nostrils flared, but she only nodded.
There was no telling what she really wanted to say to him. Right now, they were probably all blessed by her speechlessness.
Ethan tore his gaze from hers and pulled his hand to his side, the warmth of her lingering on his palm. He never should have touched her. She was Sean’s. Always would be. Their engagement might have been short-lived, but whenever Sean talked about her, the strength of his feelings bled into the words.
“Kincaid? Direction here?” Mitchum needed an answer.
There was work to do and God bless his partner for pulling him back to it. Ashley might be...well, Ashley, but she was also an assignment, and she should be treated as such. Shoving the past into a box and mentally securing the lock, he leaned forward. “Call local law enforcement and tell them to step back, but don’t give them a clue why. Take me to my truck, then ditch yours and get another vehicle, one our kidnapper won’t recognize.”
Mitchum’s eyes met his in the mirror. “You think it’s wise to split up?”
“I think getting Ashley to safety is priority number one. Getting the evidence is number two.”
“Let me handle picking up the—”
“No. We get her safe. We link up. We move forward.” One thing at a time. As long as they were in this vehicle, it wouldn’t be long before the network after Ashley found them again or local law enforcement tied them up in more red tape than they had time for. While separating from his partner was normally foolhardy, there wasn’t time for them to do everything and get Ashley to the safe house fast enough.
Mitchum exhaled so hard the picture of Ashley on the dash fluttered. His eye twitched. “I don’t think—”
“I’m ordering you.”
Ethan’s voice was so firm, Ashley flinched.
She cleared her throat. “Start explaining. Now.” She moved to ease up to the seat, but a sharp shake of Ethan’s head sank her to the floor again. “Is Sean okay?”
There it was. The question he’d been dreading. The question with no good answer.
“We don’t know.” Mitchum’s voice cut in from the front.
Ethan wanted to punch his partner’s seat. The last thing Ashley needed right now was more uncertainty and fear. When they’d linked up for this mission, Sean had updated Ethan on Ashley’s recovery, so he already knew her fear was a ticking time bomb. The post-traumatic stress following her shooting had derailed her military career and shattered her future.
Ashley’s eyes slipped closed as she momentarily withdrew, sitting back against the door. Rather than fall apart the way Ethan had feared, Ashley’s posture stiffened, almost stone-like in its lack of emotion. “Why did he send you, of all people?”
More than the words, the tone tore at him with serrated edges. It was a moment before he could answer. He shot Mitchum a warning glance in the rearview, then looked at her. He’d expected a panic attack, a loss of control, but she’d become a statue, an impassive observer.
The question was tougher to answer than she realized. Ethan’s plan included a lot of things from shoot-outs to fistfights, but how to explain his sudden reappearance wasn’t one he’d dwelled on.
“Sean’s in trouble.” Resignation gave Ashley’s words a dull edge.
Ethan’s hand twitched, the drive to comfort her overwhelming. Ashley and Sean had grown up together, even joined the army together after their parents were killed in a car accident on frozen New York roads. While Sean went infantry, Ashley joined the military police—where Ethan had fallen for her the very first time he’d seen her.
From the moment the army stationed the three of them together at Fort Carson, Colorado, they were a team, inseparable even after Ethan and Ashley moved on to Fort Drum in her home state. The hard truth was, though Ethan had fallen hard, Sean had always been the one Ashley gravitated to, the one closest to her heart.
Now her heart was in danger.
“Why would you say that?” Ethan asked, trying to gauge exactly what she knew, to stall as he worked out a plan to proceed.
Ashley didn’t answer. Instead, she dug her fingers into the back of her neck, elbows locking as she pulled tight.
Ethan recognized the move. He’d seen it in the past. She was fighting a swell of panic that threatened to drown her. More than anything, he wanted to reach down and touch her, but he’d given up any right five years ago.
He turned his focus to the road behind them, wind from the broken window fluttering against his face, to let her fight her battle in peace.
It took a minute before she spoke. “He left me several messages. The last one...” The words strangled out. She pulled in a deep breath and held it before continuing. “The man at the airport let me know this was all about Sean. Now you and your buddy kidnap me and—”
“We did not kidnap you.” Mitchum’s voice was laced with insult.
“Really?” Ashley addressed the question to Ethan. “Then take me to my car and let me go home.”
“Can’t.” In fact, it would be the worst thing they could do, driving a bullet-riddled vehicle straight onto airport property. Their whole operation would be upended faster than any of them could even state their names. The answers were so close, Ethan could see them on the horizon, and there was no way he was going to risk a run-in with local law enforcement that could jeopardize everything.
The panic must have passed, because Ashley dropped her hands and shifted her posture. “Then you’re taking me against my will. Tell me this... It’s been five years since I last saw you, since I last heard even one word from you. What makes you think I want anything to do with you? What makes you worthy of my trust?”
Mitchum snickered as he pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, easing into the space next to Ethan’s black, four-wheel-drive pickup.
Ethan winced. He’d deserved the question. It forced him to pull out the one fact he knew would make her believe he could be trusted, even though it was the last thing he wanted to talk about. “Yes, Sean sent me. He also told me if it ever came to this I should tell you something no one but the two of you would know, something he promised you he’d never tell me.”
“Go on.”
Ethan really didn’t want to, but he had bigger fish frying than any past issues with her. “Mitchum, check your truck and pull security.”
“We’re wide open here. You sure you want to risk sitting still long enough for—”
“Just do it. Two minutes.”
Mitchum’s displeasure escaped in shades of blue as he climbed out and slammed the truck door so hard the entire vehicle rocked.
Ethan fired a silent reprimand through the window before he turned his attention to Ashley. Better to say it and get it over with than to drag it out. “Sean was about to deploy for the first time. He came to Fort Drum to see us and took you to that little steak house near post for dinner.”
“Stop.”
