Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) Read Free Page A

stood in line for their meal or had already sat down to eat. I-I’m not sure where my dad and Dane went from there, but at the start of The Price is Right ’s showcase—we watch a recorded feed every day to make us feel closer to home—six men came into the station. Hulking men. They were dressed all in white, and didn’t take off their winter gear—not even their boots. I remember thinking, Why are they wearing white? They’re just asking for trouble if they’re ever lost in a storm. ” She took a deep breath. “At first when the men showed up, there was a general hum of excited chatter. We don’t get much company down here, you know? A few of our guys strolled over to greet them.” She wiped silent tears with the backs of her hands. “Leo strode in from his lab—whistling. He made eye contact with one of the new guys, and then nodded. And then . . .” Her inhalations quickened to the point that she had trouble catching her breath.
    “Take a break,” Jasper urged. “You don’t have to tell me everything now.”
    “I do,” she said with a firm nod. “I have to get it out of me. After Leo gave his men that nod, he scurried like the rat he is back to his lab. But the rest of us . . .” She shuddered. “We sat there like proverbial fish in a barrel while each one of those men withdrew handguns and started firing. It took a few seconds for those of us still alive to react. I mean, we were stunned. Then there was too much noise—screaming and shouting. The clang of chairs being knocked over. Firecracker pops from the guns. My friends who tried running were shot in their backs. I ducked under a table, holding my arms over my head.” Trapped in the memory, she adopted the same pose now. “Then it got quiet. The only sound over my pulse was the gameshow’s theme song playing during the closing credits.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “My heart beat so hard and fast I believed I’d die from fright. I’d never been so scared. I squeezed my eyes shut, pretending everything was going to be okay. Then I heard footsteps. I opened my eyes to find a pair of white boots stepping toward me—only they were splattered with blood. One of the shooters crouched, gesturing for me to come out. I shook my head. He said something in a language I didn’t understand. Maybe German? I tried scooting away, but another man shoved chairs away from the table, then grabbed me from behind. With his hands under my arms, he dragged me to the nearest chair. I fought him—kicking and clawing. But then another guy pointed a gun in my face and I stilled.”
    Jasper stroked her hair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. For all of you.”
    She sniffed and nodded, leaning against his warm, solid chest. “For what seemed like forever, I sat in that chair. Stone still. All around me, there was motion. Four men hauled my friends outside as if they were trash. More men had removed their winter gear to scrub blood from the chairs and tables and floor. More men clanged about in the kitchen—cooking a meal. I felt frozen. Locked in time and space. I once tried escaping, hoping to find my dad and Dane, but before I left the chair, the guy with the gun ground the barrel against my ear. Leo returned. By that time, the rec room once again looked normal. Leo pulled up a chair across from me—as if he expected a cozy chat.” She laughed and shook her head. “He fired off question after question about what my father was hiding. None of it made sense. I kept telling him I didn’t know, but then he started raving about it being his turn and how it was time to rewrite history . He insisted I tell him where my dad stashed it , and when I told him I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, he screamed at me about my father’s secret source .”
    “And by source , you have no idea what he meant?”
    She shook her head. “If all I’d had to do to save dozens of lives was tell him, don’t you think I would have from the start?