by Dale Mayer
Finding a dead man is a hell of a way to start a holiday.
Growing up, Hawk was always a bit of a wild card. Once he became a SEAL, he found his niche in the world. But the wild man was still there, under wraps …and waiting for a match. Back home for a few days, he realizes a new, darker element has moved in.
And it appears to involve the freckle-faced redhead he never forgot.
Mia remembers her best friend’s brother. After all, what woman could forget him? He was like fireworks lighting up her life. Taking her breath away and making her heart beat faster. But the version that came home was harder, more dangerous … and sexy as hell.
Good thing he’s on their side as the town explodes in violence with Mia caught in the middle.
Books in This 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
HAWK
SEALs of Honor, Book 2
Dale Mayer
HAWK: SEALS OF HONOR, BOOK 2
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing
Copyright © 2016
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: 978-1-928122-76-0
Kindle Edition
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Praise for Dale Mayer
I love to read Dale Mayer’s books… keeps me guessing…. I am getting good though trying to figure out who did it…. I am on my fourth book….
…Review left on Vampire in Deceit, book 4 of Family Blood Ties
Dale Mayer’s work is always outstanding and Haunted by Death is no exception.
…Review from Haunted by Death, book 2 of the By Death Series
This is a GREAT series that you don’t want to miss out on!
…Review from Broken Protocols Series
This is my favorite author I enjoy all her books and I can’t wait for more… her books are easy to get into and I love the storyline
…Review from Dangerous Designs, book 1 of the Design Series
Dale Mayer is a gifted writer who now has me hooked as a new fan. She characters are complex and she shares her knowledge of energy work clearly and simply. Makes for fascinating reading…
…Review from Rare Find, book 6 of Psychic Visions Series
Don’t underestimated Dale Mayer. Combination of JD Robb and Heather Graham. Paranormal suspense………
…Review left on Maddy’s Floor, book 3 of the Psychic Visions Series
Wow! I read a lot, and I can honestly say that there a few books that I have read that I will remember for years. This is one of those books. Thank you Dale for giving me the gift of this magnificent story. It was both heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.
…Review left on Skin, book 1 of Broken and yet…Healing Series
Touched by Death is an outstanding novel by Dale Mayer. Unlike her usual novels that contain paranormal activity, this novel is sheer malevolent actions from ordinary humans.
…Review left on Touched by Death, book 1 of By Death Series
Dale’s books are spellbinding in more ways than one. She has a unique way with words. Her characters are fun and funny and loving. I love the way the story flows. Her characters all have personality. She takes you from suspense to love, then fear love and eternal love.
…Review left on Second Chances, book 1 of Second Chances… at Love Series
Table of Contents
About the Book
Title Page
Copyright Page
Praise for Dale Mayer
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
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Author’s Note
About the Author
Also by Dale Mayer
Chapter 1
Hawk Loring stared at the commotion boiling over on the corner of the street. Having just driven into his hometown to visit with his sister, he had no idea what happened, but the place was a mess. People ran from one side of the road to the other. Small groups forming, then reforming as new people joined. What the hell was going on?
Someone raced in front of him. He hit the brakes hard. His town had changed if people were aiming for suicide by car.
Canford used to be the calmest, most laid back of all small towns in the US.
He pulled his Jeep up in front of the general store he’d worked at as a kid, slightly surprised to see it was still there. Gordon, the owner, was aging. He’d threatened to sell out many times. But as business was booming with the caving and hiking groups, and the new summer condo units going up on the nearby lake, he’d obviously held off making a decision.
Of course Canford catered to the caving enthusiasts during the summer and hunters during the winter, giving his business more year round stability.
Shoving his sunglasses into place he hopped out, gave a narrow look at the people still running around, a worried expression on their faces. His penetrating gaze went from one to the other and saw the same hunched shoulders, frowns and looks over their shoulders, heard the rapid voices and excitable speech patterns. He watched as two groups melded into one.
Senses alert and curiosity piqued, he headed into the store to get the details. Nothing ever happened around town Gordon didn’t know about. Hawk doubted that had changed.
The store was cool, shadowed, and after a long glance around, empty.
“Gordon?” No answer. The storefront was empty and no one stood at the cash counter.
He walked to the back office where the man could always be found. Sure enough he was there now too – facedown on the floor with a nice neat round hole in the back of his head.
What the hell had gone on here?
Hawk crouched and checked out the body. Still warm but cooling. Dead a few hours at least. Did anyone know? Had anyone come in and checked on him? Anger boiled up. Gordon was a good man. Helped out anyone and everyone. He didn’t deserve to be shot in the back. Hell, no one did.
Was that what the town was agog about?
; And where the hell was the sheriff? Someone should be leading the investigation.
He stared down at his old friend, hating to see him this way. He couldn’t see much of the face and there was less hair than he remembered. Then again, Gordon had been going bald for years so he shouldn’t be surprised.
As he tamped his anger down, his phone went off. Swede checking in. The team had five days off, and each headed off somewhere. Swede was going home. Mason was going to the beach with Tesla to help her heal from the ordeal she’d been through. This last job had taken them to places they hadn’t expected to go. With his free time, Hawk had decided family was just the ticket. That meant his sister. There was no one else. And she was good people. Reminded him a lot of Tesla.
Tesla…if she had a sister, he’d have been all over her. As it was, Mason had struck gold, and even if it took him awhile, he had finally understood she was a gift worth keeping.
After seeing something he’d had no idea even existed, Hawk wanted the same for himself.
But how did one go about finding it – or her – in this case? Women like Tesla were rare.
Swede’s text said he’d made it back to his father’s house safe and sound and where the hell was Mason? Wanting to avoid the multiple texts required to explain, Hawk quickly dialed his friend and fellow SEAL.
“I’m in Canford. Stopped in town to say hi to Gordon,” Hawk said, glad Swede knew the town and Gordon after multiple visits to the hunting cabin for R&R, and quickly filled him in on what he’d found.
“What? Gordon? Just lying there? Shit.” Banked anger seeped through the phone. “Give me a few hours and I’ll be there.”
Hawk didn’t have a chance to argue because the phone went dead. Knowing Swede, he’d already hugged his father good-bye and thrown his kit into his truck and was even now hitting the road. They were about four hours apart. Not that he needed him, but that was what mates did.
Then he remembered his sister, Eva.
And winced.
She’d been fairly voluble on her opinion of Swede. An unfortunate beginning had given her a bad impression of the behemoth. Maybe this time that could be changed.
Not likely. His sister was a spitfire and not into multiple affairs at the same time, and there was something about Swede’s looks and size that had women all over him. Hell, they were SEALs, women were never in short supply. There were bars close to the base that appeared to cater to women who only wanted to catch a SEAL. Then a different one the next night and on and on. Like Mason, Hawk had gotten tired of the whole singles game, and now that he knew there was something else out there – hell, sign him up!
Mason was a lucky man.
He turned his attention back to the floor. Gordon’s body lay half hidden by the desk, but anyone could come in and see him. Hawk grabbed a blanket out of the cupboard and covered him up. He had no idea where Gordon’s only daughter Mia was, but he didn’t want her to come in and see her father like this.
He called in the local police department or what passed for one here. There’d been a sheriff and a couple of deputies the last time he’d been through. He brought up his phone again to call his sister when the main entrance burst open and two men ran in. Hawk stepped out of the office to face two young bucks.
They skittered to a stop and glared at him. “Who the fuck are you?”
His eyebrows shot up and his gaze narrowed, memorizing their faces, making sure he’d recognize the two men again.
“Maybe I should be asking you that question?” he said in a hard voice. “And what are you doing here?”
The first one reared back slightly, his long hair billowing over his forehead, a smirk on his face. “It’s a store, what do you think we’re doing here?”
The second man, a bright redhead covered in freckles, sauntered over to the counter, grabbed a pack of gum and opened it. He tossed a piece to his buddy and took a strip for himself before popping it into his mouth. Then pocketed the rest.
Hawk watched him, anger burning. He’d made no attempt to pay for it. Nor had he even looked to see if Gordon was around. As in he didn’t expect him to be here.
Had these two been the killers? He motioned to the gum in the man’s pocket. “You gonna pay for that?”
“Na, see it’s my store.”
Hawk turned his head ever so slightly. The two men backed up.
“Did you say it’s your store?” Hawk asked in a low, deadly soft voice.
The long-haired punk looked at the redhead. “Well, it will be. My old man is buying it off of Gordon.”
“Then it’s not your store right now, is it?” Hawk said, his voice hard.
The two men were smarter than he gave them credit for as the one man pulled out a handful of change and tossed it on the counter. “There. No biggie. Gordon doesn’t mind.”
They backed up a step.
Hawk advanced. “He doesn’t?”
The two men shook their heads. The second one grabbed a chocolate bar off the shelf as he headed for the door. “Nah,” he called back defiantly. “He doesn’t mind in the least.” And the two raced out laughing like loons.
Hawk stood inside the door, looking out the window as he called his sister. “Eva, what the hell is going on?”
There was a weird crackling then her harried voice. “No one really knows, but some rumor started about there being a cache of weapons and bomb making equipment found in one of the caves, and everyone is making up weird conspiracy theories. Where are you?” she asked.
“In the general store, standing over Gordon’s dead body.” What the hell? Canford and bomb making equipment. Those two didn’t go together. Never had. This was country at its finest. Slow, easy, and very quiet.
He heard her cry of horror. “What?”
“He’s been shot through the back of the head.”
“Oh my God.” There was a shocked silence then she said, “Any sign of anyone else around?”
“Half the damn town appears to be standing around,” he snapped. “And they look both excited and terrified.”
“I know. I am too.” There was an odd sound like gears crunching. He looked outside and watched his beau-tiful sister get out of her ancient truck and run up the stairs to the front door, her cell phone still at her ear.
She burst through the door.
And ran into his arms.
He held her close, her long auburn hair hanging down her back and over his arms. He wrapped a hand in her long locks and hugged her hard. Finally he set her back a few feet and saw the worry in her face. He gave her a little shake.
“A cache of weapons?”
“And bomb making equipment and…” she took a deep ragged breath. “Chemicals. And many of the tubs are empty.”
He shook his head. “If that were the case, there’d be the military here. Hell, I could just as easily be called as well, depending on what’s needed.”
She nodded. “The sheriff hasn’t said anything. The locals are just rehashing gossip, but no one knows anything for sure.”
“Then I can guarantee that someone else knows because town gossip never stays local.”
“True, but the sheriff was trying to keep everyone calm until he could get the right people here. As in his contacts. As far as I know there is a mess of people coming, but in the meantime no one is allowed to leave. And everyone is terrified. No one is drinking the water in case it’s poisoned, etc.”
He nodded. Rumors ran rampant without any kind of control. But he also understood people. That meant there was going to be hoards of media within hours. Canford was off the beaten track, but there were good roads in and out.
They’d find the small town eventually.
Eva gripped his arms. “Did you mean it…what you said about Gordon?”
He tugged her back into his arms for a quick hug then stepped back and motioned to the office door. “He’s behind there.”
A fist went to her mouth and tears twinkled at the corner of her eyes. “Who would do such a thing?”
&
nbsp; He shrugged. In his world people did all kinds of shitty things for minor reasons. His gaze roamed the back wall, and the question popped out at him. “When were you in the store last?”
She shook her head, her hands swiping at the tears trickling down her cheeks. “A few days ago I think. To see Mia.”
Mia. Gordon’s daughter. Right, and she was Eva’s best friend. “Any idea where she is?”
“Spelunking training,” she whispered. “I’ve been calling her but she’s not answering.”
Of course not. No reception underground. Spelunking. Really?
“And the gun case over there.” He pointed to the empty one on the wall. “Do you remember if it was empty before?”
She gasped and stared. “I have no idea.”
He walked over to the cabinet and could see the lock had been smashed. Had Gordon refused to open it? He would. He was that kind of man. He’d also have been damn mad to have his guns taken and used in a criminal offense. Especially in his own murder.
“Do you think it’s related?”
“No idea, but how could it not be? When a town goes wild, then the townsfolk do too. Anyone scared and not owning their own firearms might have considered this worth doing to protect themselves. And the theft of the firearms might not have anything to do with Gordon’s death. Given where he lay, they may not have seen his body. Or after finding the store deserted they might have just taken the opportunity to snatch the firearms. But chances are the two incidences were related. A stretch not to be.”
Then he remembered the earlier visitors.
“Two young punks came in ten minutes before you got here. One planned to steal a pack of gum, and the other one did take a chocolate bar and laughed about it.”
“And you didn’t pound them into the ground?” she asked in surprise. “Wow, what happened to my big brother?”
“Gordon was lying in the office, and I wanted to find out if they knew. But outside of stealing and acting as if they knew Gordon wouldn’t know, they made no actions that let me see they knew anything about his murder.”