Jen_C’s Reviews > Strike Fast > Status Update

She mattered to him so much. He’d never thought he would fall for someone again after such a bitter divorce, but Tess had somehow managed to blast her way through all the walls he’d put up around his heart. Tough as he was, it was terrifying to hand his heart over to someone. He just hoped Tess was as ready to receive it as he was to give it.

He crumpled. His knees gave out and he dropped to the ground, barely even feeling the impact. Autumn was here. She was safe. He knelt there on the ground holding his daughter, and something inside him shattered. All the fear and anguish he’d bottled up came bursting forth in a rush of tears. Hard, wrenching sobs ripped out of his chest, raw and agonizing. “Don’t cry, Daddy,” Autumn said, her voice stricken.

He thought about all the milestones he’d missed, either because he was overseas or on a training mission somewhere. His career had cost him a lot. He couldn’t handle it if it cost him Autumn, too. Nothing was worth his baby girl’s life, and he felt sick that his job had been responsible for this nightmare.

She smoothed one hand up and down his damp spine and stroked his hair with the other while their thundering heartbeats slowed. He allowed her to cradle his full weight, sinking deeper into the solace she offered as the wall of exhaustion finally slammed into him. Sleep enveloped him in a warm, weightless cocoon that sucked him straight into the oblivion he’d so desperately craved.

Autumn's gone!"
“What?” The blood drained from his face with a hot, prickling sensation. She let out a broken sob. "I don’t know where he took her.”
“Did you call the cops?” Another sob, this one so full of anguish the hair on Reid’s nape stood on end. “They’re out looking for her right now.” Calm down. You need to calm the hell down. Think. But it was f-ing impossible when his baby girl had just been kidnapped.

Sassy. I already hate the sections from the douche bag villain's point of view since he is a POS and I don't want to spend time in his SICK FREAK mind, but reading about him and a GIRAFFE bores me. Complete waste.

A woman. Naked. She had a damn rusty collar and chain dangling from her neck. He lowered his weapon and gentled his demeanor. The woman seemed to weave on her feet for a moment, blinking at him with one bruised eye, the other swollen shut. Her face was too badly distorted to see her features clearly. They’d beaten the shit out of her, and it twisted Reid’s stomach.

“You sure you don’t want to stay the night?” she asked, still a little breathless. Having him hold her in the night would be so damn good. He shook his head, his dark eyes intense. “If I climb into that bed with you, there’s no way I wouldn’t wind up inside you at some point.”

I’m not exactly a desk job kinda guy.”
“No, I can’t imagine you behind a desk. You were SF before, right?” He nodded, surprised. “You been asking about me?”
“Maybe. You worried?”
“No.” Pumped that she was interested enough to ask about him, more like it. “I’m former army too.” He smiled at her. “Hooah.”
“Hooah,” she said with a laugh that made something swell in the center of his chest.

Ugh. The inhumane, degradation of the women in this series is getting to me. The men get simple wounds, shot or stabbed but the women are tortured, burned, abused, beaten, belittled and violated and it sickens me. :(