SEALs of Honor: Shadow Read Free Page A

eyes as it locked on her. Shit.
    With her throat too seized to speak she led her brother back to the fireplace. She had to escape. These men might have done this to force her father to help them on some stupid ruling, but they had no trouble seeing her as spoils of war. She had to get through the night and was very much afraid that it wouldn’t be alone.
    *
    The team had been silent as they trekked through the wilderness. They’d checked the coordinates several times, but no sign of the cabin yet. The wet weather wasn’t helping. With nightfall coming, they had no idea if the senator and his family were going to make it until morning. There were four family members here. The senator’s third and much younger wife, their eight-year-old son, plus his twenty–five year-old-daughter from marriage number two. The senator himself was in his mid–seventies.
    He had a reputation as being a square man. A bit old fashioned and stuck in his ways and if his cohort’s reports came in a two hundred-page style, his tomes were usually five times that. Much to the consternation of anyone forced to read it. Long-winded maybe, but often with solidly made points.
    And he had a reputation for being a good man. Unswayed by popular opinion. A bit stodgy in his views maybe but he was thorough and pragmatic. Not someone who bent to pressure or could be bribed – apparently. But when a man’s family was threatened, Shadow wasn’t sure any man would hold out. If you wanted to maximize pressure on a person, take his family hostage. In this case, they’d taken the whole family. And that was the part that really confused Shadow.
    Why? If they’d done this while the senator was home to do their bidding, they could have whisked the family anywhere in the world.
    If the senator didn’t survive this “holiday,” it could be months before he was replaced. Or longer. It wasn’t a simple process to appoint a new member to the senate.
    Then why kidnap the family? Why not just kill the senator outright? He highly doubted the kidnappers had a conscience. But if so, maybe they were expecting the senator to do the right thing so they weren’t forced to kill everyone. Because of course if they killed him, they’d have to kill them all. And no one wanted that.
    Or was something else going on?
    At a signal from Mason, they all stood up silently. Hidden under different trees they were close enough to be in contact but far enough that no one could see them all together. Cooper was closest to him. Now back to active duty, and not a moment too soon, Cooper was chomping at the bit for some serious action. He’d been sidelined with abdominal injuries that had stopped him from carrying the weight required out in the field. He’d healed but had been too overzealous and caused a setback with several pulled muscles. He bounced to his feet, appearing to be in glowing health now.
    Moving in formation, Shadow leading, they hopefully were closing in on the cabin. The wind had picked up, making the going tougher. The undergrowth was wet and footing treacherous. With the dark of night settling in early, they’d need to locate the cabin and make plans when they saw the lay of the land. It was easy to make plans on paper but the terrain would have a lot to do with their next move. Shadow was completely okay to hike in and out, but he wasn’t sure the senator was up to that level of physical exertion. And there was no point in saving him only to kill him on the way home.
    Hat slung low over his eyes with the rain sliding off the brim to the left, he carefully assessed the way forward. Seeing the next step, he took a sharp right and picked up the pace. It couldn’t be too long now.

Chapter 3

    “A ri, I’m hungry,” Kevin whispered.
    She hugged him little closer. “Sorry, bud. I don’t know if dinner will happen.”
    He gave her long look. She grinned. “I know. For you that’s going to be horrible.”
    “I haven’t eaten since we got here,” he exclaimed.