Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Stark Resolution
ISBN-10: 1543024637
Cover Design and Formatting by Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs
Cover Image by Reggie Deanching of RplusMphoto.com
Cover Models: BT Urruela and Jess Epps
2017 C.D. Bradley. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other noncommercial uses as permitted by copyright law.
This book is dedicated to the men and women of our armed forces, their families, and medical professionals who serve them.
Without you we don’t have a country to call our home or the freedom to enjoy books like these. You truly are our greatest national treasure and we owe you a debt of gratitude that could never fully be paid.
Thank you for your bravery, your service, and your sacrifice.
Editors: Angela Stover, Marla Esposito
Melissa, Jody, Brooke, Crystal, Paige, Frances, Kameron, Amanda, Stephanie, Whynter, and Ana Rita Clemente.
My sweet mamma for all your compassion and inspiration.
To George, Chip, Teddy, John, Shane and all “The Guys”
You are my heroes!
George, thank you for being there when we needed you most.
BT Urruela, Thank you for your service and inspiration.
Reggie Deanching, Jess Epps, and BT Urruela, I love the cover photo.
Cassy Roop with Pink Ink for the outstanding cover and formatting
VETSports www.vetsports.org
To my sweet children who can’t read this until they are 30, thanks for eating pizza and not killing each other while I finished.
To my darling husband, I am so blessed for each day I get to spend with you. In the moment, I thought I lost you,
I felt my world slip away. Now to have you happy and healthy I want to cherish each moment we have for the precious gift it is.
I love you.
A STRING OF BULLETS sailed over Stark’s head and peppered the tree behind him. Their location was no longer a secret. The moment they had taken their shots, the hacienda enforcers on the ground opened fire erratically in their direction.
“What the hell happened, man? Are you ok? Why did you fucking hesitate? You never stall. What the fuck, man?” Colin’s questions came rapid fire over the earbud, but Stark did not move. All he could do was stare at the blue heap on the floor of the hacienda through his scope, and pray. Please get up. For the love of God woman, please GET UP. The blue heap did not move. It just lay lifeless, in an ever-growing pool of crimson, as all hell broke loose around them. He was still perched at a high point that provided a perfect line of site to remove his targets. The mission had gone exactly by the book until she showed up. What the fucking hell was she doing there?
Colin came up behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Stark, God damn it, are you ok? Are you hit? Fuck man, answer me,” he said, shaking Stark and checking him over.
The movement caused Stark to lose his visual. He looked up to meet Sergeant Colin’s panicked stare. The rest of the team could be heard checking in over the earbud and moving to rally point A. When he found his voice, he answered in a tone so low bats would struggle to hear him. It was all he could muster at the moment.
“It was her.”
“What was who? What the fuck are you talking about? Jesus, did you get hit in the head?” Colin’s frustration drove his voice up as the enemy closed in around them. “We’ve got to go, man. Get up … we have to get the fuck out of here, and back to the rally point. Don’t beat yourself up for hesitating; you are one lucky bastard. I saw your target hit the floor. You got her. Don’t worry. Let’s Go!”
Stark got up on one knee, stowed away his bolt gun and switched to his M4. He dodged another string of bullets that whizzed far too close to his head, and jumped behind a tree. Colin followed him, letting out a sigh that Stark had finally moved. He stood waiting for his orders.
The look of relief faded from Colin’s face when he saw Stark turn off his throat mic. Colin’s forehead creased into canyons and his eyes widened. He mouthed, “What the fuck,” as he turned off his mic too.
Once off the monitored frequency, Stark could finally explain what the hell was going on. “I just shot Kira,” he started, and placed his gloved hand on the tree to balance himself, as if just saying the words struck him with a physical blow.
“Have you lost your mind? Are you having some kind of psychotic break? Dude, that was not Kira, ok. Let’s just get you the fuck out of here and back to the rally point. You can call her once we are out of this shit storm. I’m sure she is tucked in her nice little bed, safe and sound.”
Shouts and footsteps could be heard running up the bank toward them. The enforcers would be on them in minutes. The rest of their team was falling back to the rally point as instructed. Colin urged, “We have to go now.”
Stark continued as if he hadn’t heard a word Colin said, “I hesitated, because there was something familiar about her. Something was off, I could feel it. The count started, I snapped back to reality, and pulled the damn trigger. She moved her arm, when she fell, and the bracelet I gave her caught the light. I know it sounds fucking crazy, but that was Kira.” Stark took a shaky breath, then like a wave, the steel resolve washed over him. He knew exactly what he had to do.
“Stark, man you are not thinking clearly. Possibly she reminded you of Kira. Listen to me. There is no reason for her to be out here in the middle of the jungle, at a meeting between a drug lord and a terrorist leader. Do you hear how crazy that sounds?” Colin tried to reason with him as one would with a stubborn two-year-old.
“I’m going in.” Stark inserted a fresh magazine into his M4. “Go with the others. I will radio for help when I find her, and we can plan an extraction.”
“What the fuck? No. I’m not letting you do this,” Colin said, as he grabbed Stark by the shoulders. “Something is very wrong with you right now. Going down there is suicide. Even if it was Kira, which it’s not, you took her down. She is dead by now.” He shook Stark in a desperate attempt to pull him back to reality.
Stark threw Colin back. “I don’t blame you for thinking I’m crazy, but I know what I saw. That is her, and I am going in. I have to know what the fuck is going on down there. If there is even a chance she is still alive, it’s worth it.” He turned down the hill toward the oncoming fire.
“Viper One, do you copy?” came over the earbud. “Viper Two, do you copy?”
Colin tackled Stark from behind, taking his legs out from under him, and they rolled into the bushes. Engulfed in the dense foliage, they heard a group of enforcers approaching quickly. Stark and Colin froze in their protected position. Years of training kicked in, and they almost disappeared into the jungle around them. One enforcer paused for a moment, and scanned the area. His black boot came to rest inches from Stark’s face. He maintained complete resolve.
“Viper One, Viper
Two, do you copy?” Sergeant Miller called again.
Stark depressed the remote PTT button for his throat mic. He signaled to the team that they were there, but could not answer at the moment. Standard operating procedure when danger was too close to speak was to toggle the mic twice.
“Viper One, this is Viper Three. We hear you. We will draw them off and meet you at rally point A,” Miller sounded over the headset. Stark was confident that they would be able to lead the enforcers on a hot trail. Then, they let the trail go cold and circled back to the rally point. This would draw the enforcers away, giving him the opportunity to get down to the hacienda.
Stark could hear one of the enforcers up ahead calling the others, letting them know that he had found evidence of the group. The man that was standing inches from his face began running again, never knowing just how close to death he had been. Once the area had cleared of the first wave of men, Stark stood and prepared to make his way quickly and quietly to the hacienda.
Sergeant Colin stepped in front of him. Stark pushed him out of the way, but Colin grabbed his arm. “Stark, you have to know that going down there, even if you are right, is suicide. Are you that sure that you are willing to risk losing everything?”
“Some risks are worth it,” Stark answered him, deadpan. “If Kira is dead, I’ve already lost everything. I have to go down there and see if there is even a chance of saving her. I’m not leaving her in this jungle to die alone.”
“What if she is already dead?” Colin shot back, doing his best to stay between Stark and the path to the hacienda.
“Then she is a fucking United States soldier, and I am going to bring her home,” he said, as he pushed Colin out of the way with one final shove. Stark knew it didn’t make a bit of fucking sense for her to be down there, nor could he explain his certainty that it was her. He could feel her in his bones. The helplessness of watching his mother and sister flying away to their deaths, and knowing he did nothing to prevent it, ate at his soul. The image of the terrorist that took their lives flashed through his mind. This time it would be different. He was not an inexperienced boy. This time he was a man who had spent the last decade training and killing those fuckers, one by one. He would go down there, and he would bring her home.
Sergeant Colin stepped into line behind him, and began to follow him down the hill.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Stark asked puzzled, “I told you I’m going down there.”
“I know. I’m going with you. You have saved my life more times than I can count. You are my brother. I’m not letting you do this alone. If I can’t stop you, then I’m going with your crazy ass to watch your back.” Sergeant Colin’s face was set firm. His usual goofy grin was replaced by the stone resolve to protect his best friend, no matter the cost. “Let’s go.”
Stark reached up to his mic. He had to inform the team of the new plan. “Viper Three, do you copy? Viper Three, do you copy? This is Viper One,” he began.
“Viper One, this is viper Three. The enforcers are hot on our trail. You guys good?”
“We’re good. You’ve got fifteen enforcers headed your way. I need to go down and recci the hacienda. I believe they may have one or more American soldier hostages,” Stark informed the team.
“What the fuck?” Miller came back, “Our intel didn’t mention any potential hostages. Are you sure?”
“You guys know me, I wouldn’t alter a mission unless I was damn sure it was worth it.” Stark was already moving through the jungle toward the hacienda. “When you are clear and your tail is eliminated, move to Overwatch site B and take up position. Viper Two and I will move toward the hacienda,” he said. Stark knew that a recci (recon mission) spur of the moment was not their standard protocol, but at this moment he had no choice.
“Copy that, Viper One,” Miller responded.
The hacienda lay in a natural bowl in the jungle. They would need to descend the hill without being detected. Dense foliage around the perimeter of the property would allow them to get close. However, the wide expanse of lawn between the perimeter and the actual hacienda would leave them exposed. Stark also knew from previous intel and recci before the mission, that the enforcers had overwatch locations of their own.
Stark paused, kneeling by a vine covered tree at the base of the hill. He motioned for Sergeant Colin, who crouched beside him. Colin pointed out the four enforcer lookout points on the surrounding hills. Each mission required a great deal of planning. Every contingency and possible complication was prepared for.
Prior to coming on this mission, they had lain out three possible overwatch locations, just in case one or the other became compromised. The same had been done for rally and extraction points. There was always a backup for the backup.
The one obstacle Stark never dreamed he would encounter here, was Kira. He didn’t have time to second guess himself now. What the hell had she gotten herself into? Could this have anything to do with the enforcer that was following her for months?
At first, when Paige had told him that the enforcer was hired, Stark suspected it had to do with the investigator Simone hired, or at least the investigator should have some intel that should point him in the right direction. After seeing her here, he knew there had to be something more. Why else would she be involved with the Sinaloa Cartel on two different continents? What was the connection?
They counted six enforcers still on the lawn, on this side of the hacienda. More would be inside. He heard women inside the house screaming and crying, as they most likely discovered the dead. Stark prayed that Kira was hanging on. Fight, damn it. You are strong. You can make it. I am coming for you. Stark’s heart clenched, as the image of her bracelet seared in his mind.
Relentless.
Hang on. Please hang on.
In the edge of the jungle, they were surrounded by darkness, and sheltered by plants. They watched the guards moving about the lush lawn, searching for a possible point of cover. About ten yards away, there was a feature of shrubs surrounding a fountain. Beyond the fountain was a small stucco wall that lined the large parking area and drive. If they could get to that wall without being detected, they could potentially follow it to the edge of the main house. Flowering bushes and trees along the side of the house provided cover from all but one of the enforcer overlook sites. If they could take out that guard without raising suspicion, they would stand a much better chance.
“We have to take out that guard and cut the power to be able to move through the house,” Stark observed out loud, and Sergeant Colin agreed.
“If you can, circle around behind him and take him out, while I make my way to the generators,” Stark suggested. “Then when I cut the power you can join me from the north side of the lawn. We can rally by the large bird of paradise tree on the north-west corner of the hacienda.”
They reviewed their options, but this was the best plan. Time was running out for Kira, and if they were going to find her alive, they would need to do it fast. She was moving when she was hit, so he wasn't sure exactly where the bullet hit her.Years of training told him it was either her chest or shoulder, and based on the amount of blood he saw, she wouldn’t last very long if left alone.
Colin took off through the dense jungle. In just a few steps, he had disappeared into the underbrush. Stark turned his sights to the lawn. The generators were about twenty yards north of the fountain. He watched the guards milling around the grounds and parking area. They were on high alert, but fewer in number since the attack.
He knew at least fifteen of their men were chasing his team through the jungle. Stark emerged from the jungle, low and fast, staying in the shadows. He had developed the skill of running light and low, silently moving through the night, no matter how much he had to carry. Without making a sound, he slipped in the bushes at the base of the fountain and waited for Sergeant Colin to give the all clear. Two guards moved past on their route. Stark froze. The shrubs around the fountain felt about as concealing as Kira’s lace underwear, with enfor
cers standing three feet away.
Minutes felt like hours. Stark had mastered the technique of slowing his body, breathing, pulse, and blood pressure through meditation. He literally willed himself to relax, breathe, and be patient.
This was his secret weapon with women. He could maintain for their pleasure until they could not take another orgasm. Then, and only then, would he let himself finish. He thought back to nights at The Apex Club before he met Kira. Paige and her ladies had put him to the test, but none of that mattered now. He would give anything to have Kira back and safe. If she could just hang on a little longer, he would spend the rest of his life proving it to her.
“Viper One, this is Viper Two. Overwatch is secure. I have a visual on you. You have two enforcers at one o’clock,” Sergeant Colin called from the enforcer’s post.
“Roger that, Viper Two. Good work. As soon as they move out of range, I’ll move toward the generators.” Stark crouched, ready to spring into action as soon as it was clear to move.
“Viper One, as soon as you are clear to go, I’ll let you know,” Sergeant Colin’s voice reassured him over the headset. “Viper Three, this is Viper Two. What is your location?”
“Viper Two, this is Viper Three. We have evaded our pursuers, and are heading back to Overwatch B.”
“Roger that. Viper One is on the ground. I have secured the north overwatch. Viper Five, you join me here, so that I can support Viper One on the ground. Lights in the compound will be going down on my count,” Sergeant Colin replied. “Viper One, your sector is all clear, you are good to move.”
“Copy that, Viper Two,” Stark replied. He was on the move before he even finished talking. With the stealth and speed of a panther, he moved undetected through the darkness, crossing twenty yards to the northern end of the compound. He was only visible to Sergeant Colin, and he would prepare to take out the power.
A new commotion inside the house caused him to pause and listen. Several women were screaming and yelling in Spanish, but he couldn’t hear well enough to understand what they were saying. What the hell is going on in there? Had they found Kira? Was she still alive … Stark’s heart rate began to speed up, unlike any mission he had been on before. He had to get in that house.
Stark Resolution (Stark Trilogy Book 3) Page 1
