Rescued by the SEAL (Black Ops)

He was right. Even from a traffic cam, the condition of the wheel was obvious. It was cleaner, especially the tread, but from the small amount in the grooves, it was clear that they had no wear on them.

Deacon found the differences in the other vans, and then we went back to the footage of all of them on the highway. Once we singled out the van holding Cora, we followed the vehicle to a warehouse on the edge of the next town over. The van disappeared through a garage door, and nothing emerged in the time between then and now.

I stood to my full height and glared at the screen for a moment, then snapped, “Let’s roll.”

We made our way to my garage, where I kept my tactical shit. It was all civilian-grade equipment but would do the job. After gearing up, we loaded into my SUV and set a course for the warehouse.

It wasn’t a long drive, but I knew how quickly we arrived could make all the difference. I was usually calm and cool during missions, but this time it involved my girl, and I was jumpy and out of sorts.

What if I didn’t arrive in time? What if he hurt her, or they were gone? I was kicking myself for dragging my feet. For never feeling her body pressed to mine, never tasting her sweet lips. If—when we rescued her, I vowed to stop being such an asshole and man up. I was going to claim my woman.

Stirling had advanced driving training, so I deferred to him when it came to getting behind the wheel. He managed to cut the thirty-minute trip down to fifteen, but still, every minute had chafed.

My phone rang just as Stirling was parking the car down a back road, under a copse of trees to make it less obvious to passersby. I was going to ignore it, but the name on the screen caught my eye. Shadow. Shit.

It was the stupid name I’d given Merrick, my former teammate, after he’d gone dark. A few years back, we’d been betrayed by a member of our team, and it had nearly cost several of us our careers...and lives. Merrick had been the one to go rogue and take the traitor out. Since then, he’d joined a corporation as a wetwork specialist. Wouldn't have been the road I’d chosen, but he was still my friend, and I owed him.

“Can this wait?” I barked in lieu of a greeting.

“I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say before you go into that warehouse, guns blazing,” he drawled.

What the fuck?

“This is a ‘you help me, I’ll help you’ kind of call.”

“Details,” I demanded impatiently.

“The man you’re hunting, Jack Carlson, he’s one of my targets. I’ve got my hands full with an...unexpected situation.”

I heard a muffled voice in the background, and he covered the receiver to say something to them. But his words still came through. “You’re going to earn yourself another spanking, Audrey. Now, be a good little girl and behave.”

My eyebrows shot up, but I didn’t have time to figure out what kind of shit Merrick had gotten himself into. When he spoke again, it was unmuffled. “I’m going to send you the warehouse blueprints. Take him out for me, and I’ll owe you.”

“No,” I disagreed. “You’ll never owe me, brother.”

Merrick was silent for a moment. “It’ll make us square then.”

“Deal.”

“You’ll have the plans in thirty seconds. Send proof that it’s done for my employer. Just keep everyone out of the fucking picture so no one realizes it wasn’t me who did the job.”

“Done,” I agreed. Even though he was no longer with the Navy, I murmured, “Hooyah,” because it still represented the bond we shared.

He repeated the phrase, then we hung up just as my phone pinged with an incoming secure email.

The boys were all quiet, and Deacon was watching me with one eyebrow raised.

“Merrick needs a favor. He sent the blueprints.”

That was all they needed to hear.

We’d studied the warehouse from aerial views, and after going over the blueprints, we found two entrances other than the garage door. There were some windows as well, but they were high up near the roof, and anyone dumb enough to jump from one of those wouldn’t be running anywhere. We unloaded from the van and armed ourselves to the teeth before stealthily approaching the building.

I pointed two fingers toward the front. Cash and Stirling nodded and went that way while Deacon and I trekked to the back. The door was heavy steel, not something we could bust our way through without the right equipment. A noisy entrance would only alert the robbers anyway.

Deacon rolled his eyes after inspecting the keypad mounted on the wall. In less than thirty seconds, he’d bypassed the alarm and unlocked the door.