Well, eighteen-year-old Will hadn’t, anyway.
A gentle thud against the door sent her heart into overdrive, all traces of sleep tossed aside. She leaned forward, her grip on the wrench sending spasms through her fingers. Taking a shaky breath, she blinked into the darkness as the telltale rattle of a doorknob sounded. The inside lock held. But for how long?
A shadow briefly blocked the light seeping beneath the door, the feet there moving soundlessly.
She gasped for breath, the heavy, humid air like a wet towel draped across her nose and mouth.
It was now or never. She could wait for the man to enter, to investigate the room and find her in the corner. Or she could face him with the element of surprise.
She scrambled toward the entrance, the sound of her shuffling feet echoing against the cinder blocks no matter how she tried to muffle her steps.
A hiccup surprised her, and she slapped her palm over her mouth to mute the obnoxious noise.
The lock clicked, and she held her breath as she slipped behind the door, painfully swallowing another hiccup. The sound of her pounding heart seemed to fill the room as the flimsy wooden slats swung open, leaving a narrow beam from the courtyard security light spilling across the floor. The shadow of a broad man filled the gap. His movements silent, his motions sure, he closed the door after stepping inside.
This was her only chance. Her only hope of protecting herself.
If Jess could fight him off now, maybe word would spread that she wasn’t to be trifled with.
The wrench weighed more than a school bus, and was almost as unwieldy, as she swung it toward his head. She had to knock him out, or at least to the ground. Then maybe she could even make a run for it.
Just before the metal connected with the barely visible outline of his skull, he ducked and lifted an arm. The tool glanced off his shoulder, grazing his neck. In a flash he grabbed it, and before she could let go, he jerked it behind her back, leaving her arm twisted and useless. Fire screamed up to her kinked shoulder.
He promptly cut off her shriek with a callused hand clamped over her mouth. His steely arm pinned hers to her side and pressed her body against his chest. She writhed and shook, trying to free herself, but the wall of muscle at her back didn’t even seem to register her struggle. Her frantic effort only made her lungs burn for the oxygen he was depriving her of.
When her head began spinning in earnest, her muscles went limp and her fight ebbed away.
Only then did she realize that the man was speaking softly in her ear, his whispered breath fanning the trembling muscles of her neck.
“Jess, calm down. I won’t hurt you.” The words made no sense to her muddled brain, but they continued, quiet and assured. “Don’t scream. It’s all right. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
It wasn’t the words that made her sink into him, but the voice that, even after all this time, she’d recognize anywhere. Her eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on her that afternoon. Will Gumble was in this compound. In her very room.
He must have sensed her acquiescence. He slowly loosened his hand from over her mouth and rested it on her upper arm. His firm grip was the only thing that kept her standing.
“What are you—” Her words were little more than a frantic sigh as he spun her around. Pressing one finger to his lips, he raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the only other door in the room.
He didn’t wait for her to agree, just steered her toward the bathroom and closed the door behind them.
She yanked on the string above the sink, and the naked bulb over the cloudy mirror burst to life, bathing them in its yellow glow. Jess blinked against the sudden brightness.
Will didn’t seem to have the same trouble. He immediately lifted the lid off the toilet tank and peered inside before running his hands under the white porcelain sink. With a finger he swiped around the edge of the mirror. Then he leaned forward until her nose was almost pressed to his chest, and he swiped his hand over the top of the door frame.
He pulled back and nodded, as if satisfied. “It’s clear. There may be bugs in your room, so we should never talk in there. But this should be safe for now.”
Scrambling to catch up to his train of thought, Jess surveyed the sink and mirror. How could he act so casual? As if it hadn’t been ten years since they’d spoken? As if he hadn’t just shown up in a foreign country where she was being held prisoner? As if the very sight of him didn’t make her knees weak with relief?
“I thought I saw you—I thought that was you, but...” Her words were little more than a whisper despite his assurance that it was safe to speak. Her stomach pitched, fear and relief mingling with alarm and the echo of a remembered betrayal. But dealing with her emotions would have to wait until she felt steadier on her feet. Exhaustion and the ebbing of her fight-or-flight adrenaline rush had left her legs like jelly. She leaned into Will. He held out his arms, as though he knew just what she needed. As though he was still someone who cared about taking care of her, being there for her.
But she didn’t want him holding her. She wanted answers. She wanted to understand what on earth was happening. Most of all, she wanted to silence the little voice in her head that kept saying Will’s appearance was simply a dream or hallucination.
Yanking herself upright at the last possible moment, she shoved his chest with both hands. “You scared me to death! Why did you break into my room? What are you doing here?”
His lopsided grin had always started with a little quirk to the left before spreading across his mouth. And that hadn’t changed, even as he looked down at the tiny black-and-white-checkered floor tiles.
He scraped his fingers over the black whiskers covering his chin. “Your dad sent me.”
“My dad?”
“Well, I couldn’t say no to my new XO, could I?”
“So you’re still in the navy?” Oh, she sounded bitter—so much more bitter than she wanted to. Why couldn’t her words be flippant and nonchalant, as if it didn’t really matter that she no longer knew even the most basic things about him? He’d popped back into her life, and she didn’t want it to matter.
But it did.
Maybe because of the extreme situation.
Sure. She’d just keep telling herself that.
His smile flickered for a moment before he nodded slowly. “I am.”
Forcing a chuckle, she said, “I figured when my dad realized I was missing, he’d send a SEAL team to bring me home.” At least she had hoped he’d do that.
“Not a full team—he just sent one.”
Her breath vanished, and she blinked twice.
Will Gumble had become a SEAL. An elite warrior. The best that the United States military offered.
What else didn’t she know about him?
* * *
Will crossed his arms over his chest. Anything to keep from reaching out for Jess again. From being rejected again.
But he couldn’t pull his gaze from her face, all smooth lines and fair skin, except for the dark bags below her bloodshot eyes. Those were both probably recent additions. Most people couldn’t sleep much under this kind of stress. Just because he’d been trained to survive for days on catnaps didn’t mean Jess would look refreshed doing the same.
Her hair brushed across her forehead and her eyebrows pulled together, leaving three vertical lines in the center.
“Where’s the rest of your