Colton: SEALs of Honor, Book 23

by Dale Mayer

  “Crap,” George said. “That’s really disturbing.”

  “The fact that we even know this much,” Colton said, “will help us track it down.”

  “But the bad weather will stop the next plane coming in, won’t it?”

  “Yes, but …” Troy said, turning to look at Colton. “Did he actually say it was coming into the base?”

  Colton thought about it for a long moment, then shook his head. “You know something? I don’t think he did.”

  He looked over at George. “Sorry about the toes.”

  “Hey, I’ll trade my toes and a couple fingers for my life any day. Maybe it’s time to take an early retirement and go spend time with the boys who I’m fighting so hard to get back home to.” He looked over at Kate. “Kate here can keep up the runs.”

  “Hey, you know me,” Kate said. “I was wondering about changing up my schedule too.”

  Colton looked at her in surprise.

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind more time at home,” she confessed. “Especially once the Ned issue is handled.”

  “Do you have enough seniority to change your routes?” he asked. “Or do you want to go private?”

  “Both are things I’ll consider over the next few weeks and months,” she said. Looking back at George, she smiled. “The bottom line is to get you healthy.”

  “And keep you safe,” Colton said, as he stepped out and looked at the doorway. “When did the guards leave?”

  George’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t see any guards today.”

  The three exchanged hard glances. Troy said, “Wait here. I’ll go find out.” Then he disappeared down the hallway.

  “You didn’t mention anything about guards,” George said to Kate.

  “I forgot all about them,” she exclaimed. “After what happened yesterday, a security detail was assigned. We waited here for them to arrive. They took up their posts outside your room, and we headed back to the base.”

  “So, who pulled them off the guard duty detail?” Colton said slowly. He grabbed his phone and dialed the commander. When he answered, Colton said, “We’re checking in on George, but the security detail is gone.”

  “It shouldn’t be. They were supposed to be standing on a twenty-four-hour watch.” The commander’s voice rose in anger. “I’ll get back to you.”

  Colton pocketed his phone. “Heads will roll.” His voice was cheerful though because he liked to see people follow orders, and to see something like this happen meant that either somebody had changed the orders or somebody was trying to get out of following orders. In either case, somebody was about to get their ass handed to them. He said, “I guess that means we’ll sit here and wait until we get this sorted out again.”

  George shook his head. “Go on. I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not,” Kate said, walking over to the bedside chair and sitting down. “You weren’t fine yesterday, and you won’t be fine today, should someone come in here, intending harm.”

  “It’s almost dinnertime already,” he said. “I don’t know how long you guys have been here, but you look exhausted and cold.”

  “I don’t know about you,” Kate said, motioning at him in the bed, “but I’m always cold now.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a few more blankets than a person should need. But I’m hoping that’ll ease up over time.”

  “It will,” she said. “Over time.”

  They stayed and visited with casual small talk until Troy came back. “They were released early this morning.”

  “Released or replaced?”

  “The nursing staff thought they were supposed to be replaced, but nobody else showed up.”

  “The commander is on it now too,” Colton said. Just then his phone rang.

  “Stay where you are,” the commander said, “I have two more men coming.”

  “Apparently they were released this morning,” Colton said.

  “They were to be replaced, but the order didn’t go through as issued. Don’t worry. I’ll find out why.” And, from the tone of his voice, Colton realized he was beyond furious.

  “Understood.” Colton hung up and said, “We’re to wait until the new detail arrives.”

  George shrugged. “An awful lot of fuss over nothing.”

  “Not nothing,” Kate said. “Keeping you safe is the difference between having a witness and evidence to the blackmail and not. If we want to stop this, we have to stop it, not just slow it down.”

  George nodded. “I was kind of hoping I could go home to my family and put this behind me.”

  “You’ll never put it behind you,” Colton said, “until it’s over. And you’re at risk until it is.”

  Chapter 13

  Kate hated to think Colton was serious, but it was pretty obvious he was. She was tired and hungry and was more than ready for an early night again. She couldn’t believe just how exhausting this day had been, but the shock of finding that poor dead man and then waiting for the cops and walking around the houses to question the locals and all had made for a very long and tiring day. Not to mention her long and emotionally taxing reunion with George. Her energy reserves were already thin, and now they had been maxed out completely. It was a relief to see Colton and Troy step out into the hallway to greet two new soldiers. And then Colton looked at her and said, “We should get going now.”

  She smiled and, leaning over, gave George a kiss on the cheek and said, “You stay safe.” She walked out to meet Colton and wrapped an arm around his waist, his arm instinctively coming around her shoulder. “So how are we getting back to the base?”

  “Parsons is coming to get us again,” Troy said.

  She smiled, then nodded and said, “Perfect.” Outside, they waited for a vehicle to come. Finally a military vehicle did pull up. It was Parsons.

  “Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t get the orders until I was back at base again.”

  “It’s been a long day for everyone,” Kate said, sliding into the front seat, while Troy and Colton took the back. By now darkness was settling in, but it wasn’t the darkness of night; it was the storm and the cloud cover taking over. She looked up and groaned. “It looks like a crappy day weatherwise too.”

  “It is a crappy day,” Parsons said. And it probably was for him because of the news and whatever the commander had told him or possibly even reamed him out about. He didn’t look terribly impressed either. As they drove back to the base, Kate could hear the men in the back seat talking. She twisted a couple times, but their voices were low as they compared notes and showed each other texts. She didn’t understand what was going on, and she knew Parsons himself was curious too. Finally she looked around to face forward again and realized they’d taken a different route this time. “Where are we?”

  Parsons yawned. “It’s faster this way,” he said, “particularly if the weather is getting bad.”

  She settled back and said, “I’m so damn tired.”

  “Did you eat?” Parsons asked. “I have a flask of coffee down there, if you want.”

  She was tempted, and then she shook her head. “No, it’s all right. I’ll just close my eyes. Wake me up when we get there.”

  He gave a bark of laughter. “No problem. I can do that.”

  She dozed a little. Finally she looked up to see headlights coming toward them. “Are we almost there?”

  “We are,” Parsons said.

  She looked out to see an almost empty wasteland of a road. “It’s very different country here.”

  “Very,” he said.

  Just then a vehicle came up behind them and another one ahead. Kate looked from one vehicle to the other, and then checked on the guys to see that they were both aware. She frowned at Colton, but he lifted a finger to his lips. She sagged back, but her nerves were shot as she realized something was going on that she didn’t understand. She could tell from Parsons’ reactions as he looked from window to window that he wasn’t happy either.

  “A lot of traffic,” she murmu
red.

  “Too much,” he said. “It’s unusual.”

  Just then, the vehicle ahead hit its brakes and started to slow down.

  “What’s up ahead?” she asked Parsons. “Is that the base?” The ugly weather was dark enough with clouds churning all around them that it was hard to see much.

  “It could be an obstruction on the road,” he said. As they went to drive past the vehicle, it turned at an angle, blocking the road. “It happens when there’s a road slide or some other problem. There could be an accident I don’t know about or something.” He pulled off to the side and said, “Stay here.”

  He hopped out and went to talk to the men in the truck up ahead, around to the driver’s side and then carried on around to the front of the engine, the vehicle now blocking view of Parsons.

  Troy and Colton both said, “We want you to stay inside.” They opened the doors and slipped out. And then she saw the guns.

  And the gunmen were US military personnel, all in fatigues.

  Somebody was coming up behind Colton, holding a handgun against him. And the same for Troy. And she realized that whether Parsons was a part of it or not, this was a trap. And they were well and truly caught. She slipped out of the vehicle, wondering if she should head cross-country. She looked over at Colton, and he yelled, “Run.”

  Swearing, she raced ahead to the front vehicle, looking for any place to hide and to get away from here. Just when she was ready to bolt, she heard gunfire. She was out of sight of both Troy and Colton and decided on a more dangerous move than she’d expected. She threw herself under the big rig in front of them.

  And, from here, she checked out where all the legs were. Two in front and four on the left. So three men were nearby, and then one collapsed to the ground. It was Parsons. He held his shoulder, which oozed blood, but he was facing away from her. She didn’t know if she could help him or not, and yelling came from the two men still standing.

  Then Colton and Troy were brought over, which meant a total of six men that she could see, plus Parsons on the ground. She was completely outnumbered, and it wouldn’t take long for somebody to figure out she’d either taken off cross-country, or she’d hidden somewhere. And the chances and options to hide were slim. She was only minutes away from being found.

  But, as long as all the men were on one side of the vehicle, she could head somewhere else. She rolled out to the other side and headed back to the military jeep which Parsons had been driving. She climbed into the open passenger door, slipped over to the driver’s seat, then turned on the engine.

  Instead of backing up and turning around, she yanked the wheels hard and drove off-road until she’d circled around, then drove back onto the pavement. And she hit the gas as hard as she could. Shots were fired in her direction, but nothing hit the vehicle. She didn’t know where she was going or how far, but she needed to get the hell away.

  Another vehicle came up in front of her, but she had no way of knowing if it held good guys or bad guys, and she didn’t dare take a chance of choosing wrong, so she slowed. When they pulled out and crossed the road in front of her, she realized exactly who they were. The men were out and holding guns on her within seconds. She lifted her hands slowly, and they ordered her from the vehicle. She stepped out and saw they were from the base too. At gunpoint she was marched back up the road a good mile to where she’d left the men.

  When Colton saw her, the muscle at the corner of his jaw started twitching. She ran to him, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

  “Isn’t that cute,” one of the men said.

  “Not really,” Colton growled. “What the hell is this all about?”

  “Drugs of course.”

  “So you’re part of this?”

  Troy asked, “How the hell can you do that? You’re supposed to be serving your country.”

  “What the hell has my country done for me?” he said. “Good thing we had our last truck coming up behind us. He was supposed to get in early, but he didn’t make it.”

  So now there were even more men to deal with. She looked over at Troy to see he had a handgun hidden at his back. Had he brought it with him? Or taken it off someone? Troy stepped slightly closer to her, gave her a hug and whispered, “When things blow, get under the truck.”

  And, with that, he stepped forward, grabbed the gun arm of the man closest to him, then turned it and shot the man who’d been speaking. Kate dropped to the ground and rolled under the truck as chaos broke loose. Shots were fired in all directions. She slipped up to where Parsons lay very still and took his revolver from his holster and waited for things to calm down.

  As she peered out, she could see two men now holding their guns on Troy. She rose up on her elbows and fired, taking one man out with a headshot. Troy grabbed the other, knocked him to the ground and subdued him. Kate wasn’t sure if that was everybody, but Colton dropped to his knees to find her. “Is it safe to come out now?”

  He helped her roll out from underneath and back onto her feet. He looked at the gun, and she nodded.

  “I got it off Parsons.” Parsons was on the ground, softly moaning.

  “We’ve got a lot of men down now,” Colton said, already dialing his phone.

  Kate walked over to Troy. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded grimly. “A couple of burns but nothing major. It’s Colton who’s been shot.”

  She spun around to look at him. Colton just shrugged, and she could see blood welling up on his leg. She ran back to the truck, looking for a first-aid kit. Not finding any, she went to the guy she’d shot in the head and ripped his T-shirt off. With Troy’s help, they cut off a big strip. While Colton was still talking to the commander, she bound up his leg.

  When she was done, he looked down and smiled. “It wasn’t that bad, you know?”

  “You’re tracking blood everywhere,” Kate said, as if cleanliness were the most important thing here. Then she laughed and sat back on her haunches. Looking up at him, she said, “You know what? We’re damn lucky to have survived this.”

  “Damn lucky,” Troy said. “And I owe you my life.”

  She shook her head. “I think we’re all past that at this point. It seems like we’ve done nothing but save each other.”

  She looked down at Parsons and said, “How bad is he?”

  “Not,” Troy said. “But the commander is sending in the troops.”

  At that, Parsons managed to sit up. “Wow,” he said. “Talk about an ambush.”

  She nodded. “Do I need to work on your shoulder?”

  “No,” he said. “I’ll just sit here and wait until the rescue comes.” He smiled up at her. “Can I get my gun back please?”

  She handed it to him without a thought. Immediately he reached up and fired a shot. She took the bullet in her shoulder and stared at him in shock. The gun went off a second time, but she was already on her way to the ground when the burn slashed into the same damn shoulder.

  *

  Colton bolted toward Parsons, only to be facing the handgun.

  Parsons smiled up at him. “Fooled you, huh?”

  Colton just glared at him, the muscle in his jaw working. It was sure death to take a step forward. But Kate was lying beside him unconscious, and he didn’t know how badly hurt she was.

  “I didn’t kill her,” Parsons said, “if that means anything to you.”

  “Not much,” Colton said, his voice deadly soft.

  “Of course not. You’re one of those big macho guys. Got to do everything right.”

  “Not necessarily,” Colton said. “But we’re also in a relationship, and I really don’t appreciate you shooting her.”

  “And I really don’t appreciate you guys getting in my face,” Parsons said.

  “Is this all your deal?” Troy asked, taking a step forward.

  “One more step,” Parsons said, “and I’ll blow your friend’s brains out.”

  Troy stopped moving. But even Colton could feel the assessment in his hard
gaze.

  “How do you plan to get out of this now?” Colton asked.

  “I need a moment to figure that out,” Parsons said. “Somehow you guys managed to wipe everybody out. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of guys who were damn good, but I wasn’t expecting this. You guys are a cut above.” He looked at the men on the ground around him. “Like, what the hell?”

  “If you’d stayed quiet,” Troy said at Colton’s side, “nobody would have known.”

  “You don’t know anything now. But it wouldn’t take long I’m sure before it would come out.”

  “All you had to do though was stay quiet. Pack up on leave and never bother coming back,” Colton said persuasively. “You can still do that.”

  “You think I’ll get off Greenland safely?”

  “Do you really think, after all this, you’ll still salvage this somehow?”

  “If I kill you three,” he said, “then nobody will know.”

  “The commander has already been brought in on this,” Colton said.

  Parsons stared at him. “You’ve already reported in?”

  “I could show you my phone to see it for yourself. Some of it was telephone, and some of it was text.”

  At that, Parsons started swearing. “Goddammit. He could have another half dozen vehicles on the way.”

  “If we don’t check in soon, he certainly will.” Colton glanced around. “Exactly where are we anyway?”

  “It’s a back way to the base,” Parsons said. “But it’s not exactly the easiest way to go.”

  “So why did you go this way?”

  “Because they do a lot of practice out here, and I knew some of the guys could come and give me a hand without being noticed.”

  “So you arranged this lovely little ambush?”

  “If that’s what you want to call it, yes. Rescue is the other answer.”

  Troy just shook his head.

  Colton agreed because none of it made any sense. “I still don’t understand why you blew your cover. You were set up to walk away as an injured good guy. With that injury you might very well have just gotten a discharge and stepped out.”