Cowboy was exhausted.

All he wanted was to see Miley and his bed. No, he wanted a shower, then Miley -- in his bed. He closed his eyes as he laid his head back against the bulkhead. Normally, he would have slept on the ride back, but he was still too keyed up. Well, that and Toad slouching beside him snoring like a freight train.

He must have finally drifted off because he was suddenly jostled awake by turbulence. Straightening in his seat he rolled his head, stretching the stiff muscles in his neck.

"What time is it?" he shouted over the engines.

"Almost six Cali time. We should be landing in the next half hour or so," Hick grunted. He pulled out his cell and stared at the screen showing his fiancée, Annabeth. "This was a long one. Damn, but I'm glad to be coming home."

"You and me both," Cowboy replied.

"You and Miley coming to the house for Thanksgiving? I was supposed to ask the crew before we left but with everything that happened, I didn't think it was that important."

"I don't know, Hick. She may want to go home to Missouri and see her folks. I'll ask her."

"What about the rest of you?" Hick asked.

"I'll get back with you," Railroad answered. "I still have a lot to get finished."

"You can take a break, but all right. How about you, Bruise?"

"I'll check with Livy. You know Auntie Nat. Cooking is one of her big things."

"Bring her and Jayden. The more, the merrier."

"I'll see," Bruiser replied.

"I'm free," Toad chipped in. "Always good for a meal and you still owe us."

"Good. Finch?"

The quietest member of the team lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I got things to do."

Toad walked over and dropped to the seat beside him. "When are you going to come clean? You've been moping around for months now. Bruise won't say anything. What gives?"

"Toad," Bruiser hissed with a shake of his head. "Let it go."

"Hell no. He's a member of this team. We're brothers. You need to let us help you."

"It's none of your damn business," Finch hissed as he lurched to his feet. "Leave it alone."

"No."

Toad jumped up, but Cowboy put a hand on his arm. "He'll tell us when he's ready."

Toad growled but walked away, flopping onto a crate further in the bay.

The co-pilot appeared in the doorway to the bay and motioned to Bruiser. Standing, the leader made his way over and bent his head in, bracing against the struts to hear what the man said. He nodded and followed him to the front.

The tension in the space eased as Toad pulled out his cell and began playing a game. Finch sat with his back to the rest of the team, his shoulders hunched over stiffly. Cowboy closed his eyes again and leaned back, hoping to catch a few more minutes of shut-eye before they landed.

He felt someone drop into the bench beside him. Cracking his eyelids, he saw Bruiser staring at him with trepidation on his face. "Cowboy," he began. "I got a call from Dixon on the comms."

Cowboy sat up, dread turning his blood to ice. "My Dad?"

Bruiser shook his head. "No. It's Miley. She's missing."

By the time the wheels touched down, Cowboy's nerves were stretched to the breaking point. He'd tried to call both Miley and Wolf, but neither answered. He had, however, talked to Annabeth via Hick. All she knew was that Miley went for lunch and never returned. The women were all worried to death.

Finally, the plane rolled to a stop. Before the door was completely open, he grabbed his bag and leaped to the ground. "Cowboy, wait up," Hick called out. Cowboy ignored him and hurried to his car in the parking lot. Wrenching the door open, he tossed his bag in and hopped in. Bruiser reached in and plucked his keys out of his hand.

"Give them back," Cowboy snarled.

"I'm not going to let you take off like this. The last thing she needs is you getting into a wreck because your head is in the wrong place."

"What if it was Livy? Would you stand around twiddling your thumbs or would you get out there and look for her? Let me have my keys."

Bruiser shook his head. "It was Livy at one time, remember? You and the team had my six then, and we have yours now. We're going to get her back but going off half-cocked isn't the answer. We need intel, not hot heads."

Cowboy's hand slammed into the steering wheel as a strangled scream erupted from his throat. A part of him knew Bruiser was right, but it was tiny compared to the portion that demanded he go and do something.

"Man, he's right," Hick said from behind Bruiser. "We're going to get her back. But we have to be smart about it. We can't play into this asshole's hands. We need to know what's going on and make an appropriate plan. However, I think we need to go to Wolf's. The women are scared and upset. Annabeth is beside herself."

"That's another thing. Where is Wolf?"

Bruiser let out a held breath. "His team was called yesterday. The bastard was smart to wait until she was unguarded to strike. The women have been keeping close, but she was at work."

Running his hand through his hair, Cowboy nodded as some of the anger flowed out of his body. It wasn't going to do any good to rail at his team or the women. It wasn't their fault. It wasn't even Wolf's. "I shouldn't have left her," he muttered.

"You had to go," Bruiser told him. "You're a SEAL. We go when we're told. You know this, and so does Miley. Scoot over. I'm driving." He turned to the others. "We'll meet at Wolf's. I know we've had a hell of a last few weeks, but this can't wait."

"We're with you," Railroad affirmed.

Cowboy reluctantly scooted to the passenger side as Bruiser dropped into the driver's seat. Within minutes, they were flying through the streets, on their way to Wolf's house.

Halfway there, Bruiser's cell rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he shoved it at Cowboy. "Answer it."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Bruiser, it's Tex."

"Give us some good news, man," Bruiser said.

"I have good and bad news. First off, are you aware of Wolf's team's women's special clothing?"

"What are you talking about?" Cowboy wondered what clothes had to do with his woman's disappearance.

Tex let out a long drawn breath. "You do know about all the trouble with the ladies? Everything they had gone through?"

"Yeah," Bruiser answered. "We shared a mission not too long ago, and they told us about it. What has that got to do with Miley?"

"After the girls kept getting into trouble, I ordered some trackers for them which they voluntarily carry at all times. They have them in jewelry, clothing and even shoes. This afternoon, I noticed one of Caroline's trackers heading outside the city even though another was at her lab. I called to check on her, and she was fine, in the lab, so I thought it was a false positive and maybe needed replacing. It wasn't until she called me back a couple of hours ago frantic because Miley was missing that I put the two together. Miley borrowed a pair of Caroline's shoes. She just happened to grab a pair with a tracker in it."

"Then you know where she is? Oh, thank God." Cowboy felt a little of the fear melt.

"That's the bad news. I know about where she is but not exactly."

"What do you mean?" Bruiser barked. "If she's wearing a personal tracker, you should know where she is within a few hundred yards."

"The panic button she used before was a burst transmitter utilizing radio bands or RDF. It's designed for a specific location within a tightly defined area - a distress call. This one is a constant beacon using an identification signal that is piggybacked off a satellite feed. The range is greater. Thus we can see where she went when she left the metro area. The last location recorded was in the San Bernardino Mountains. Because of the high concentration of metals and varying elevations, the signal bounces around creating ghost images. I know approximately where she is, just not exactly which signal is her. I'm working on weeding out the false responses, but it's going to take a little time. That's a lot of rough terrains to sort through. "

Bruiser growled. "At least we know where to start."

"Hopefully, by the time you get in the area, I'll have it whittled down," Tex continued. "Meanwhile, Digger is doing his thing, combing through data and trying to find anything that can lead us to Hoxha while I'm working the technical side. Kid's got skills. He knows his way around the information highway. As soon as we know something, we'll let you know."

"Thanks, Tex."

"We'll get her back, Cowboy."

"Damn right we will."

The line went dead, and Cowboy dropped it on the seat between them. Neither said a word as Bruiser parked Cowboy's car on the curb in front of Wolf's house. Behind him, the rest of the team parked and they all exited. He'd never been so thankful for his team as he was at that moment. They were all exhausted but dropped everything to help him and Miley. This was what brotherhood was about.

Railroad clapped a hand on his shoulder. "All right. Let's get this show started."

"Yeah, let's get Miley back," Toad agreed.

"We've got this," Hick said with a nod.

"She's as good as home," Finch added resolutely.

Cowboy let out a held breath, releasing the weight of guilt and anger he had been shouldering since learning of Miley's abduction. He glanced around at the faces of his team, brothers that were closer to him than any blood connection. If anyone could do it, it was this band of men. They were tired from lack of sleep, homesick from being gone for weeks and mentally drained, but ready to step in no matter what was needed. He nodded to them, letting them know how grateful he was.

"Let's do this," he murmured as he turned toward the house where Annabeth, Olivia and the other women stood waiting in the doorway. As he watched Bruiser and Hick greet their women, he gave them a tight smile.

"Never again," he muttered.

Come hell or high water, he wasn't leaving her side again until he was sure the Hoxha problem was done.

One way or another.