Page 34 of Rescuing Micah (Prey Security: Cyber Team #3)

“Teresa!” he yelled into his phone as he caught sight of the door heading into the second floor swinging closed.

Someone might have just fled through it and joined everyone else on the stairs, or if someone had deliberately pulled Teresa away from him, they might have disappeared with her through it.

He was pretty sure there was no actual problem inside the building, whoever had triggered the alarm would know that, so they would know it was safe to hide out in one of the now-empty apartments.

The second floor was also close enough to the ground to jump out a window.

Glad he’d insisted on them having the phone connection as well as him holding her hand, he yelled into his cell, “Where are you? Call out to me, tell me where to find you!”

For a moment, there was nothing.

Then he heard it.

A frail wisp of a sound.

“Micah. Need you.” Her words were faint, and he wondered whether there was a possibility that she had been drugged. She was still recovering, but she’d been doing much better, the infection clearing, her strength returning, and she’d been fine when they left her apartment a few minutes ago.

For something to have changed in that short time, it had to have been caused by something and drugs were the most likely.

“I hear you, pretty girl, I'm coming, hold on for me,” he ordered as he fought his way through the people trying to push him down along with them. He had to get up to that door, his gut was telling him that’s where Teresa had been taken.

“Hurry.”

Following the whispered word, he heard a clunk like her phone had been dropped.

Dropped or forcefully taken from her?

Either way, it didn't really matter except to his own mind because forcefully taken meant she was fighting, but dropped meant she might be unconscious, no longer able to help him get to her.

“Teresa! You still there? Answer me, pretty girl, tell me you're okay,” he pleaded as he shoved people out of his way with more force than he usually would have used.

But he was consumed with fear for his girl, it was all he could think about, it flooded his system, threatening to render him useless.

Making his way to the door, he flung it open, and his gaze immediately landed on the slight glow on the floor about three apartments down.

A phone.

Running to it, he could hear his own voice echoing from it as he called out Teresa’s name over and over again.

Snatching it up, he found it was indeed her phone, and the door to the apartment it had been lying in front of was partially open.

Disconnecting the call, Micah shoved both cell phones into his pockets and palmed his weapon.

There was no way he’d been leaving Teresa’s place knowing they were walking into a trap without being armed, but he’d kept it out of sight as they’d made their way down the stairs, not wanting to cause additional panic and risk a stampede which could potentially cost lives.

Now he gripped his weapon in his hand as he carefully edged open the apartment door.

It was dark inside, quiet, and he could see curtains fluttering at the open living room window.

There was a chance it was a decoy, or that the homeowner had simply had the windows open already when they left and not thought to close them, but his gut told him that whoever had taken Teresa was no longer in the apartment.

They weren't hiding, ready to take him out as well, last time they’d only abducted him along with Teresa because it was more convenient.

This time around, trying to abduct two people would be an added burden that could get them caught.

Running to the window, he looked out, scanning the crowd for a glimpse of his girl.

Too many people. Too close together. Sirens of police cars and fire trucks swirled with the fire alarm, and the flashing of their lights made it more difficult to scan the sea of people for the only one he wanted to catch a glimpse of.

Or maybe it was his own fear that made it harder to focus.

Panic like he’d never felt before thudded through his system with each beat of his heart.

Terror like he’d never known before.

He’d been in life-or-death situations in his career as a SEAL. There had even been times when he had been positive he wasn't going to make it out the other side. He’d also lost friends and teammates, and knew the crushing grief of someone you cared about being snatched away much too soon.

But he’d never had anyone he loved in danger like this.

His teammates were like brothers, and he loved them, but in a very different way than the love he felt for Teresa. That love was all-consuming, it entwined their souls and made them one. Losing her would destroy something in him that could never be repaired.

As he scanned the gathered mass of people and didn't spot Teresa, Micah’s hope began to dim.

Where was she?

“Teresa!” he screamed out the window. She’d sounded so weak on the phone, and he was sure that if she could have held onto it, she would have, because she knew it was a lifeline that could lead him right to her.

Just as he opened his mouth to yell her name again, he noticed something on the edge of the crowd.

A man was carrying a woman.

All he could see was a dark head resting against a shoulder, but it was all he needed to see.

Uncaring about anything other than getting to Teresa before it was too late, Micah threw himself out the window. He barely felt the jar as his feet slammed into the concrete below, because he was already moving.

Had to get to his girl.

Couldn’t let them take her from him.

As he ran, Micah pulled out his cell phone and called Raven Oswald. He had no doubt that the men watching the building had already called in about the fire alarm, that more Prey operatives were already en route, but he needed them to know Teresa was gone.

“Micah? What's going on? Are you two somewhere safe?” Raven’s voice came down the line almost immediately.

“No,” he said, keeping his gaze locked on the man he’d seen carrying the woman as he dodged around a couple of little kids giggling about the excitement and not looking where they were going.

“What happened?”

“They got her. Maybe drugged her. Took her through an apartment and out a window. I'm following them, but they’re too far ahead of me, and there are too many people.” The next words he had to say almost clogged in his throat.

He didn't want to say them. Didn't want them to be true.

“I don’t think I'm going to get to her in time.”

The sense of failure that rushed through him as he admitted that out loud made him stagger. He was failing his girl all over again, and this time her very life was on the line.

“We already have the footage from the CCTV cameras running, we’ll try to get a lock on her, anything you can give us to narrow down where she is will help,” Raven told him.

“A van,” he yelled, picking up the pace, forcing himself to run faster than he ever had before. “They’re putting her into a van. Hey!” he screamed at the men still a good fifty yards or so ahead of him, with at least several dozen people blocking the way. “Put her down and get on your knees.”

One of the men looked over his shoulder at Micah as Teresa was tossed into the van. The man searched the crowd, and Micah knew the exact moment he was spotted because the other man smirked as he joined the others in the van and slammed the door shut behind him.

“No!” Micah yelled. He lifted his weapon, but there was no way to get a clear shot at the van to disable it without risking hitting one of the many people milling about.

Instead, he was forced to stand there and watch as the van disappeared, taking Teresa away with it.

She was gone.

He’d lost her.

Failed her.

Let her down when she was counting on him.

Again.