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way thought he did—he owed the Hayeses too much to drag their daughter into the kind of life he led. Now that he’d joined HOT, his already crazy life had just gotten crazier. His deployments would be more specialized now, more dangerous in many ways. With the Rangers, he’d done plenty of dangerous things—jumping into enemy territory in the middle of the night and engaging in pitched battles with enemy forces while trying to take—or defend—ground.
    But HOT, like Delta Force, was about a hundred levels up. Their missions were top secret, highly focused, and extremely sensitive. Right now, most of their resources were bent toward catching Jassar ibn-Rashad. The new Freedom Force leader had escaped a mission to capture him just a few months ago now. Two men were killed in that op—Marco San Ramos and Jim Matuzaki. Sam was one of the replacements, and he felt it keenly. The other guys didn’t talk much about what had happened in the desert, but everyone knew. The entire squad was captured, and Jim and Marco were executed when no one would talk.
    The rest of them would have been executed too, except that another HOT squad managed to get them out. Sam hadn’t gone out on an op with them yet, but it could happen at any moment.
    Now, however, he had Georgie to worry about. When the Kid had found out that Jake Hamilton had been dragged out of the Potomac only a few days ago, Sam’s blood ran cold. Right after that, Georgie called him, terrified, and Sam bolted out of HOT HQ like someone had aimed a flamethrower at his ass.
    Sam’s phone rang and he glanced down at it sitting in the console. A HOT code flashed on the screen so he picked it up and answered with a clipped, “McKnight.”
    “This is Captain Girard, Sergeant. Everything okay?”
    Sam’s gut hollowed. His CO calling him couldn’t be a good thing at a time like this. “Yessir. Just have to take care of something personal, sir.”
    “Big Mac told me about your friend. She okay?”
    Sam glanced over at Georgie, who was now staring out the window. Mad at him, no doubt. “I think so, sir. There was no one in the house, but the back door had been forced.”
    Georgie swung around to look at him, her eyes wide. Yeah, he hadn’t told her that part. And she was gonna give him hell over it.
    “Circumstances have changed somewhat, Sergeant. It seems as if HOT is officially involved in this case now. You’ll need to bring her here, and then we’ll make sure she gets somewhere safe.”
    Sam gripped the phone tight. Jesus, if HOT was involved, there was most certainly a foreign component. The military did not operate inside US borders except under very specific and well-defined circumstances. This was not one of them. And that made Sam’s blood run just a little colder. What the hell had Georgie gotten herself into?
    “I need to do this, sir. I’m responsible for her.” Because Rick would kill him if anything happened to Georgie. Hell, Sam would hand him the gun and beg him to pull the trigger.
    There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. “Fine. But you’re coming here first. Understood, soldier?”
    “Sir, yessir,” Sam replied. The connection ended and Sam put the phone down again with a sinking feeling in his gut. If HOT was a part of this thing, the level of severity had just taken a quantum leap.
    He glanced over at Georgie. She had her lower lip between her teeth. “You didn’t tell me about the door.”
    “Didn’t want to worry you.”
    She frowned. “I was already worried, Sam.”
    “I know. That’s why I didn’t want to add to it.”
    She let out an exasperated breath. “Always trying to protect me, even when I don’t want it.”
    He flexed his hands on the wheel. “You want it this time, Georgie. Believe me.”
    “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what that means?”
    He shook his head slowly. “Nope. And don’t ask again, because I can’t. It’s not my decision.”
    “Does this have anything to do