
Just then, Holt’s phone began vibrating.He pulled it from his pocket, frowning as he stared at the screen.“Holt here.What?Yeah.Affirmative.Yeah.God damn it!”His gaze swept over the group, landing on Knox specifically.
“That was someone from IT.Quinn is missing.”
The living room exploded into a flurry of motion, people pulling out their own phones and expressing their surprise.
“What?What are you talking about?”Knox bit out the words, already rushing toward his boss.Logan and the IT staffers were closing in as well, wanting to hear the details.
