Captured 3 Read Online Free Page B

digging around on her computer.”
    “Are you telling me this is about some love-struck Al Qaeda terrorist who decided to come into an armed camp and take these women because of an online relationship?” Hancock snapped.
    Eric didn’t have a clue about Facebook and social media, so he stared at DeLaurie on the screen and then shared a meaningful look of disbelief with Colonel Hancock. Lieutenant Perkins was leaning over a desk, going through something on the screen with another officer.
    “Sir, the programmer at the camp has patched us into Dunlop’s computer, and we’ve pulled up a history. She’s been communicating with someone called Avi over thirty-six different messages. I’m just scrolling through to the end, but in one of them, he says they’ll meet soon and asks if she has leave coming. In this next one, she says she can’t get off base and says they’ll have to communicate by email. In another here, she’s complaining about someone named Riske and another bunkmate, Grieger.” Lieutenant Perkins was reading something from the screen and then shook his head. “She didn’t say anything of their whereabouts, but she didn’t need to. She gave out a lot of information about herself and what it’s like on base—the food, the time she eats, and how close everything is to her barracks.”
    “Do we have a traitor in our midst?” the colonel asked, but Eric didn’t think so.
    “Not a traitor, but someone’s definitely communicating with the enemy,” Lieutenant Perkins added.
    “Did she lead these men in?” Eric had to ask. Everyone was shaking their heads.
    DeLaurie could obviously hear him. “We think so, but we don’t know if she planned it or was just being stupid.”
    “Are the emails from camp not monitored?” Eric asked. This was communication, pure and simple. They couldn’t have personnel talking to anyone any time they wanted.
    “We have portable Internet,” DeLaurie explained. “Families Skype, they talk, they’re monitored. Don’t know how this slipped past.”
    “We need someone going through those emails word for word so we can figure out who these guys are. Do we know where they’ve taken the women?” The colonel was loud, barking at DeLaurie.
    DeLaurie appeared grim on screen from what Eric could tell. “We don’t, sir,” he replied. “The first team was taken out, and the second followed but lost their trail. We need to find a satellite feed to get a location from their vehicle.”
    “Call your team back,” the colonel ordered. “Let’s find out first what group we’re dealing with—whether this is just some group of rebels or some well-financed terrorist operation. See if we can’t get more information from the source of these emails.”
    “All right, Colonel,” DeLaurie said before signing off.
    After everything, Eric couldn’t believe this was something as simple as an enlisted officer leading a group right into camp.
     

Chapter 4
    Climbing out of the Humvee, he could only taste sand and heat and grit. Joe was wearing his sunglasses, a boonie hat, his uniform, and tan suede combat boots, with his M4 Carbine looped over his shoulder. The commander had called them back to the compound, but by then the trail had already gone cold. They had no idea if the insurgents who had taken the women had gone north or south, and they needed to get a fix on the vehicle. Then they would gather supplies and go after the women.
    Joe couldn’t help thinking of Dunlop. She was a quiet woman, a looker with a body the men drooled over. Even Joe wasn’t unaffected but how stunning she was. He’d never given another woman a second look before—he loved his wife—but as of late, he had felt that something was missing, and that made him angry at the young woman he felt so attracted to. He had made a point of never being alone with Dunlop, but he’d once run into her outside the canteen when it was dark. She’d been leaning against the warm steel siding, staring up at the