SEALs of Honor: Cooper Read Free

Cooper raced around the corner of the tree to the far side of the shack. Keeping to the shadows his eyes moved constantly, looking for something – anything – that would confirm the hostages were here.
    Nothing moved. Now the moon was sneaking out from behind the clouds, and he wanted to take another look. He quickly relayed his new position to the others. Moonlight shone down, rippling on the waves as they lapped up against the long wharf.
    There were no vehicles to show how the hostages had been transported to this point, and given the shack’s location, they could only assume the hostages arrived by water. And would be taken out the same way.
    And that couldn’t be allowed to happen.
    So far there’d been only silence surrounding the kidnapping. There’d been no demands made. No videos posted online. No boasting or laughing. Just an eerie silence that was more haunting than anything else.
    Something caught his eye. He had no idea what he was looking at, but it was odd. He narrowed his focus, tried to identify the object and realized it was an older model army rig camouflaged in the trees.
    Finally, a sign.

Chapter 3

    S asha huddled beside her three coworkers. They were squashed in the corner of the dilapidated building that smelled of old fish and…fear. This nightmare was entering the tenth hour. There’d been no sign of rescue. And once a boat arrived, they were being moved to a ship anchored offshore. Just the thought made her want to cry. Dear God. If they weren’t rescued soon then the opportunity would be lost.
    The gunmen had laughed and told them how they’d be made examples of, as a warning to the Western world. Made famous by YouTube. She didn’t even know what terrorist group held them.
    She’d woken with a headache and dried blood from a split scalp to find herself trussed up in the back of a truck. After what had seemed like hours of traveling she’d been dumped here. The air was damp, salty…
    And the thought of being spirited away in the dark terrified her.
    She couldn’t stop thinking about the people they’d left behind. The patients. The need was great and the number of trained medical personnel were few. Now even less. Theresa, the only other woman captive, had flown over on the same flight with Sasha but had signed up for a full year.
    Sasha didn’t know if she could do that. David, the other member of their small group, was a retired military doctor and had devoted his life to helping others. The same as Dr. Ron Landry.
    Five of them had been taken in all. Two women, three men. All had worked at the same clinic, all doctors except for the driver. That left two nurses behind. And neither were American. She groaned silently and took a quick look around. Her driver, Jamel, lay on the far side, most likely dead. He’d been shot while trying to escape. Ron had raced over to help him and taken a bullet for his efforts too.
    The rest had been warned back.
    She glanced down at Ron. The oldest doctor of their group by a couple of decades, he lay beside her, the sweat pouring off his face. He needed medical treatment, but the kidnappers refused to let them help. He didn’t have long if he didn’t get that bullet out and the bleeding stopped. To make it worse, he was in a great deal of pain.
    She gently stroked his shoulder with one hand as she adjusted his makeshift bandage with the other. Anger burned inside. This was despicable. Ron had devoted his life to helping others. He’d always been one of those who stepped up and out to help anyone in need.
    She could see the still form of the driver along the wall. She didn’t know what role he’d played in this – if any. Had he helped the terrorists? Been killed for his efforts? But why? Surely, they’d reward him instead. He’d always stuck close to them at the camp – maybe too close now that she thought about it – moving the doctors from one area to another as needed. Was he a traitor and was possibly double-crossed and killed