Page 151 of Distress Signal

“They started with the cameras from the big house. Whoever attacked Reagan did a hell of a job hiding their identity.”

“What about the truck? Did they get a plate?”

West shook his head. “Tag lights were disconnected. All we can be sure of is the truck was big, dark in color, and had a huge ass brush guard.”

“Which describes over half the vehicles in this fucking state.”

I didn’t bother joining the conversation. The truth was…I was barely holding it together.

Images of the present, of being here, in Trey’s living roomwith my brothers, seemed to cut in and out of focus, replaced in blips with memories from the past.

A briefing room on the other side of the world.

Coordinates to a safe house where several members of our team were being held as prisoners of war.

More lives I couldn’t fucking save.

My chest tightened, like a fifty-pound weight sat on my sternum. I gasped for air, but it barely made it into my lungs.

The harder I tried, the more constricted my airway became.

One of my brothers scooted next to me, put a hand on my shoulder, and said, “Breathe.”

Owen, using the same tone of voice he’d used to command offenses for years.

The word seemed to reach me from a thousand miles away.

Icouldn’t. I sank further below the surface. The edges of my vision went hazy, darkness slowly creeping in.

Finally, I let it win, let it drag me into the deep and block out everything else.

forty-two

. . .

FINN

“Finn.”

Why was that name so familiar?

The earth beneath me quaked, but I couldn’t see anything to figure out why.

“Finn.”

My name, I realized, and spoken more insistently now.

I blinked my eyes open to find West and Owen hovering over me, Owen gently shaking me.

“What the fuck?” I said softly. “What happened?”

“You had a panic attack,” Owen said. “And kind of passed out.”

“There’s no ‘kind of’ about it,” West said, grimacing. “Your eyes rolled back in your head, and you went limp. Fucking scary. I’m going to have nightmares about it for the rest of my life.”

Pushing them both away to get some brother-free air, I sat up, rubbing my temples.

“Sitting around like this isn’t good for me,” I admitted.