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“Pierce and Rhiannon,” Ash clarified. “Someone took them but left Raszta.”
“How is that possible?” Zak demanded, his voice sharp with disbelief. “Didn’t you have them under guard?”
Ash nodded, his jaw so tight it looked as if he was grinding his molars to dust. “We’re reviewing security footage now, but whoever they are, they’re good. Military good.”
“Jesus, this keeps getting worse. We need to see that security footage,” Zak said, already moving towards the hospital entrance.
They followed Ash through the sterile corridors to a conference room. Raszta was in there and got to his feet, letting out a questioning whine.
“Sawyer—” Zak started as he gave Razzy a comforting head rub, but he didn’t need to finish the thought.
Sawyer was already slinging his laptop bag off his shoulder. “Yeah, I’ll pull up the security video.”
He had it on his screen in moments, and everyone gathered around to watch. A small group of men appeared in the hallway footage, pushing another man who looked unconscious in a wheelchair. Next came a man with his arm draped casually around Rhiannon’s shoulders like they were old friends.
God.
Rhia.
She looked like hell, bruised and battered, exhausted and scared.
Pierce appeared beside and didn’t look much better. Another man was guiding him with a hand planted on the center of his back. The gesture looked innocuous enough, but his hand was positioned in such a way that it could easily conceal a weapon.
“Can you zoom in on their faces?” Zak asked.
Sawyer obliged, enhancing the image. The men’s features came into sharper focus, revealing hard, expressionless faces that screamed professional operatives.
“I don’t recognize any of them,” Zak muttered, frustration evident in his tone.
Cal leaned in, squinting at the screen. “Wait a second. That one there—“ He pointed to a tall, imposing man with chiseled features. “I’ve seen him before. I know this guy.”
Rylan’s head snapped up. “You do?”
“How do you know him?” Zak asked.
“He was in the Hope’s Embrace compound,” Cal said without a shred of doubt. “He was their head of security and went by Vigil there, but he told me his name was actually Trent. He didn’t give a last name, and he disappeared right before the shit hit the fan. Ash looked for him and?—”
“He was a ghost,” Ash finished. “No record of him anywhere.”
“Who the hell are these people?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Zak muttered. “Whoever they are, they’ve got serious resources and training. Look at how they disabled the security cameras.” He was silent for a long moment before he finally sucked in a sharp breath and straightened. “All right. I’ll call HORNET. Maybe they’ll know something about who these fuckers are.”
He dug his phone out of his pocket and hesitated for a long moment. His jaw clenched as he dialed the number. He put thephone on speaker and set it down in the middle of the table like he couldn’t bear to touch it.
The line rang twice before a gruff voice answered. “Bristow.”
“Gabe, it’s Zak Hendricks. You’re on speaker.”
“So are you. Two calls in less than a month? To what do we owe the pleasure?” Gabe said dryly.
“He misses us, fo’sure,” Jean-Luc Cavalier’s voice chimed in from the background. “Bet he’s tired of chasing lost hikers and pulling cats out of trees. Maybe now he’s ready to come run with the big dogs, join up with HORNET, eh?” His voice came closer, like he’d leaned toward the phone. “Oh, and FYI, I voted for synchronized swimming for our next team-building. You think you could rock a sparkly swim cap,mon ami?”
Despite everything, Rylan felt his lips twitch into a smile because the mental image of Zak wearing anything sparkly was just so ridiculous.
Rylan had briefly met Jean-Luc Cavalier when HORNET helped them storm the Hope’s Embrace cult compound a few weeks ago, and he liked the guy. Cavalier was as quick with a joke as he was with a gun.
But right now, Zak wasn’t in the mood for levity.
