Her Fierce SEAL
Midnight Delta Book 6
By Caitlyn O’Leary
© Copyright 2016 Caitlyn O’Leary
ISBN # 978-68419-918-1
All cover art and logo © Copyright 2016 by Passionately Kind Publishing, Inc.
Edited by Lynne St. James
Cover by Holly Stafford
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and places portrayed in this book are entirely products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find any eBooks being sold or shared illegally, please contact the author at [email protected].
Dedication
To Those Who Have Served and Those Who Have Struggled
Synopsis
Navy SEAL, Finn Crandall, still reeling from his last mission, is desperate for a purpose to bring him the redemption he needs.
Landing in Austin Texas, he meets the feisty Angie Donatelli. She’s a private investigator on a quest to reunite a young girl with her stolen baby. Angie is tough and doesn’t want or think that she needs help. When she’s confronted with a man who won’t take no for an answer, sparks fly and flames ignite. Angie finds herself falling for the sexiest and most stubborn man she has ever met.
When Finn and Angie team up to search for the missing baby, Finn’s fierce protective instincts kick into high gear. As they dig deeper into the baby’s disappearance, Finn’s old nightmares get tangled up with the new horrors they encounter. Will Angie’s unconditional love and Finn’s inner strength be enough to fight the demons of his past and conquer the evils they’re confronting today?
This book is a stand-alone but is best read as part of the series.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Synopsis
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Biography
Books by Caitlyn O’Leary
Chapter One
“Finn, get Little Liu and his sick fucking uncle before they get away!” Drake yelled.
Finn grinned ferally and grabbed a man with a gun, he shoved his arm up, and the bullet shattered a sconce high up on a wall. Finn slammed the man’s arm down on his knee and listened for the satisfying crunch of bone and the man’s howl of pain. Leaving him in a heap, he hurdled over him toward the two men who had been at the center of the unfolding carnage.
One of the men Finn despised was dead on the ground and the other that he hated grinned at his arrival.
“You’re here,” he shouted in greeting. The stupid asshole didn’t realize Finn was his executioner. Finn looked at the man he had pretended to like when he had infiltrated the human trafficking ring. “Do you believe this shit?” Howard grinned. He was clearly enjoying the death and destruction surrounding them.
Howard pointed his gun towards something behind Finn and within seconds a blossom of red spread over his chest.
“Got him, Finn!” Drake yelled from across the room.
“Goddamit, Drake. He was mine!” Finn yelled to his fellow Navy SEAL.
Then Finn turned to Liu and Jiang, who stared at him in panic as they realized he was not on their side. Finn loved watching the two men’s dawning realization that this was the end of the line.
Just forty-eight hours ago he had seen Liu’s underlings torture a young girl and had been helpless to do anything about it. They’d also threatened and assaulted a woman he liked and admired. The younger Liu was responsible for buying and selling young women around the world. Pictures swirled inside Finn’s head. Rage swelled within him, and he knew he would not let either of them see the inside of a prison cell. They needed to die and die painfully.
Albert Liu proved he was as stupid as he was evil when he tried to run past Finn. He held out his foot and tripped him, then watched dispassionately as the man’s head hit the floor with a loud crack. Jiang Liu huddled on the floor near the armoire covered with broken vases and strewn flowers and stared up at Finn, his terror palpable.
Finn hauled up Little Liu and threw him on the counter, uncaring if he was cut by the shattered glass. He pulled out his gun and smiled at the man’s horror.
“Don’t kill me,” he begged through bloody lips.
“Too late. You signed your death warrant years ago. Now I’m just deciding how badly you’re going to die.” Finn slowly slid his gun down the side of the man’s jaw, and Jiang whimpered at his feet. He slammed his boot on Jiang’s hand and twisted. His howl of agony helped relieve some of Finn’s own pain and rage.
“Now where were we, Albert?” he asked the man lying in front of him. He caressed his face with the gun, as it stroked downwards it smeared blood down his neck, and he enjoyed seeing the bright crimson against the blue steel of gunmetal. He continued to move the pistol lower until it was nestled against the man’s crotch, then he shoved upwards. Hard. Liu grunted in pain.
“I’ll do anything. I’m a rich man. Ten million dollars. Cash. It’s yours.”
“Not enough,” Finn growled.
“A hundred million in diamonds,” Liu promised. “It’ll take me a few days.”
Finn shoved the gun harder against the man’s testicles. “You piece of shit. You don’t get it. Do you?”
“What? Tell me. I’ll give you anything. Say anything.” The man practically bled terror.
“Let’s start with I’m sorry.” Finn saw the confusion in Liu’s eyes and stared at the dumb fucker in disbelief.
“You mindless fuck.” Finn’s head was going to explode.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
The words were distorted. As if coming through a long tunnel
“Of course, I’m sorry.”
It was too little, too late. Finn’s finger tightened.
“Finn!” Darius Stanton yelled. Finn released the pressure on the trigger, as his surroundings came into focus and he saw the bullets still flying around the room. Funny, he hadn’t noticed it before. As a SEAL he usually noticed things like that. He shook his head again to clear it.
He turned to his friend and fellow teammate.
“Hey, Dare.” He attempted a smile.
“Whatchya doing?” Darius asked.
Finn looked at Dare, then at Little Liu, who was lying on the counter, and the Sick Old Fuck, who lay on the floor bleeding beneath his boot. He looked back at his friend and smiled. “I’ve decided to shoot his dick off and watch him bleed out. Then I’m going to do the same thing to this one.” He pressed his foot deeper and harder onto the old man’s hand. He felt the bones crush. Satisfying.
“You can’t do that, partner,” Darius said. Finn saw he was serious. Odd. Finn would have thought Dar
e would have understood how necessary this was.
Then he realized Dare hadn’t been at the farmhouse. He hadn’t talked to those girls. He didn’t know everything. Fuck, he didn’t even know what they had done to Dare’s woman.
“Do you know how many bruises Rylie has because of them?” His friend jerked his head and glared at Liu lying on the armoire, his face a mask of rage.
“Dare, I know about the baby farm. Liu’s the cause of this mess. Look around. People died tonight. Did you know women were thrown overboard off of a cargo ship? He needs to die. He needs to die badly.”
Finn watched his friend and fellow teammate closely and began to relax. He noted the fighting behind him began to die down. The good guys were winning. Then his eyes widened as Rylie ran up behind Dare. Fuck! He had left her upstairs in a safe place. She wasn’t supposed to be down here where it was dangerous!
“Finn, you can’t do this!” Rylie entreated with pleading eyes. Finn was scared to death. Things might have quieted down, but the area wasn’t totally secure.
“Dammit, Rylie! I told you to stay upstairs where it was safe,” he yelled. She didn’t back down, her long blonde hair flew around her, and she looked like a Valkyrie.
“Well you shouldn’t have decided to commit murder,” she said as she pointed to the worthless piece of shit trembling under his gun.
“It’s not murder. I’m taking out the garbage. I’m saving the state some money. Call it what you will, it’s not murder.” He huffed out a laugh. She was cute. She was perfect for Dare.
“Isn’t it enough you already killed Mike and Howard?” She gestured to the two men on the floor. He took a moment to glance at the two corpses beside Jiang, hating them. Howard would have raped a young girl if he hadn’t ripped him off her, and Mike had stood by, ready to take his turn.
“I didn’t have the pleasure. However, I can kill these two.”
Rylie turned to Darius.
“You have to stop him,” she begged her lover.
“I don’t,” Darius said.
“He’ll go to prison,” she argued. Finn knew he was about to execute these two in cold blood, but it was the right thing to do. Why couldn’t Rylie see it that way?
“Nah, it’ll be an unfortunate accident during a shootout. Two accidents, when he gets done with the sick old fuck of an uncle.” Darius pointed to Jiang, who was sobbing beneath Finn’s boot.
“Please, Finn, I care about you. I don’t want you to feel bad about this for the rest of your life.”
Pottery shattered next to Albert Liu’s head, spraying water and lilies all over him. A large Asian man advanced and Dare easily shot and killed him, while Jiang screamed and pushed at Finn.
The gun went off. Blood and gore covered his hand as Albert’s body blew apart beneath the muzzle of his gun. Albert Liu’s shrill screams painted the air. Finn smiled with satisfaction. Justice at fucking last. His stomach unclenched just a little. But it wasn’t over. Jiang Liu was about to die of stupidity, and he’d watch with pleasure.
The older man crawled across the floor towards the gun the dead man had dropped.
“Jiang, don’t make me kill you,” Darius called out. Jiang grabbed for it anyway. Darius shook his head in disgust and shot the sick old fuck in the head.
Finn felt the blood begin to cool on his hand, and wiped it off on his pants. He glanced at Albert’s face, just to make sure the asshole was dead.
Still, none of this was enough to make up for all of the horrors that had gone on. There had been too many innocents. Just too many damned innocents.
***
It had been five weeks since the bloody shootout in British Columbia, Canada. And Finn was sitting in his lieutenant’s living room surrounded by his Navy SEAL teammates and their women. They had been up all night brainstorming how they could help the girls they’d rescued. Yes, there were government agencies involved, and some of the girls had been reunited with their families, but some had slipped through the cracks, and those were the ones they were focusing on.
There were very few people on this Earth that impressed Finn as much as these people did. They were the best.
“Dammit, Clint, listen to me, and quit waiting for Sophia’s next batch of cookies,” Lydia growled at her man. “Ophelia is with her family, it’s Ursula I’m worried about.”
Clint sighed and ran his hands through his hair, then placed them back on his computer keyboard.
“Lydia, cut him some slack,” Rylie admonished. “There are so many different names, everybody is bound to get confused. I should have made up a name chart or something.”
“He’s not paying attention, and if we don’t do something quick,” her voice trailed off and much to everyone’s horror her face crumpled. Clint acted fast and pulled Lydia into his arms. He whispered into his fiancée’s ear, and she curled up against him as her tears started.
“Damn,” Drake breathed out. Finn knew what the big guy meant, no one expected hell-on-wheels Lydia to breakdown. Of course, after the torture she had endured at the hands of the cartel, she would always be a little more fragile than she appeared.
Fuck, if only they had gotten to that cabin an hour earlier.
“It’s because of the babies,” Beth Hidalgo, Lydia’s sister said, interrupting his reverie. She had just walked in on the spectacle when she and Sophia brought out cookies. “Lydia is really torn up over the missing babies, she and Sophia have taken it the hardest.”
Mason, the Midnight Delta lieutenant, held out his hand for his wife, and Sophia went and sat on his lap. Beth sat next to her fiancé, Jack Preston, another member of the SEAL team.
Again, Finn perused everyone in the living room. He wished everything would have just remained the same. That he could get back to the time before the mission when everything had been so joyful at this house, and he had been capable of smiling. Four contented couples, so much love. Less than four months ago he had been grinning from ear-to-ear when he had been a groomsman in Mason’s wedding. Now everything was just another shade of gray.
For a time, everyone stayed quiet, lost in thought as they gave Lydia time to compose herself.
“I’m sorry I lost it,” Lydia said finally as she looked up from Clint’s arms.
“No need to apologize,” Mason responded. “We’re all on edge. We want to do what we can to assist the girls who were trafficked find new homes or reunite them with their families. And we sure as fuck want to hunt down those stolen babies and get them back into the arms of their mothers. It’s just taking longer than we thought it would.”
“Fucking bureaucrats,” Drake’s loud voice carried through the room. “I still can’t believe how many of those motherfuckers have their thumbs up their asses trying to figure out whose job it is to help those girls because it’s an international case. I know this crossed multiple borders, and only two of the girls were US citizens, but more should be done for them. I’m about ready to crack some fucking skulls!”
“Down Drake, you’re not helping anything,” Mason said tiredly. Sophia stroked the side of his face and Finn saw him take comfort in the small caress.
“We know this operation inside and out. No one can put the pieces together better than we can. So even if they did decide to help, they’d fuck things up,” Rylie said with disgust. She turned to Lydia. “I know you’re worried about Ursula, but Sophia has already got a couple of ideas about where she could stay.”
“You do?” Lydia sat straight up on Clint’s lap and stared at Sophia, who blushed.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure they wouldn’t fall through. But yes, I know one family in particular that would love to have her come and stay with them. They’re in San Bernardino. They’re suffering from empty nest syndrome, and the idea of having Ursula stay for a year or two, until she gets on her feet, tickles them to death.”
“They know she’s pregnant, right?” Rylie asked.
“Yep. I told them everything. One of their daughters is currently serving in
the Navy. That’s how I knew to reach out to them,” Sophia explained. “Beth and I went over and met with them yesterday. When we left, they were talking about buying Rosetta Stone for Ukrainian.”
“Oh my God, that’s another one taken care of,” Rylie said, her eyes shining. “We can do this. We only have three more girls to place and five more babies to find. This will be a piece of cake.”
“I love your positive attitude, sunshine.” Drake’s eyes lit up as he looked at Darius’ fiancée. “Are you sure you want to hook up with Dare? I think you would be better off with me.”
“Fuck off, Avery,” Darius said to Drake. “Rylie is mine.”
“Damn right I am. I have the ring to prove it.” She smirked, holding out her left hand.
“Now, if he can only keep you out of trouble.” Drake sighed.
“Are you kidding? I intend to live a boring life from this day forward. At least, after we find places for all of the girls and reunite all of the babies with their moms.”
“Did you just say boring?” Drake asked Rylie. “I’ve met your brothers and sister. You’re not going to be doing boring for the next forty years. I know everybody thinks that Georgie is hell on wheels, but trust me, it’s going to be quiet little Charlie who’s going to be the hell raiser.”
Rylie looked at Drake in confusion.
“He’s talking about Charlotte, baby,” Dare explained to Rylie.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Drake,” Rylie sputtered. “Char is a good girl.”
“She’s going to find the right boy, and they’ll be no stopping her.” Rylie got up out of her seat and took a step towards Drake, and Dare grabbed her hand.
“He’s baiting you. Don’t listen to him. Stop it, Drake,” he admonished his friend.
“Sorry Rylie. I was kidding, Charlotte is an absolute doll. Actually, I would love to see her kick up her heels.”
“Yeah, me too,” Rylie admitted.
“Hey,” Clint said looking down at his computer. “We just got another hit. Seems like one of the web spiders we put out on the net picked up another couple who mysteriously adopted a child five weeks ago.”
Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 Page 1
