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To my surprise, a little bit of pink tinged his cheeks. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. So, Tony got a call from a guy trying to track down his fourteen-year-old sister. She went missing two weeks ago.”
“Shit,” I said.
“Exactly. Anyway, he was able to ping her phone to a cell tower just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before the phone was turned off or destroyed.” Marco clenched his jaw, and I almost felt sorry for whoever was responsible for the girl’s disappearance. But not really.
“How did he know to reach out to Tony?” I asked.
“He didn’t,” Marco replied. “Michael, my younger brother, has some kind of computer program that monitors”—he waved his hand in a circle over his head—“the internet somehow. He picked up that this guy had a missing sister and was worried she’d been taken by traffickers. Michael reached out to the guy, and they pooled their information. Apparently, the guy is a computer geek like Michael, so they worked together to find her.”
“Where did they find her?” I asked. A surge of excitement coursed through me. This was real. We were going to rescue someone.
“In a small town about thirty minutes northwest of Harrisburg,” Marco replied. “Her captor has a big farmhouse. They think there are at least two other girls there.”
I closed my eyes, nausea roiling my gut. “Damn it.”
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” Marco said.
I straightened and pulled myself together. “When do we leave?”
A smile finally broke through his somber expression. He put his arm around my shoulders. “Come on. We’ll get your bag from your car and head to my place. We’re leaving in an hour.”
16
Marco
We stopped by Liam’s place so he could change into dark clothes and restock his medical bag. Then we headed to my house to wait for the rest of the team. While we were in my living room, Liam spotted the picture of Terry and me next to the flag case on the mantel. He looked at them for a long time and then lightly brushed his finger over the nameplate on the case.
I expected him to ask me about it, but he didn’t say a word. He also mentioned nothing about the spectacular sex we’d had the night before. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I should have been relieved, but that wasn’t what I felt. It was more of an uneasy feeling like something was missing or out of place. He approached me after a while and said, “Your house is really nice.” A blush tinged his cheeks. “I didn’t get to see much of it last night.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’ve had it for about a year. It still needs some work, but I like it.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but a loud knock on the front door interrupted him. Before I could answer it, the door swung open and Dante walked in, followed closely by Pete and Andrea. When the three of them saw Liam, they went over to him, exclaiming how good he looked and how happy they were to see him. Seeing Liam’s bemused expression reminded me that I hadn’t told him the rest of his rescue team would be there. They’d all been at the Gage event as well, but given the circumstances, they’d been too busy to chat with Liam then.
I put my hand on Liam’s shoulder and said, “Andrea, Dante, and Pete were part of your rescue team.”
Liam’s eyes widened, and he put his hand over his mouth. “Oh my God. I can’t thank you enough for what you did. Is it…can I hug you?”
I’ve never seen three hardened military types turn to mush faster. “Sure you can, darlin’,” Andrea said in her soft Southern accent. She pulled him into a tight hug, her eyes shiny. “I’m so glad you’re all right.” Pete and Dante each got their turn as well. I even saw Dante surreptitiously wipe his eyes afterward.
Gabe and Michael walked in during the middle of the hug-fest. Gabe put his hands on his hips and said, “What did I miss, and how come I’m not getting hugs?”
Everyone laughed, and Pete made a big production of hugging Gabe. Gabe playfully shoved him away and said, “No way. I want to hug the cute hottie.”
Liam’s face turned bright red, and I…felt some kind of way about what Gabe had said. I stepped into the middle of the group and said, “All right, you miscreants. Take a seat so we can go over the mission parameters.”
Gabe held up two large bags with the Wawa logo. “Michael and I brought lunch. I figured we could talk and eat.”
I rolled my eyes. “You always want to eat.”
“You got that right,” Gabe said with a grin. “Eating and fucking. The two best things in life.”
Liam looked a little shell-shocked, and I figured he felt out of his depth with this crew. “Let me introduce you all to Liam and tell you what his role will be.”
Everyone found a seat, either on the large sectional sofa or one of the two recliners. Michael brought out tray tables and drinks from my kitchen. Once they were settled, I went over to Liam, who was perched on the edge of the sofa, looking nervous. I put my hand on his shoulder. “As most of you know, this is Liam O’Neil.” I turned my attention to Gabe. “Gabe, Liam was working for Doctors Without Borders when he was taken by Syrian militants.” I indicated the rest of the team. “Our team located and extracted him, terminating three of his kidnappers with extreme prejudice.”
“Hooyah!” Gabe shouted. “So you’re a doctor?” he asked Liam.
Liam shook his head. “Nurse practitioner.”
