Rex nodded along with his teammates. He knew as well as they all did how dangerous the situation had gotten with the theft of the weapons. Rifles, grenades, bullets, RPGs, even a missile or two, had all disappeared in the blink of an eye. The thought that one of their own, an American soldier or sailor, had betrayed their country was a devastating slap in the face.
But at the moment, Rex was more concerned about Avery. She’d been gone almost two weeks. At the mercy of dangerous and unscrupulous men. He prayed their source was correct and she was still in the cave where she’d last been seen. He hated to think of the friendly woman he’d been too chicken to ask out being tortured and brutalized.
Taking a deep breath and turning to check his gear for the tenth time, leaving Rocco to deal with the sergeant major, Rex made sure he had everything they’d need when they found the missing lieutenant. Extra clothes, a pair of boots—since their source said she’d been stripped of her own—water, food, energy gel packs, and medical supplies. He had no idea what shape they’d find Avery in, but he prayed harder than he’d ever prayed before that she’d be alive.
He hated that he hadn’t had the guts to ask her out before she’d left California. He knew better than most how short life was. But for some reason, he’d decided to just visit her when she got back from overseas and see if she’d be interested in having coffee. Or lunch. Then dinner. But everything had changed now.
Even if they did find her alive, he had no idea what condition she’d be in. Physically or mentally. She might never want to be touched by a man again. Her sunny disposition may have been doused forever.
The thought of the beautiful woman he’d been drawn to getting beaten to within an inch of her life made him angrier than he could ever remember being.
Picking up the extremely heavy pack, he shrugged it onto his back over his desert camo uniform. They were about to head into very rough terrain, though it wasn’t as if they hadn’t done it before. But this time, it was more personal for Rex.
Hang on, Avery, he thought to himself as he turned to listen to Rocco giving them last-minute instructions. Just hang on. We’re comin’ for you.
Chapter Two
Avery Nelson sat with her back to the rough rock wall behind her and opened her eyes…except everything was still as black as it had been before she’d closed them. She was slowly going crazy because she had no idea how much time had passed since she’d been entombed inside the cave.
She knew it’d been at least a week since she’d been captured. An RPG had hit the house that served as a clinic, where she’d been teaching some of the Afghani women about childbirth, and a chunk of the ceiling had fallen on her head. She’d stumbled outside, right into the arms of the terrorists hijacking a convoy of trucks going through town.
She hadn’t been armed. Wasn’t even a part of the weapons convoy. She was a navy nurse, helping the inhabitants of the village. Regardless, she was pretty sure she knew why she was here. The man who’d hauled her into the mountains had made it pretty clear. And she’d had no chance to fight back, not really. She wasn’t exactly petite. At five-ten, she was taller than a lot of the men she worked with. But with her head injury and all the confusion, she’d been no match for the bigger, scarier insurgents.
They’d taken her into the mountains, along with the weapons that were inside the trucks, and beaten the hell out of Avery. They’d chained her by the ankle and taken great delight in mentally and physically torturing her.
In the meantime, men came and went from the cave, collecting the US Army weapons that had been stolen. It had taken a week for all of them to be dispersed. And after those seven days—during which she’d been beaten, laughed at, spit on, and practically starved to death—they’d all left.
But not before blowing up the entrance to the cave, sealing her inside with no way out.
Fuck that.
Avery had managed to use a rock to crush the links of the chain that held her to the ground, and she’d used a trickle of water flowing down one wall of her tomb to stay alive.
She’d thought she’d known hunger before, but after a week with no food, she truly understood what being hungry was now. The water was keeping her alive, but she was weak and dizzy from not eating anything since she’d been trapped inside the mountain.
After being beaten by the terrorists, and then moving rocks day in and day out in the hopes of unburying herself, every muscle in her body was screaming in pain. Her fingernails were probably gone. Her head still throbbed from the concussion she’d received when her ordeal had started, and her ribs were still sore from the beatings.
But dammit, she was alive.
The bastards had fucked up by not putting a bullet in her brain before they’d buried her in the cave. They obviously thought they’d either killed her with their last beating—which had been the most brutal yet—or, if not, she’d die buried behind the rubble at the entrance of the cave.
Avery was stronger than that.
She was going to claw her way out of this cave if it took another year.
Avery refused to think about the fact that there was no way she could last even a month without food. She was completely focused on moving one rock at a time until she broke free.
For whatever reason, they hadn’t sexually assaulted her, for which she was more than grateful. She was still wearing her tan camo uniform pants and an olive-green T-shirt. Her feet throbbed because her captors had taken her shoes and socks the first day she’d been in their company. They’d held her down while some of their buddies wacked at her soles with a stick. It had hurt so damn bad, but now she couldn’t feel much. She figured her feet had gotten used to the abuse that had been forced on them since she’d been there, or the nerves had all been damaged.
Either way, it was nice not to have to think about them anymore.
Picking up a rock the size of her head, Avery felt her muscles quiver with exertion. Damn. She had no idea moving rocks could be so strenuous. When she got back to Riverton and the naval base, she was going to talk to Wolf. He and his team of former SEALs were in charge of training the wannabe SEALs. She was going to suggest they bring in a mountain of rocks and make the recruits move the entire thing, one rock at a time. They’d be piles of mush in no time.
Thinking about home was comforting. It buoyed her flagging spirits. Avery loved living on the West Coast. Loved the beach and the temperate climate. And she loved being a nurse. Enjoyed helping others. One of her favorite assignments was hell week for the men trying to become SEALs.
Oh, she didn’t like watching them suffer in the cold surf, or while attempting to do every impossible task assigned by their instructors. But she did love the camaraderie and determination in the ones who made it. By the end of the week, they were dehydrated, often suffering from a bit of hypothermia, and were literally so exhausted they could barely stand up…but the pride on their faces, knowing they’d survived the brutal conditions they’d been put through, was beautiful.
Avery had no desire to be a SEAL. Her strengths lie in helping others. She had a way with people, could soothe them when they were hurt. And she was a problem solver. Always had been, always would be.
Like now.
She had a problem, and she would solve it or die trying. Literally.