Point Blank SEAL

by Carol Ericson

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What do you mean?” The room tilted, and Miguel’s fingers cinched tighter around her wrists to make it stop.

  “I—I tried calling Gabby earlier. I can’t reach anyone at the house on any of the phones.”

  Miguel scrambled for his phone and started calling anyone and everyone at Roberto’s compound—nothing, dead silence. Clutching his useless phone in his fist, he paced the hotel room. “We need to head back to California—tonight.”

  “What good will that do?” Jennifer hugged herself around the waist, almost doubling over. “I-if they took Mikey, if they harmed your brother’s family, it’s all over now.”

  The phone buzzed in his hand, and Miguel whipped it in front of his face. “It’s Ariel.”

  “It’s not about Mikey, is it?”

  “No.” He swept his finger across the display to reveal the entire message and read it aloud, “‘We have a plan to out the mole. Call.’ She gave me a different phone number.”

  “Call her.”

  “I don’t give a damn about the mole now. I just want Mikey back.”

  “So do I, but I also want the person responsible for taking him.”

  “Of course, you’re right and maybe if we nail the mole, we can make some sort of trade for Mikey—if they have him. We don’t even know that yet.” Miguel ran a hand through his hair, his chest expanding with the first full breath he’d taken since those shots were fired.

  “We don’t. We don’t know that.”

  “I’ll put her on speaker.” Miguel tapped in the number Ariel had sent him, a tightness forming around his heart.

  A low female voice answered. “What happened at the Mall?”

  “How did you know that was me?”

  “What happened?”

  “I went there to meet a weapons supplier. He was made and shot, along with an innocent bystander mistaken for me.”

  “Did you get the sniper rifle?”

  “How did you...? I got it.”

  “Good, you’re going to need it. We’ve been suspecting a mole for months now on the Vlad task force. This is our chance to lure him...or her out.”

  “Wait.” Miguel wiped a hand across his mouth. “The weapons supplier worked for my brother. My son is with my brother, and I’m worried his identity and location have been compromised.”

  “We’ll check on him.”

  “His name is...”

  “Rob Eastwood. A fixer. Lives in a guarded compound in Palm Springs. We’ll check on him.”

  Miguel’s gaze collided with Jennifer’s. “What’s the plan?”

  “A small group of us has been working for over a year to get a direct line to Vlad, although he won’t suspect the intel is coming from the US intelligence community. I just used it for the first time.”

  “Did he bite?”

  “We’ll soon see. I put out the information that you’re meeting with a reporter tomorrow to tell your story. Nobody in the intelligence community has this information. I fed it through the channel to reach Vlad only, and he won’t know it came from us. If someone shows up to kill you, we’ll know for sure that person is connected to Vlad. I’m also monitoring all communications of the people on the Vlad task force. This person is not going to slip through my net.”

  “Where’s this meeting taking place?”

  “Stone Hill Park, near the band shell.”

  “Plan?”

  “The reporter doesn’t know you, has never seen you before. You’re showing up with a blue backpack on your back, and the reporter is going to be carrying a red purse. I suggest you show up with the backpack. I’ll be standing by with a red purse if I’m needed. I have one person I can trust completely and I’m sending him to the park to wait. Someone approaches you, shove your sunglasses to the top of your head as a signal, and my guy will take the shot.”

  “So, in case I get killed in the exchange, your guy can still capture the shooter.”

  “Our guy, Estrada, and I don’t expect you to get killed. You’ve survived more than any man ought to.”

  “I’m not gonna survive if they have my son.”

  “We have agents in California who are heading to Palm Springs now. Hang tight.”

  Jennifer sighed and fell across the bed.

  Miguel gave her a thumbs-up. “So, I’m going to show up at this park at...?”

  “Noon.”

  “Noon and do what? Just be a target?”

  “That’s up to you to figure out. I can’t spare any more people for this, despite its importance. The only ones who know about the meeting are you, me, the man I’m sending...and Vlad and whoever he tells. That’s it. That’s the way it has to be.”

  “I’m supposed to expose myself to a killer?”

  “You are a killer, Estrada.”

  Ariel gave him directions to the park and band shell and ended the call.

  Miguel swore and tossed his phone onto the bed, next to Jen.

  She jumped up from the mattress and walked to the window. “Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.”

  “I think Ariel hopes to nab the mole through the communications she’s monitoring. Vlad is going to have to pass this intel along to his person at the task force, and Ariel will pick that up.”

  “What if you just don’t show up at all? Ariel will still have the proof that Vlad contacted someone about the meeting.”

  “But if there is no meeting, there’s no proof. I have to go through with this. I’ll walk through the park with my blue backpack and just hope I don’t get shot. If nobody takes the bait, the mysterious Ariel will most likely come out of the trees with her red purse, putting herself at risk, too.”

  “Maybe that’s the best way. She should go out there with her red purse to draw out the contact. He’s not going to kill the reporter, and then he can be taken out and you won’t have to put yourself in any danger at all.”

  “She’s not gonna do that.”

  Jennifer flattened her hands against the window. “None of this matters anyway if they have Mikey.”

  Miguel came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. “If they had him, they probably would’ve already contacted me to make some exchange—my life for his, which I’d gladly give.”

  She leaned back into him, her hands pressing against his thighs. “I’d gladly give my life for both of you.”

  He kissed her temple. “Let’s get to bed. This could all be over tomorrow.”

  When they lay side by side, she held out one of his sleeping pills and a glass of water. “For the bad dreams.”

  But before he drifted off, they made love. He hadn’t planned on it. He still didn’t trust himself completely. Even Ariel had called him a killer. But when he held Jennifer and she sobbed lightly against his chest, worry for their son breaking them both, he took her, and they joined together in their fear and anxiety—and they became one.

  * * *

  JENNIFER SMACKED TWO twenties down on the counter for the red handbag on sale, her resolve stronger than ever.

  She wasn’t about to let Miguel walk into that park and expose himself to a killer. She’d left him a note in the hotel room this morning that explained how she couldn’t watch him walk out the door, asking him to call her when it was over.

  Then she turned off her phone and went shopping for a red purse.

  At eleven thirty, she made her way to Stone Hill Park. Slinging her new red bag over her shoulder, she strode along the trail until she saw the band shell in the distance.

  On this warm summer day, people flocked to the park—joggers, hikers, picnickers—no music lovers. The band shell was empty. Knots of people strolled past her, and Jennifer hugged the purse tighter to her body. Could she draw out this person?

>   She wandered back and forth in front of the stage, taking deep breaths of the nutty smell of the beech trees towering nearby. If Miguel saw her now, he wouldn’t risk blowing her cover and getting them both killed. Hopefully, he wouldn’t approach her at all.

  She trailed her hand along the bushes, knocking off the little red berries. Then something shuffled behind her.

  Swallowing, she turned slowly and met the bright gaze of a man with a blue backpack on his back. He cocked his head.

  “Are you Miguel?” Her heart hammered in her chest and she briefly wondered if he could see the furious fluttering of the ruffle on her blouse.

  “You’re the reporter?”

  She held up the red purse, dangling from her fingers. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He took her arm with one hand and pulled a gun out of his pocket with the other. “Now we’ll wait for Miguel together. I’m sure he’s not going to want to be responsible for your death.”

  “My death? Who are you? What do you want?”

  The signal. The signal. What was the distress signal?

  Jennifer stumbled away from the man and shoved her sunglasses to the top of her head.

  The man dropped beside her, blood oozing from his head.

  Jennifer stood frozen, her feet rooted to the ground. She couldn’t just stand here. The man might have an accomplice, a backup.

  She lurched forward, zeroing in on the trail ahead of her, winding through the trees. Staggering on wobbling legs, she careened down the path, burrowing deeper and deeper into the shelter of the cool forest until she collapsed against a tree, hugging it, slowly coming to her senses as the bark scratched her cheek.

  “Jen!”

  She spun around and flung herself against Miguel’s solid chest. “Oh, my God, you’re okay.”

  “I’m okay. I almost called off the whole thing when I woke up this morning and discovered you missing. I can’t believe you put yourself in this kind of danger.”

  She grabbed his T-shirt with both hands, tears streaming down her face and dripping off her chin. “Without Mikey, I don’t think I can go on. Without both of you, I’d die.”

  “That’s not ever going to happen.” He cupped her face with both hands. “Mikey’s okay. He’s safe, and so am I. It’s over.”

  Epilogue

  His wife peeked under the towel at their son, sleeping on a chaise longue beneath an umbrella.

  The others, Rob and his family and their entourage, had gone inside to the give the newlyweds a little alone time after their whirlwind wedding in Vegas.

  Jennifer stretched out beside him on the pool deck, resting her chin on her folded hands. “So, you never saw Ariel or her backup guy at the park?”

  “Never. I still don’t know who she is or what she looks like. Once I told her my suspicions about what you were up to and that I wanted to be the one on the other end of that sniper rifle protecting you, she gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted.”

  “And you did.” She rubbed his shoulder and then kissed it. “She’s satisfied she nabbed Vlad’s mole?”

  “No question about it. When the counterintelligence was leaked, Vlad set the wheels in motion. The spy Ariel identified made three untraceable phone calls the night before, two more the next morning and called in sick to work. When it became clear that the man at the park was going to use you, the reporter, to get me to come along with him, that’s all Ariel needed to see.”

  “I just wish Rob could’ve gotten word to us sooner that Mikey was safe. I might not have pulled that crazy stunt, as you called it.”

  “He didn’t want to chance it. Once he knew his man had been ID’d, he figured it was only a matter of time before Vlad’s people would pay him a not-so-friendly visit. He knew he had to get Mikey out of here.”

  “So, this mole, this Jeremy Kartcher, had been feeding Vlad information from the task force all along.”

  “Yeah, and he’s the one who gave the orders to Gail, who then disseminated them to the rest of the rehab center regarding my so-called treatment, and Gail’s been removed so the center can get back to what it does best.”

  “And Maggie?”

  “Maggie thought she was following Gail’s orders. She didn’t understand the ramifications.”

  “At least it didn’t turn out to be your own government trying to kill you.”

  “I guess that’s one silver lining. The other?” He twisted her blond hair around his finger. “I got you to feel sorry enough for me to marry me in a quickie ceremony. I couldn’t have waited for what your parents had planned for our wedding.”

  After a long kiss, she pulled away from him. “Are you going to miss being a sniper?”

  “You know my assignment in San Diego is temporary, right?” He tipped his sunglasses to the edge of his nose. “I will be up for deployment again once I’m cleared—physically and mentally.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you have a problem with it?” He held his breath. He’d do almost anything to make Jen happy—almost anything.

  She plucked his sunglasses from his face and stroked his clean-shaven jaw with the back of her hand. “I married a navy SEAL sniper and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

  Rolling on top of her, he straddled her body and kissed every inch of her face. He slipped his hand beneath her bikini top and caressed her soft, warm breast. “And I married a blonde little miss sunshine who turned into a fearless warrior princess. Can I ravage you upstairs, warrior princess?”

  “Pool, Daddy.”

  As Miguel glanced up at Mikey sitting on the edge of the chaise longue, rubbing his eyes, Jen laughed.

  “Welcome to fatherhood, stud.”

  Miguel did a push-up on either side of Jen’s body and swept up Mikey under one arm. “I was made for this.”

  * * * * *

  Look for the last two books in Carol Ericson’s

  RED, WHITE AND BUILT miniseries

  in early 2018.

  And don’t miss the previous books

  in the miniseries:

  LOCKED, LOADED AND SEALED

  ALPHA BRAVO SEAL

  BULLSEYE: SEAL

  You’ll find them wherever

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from TEXAS SHOWDOWN by Barb Han.

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/>   Texas Showdown

  by Barb Han

  Chapter One

  “You didn’t have to take a bullet to get me to stop by and see you,” Austin O’Brien teased Sheriff Tommy Johnson as he entered room 119 at Bluff General Hospital. Tommy was more like family and had grown up on the ranch alongside all six O’Brien sons. At six feet tall with light brown hair and eyes that matched, he looked like he could be an O’Brien.

  “If I’d known that’s all it would take, I’d have done it years ago,” Tommy retorted. He’d been shot in the line of duty a few days ago. A two-hour surgery later to remove a bullet fragment from a rib and he’d been recovering nicely. At least his sense of humor was returning. That was a good sign. The first day he’d been too full of morphine to crack a smile and no one had felt like joking.

  Between Austin and his five brothers, one of the O’Briens had been at Tommy’s bedside since the incident. They’d been taking turns stopping by, making sure he had everything he could ever want.

  “I figured you’d be tired of trying to choke down hospital food by now.” Austin opened the container of homemade spaghetti, set it on the tray table next to the bed, and positioned the stand where Tommy could access it. “Just don’t rat me out to the nurses.”

  “Janis made this?” Tommy asked with a smile. She’d been employed at the ranch for more years than Austin cared to count. So much so, she was more family than employee and the boys had voted to give her shares of the family ranch and Cattlemen’s Crime Club now that they’d inherited the place.

  “You know it,” Austin said, taking a step back and crossing his arms as Tommy picked up the fork and dug in.

  “I forgot how good a cook she is,” he said after swallowing the first bite.

  “Stop by for Sunday supper anytime. Or any other night of the week, for that matter.” Austin took off his white Stetson and set his hat on the foot of the bed. Tommy already knew about Sunday meals being a big deal and they’d become even more important recently. Each of Austin’s brothers could’ve died at different points in the past nine months. As a result, Austin found he had a new appreciation for life and family. It was most likely the baby boom at the ranch that had him feeling soft, or the fact that he couldn’t put to rest his feelings for Maria O’Brien, soon to be Belasco again, that made him resolve to talk to her and see if they could give their marriage another chance. He missed her and he was still scratching his head over what had happened to make her walk out. Sure, they’d been through a rough patch, but wasn’t that true of every relationship? He and Maria had never really had a big fight, a final blow to know they were both throwing in the towel. And then, divorce papers had arrived a couple of weeks ago. With everything going on at the ranch, he’d been too busy to look them over.