Protecting the Future (SEAL of Protection Book 8) (6 page)

I
t’s been
two months since American Penelope Turner was kidnapped by ISIS operatives. She was participating in a humanitarian mission at the Cizre, Turkey, refugee camp. Thousands of Syrians have been streaming over the border, on the run from the multiple terrorist groups and the ethnic cleansing in Syria.

Sergeant Turner was snatched while on a routine patrol of the camp, along with three other men. You might remember Thomas Black and Henry White were beheaded and nailed to a cross, and Robert Wilson was set on fire while still alive.

There have been conflicting reports of where Turner might be held captive, but sources say the U.S. Government has been looking into rescue attempts. All efforts to get more information on this possibility have been ignored or deflected by the White House Director of Communication.

Penelope’s brother has been leading the charge to get troops to head into Syria to look for his sister. There is an online petition with over one hundred thousand signatures gathered so far, addressed to the President, to try to urge him to do something to rescue his sister.

The video of Cade Turner being interviewed by our affiliate station in San Antonio, Texas, has gone viral. His impassioned statement of, “Fine, don’t negotiate with the terrorists, just go in and get her the BLEEP out,” has resonated with Americans throughout the country. There have been T-shirts, bumper stickers, and even posters made with Cade’s statement. America wants Penelope Turner home.

There has been no video of Sergeant Turner since the last one released two weeks ago.

C
aroline cuddled
John in her lap as Brinique and Davisa tried to entertain Sara. Watching the five and six-year-old interact with two-year-old Sara was endearing and entertaining as hell.

“How you holding up, Jess?” Alabama asked her friend.

“I’m okay, thanks. Caroline, I appreciate you letting me stay with you for a few days.”

“No problem. You know I love having you guys here.”

“Do you think they’re all right?”

They all knew who Jess was asking about.

“Yes. I’m sure they’re fine,” Caroline tried to soothe.

“It’s just…Kason was more worried than usual about this mission.”

“Christopher was too. Should we be concerned?” Alabama’s voice was muted so her daughters couldn’t hear her.

Caroline wanted to tell her friends what she suspected, but kept it to herself, as she knew Matthew would want her to. “No. Our men are professionals. They know what they’re doing. They’d be irritated if we sat at home and cried all the time about them. They’ve been gone before and we were fine. This is the same thing.”

The other two women nodded, but didn’t look appeased.

“We should get out of the house and have some fun today,” Caroline told them decidedly.

“I need to go and check on the bar. Fiona’s working today. We could go and visit her.”

“Perfect!” Caroline exclaimed. “I’m so happy for you. You totally deserved to be named manager after Mr. Davis retired.”

“He said if it worked out, he’d consider selling it to me as well,” Jessyka told her friends.

“Oh my God. That’s awesome!” Alabama got up and hugged Jess. “When were you going to tell us? Does anyone else know?”

“Well, Fiona knows. She would have to, since she’s the assistant manager.”

“Good for you. Let’s see if we can’t get these kids packed up in under an hour. Lord, I had no idea it took so long to get out of the house with kids in tow,” Alabama mock grumbled.

“It takes even longer when they’re
this
age,” Jess said, motioning to her two. “I’ve gotten to the point where whatever Sara wants to wear, I let her. It’s easier than arguing with her about it. And believe me, you never win when arguing with a two-year-old!”

They all laughed and stood to get ready to go.

An hour later the group made their way inside
Aces
. It was early enough that most of the patrons were eating a late lunch and the alcohol hadn’t started to flow yet. Caroline knew Alabama wouldn’t bring her daughters into the bar if there was the slightest chance anything inappropriate would be going on.

“Feeeeeeeee!” Sara screeched, toddling her way into the room and looking for her favorite babysitter.

Fiona stuck her head out the office door down the long hall and laughed as Sara waddled her way to her with her arms outstretched. She snatched the little girl up before she could fall and swung her around in a circle before sitting her on her hip. “Hey, pretty girl. What brings you and your mommy and brother here today?”

“Twip!”

“A trip, huh?” Fiona laughed and looked at Jess, who was limping down the hall toward her.

“Caroline decided we all needed some air, so here we are.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you. I need a break too. My eyes are crossing from looking at numbers.”

“I told them about the bar,” Jess told her friend.

“Good. It’s about time. They were happy for you, weren’t they?”

Jess smiled. “Yeah. Come on, take a break with us. I’m sure Alabama has Brinique and Davisa settled in with some ice cream and I’m afraid if I leave John with Caroline for too long, she’ll steal him from me.”

The two women laughed at Jess’s long-standing joke as they went back into the main room and joined their friends.

After sitting for a while and laughing at the antics of the kids, and commenting on how good of a baby John was, Jess excused herself and headed for the bathroom.

Caroline handed John off to Fiona and headed after Jess, wanting to make sure she was all right. She found her kneeling in front of one the toilets, having thrown up the delicious snack they’d just eaten.

“Are you all right?”

“Shit, Caroline. I’m so screwed.”

“What? Are you sick? Do you need to go to the doctor?”

Jess snorted and leaned back on her heels and wiped her mouth. “No, I’m not sick in the sense you’re talking about.”

Caroline seemed to suddenly understand. “Oh lord. You’re pregnant again?”

“Yeah, I think so. I haven’t taken a test or anything, and I only started feeling nauseous yesterday and today. But I recognize the signs. I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who gets afternoon sickness instead of morning sickness.”

Caroline giggled, she couldn’t help it, and laughed outright when Jess glared up at her from her crouching position on the floor. “Come on, let me help you up.” Caroline reached out a hand, relieved when Jess accepted it. Between the two of them, they got Jess off the floor. “I’ve never met anyone as fertile as you and Kason.”

“I know, it’s ridiculous. We said we were gonna wait and put a bit more time between John and a new brother or sister.”

“What happened?”

Jess gave Caroline an evil look and held it even as Caroline laughed at her. “Oh, yeah. Our men are horny devils, aren’t they?”

“He promised to use condoms because he knows birth control pills make me feel bloated and they wreak havoc with my moods,” Jess grumbled. “But then you had to be all noble and offer to babysit John and Sara for an entire weekend. We were really careful the first night, but as the weekend went on, we got more and more lazy…and here I am.”

Caroline gave Jessyka a big hug. “Well, congrats, woman.”

“I still need to take a test to find out for certain, but I’m pretty sure. I recognize this feeling.” Jess put a hand on her still-rounded stomach from the baby weight she hadn’t been able to lose after having John. “As much as it freaks me out, I have to say I’m pretty happy. I’d give Kason a million babies if I could.”

“A million is a bit much, you dork. If you want to set up a doctor’s appointment, you know I’ll either babysit for you or hold your hand when you go.”

“I wish Kason was here.”

“I know you do. But you’ll get through this just fine. It’s what we Navy SEAL wives do. We keep on keepin’ on while our men are off saving the world. Just think about how you want to let Kason know when he gets home that he’s going to be a father…again.”

Jess stood up, washed her hands and swished some water around her mouth. “You’re right. We’re strong, capable women who don’t need a man to be by our side all the time.”

“Damn straight. You don’t think I’ll be able to keep this from the others, do you?”

Jess smiled at Caroline. “You mean you haven’t already mind-melded with them to let them know? I’m disappointed in you.”

“Hey, I can keep a secret.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Seriously.”

Jess smiled at her friend. “Caroline, I don’t care if you tell them. Tell the world. I’m so happy with my life right now, it almost seems unfair to everyone else.”

Caroline smiled at Jess. “I’ll try to control myself and let you tell the others, but you better start with Alabama and Fiona, who are waiting out at the table for us.”

They joined arms and headed out to the bar to tell their friends there’d be another little Sawyer arriving in about seven months.

T
he SEALs exasperated
sighs demonstrated their annoyance with the situation. They’d been at the godforsaken refugee camp for seven days now and hadn’t had one glimpse of Penelope Turner or anyone who could possibly be her. Of course, trying to find anyone in the huge tent city was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. They’d uncovered a lot of crooked and criminal shit, but had to ignore it all and focus on their mission.

Wolf knew the long frustrating search was taking its toll on the team. Dude wanted to hurry up and find Penelope not only so they could get her out of the situation, but also so he could get back to Cheyenne. They hadn’t had any updates from home, and they were all hoping she hadn’t gone into premature labor and had his daughter yet.

Abe was wondering how Brinique and Davisa were doing, and worried about Alabama taking on too much. Benny was in much the same frame of mind and was worrying about Jessyka overdoing things with their two young kids and trying to keep
Aces
up and running.

They all were completely focused on the mission, but couldn’t help but worry about their women and children back home.

And in the forefront of all their minds was Penelope Turner. The refugee camp was hell on earth. It was male-dominated, dirty, miserably hot, and the threat of violence hung over the camp like a bomb that was slowly ticking down, every second bringing it closer to detonation. It was obvious all hell could break loose at any moment. It was as if everyone was holding their breath, but they knew they couldn’t hold it forever. The thought of Penelope or any vulnerable woman being in the middle of his hellhole, turned all their stomachs.

There were what Wolf called “roving gangs” prowling the camp, especially at night. They were looking for the vulnerable and the weak. The gangs would steal what little food they could find, and if they were in the mood, would rape any female they came across. No one was safe, from the littlest girls to the oldest grandmothers.

The team had no idea if Penelope was safe or if she was suffering the same fate as many of the other females in the camp. There had been no word of another video surfacing, so it was all speculation as to whether she was still alive or even at the camp at all.

Two days ago, another SEAL team had arrived to join in the search for the missing sergeant, and Wolf was damn glad. They could use all the help they could get. The other team was based out of Virginia and had been recommended by Tex to join the mission. Wolf’s team had worked with them once before and knew they were extremely competent. Wolf didn’t know all the members on the team personally, but was impressed with what he’d seen in the past and thus far out in the desert.

The teams had split up further and combed the refugee camp looking for Penelope. The place was huge, and their job was made tougher because of the burka most of the women wore. Wolf knew many of the women now wore the head-to-toe coverings to try to protect themselves from the men stalking the camp for victims rather than for any religious ideology.

They were on the lookout for a group of men with a lone woman, who would most likely be covered from head to toe in a robe, and she’d be short, at least compared to them. That was about all they had. It would be unusual for a single woman to be with a group of men, as in the Muslim culture, the men tended to hang out with other men and the women banded together as well. The women would do chores around their chosen tent, while the men would gather, talk, and try to find food for their families or groups.

One of the SEALs on the other team, Rocco, spoke Turkish, thank God. Today’s plan was to see what information they could glean from some of the men they’d befriended in their guise as aid workers. Wolf knew most of the groups of Syrians they’d made contact with had a pretty good idea they weren’t who they said they were, but so far, their luck had held and they hadn’t had any trouble. But they all knew that luck would probably run out sooner rather than later.

If ISIS had any idea there were two groups of elite Navy SEALs in the camp looking for them and Penelope, they’d most likely either kill her and run, or take her with them when they left and probably kill her later, in a very horrific and public way in retaliation. For the moment, the terrorists were feeling safe in the anonymity of the huge refugee camp.

Both SEAL teams knew their time was running out to find Penelope and bring her home alive.

Ace and Gumby, two of the men from the Virginia team, and Cookie and Dude were currently out searching the camp. They’d taken the night shift. The groups had night-vision goggles, but they’d be very obvious if they wore them around the camp, so they’d decided not to use them. But the time was quickly coming where they were going to be needed. They hadn’t made any headway thus far and all of the men were becoming frustrated with their lack of success.

The groups radioed back to the others their locations and if they found anything suspicious. One of the men at the tent they’d started calling the Command Tent, or CT, would take notes and mark on a large aerial photo what regions of the camp had been searched and what areas the guys deemed to have suspicious activity and should be rechecked, either another night, or the next day when there was light.

The radio crackled. Abe and a Vietnamese man called Ho Chi Minh, from the other SEAL team, were manning the radios while the other men got some much-needed sleep.

“Rover one to CT.” Gumby’s voice was quiet and toneless. It was the tone they all used when talking on the radios so as not to bring attention to themselves. The thugs in the camp would kill to get their hands on a high-tech set of radios such as the teams had.

“This is CT. Go ahead.”

“Found a ripped piece of pink cloth at coordinates, LG3777633131.”

“The same kind as before?” Ho Chi Mien asked.

“Roger.”

Abe got up and shook Wolf awake. This was the second piece of pink cloth the teams had found, and there was no way it was a coincidence. First of all, there wasn’t a lot of material around that was pink, and second, it was highly unlikely there would be random scraps of pink material floating around the refugee camp. It had to be a fucking clue. They were running on empty and any kind of anomaly, no matter how small, was cause for celebration and worth a second look.

“Wolf,” Abe said softly, not touching the man, letting his voice wake him up. “Gumby found a clue.”

“I’m up. What is it?” Wolf asked, rolling to his feet, immediately awake. The ability to be asleep one second and completely awake the next was a life-saving skill they’d all gained over the years on the team. And while it might fade when they were home for a while, they could all pick it up without missing a beat while on a mission.

“Pink cloth.” Abe didn’t have to say anything else.

“Coordinates?”

The men walked over to the table where Ho Chi Mien was marking Gumby’s find on the map.

“Looks like it’s in the same general area as the other one.”

Abe looked at Wolf. “She’s fucking leaving us breadcrumbs.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, it might not be her,” Wolf warned, although it was obvious he was more than pleased with the development.

“Yeah, maybe not. But it’s more than we had an hour ago.”

Wolf nodded and studied the map.

“Your men are meeting up with Gumby and Ace. They’ll see what else they can find at the location,” Ho Chi Mien stated softly.

Wolf nodded. “Good. Anything is better than what we’ve got so far at this point. We’ll send in the teams tomorrow to search in the daylight. I know Rocco was up late tonight talking with some men, but we need him to go out there and see what the people around the area know.”

“No problem,” Ho Chi Mien stated immediately. “This has become personal.”

“For us too,” Abe agreed.

“All we can think of is our women back home,” the Asian man continued. “What if this was our girlfriend, or daughter, or sister? I can’t blame her brother for putting up as big of a raucous as he has.”

“What did we miss?” Wolf asked, obviously not knowing what Ho Chi Mien was talking about in regards to the missing soldier’s brother.

“Last I heard, there was an online petition to the President with over two hundred thousand signatures, to go in and do something to rescue her.”

Wolf chuckled flatly. “Well, here we are. Doing something.”

“Yeah. The guy’s been on every news channel giving interviews and telling the world about his sister. They seem to be really close; it’s irritating that we can’t find her for him.”

Abe shook his head at the other SEAL’s words. Irritating. Yeah, that about summed it up. “Okay, so let’s say this
is
our target. We’re still no closer to finding her than we were before.”

“Yeah, but now we know what we’re looking for, at least somewhat. We know she’s leaving clues, and we can try to see if there’s a pattern. I’d bet everything I own, these guys are moving her around in fucking circles, using the same hidey-holes. If we can find enough clues to sense their pattern, we can find the missing sergeant,” Wolf told his friend and teammate.

Abe nodded. “It’s a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got right now.”

P
enelope sighed in frustration
. She was hot, tired, and bored. It felt somewhat messed up to say she was bored, but she was. She did nothing all day. She’d started trying to keep her strength up by doing pushups and sit-ups during the day, but she knew she was weakening, and it both irritated and scared her. Without her strength, the ability to escape at a moment’s notice was lessened immensely.

Her captors would usually bring her something to eat in the morning, a stale crust of bread, or some sort of mystery-meat stew, and while she wanted to refuse it, she knew she couldn’t. The water was disgusting, but again, she needed the liquid. She was on the verge of dehydration as it was, refusing to drink what they brought would be tantamount to suicide.

Her captors were ramping up to something, but Penelope didn’t know what. She had no idea if anyone was looking for her, but knowing her brother as she did, she hoped someone was. Just as she’d do for him, Cade wouldn’t stop until she was found, dead or alive.

They were extremely close. They weren’t too far apart in age and Penelope could remember tagging along after Cade when they were kids…and he’d let her. They even played games together when they were young, just the two of them. One of the games she remembered most vividly was a game they called, “War.” There was a field near their house and they’d go hide in the bushes, lying on their bellies and pretending there were bad guys out in the field looking for them. Cade hadn’t seemed to care she was a girl, or his younger sister.

As they got older, the games stopped, but Cade’s support and love for her never ceased. He was the reason she’d made it as far in the fire service as she had. He was the reason her fellow firefighters supported and trusted her to have their backs. It was Cade’s unending and unflagging encouragement she’d received in the past that made her continue to hold on in the hellacious situation she currently found herself in, and the reason she knew he was doing what he could to find her.

So she’d started trying to leave parts of herself behind any chance she could get. Penelope had taken off her panties, they were beyond disgusting at this point anyway, and ripped the seams out. Once upon a time they were her favorite pair. Stupid to bring such a girly pair of underwear on an Army mission in the first place, but she’d always tried to keep her feminine side alive and well, even if it was under her uniform. She might work in a male-dominated profession—well, two of them—but she’d be damned if she lost her femininity altogether. She’d hidden the material under the robes her captors were constantly making her wear, and since, so far, they hadn’t had any interest in raping her, the material had gone unnoticed.

Penelope had been leaving little pieces behind, like breadcrumbs. She’d always loved the fairytale Hansel and Gretel growing up. She only hoped they weren’t being swept away as she left them, as had happened in the story.

She had no idea who might be looking for her, if anyone, but she hoped with all her heart they were smart and observant. All the places she’d been taken looked the same to her, but it was after she’d been leaving the pieces of cloth for a while, and had been moved again, that she noticed one of her breadcrumbs that she’d left in the past.

The bastards were using the same tents to hold her in. Moving her all the time, yes, but to the same tents over and over again. It gave her hope someone would notice and find her. She only had to wait. But Penelope had no idea how much time she had and hoped it wouldn’t run out before someone cottoned on to the trail she was leaving.

“Up. Come.”

The words were loud and heavily accented. Penelope jumped a foot. Dammit, she’d been so far inside her head, she hadn’t heard the man enter her tent. That shit would get her killed. She stood up and took the robe the man shoved at her. She put it on quickly and winced as the man grabbed her arm and he led her outside.

He force-marched her toward a group of men who were talking excitedly and seemed almost giddy with anticipation. Oh shit, was this it? Was it her time to die? Were they taking her to chop off her head? Death didn’t scare her, but knowing they’d record it and show it to the world—and her brother—scared the shit out of her. She didn’t want Cade’s last glimpse of her to be her head rolling off her neck and onto the ground.

No one said anything as they surrounded her, and the entire group meandered through the refugee camp. Penelope tried to keep track of where they were and where they were headed, but it was impossible. The group finally stopped in front of a large truck and Penelope was shoved into the back and the men all clambered in behind her.

The truck was a deuce and a half…a large truck that looked like it had an eighteen-wheeler type of cab, and a huge sorta pickup type of bed. The back was covered with a large tarp, not unlike what the tents were made out of, and there were two benches. It looked like a military vehicle that had been jerry-rigged to hold a large amount of people. Men were sitting along the benches, and there was a blindfolded man wearing some sort of uniform, arms bound behind his back, kneeling in the back of the truck against the cab.