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WORM

W orm’s phone vibrates in his pocket. He pulls it out to see a familiar name on the caller ID. While he hasn’t ever met the man in person, Worm has a lot of admiration and respect for John “Tex” Keegan, a former Navy SEAL, who’d lost a leg during his time in service. The man had been medically discharged, but he’d never let his loss hold him back. Tex is a beast when it comes to anything tech. He uses his intelligence and exceptional skills to help those in need, especially those who are or have also served.

Worm is glad he isn’t driving so he can focus on whatever Tex has to tell him. His mind has jumped from one bad scenario to the next since finding Allison’s room empty. Worm and several of his teammates, along with Emma and Charlotte have loaded up and headed to the airport in an attempt to intercept Allison before she gets on her flight.

“Chapman,” Worm answers, a bit surprised Tex is contacting him directly, although he had asked Tex to look into the issues with Allison, but that was a month ago. Tex and Hawk have been friends since Wolf, another Navy SEAL, who’d been there when Hawk had rescued Charlotte in the Columbian jungle had introduced them to one another. Tex has been instrumental in helping many of Worm’s team mates save their women when shit had gone sideways which is why Worm had reached out to him.

“Hey, Worm, I have some information for you,” Tex begins. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get this information, but your woman is onto something big…like really fucking serious shit.” That’s what Worm has been worried about, it’s why she’d been taken.

“Hang on, I’m putting you on speaker.” Worm places his phone on the center console switching it to speaker. “I’m in a vehicle with Hawk and Wallace and their wives.”

“Hey, guys. You did put the trackers on Allison, correct?” Tex’s question causes the hair to rise on the back of his neck.

“Tracker?” Emma asks. “You had Tex get you trackers for Allison?” Worm can feel his face heating. It isn’t often he feels embarrassment after everything he’s seen and done during his years of service, but having Emma know he’d gotten trackers for Allison when he’d only known her a week was enough to cause him to blush.

“Um, yeah,” Worm confesses. “I gave them to her when we met in Denver.” Emma nods obviously remembering the necklace and earrings she’d been wearing the night she’d left his apartment.

“I should have known,” Emma chuckles. Worm knows Wallace has given Emma similar items to make sure he can always find her if anything should happen to her. They’d been instrumental in finding her when Emma had been abducted by a rapist a couple years ago. “She never takes them off,” Emma offers, with a sad smile.

“I had wondered where she’d got them, but she never said. She is constantly touching the necklace, especially when she’s upset.” Knowing this gives Worm comfort knowing she’d have them with her and that they seemed to mean something to her.

“So, she has them on?” Tex asks again.

“Yes, I believe so, but she’s left Wallace’s and isn’t speaking to me,” Worm informs him. He can hear steady clacking of a keyboard in the background. “What did you find out?”

“Allison has stumbled onto an exclusive sex trafficking ring with some major players,” Tex replies. Emma and Charlotte gasp, while the men mutter curses. “These people don’t like that she’s been poking around, even after they abducted and warned her off the story.” Tex’s tone is very serious.

“What? She’s still been researching the story?” Worm had thought she’d dropped the story after everything that had happened.

“Yes. She created some fake accounts to do her research, but anyone with a little skill could easily trace it back to her,” Tex tells him. “Worm, she’s in some serious trouble. These people are ruthless and have a lot to lose should she expose them. I’ve picked up chatter that they are on their way to Jacksonville, if not there already.”

“Fuck!” Worm growls. He looks to Hawk who is riding shotgun to Wallace. “We need to find her! Call everyone you know to help us look for her at the airport.”

Hawk nods. He’d already taken his phone out placing a call before Worm even spoke. “Tex is on the phone,” Hawk says to whomever answered. “He says the people who took Allison before are gunning for her again. I need you all at the airport ASAP.”

Emma has her cell phone out placing another call. Worm can only assume she’s trying to contact Allison again. Allison had texted him, Charlotte, and Emma a few minutes ago saying she was at the airport and that she’d be in touch later when she reached her destination, but she hasn’t answered any of their texts since. So, Hack had gotten her flight information and they’d headed out to see if they could catch her before she left.

“Can you track her?” Worm asks, Tex.

“Yeah, I’ve already contacted Luke for access to it. She made it to the airport, but never boarded a flight. It appears she’s leaving the airport again.” Hope builds in Worm, briefly, thinking she’s changed her mind. She’s coming back to him. Another phone rings on Tex’s side of the line. “Hang on a sec,” Tex says. Worm can hear him murmuring to someone on another line.

Tex continues. “Luke, Ace’s brother-in-law, has called to report the tracking is showing her going out of the city and not back toward yours or Wallace’s residence.” Worm’s stomach drops out. No, not again!

He doesn’t believe Allison would leave the airport of her own free will. Not after buying a ticket back to San Diego…or would she? Doubt creeps in as he mulls everything over in his mind. Is she trying to lead him in the wrong direction? If it wasn’t for the necklace and earrings she's wearing, he would have believed she’d have gotten on the plane out of town.

“Dammit! Worm?” Tex’s frantic voice draws him out of his head. “I pulled CCTV footage. She didn’t leave voluntarily. Two men, one of which was the man who took her a month ago in San Diego, dragged her out of the airport. They’ve forced her into a limo. I’m working to get more details.”

“They’ve taken her again?” Worm rages, fear running rampant through him. He has to find her before they hurt her again. The last time her face and body had been bruised. He won’t allow them to hurt her again. Worm is thrown back in his seat when Wallace punches the gas, weaving in and out of traffic as they near the busy airport.

“She’s not answering,” Emma cries, drawing Worm’s attention. Tears are streaming down her face. Charlotte has unbuckled her seatbelt to scoot closer and wrap her arms around the crying woman.

“Situation has changed,” Hawk barks into his phone. “I’ll be sending vehicle details as soon as Tex can get them to me.” He pauses when Tex speaks up.

“She’s in a black stretch limo,” Tex informs them. “License plate: HZ 7982”

Hawk relates this information to his caller. Worm knows Hawk is likely talking to Hack or Virus, one of their team’s computer gurus. They will send out the information via a group text they have.

Sure enough his phone vibrates where he’d laid it on the console. He can see the notification flash on his screen. He peers out through the windshield as Wallace changes lanes to avoid heading into the airport where they are likely to get stuck in traffic. They will need to intercept the limo before the men can have a chance to hurt Allison.

“I’m putting my phone on speaker,” Hawk announces. “so everyone can communicate in real time.” Hawk lays his phone next to Worm’s. “Hack you’re on.”

“We are en route, nearing the airport now, coming in from the backside,” Hack reports, clacking of keys can also be heard from his side of the phone. “Bull and Virus are ahead of us in another vehicle. I’m linking us together. Virus, can you hear me?"

“Yes, we just met a limo.” Virus’s voice rising in pitch. “Hang on, we’re making a U-turn!” A car horn blares over the line while the squealing of tires can be heard as well.

“Yeah, yeah, we turned in front of you, but you didn’t hit us, so, get the fuck over it!” Bull yells loudly, followed by more tires squealing.

“Sorry about that, we got a little road ragegoing on.” Virus chuckles. “We are coming up behind the vehicle now. Plate matches! Get closer!”

“Take them out!” Worm yells. “Get her away from them ASAP!”

“We see you!” Hack yells at the same time. More squealing of tires can be heard. Worm leans to his left peering out at the road in front of them. Surely, they are getting close to where Hack and Virus’s vehicles are on the tail of the limo, but he isn’t seeing anything.

“I realize you are anxious to stop the vehicle, but I’ve found something you should be aware of,” Tex relays calmly despite all of the excitement coming from the rest of them.

“What is it?” Worm asks, wondering what else Tex has found.

“Take me off speaker,” Tex demands. “This is for your ears only Worm. If you want to share with the rest of them, I’ll leave that up to you.” Worm frowns at his phone as he picks it up, turning off the speaker and putting the phone to his ear.

“It’s off,” Worm informs him. The hair is rising on his arms, goosebumps have erupted. Instinctively he knows Tex is about to upend his world with whatever he’s about to say.

“Are you aware of Allison’s condition?” Worm frowns harder at Tex’s question.

“I know something’s wrong with her, but she hasn’t been speaking to me for the last month. I know she saw Charlotte at her clinic, but Charlotte won’t tell me anything. Abigail gave me her opinion on it, but…are you saying it’s true?”

“Hang on!” Wallace shouts as their vehicle makes an abrupt one hundred eighty-degree turn crossing the median to head in the opposite direction. “We’ve caught the limo!” Worm looks up to see the vehicle speed past in front of their SUV as they enter the new lane of traffic.

“Shit!” Tex exclaims. “Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to tell you…”

“Just say it!” Worm growls, his voice harsh and demanding.

“Allison is pregnant.” Worm pulls the phone away from his ear to look at the offending object. He did not hear what he just heard. Did he?

“Say again?”

“She’s pregnant,” Tex repeats. “I accessed her medical records after seeing some curious internet searches over the last few weeks. From her records, the timing of conception would coincide with Emma and Wallace’s wedding.” Worm’s heart stops beating for several seconds, then kicks back in, hammering hard in his chest. Abigail had told him this, but he’d dismissed it, especially after finding Allison gone again.

It can’t be true! Can it? Well hell yes it can be true. He remembers how he’d taken her over and over that night without any protection after the first condom had broken. He’d known she wasn’t on birth control, but he’d wanted her so badly. He hadn’t cared. She’d planned on getting a plan B pill, but then she’d left in the night and gotten abducted when she’d arrived back in San Diego. Worm closes his eyes, all of her ailments coming to his mind. He remembers his mom having symptoms like that when she’d been pregnant with his sisters.

Fuck! A string of more curses run through his mind. He is pissed she hasn’t told him. She’s known for a while. She’s had plenty of opportunities, hasn’t she? Charlotte has known for a while! He remembers. Maybe even Wallace and Emma know, but no one bothered to tell him? How could they keep something like this from him? He has a right to know! He’s the father after all.

His world stops again as truth sets in. He is going to be a father…at least, he thinks he is. What if she hasn’t told him because she doesn’t want to have his baby? Is she considering abortion? Adoption? “What were the internet searches?” Worm asks, fearing, but needing to know the answers.

“Symptoms of pregnancy, what to expect when you’re expecting, were the first ones I found that raised my curiosity. After her appointment with Charlotte, they changed.” Tex pauses and Worm fears what he’ll say next.

“Spit. It. Out…please.” He braces, fearing what she’s been searching.

“Top safety rated cribs and car seats, baby names, support groups for single mothers,” Tex replies softly.

Worm doesn’t want to hear more. She’s planning to keep the baby, but exclude him from her life. “That’s enough!” He can hear the pain in his own voice. Several heads in the car turn to look at him with curiosity.

“I think you should talk to her,” Tex counsels.

“Why? She’s obviously planning to not tell me, to leave me out of everything,” he says bitterly. Charlotte’s expression is one of shock and fear. His chest is getting tighter by the minute. He can’t breathe. He needs to get out of this fucking car, but they are speeding down the interstate at 90mph. How could his friends know, but not tell him?

“I don’t think she is,” Tex argues. “She’s asked several questions on a single mother’s support group.”

“What kind of questions?” He asks, not knowing if he wants the answers or not, but can’t stop himself from asking.

“She has asked for advice on how to tell the father when he doesn’t want to be one, and how to co-parent when you aren’t in a relationship with the father.” Worm closes his eyes. He has just taken a direct hit to his heart. He made her feel like he wouldn’t want her, wouldn’t want their child.

Worm knows he has to make this up to her, to find a way to get her to forgive him, to show her how much he cares for her. This isn’t just about their baby, but about him and her, too. He loves her and he needs her to know just how much. Baby or no baby, Allison is his. The fact she’s carrying his child? That just makes it even better. Now if he can only get her back safely.

He moves up to peer out the windshield at the limo speeding down the highway. Allison turns in her seat, looking right at him. The fear and uncertainty he sees in her eyes guts him. He speaks to her hoping she can read his lips. He gives her as much reassurance as he can when she confirms she can understand him. Her response to him boosts his resolve to have her back in his arms, safely.

“I have them in sight,” Wallace announces, pulling Worm back into the present. “How do you want to play this?” Wallace glances at Hawk, then Worm. “We could use all three vehicles and try forcing them off the road?”

“No! You could hurt Allison!” Worm exclaims. “You can’t risk it with her in the car.”

“Then what do you propose we do?” Wallace asks, clearly frustrated at Worm’s change, from ‘let’s get those fuckers’ to ‘we need to wait’ attitude. “Why the sudden change? You just told Virus and Bull to take them out?”

“Allison is carrying my child. We can’t put their lives in danger.” Emma gasps, staring at Worm with wide, disbelieving eyes. Silence reigns. No one knows what to say to that.