Free Marked (Hostage Rescue Team Series) by Kaylea Cross Page A

out and curled his fingers around her hand. She gripped his tight in return. “Something’s wrong.”
    Her skin was cold, her hand so delicate and fragile in his own. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her knuckles as he spoke. “We’ll give him another fifteen minutes, and if he still doesn’t show, we’ll let the other agents know. Okay?”
    She nodded and looked back out the window. “This isn’t like him.”
    “We’ll find him, no worries.” His gut said otherwise. And dammit, he didn’t want to be the one to have to tell her she was right about this. They sat in silence while they waited. He kept her hand tightly entwined with his while she checked the time on her phone every few minutes. When the hour mark came and went with no sign or contact from Brandon, he saw no point in keeping up pretenses. “Try him one more time.”
    She dialed, waited, and the call went straight to voicemail. Not bothering to leave another message, she ended the call and texted him again. He didn’t respond.
    Yeah, this was not good.
    Jake fired the truck up and began driving as she typed out another text. Using his hands free device he called the other agents and explained that Brandon hadn’t turned up, waited while they updated him.
    “They’ve traced his phone to a metro station south of town about an hour ago. They’re out looking for him now,” he told Rachel after he hung up.
    She set her phone down and clenched her hands in her lap, casting him a worried glance when he got on the highway and headed south from Baltimore. “Where are we going?”
    “My place, near Quantico. I’ve called a couple buddies and asked them to meet us there, just as a precaution until we know what’s going on. The field office will call when they know something more.”
    Her eyes were full of anxiety. “Do you think he’s all right? Do you think Xang might have done something to him?”
    “I’m sure he’s fine,” he said, but he was thinking exactly along the same lines as her.
    She blew out a breath and closed her eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening. God, I feel sick. I need to call my mom and let her know what’s going on.”
    “Don’t call her yet. No point in worrying her until we know more details.”
    “I just feel like I should be doing something.”
    “I know. But we’ve done all we can for now.” Since he couldn’t make this any easier for her and he respected her too much to give her pointless platitudes, he let a silence lapse between them. He could practically feel the tension humming inside her, and didn’t know how to ease it.
    “What about your family?” she finally asked him.
    Her question surprised him, but he realized she was probably trying to distract herself. “They’re all good. My parents are officially retired now and my brother and his wife have two little kids. They’re all still back in Iowa. We get together for family holidays when my schedule allows. Christmas is a big deal but we don’t usually get to celebrate it on the twenty-fifth.”
    She made a noise in her throat to show she was listening, that frown still in place. “My mom still flies here every year to spend Christmas with me, and now Brandon too.”
    “I’m glad. I bet you miss her.”
    “I miss her a lot, but she’s still not ready to move back here. She’s got her relatives there and she says being here reminds her too much of my dad, so…” She trailed off, her frown turning speculative. “These buddies of yours. Were you in the Rangers together?”
    “No, but they’re all former military.” And he loved them all like brothers, same as he had the guys in his Ranger platoon. The time-intensive tempo of their schedules meant they spent a lot of time together—sometimes more than the guys did with their own families. The result was a tight, cohesive unit where every man trusted the others with his life. They sometimes fought and bitched at each other just like all brothers did, but at the end of the