His Angel (Trident Security #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“Come on, Beau,” Ian Sawyer called to his lab-pit bull mix as he walked up the driveway to Brody Evans’ new house.

The large, black dog finished a quick call to nature on Brody’s curbside mailbox before running to his owner’s side.

Ian often wondered if the mutt had some Great Dane in its pedigree because he was tall enough that Ian, at six-foot-three, could almost pat the dog’s head without bending over.

It hadn’t always been the case. When Ian found the six-week-old pup shivering and crying beside its dying mother outside his front door, Beau couldn’t have weighed more than seven or eight pounds.

Ian recalled the night he’d heard the intruder alert go off on his phone a little over a year and a half ago.

He’d been in his apartment watching the eleven o’clock news.

The residence was located within his business compound, surrounded by a security fence to keep out unexpected visitors.

At least it did until the furry duo broke in.

When the alert went off, he switched the TV channel to bring up the compound’s multiple CCTV camera angles.

Expecting to see a guard, his brother, or one of his team members walking around, he’d been surprised to see an animal limping toward his front door.

Zooming in, he saw it was a badly injured dog carrying a small puppy in her mouth.

By the time he’d gotten outside, the mother had expended the last of her energy and collapsed a few feet away.

The pup was dirty, a little malnourished, and covered in fleas but in good health.

The mother, though, had been torn to shreds by another dog or some other animal.

When Ian cautiously approached the pair, she’d nudged her baby closer to the human she was entrusting him to and then passed away without a sound.

After rushing the puppy to a nearby veterinary clinic open at all hours, Ian returned, followed the path the mother dog had taken, and found she’d dug under the fence line to get to his door.

He’d followed drag marks leading into the woods on the other side of the fence.

A little way into the brush, he’d discovered two additional puppies, which had both died several hours earlier.

Ian retrieved a shovel and the mother dog’s body, then buried the three of them under a tree at one o’clock in the morning before heading back to the compound to fill in the hole under the fence.

The pup had been bathed, neutered, chipped, and received his shots, then Ian took him home.

The six men who made up the primary core team of Trident Security were all retired Navy SEALs, and for the first few weeks, the poor dog had gone by the name “FNG” for “‘fucking new guy.” But that changed as soon as Ian’s goddaughter met the little guy for the first time and gave him a new name.

Jenn had been reading Beau Geste in school and dubbed the pit bull mix with the same moniker.

When Beau was three months old, Ian had an old Navy friend begin training him like military working dogs at a nearby facility.

The pup had taken to the training as if he’d been bred for it.

And although he now was a full-fledged protection and tracking dog, when he wasn’t on duty, the big guy was an even bigger goofball who just wanted to get belly rubs or play fetch until he dropped.

The dog was a well-loved addition to Trident Security and had full access to the business facilities and the residential apartments within the compound.

Ian and his brother, Devon, lived at the company compound they owned.

As for the other four men on the Trident Security team, they all resided within a ten-minute drive of the facilities.

Brody was one of their teammates and had purchased his place about two months earlier.

Tonight, Ian brought the dog to a last-minute barbecue since the house had a fenced-in backyard.

Beau would have plenty of green grass to roll around in, something he didn’t have at the paved compound.

The door was unlocked, so Ian let himself in, with Beau making a beeline to the kitchen to greet the rest of his favorite humans.

Brody was the first person to reach down and pet him.

The tall, broad man, also known as “Egghead,” was the team’s computer geek and master hacker.

He’d designed and/or programmed the team's security and tracking systems, computers, and gadgets.

He was also the team flirt and joker and rarely without his signature smile and quick wit.

The rest of the crew in attendance were Jake “Reverend” Donovan, team sniper, Marco “Polo” DeAngelis, communication specialist, and Ben “Boomer” Michaelson, demolition and explosives expert.

Last but not least, Ian’s younger brother, Devon “Devil Dog” Sawyer, was their breacher and lead climber.

Ian was their team leader and interrogator, the same position he’d held in SEAL Team Four.

While each man had their specialties, they could take over each other’s positions if needed.

They worked so well together that they could almost read each other’s minds.

When Ian entered the kitchen, everyone paused long enough to greet him before resuming their conversations. He leaned down and gave Kristen a quick peck on the cheek as she smiled at him.

Kristen Anders was the only non-team member in Brody’s house at the moment.

She was Ian’s future sister-in-law, an author of erotic romance novels, and the love of Devon’s life.

The guy had popped the question three months ago between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and after crying for several minutes, she’d said yes.

They’d been in Nepal at the time, visiting Ian and Devon’s parents while their mother was performing surgery at a clinic there for Operation Smile.

The two had spent about ten days helping Chuck Sawyer, the brothers’ father, and many other volunteers build a school in a nearby village.

The proposal hadn’t surprised anyone but their parents since Devon had collared his submissive eight weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Covenant. It was the BDSM club that the brothers also owned along with their cousin and club manager, Mitch Sawyer.

While Brody prepared boneless chicken breasts for the grill, Kristen patted ground beef into hamburger patties.

When Beau plopped down on the floor next to her, she slid off a flip-flop and raised her foot to scratch his underbelly, much to the dog’s delight.

She glanced back at Ian. “Where’s Jenn? Didn’t she come with you? ”

Ian leaned against the counter beside her, crossed his arms over his sculpted chest, and grumbled, “Nope. She went shopping with some friends from college this afternoon. Apparently, she has a date tonight.”

Her eyes lit up with the opposite reaction he’d had after learning his goddaughter was going on a date. With a guy. Who probably wasn’t any good for her. Who probably only wanted to get into the pretty girl’s pants. He’d kill the bastard if he knew who he was.

Before Kristen could respond, Brody’s eyes narrowed from where he stood a few feet away in front of the opened refrigerator door. “Jenn’s going on a date?” His loud voice was filled with shocked annoyance. “With whom?”

The hush which fell over the room was interrupted by a short squeal of delight as five pairs of curious, angry eyes and one pair of elated ones stared at Ian. He let out a loud sigh. “I have no idea. She refused to tell me because she knew I’d have you investigate him.”

The big, protective men all scowled, but Brody responded, “If she doesn’t give you his name, tell Baby-girl she can’t go. It’s as simple as that.”

A loud groan sounded, and everyone turned toward Kristen, who was rolling her eyes as if she were in the presence of six idiots.

“Guys, come on. Your niece is nineteen years old and will be twenty in three months. She’s an adult, whether you like it or not.

She’s smart and can hold her own if she needs to.

You can’t ground her for refusing to let you harass some poor kid who wants to take her out. ”

The men were all Jennifer Mullins’ surrogate uncles.

Her father had been their lieutenant in the SEALs, and the team spent many off-hours at the man’s family home near their base.

The once-little girl had grown up with over forty “uncles,” who she still kept in touch with through emails and phone calls.

But she’d always been closest to these six men.

When she was born, her parents had asked Jeff’s best friend, Ian, to be her godfather and legal guardian if anything ever happened to them.

Ian had been happy to do it, but never thought he would need to take their place so early in her life.

Later this month would be the first anniversary of her parents’ murders.

The team had found out this past September their deaths weren’t the result of a burglary gone wrong but, instead, were part of a larger plot to kill several former members of SEAL Team Four.

A Texas senator with bigger aspirations had hired a hitman to take out Jeff Mullins, Ian, Devon, Jake, Brody, and two others.

He’d realized they had been on a fact-finding mission years earlier and may have recognized him as a man who’d met with their target.

The senator’s distant cousin was a Colombian drug lord with whom he’d developed a clandestine relationship in exchange for the financial backing to climb out of poverty into college and law school.

In return, the senator became Ernesto Diaz’s asset in Dallas.

Besides being the head of a lucrative drug cartel, Diaz had been involved in the sex trade and arms dealing.