Page 2

CHAPTER 2

February 29 th

9:13 P.M.

A dark figure loomed above her as Ava swam back to consciousness.

Instinct had her fists swinging as a scream fell from her lips.

Too late she remembered that the doctors and nurses here didn't like it when you screamed. Some less than others. Some would even punish you for it.

Like this one apparently planned to.

A hand clamped down over her mouth, muffling her screams, and fiery pain burst through her body when she was jerked about as the figure manhandled her into a different position.

“Shh,” the soft voice edged through her pain-filled terror. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just really need you to stop screaming.”

It was a new voice, one she didn't recall hearing before. While she had likely seen almost two dozen doctors and nurses since she’d been kidnapped, there were about half a dozen who were her regular carers.

This guy wasn't one of them.

Someone new?

The hand that covered her mouth lifted slightly, and fingertips gently caressed her skin.

The soft gesture had tears springing to her eyes. No one had touched her with anything that wasn't clinical detachment and cruel pain since she’d been abducted. Now here was a man being kind to her and her scrambled brain didn't know what to make of it.

“You escaped, do you remember that? You got into a life raft, and that’s where I found you. If you keep fighting me, I'm worried I'm going to hurt you. That’s not what I want, but I also don’t want us to be spotted. Do you think you can relax for me?”

Could she?

To be honest, Ava wasn't even really aware of the fact that she was still fighting against the man.

Now that she took stock, she found he’d shifted her so they were both sitting in the bottom of the life raft with her back to his front. He had an arm locked around her torso, right under her breasts, and carefully avoiding the no doubt open wound on her stomach. His fingers still caressed her jaw, and the soothing motion did actually help to calm a little of her raging fear.

Of its own accord, her body must have decided to do as he said because she slumped down against him, and his hold on her shifted slightly, loosening some while still holding her up. Without that arm across her middle, she was pretty sure she would slide back down to lie in a heap on the floor of the boat.

“Good girl,” the man praised, and his hand slowly moved from her mouth, remaining close enough that he could clamp it back down if she started screaming again.

She wouldn't.

Not only because she was too exhausted, but because something about this man made her feel safe.

“You did good, you know that, right? You remember that you got yourself off the boat?”

Off the boat?

Right.

For some reason Ava both knew she was in the life raft and felt like she was still back on the ship in her room.

“I remember,” she whispered. If she had enough energy left in her she’d be worried about the barely there wisp of a sound that was her voice.

“What you did was amazing, should have been impossible, yet you did it. Can you tell me your name, superwoman?”

The silly nickname drew a small chuckle out of her, and she tilted her head up to see the outline of a man looking back down at her. He was dressed in what looked like scuba diving clothes, but she doubted he was out playing in the ocean in the middle of the night.

“I’m Ava. Ava Hendricks.”

“Nice to meet you, Ava. I'm Nathaniel. I know you must be really scared, but I promise I will do whatever I have to do to keep you safe.”

Given that she worked for Prey Security, which mostly hired former military, including two of her Cyber Team members, there was not a doubt in her mind that Nathaniel was special forces, probably a SEAL because of what he was wearing and their location.

“SEAL?” she asked.

For a moment, he tensed. “Why do you ask?”

“I work for Prey.” There was no need to say more. Everyone in the armed forces world knew of Prey.

A small chuckle rumbled through the chest she was propped up against. “You don’t say. No wonder you found a way to get yourself out. Eagle Oswald would be proud.”

Eagle Oswald was the founder and CEO of Prey Security. The oldest of six siblings who had been raised off-the-grid until their parents were murdered. After an injury ended his SEAL career, Eagle decided to use his skills and the money he and his siblings inherited to start Prey. Now all six siblings were involved in various areas of the company, and Ava worked for the second oldest Oswald sibling, Raven, in the cyber division.

“Raven too,” she murmured, feeling what little strength she had left oozing out of her body.

As though sensing her decline, Nathaniel shifted her so she was lying flat on her back with him kneeling beside her. “Raven, huh?” he asked. “You’re part of the cyber team?”

“I am.”

“Prey looking into this organ trafficking ring?”

“No. I didn't even know about them until they grabbed me. But the SEALs know something.”

“Was here to plant a tracker on the ship after we got a tip,” he explained. “Then I saw the life raft and came to check it out. The last thing I expected to find was one of their victims.” His hands hovered above her stomach, but he didn't touch her. “Is it okay if I check out your wound?”

It was the first time in what felt like forever that someone had asked permission before touching her, had treated her like a real person and not just a body full of money, and the small gesture had tears once again burning the backs of her eyes.

When she gave a small nod, Nathaniel eased up her hospital gown to expose the wound. Since nobody in the trafficking ring cared about her in the least except about how much money she could make them, her comfort levels didn't rate at all. Because of that, she hadn't been given underwear to wear, so she was naked, her body now bared for this man to see.

Embarrassment added to the already flushed feeling of her skin, and she turned her head so she didn't have to look at Nathaniel. His hands were gentle as he probed the area around the wound, and cool, feeling wonderful against her overheated skin.

“Stitches popped, probably because the wound is infected. The skin’s all red and inflamed,” Nathaniel told her what she’d already guessed on her own. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a med kit on me. This was supposed to be a quick in and out. Put the tracker on the ship and leave. I wasn't expecting to find an escaped victim of the ring.”

If he wasn't expecting her, did that mean …

No.

The SEALs wouldn't leave her behind.

Especially now that he knew she worked for Prey. Even if he didn't, she had been on that boat, she had intel she could share.

For that reason alone, he had to take her with him.

Didn't he?

Panic pounded her system, making her dizzy as she quickly turned her head to face Nathaniel, and reached out to grab his hands.

“Don’t leave me here, please,” she begged, hearing the hysterical note creeping into her voice. “If they find me, they’ll take me back. If I'm too sick for them to treat, they’ll cut their losses, kill me, and take whatever organs are still good. If I’m not too sick, they’ll just put me back in that room, tie me back down to the bed, and keep taking my organs until there are none left.”

For however long since she’d been kidnapped, Ava had managed to hold it together, keep her fear under control, and wait for an opportunity to escape. Now that she’d found one and was so close to being free, to be left behind to face death either at the hands of her abductors or to the infection that was slowly claiming her body was too much.

She didn't want to die.

She wanted to live.

Nathaniel might be the only thing standing between her and death, and she couldn’t let him just leave her behind.

“Please,” she babbled, aware of his lips moving but unable to make out the words past the rushing sound in her ears. “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me. Please.”

Clawing at his body, she managed to drag herself up off the floor of the boat and attach herself to Nathaniel. He was bigger and stronger than her. Even if she wasn't ill he would be able to dislodge her, but somehow her panicked mind didn't get that.

It just thought if she held onto Nathaniel, he’d have to take her with him.

Pain and fear swirled inside her, drawing her back into the darkness of unconsciousness, but Ava still clung to the SEAL, begging and pleading, until it was too late, and she sank down into the black, unsure if she would ever surface again.

* * *

February 29 th

9:21 P.M.

Ava passed out in his arms, leaving Nathaniel staring at her with his heart clenched in his chest.

Her pain …

Her fear …

Never in his life had he felt anything like it.

In his career in the SEALs, of course, he had seen horrific things. Seen men and women, sometimes even children, dying terrible deaths. Seen the destruction men on a power trip could leave behind in their wake.

Even as a child, he’d heard wails of pain that felt like they chilled your blood, turning it into icy sludge that was no longer capable of traveling through your veins.

No stranger to other people’s fear, he had never had such a visceral reaction to another person’s pain before in his life.

It left him feeling shaky, and he was sure he was trembling every bit as much as the body that he held cradled against his chest.

Maybe it was because he knew how strong Ava Hendricks had to be not just to survive her ordeal but actually find a way to save herself. He didn't need to know anything else about her. She had held it together enough while in pain and sick, to keep alert and attentive for opportunities to escape and then grabbed hold of one when it presented itself. She’d gotten herself to a lifeboat and gotten it into the water. She’d done the impossible.

And then all of a sudden, it all caught up with her, and he’d witnessed her break down.

How could he not be affected by that?

Any indecision he’d felt before now evaporated.

There was no way in hell he was leaving this woman behind regardless of any orders he might be given.

Activating his comms, he kept Ava tucked close against him, unwilling—or perhaps even, in this moment, unable—to let her go.

“Report,” his commander’s voice came down the line.

“I found an unexpected package,” he informed his commander.

“Explain.”

“One of the victims got herself off the boat. Found her in a raft,” he explained. His entire body felt tense as he awaited his orders. The last thing he wanted was to wind up court-martialed, but he also wasn't leaving this woman behind.

It would be a death sentence, and the thought of Ava dead left him feeling empty. No one who had fought this hard to live deserved to die.

“Is it done?”

“Not yet, sir,” he replied, wondering if he should have left the life raft to investigate after he tagged the ship. That way his commander would have no reason to insist that he leave Ava behind.

“That’s imperative,” his commander reminded him as though he might have forgotten. Nathaniel was aware that this needed to be done, he just wasn't okay with doing it at Ava’s expense.

“I’ll tag the ship, sir,” he assured his commander.

“Then you need to get out of there. They likely know she’s missing by now which means they’ll be searching the area. If they find you with her, this is all over.”

Nathaniel had to bite his tongue to snap back that if they found Ava it would be all over for her. She’d be dragged back to hell, and this time her captors would ensure there was no way for her to escape.

Before his commander could issue an outright order that he was going to have to disobey and worry about the consequences to his career when he got back home, a huge gust of wind blew up, informing him a storm was coming.

Luck was on his side because, against all the odds, the storm must have disrupted his comms link to his commander.

Could he really be that lucky?

His commander hadn't actually said that he had to leave Ava behind, and he could definitely play up the fact that she was a valuable tool because she had insider intel they couldn’t get anywhere else. The fact that she worked for Prey was an added bonus, there was no way his commander would want to face the might and power of the infamous Eagle Oswald if he gave an order to leave one of Prey’s people behind.

Perfect.

Nathaniel smiled as he carefully eased Ava down until she was lying on her back in the bottom of the boat. He was going to have to move fast, though. His commander was correct. It was likely that they were aware Ava was missing already, which meant they’d be searching the boat for her. Once they realized a life raft was missing, they would search the ocean instead.

With the storm brewing he was going to have to swim as quickly as possible to the ship so he could tag it, then get back to Ava, all before anyone on that boat learned she was no longer on it.

“I’ll be right back, okay, Ava? I swear, I am not leaving you behind. I’ll be right back, and then I'm going to get us the hell out of here.”

Considering the major panic attack she’d had when she thought he wasn't going to save her, diving out of the raft and back into the water was harder than it should have been. Usually, Nathaniel wouldn't allow himself to form an emotional attachment with anyone outside of his team, his brothers, even if they weren't related by blood. Their brotherhood had been formed in blood, and that bond ran deeper than anything else ever could.

But Ava was different.

Ava was a warrior, too, and you never left a fellow warrior behind.

Smooth strokes quickly ate up the distance between him and the ship, and once he reached it he planted the tracker just like he was supposed to. His commander could not possibly discipline him for following the mission briefing to a T, not even if he left in the life raft instead of swimming.

All he had to do was get the raft back to the exfil location and then bring Ava back up onto the helo with him. As soon as his commander learned of the inside intel he’d gotten them it would be stupid to discipline him in any way. Besides, if his commander had outright ordered him to leave Ava behind, he hadn't heard it.

Anxious to get back to the raft to check on her, Nathaniel pushed himself as hard as he could. Just because he wasn't going to leave her behind didn't mean she was out of the woods. She was still a sick woman, and she was out there on the ocean, in nothing but a life raft, with a storm brewing.

As soon as he reached the lifeboat, which had taken him longer than he would have liked because the storm was whipping up the waves, Nathaniel hauled himself into it and immediately dropped to his knees at Ava’s side. She was lying right where he’d left her, so she hadn't regained consciousness. A blessing since she would have thought he’d left her when he wasn't there, but a curse because it meant she was sicker than he could deal with right now.

“Hey, Ava, I'm back,” he told her as he touched her neck like he had when he first discovered her. Just like last time, he was rewarded with the flutter of her pulse bumping against his fingertips. “Told you I wasn't going to leave you.”

Now all he had to do was figure out how to get this raft to the extraction point. Last resort would be taking Ava in the water with him. It would make them less visible, but with her so sick the cold water would bring her body temperature dangerously low extremely quickly, plus she was bleeding which meant she was a beacon for sharks.

Before he could decide on the best and quickest method of getting her to help, the helicopter sitting on the ship’s deck suddenly whirred to life.

Not only did it lift up into the sky, but a searchlight flipped on.

They knew.

Knew that Ava was gone. Knew the lifeboat was missing. Knew she had to have been the one to take it and were beginning their search for her.

There was no way the helo wouldn't find them. They weren't far from the boat, so it wasn't going to take them long to be spotted. Looked like they would be jumping into the water after all.

Two people in the ocean, at night, in the middle of choppy seas and a storm would be a whole lot harder to spot than the little boat. Plus, it would provide the perfect distraction because as soon as the search party saw the boat, they would assume that Ava was in it. They’d send out a team to collect her, but they weren't going to find her.

“Sorry, Ava, you're about to get wet and a whole lot colder,” he told her as he scooped her into his arms. Swimming in a storm with an unconscious woman wasn't going to be easy, but it wasn't like he had any other choice.

The search beam was sweeping closer, and if he didn't move now, they were going to be spotted, his mission would be compromised, and Ava’s life would be forfeited.