Tate
Page 29
Good luck tomorrow, Red. I’m rooting for you. And yes, he was, but not without a sense of panic.
She could leave him.
Her gaze had followed him as he’d stepped off the porch and he nearly stopped, nearly tossed all his mission sense, closed the gap, and ran back up the steps.
Nearly lowered his mouth to hers, caution thrown to the night settling around them, nearly let go of his heart and kissed her.
The feeling could consume him, so he’d turned and fled to his truck.
But tonight…tonight was different.
I passed. He’d received her text this morning.
The words found his gut, settled there.
Maybe if she knew how much he needed her… Not that he wanted to hold her back, but she was a part of the team. His team. And sure, he could work with anyone, but knowing that she was watching his back, that she’d break protocol to save his hide…
Even stick around when he held a bomb in his hands…
Maybe she was just exhausted after all her training. Ford should probably ditch the soiree and head over to her house.
Ford came in off the balcony, hanging up before leaving a message. He pocketed his phone into his suit pocket and headed over to the bar counter. His mother and Jackson’s team had retired, but Glo and her band had hung around, inviting Ford and his SEAL team as well as the rest of the Marshall brothers in for some much-needed downtime.
Nez and Sonny were sitting at the stools, drinking Cokes. Over the bar, CNN news played, muted.
Levi, Trini, Cruz, and Kenny were in a knot talking to Tate, exchanging stories—apparently Trini and Tate had been in Afghanistan at the same time, knew the same people.
Ford walked over to Knox, who was in conversation with Reuben and Gilly, talking about their honeymoon in Hawaii.
“Gilly talked me into taking a discovery scuba class,” Reuben said, his arm around his petite wife. “I saw a sea turtle, a shark, even a stingray.”
“Going to exchange your wings for iron lungs?” Ford said, trying not to be bugged by Scarlett’s silence.
His day had been consumed with security meetings and prepping for tonight’s speech, and by the time he’d been able to sneak away to call her, his call flipped over to voicemail.
“I dunno, bro. Why should you have all the fun?” Reuben said.
“I don’t dive for fun,” Ford said and immediately regretted his tone. “Sorry.”
“You okay?” Knox asked.
Ford sighed. “Yeah. I just…I sort of thought Scarlett might like to be here.” Or maybe not here, but with him. Celebrating. “I called her, but she’s not answering.”
“That’s because she left town.”
Ford turned. Nez had come up behind him. The master chief stood as tall as his brother Reuben, and it struck Ford for a moment how much alike they were. Pensive, in control, capable. Born leaders, despite their quiet demeanors.
“What?” Ford asked, trying not to let panic bleed through his voice. “How do you know that?”
“I got a call from Peters today—he was at the PRTs. I asked him for a status report on Scarlett because she works so closely with our team, and it looks like we’re going to have to get used to someone else talking us through our ops. Peters hooked her up with an immediate placement in Pensacola.”
Ford tried to act casual, to nod, like no big deal, but he felt Nez’s gaze on him, as if the chief could see right through him. “She requested emergency leave sometime this morning, not long after. Maybe to give herself more transfer leave time.”
Emergency leave?
Ford picked up his phone again, now worried. “If you guys will excuse—”
“Oh my—look.” Knox’s voice brought Ford’s gaze up, and he followed Knox, who’d started walking toward the bar, his eyes on the screen. “Unmute the television.”
Someone responded with the remote, and in a moment, commentary added to the visuals on the screen.
The shot was half screened—one side a grainy cell phone photo, the other an on-scene reporter, who stood in front of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square in Moscow. “We don’t have all the details, but the apparent assassination occurred last night as General Stanislov was exiting a popular restaurant in the Arbat district of Moscow. Stanislov is a member of the Troika, one of the top three leaders in the Russian government with the authority to release nuclear missiles. He is unhurt, but one security officer was killed, and another is in critical condition.”
“Oh my,” said Glo, who’d edged into their group. “My mother knows him. He’s even been to our house. A moderate, politically, she says he’s the reason that Russia hasn’t pulled the trigger on us, or any other country. If he dies, there’s a hard-liner waiting in the wings to take his place. It could mean the restarting of the Cold War, or worse.”
The woman on the screen continued her report. “A cell phone caught this woman with a handgun, and she’s being hunted in connection with the shootings.”
“Is there any idea who this woman is, Cecily?” the host asked.
“No. But the police have put out a sketch, based on witnesses, and decided to release it, hoping someone might call in. We have a copy of it.”
The sketch flashed on the screen, and the air left Ford’s lungs.
Knox let out a “No way,” and behind him, Reuben added a “What the…”
“That can’t be right.” Tate had left his group and come up behind Ford. “Please tell me that’s not—”
“It looks like it,” Ford said, and pocketed his phone. “I had a bad feeling last time I talked to her. Something didn’t feel right.”
The news flipped to the next story, and Sonny, the holder of the remote, muted it again.
“Do you guys know that woman?” Nez said, and Ford glanced at his brothers. Knox and Reuben were still shaking their heads, but Tate met his gaze with a dark, solemn look.
“I’m going to need my own emergency leave, Chief,” Ford said quietly.
Tate nodded, and his expression hearkened back to his Ranger days. Lethal. Determined.
Ford looked at his team, who’d gathered around. He needed them all, maybe. But especially Scarlett. His gaze landed back on his chief.
“The woman in that picture, the one they’re calling an assassin…she’s our sister, Ruby Jane.”
What Happens Next…
If Ford didn’t get his head in the game, they were doomed.
People were going to die.
Probably him.
And, maybe his teammates, fellow SEAL operators with Team 3, right here on the rugged shoreline of the Caspian Sea, in the democratic Muslim state of Azerbaijan.
The team had dropped in sometime before zero-dark-thirty, making their way toward a cluster of buildings that made up Vigeo, an international boarding school perched on the seaside cliff. By the time the sun rose, Ford was crouched in the shadows beside the gymnasium doors.
It might have been a beautiful morning. Striations of crimson and burnt orange casting over the dark rolls of the Caspian Sea, if it weren’t for the smoke that billowed from the still-burning chapel, the terrorists’ first stop in their take over the school. It soured the air and the longer Ford waited, the more his gut roiled with the fact that children had died inside that chapel.
Twelve more children remained hostage in the gymnasium of the ancient stone and marble building.
The Team’s job? Get in, eliminate the hostage takers, secure the packages and evacuate.
A mission that demanded his full attention.
Except, he shouldn’t be here, not right now.
Right now he should be finding, and extricating, his twin sister from the clutches of the FSB—former KGB—somewhere in Russia.
So maybe his imagination had run a little wild with the word, Russia, but two days ago, CNN had reported the attempted assassination of a Russian General Boris Stanislov. Providentially, the accused—still at large—shooter was caught on a fuzzy street camera, and the image look
ed insanely like his twin sister Ruby Jane.
Right.
Not. For. A. Moment.
And sure, he hadn’t talked to her—really talked—for years, but she was a travel agent. So, she’d probably taken some hapless tourists on an excursion and ended up in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Crazy.
Still, the thought of his naive twin sister now missing and on the run from the FSB was enough to tangle his brain.
Where was his sister, and was she—please, God—still alive?
The question felt like enough of a basis for Emergency Leave as anything he could conjure up, but according to Chief Nez, the last thing the US needed was a Navy SEAL running across shaky borders and into a country that was getting chillier by the moment.
So, instead of rescuing his sister, Ford was stuck waiting for the Go command from one Mohammad Shanin, the leader of the Interior Guard.
Yay.
About FORD
Book 3: Montana Marshalls series
Family…country…or the woman he loves…
Navy Seal Ford Marshall isn’t the kind to stand by and let a woman get hurt—especially when it involves his twin sister, RJ. So, when she makes the international news, accused of an attempted assassination of a Russian General, he doesn’t care what it takes—he’s going to find her and bring her home.
But he might need a little help, so he calls on the woman who has had his back during the last three years—Petty Officer Scarlett Hathaway, former communications expert-turned Rescue Swimmer candidate. She’ll help him get into the country, watch his back, and…well, they might be able to have one last mission together before she leaves for a new life.
It’s a life he very much wants to be a part of now that she is off his team. Maybe he can convince her to give them a chance to kindle the spark that’s simmered between them for years.
Scarlett Hathaway isn’t sure what future she wants—not when her mother dies and leaves her little brother in her care. Maybe she should quit the Navy, care for her brother and start a life with the man she can’t seem to get out of her heart. So yes, she’ll help Ford find his sister. And maybe, along the way, figure out if they have a future.
But finding RJ somewhere in the vastness of Russia with the FSB chasing them will push Scarlett beyond even her courage and make her question everything she thought she wanted…including Ford. What will it cost her to love a man who saves the world?
And when Ford is asked to choose between saving his sister, saving the world from a war, and rescuing the woman he loves…can he live with his choices?
The third book in the Montana Marshalls series will leave you breathless!
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Available September 2019!
A Note from Susie May…
Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
thou my great Father, I thy true son;
thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
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Ever feel like no matter what you do, it backfires? That somehow, despite your best efforts, you are standing outside of God’s blessings, outside of his love. You’re watching the family of God hang out in communion around the campfire, but you’re still stuck in the darkness, not really a child of God but a refugee in the kingdom? Hopefully not, but let’s face it—sometimes we look at others and feel less than. We don’t belong. We’re the misfits. The ones who aren’t enough.
* * *
Just being honest.
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I wanted to write a story about the fact that all of us—all of us—feel less than at some point in our lives. We all look at our lives and the mistakes we’ve made, the times when we weren’t enough. Not enough for ourselves, not enough for others…
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Not enough for God?
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Hello. Never. Because yes, if we look at ourselves, we will never be enough. But if we look at what God did for us. Does for us. Saves us, protects us, blesses us, forgives us…
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We are enough because He decided we are. I love what Reuben said to Tate, “When you show up with nothing and discover that you’re loved because of who you are—that’s when you realize what it means to be a son of God.”
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We only stand at the edge of the kingdom because we have decided that’s where we belong. We look at others and compare. We look at our faults and give up.
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But consider this—we are enough because what we lack, God fills up. You lack patience? That’s okay. God has enough. Lack faith? God will give you what you need. Lack strength? Read Philippians. You are enough because He is enough.
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To quote Gerri, “Heaven sees you! You don’t need to do anything to get God’s attention. You had it before you were born.” And we love not to earn God’s love…but because he loved us first!”
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You are enough friend. Because He has decided you are. Enough for him to save. To love.
To belong.
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Stop lurking at the edge and step into the glow of the campfire.
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I am so excited about this series, and my deepest gratitude for their help in creating it goes to my amazing SDG publishing team: Rachel Hauck, for her amazing encouragement and help on the journey. Alyssa Geertsen, my key beta reader, Barbara Curtis, for her almost magical editing, Rel Mollet, for her awesomeness in countless ways. I’m deeply grateful for my cover designer, Jenny @ Seedlings Design Studio, and my talented layout artist, Tari Faris. Thank you also to my fabulous beta readers (any mistakes are all mine!) Lisa Jordan, Lisa Gupton and Bobbi Whitlock. You all are fabulous! Appreciation also goes to my amazing Masterminds. You know who you are. Thank you for pushing me and believing in me.
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Finally, to the Lord, who is always and forever telling me He loves me. I am His beloved daughter. Blow. My. Mind.
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Thank you, dear readers, for reading book 2: Tate. I can’t wait for you to find out what happens in book 3: Ford!
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Susie May
Tate
Montana Marshalls series
Published by SDG Publishing
15100 Mckenzie Blvd. Minnetonka, MN 55345
Copyright © 2019 by Susan May Warren
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations are also taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
For more information about Susan May Warren, please access the author’s website at the following address: www.susanmaywarren.com.
Published in the United States of America.
Also by Susan May Warren
THE MONTANA MARSHALLS (family series)
Book 1: Knox (March 2019)
Book 2: Tate (July 2019)
Book 3: Ford (September 2019)
Book 4: Wyatt (October 2019)
Book 5: Ruby Jane (November 2019)
Other books by Susan May Warren
MONTANA FIRE
Book 1: Where There's Smoke
(Summer of Fire)
Book 2: Playing with Fire
(Summer of Fire)
Book 3: Burnin' For You
(Summer of Fire)
Book 4: Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful (Christmas novella)
Book 5: I'll be There
(Montana Fire/Deep Haven crossover)
Book 6: Light My Fire
(Summer of the Burning Sky)
Book 7: The Heat is On
(Summer of the Burning Sky)
Book 8: Some Like it Hot
(Summer of the Burning Sky)
Book 9: You Don't Have to Be a Star
(Montana Fire spin-off)
* * *
MONTANA RESCUE
Prequel: If Ever I Would Leave You
Book 1: Wild Montana Skies
Book 2: Rescue Me
Book 3: A Matter of Trust
Book 4: Troubled Waters
Book 5: Storm Front
Book 6: Wait for Me
MISSIONS OF MERCY SERIES
TEAM HOPE: (Search and Rescue series)
Book 1: Waiting for Dawn (novella prequel)
Book 2: Flee the Night
Book 3: Escape to Morning
Book 4: Expect the Sunrise
* * *
NOBLE LEGACY (Montana Ranch Trilogy)
Book 1: Reclaiming Nick
Book 2: Taming Rafe
Book 3: Finding Stephanie
* * *
THE CHRISTIANSEN FAMILY
Prequel: I Really Do Miss your Smile (Prequel)
Book 1: Take a Chance on Me
Book 2: It Had to Be You
Book 3: When I Fall in Love