SEAL Undercover (Silver SEALs Book 10)

by Desiree Holt

  He made his way down the tree, gritting his teeth against the stress on his shoulder. Once on the ground, he blended into the thicket and made his way to the open land beyond it. He just had to get to the forested area on the other side of it, and he’d be good. He ran faster than he ever had in his life, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. If someone spotted him, he’d hear the sound of their bullets.

  At last he was in the trees again, and he pulled out his cell, punching in Si’s number.

  “I’m out,” he said.

  Si grunted. “Of course you are. I never had a doubt. I’m activating the GPS locator for your signal.”

  Max continued to make his way through the trees toward the highway while he waited for Si.

  “Okay. All set. I called Kevin and told them to pick you up. They’re only five minutes away by car.”

  “Then we get Regan.”

  “Yes, sailor Then we get Regan.”

  He had just made it to the road when a black sedan headed toward him. He ducked down behind the trees until it pulled to the shoulder and stopped.

  “I’ve got you, Max,” Kevin called out. “Get in so we can get the fuck out of here and retrieve Regan, or Si will skin all of us.”

  Max heaved himself into the back seat of the car and George, who was driving, took off like a bat out of hell.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I suppose someone should check on Max Whatever His Last Name is,” Anna said.

  “Why?” Jed asked. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

  “True. I just thought we might get him down here and find out who he works for. Who got onto us and how.”

  Lorena gave an unladylike snort. “You think he’d tell you? I’d bet he’s former military and has withstood more than you can dish out to him.”

  “You haven’t seen me at work,” Gavin told her.

  She actually burst out laughing. “Gavin, you’re a fifty-five-year-old rancher who has never been in the military yourself. Wrestling bulls isn’t the same thing.”

  “So, you don’t think we should try to question him?”

  “I don’t think we’ll get anything from him, but you’re certainly welcome to try.”

  Gavin looked around the table. “What do you all think?”

  Elizabeth, his wife, leaned forward. “I think I’d like to know where whoever planted them found someone who could be a double for the real Max Ferren.”

  “And I’d like to know more about where Jeanne and Bernardo are,” Anna added.

  “Find,” Jed said. “Then let’s get him down here. He went to the foot of the stairs. “Hank, let’s get Max Whoever down here and have a chat with him.”

  Hank stood up from the chair he’d been sitting in, knocked on the bedroom door, opened it, and walked in. He was back out in five seconds.

  “He’s gone.”

  Jed stared up at him. “What do you mean, he’s gone? Where the hell did he go?”

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  Jed was already taking the stairs two at a time, and he sensed others behind him. He followed Hank into the room which, true enough, was empty. They even checked under the beds and in the closet, but there wasn’t a sign of him anywhere. Jed walked over to the window that looked out onto the little grove of trees, but the window was closed and the screen neatly in place.

  “I’ll be fucked,” he said in a soft voice.

  “You very well may be,” Lorena agreed. “Did he vaporize and disappear into thin air? Maybe through the air conditioning vent?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped.

  “Then tell me how he did it. And even more importantly, where the hell is he?”

  Everyone had crowded into the room by this time, and they were all demanding answers. Jed wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up.

  “This all started with your friend,” Kurt Cavanaugh pointed out. “Your friend and his fake heart attack.”

  “It looked damn real to me when I went to see him,” Jed snapped.

  “Well, somehow someone got to him,” Lorena pointed out. “And everything went to hell after that.”

  “Maybe someone else should have checked out the hospital,” Gavin growled.

  “And you would have seen exactly what I did,” Jed snapped, “Which was what they wanted. What they staged.”

  “We aren’t doing any good clustered in this bedroom,” Lorena said. “Let’s go downstairs and gather ourselves together. We need to call Luis and make sure he has Regan or whatever her name is hidden away, and that his men are ready for the big day. Check that everything is still a go at the factory. But for god’s sake don’t say a word to Newsome about this. He’ll shit his pants.”

  In seconds, they were all back in their seats at the table, and Lorena had picked up her cell to dial Luis.

  “Put it on speaker,” Jed told her, “so we can all hear.”

  She shot him a nasty look but did so. But when she dialed the number, instead of a ringtone they got what sounded like a fast busy signal. She frowned, looked at the phone, frowned some more, and redialed, with the same results.

  “Let me try it,” Gavin said. “Give me the number.”

  Lorena recited it to him. He dialed and got exactly the same result.

  “Damn it to hell, anyway.” He slammed his hone down. “Someone’s jamming the signal from this building.”

  His wife stared at him. “Is that possible? And who would be doing it?”

  “The fucking government,” Gavin said. “That’s who.”

  “And that’s where our so-called guests came from.” Jed slammed his fist on the table. ”Damn it to hell.”

  There was silence around the table. Then Lorena sat back in her chair.

  “We’d better figure out what to do pretty damn quick, or this whole thing will fall apart.”

  “If it hasn’t already,” Jed muttered under his breath.

  *****.

  The car dumped Max, Kevin, and George out where the helo had landed, a big, dark-green machine whose rotors were still spinning lazily. A man Max didn’t recognize, dressed in fatigues, stood beside it.

  “That GPS signal is about two miles down this road,” he told them. “Get your asses in here.”

  They climbed in, Kevin carrying his laptop with all the programs on it, and, in seconds, they were in the air. Max took out his pocket pistol, but George just laughed.

  “That won’t even frighten my kid,” he said. He reached into the back and pulled out two Glocks plus an AR-15, offering Max his choice.

  “A Glock.” He took it and checked the magazine, cocked the slide. “I’m ready.”

  “Good,” George told him. “I like this other one better.”

  “There’s the car,” Kevin said and turned to the pilot. “Can we set down in front of it?”

  “Sure, as long as he doesn’t run into me and ruin my machine.”

  “Make it happen.”

  They flew low over the speeding car, turned around ahead of it, and hovered in the road. Max could see a window lowered, and a hand with a gun poked out.

  “Oh, he doesn’t want to do that,” Max said in a dark voice.

  He slid the window in the chopper down just enough, stuck his hand out, and fired six shots from the Glock in rapid succession. With his usual precision, he hit the shooter’s hand, and the gun dropped to the highway. The chopper hovered just above the ground, in place, low enough that Max and Kevin could both jump out and begin shooting at the car again, hitting all four tires. With no place to go, the driver screeched to a halt.

  A door opened, and Luis slid out, dragging Regan with him. Max noted that she looked slightly disheveled but otherwise unharmed.

  “If you want your woman back,” he shouted at Max, “drop the guns, take me in the helicopter to wherever I tell you, and I will let her go.”

  He shook his head. “Not today.” He lifted his gun. “Do it, Regan.” He just hoped she was military enough to get his signal.

  At onc
e she stepped on Luis’s foot and bent over. Max sighted, fired, and the bullet entered the center of Luis’s forehead. The man collapsed to the ground, nearly taking Regan with him, but Max rushed forward and grabbed her. He handed his gun to Kevin and pulled Regan close against his chest, arms around her, brushing kisses on her forehead and smoothing her hair.

  “I’m okay,” she told him in a shaky voice, “but can we go home now?”

  He chuckled. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Epilogue

  They lay in the very big bed, naked and sated, drinking the last of the champagne and watching television. The last three weeks had been grueling. Max and Regan had met extensively with Si and his bosses. Their pens had picked up enough audio and video to put what Regan called the unholy group away for three lifetimes. They would go on trial for a number of crimes, not the least of which was treason.

  Si had sent teams to each of their homes to gather every paper that could be found, any records at all, although the evidence from the meeting at Whitlow’s lodge would be more than enough. Ferren Arms and Munitions had been closed down and all their inventory confiscated by DHS. It would take a long time to put all the evidence in order, but government attorneys were already working on it.

  Grant Newsome had been arrested at his home in Washington. Si had run two scenarios past his boss, and they had decided to go with the one Si and Max both wanted—full on, with media onsite to capture it. DHS had put together a team, men in suits plus those in battle gear and fully armed. Si himself had led the group, knocking on Newsome’s door at six in the morning.

  Max and Regan, for their work, had been allowed to observe from a big black SUV with tinted windows. Regan said she’d never forget the sight of Newsome in his pajamas and bathrobe opening the door to what awaited him, taking one look, and passing out.

  The cabal had all been arraigned, another field day for the press. DHS, with the president’s approval, wanted to send a message loud and clear to anyone who thought they could attack the United States from the inside and take control. The next few months, or however long it took to bring them all to trial, would be given over to the teams of attorneys. By the time it was all finished, there wouldn’t be enough left of the fortunes they had amassed to buy a good hamburger.

  The death of Luis Rojas left the doors wide open on his cartel. The last Si had learned there was much infighting and bloodshed to see who would take over.

  “Good riddance,” he told them.

  They all knew another leader would rise, but by then the cartel would have been broken up into smaller groups, its power diluted.

  When the Fourth of July rolled, around Max and Regan, still in D. C., had decided they’d spend the day watching celebrations on television. The president, believing they should honor as many of them as possible, had convinced he networks to do cut-ins from celebrations all over the country. Max and Regan had spent the day in bed, watching them, drinking champagne, and having incredible sex.

  “They don’t know close so many of them came to being blown up,” Regan murmured.

  “No, they don’t. And let’s hope they never do.”

  Max placed his champagne glass on the nightstand, took Regan’s, and put it down beside his. Then he rolled her naked body against his and gave her a kiss so slow and sweet yet hot and sexy he discovered that even after the many times they’d already made love, he was again unbelievably hard.

  “You might be dangerous to my health,” he teased.

  Her laugh was slow and sexy. “But what a way to go, right?”

  He continued stroking her arm lazily. “Ever been to Maine?”

  “Hmm. Maine? Can’t say that I have. Why? What’s up there for me?”

  “Well, the Atlantic Ocean. A typical small Maine town. A beat-up former SEAL who’s finally ready to settle down. Now that he’s found the woman of his heart, that is.”

  She looked at him. “And have you? Found the woman of your heart?”

  He nodded. “I just hope she’s on the same page I am.”

  “And what page is that?”

  “I’m in love with you, Regan. I know it’s been fast, and under difficult circumstances. But I knew it the moment we met. You’re everything I’ve been looking for all my life.” He tilted her face up so he could look in her eyes. “Tell me how you feel.”

  “Truth? I never thought I’d find love again after Dylan. Then I met you, and you turned my world upside down. So yes. I’d love to go to Maine with you and see about a life together.”

  He hadn’t realized now tense he was until she said the words. Then he relaxed, and his lips turned up in a wide grin.

  “Good. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” He rolled them so he was between her thighs and grinned at her. “I have big plans for tonight.”

  Silver SEALs

  Did you enjoy this story? Read through the other stories in the Sleeper SEALs Series by eleven other fantastic military romance authors:

  Make sure to pick up ALL the books in the Sleeper SEAL series. These can be read in any order and each stands alone.

  #1 Cat Johns SEAL Strong

  #2 Sharon Hamilton SEAL Love’s Legacy

  #3 Maryann Jordan SEAL Together

  #4 Donna Michaels SEAL In Charge

  #5 Kalyn Cooper SEAL in a Storm

  #6 Kris Michaels SEAL Forever

  #7 Abbie Zanders SEAL Out of Water

  #8 Geri Foster SEAL and Deliver

  #9 J. M. Madden SEAL Hard

  #10 Desiree Holt SEAL Undercover

  #11 Trish Loye SEAL Forever

  #12 Caitlyn O’Leary SEAL at Sunrise

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Silver SEALs