Page 74 of The Commander

“Track her phone. Get on the system, and someone track her goddamn phone now,” Josh calls out. His voice is muffled so I figure he’s put his hand over the speaker.

I draw in a soft, wobbly breath.

Even if I get out of the Hummer, I still won’t know exactly where I am, so tracking my phone is the only accurate option.

“Quinn, stay there,” Josh instructs. “Are you armed?”

“No.”

“I want you to stay hidden, and we’ll be there as soon as we can. We have your coordinates.”

“Ten minutes,” I say, reminding them. “About ten minutes’ drive.”

“What else? What else have you heard or picked up?”

“Two men took him and I think I counted another four voices.”

“Keep going?”

I close my eyes. “It’s quiet. A quiet road. A dog just barked.”

“What else?”

I hear a bottle smash.

“Heard that,” Josh says, and the sound of a vehicle door slamming follows. “We’re on the way. Stay in the Hummer and stay low.

My eyes bulge, knowing the highly experienced special forces are coming for us, guns blazing.

“Hurry.”

The line goes dead, but my mind is on fire. I can’t just stay here. Noah needs me. I might be trained and know exactly what I should be doing, but there’s one thing the military doesn’t factor in when you leap into a stolen vehicle to protect someone you care about.

Feelings.

My feelings for Noah.

They could’ve killed him, and they might still kill him at any moment.

A cry catches in the back of my throat, and I smack my hand over my mouth. Noah.

What if he dies and I never get to tell him that I love him?

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

NOAH

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Don’t ask me why there’s a stapler in the room. It was sitting inside the drawer of the otherwise empty desk on the far side of the room. Other than the desk, there’s a double mattress with a single pillow, a stool and an empty closet.

We’re inside a house in what appears to be a normal-looking suburban neighborhood from what I’ve seen outside the window. The locked window.

So, not so normal.

Despite my pounding head, I’ve stripped the stapler to pieces and used a piece of the metal to unscrew one of the latches on the window.

Call me fucking MacGyver.