by Dale Mayer
COLTON
SEALs of Honor, Book 23
Dale Mayer
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Complimentary Download
Prologue
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
Epilogue
About Troy
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
His next flight becomes a fight for his life … and the life of the two pilots.
Colton is helping out on a training session in Greenland, currently in midair. The copilot is a woman he knew intimately and had planned to reconnect with, only life never seemed to give him that window. His flight turns into a nightmare as the engine blows, and he, along with the two pilots, are forced to abandon the bird and jump into the Arctic Ocean.
Kate Winnows might not have been overjoyed to see Colton as her only passenger, but she’s darn happy he’s here when all hell breaks loose. She’d never forgotten him. Had hoped to reconnect but, like him, her life was busy, finding each of them all over the planet. Now she needs him to help her save her reputation, her job and possibly her life … again. And, if she can make it happen, she wants a second chance to show him what he means to her.
Especially when they find out the crash was no accident but just the tip of the iceberg in a case involving blackmail, drugs and … murder.
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Prologue
Colton Edgewood boarded the military plane at Coronado, on the first leg of his journey overseas to the Thule Air Base in Greenland. He was okay with that, but, at the same time, he hadn’t been home long enough to really get his feet under him. And, after helping Taylor these last few days, it seemed like such a rush job. Colton had really planned on staying on base for a week at least.
He’d served in a unique position in Afghanistan—as a liaison for one of the joint military teams, pulling together group training of “friendly” wars, all in a mission to foster peace and to further everybody’s education and skills. So now he was headed to Greenland for a similar operation.
Greenland was a strategic site for the Thule Air Base. He didn’t expect to be there for too long and would head off to Africa afterward, at least as far as he understood. For now. His orders were never firm for long. He’d get one step on a journey but would never quite know where he would go from there.
Still, he’d never been to Greenland and was looking forward to it. With a population of fewer than sixty thousand on the whole island, it was a unique corner of the world, where nobody owned their own land. Instead buyers were granted the right to use it, and everybody worked together to make their society the way they wanted it. The population was mostly native people, and Colton really appreciated the different viewpoint they brought.
He shifted position. He was the only one on this military flight, along with a ton of cargo. He wished he could have ridden in the cockpit, but, with room only for a pilot and a copilot, Colton definitely wasn’t small enough to squeeze between them up there. The trip was long but uneventful.
Just as they prepared for a landing, he heard a large explosion on the left side of the plane. He bolted from his seat and stuck his head in the cockpit to take a look in that direction. The left engine was on fire. He swore.
The copilot glanced at him and said, “Take your seat.”
He nodded but grabbed three parachutes instead, in case they had to abandon the plane. He made his way forward again to see the pilots calm and controlled but issuing updates to the base as they approached. “I’ve got two extra parachutes here, in case you guys need them.”
The copilot nodded. “Hopefully not,” she said.
Kate. Kate Winnows. Somebody he’d known for many years, had flown with a couple times and once had shared an overnight stay. That had been a hot and heavy night—then they had both showered the next morning and carried on with their individual lives. But to see her here and now just put another human face on this. He didn’t recognize the pilot.
Kate looked at him again and said, “Take your seat, Colton.”
At that, he nodded, grabbed his parachute and fastened it on, then took a seat. He couldn’t buckle in with the chute on, but he wasn’t letting go of it. At the moment, the parachute seemed more critical than the seat belt.
The plane careened to the side and slipped downward at a rate that was more than a little nauseating. He caught his breath, following the safety procedures he knew they would go through now. He had been in similar situations before. Not exactly this but … He leaned forward to look out the cockpit window, hoping to see land in the distance. Regardless, if the pilots had put out a Mayday call, they could now jump and get free and clear of the plane, if headed for a crash.
Kate joined him in the cargo bay, holding onto a nearby strap, and said in a curt but controlled tone, “We have to bail.”
“Understood.” When he rose, he immediately fell as the plane listed again to the side. “What about the pilot?” he yelled over the loud din, scrambling to his feet once more.
“He’s coming,” she said, righting herself as well. She grabbed her parachute, and he helped her strap it on.
The two made their way to the cockpit, where the pilot still tried to guide the plane. She called out to him, “George, come on. We’re done.”
He nodded. “I know,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure we got out to the ocean, where this doesn’t come down on anybody.” Finally he bolted toward them and, with their help, got buckled into his parachute. He looked around the plane and said, “It won’t be that easy to get out of here. It’ll be hard to get clear of the plane.”
“I know,” Colton said, as he struggled against the downward angle of the plane to reach the emergency door, kicked it open and basically tossed Kate out.
The pilot raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Damn, this is the first time for me.”
He didn’t get a chance to say more because Colton already had pushed the pilot outside in the frigid air. Colton jumped out behind them. Colton watched as the plane dove, flames shooting out behind it, as it beelined for the deep dark ocean below.
They’d gone from an ugly and dangerous situation to an uglier and deadlier one.
Nothing was easy about landing in the Arctic Ocean. Hypothermia would set in within ten to twelve minutes. After that? Then it wouldn’t matter who came to rescue them—it would already be too late.
Chapter 1
Colton pulled his cord and watched his parachute billow above him, tugging him upward with a sudden jolt that gave him a better view of the other two. Kate appeared to be fine, but George struggled. It looked like his first chute didn’t deploy.
“Pull the second one! Pull the second one!” Colton shouted. The pilot did, and, thank God, that one deployed.
With the three of them now drifting toward the ocean below, the plane careened off to the side and hit the hard surface of the ocean full-on, exploding on impact, sending fire and metal parts everywhere. Soon it was just wreckage burning on the surface of the ocean. Kate was still a wa
ys away.
Colton shifted to direct his descent toward her, so he could keep an eye on the two of them below him. Part of the problem with a chute was the fact you had to get rid of it once you hit the water. The chutes were heavy and could pull you down easily. He could see ships coming toward them already, which was good, but now he and the pilots had to stay alive long enough for the rescuers to reach them.
The trio had avoided the plane crash but were still ill prepared for the icy water waiting for them. More than that, the parachute lines were even more dangerous than the parachute itself once in the water, it was easy to get tangled up in the lines and drown. Colton would ditch his chute as soon as he got close enough to jump into the water because he hated the dangers inherent in those lines. Plus he had to be free and clear to help the pilots. Yet he had to time the cutting of his lines just right. He didn’t want to do that too soon, extending his time in the frigid water. Yet he had to cut his lines at the last possible moment before he hit the water. But then, he’d done this many, many times. He wasn’t so sure about the other two.
They were military, but not navy, and water was his element, not necessarily theirs. Ever since he was a kid, he’d wanted to be a Navy SEAL, and achieving that status had been a crowning glory in his life. Absolutely nothing had the same sense of achievement since then.
But he knew the dangers of this crash-landing. As long as the rescue boats moved toward them, they wouldn’t be in the freezing water for too long. Judging the distance of the boats coming toward them, he realized their arrival would cut it close to that ten-to-twelve-minute hypothermia mark.
He maneuvered his position so he was between Kate and George. George looked to be less comfortable up here in the air, whereas Kate hung on like a trooper, studying the water below. Colton was less worried about any sea life in the ocean than the actual temperature of the water itself. They were also heavily geared up, and the work boots they wore would feel like fifty pounds by the time they soaked up water.
Just ten feet above the water he quickly unbuckled his chute and dropped it. Kate had hit the surface on his left, and George had splashed down on his right. He was in between them. Closing his legs, he slammed into the water and kicked hard to resurface.
Breaking through the ocean, he checked on the others. George was closest and still struggling. Colton headed toward him first. “Stay calm. I’ll cut your lines.” With his knife, Colton cut the buckles, pulling the lines away. “Can you swim?”
George nodded. “Just not well.”
“Try to float,” Colton said. “I’ve got to get Kate.” And he headed to where Kate was, trying to undo her buckles. Once everything got soaking wet, it was that much harder to maneuver. He knew her fingers would start to freeze soon, faster if she panicked.
He called out to her, “I’m here. Calm down. Control the panic.”
She took several deep breaths, and he could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at him. “Tread water gently,” he said. “I’ll cut you free.”
Then he quickly got her buckles cut and helped her get out of the harness. “Can you swim?”
She nodded and started to strike out hard.
“Don’t swim too hard or too fast,” he said. “You’ll burn up your energy. Hypothermia is our demon to beat.”
She shot him a look.
George still struggled. Colton’s SEALs training kicked in, and he put George into an assisted floating position. With Kate at his side, he told George, “Stay strong. The boats are coming.”
George’s teeth were already chattering. “I didn’t expect to go out like this.”
“You’re not going out like this,” Colton said fiercely. “Fight. We just have to stay afloat until they get here.”
They floated, looped together, trying to preserve their strength and heat.
“What happened to the plane that caused the fire?” Colton asked after a moment.
Kate shook her head. “Explosion in the left engine. None of our diagnostics gave a reason. It was all fine, and then it wasn’t.”
“A bomb?” he asked.
“Possibly,” George said, “but it easily could have been a damaged fuel line. I don’t know. But something caused it to explode, and now nothing will be left for the military to discern what happened.”
“Sounds like you guys have enemies,” Colton joked.
“Yes,” George said, his teeth still chattering.
Colton hated to say it, but George wasn’t doing well. “George, you have to hang on. The boats will be here in a few minutes. Tell me about this enemy you’re talking about.”
“I’m supposed to testify against two coworkers—two pilots,” he said. “They were smuggling drugs.”
Colton’s breath gushed out in a whoosh. “Wow,” he said. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“Yeah, I know,” George whispered.
Colton looked over at Kate to see a hard look in her eyes. “Did you know about it?”
She nodded. “Yes. Both men have been removed from active duty and are awaiting trial.”
“Of course they are,” Colton said. “Court-martialed and the military police are involved, right?”
“Yes, on both counts,” she said. “The military trial isn’t for another four months though.”
“Right, and, if they can get rid of George, then, of course, they walk free.”
“Exactly,” George said. “And I’ve got a sorry-ass feeling they’ll be right about that.”
“Do you want to see them walk free?” Colton asked, as he tried to keep George floating and fighting for his life, while Colton kept an eye on Kate. “I can hear the boats, George. Stay calm.” But George wasn’t answering. Colton gave him a shake and smacked him hard on the cheek.
George groaned.
“Did you hear me, George?”
“I don’t want to hear you,” he said. “I’m so cold.”
“Soldier, buck up!” Colton snapped. “That’s an order.”
George’s eyes flew open, and he stared up at the blue sky. “One of these days those orders can’t be followed.”
“It won’t be today, dammit,” Colton roared. “Stay awake, soldier. You can hear the boats. They’re here.” He twisted George’s head so he could see the approaching cruiser.
“Oh, wow,” George said. “You were serious.”
“I saw them up above,” Colton said, “but we still have to get somebody from the cruiser to us.” Colton looked over at Kate. She was desperate to hang on but fading.
Nobody could keep this up for long, so Colton knew it would be close. “If you can’t stay on the surface,” he said to her, “you let me know.”
She just glared at him. “Like hell,” she said. “George needs to be rescued so those two assholes who did this don’t get away with it.”
“Are they the kind of assholes who would do this?” Colton asked.
“Who knows? But, if this was sabotage, George is likely the target.”
“What about you?” Colton asked. “Do you have any enemies?”
“Not that I know of.”
George gave a broken laugh. “Your ex-boyfriend would do this, Kate. Remember? He said he would make sure you paid.”
“It was one of the reasons why I was okay to fly with you,” she said, a weak attempt at a joke. “We were both targeted.”
Colton swore. “How come I didn’t get any warning to not fly with either of you?”
“Because you were tossed on at the last minute,” she said, “but it’s not like we could have warned you anyway. But I’m sorry you’re involved.”
“I’m not involved, but I am caught up in it. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let either of you die. We have a rescue right here, right now.” He could see men getting into a Zodiac. “Come on. They’re in the Zodiac. We’ve got minutes to go. That’s it.”
“Too late,” George said, his voice slurred. “So cold. C-Can’t feel anything.”
“You’ll feel it all soon enough,” Colton said urge
ntly. “It’ll hurt like shit when the blood starts moving back through your body.”
“Maybe it’s better this way,” George murmured, his eyes falling shut again. Colton reached over and smacked him hard. George groaned again but didn’t open his eyes.
Colton looked over at Kate.
“Don’t waste the energy on me,” she said. “I’m still here.”
But she was failing. He could see it. Her feet and arms were moving much slower, and her body was sinking, then popping back up again. He knew that, somewhere in the next few moments, she would go down and not pop back up again. He could hold out for another five or ten minutes, maybe fifteen, but that would be his max too.
As good as he was, and he knew what he could do, the temperature here would slowly sap away his own strength. He hadn’t come prepared for an Arctic Ocean mission. Not one out in the freezing cold water itself. He was doing everything he could to preserve his own body heat, but he expended some of his energy to keep George afloat. Colton caught George slipping under again and smacked him hard once more. “We’re almost there. Hang on, George.”
But George was past responding.
Shit! Colton was using the standard rescue position to keep George floating beside him, but, as he watched, Kate went under and didn’t come back up. He reached down with his boot and tossed her higher up in the water and grabbed her by the back of her jacket. He yelled for help. He could hear their rescuers coming, and so Colton started moving toward them as quickly as possible but still in control. Slow and steady won the race, but Mother Nature could be a bitch, and she always tried to trump everything else.
Sometimes humanity won too.
Suddenly the Zodiac was here, and hands reached for him. He passed up George first because that was the side they were on, then moved to get Kate up. Afterward, as he tried to pull himself up into the Zodiac, he could feel the slow effect of the cold as his legs didn’t want to work and his hands fumbled. Willing arms caught him and yanked him aboard, dumping him into the bottom of the boat.
