by Dale Mayer
She landed on her back but was up and racing to the entrance as fast as she could. And another shot rang out. She stumbled as something tugged at her sleeve, but she kept on running. The Jeep was up ahead. Please let the keys be in the ignition, please!
Not ten feet from the driver’s side door she was tackled from behind.
“No,” she screamed and fought with all she had, sending her elbow into her attacker’s throat and her knees to his groin as she reached forward to find something to bite on.
“Damn it,” Hawk snarled and she suddenly found herself crushed against his chest and dragged behind a big rock. “Stop struggling.”
In truth she hadn’t been struggling since realizing who held her. “He’s trying to kill me,” she whispered. “He blames you guys for stopping his terrorist mission.”
Hawk spun, stared at her as if asking for confirmation.
She nodded at him. “It’s the terrorist who organized the bombing.”
*
He couldn’t believe it. Why hadn’t he considered that after foiling his plans the guy might go after loose threads? Hell, he’d killed everyone else he’d hired, so why not go back after their captive who’d gotten away. That must have really chafed at him.
Now he’d found Mia here alone. Vulnerable. Easy. A perfect target.
He glared at her for good measure. She raised her eyebrows in confusion.
Yeah, he’d clarify as soon as he got her out of this trouble and taken out the guy they’d hunted over several continents. Only to find he’d returned to where it had all started.
Shit.
And he didn’t have his gun with him. First thing was first, keep Mia safe. He pushed her deeper into the shadows. He’d give her the Jeep and send her away to safety, but he had no doors on it for summer, making her a big target.
The shooter was pinned down at the entrance to the cave but might know enough to disappear into the correct passages.
He could hope. But if he’d been part of a gun caches here, he could be an expert on this cave system.
With Mia carefully tucked behind him, he slid down the brush toward the opening. He needed to get this guy. As long as he was loose, he was a danger. He’d already proven what lengths he’d go to clean up his trail. Now that Mia had seen him, she was doubly at risk. They had to bring this to an end before the terrorist went underground, free to choose his time and place later. This had to end now.
He quickly sent a text to Swede and Shadow. Dane was next. If they were in Canford, he could use them now. He studied the layout. Given where he and Mia stood, neither could move without giving away their locations and as only one of them had brought a gun to the gunfight…
A surprise noise behind him made him spin around. Mia had armed herself with a decent sized branch. She swung it several times, getting used to the feel of the weight in her hand. She caught his glance and whispered, “I do feel better with a weapon.”
Hell, so did he.
“I don’t know who the hell is out there, but you’re not going anywhere,” yelled the killer.
Hawk laughed. “Neither are you.”
An ugly silence fell.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“The man that stopped your operation,” Hawk said, already moving and shoving Mia ahead of him as bullets fired randomly, wildly into the bush where they’d been standing. He grinned, a hard edged anger of his own coursing through him.
Another vehicle could be heard in the distance. Good, hopefully that was his team.
Only Mia gasped and clutched at him. “It’s likely the brothers.”
It took a moment to understand. He placed his mouth against her ear and said “Is there another entrance close by where we can go in and come up behind him?”
She nodded. “But it’s not a short hike.”
“How long?”
“If done hard and fast, one hour and forty-five minutes,” she said in a low voice, looking around. “If you run and grab the brothers coming down, you can ride to the next entrance and do it in forty-five.”
He gave her a hard kiss. “Stay here. Climb a tree and get the hell up and out of sight. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”
She gasped but he was already gone.
Chapter 28
Surely he was joking. But he’d disappeared so fast she could only see the cloud of dust he’d kicked up. And that meant she was alone again. She ran her hand over her head, wondering where the hell she should go without making a sound.
Had the killer heard Hawk leave? The second vehicle was no longer approaching. She hoped that had been the brothers. They’d help out and consider it an honor to do so.
But she wished they’d picked her up too. Hawk could move faster without her. But it didn’t make her happy to be stashed behind a rock. Although he’d said to climb a tree, she couldn’t do so quietly. A huge evergreen with low lying boughs grew ten feet away. She might be able to sneak into the middle of that tree. It would offer better protection than her current spot if the killer decided to come out looking for her.
For them. As he had no idea Hawk had left. And that was her saving grace. Alone she didn’t pose much threat. But with Hawk here, then the killer’s odds just went down. Even with a gun. Still he’d be focused on taking Hawk out after hearing who he was.
Hating the feeling of being a sitting duck, she scooted over and slid under the heavy foliage. With fear making her hands shake, she backed up until she was against the trunk. If nothing else, she could bolt in the other direction and dodge her way through the trees. He’d have a hell of a time hitting her then.
Closing her eyes, she mentally called out to Hawk to hurry his ass.
And he’d better take care of it too – she had visiting rights, damn it.
At least, she hoped she did.
“Where the hell are you?” Bullets fired to the left of her, but his voice, it was getting closer. She curled up into a tiny ball and buried her face in her arms. Her clothes were already dirty from the caving…shit, shit shit. She had her reflective straps on her vest. He’d see her for sure.
Heart slamming heavily, her gut was ready to upchuck. Rolling over onto her back, she struggled to get out of the vest. Then tucked it under her back so the strips wouldn’t show.
And heard footsteps, heavy rustling in brush.
She froze, her eyes glued to what she could see through the foliage.
He was getting closer. Oh God. No. Please not.
Where the hell was Hawk? Hell, he wouldn’t get back for an hour likely.
But she knew if anyone could get here faster, it would be him.
He was good at his job.
So far she’d been good at hers. His voice in her head was even now telling her stay alive.
The footsteps walked past. She dared not breathe. With eyes closed, she watched until the footsteps receded. She breathed easier. He was right. She got this.
Until she heard something that made her blood run cold.
“There you are.”
Followed by the click of a gun.
She waited but no face appeared.
Loud swearing sounded to the left. She closed her eyes and slid lower.
*
Hawk gave a short terse explanation to the two older men. But he knew their kind from the get go. That old geezer at the wheel had kicked his old truck into high gear and took corners at a speed Hawk didn’t think he could. They’d turned that vehicle around and drove him to a different entrance. A small one that he had to crawl into to make his way forward. He’d wanted to go alone, but they weren’t having anything to do with it. Especially since this involved Mia.
Now with a brother leading the way and one bringing up the rear, they were motoring. He knew he’d be a few minutes past his said time, but not by much at this pace.
Suddenly Peter came to a stop, his hand out behind him. Hawk came up alongside him and peered into the cavern. From there he could see the entrance where he’d seen the shooter.
; Only the damn cavern was empty.
Shit.
He slipped out of the tunnel after giving both men orders to stay behind and raced to the entrance. Flat against the rock wall and cursing himself for leaving Mia alone, he peered into the trees coming up the entrance way. Not a sound. Not a movement.
Damn it. His one advantage was gone. Several large rocks dotted the entrance. He quickly climbed up as high as he could and peered over the top.
There.
He smiled. The killer was walking to every hiding place imaginable and jumped forward as if to freak Mia out. But she hadn’t made a sound. He glanced over where he’d left her and frowned. She wasn’t there.
“Damn it,” the killer snarled. “I don’t have time for this.”
He walked back toward the cave entrance systematically, shooting into every nook and cranny as if hoping to flush Mia out.
Come closer, Hawk whispered to the killer in his head.
The killer, as if listening to the silent orders, took several steps closer. And came to a stop a few feet away, spun around and roared, “Fuck!”
Hawk jumped him.
The gun went flying. The two men went flying. So did the fists. Hawk managed to get an arm around the asshole’s neck and squeezed. The terrorist flipped them both over. And the two men went at it, swearing and sweating with no end in sight.
Just as Hawk swore this asshole had super human strength, the game changed and he found himself struggling to breathe, the killer’s hands wrapped around his throat and squeezing the life out of him.
He tried to throw the man off, tried everything he knew to do, but the damn stars were filling his gaze. Shit. He couldn’t fail.
And suddenly he was free.
The killer lay flat on the ground beside him, blood running from a gash in his head.
Mia, gasping for breath, held the huge branch she’d armed herself with earlier. Peter and Paul came flying out of the cave to her side.
Hawk groaned. She threw the club away and dropped to his side and wrapped her arms around his chest, weeping.
He held her close, so damn sure that this time, he’d never get another chance.
Just as he regained his breath and figured that he’d make it once again, a huge truck pulled up beside them. Swede, Shadow, Dane, and damn it, Cooper all hopped out and raced toward them.
Chapter 29
Mia saw Dane race toward her. Swede wasn’t far behind. Shadow was in line behind both of them. Tears running down her face, she bolted to her feet and ran straight to him. “He’s okay,” she cried. “He’s fine.”
Dane’s full on assault slowed as Hawk shifted to a sitting position. To her he looked wonderful, but she knew the men were cataloging the damage to his face and the awkward way he was sitting.
Surrounded by his team, and the brothers who’d joined them from the cave, Hawk explained what happened, adding with great pride in his voice, “Mia belted him up the side of his head with her club.”
As all gazes flew to her, she could feel the heat rising on her cheeks, and she shrugged. “He’s saved me so many times, it was the least I could do.”
“But…” Hawk was once again growling at her. “What did you do wrong?”
She stood over him and snarled right back. “I did nothing wrong. Your job was to save me. My job was to stay alive until you could do that.”
He grinned boyishly. “And in this case, you did that perfectly, but what about that, ‘Don’t move’ part,” he barked.
She grinned down at him. “I can’t make life too easy on you, you know. I have to use my own instinct when the occasion demands it. If I hadn’t moved, I’d be dead. He fired shots right into the place where you left me.”
With Dane’s help, Hawk stood up and opened his arms. “Damn woman will be the death of me.”
The men grinned. Dane instantly said, “That’s okay. We’re all interested, so if you’re not keeping her…”
“Back off,” he snarled, but there was no heat in his voice. “Besides, maybe she’s not interested.”
Everyone turned to look at her. She flushed. Talk about a lack of privacy.
“Are you asking if I want to be kept?” she asked cautiously, “’Cause you know my daddy didn’t raise me to be a kept woman – right?”
The men guffawed and Hawk’s wonderful crooked grin appeared.
“As much as we’d love to hear his explanation for this one,” Dane said, “you need to know that when our fearless leader Mason found his perfect mate, we all wanted to keep her for ourselves. Mason finally came to his senses and realized what he’d lose if he didn’t make up his mind.”
Shadow picked up the story. “Ever since, when we find a girl who might be keeping material, we are of course all interested as we all want what Mason found. Now that Hawk found you and hasn’t said if he’s keeping you, we’re all more than happy to step into his shoes.”
Hawk howled, a low level sound erupting from the back of his throat that had the men’s grins widening and the poor hapless brothers retreating.
“In the meantime,” Swede continued, “we’ve been asking if he was going to keep you.”
“And?” asked Paul curiously, from slightly behind them. “Is he?”
Hawk’s howl deepened.
And Mia laughed.
All the men turned to stare at her in surprise as she looked up at Hawk and the frustrated anger on his face.
“What a good question. So Hawk, what’s it going to be? Keep me or should I be asking your wonderful team of men who’d like…” they all stepped forward…and she never got a chance to finish.
Hawk’s mouth was crushing hers. His lips branded her – not that she needed the reminder as she’d always known where she belonged – she’d just been waiting for him to get the message too…
She was his.
Forever.
This concludes Book 2 of SEALs of Honor: Hawk.
Book 3 is available here.
Dane: SEALs of Honor, Book 3
Buy this book at Amazon.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Hawk: SEALs of Honor, Book 2! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter. And if you are interested in joining my street team, here is the Facebook sign up page.
Cheers,
Dale Mayer
Touched by Death
Adult RS/thriller
Get this book at Amazon.
Death had touched anthropologist Jade Hansen in Haiti once before, costing her an unborn child and perhaps her very sanity.
A year later, determined to face her own issues, she returns to Haiti with a mortuary team to recover the bodies of an American family from a mass grave. Visiting his brother after the quake, independent contractor Dane Carter puts his life on hold to help the sleepy town of Jacmel rebuild. But he finds it hard to like his brother’s pregnant wife or her family. He wants to go home, until he meets Jade – and realizes what’s missing in his own life. When the mortuary team begins work, it’s as if malevolence has been released from the earth. Instead of laying her ghosts to rest, Jade finds herself confronting death and terror again.
And the man who unexpectedly awakens her heart – is right in the middle of it all.
By Death Series
Touched by Death – Part 1 – FREE
Touched by Death – Part 2
Touched by Death – Parts 1&2
Haunted by Death
Chilled by Death
Vampire in Denial
This is book 1 of the Family Blood Ties Saga
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Blood doesn’t just make her who she is…it also makes her what she is.
Like being a sixteen-year-old vampire isn’t hard enough, Tessa’s throwback human genes
make her an outcast among her relatives. But try as she might, she can’t get a handle on the vampire lifestyle and all the…blood.
Turning her back on the vamp world, she embraces the human teenage lifestyle—high school, peer pressure and finding a boyfriend. Jared manages to stir something in her blood. He’s smart and fun and oh, so cute. But Tessa’s dream of a having the perfect boyfriend turns into a nightmare when vampires attack the movie theatre and kidnap her date.
Once again, Tessa finds herself torn between the human world and the vampire one. Will blood own out? Can she make peace with who she is as well as what?
Warning: This book ends with a cliffhanger! Book 2 picks up where this book ends.
Family Blood Ties Series
Vampire in Denial – FREE
Vampire in Distress
Vampire in Design
Vampire in Deceit
Vampire in Defiance
Vampire in Conflict
Vampire in Chaos
Vampire in Crisis
Vampire in Control
Family Blood Ties 3in1
Sian’s Solution – A Family Blood Ties Short Story
Broken Protocols
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Dani’s been through a year of hell…
Just as it’s getting better, she’s tossed forward through time with her orange Persian cat, Charmin Marvin, clutched in her arms. They’re dropped into a few centuries into the future. There’s nothing she can do to stop it, and it’s impossible to go back.
And then it gets worse…
A year of government regulation is easing, and Levi Blackburn is feeling back in control. If he can keep his reckless brother in check, everything will be perfect. But while he’s been protecting Milo from the government, Milo’s been busy working on a present for him…
The present is Dani, only she comes with a snarky cat who suddenly starts talking…and doesn’t know when to shut up.
