by Dale Mayer
LEVI’S LEGEND
Heroes for Hire, Book 1
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Levi’s Legend: Heroes for Hire, Book 1
Stone’s Surrender: Heroes for Hire, Book 2
Merk’s Mistake: Heroes for Hire, Book 3
Rhodes’ Reward: Heroes for Hire, Book 4
Flynn’s Firecracker: Heroes for Hire, Book 5
Logan’s Light: Heroes for Hire, Book 6
Harrison’s Heart: Heroes for Hire, Book 7
Jarrod’s Jewel: Heroes for Hire, Book 8
Books in the SEALs of Honor Series:
Mason: SEALs of Honor, Book 1
Hawk: SEALs of Honor, Book 2
Dane: SEALs of Honor, Book 3
Swede: SEALs of Honor, Book 4
Shadow: SEALs of Honor, Book 5
Cooper: SEALs of Honor, Book 6
Markus: SEALs of Honor, Book 7
Evan: SEALs of Honor, Book 8
Mason’s Wish: SEALs of Honor, Book 9
Chase: SEALs of Honor, Book 10
Brett: SEALs of Honor, Book 11
Devlin: SEALs of Honor, Book 12
SEALs of Honor, Books 1–3
SEALs of Honor, Books 4–6
SEALs of Honor, Books 7–10
Table of Contents
Title Page
About the Book
Complimentary Download
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
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Also by Dale Mayer
Copyright Page
Back Cover
Welcome to Levi’s Legend, book 1 in Heroes for Hire reconnecting readers with the unforgettable men from SEALs of Honor in a new series of action packed, page turning romantic suspense that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Dale Mayer.
Nothing stays the same…
Since his accident Levi has been driven to find the men who betrayed him. Everything else is secondary. Now he’s recovered, started his own company, and he’s caught the scent of the last man on his list. Only to find the same man intends to finish the job he originally started – and kill Levi once and for all.
Ice has been at Levi’s side every step of his new journey – well almost. It’s the places where she hasn’t been that are the hardest. Her relationship with Levi is at a critical point. One wrong word and her hopes and dreams will be gone. They almost are now.
But she can’t resolve her love life until the man who forced change into their world is taken care of. Only he’s on the attack, and his target is right at the heart of everything that’s important to her, and to Levi.
They’ll have to move fast to stop the man who wants them both dead or they won’t have a future at all…
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Chapter 1
Get up, Levi. Damn you, get up.
Two more shots slammed into the tree, splintering bark in every direction. A hard boom exploded and then … silence. Leaves drifted toward him from above.
Levi rolled to his back, his eyes open to the hot sun bearing down on them. Dear God, he hurt.
Damn it, Levi.
Ice’s voice raged through his head. Only she wasn’t at his side. She hadn’t been for a while.
Yet her words urged him on.
To keep you alive.
He waited for the pain to stop thundering through his body.
Who knew being in the blast radius of a grenade could still hurt so much? That damn thing had blown seconds ago, sending him tumbling under the tree.
He shifted in place and groaned. Please let him have all his body parts. Again … And why the hell did Mexico always mean a FUBAR mission? This place was cursed. Or he was. Either way it was a deadly combo. And one he couldn’t seem to turn away from.
Of course you can’t. You’ve got a death wish. Why the hell do you think I didn’t want you to come on this one? You shouldn’t be out there. You need to let this go.
Ice’s voice still echoed in his head.
“Nice. Sometimes death is preferable to listening to the living.” Not that he had a death wish, but he’d certainly been through the wringer. And sometimes it just seemed much easier to do what he was good at than to stay behind, working on the stuff he wasn’t.
And some things were meant to stay a certain way. He knew Ice would never bring it up, and he’d never bring it up. But, if he had one regret in his life, it was letting her step away from what they had. He’d been trying to get her back ever since. And, although she still stuck close, she wouldn’t take that final step. Not the one he wanted. Needed. But he understood. They’d had a whopper of a fight over having a family. She wanted one, and he didn’t. She’d been devastated. But she was also the bravest woman he’d ever met. She had more courage than most men. Considering his training and skills as a former SEAL, that said a lot. He should have fixed things immediately, but he hadn’t. And then, well … life had changed … and he’d been badly injured.
Each no longer in the navy, Levi now ran his own private security company, saving people as before, along with her. Where he should be right now. Only this tip had come through. The info he’d been waiting on since forever, it seemed. The location of one of the last two men who’d betrayed him and his unit almost one year ago, which had gotten his ass kicked and his friends blown to shit, ending their careers and lives as they, and others, knew it. Yet the assholes had gone free. Levi had slowly taken care of most of them, except for these remaining two.
So he’d dropped everything and came running here as soon as he got this intel.
One of those two, Herrara, was downhill. There was always a chance the other man Levi was chasing was here too. Levi couldn’t not come.
Ice had wanted him to walk away from this mission. But, in order to move forward with his future, he had to put his past to rest first. He’d hoped she’d understand. He’d left her home, in charge of the company, but she’d been cold. Angry.
Hence he found himself now lying flat on his back in the middle of Mexico with bullets flying overhead. “Dear God,” he said, “I’ve got to stop this.”
“Damn right you do.”
Merk’s hard voice rolled over Levi, making him realize he’d spoken out loud.
“Get your ass up off the ground. Let’s move it. Still four tangos down with Rhodes.”
Levi gathered his strength and, in a smooth but painful movement, rose to his feet and slipped behind the trees. From the new vantage point he could survey the shacks below. His team had checked first to make sure there were no more women and children. But it was always a gamble. Lately these drug warehouse factories were working underground. So, when it appeared the building above was empty, it didn’t mean all was empty. And these guys wouldn’t give a damn. He’d watched them single-handedly shoot a dozen women and a couple kids. That was before Le
vi himself and his unit got blown apart. “Where did you see the four?”
“Two on the left, one on the right, and another hiding inside the vehicle.” Merk took up his position on the ground beside Levi. “I can take out the two on the left.”
Levi’s comm unit buzzed quietly in his ear as Rhodes said, “Don’t bother. I’ve got them.” They watched Rhodes creep up behind the men and put a bullet in both their heads.
Levi smiled. Such a great sense of justice. These men had been responsible for not only the deaths of women and kids who had worked for them but for all his SEAL unit had suffered. An informant in the States had betrayed Levi, setting up a sequence of events that had caused the injuries sustained in this hellhole and then had cost all of them their careers.
Only two of his team had come with him. The third, Stone, was still in therapy and pissed at being left behind—wanting at least to run communications—but Levi had put his foot down. He could only hope that when he returned, Stone would be over his anger and ready to get on with it. Levi’s new company had several potential jobs coming in, so he needed to take care of this asshole now and forever.
Another bullet passed overhead. He swore and dropped flat to the ground. “You sure there are only two left?”
Beside him, Merk laughed. “Yeah. But, as we well know, for every one of these men, several more are ready to step up to take their place. And they have a ton of firepower.”
Levi nodded. He watched as the shooter slipped from the vehicle to the side of the building and around the back. Levi just wished he could find the leader, Rodriguez, and finish this once and for all. Levi’d hoped the head asshole would be here, but the intel hadn’t confirmed his presence, just Herrara’s.
Levi pulled out his gun and waited for his chance. Whispering to Merk, Levi said, “I’m going after him.” He quickly retreated down the back of the hillside and came up behind the structure. Before they burned this place to the ground, he wanted to make doubly sure there weren’t any innocents like last time.
He crouched down, peered around the corner, and came up behind one gunman.
The gunman pivoted and fired, the shot going wild. Before the guy could aim again, Levi took him out. “Number three’s down.”
Rapid gunfire spat to the left from the other side of the building. Levi turned, raced back the way he had come and scoped out the front of the structure, only to see Rhodes down and the final gunman holding an assault rifle to his buddy’s chest.
“Hey, asshole, remember me?” Levi called out.
The man turned, a grin on his face. “Oh, I do. This bullet’s got your name on it.”
For the first time since arriving in Mexico, Levi could see Herrara’s face clearly, matching the sneer to the name of one of the two assholes in Mexico who had used the US contact to take out Levi and his SEAL unit.
The man squeezed the trigger with the sound of return gunfire coming immediately afterward. The idiot’s body danced midair, riddled with bullets from Levi and Merk’s weapons. And the last of the four tangos went down. Levi waited in place for a moment and called out to Rhodes, “You badly hit?”
“No, just my shoulder.”
The two team members did a swift recon and then hustled back toward Rhodes, who was now sitting up. Levi took a quick look at the injury. The bullet was still inside. That might be nasty, but they could only do so much here. Hurriedly, Levi bandaged Rhodes up. “Stay here while we check out the buildings.”
Levi and Merk went through the two shacks. In the second they uncovered a trapdoor and stairs. Guns up and ready for more fighting, they went down and found a large group of crying women huddled in a corner. With a sense of déjà vu, Levi motioned for them to escape up the stairs. His Spanish sucked, but Rhodes was pretty good. He could explain what was going on.
Scanning the dark basement, Levi saw the money and drugs. Levi hated to touch the tainted money but if it could help the women escape … he snagged up a pile from in front of him and stuffed it in his pockets.
In seconds, he and Merk were certain that the place was truly empty of people. Outside again, with everybody clear of the area, they lit the shack on fire.
While the broken-down structure burned, Rhodes explained everything to the women who were hugging each other in fear. “Tranquila, senoras.”
Levi approached and pulled the money from his pocket. With Rhodes explaining it was to help them escape, Levi handed it over. Heads slowly nodded, eyes wide as if in disbelief; shoulders straightened, and the women scattered, running back to wherever they had come from.
Levi turned to Merk. “Let’s go.”
Slipping his arm around his buddy’s waist, Levi helped Rhodes up the hill.
Behind them, Merk noted, “Helicopter is four minutes out.”
Levi nodded. Only four minutes meant they were out of time to see if Rodriguez had run for the nearby hills when all the gunfire first erupted. Damn.
The helicopter blades whirred in the distance. Levi liked to think his heart knew who was in the cockpit, yet he’d hired another pilot for this mission. Since Ice had always been the one to pull Levi’s ass out of the fire, he’d been counting—deep down—on her not giving up on him this time either. It was a slim chance considering how pissed she was, but hope was a hard thing to kill …
As the helo came in for a landing, he did a final sweep, ensuring all was clear with no more targets left alive. The old Blackhawk, fully refurbished and outfitted, that now belonged to his company settled on the hilltop beside him. He helped Rhodes up first and then turned to see Merk getting in and—a flash came from the left.
Strong hands grabbed at his camo vest, dragging him inside as gunfire erupted around them.
From the corner of his eye, he spotted the pilot’s profile—one he knew well and loved.
Ice. She’d come after all. His heart warmed. She was the best pilot he knew. And, so far, she’d never let someone else pick him up. She’d never be able to forgive herself if something had gone wrong. He knew that. Because when they’d been in the military together, that’s how he’d felt watching her head off on a flight without him.
He’d hated it. And waiting until she returned safe once again, time after time, had damn-near killed him. But he’d never let her know. Her work was every bit as important as his had been. And he’d kick the ass of anyone who didn’t get it.
Being separated for missions was one thing he did not miss once they’d both walked away from the Navy. Now they were together all the time. Just not in every way. The helicopter rose, tilted, and pulled out as he struggled to see what was happening. That was the thing about Ice. She never wasted any time. He shuffled to his seat and turned to find out who had grabbed him.
“Son of a … Goddammit, Stone, you were supposed to stay home.”
Stone gave him a hard look. “Yeah, by whose orders? The day you guys go into battle without me watching your back is the day after I’m dead.”
Levi rolled his eyes. No longer being in the military had given them all some moments of adjustment. But, as the boss, Levi expected to have his unit follow his orders. Even now. They’d always been tight, and he knew he’d have done the same.
Levi had a few more specialists working for him now—one who had always been a phone call away but was a resource most would have laughed their fool heads off, had they known. Merk’s brother. Merk was a hell of a military man, but his brother was something else—in a whole different way. Merk’s instincts were solid. Levi’s were spookily good, but Merk’s brother, Terkel … he had something otherworldly going on. Their Creole grandmother was a well-known fortune-telling figure in her town. Terkel had called Levi and Merk on several occasions to warn them about missions going bad. They’d learned to listen.
Terkel had also warned them not to go on the Mexico job last year—that it was a bad deal.
Merk had tried to make Levi listen to Terkel that time too, but Levi had refused. He’d been so sure he was right. So sure how the play would go dow
n.
Instead Terkel had been right. The mission had blown up. With Levi’s men taking the worst of the hit. Levi would forever feel guilty for not having listened back then.
None of which helped right now.
Stone’s artificial leg didn’t work worth shit, a prototype Merk and Rhodes were working on but hadn’t finished. Stone’s stump had swelled with irritation, and all involved had to be careful there was no permanent damage. So Stone shouldn’t be out here in the Mexican field.
Levi opened his mouth to say so when Rhodes nudged him and shook his head. With a glare Levi’s anger subsided quietly. So not his usual form. Pissed at Stone, even more at himself for not finding his ultimate target, Levi settled back and closed his eyes.
The thing was, what made his men so great was also what pissed him off. Men he could trust. Men who would always have his back. Men who would do what was right, regardless of orders. And they’d do it well.
That was worth any amount of frustration.
“Take us home, Ice,” he called to the front.
As usual he got no response.
Chapter 2
One month later …
Ice walked into the office, stopped, and stared. Four desks for four men but only one was seated here. Stone. He flipped through papers with a frantic movement, as if searching for something he had absolutely no hope of ever finding but desperately needed. Stone, on desk duty. She quietly snickered, but he heard the sound. He looked up and glared at her, and her chuckles turned to full-blown howls.
“Oh, my God, you’re actually on desk duty.” She bent over, barely able to stay on her feet. “This is your worst nightmare.”
“And that means it’s funny?” Stone growled. “You think living my worst nightmare is a piece of cake?” His glare deepened. “Mary quit. That’s the fourth secretary in as many months. And Alfred is not here to deal with the mess.”
She held back her laughter as she headed to the spare chair and sat down on the other side of the desk from him. “I never imagined you as a secretary after being such a fine military specimen. But you know? It could grow on me,” she said with a huge grin. “Hope you got payroll all arranged. The men need to be paid today.” She leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner and whispered, “As you’re such a pro, Alfred might even want to keep you here.”
