Page 1 of Rescuing Micah (Prey Security: Cyber Team #3)

Finally, she felt like she could take a deep breath.

It had been a whirlwind of action these last few months, starting when her best friend had been snatched off the streets.

Never in a million years would Teresa Dash have expected it to turn out to be this bad when Ava hadn't come home that night. Of course, she’d known any abduction was bad, but an organ trafficking ring would never have entered her mind if her friend hadn't told them herself that’s who had taken her.

Crazy.

And from there things only went from bad to worse.

But now her teammate Tobias’ new girlfriend Isabella was home safe and sound, the couple no doubt tucked away in Tobias’ apartment doing what new couples in love did.

Same thing Ava and her new boyfriend Nathaniel were likely doing at the apartment in Prey Security’s building where Ava had moved to feel safer.

The complete opposite of what she’d be doing when the elevator finally reached her floor.

There was no one waiting for her in her apartment, despite the fact that she technically shared the place with Ava and their other best friend and Prey Security Cyber Teammate, Chelsea.

Even after the organ trafficking ring was finally dismantled, it wasn't likely that Ava was going to move back in.

Not with how close she and Nathaniel had grown and the fact that Nathaniel was still an active-duty SEAL and didn't have the freedom to pack up and move. That meant Ava would be the one who would have to move.

While everyone knew her as practical and no-nonsense, there was one thing she struggled with.

Change.

Something she made sure people weren't aware of, because she didn't like to admit weakness. She was independent and she’d had to grow up quickly after her dad died and her family had been thrown into poverty.

Since her mom had to work three jobs just to keep them afloat, Teresa had taken over most of the household duties, including caring for her two younger brothers, at the tender age of nine.

Despite how rough it had been, there had been one bright spot.

Well, there had been from when she was fourteen up until seventeen, when he dumped her at the very worst time in her life.

“Stop thinking about him, Teresa,” she muttered aloud.

Glad no one else was in the elevator to hear her talking to herself.

It was a bad habit her brothers used to tease her about, and one she’d done her best to hide from her best friends and roommates.

Although she was sure that both Ava and Chelsea had heard her do it on several occasions over the years they’d lived together.

Thinking about the boy who had broken her heart was counterproductive. While they could all take a momentary breath and give themselves a tiny little break, this case was far from done.

Bringing down this trafficking ring was personal to Teresa and to all of Prey.

It had been a mistake that would become their undoing when the trafficking ring had snatched a Prey employee off the streets.

There was nothing she and the company she worked for wouldn't do to end the ring’s reign of terror.

Nothing.

But thinking about a long-ago broken heart wasn't going to help her.

“He wasn't who you thought he was, he wasn't who you wanted him to be,” she reminded herself as the doors to the elevator dinged open on her floor. It was empty, and she was glad because she needed to remind herself of all the reasons thinking about her ex was a bad idea.

Dumping her and breaking her heart was one thing, but to just cut off complete contact with her because she’d been gang raped was another. It was unforgivable, and she hated that sometimes when she was at her loneliest, she still wished he had been the man she’d dreamed of spending her life with.

“Well, he wasn't, and you need to get over it,” she ordered herself as she marched down the hall, pulling her keys from her purse as she did.

It was true, she really did need to get over it, but so far that hadn’t happened.

Even though she was twenty-nine years old, no longer a traumatized and confused seventeen-year-old girl, she still shied away from anything that hinted at a relationship.

She just didn't have it in her to hand her heart over to another person ever again.

Not a boyfriend anyway.

Her friends and her family had her heart, and she knew it was safe with them.

As she approached her front door, Teresa’s steps slowed.

Something looked off.

Felt off.

While she worked with former special forces operatives all day every day, both Tobias and Josiah, who were part of Cyber Team, and all the men and women serving on Prey’s other teams, she’d heard of a gut feeling but never experienced it for herself before.

If she was being honest, she’d never quite believed it was a thing. Thought it was more just the operative’s training and experience rather than some sort of undefinable feeling deep inside you.

It turned out she’d been wrong.

It existed.

At least it did if this weird anxiety inside her was anything to go by.

Doing her best to brush it off, Teresa let her gaze roam over the front door.

It was closed, just like it had been when she and Chelsea left this morning.

Normally, she would have headed home with her friend, but Chelsea had decided to bunk at the office tonight because she was coming down with a cold and hadn't felt like making the trek home only to make the trip back to the office a few hours later.

Maybe the knot in her stomach had less to do with her front door and more to do with the fact that she had allowed her ex to creep his way into her mind.

It might have been more than a decade since he ghosted her, but that didn’t mean the pain was completely gone.

How could it? He hadn't just left, he’d left when she was broken and hurting.

Without a word, without an explanation. Without a goodbye. Just gone.

“Get over it, Teresa,” she coached herself. “It’s time to stop letting that man rule your life. Maybe it’s time to actually move on. Properly move on. As in, put yourself back out there in the dating scene.”

It was a terrifying thought, and one that had her hand actually trembling as she slid the key in the lock and swung the door open.

Right as it was opening, she finally got why she’d felt weird.

Seemed a gut feeling was a real thing after all.

Because it wasn't thoughts of her ex that had her feeling like a rock was sitting heavily in her stomach, it was the fact that the Easter wreath still hanging on the door was upside down.

Even though Easter had come and gone, they'd been so busy working on taking down the organ trafficking ring that she and Chelsea hadn't had the time to spare to take down the decorations she had insisted they put up.

Decorating for holidays was one of her favorite things to do, but now the cute little wreath, with colorful eggs and a white bunny sitting on them, was nothing more than a foreshadowing of what was to come.

What was to come turned out to be stepping inside her home and finding it had been trashed.

The expensive pieces of art that made up Ava’s collection had been ripped off the walls and shredded with a sharp object.

The TV lay on the floor, the screen shattered.

Red paint—at least she prayed it was paint—had been poured all over their beige lounges, and the Easter decorations that she had lovingly put up were lying scattered about the room.

Worse than that was what had been painted along one of the walls.

Just two words, but they spoke volumes.

Back off.

There wasn't any need to say more than that. The warning was clear. The threat was clear.

It was the organ trafficking ring, it had to be. Who else would go to the trouble of breaking into their apartment and trashing the place? They already knew the ring was aware of where they lived because they’d abducted Ava from this very room just last month.

Now they’d come back.

Were they still here?

Panic hit then as Teresa realized she might not actually be alone in the apartment. Part of her wanted to go running through the place. Check to see what damage had been left in the kitchen and their bedrooms.

But the other part—the sensible part—knew she had to leave now.

Otherwise, she’d wind up like Ava had, tied to a bed, helpless to do anything to stop those people from removing her organs one by one until there was nothing left.

Already pulling her cell phone from her purse, Teresa gave one last glance around her apartment, then she turned and ran back down the hall, calling her boss’ number as she went.

April 28 th

10:30 P.M.

Stepping out of the elevator, Micah Hart walked across the lobby, wondering what he was going to do for the rest of the night.

The SEAL had flown out with his teammate Nathaniel Trevino, who was visiting with his new girlfriend, Ava. He’d intended to hang out with the couple for a while, then find a hotel to crash in.

Unfortunately, the evening had been cut short when the couple received a call from Ava’s friend and roommate. Apparently, there had been a break-in at the apartment Ava shared with her friends and colleagues. Something to do with the organ trafficking ring that Prey had been hunting.

The same ring that first connected Nathaniel and Ava.

His buddy was supposed to tag a ship being used by the organ traffickers, but got sidetracked when he discovered a life raft floating alone in the ocean. Inside that raft had been Ava, and the two had clicked immediately, and were now well on their way to falling in love.

If they hadn't already.

Love.

What a lie that was.

Micah shook his head in disgust. While he was happy that his friend was happy, and Ava seemed like a great person, he wasn't sure he believed in the whole concept of falling in love anymore.

Not since he’d been betrayed by the girl he thought he loved. The girl he thought loved him back. Turned out she’d get on her back for anyone, including multiple anyones at the same time.