Never Surrender by Lindsay McKenna Page A

second shot off at him. Reza said she went unconscious at that point. Khogani put her up on another rider’s horse, who is unidentified, and they rode for the wadi and disappeared into the underbrush. Khogani then ran over and grabbed her medical rucksack and took it with him.”
    Gabe couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. A knot in his throat was so painful, he couldn’t pass words through or around it. Gabe’s mind spun with the information. He’d snapped awake at twelve-thirty in the morning. That would have been the exact time Bay had been kidnapped.
    He rubbed his face savagely. “Chief, get me ordered over there right now. I’ll get my commander to let me get over there as soon as possible. I’m coming over as a strap-hanger. I’ll find her...”
    “I’ll do it, Gabe.”
    “What’s being done right now?”
    “We had no drones in the valley,” he said, his voice tight with anger. “Those CIA boys here at Bravo knew we desperately needed one over there because of all the ongoing attacks the past two months. They just laughed at us when we requested eyes on that valley. If we’d had a drone on station, we’d have seen Khogani coming. This could have all been avoided.”
    “I’ll deal with them later. Whose mounting the rescue effort?” Gabe’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest, he thought it might tear out of it. His mind whirled with shock, fear and rage. Bay was kidnapped. Jesus. She was in the worst kind of trouble. Could he get over there fast enough? Was there enough military assets to pull free in order to help aid the search for Bay? What was Khogani going to do with her?
    God...no...no...please, protect her until I can find her...please...
    “Captain Anderson is working with Reza. The Afghan interpreter is tracking Khogani and his men with two SF soldiers.”
    “Is that all?” Gabe barely hung on to his mounting rage. Dammit!
    “Hell, no, Gabe, that’s not all. But you know as well as I that a woman soldier being captured, the shit is hitting the fan straight up to the Pentagon and into the White House to the president. Command was first going to remove Anderson’s people immediately out of the country. But we were able to talk them out of it. Besides, Captain Anderson refused to go. From our end we’re sending two four-man SEAL fire teams into the area. They’ve already been airlifted over there and are beginning the hunt.”
    “What about drones now?” he snapped, his fury mounting over Bay’s kidnapping.
    “The CIA just got one over there an hour ago. We’re coordinating with our two teams and with Reza. Our teams are using Ravens. As soon as they landed on that mountain ridge by helo, they sent their drones out. So far, they’ve not spotted anyone.”
    Wanting to cry, to scream, Gabe shut his eyes tightly, trying to think what to do next. “Can you get me a flight out of Anderson in Washington, D.C.?” Chiefs could move the whole world if it pleased them. He knew Phillips was upset and involved. He had Bay’s back in this debacle. She was one of them, and he had no doubt that Phillips would expend every effort to locate her.
    “I’m on it, but I’m not sending you through D.C. I’ll send you west out of California. I’ve started making the connections already. You just get your orders cut from your end, Gabe. I’ll handle the rest.”
    “I’ve got to get over the fastest way possible, Chief. It can’t be two or three days from now. Bay won’t have that kind of time and you know it.”
    Because Bay could already be dead. Her tortured, mutilated body would be thrown onto a goat path to rot until the vultures found her. Or until a SEAL team accidentally stumbled upon her body. His stomach clenched painfully as he wildly looked around the silent condo. Breathing raggedly, he waited.
    “Okay, I’ll make it happen, Gabe.”
    “You’ve got my cell phone number?”
    “Yes. I’ll call you with steady updates as I receive them. You’re in the