Lindsay McKenna - Degree of Risk

A couple’s future is under fire in New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Lindsay McKenna’s Shadow Warriors miniseries

When her Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan, Army medevac pilot Sarah Benson does what she must to survive. Hiding by day and hiking through the mountains by night, Sarah manages to save a mother and daughter before being taken captive. Even then she fights. She has to get back to the base—and to the man she loves.

Once Ethan Quinn learns that Sarah has survived the crash, he refuses to stop until he finds her, though the battle-hardened Navy SEAL knows the odds are against him. For him, it’s more than a matter of courage—it’s their future he is fighting for.

Ethan thought of Sarah. Where was she? How was she?

She could be dead and no one would know. He bowed his head, struggling to contain his anxiety. Ethan had felt the almost telepathic link between them. And it had only strengthened over the time they spent together. Two hearts, one soul. Bound to one another. Bound for eternity. He wiped his mouth, his eyes glittering on the cave entrance fifty feet in front of them. If Sarah died, Ethan would die an internal death. No other woman would ever replace Sarah. Not ever.

Sarah, we’re coming for you. Just know that. I love you so damn much I hurt. Just hang on. We’re coming in….

Dear Reader,

Degree of Risk, sequel to Risk Taker (Mills and Boon Romantic Suspense, February 2014), continues the powerful love story of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Sarah Benson and U.S. Navy SEAL Ethan Quinn. I love sequels, and it’s rare that I write them. They can only come about when the plot is complex, the characters deep and sympathetic.

Creating this two-book story was a must because the characters were, to me as a writer, sympathetic, heroic and warriors who did not back down in the face of insurmountable odds. And I couldn’t have done it without three men who are in my life almost constantly on these two books. For all things SEAL, I’m indebted to Chief Michael Jaco, U.S. Navy SEAL (retired). He has given me unclassified information on everything SEAL so I could make all of these heroic warriors you find in these pages as factual and real as possible. Chief Jaco has been of enormous help, and you can read his amazing and inspiring book, The Intuitive Warrior, at www.michaeljaco.com.

For all things helicopter-flight related, I turned to my U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot consultant, Bill Marcontell, Captain, USAF (retired), who flew Search and Rescue helicopters for the 38th ARRS in Southeast Asia in 1966–67. He helped me make the helo scenes accurate and breathtaking. Bill, your kindness, sense of humor and heart make it a joy to work with you. Thank you for your patience and humor in putting up with a writer while sharing your immense expertise.

Near the end of this book, there is a line of poetry written by Darius Gottlieb, poet extraordinaire, who was kind enough to allow me permission to use “A Love Poem to Sarah by Ethan” in this novel. I am in awe of your imagination and creativity.

I hope you enjoy Degree of Risk as much as I did creating it. Love always finds a way….

Connect with me at www.lindsaymckenna.com.

Lindsay McKenna

Degree of Risk

Lindsay McKenna

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LINDSAY McKENNA

is proud to have served her country in the U.S. Navy as an aerographer’s mate third class—also known as a weather forecaster. She was a pioneer in the military romance subgenre and loves to combine heart-pounding action with soulful and poignant romance. True to her military roots, she is the originator of the long-running and reader-favorite Morgan’s Mercenaries series. She does extensive hands-on research, including flying in aircraft such as a P3-B Orion sub-hunter and a B-52 bomber. She was the first romance writer to sign her books in the Pentagon bookstore. Today, she has created a new military romantic suspense series, Shadow Warriors, which features romantic and action-packed tales about U.S. Navy SEALs. Visit her online at

www.lindsaymckenna.com

www.twitter.com/lindsaymckenna

www.facebook.com/eileen.nauman

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To Chief Michael Jaco, U.S. Navy SEAL (retired), thank you for all unclassified SEAL info you’ve imparted to me. The Intuitive Warrior by Michael Jaco, www.michaeljaco.com.

To Bill Marcontell, Captain, USAF (retired), who flew Search and Rescue helicopters for the 38th ARRS in Southeast Asia in 1966–67. Thank you for information involving anything and everything that has to do with helicopters, their flight and their issues.

To Darius Gottlieb, poet extraordinaire, who was kind enough to allow me permission to use “As Long As I Breathe, I Will Seek the Diamond of Your Heart” and “A Love Poem to Sarah by Ethan” in this novel. Love Poems and Other Elixirs by Darius Gottlieb, www.poetphotos.com.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Excerpt

Chapter 1

“We’re going in hot,” Chief Warrant Officer Sarah Benson warned her two combat medics and air crew chief, who sat in the back of her Black Hawk medevac helicopter. Up ahead in dusk light, Sarah could see explosions caused by RPGs, rocket propelled grenades, fired by the Taliban into the Army forward operating base. Her heart rate picked up, her Nomex-gloved hands steady on the cyclic and collective of the helicopter. She used the rudders beneath her flight boots to maneuver it downward. This was a nine-line flight. Men on the ground were wounded and critical.

“This is going to be dicey,” Pascal, the medic, warned via the ICS, inter-cabin radio system. Evans, the other medic in the rear of the cabin, nodded.

Sarah snorted. “What else is new?” Her whole focus was on the landing. The FOB, forward operating base, was on a hill at eighty-five hundred feet. It protected one hundred Army soldiers. With the FOB three miles from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, this was one of the most dangerous areas to fly in. Pascal wasn’t happy to hear they would be picking up two wounded soldiers instead of the original one. By the time they’d left Camp Bravo, thirty miles inside the Afghan border, the vicious firefight had escalated and more soldiers were wounded.

“Dammit,” Roger Tait, her copilot griped, “this firefight’s heating up! Look at those RPGs being lobbed into that base!”

Sarah saw it. “Never fails,” she muttered to herself, keeping her focus on the several green chem lights where they were to touch down. They were landing on the “safe” side of the FOB. If there was such a thing as any safe place during a firefight. The dusk was lit up with red tracers from the FOB, the Army trying to knock back an unknown Taliban force climbing the hill toward them.

Watching the ground coming up, Sarah knew it was Tait’s job to work the overhead twin throttles as they were landing, plus watch the whirling blades of the Black Hawk to make sure they wouldn’t strike anything. He also had the responsibility, once they landed, to keep the throttles at just this side of takeoff speed.