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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The automatic gunfire that echoed through the mountains when someone destroyed their bird were the last shots Casper and Pyro heard. It was as if, now that the SEAL team was gone, and the last two men had been recovered, the operatives in the area had all bugged out.

Casper figured that was exactly what had happened. And it couldn’t be a coincidence. Shit went sideways in missions all the time, but this one seemed to have more than its fair share of fuckups.

After calling for backup, he joined Pyro outside the chopper with the two SEALs and got to work trying to stabilize the men. He had questions, lots of them, but he wasn’t sure what the men would be able to tell him.

The man Pyro had carried was still unconscious, with a head wound that was bleeding heavily.

His friend immediately attempted to stop the flow, or at least slow it down.

There was no telling if the man would pull through, but Casper knew from experience how hardheaded SEALs could be.

They seemed to be able to defy the grim reaper himself on occasion .

He turned his attention to the man he’d dragged into the clearing. He was still conscious but seemed confused.

“Thought there was a chopper,” he said.

“There was. It got shot up. It’s unflyable,” Casper told him.

The man snorted. “Thought you Night Stalkers could fly anything.”

While Casper appreciated his attempt at humor, he wasn’t ready to find anything about this situation funny. Not when Laryn had been taken.

“What’s your name?” Casper asked him, as he did his best to staunch the flow of blood coming from his thigh. He started a tourniquet as he spoke.

“Mustang. That’s Pid. He going to be all right? His wife, Monica, and his daughter need him to pull through.”

“Pyro’s got him. What about you? You got a family?” Casper wanted him to think about what he had to live for.

“A wife. Elodie. We’re trying to get pregnant but it hasn’t happened yet.”

He nodded. “Well, hang in there. We’ve called in for backup. Almost seems as if the locals planned this,” he said, moving on to what was rolling around in his head and needing his suspicions confirmed or debunked. “Was this mission out of the ordinary for you and your team?”

“No. Not in the least. Things were fine. Nothing unusual. We joined another SEAL team, and we’d obtained the intel we went in to get.

Hadn’t run into any hostiles, then they suddenly arrived as if out of nowhere.

Waited until we were in this valley and opened fire.

They surrounded us and pinned us down. But…

I’d swear they weren’t shooting to kill.

They could’ve easily used an RPG and taken us all out.

It was as if they were prolonging things for some reason. ”

Fuck. Casper looked over at Pyro, and he saw his teammate frowning as he worked on the other SEAL.

“Then they managed to separate Pid and me from the rest of our group. One second we were together, working our way toward the extraction, and the next, they laid down gunfire to cut off the two of us, and we got pinned down behind a group of boulders. We heard the choppers but couldn’t get to them.

We told our guys to go, to get the hell out, and at first they refused.

But they all have families too…” he sighed.

“I ordered them to go, and they finally did, but not before making sure we wouldn’t be left behind.

Thank you for coming for us,” Mustang told him.

“You’re welcome. I hate to be the bearer of bad news…but I have a feeling your separation from the group was a setup.”

“To what end?” Mustang asked.

“To get a hold of my mechanic.”

Mustang looked surprised. “Explain.”

So he did. He told Mustang about Laryn’s expertise.

How she’d worked on all the Night Stalker helicopters for the last three years.

About his previous MH-60, how it was destroyed in Iraq, and how Laryn had worked day and night to get his new one up to snuff.

About the countries that had been trying to recruit her—including someone representing the Turkish government.

Then finally, how they’d just been deployed to the destroyer yesterday, and despite his chopper being in perfect working condition stateside, suddenly his FLIR had gone out right when he was scheduled to take off for this mission.

“It seems unlikely that someone would be able to arrange a kidnapping as elaborate as this. So many things could’ve gone differently that would’ve made it impossible.”

“I understand,” Casper said. “And I agree. But I’ve still got a bad feeling in my gut that says differently.

That says this was all carefully planned, and we played right into the hands of the asshole who desperately wants Laryn’s expertise for himself and his country.

I’ve asked a man named Tex to look into the guy for me. Maybe you’ve heard of him?”

“Tex?” Mustang asked, his face registering his surprise.

“Of course I’ve heard of him. I consider him a close friend, actually.

Let’s just say he’s been very hands-on with my team and when it came to keeping our women safe.

If he’s looking into this, he’ll figure out what’s going on sooner rather than later. ”

“I hope so,” Casper said.

At that moment, a sound reached their ears, and Casper tensed as he turned and picked up the pistol he’d placed on the ground while tending to the injured SEAL.

It only took seconds for him to recognize the sound of rotor blades. Help was coming.

Relief made him almost dizzy. The assholes who’d shot up his chopper and taken Laryn didn’t have that much of a head start. They’d be able to get Mustang and Pid medical help and see if they could locate the vehicle that had taken Laryn.

The advantage of this part of the country was that it was sparsely populated, there wouldn’t be many trucks on the back roads…

if they could even be called roads. He had no idea if it was Edge and Chaos coming in, or if Buck and Obi-Wan had dropped off the other SEALs and returned.

Either way, they’d be up for combing the area for whoever had taken Laryn.

They couldn’t use their firepower on the vehicles for fear of hurting the woman he was desperate to find, but they could use the chopper at the very least as intimidation, and at best as a road block to make the vehicle stop.

A shoot-out hadn’t exactly been on Casper’s plans for the day, but he’d do whatever it took to get Laryn back safe and sound.

It hit him hard yet again, as he watched the MH-60 bank around, probably checking out the area for unfriendlies before it landed, that he’d failed to protect her.

He’d talked a big game, asking to stay at her apartment just in case evil found its way to her door, claiming he’d keep her safe.

And yet she’d been taken right out from under his nose.

He never should’ve left her alone in the chopper. He should’ve insisted she come with them to extract the SEALs .

It was a mistake he’d spend the rest of his life mentally berating himself for.

As he watched Edge land his MH-60, Casper’s hands clenched into fists as determination filled him. He wasn’t leaving the area until he had her back. They had too much to lose for him to give up. Night Stalkers Don’t Quit. It was their motto. And he would never stop looking for Laryn.

As if Mustang could read his mind, the SEAL put his hand on Casper’s arm. “You’ll get her back. And if you need assistance, you’ve got my team. You didn’t have to come for Pid and me, but you did. We won’t forget it. We owe you.”

“You don’t owe me dick,” Casper told him honestly.

“You know as well as I do that we were just doing our jobs. But rest assured, if I need your help, I’ll ask for it.

I’m going to do whatever it takes, break whatever rules and laws I have to, in order to get her back.

I didn’t realize how much she means to me, only to lose her now. ”

Mustang nodded. “I understand that more than you know.”

Talk became difficult as the dirt kicked up all around them from the rotor blades of Edge’s chopper. Without a word, he hauled Mustang to his feet and put his arm around his waist. Pyro picked up the still-unconscious Pid—who was no longer bleeding—and they made their way toward the chopper.

Chaos immediately handed him a headset, and when it was settled over Casper’s ears, he heard his friend ask, “Are we blowing it up or using a missile?”

It wasn’t as if they were authorized to use the very expensive weapons onboard the helicopters in any old situation.

It would be hard to use explosives to destroy yet another machine that Laryn had worked so hard to bring up to her demanding standards.

It literally hurt his heart to destroy it, but they couldn’t let the technology onboard get into the wrong hands.

His ass was going to be chewed for losing another helicopter so soon after the first, but it couldn’t be helped .

“Missile,” he said. “It’s faster. We need to find a truck. It left the area not too long ago. It has to still be around here somewhere. Laryn’s inside. They took her.”

“Tex called. I’ll update you later, but we figured she’d been taken. We looked around for any signs of life as we came in. Casper…there’s nothing.”

“How can that be?” he demanded, as Pyro closed the door and got Pid settled. “Your FLIR is working, right? It should pick up any heat sources, and people and a warm engine would definitely show up.”

“I know, but I’m telling you, there’s nothing out there.”

Casper stared at his friend in disbelief. He’d been so sure all it would take was getting in the air and they’d find Laryn. But now Chaos was telling him that, somehow, she’d disappeared into thin air?

Whoever took her had to be hiding out in a large cave or something. It was the only possible reason for not spotting the vehicle. And her captors obviously knew the area like the back of their hand.