Page 51 of Stranded with the SEAL

Hawk and Jax made eye contact, knowing how much could happen in a minute. “If he doesn’t get it in sixty seconds,” said Hawk, “I’m firing into that room.”

“He’ll get it,” said Jax.

They looked back through the window. The girl was sobbing openly now, and Hawk’s finger twitched on his weapon.

The sprinklers went on in the room, water pouring out everywhere. Steele dumped the girl on the floor in his rush to stand, quickly running from the room as he held up his pants.

“Nice job, Doc,” said Jax. “Now deactivate the alarm.”

“Done.”

Hawk moved to the kitchenette window. Steele was alone and appeared to be cursing as he dabbed at his wet clothes with a towel. Hawk moved on to the next room, which was dark, and turned on his night vision goggles. It was an office, a perfect point of entry. He took out glass and wire cutters from his pack and began to work.

He was nearly in when Logan spoke again.

“Uh oh, we’ve got trouble. Brooke Barrons just walked in the front door.”

Hawk froze, his heart in his chest. “Olivia?”

“That’s the one. She’s with a man, considerably taller than her.”

“Are you sure it’s her?”

“My mom used to watchThe Young and the Restless. It’s definitely her,” said Logan.

Hawk turned to Jax. “Why would she follow us? I told her to stay in the chopper.”

Jax shrugged. “She’s engaged to him. Maybe she wanted to be here. Logan, cut the sprinklers.”

So Olivia had her memory back, and the first thing she did was head out to see her fiancé. He wanted to bash his fist into something hard. She couldn’t even wait until he came back to the helicopter to tell him where she was going.

“Wait a second,” Hawk said. “How did she get here, Logan?”

“Let me rewind the surveillance video,” said Logan.

Jax eyed Hawk intently. “It doesn’t change anything, does it?”

“Hell yes, it does,” said Hawk.

Logan’s voice was calm in their ears. “Checking, hang on…”

Hawk’s mind raced while he waited, looking for any other explanation for her presence here right now and finding none.

“Got it,” said Logan. “She arrived on a snowmobile with the tall guy.”

“Gallant,” said Hawk. He met Jax’s stare. “He’s Steele’s henchman. He’s the one who tortured Ralph before Steele killed him.”

“What the hell’s he doing with her?” asked Jax.

Hawk shook his head. “I have no idea. But we can’t assume she’s here of her own free will.” Even as he said it, he knew what the rest of the team was thinking. That he was a sucker, pure and simple.

He gritted his teeth and carefully removed the glass, placing it in the snow behind them. “On my six,” he said to Jax, then entered the dark room feet first.

A phone rang in the distance as Jax climbed in behind him, and they slipped through the kitchenette and toward the open door to Steele’s office.

“What is it?” said Steele into the phone. “It’s about goddamn time. Do you know what it’s cost me to feed these people for three weeks? What about the roads between here and the bridge?” He nodded. “Excellent. So we move them early in the morning. And tell D’jar there’s a ten percent surcharge to cover unforeseen expenses. I’m not running a boardinghouse for third-world indigents.”

Hawk strained his ears to hear the phone hanging up, then Steele talking again. Hawk moved closer, desperate for a visual.