Prologue Recruitment
“If you’re here I must be in heaven.” Owen squinted, the harsh light too bright in his eyes as he observed his old SEAL friend Luke Scott standing alongside him. “But you’re not dead, and so . . .”
A smile stretched Luke’s mouth, and he left his side and killed the lights.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, preferring the sunlight coming through the window to one of man’s worst inventions—fluorescent bulbs. “What happened to me?”
Luke returned to his bedside. “Your helmet came off during the blast, and you got yourself a concussion. Doc says you’ll be fine.”
That explained the slightly shrill noise, like a ringtone buzzing in his ears. “A woman was on the porch when we went for the extraction . . . she was strapped with a vest, right?” After that, everything went black.
“Yeah. Sorry, man.”
After losing his brother five years ago in the same damn city in Iraq, he couldn’t believe he nearly died there, too. “My men? Are they okay?”
“CO said they’re good.”
Owen tried to sit, but Luke shook his head, and so, he relaxed onto the bed. “The HVT?”
“I can’t confirm, but it doesn’t look like he was ever inside the house.”
“Knew it was a damn trap.” Owen closed his eyes, his stomach shaky. “What are you doing here?”
“What? I can’t visit a friend who got hurt?”
Owen opened his eyes and shot him a pointed look. “I heard whispers of your retirement, but since you’re at a military hospital, I’m guessing those were rumors.”
Luke had been on Team Three with him up until two years ago when he was pretty sure DEVGRU, or Team Six, had recruited him.
“He did retire. Well, sort of.” It was a woman’s voice.
He studied the gorgeous blonde sitting to his left. How had he not noticed her? He blinked and shook his head as if that would dispel the head-detached-from-body feeling he had going on right now.
He narrowed his eyes, catching her long legs cross, then dragged his gaze up to her face. “Aw, you brought me a gift.”
“Watch it,” Luke said. “She’s my sister.”
“Now I see why you never showed any of the guys on base her picture.”
“Didn’t want to have to kill anyone for—”
“Luke . . .” Even in Owen’s foggy state, he could hear the clipped warning in Luke’s sister’s tone. “I’m Jessica.”
“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but until I know why you’re here . . .” He clasped his hands atop his chest and burrowed the back of his head deeper into the not-so-fluffy pillow.
His stomach tucked as a sudden wave of nausea hit him. Damn concussion.
Jessica looked at Luke. “Do you want to enlighten him as to why we’re here, or do you want me to?”
“Did someone die?” Owen nervously asked.
“No, no one died.”
Luke’s words afforded Owen the chance to take a breath, and a pinch of lucidity flowed through his mind. “How’d you get her in here, by the way?”
Luke folded his arms, his biceps still the size of tanks. “She’s government.” There was a definite bite to his voice.
“Guessing this is news to you?” Owen pressed his palms alongside his body to sit. Sister or not, if Luke brought a government official with him, he was about to be leveled by something serious.
“Easy.” She was on her feet and pressing a palm to his shoulder, urging him back down. He swerved his gaze up to her blue eyes and settled his head back onto the pillow.
“She dropped the bomb on me a few weeks ago about her place of employment.”
“And what are you about to drop on me now?” Owen coughed into a closed fist, his stomach muscles tightening.
Luke scratched at the blond stubble on his jaw, his cheeks inflating a touch as if the tension in the room had been magnified.
What was he afraid to say, or ask?
“The suspense is killing me, man, and I can’t afford to take any more hits. The suicide bomber nearly put me six feet under, so—”
“I’m here to recruit you,” Luke cut him off, and it had Owen’s clenched fists atop his abdomen relaxing.
“Say what?” Owen arched a brow and touched his forehead to find a bandage above his left eye.
Luke’s Adam’s apple became visible as he swallowed. “The president asked me to co-lead a covert team of SEALs with Jessica. I know this is shit timing, and I hadn’t expected to find you laid up in bed when I got here, but the clock is sort of ticking. POTUS wants a team assembled as of yesterday.”
Luke’s words had Owen dropping his eyes to the white blanket covering most of his body. “Did I hear you correctly, or are the drugs screwing with my head?” Owen closed and opened his eyes to ensure he was actually awake.
“This is legit. You’ll still technically be a SEAL, but for all intents and purposes it’ll appear to the outside world as if you’ve retired,” Luke explained.
“I’m leaving the CIA for this gig,” Jessica noted.
CIA? Figures. “And what’s different about this team opposed to what I’m already doing?” His gaze drifted lazily skyward.
“To put it plainly,” Jessica started, “there are certain missions the president needs off-the-books.”
“Aren’t we already fairly off-the-books?”
“Redacted documents still leave a trail,” Jessica answered. “We wouldn’t even exist in the government system.”
“So, if shit gets hairy we’ll be up the creek without a paddle.” A quick smile met Owen’s lips.
“Pretty much,” Luke commented. “But you’re always the guy up for an adventure.
” He rounded the bed and stood next to his sister.
Maybe he finally realized the back and forth head movements weren’t great for a guy waking up after an explosion.
“The thing is, I need you to be comfortable with lying to everyone about what we do.”
“We do that now.” Owen shrugged, but lifting his shoulders was a bad idea. Pain flowed down his spine and into his damn tailbone.
“Yeah, but we’ll be operating everywhere around the globe, even in the U.S.,” Jessica said. “We’ll be working under an alias—Scott & Scott Securities, so if we stumble across the press or Feds—we’ll have some type of rationale for our work, so we don’t expose the truth.”
“Man, and here I thought you’d call it Scott & York.” He slipped a quick grin to his face. “So, anything else I should know?”
“You can keep the tavern your family turned over to you in Charleston, that’s no issue.
It actually might help with the cover story.
” She glanced at her brother out of her peripheral view.
“We’ll have to take some legit jobs for our alias to keep up appearances, as well.
This means you’ll work with some retired SEALs.
They can’t know the truth, though, and that can be a hard pill to swallow. ”
He didn’t like lying, but he said, “I understand. I might need some time to think about this.” He didn’t want to leave his platoon, but he also liked a challenge.
“We could really use a man like you on the team.” Luke tucked his hands into his jeans pockets.
This shit is real, isn’t it? “Sounds like you assume I’d say yes, or you wouldn’t be so candid.”
Luke half-shrugged. “I hate stealing our best people from the Teams, but, thankfully, I only need to steal nine. You’re one of those nine. Plus, you saved my ass big-time three years ago, and it’d be nice to work with you again.”
“I almost forgot about that.” Jessica folded her arms across her silky blue blouse. “You guys lost both your pilots on an op, and you flew the team out, right?”
Owen nodded.
She dropped her head a little as if pained by the memory. “It was CIA intel that sent you guys on that op. ISR didn’t detect the mujs hiding there. Sorry.”
“Lead-lined bunkers, so it wasn’t anyone’s fault.” He was quiet for a moment. “But, damn, woman, you really were deep in our shit, and you”—he pointed to Luke—“didn’t know this?”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
“Well, your experience as a Naval pilot before being a Teamguy could come in handy. You trained with both jets and helos, huh?” She released a soft breath. “Why’d you switch from being a pilot to a SEAL?”
The memory of his loss fastened tight around his heart. “My brother.” But he had a feeling she knew that, and maybe she wanted to bring up the topic to see if it was an issue for him. Maybe this was also an interview . . .
Silence punctuated the room for a few minutes before she cleared her throat. “If you accept this role, you won’t be able to go after his killer.”
“It’s not like I’m allowed to here, either.” A taste of anger at that fact rolled around the back of his throat, and he tried to swallow it and move on. Well, move on for the moment, at least.
“Command has concerns about your past interfering with this new role.” She was direct and to the point, he’d give her that.
“Jessica,” Luke hissed.
“He should know the truth.”
“And I disagree with Command on that. And I’ll fight like hell to include Owen on every op, regardless of the target.”
Owen sat upright, to hell with the drugs and pain. “You saying there’s a chance we might be able to find my brother’s killer?” His eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.
“I promise I’ll do whatever I can to bring him to justice.” Luke’s jaw became hard-set, and his blue eyes thinned. “You have my word.”
“Then I’m in.”