Page 73 of SEAL of Valor

Max kneels in front of me and zip ties my ankles loosely so I can still walk, then tightly binds my wrists. After checking the hold, he slips the black hood over my head. Reese disappears from view, and with that, my heart rate jumps as panic takes hold.

God, please.

Reese whimpers, and I hear the clicking sounds of a zip tie binding her.

God, please, I repeat as I’m pulled to my feet and shoved forward. All I see is darkness, but for the first time in as long as I can remember, there’s a shred of light slipping through.

A hope that I haven’t dared have in a long, long time.

Chapter 21

Reese

“I’m going to cut these ties off of you, but if you react, your girl is dead,” Max snarls.

There’s a gun trained against my back, right in the center of my spine. It’s all I can do not to let the panic fully root, but as I stand here, facing what could very possibly be my final moments, I cling to one truth: No matter what they do to me, God is here. And if they kill me, I know exactly where I’m going.

He has never let me face a single thing alone, and I know He won’t start now.

So, I hold onto that truth even though I can’t see a single thing with this black hood on my face.

“Don’t touch the hood,” the man orders.

Weston hasn’t said a word since we were in that room. Not even when we were loaded into a vehicle and driven what felt like forever out of the way. Now, the heavy scent of saltwater clings to the air, mixing with the tang of something else I can’t quite make out.

“Good dog. Now you, pretty,” a man whispers against my hood. His hot breath hits the side of my face, and my stomach rolls. The zip ties on my wrists are sliced, and I’m shoved forward into a hard body. Strong, calloused hands grip my arms, holding me on my feet.

Weston.

“Enjoy the trip.” A metal door slams shut, and the scraping of metal against metal seals us inside.

The hood is lifted from my face, and I blink rapidly, trying to focus my eyes in the darkness of our new cage.

“Are you okay?” Weston asks. With a tiny beam of light, I can barely make out his features. But he’s there—alive and in front of me.

“Yeah. I’m okay.” I rub my wrist where the plastic of the zip tie bit into my skin.

Weston doesn’t reply as he tosses the hoods and moves to the side to peer out a tiny hole. He’s moving a whole lot easier than a man in his condition should be, and I take that as a good thing.

Maybe things aren’t as bleak as they seem.

As he blocks the hole to peer outside, darkness surrounds us, but a moment later, he’s pulling away, and that tiny bit of light is back.

“Where are we?” I turn in a slow circle, noting metal all around us. The walls, the ground, the roof—it’s all the same corrugated metal. It almost looks like the inside of the storage unit I had for that month my apartment was being renovated.

“On a container ship,” he replies.

Dread coils in my belly. “A container ship? Seriously?” As he says it, the ship creaks and sways enough to send my stomach churning. Oh no.

I love the ocean, but boats? Being stuck out in the center of the ocean on something you’re trusting to keep floating has always made me nervous. And now I’m trapped in a metal box, on top of a type of ship known to travel treacherous waters?

My breathing turns ragged, and spots fill my vision.

Panic roots.

We’re going to die. How can we survive this? Where are they taking us?

“It’s going to be okay.” Weston pulls me into his arms, and I rest my head on his bare chest. The steady beat of his heart fills my ears, and I focus on it, trying to align my breathing with his to steady me in the moment.