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“Graham, you copy?” Simon's voice cut through the static.

I pressed the comm button on my handlebars. “I'm here.”

“You sound like shit.”

“I feel like shit. Doesn't matter. How far out are you?”

“Jase and I are approaching from the water. Hart and Roan are circling around to the south side with Randy and Seth.” There was a pause. “You sure you can handle this? That concussion⁠—”

“I can handle it.”

My voice came out harder than I'd intended, but I couldn't afford to show weakness right now. Not when Joy needed me to be the SEAL I'd trained to be for twelve years.

The lake house road was nothing more than a dirt track, full of ruts and holes that made the bike buck like an angry horse. Every jolt sent fresh fire through my broken ribs, but I held on, focused on the single goal that mattered.

Get to Joy. Stop Glenda. Bring my woman home.

“Remember the plan,” Seth's voice crackled through the comm. “Graham goes in loud and obvious. Glenda will focus on the frontal assault while the rest of us move into position.”

I gritted my teeth against another wave of pain. We'd gone over this back at the office. Use me as bait. Let Glenda think I was coming in like some half-cocked amateur, all emotion and no strategy. She'd concentrate on the obvious threat while the rest of the men closed the trap from every other direction.

It was a good plan. It just required me to play the part of the reckless boyfriend, which wasn’t far off the mark today.

The trees started thinning out ahead, and I caught my first glimpse of the cabin through the branches. Small, isolated, perfect for keeping someone prisoner. My blood went cold at the thought of what Joy might be going through in there.

“Eyes on target,” I reported. “Single story, two windows facing this direction. No movement visible.”

“Copy that,” Roan responded. “We're in position on the south side. Tan Chevy Impala. Glenda’s car. Same one from the hospital.”

“Simon, Jase, status?”

“Coming up from the lake now. Quiet as a cemetery.”

“Bad visual, asshole,” I growled.

I was maybe two hundred yards from the cabin when the first gunshot cracked through the air.

My heart stopped.

“Did everyone hear that?” My voice was barely controlled.

“Copy, gunshot from behind the cabin,” Jase confirmed.

“Moving to assist,” Roan said.

“Negative!” I barked into the comm. “Stick to the plan. That shot came from the woods behind the cabin. I'm going around.”

I gunned the Harley and raced around the cabin, through the clearing toward the tree line. The bike skidded to a stop in a spray of dirt and dead leaves, and I was off it before the engine stopped running. My helmet hit the ground as I yanked it off, needing to hear everything clearly.

That's when I heard her.

“Joy!” Glenda shrieked.

The voice was high, frantic, barely human. Then came the words that made my blood turn to ice.

“Where are you, Joy? Are you playing hide and seek?”

Glenda. And she sounded completely unhinged.