EZRA COUGHED WHEN tepid water flooded his face. He opened his eyes to see two men leaning over him. He came up swinging.

It didn’t do a damned bit of good. He realized his hands were bound at just about the same moment one of the bastards rammed his foot into Ezra’s ribs. “Boyfriend’s awake!”

A woman screamed out.

Ezra’s gaze jerked toward her.

Toliver’s terrified eyes burned into his.

The last he remembered, they’d been in Smokey’s parking lot. He’d lured her outside because watching her with that local cop had gotten on his nerves. He’d just wanted to talk to her. Hash out why the last case he’d worked was burning under his skin, try to figure out why when he’d seen her that night, he’d almost forgotten the hell he’d witnessed the morning before. He had just wanted to focus on Shannon for a moment or two before he’d headed out. Just to forget. Maybe if he’d argued with her, he’d dream about her instead of a dead kid.

Then had come the fire. He’d been tazered before as part of his military training. He had no doubt that was what had happened.

She’d screamed then, too. He remembered the screams.

And a van ride.

“Hello, Agent Hahn, is it?” A cool voice asked from behind him.

Ezra reluctantly looked away from Shannon. A man in his forties stared at him, a maniacal smirk on his face. “Yeah, that’s me. What’s this about?”

“You’re here as a little demonstration. Your girlfriend seems to be struggling with following directions. Care to help her mend her ways?”

“You hurt her at all and I’ll gut you like a trout. Just keep that in mind.” Ezra knew the words were as impotent as he felt.

He’d get her out of this.

Or he’d die trying.

A knee hit him in the stomach. A fist struck his jaw. Ezra got it. He was going to get the shit beat out of him to force Shannon to do whatever these assholes wanted. The computer in the corner was hard to miss.

He didn’t like it, but he’d rather they targeted him than her.

Finally, the asshole leader called a stop to it. “We don’t want him dead. Yet. We need his body as an...example...to the rest of PAVAD just what we’re capable of. And Shannon understands, doesn’t she? If not, we’ll let Jim here explain. He likes Shannon a lot.”

Ezra spit blood from his mouth. He didn’t look at Shannon again. Not even once. If he did, he was afraid he’d say something to her. Make it worse for the both of them.

He forced himself into as submissive of a position as he could stomach.

Until the men left. One stopped next to Shannon.

Ezra watched as the bastard bent down and kissed her cheek, then whispered something.

She recoiled, but they’d bound her tightly. She couldn’t get away from the bastard.

When they were gone, she looked up at him.

They’d left the light on. Thankfully.

He stared at her for a moment, knowing he would never forget the fear in her eyes. Finally, he had to turn away, feeling useless and liked he’d failed her.

Ezra took his first real look around. Primitive decor covered most of the cabin walls. And it was definitely a cabin, not much different than the one they’d shared down in Texas with Cam and Kyra before everything had gone sideways for them. Maybe fourteen by twenty, it was clean, old, and buttoned down tight. The windows had been boarded up from the inside.

The door was heavy metal. And he suspected they hadn’t left it unlocked for his and Shannon’s convenience. His bet was that the three armed goons were in the larger room, no doubt, outside of this little bedroom. If he could get loose and find the right tools, Ezra knew he could pick it and get them both out.

Lock-picking was a hobby he, Cam, and his team leader all shared. That hobby could get them out of there. If he could get free.

“Ez?”

He looked at her, feeling beyond helpless. They still had his hands bound. And he didn’t see any hope of getting out of that. “Hey, Toliver. This is not what I had in mind for our first date. How badly are you hurt?”

“I’ll survive. For a while. You?”

“I’ve had better evenings. What do they want?”

“Information, I think. Computer. They...that blanket is mine. From my home. They’ve been there. Probably a couple of weeks ago. They know about Mia and Kyra and Leina. Noah. They have a picture of Noah.”

Leina and Ken Chalmers’ baby. Shit. He knew how much Shannon loved that little boy and his two sisters.

She was frightened. He could hear it in her words, see it on her face. But she was hiding it as best she could.

He felt useless. “I see.”

“There are four of them. And one off-site. But I think there may be more. They keep referring to some company. Very, very organized.”

“Former military.” He’d recognized some of the moves the men had made when they’d been kicking his ass.

“Homegrown. We may be talking terrorism here. Or a revenge plot against the FBI—PAVAD, in general. Although they read more like a cult than a terrorist organization in a lot of ways.” She kept her voice down, calm, and he had to give her points for not falling apart. Instead, she’d profiled them exactly like the professional that she was. Hell, she was more experienced in profiling than he was.

“Most likely.” He didn’t give a flying rat’s ass why they’d been taken. Only about how they were going to get out of this.

They could figure out the why next.

Ezra pulled himself to his feet, though his brand-new bruises protested. He settled near her feet. Ezra leaned slightly, until his shoulder rested against her knee. They both needed the connection now.

If nothing else, he didn’t want her sitting over there all alone.

Like it or not, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

They both knew that.

Ezra needed to think.