by Dale Mayer
“You got it.” With Jerricho’s help, Diesel picked up the dead gunman, and Jerricho picked up his wife, and they carried the two of them to a small pullout. With the woman and her dead husband, they waited. It wasn’t long before a vehicle arrived. Both, the dead husband and living wife, were collected. One team went down to the smaller cabin and did a quick sweep, cleaning out anything as needed, and then they were gone.
As Diesel walked back into the main cabin, Jerricho at his side, Greg sat with a pot of coffee on the back deck.
Greg looked up, smiled, and said, “You know when you said you were early birds, I didn’t think you meant it,” he said. “But if you’re raring to go fishing this badly …” And he wrung his hands together with joy.
Jerricho chuckled. “I could do with some fishing out in that lake,” he said. “Something to remind me about Mother Earth and all the good things in life.”
“You got it,” Greg said. As he walked past his daughter, he reached down and gave her a big hug and said, “You do know how to bring home good men.” And, with that, he disappeared.
Diesel walked over, picked her up, held her close, and said, “It’s over.”
She looked up, smiled, and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “It’s been a tough go, but it’s over.”
She sighed, wrapped her arms around him, and the two of them watched as Jerricho and her father gently wrangled together as they headed down to the lake. “Does Jerricho really want to go fishing?”
“You know what? I think he actually does.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” she said. “I really don’t like fishing.”
He burst out laughing and said, “Well, have you got something better you want to do today?”
She looked up, gave him a cheeky grin, and said, “Absolutely. I’m pretty sure we didn’t finish what we started earlier.”
He gave a shout of laughter and said, “Well, in that case, I think we need to spend a little bit of time together.” And the two of them raced down to the little cabin. As he landed on the deck, she was there, waiting for him. She stopped, looked at him, and said, “And this isn’t just for the moment, is it?”
He looked at her in surprise, shook his head, and said, “Absolutely not. It’s for every moment of every day that we enjoy being with each other.” He added, “And I really hope it’s forever.”
She looked up, smiled, and said, “Remember. When you’re young, it takes a lot of work, and, when you’re older, you know what works.”
“Sure,” he said. “What do you mean though?”
She said, “It can be forever, if we want it to be.”
“I want it to be,” he said instantly. “You?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. She threw her arms around his neck and said, “Forever.”
He lowered his head, and, just before their lips touched, he whispered right back, “Forever.”
Epilogue
Jerricho came back from the fishing trip with a smile in his heart. He really had taken to fishing, like he hadn’t ever expected. He would never be quite as addicted to the sport as was Greg, Eva’s father, but Jerricho had gotten up every morning at five a.m. the past few days and couldn’t wait to get on that lake. They had even tried afternoon fishing and evening fishing. The joy of catching that first fish had hooked Jerricho for life. He had promised to come back soon and often. And that was a promise that he would thoroughly enjoy keeping.
As it was, he headed back to what was his soulless apartment now. After being at the cabin, where the four of them were ensconced in Greg’s environment and his joy in life, plus recuperating from exhaustion and the emotional impact of everything they’d been through, Jerricho found his apartment empty and without merit anymore.
He had never really cared before, but it was starting to really, just after this trip, get to him. As he sat here, out on his deck, a cold beer in his hand, his phone rang.
He looked down to see Diesel as the Caller ID. “Hey, Diesel,” he said. “Did you catch any fish for me this morning?”
“Actually,” he said, “I caught my first trout.”
“Damn!” he said. “I’m so sad I had to leave.”
“Did you have to leave though?” he asked. “Couldn’t you have stayed?”
“Well, I still have to get my life together. You get to sit back and relax now. I’m not sure exactly what you’ll do with your life or what she’ll do with your life,” he said, “but I just felt like it was time for me to leave.”
“Well, what I’ll do now is,” he said, “is usher you into your next mission.”
There was a moment’s pause, then he said, “Seriously?”
“Yep, seriously.”
“When?”
“Well you better finish that beer in your hand,” he said in a dry tone.
“Shit! Are you watching me?”
“I wouldn’t be so intrusive,” he said, “but I have to tell you that’s what I do too, when I hit home. I sit back on the deck, and I pull out a beer.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing. So what am I supposed to be doing, if I have to finish this beer?”
“You’re heading out in less than three hours.”
“Crap!” he said. “I haven’t even done laundry.”
“First thing you do after a mission,” he said, “is you check out what you need to get done to leave again.”
“I didn’t have a chance yet. I’ve only been home a couple hours.”
“You got enough clean clothes?”
“If I don’t, you’ll find them for me, won’t you?”
“I absolutely will,” he said.
“So where am I going?” he said.
“Switzerland,” he said with a laugh. “You fly out very soon.”
“Why?”
“Well, I’d tell you but, you know what? I don’t want to ruin it for you.”
“What’ll ruin it for me?”
“Somebody you know is in trouble,” he said. “It came through official channels, but, when I recognized the name, I figured you’d want to know.”
“Who?” he asked, hopping to his feet. “Not too many people in my world I care about.”
He said, “Yeah, I hear you there. And then I remembered the conversation we had with Eva.”
At that, his stomach sank. “Jesus Christ,” he said, “is it Brenna?”
“Yes, it is,” Diesel said. “She was on a media trip. I didn’t realize she was a journalist.”
“I didn’t either. And what happened?”
“She and her cameraman have been kidnapped. They were on a trip through Switzerland, heading toward Libya. Obviously they didn’t make it. They have disappeared in the mountains.”
“Ah, hell,” he said. “Where’s her husband?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” he said, “I don’t have any record of a husband.”
“Last I heard, she was getting married,” he protested.
“Well, maybe you heard wrong, but she’s over there, alone, except for the one cameraman with her.”
“Any … any other intel?”
“I’ll send it as soon as I get it,” he said. “You need to get a move on now.” And, with that, Diesel rang off.
Jerricho turned to look around at the small apartment, and, out loud, he said, “Well, I didn’t like this place anyway.”
He threw back the rest of his beer, quickly switched out the dirty clothes in his duffel bag with a clean batch, and was out the door. As he made it to the front curb, he realized he didn’t have a ride.
When a vehicle raced toward him, he laughed. “Damn, I like this job.”
And, with that, he was gone.
This concludes Book 13 of The Mavericks: Diesel.
Read about Jerricho: The Mavericks, Book 14
Jerricho: Maverick (Book #14)
What happens when the very men—trained to make the hard decisions—come up against the rules and regulations that hold them back from doing what needs to be done?
They either stay and work within the constraints given to them or they walk away. Only now, for a select few, they have another option:
The Mavericks. A covert black ops team that steps up and break all the rules … but gets the job done.
Welcome to a new military romance series by USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. A series where you meet new friends and just might get to meet old ones too in this raw and compelling look at the men who keep us safe every day from the darkness where they operate—and live—in the shadows … until someone special helps them step into the light.
Jerricho didn’t expect his first solo mission to send him to the Middle East nor to rescue his journalist ex-wife and her cameraperson. Finding out why they and the other women had been taken was horrifying in itself, but saving a larger group than he’d first expected then complicates the rescue in a much bigger way.
Brenna had hopes that her ex would show up, as she knew the type of work he did. She’d always wanted a chance to show him how much she’d changed. This was hardly the ideal time, but she might not get a second chance.
Rescuing the women and taking out the kidnappers should have been the end of it, until they realize it’s not as simple as it first seems. The women were objects initially; now they’re targets …
Find book 14 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Diesel: The Mavericks, Book 13! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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DIESEL: THE MAVERICKS, BOOK 13
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2020
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773364-13-1
Kindle Edition
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