SEAL JUSTICE (Brotherhood Protectors Book 13)

by Elle James

  SEAL JUSTICE

  BROTHERHOOD PROTECTORS Book #13

  Elle James

  Twisted Page Inc

  Contents

  SEAL JUSTICE

  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

  SEAL’s Honor

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Also by Elle James

  SEAL JUSTICE

  BROTHERHOOD PROTECTORS Book #13

  New York Times & USA Today

  Bestselling Author

  ELLE JAMES

  Copyright © 2019 by Elle James

  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, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Dedicated to my family. I love them all so very much and value their support and kindness. Hug your loved ones today.

  Elle James

  Author’s Note

  Brotherhood Protectors Series

  Montana SEAL (#1)

  Bride Protector SEAL (#2)

  Montana D-Force (#3)

  Cowboy D-Force (#4)

  Montana Ranger (#5)

  Montana Dog Soldier (#6)

  Montana SEAL Daddy (#7)

  Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow (#8)

  Montana SEAL Undercover Daddy (#9)

  Cape Cod SEAL Rescue (#10)

  Montana SEAL Friendly Fire (#11)

  Montana SEAL’s Mail-Order Bride (#12)

  SEAL Justice (#13)

  Ranger Creed (#14)

  Delta Force Strong (#15)

  Montana Rescue

  Hot SEAL, Salty Dog

  Hot SEAL Hawaiian Nights (SEALs in Paradise)

  Brotherhood Protectors Vol 1

  Visit ellejames.com for more titles and release dates

  Chapter 1

  Reggie McDonald held her breath and listened for him. She shivered, her naked body chilled by the cool damp air of her prison. Though her brain was murky, her thoughts unclear, and her strength diminished, she knew what she had to do. When she could hear no sounds of boots on the wooden steps leading down into the earthen cellar, she continued digging. Inch by inch, she scraped away at the soil of her cell, praying she was correct in assuming hers was on the edge of the group of cells. If she dug long enough, she might see daylight and find a way to escape the hell she’d been trapped in for what felt like a lifetime.

  Using the tin cup she’d been given to drink from, she scooped dirt from the corner behind the door. That small space was hidden from her captor when he came to feed her or shackle her to take her up to the big house where he tortured her and the other young women he’d kidnapped and held in the horrible dungeon beneath his house.

  If she got out, she’d find help to get the other women out and save them from the sociopath who forced them to bow to his bidding. If they didn’t do what he said, he whipped them with a riding crop or shocked them with a cattle prod. Sometimes, he burned them with the lit end of the cigars he smoked.

  To keep them pliant to his will, he drugged their food and water, making them weak and groggy, unable to form clear thoughts or fight back.

  Reggie had caught on to what he’d been doing. She couldn’t quit eating or drinking completely, but she’d skip a day and use that time of semi-clear thinking to work through the problem to come up with a solution. On those clear days, she’d acted just as drugged when she’d been shackled and taken up the wooden stairs to the Master’s house. When she could see out a window, she’d determined the house sat on the side of a hill, the slope dipping downward from the back of the structure. Though the women were trapped in the cellar, the earthen walls of their prison couldn’t be that thick, especially on the far end where she was being kept. The hill sloped sharply on that end, giving her hope that, with steady digging, she’d eventually break free of captivity and escape.

  Reggie prayed she was correct and scooped faster, pushing the soil she’d dislodged into the sides of the walls and floor, packing it down so that her captor couldn’t tell it was fresh dirt.

  She paused again as a sound penetrated the wooden door of her cell.

  Footsteps.

  “He’s coming,” a voice whispered. Reggie recognized Terri’s voice. She was in the first cell, closest to the stairs. She’d been there the longest. A single mother of a little girl, she’d held out all those days, suffering through the torture in hope of seeing her little girl again. Lately, she’d fallen into despair of ever escaping.

  Quiet sobs sounded from other cells along the row.

  Reggie emptied her cup, quickly patted the dirt she’d removed into the ground, dragged her tattered blanket over her naked body and moved to the opposite corner where she curled up and pretended to be asleep.

  Boots clunked down the steps to the bottom.

  Silence reigned, even the few sobs ceased as the women held their breath, praying the Master wouldn’t choose them for the trip up the stairs.

  Reggie waited, listening. When a door hinge creaked, she braced herself.

  “Please, no. Please,” a woman’s voice pleaded with the Master. It was Beth, a young college student who’d been captured on her way home from a night class. “Don’t hurt me,” she cried.

  “Shut up and move,” the Master’s harsh voice echoed in the darkness.

  “No, please. I can’t.” The sharp crackle of electricity sparking was followed by a scream.

  Reggie winced and bit down hard on her tongue to keep from yelling at the man for hurting Beth. She couldn’t draw attention to herself. Not now. Not when the hole she’d been digging was already two feet wide and as deep. If he took Beth up to the house, he’d be distracted long enough Reggie might finally break through.

  Beth cried as she stumbled up the stairs, the Master’s footsteps sounding as he climbed up behind her.

  As soon as the door clicked closed at the top of the stairs, Reggie grabbed her cup and went back to work, digging furiously, scraping the dirt away with the cup and her fingernails. The Master usually kept a woman up in the big house for at least an hour before he brought her back to her cell. She didn’t have much time.

  She abandoned quiet for speed and dug as fast as she could.

  “What are you doing?” Terri whispered, her voice barely carrying above the scraping sound of the cup on dirt and rocks.

  Reggie ignored her, determined to get as far as she could before the Master returned.

  Her cup struck a large rock. Undeterred, she scraped around the edges, her heart beating faster, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The drugs in her body slowed her down, making her want to crawl into her blanket and sleep. But she couldn’t.

  “Stop whatever you’re doing,” Terri said.

  Reggie halted and listened. When she didn’t hear footsteps or the quiet sobs of Beth being returned to her cell, she went back to work on digging around the rock.

  Soon, she found the edge of one end of the stone and worked her way around it.

  After scraping and digging for what felt like an hour, she poked through the dirt and felt cool, fresh air streaming through a tiny hole onto her fingertips.

  Not trusting her hands, she pushed her head through the
tunnel and sniffed fresh air, the scent of decaying foliage a welcome scent from the earthen cell. She inhaled deeply, her breath catching on a sob. She’d been right. Her cell was on the edge of the hill. If she dug a little more, she might be able to push through. The large rock was in the way. If only…

  She pulled her head out of the tunnel and shoved her bare feet in and pushed as hard as she could.

  The rock didn’t move.

  Lying on her back, the cool dirt floor making her shiver, she scooted closer, bunched her legs and kicked hard with her heels, over and over until the rock moved. Hope blossomed in her chest and gave her the strength to keep pushing and kicking.

  “You have to stop,” Terri said. “When one of us crosses him, he punishes us all.”

  Another one of the women sobbed. “Please don’t make him mad.”

  Reggie didn’t want any of them to be hurt by her actions, but the Master was hurting them every time he took one of them up into the house. She had to get out and get help for all of them. Using every last bit of her strength to kick and shove at the boulder until it rocked and gave, she finally pushed it free of the soil, and it rolled down the hill. Loose dirt fell into the tunnel, blocking the sweet scent of fresh air.

  Using her feet again, Reggie pushed at the dirt. More fell into the gap. She scrambled around and shoved her arms through the tight tunnel and patted the loose dirt against the walls of the tunnel, shoving the excess out and down the hill.

  “Shh!” Someone said from one of the other cells. “He’s coming.”

  A door opened above them. Sobs sounded as Beth descended into her prison, followed by the clumping sound of the Master’s boots.

  Reggie hadn’t taken the time to pat the dirt into the walls this time. If the Master came into her cell, he’d catch her at digging her way out. She looked through the hole. Gray beckoned her. She shoved her shoulders through the tunnel. It was tight. Really tight. But if she could get her shoulders through, she could get the rest of her body through. Desperately inching and wiggling her way inside, she prayed she could breach the exit before the Master jerked open her door, grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her back inside. He’d beat her and chain her. And he’d throw her into the wooden box beneath the stairs where he kept the “naughty” girls.

  No way. She couldn’t let that happen. Not when she could taste freedom.

  With her body blocking the tunnel, sounds of weeping and cries were muffled. Reggie couldn’t tell if the women were informing the Master of her scratching and digging. She wasn’t sticking around to find out. Once her shoulders were free, she braced her hands on the edges of the hole and pushed as hard as she could. Her body scraped through until her hips were free of the tunnel. Grabbing onto nearby branches, she pulled her legs out of the hole. Once all of her was free, gravity took hold, and she tumbled down the hill, her skin torn and gouged by sticks, rocks and bramble.

  The jabs and tears made her cry out with joy. The pain wasn’t inflicted by the Master but delivered by nature as a testament she was out of that hell.

  She came to a stop when her head hit the big rock she’d pushed free of her tunnel. For a long moment, she lay still, her vision blurring, pain raking through the base of her skull.

  Then she heard the sounds of dogs barking, and her heart froze. The Master had two vicious looking Rottweilers he’d kept tethered when he’d brought her up into the big house.

  Reggie staggered to her bare feet and shivered. The cool night air wrapped around her naked body. Swallowing the sobs rising up her throat, she ran, following the hill downward. She didn’t know where she was or which way to go, only that she had to get as far away from the house and the dogs as possible. She hadn’t come this far to be ripped apart by his maniacal dogs or dragged back to house and beaten until she couldn’t remember who she was or why she cared.

  Sticks and rocks dug into the soft pads of her feet, drawing blood. She kept running until her feet were as numb as her skin and mind. The dogs were getting closer. She had to do something to lose them.

  The hill continued downward. A cloud crossed over the sky, blocking what little starlight penetrated the tree branches. Her lungs burning and her heart beating so fast she thought it might explode out of her chest, Reggie was forced to stop long enough for the cloud to shift, allowing the starlight to illuminate her way.

  When it did, she stared out at a dark canyon. She stood on the edge of a precipice. Easing to the edge, she could see the glint of starlight off what appeared to be a river forty feet below where she stood.

  The barking dogs were close now.

  Reggie turned right then left. No matter which way she went, the cliffs were still as high as the one in front of her. She couldn’t backtrack. The dogs were so close enough, they’d find her.

  She refused to give up. But what else could she do? Die from the vicious rendering of sharp Rottweiler teeth, go back willingly to the Master’s house to be beaten, or jump off a cliff into water of which she had no idea of the depth?

  When the barking sounded right behind her, Reggie spun to face the two Rottweilers, emerging from the tree line…stalking her.

  A shout from behind them made her heart leap into her throat. The Master.

  Without further thought or mental debate, Reggie turned and threw herself over the cliff.

  As she plunged downward, she steeled herself for the impact against rocks or whatever lay beneath the water’s surface.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, pointed her toes and hit the river feet-first, sinking deep. The chill shocked her body, but she kept her mouth shut tight, and struggled, kicking hard to rise. Just when she thought she would never breathe again, she bobbed to the surface and gasped. Above her, she heard the wild barking of the Rottweilers.

  The cold water helped clear her foggy brain. She had to make the Master think she was dead. Taking a deep breath, she lay over, face-first in the water and floated as far as she could before turning her head to the side to take another breath. She did this for as long as she could hear the dogs barking above. The Master had to think she’d died in the fall from the cliff. It was the only way to get away and make him think she couldn’t tell the authorities about what he had hidden in his basement.

  After a while, the sound of the dogs barking faded. Knowing the dogs couldn’t follow her scent in the water, she let the river’s current carry her along as she treaded water to keep her head above the surface.

  The cold sapped what little energy she had left. She rolled onto her back and floated into the shallows where she dragged herself up onto the shore.

  Darkness surrounded her, embraced her and sucked her under. As she faded into unconsciousness, her last thought was…I’m free.

  Chapter 2

  “Well, Talon, welcome to the Brotherhood Protectors.” Hank Patterson held out his hand with a grin. “Glad to have you aboard.”

  Sam “Talon” Franklin held out his hand to his new boss. “Thanks, Hank, for having faith in my abilities. I hope I live up to your expectations.”

  “If I didn’t think you could do the job, I wouldn’t have hired you,” Hank said. “You being a Navy SEAL, I know you have the key ingredients necessary to take on any assignment that might come your way with the Brotherhood Protectors. We can always use a weapons expert who’s also good at hand-to-hand combat. I think you’ll fit right into the team. Flexibility and being able to take charge in difficult situations will come in handy in this job, as it did in your SEAL days. No matter the mission, you’re up for the challenge.” He shook his head. “We get all kinds of assignments. Some more exciting than others.”

  “I look forward to my first mission,” Sam said. “I guess I should go by Sam, now that I’m no longer a part of the Navy SEALs.”

  “Noted.” Hank nodded. “I’m looking through our most recent requests. I’ll have something for you by the time you come back from your fishing trip.” He glanced around the little cabin. “Will this old hunting cabin be enough for you and yo
ur dog until you can find more suitable accommodations?”

  “It’s perfect. Small enough it won’t take me much time to clean. It has a bed, which always beats the cold hard ground, electricity, a refrigerator and heat. Most importantly…it’s off the beaten path, so I’ll have all the privacy and quiet Grunt and I can stand.” Sam grinned. “Tell your wife we appreciate her finding it for us. It’ll work out fine.”

  “Sadie likes to help out when she’s on hiatus from her work. She’s in the middle of a two-month break and getting a little stir-crazy.”

  “I’ve seen some of her movies. She’s really talented,” Sam said. “Don’t you get jealous when she kisses other actors?”

  Hank nodded. “Like mad. But she always comes home to me and Emma. I know how much she loves me, and I love her more than life itself.”

  Sam’s chest tightened. He’d pretty much given up hope of ever finding that kind of love. It just wasn’t in the cards for him.

  “Enough about me and my family. You have a vacation to start.” He pulled a device out of the bag he’d carried into the cabin. “We finally got satellite phones. Cellphone coverage can be non-existent out here. Swede, our computer guy, will man the satellite phone while in the office. If you need to get hold of me, he’ll pass on the message. But you won’t need this until you start work. Now, go.” Hank waved toward the door. “Sadie filled the small pantry with some canned foods, stocked the refrigerator and freezer with meats, vegetables, milk, juice and beer. And she put clean sheets on the bed for you when you get back from your fishing trip.”