Marked (Hostage Rescue Team Series) (21 page)

He took out his phone and pulled up Jake’s number but an incoming call interrupted him. When he saw his CO’s number on the display, he silently cursed. “Tuck here,” he answered.

“You need to get down here ASAP,” the man said. “Your team’s on standby for a developing situation.”

“Has to do with a kidnapping?” he guessed.

“No. Bomb plot unfolding with mass hostages at risk. Get in here.”

Shit.
And he’d bet this also had to do with the cell that had Rachel.

He’d just have to try to reach Jake during the drive to Quantico. “On my way.”

****

Jake’s blood pressure plummeted as his commander’s words registered.

Rachel had been taken hostage.

The kidnappers—Xang and some of his fellow cell members—had sent the FBI a link to a live feed of her and her brother, bound and gagged in an empty room on the top floor of a hotel she had helped design. The camera angle wasn’t great, giving them only a limited line of sight into the room, but there was nothing they could do about the lack of visibility from here.

They’d have to go in blind because explosives had been planted in the building. One device had already gone off, starting a fire on the third floor. Fire crews were on scene with ladder trucks but they couldn’t gain access to the building because of the threat of more bombs.

Recent chatter said that they were going to blow critical stress points in the building’s infrastructure to bring it down like the Twin Towers, killing the nearly eight hundred occupants trapped in the floors above the fire if emergency crews didn’t get them out quickly. Punishment for the Chinese government’s harsh treatment of the Uyghur people, their economic ties to the U.S., and America’s involvement in the War on Terror.

Seemed fishy as hell that all that chatter would just happen to be released as the plot was unfolding. The whole fucking thing stank of a setup and every man in the room thought the same thing.

Jake gripped the edge of the table so tight his knuckles turned white. It took a monumental effort to focus on the rest of the briefing. Team assignments. Threat assessment. Sniper positions. Primary and backup plans. Emergency exfil plans.

“Okay boys, let’s do this thing right,” DeLuca said, straightening. “Nobody goes in until the EOD teams give us the green light.”

Jake didn’t know if he could stand that—to wait on the sidelines for them to clear the building of explosives, all the while knowing they could go off at any moment and bring the building toppling down with Rachel inside it. The helos standing by at the airfield couldn’t get them there fast enough for his liking.

DeLuca gripped his shoulder. “You tight?”

“Yeah,” he forced out. All of his training, all his discipline meant shit in the face of the threat confronting Rachel. The only reason he was even still allowed on the op was because they couldn’t afford to waste time trying to find someone to fill his spot. Every man on the team trusted him with their life, and vice versa. If he wasn’t locked in, someone could die.

“Let’s get loaded up.”

In full tactical gear, they all headed to the vehicle pool. Other teams were already assembling to develop their own plans in case things went sideways and they needed multiple assault teams on site. No one knew for sure how many terrorists were at the hotel, if any. They might have planted everything then run like the fucking cowards they were.

Fighting like hell to stay in the zone and not think about Rachel’s life hinging on the success of this op, Jake loaded into one of the trucks and the team raced to the airport where the helos were launched from. He jumped out with five of his teammates while two other vehicles unloaded in front of them.

Two sleek Blackhawk helicopters sat perched on the tarmac, rotors already turning. Once the order was given to launch, they could be on scene and infiltrating the hotel within eleven minutes.

But the waiting was goddamn killing him. Despite his effort to think only of the floor plans they’d studied and other critical info for the op, his mind kept jumping back to last night when he’d had Rachel naked and coming apart in his arms. Then this morning when she’d almost brought him to his knees in the shower, and the adoration he’d seen in her eyes.

He checked his watch for what felt like the dozenth time in as many minutes. Only seven had passed.

“Gotta give ‘em time to do their job, man,” Bauer rumbled beside him. “Until those bombs are found and taken care of, we’re not going anywhere.”

“I know.” It just wasn’t nearly fucking fast enough for his liking.

Tidbits of information began to trickle in as agents on scene updated them. One EOD team had found a device and was in the process of defusing it. The cops had already established a secure perimeter, and guests lucky enough to be escaping the hotel were being rushed away from the scene. The entire area was on lockdown.

God, he wanted to see that live feed again, just to assure himself that Rachel was still alive.

Bauer’s big hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed tight. “We’re gonna get her out, farmboy. Gonna pull this off like you read about.”

Jake nodded, too keyed up to respond. To block everything out and get back into operational mode, he closed his eyes and focused on breathing. Envisioned the floor plan, how they were going to infiltrate the building, the turns they would make once inside.

A sense of calm began to spread through him, dispelling the fear and unease.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the game. All his teammates were there, locked and loaded, ready to go to work. And they were the best in the world at what they did, along with Delta and ST6. Some of the guys had come from those tier-one units.

“Wheels up in four minutes,” DeLuca called out from the command truck, his phone held to his ear. “Radio and comms check now.”

Jake’s heart rate kicked up. Everyone checked that their communication equipment was working, then the team leader gave the signal and they all hustled for the helos, assault rifles at the ready. The pilots did their final check and the birds lifted off, climbing up to cruising altitude within a couple minutes.

Every man was quiet, each knowing their role, each knowing what was expected of him. When the hotel finally came into view, Jake’s heart rate had steadied and there was a calm inside him that always overtook him during ops.

The Blackhawks circled the top of the building, and, seeing no visible threats, descended to hover just above the rooftop. The crew chief of Jake’s helo readied the fastrope and gave a thumbs up to the team leader, who slid down to the roof. Jake was third in line. When it was his turn he gripped the rope between his gloved hands, clamped his boots together around it, and slid down.

Once on the ground he grasped his rifle and took a knee to provide perimeter security for the rest of the team who were still unloading from the birds. He knelt in position while the powerful rotor wash beat down on him, sending pieces of gravel and pigeon feathers scattering in the air.

A minute later the helos took off to return to base. At a solid thump on his shoulder to alert him the guys behind him were in place, Jake stacked up with the others at the steel door they were going to enter.

The team had been split into two assault elements; one to breach the door, and Jake’s to infiltrate the building first. Snipers were providing backup and giving them extra eyes on target. Someone from command would cut any remaining power to the building that hadn’t already been damaged by the earlier blast the moment they breached the door. Once they found the room where the hostages were, Jake’s team would enter and clear the room while the others provided security.

Two members checked the door for booby traps or tripwires, checked to see if was unlocked—it wasn’t—and gave the all clear. The team leader gave the signal and the breacher slammed his breaching tool into the steel door. It swung open and the men poured through it, into the darkness lit up by the green glow of their NVGs.

“Clear!”

Now Jake’s pulse picked up a notch. He followed close behind the man in front of him, sweeping past the other team down a short flight of concrete steps to an unlocked door. They checked for more tripwires and booby traps, then moved into the hallway beyond it.

A right turn into another empty hallway, then a left to another set of stairs. Down to the next level, another quick right turn and the room where Rachel was supposedly trapped lay on the left twenty yards ahead.

Silently the team made their way to the door. With no eyes inside and the snipers positioned on surrounding rooftops unable to see in here, they were all on their own. At a signal Schroder knelt down and used a snake camera to ease it under the door and take a sneak peak. Jake watched his teammate’s every move and battled his frustration at being so close to Rachel and yet so far. Xang and his men might have wired the entire room—hell, the entire floor—to blow if they so much as jostled the door.

“Two hostages inside, no tangos,” Schroder whispered, his voice barely carrying through Jake’s earpiece. “I don’t see anything rigged on the door.”

Maybe Xang’s crew had been more concerned with saving their own sorry asses and getting out as quickly as possible instead of wiring the place to blow.

The first man in line pulled out a universal keycard and waited for the order to try the door. They could blow it but it wasn’t necessary and with no visible tangos around there was no need to use that kind of violent entry. Jake stayed in place as he awaited the team leader’s signal to begin. He didn’t allow himself to think of Rachel in there, instead focusing on what had to be done to protect his teammates, eliminate whatever threats were on the other side of that door, and then rescue the hostages.

Tense seconds ticked by. Fourteen. Fifteen. Nobody moved, staying absolutely still.

“Execute.”

At the voice coming through their earpieces, the entry man slid in the keycard. A tiny green light appeared, signaling the door was unlocked. The entry man gingerly turned the door handle. When nothing exploded he pushed the door and the team poured into the room.

Through the green-lit display in his NVGs, Jake scanned the room. There were no tangos to be seen, just the two hostages strapped to their chairs.

Finally he allowed his gaze to focus on Rachel. She was tied to a chair, her back to him. She was looking over her shoulder right at him and the naked terror he saw in her eyes ricocheted through him like a hollow-point round. They’d gagged her, but she was trying to communicate to him, shaking her head so frantically that her hair rippled around her face. Even from where he stood he could see she was shaking.

And when she glanced pointedly back and down toward her bound hands then jerked her gaze back up to his, he understood it wasn’t just because of her ordeal.

In her bound, trembling hands she was holding a live grenade.

If Rachel had been afraid before, now she was freaking terrified. Until now it had only been her life on the line if she released the pressure on the grenade’s trigger or dropped it completely. Brandon was far enough away from her that the blast would hopefully only injure him.

But now Jake and his teammates were well within the blast radius. Her hands had long since gone numb—it was a miracle she was still even holding onto the grenade at all, especially when the team’s entry had startled her. Her muscles jerked and trembled despite her efforts to stay still. Panic flashed through her.

Oh my God, please don’t let me lose my grip!

Her whole body shook as she stared back at Jake. He couldn’t have known how close he and his teammates had come to killing her when they’d entered, and maybe dying in the process.

After the initial shock of their entry, she’d picked him out right away despite the dimness. She knew the way he moved, the way he carried himself. He’d confirmed it when he’d stopped in his tracks to stare at her. Unable to speak or move anything but her head, she’d tried every way she knew how to warn him about the grenade.

Now Jake pushed up what looked like some kind of space-aged goggles on his helmet and started toward her. There was just enough dim light coming through the open door for her to see his face, his set expression telling her he was in full operational mode. She wanted to scream at him to stop, and yet she prayed he’d know how to get her out of this.

Stay still. You have to stay still.
She sucked a shaky breath through her nose, prayed her finger didn’t move off the trigger.

“Evers, hold up.”

He halted, never taking his eyes off her hands. A man around the same height as Jake stepped forward and motioned for the others to fan out. “Check for tripwires.”

Jake slung his rifle across his back and pulled off his gloves, still watching her. “You’re gonna be fine, Rachel. Just stay real still and keep breathing for me.”

At the sound of his voice something inside her simultaneously swelled and crumbled. Tears rushed to her eyes. She blinked to show she’d heard him, and a few tears slipped down her face.

The brave smile he gave her broke her heart. “Hang tight, we’ve got you. This will all be over in just a few minutes.”

She kept her attention riveted to him as the team checked the room for hidden explosives. The man who she assumed was team leader called out. “Status.”

“Clear,” someone called from the other side of the room.

“Clear,” Jake echoed from near her.

When all the team members responded the same, the team leader approached with Jake and a big man it took her a moment to recognize as Jake’s friend Bauer. Bauer held up a small but powerful flashlight to give them light to work by while Jake and the team leader came to kneel behind her.

Jake stayed slightly to one side, allowing her to see him as they assessed the grenade. She was vaguely aware of others moving about the room and converging on her brother.

We’re actually going to make it out of here alive.
It was almost too much to take in after spending the last few hellish hours trapped here holding the device that so easily could have killed her.