The Colonel's restless feet stopped. "She's already here."
"Where?" Monica asked.
"Damn it, she's inside that plane." The Colonel's commanding tone stated it as if his will alone could make it so.
"No, Colonel, she's not in the plane."
The seasoned Ranger winced, his eyes shutting tight. "Shit."
Yasmine wasn't here? A bad feeling itched up Jack's spine that had nothing to do with the sand in the wind.
Colonel Cullen's eyes snapped open as he yanked his radio up to his mouth, barking out orders for a search. And under all the Colonel's gruff, Jack saw clearly the gut fear, felt the echo of it slam right into his own chest.
Things were about to go to hell.
And just like a week ago when Monica had demanded her rightful place in being there for her sister, she would be in the thick of things now for this sister, as well. Already, he could see her shoulders bracing into battlefield mode. Her will strengthening to steel. This independent, incredible woman who never played life safe, would always be in the middle of things for others.
The hell of digging deep was that now he had to face just how deeply he loved Monica. And how deep it would slice if he lost her.
Chapter 21
Drew pounded sand with his boots. Each heavy step in his search for Yasmine increased the kinks in his muscles. Damn. Damn. Damn it! How the hell did one slip of a woman land herself into so much trouble?
Anger chugged in time with his pace through the compound. Yes, anger. He was just angry. He focused on that emotion and let it power him through his search of buildings so the fear wouldn't sink debilitating claws into him.
She was fine. Likely sitting in some building readjusting her goddamned scarf and thinking up ways to make his life hell. When he found her, he would shout the walls down around her ears until she realized how reckless she'd been and he could pretend he hadn't screwed up.
Shit. He'd been so concerned with keeping his distance, afraid of weakening around her, he.hadn't kept track of her. Now she was missing. God only knew where. God only know who with.
And please, God, let her be alive.
He forced himself to stop. Think. Get his head out of his ass and figure out where she was. Where someone might take her.
Where had he seen her last?
His eyes landed back on the isolated cement building where he and Yasmine had ridden out the storm. They'd checked already, and she wasn't there.
But how thoroughly had they searched?
Since he'd already spent hours in there without anything blowing him up, they'd logged the building as secure. But was it? He strode closer across the gritty path.
"Colonel?"
The heavily accented voice snagged his attention left, to the echo from behind the building. He jerked his M-16 hip level. Ready.
A shadow slanted around the corner, large, long morphing as two shapes blended and separated and blended again until...
Yasmine stepped around the corner. A rope looped around her waist. Ammar al-Khayr—a face he knew from countless intelligence files and CNN reports—loomed behind her, bound to her. Too close for Drew to risk a shot. He refused to see her scarf askew in a way his Sheba never would have allowed had her hands been free.
Fear for Yasmine sunk those claws deep into his anger until he felt it deflate with a sinister hiss.
Swallowing back bile, he shut down a thousand images of this woman scrolling through his mind. Instincts. Training. He had to count on it now because his mind was one helluva mess.
Drew depressed the button on his radio so his RTO would hear what was going down and hopefully send reinforcements over. Fast. "You don't have to do this, al-Khayr. Hell, I'm sure you've got information our government would be more than willing to trade for some retirement villa. Just let the woman go."
"The woman?" Ammar laughed, dipped his head to brush his mouth against her temple. "You mean your woman, do you not, Colonel? What charming conversations the two of you had during the storm."
Tunnels beneath the building. Shit. He'd searched and missed it. Because of the dark or his messed-up mind around Yasmine? A weakness he couldn't afford now.