by Dale Mayer
With that, everybody moved into action. Ryker had Manila’s pain pills that she might share with Benjamin later. Otherwise, his medical condition was deemed not an emergency by the local doc, especially since the navy ship would have a medic on board. So the body bag was secured from the hospital, and the two men who had stood guard over her were paid to carry the still unconscious Benjamin to the beach in the dark. The Zodiac arrived on time. Benjamin was loaded quietly but not so gently into the bottom of the boat, and Andy and Manila were helped in to take their spots at the front. Miles and Ryker were at the back.
Andy sat beside her, and, in a soft voice as they pushed off from shore, he asked her, “Are you okay?”
She looked at him sadly. “I will be. It’s a shitty way to end a trip like this.”
“It is,” he said. “It never occurred to me that Benjamin would do something like that.”
“He’s from a different generation and held a lot of anger inside,” she said.
“And you’re still making excuses for him,” Ryker said, coming up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her. “How are you holding up?”
She nodded and said, “I’m holding. I’m tired and worn out, but I’m okay.”
“Good,” he said, “because this may be the worst stage of your life, but it’s now over.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Promise?”
He leaned down, kissed her gently and said, “Promise.”
Andy looked at the two of them and said, “I didn’t even see this happening.”
“Life’s what happens when you are looking elsewhere,” Ryker said with a laugh.
Andy looked at Manila. “So, is this for real?”
She nodded. “I hope so. It’s one good thing to come out of this trip.”
“Sounds like it,” Andy said. “Well, it works for me. Does that mean you’re not doing too many trips in the future?”
“It’ll be a long time before I do another one in Colombia for sure,” she admitted. “But I don’t dare let this stop me from traveling the world.”
“Besides,” Ryker said, “if I’m not on a job, I can come with you.”
She beamed at that. “Oh, I’d like that,” she said. “I’d have my very own protector.”
“It sounds like you need it too,” Miles said with a laugh.
She grinned and said, “Maybe not anymore. Only clear sailing for the rest of my life.”
“Well, there’ll be hiccups,” Ryker said with a laugh. “But not something we can’t handle.” And he linked his fingers with hers and held her close. Manila thought about everything that she’d been through so far and realized he was right.
There was nothing that they both couldn’t handle. Together.
Epilogue
Miles Radford poured himself his first cup of coffee and stepped out onto his tiny balcony. He was renting a studio apartment with a lopsided built-in desk and a small kitchenette, just big enough for what he needed at the moment. It was also month-to-month as he figured out his life. He had a lot of good options, but nothing necessarily had the same adrenaline-pulsing lifestyle that he was used to. Nobody who ever became a Navy SEAL ever considered what came afterward.
The average participation in the program was eight to ten years. He’d already done fourteen and was well past the point of moving on, but he couldn’t stomach imagining himself as one of the brass behind a desk. He wasn’t past anything. He preferred something much more subtle and better suited for him.
He couldn’t describe it in specific terms, but helping Ryker out had been part of it. Plus, rewarding to Miles. It had been taxing, sure, and dangerous. But reaching the end of it and also witnessing Ryker’s hell of a new beginning with Manila was a better end. Miles hated to admit it, but he was almost looking for something like that himself. Same as a hell of a lot of other men too, apparently.
He’d heard of various lucky-in-love factions within the navy. Obviously, he knew Mason and his team. And also Levi, who’d set up Legendary Security with his partner, Ice, that also had this incredible matchmaking system. Both men were leaders in their own right but would deny their matchmaker status until they were blue in the face, but something was magical about Mason’s and Levi’s teams. And now something was magical about the Mavericks team.
It wasn’t their official name, but it had been coined and had stuck. They had a Mavericks chat window, aka the command central, and a growing number of members on the Mavericks team. But, so far, two men at a time were assigned to a mission, and then the others worked in the background. Somehow each understood they were being tested and trained for something bigger.
Miles sometimes wondered if he even wanted bigger stuff. He had told Beta, his Mavericks contact, that he would consider leading another job, if it came up. Having helped Ryker, Miles’s turn was next to lead an op. If he wanted it. That was one of the things that he liked most about this. They were given a choice—unlike in the navy, where they had no choices.
It had always been You’re part of the team, so you’ll do this for your country, and he’d always been happy to do so, until he got to the point where he wasn’t quite so happy all of a sudden. He realized it when waking up morning after morning became something he dreaded. He then wondered how much longer he could do this, and, at that point in time, he knew it was already past his time to leave the more rigid military setup.
Honestly, Beta’s call had come at the right time. Miles had gone out to help Ryker and, so far, hadn’t looked back. But now Miles had this edginess and this sense of waiting, this questioning as to whether he would take on any new offer made by the Mavericks. Of course, instinctively Miles would because he had never yet turned anybody down when they needed help. Especially if it was a serious breach of keeping the peace in this world. He hated the fact that the world was such a mess and that teams like the Mavericks were required. They were simple, subtle and got the job done though, and he loved that part. He just didn’t know what kind of job he would be sent on.
So far, they’ve been everywhere from Thailand and China to Alaska. England too. Kerrick had taken that first job. And now that he thought about it, Miles wouldn’t mind going back to England. It was his home country, after all. He hadn’t lived there in a very long time.
When his first cup of coffee was done, he got up and poured another one to hear his phone buzz beside him. He took the phone and his coffee out on the balcony to answer Beta’s text.
Are you ready? Beta asked.
Miles stared at it for a long heart-stopping moment. He’d just been thinking about this moment, and now here it was. And still, he knew without hesitation what his answer would be. Yes. Where’s the job?
England.
He smiled at that. That’s where he had wanted to go. Good. What part?
London.
Okay. Traveling on my own?
Package is being delivered right now. Use the alias. Details are in the microdot.
Sunglasses?
Yes. Call us after you’ve read it.
Just then his doorbell rang. He hopped up and ran to the front door, then signed for the package from a delivery guy and walked back out onto his balcony. There, he quickly opened the package to see his alias was still Miles. Only his last name was now Richardson. Miles Richardson. A play on words? His real name was Miles Radford. But it was close enough that he wasn’t likely to have a problem with it.
A piece of double-sided tape held a tiny dot to the inside of the envelope, and he found a pair of sunglasses inside too. He put on the glasses and fitted the microdot in the corner, where the screw belonged, and watched as the data flowed on the lenses.
He poured himself a third cup of coffee and sat down before slowly studying the material as it moved across the lenses. He hadn’t even checked his flight details, and that was something he should probably have done first. But he was too absorbed in what was going on because this wasn’t a normal case. This wasn’t government assistance. This was Interpol and MI6. But not a
terrorist cell activity.
It was a serial kidnapper.
This concludes Book 6 of The Mavericks: Ryker.
Read about Miles: The Mavericks, Book 7
The Mavericks: Miles (Book #7)
What happens when the very men—trained to make the hard decisions—come up against the rules and regulations that hold them back from doing what needs to be done? They either stay and work within the constraints given to them or they walk away. Only now, for a select few, they have another option:
The Mavericks. A covert black ops team that steps up and break all the rules … but gets the job done.
Welcome to a new military romance series by USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. A series where you meet new friends and just might get to meet old ones too in this raw and compelling look at the men who keep us safe every day from the darkness where they operate—and live—in the shadows … until someone special helps them step into the light.
When his call came, the mission was the opposite of what he expected …
Returning to his hometown of London, UK, was a happy surprise, until he realized what—and who—was involved. Out of his comfort zone when dealing with women sold into sexual slavery or even “collected,” regardless Miles was determined to dig in deep, when he realized he knew the latest kidnapped victim. A woman who’d touched him years earlier. To think she might be suffering at the hands of a deranged serial kidnapper or, worse, could be sold in some human trafficking ring …
Vanessa, tied up and blindfolded, has no idea why she’d been kidnapped. She does her best to obey her captor, even as she plots her escape. Her hope is that she’s been reported missing and that the cops are looking for her. … They are, but so is someone else …
Keeping Vanessa safe at his side, Miles is taxed to the limit to unravel and to capture a serial killer who’s lain undetected for decades, disguised as a serial kidnapper …
Find book 7 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Ryker: The Mavericks, Book 6! 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 or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.
Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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RYKER: THE MAVERICKS, BOOK 6
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2019
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773362-87-8
Kindle Edition
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