Suzanne Brockmann - Forever Blue

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann has thrilled audiences with her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. Experience it here with a hero who must face the most daring adventure of all—falling in love.

The guy next door is home to stay—but can he be trusted?

Blue McCoy was once the hero of Lucy Tait’s teenaged dreams—quiet, dark and dangerous. But after high school he left Hatboro Creek, South Carolina, to join the military. Now, years later, a brooding Navy SEAL, Blue is back in town.

Lucy, now a no-nonsense police officer, is certainly not the person Blue remembers. And when he’s accused of murder and Lucy is assigned his case, their brief affair becomes part of an extensive investigation where the stakes are vital: Blue’s freedom—and maybe Lucy’s heart.

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For Jodie Kuhlman and Patricia McMahon,

for their amazing brainstorming power

and naming skill, and for Sarah Telford,

for lending Lucy her little black dress.

Cover

Back Cover Text New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann has thrilled audiences with her Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. Experience it here with a hero who must face the most daring adventure of all—falling in love. The guy next door is home to stay—but can he be trusted? Blue McCoy was once the hero of Lucy Tait’s teenaged dreams—quiet, dark and dangerous. But after high school he left Hatboro Creek, South Carolina, to join the military. Now, years later, a brooding Navy SEAL, Blue is back in town. Lucy, now a no-nonsense police officer, is certainly not the person Blue remembers. And when he’s accused of murder and Lucy is assigned his case, their brief affair becomes part of an extensive investigation where the stakes are vital: Blue’s freedom—and maybe Lucy’s heart.

Title Page Forever Blue Suzanne Brockmann www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication For Jodie Kuhlman and Patricia McMahon, for their amazing brainstorming power and naming skill, and for Sarah Telford, for lending Lucy her little black dress.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My eternal thanks to my wonderful friend Eric Ruben, who called me up one day and said, “Hey, Suz, I just read a great article about navy SEALs. You should check it out.” (I did, and the rest, as they say, is history.) Special thanks to the Forever Blue Project volunteers from the Team Ten list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teamten/) for their proofreading skills: Cocaptains Rebecca Chappell and Agnes Brach, and Jeanette Bishop, Erin Brown, Jaxine Bubis, Nicole Geary, April Gieseking, Cindy Olp, Patricia Rovensky, Mary Beth Schroeder and Neal Wyatt. Hooyah, gang! Thanks so much for helping out. Thanks to the real teams of SEALs, and to all of the courageous men and women in the U.S. military who sacrifice so much to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. And last but not least, a heartfelt thank-you to the wives, husbands, children and families of these real-life military heroes and heroines. Your sacrifice is deeply appreciated! Any mistakes I’ve made or liberties I’ve taken in writing this book are completely my own.

PROLOGUE

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

EPILOGUE

Copyright

My eternal thanks to my wonderful friend Eric Ruben, who called me up one day and said, “Hey, Suz, I just read a great article about navy SEALs. You should check it out.” (I did, and the rest, as they say, is history.)

Special thanks to the Forever Blue Project volunteers from the Team Ten list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teamten/) for their proofreading skills: Cocaptains Rebecca Chappell and Agnes Brach, and Jeanette Bishop, Erin Brown, Jaxine Bubis, Nicole Geary, April Gieseking, Cindy Olp, Patricia Rovensky, Mary Beth Schroeder and Neal Wyatt. Hooyah, gang! Thanks so much for helping out.

Thanks to the real teams of SEALs, and to all of the courageous men and women in the U.S. military who sacrifice so much to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. And last but not least, a heartfelt thank-you to the wives, husbands, children and families of these real-life military heroes and heroines. Your sacrifice is deeply appreciated!

Any mistakes I’ve made or liberties I’ve taken in writing this book are completely my own.

Lieutenant Blue McCoy was the point man, leading the six other men of SEAL Team Ten’s Alpha Squad across the marshlike ground. He moved painstakingly slowly, inch by inch through the darkness, touching, feeling the soft, loamy earth; searching for booby traps and land mines before actually putting his weight down on any one spot.

He watched the shadows, scanning the brush in front of him, memorizing the placement of each faintly silhouetted leaf and branch, alert to even the most minute movement.

The sounds of the night surrounded him. Insects buzzed and clicked; a dog barked maybe a mile away. An owl called through the darkness, its eerie cry proclaiming itself lord of this nocturnal domain, king of this night world.

It was a world in which Blue McCoy belonged, a world where he could lead a group of men so silently and invisibly through the darkness that the crickets at their feet didn’t sense their presence.

It had taken them more than an hour to cross the open field. Five more yards and they’d be in the cover of the brush. They’d be able to move faster then. Faster, but no less cautiously.

Blue listened, so in tune with the land around him that he was the night. His heart beat slowly in time with the silent, age-old rhythm of the earth and he thought of nothing—nothing but survival. All the noises and sounds of the air force base where Alpha Squad had been just ten hours earlier had long since evaporated, leaving only the night. There were six other men behind him, but Blue heard not a sound from any of them. He knew they were there only from faith, but it was a faith in which he had no doubts. The other SEALs were guarding his back as he led them forward. He knew they would die to protect him, as certainly as he would give his life for them.

Blue sniffed the air and froze, catching a faint, musky odor. But a second sniff convinced him that it was only an animal, some kind of rodent that moved as silently through the night as he did. It wasn’t a human smell, and human animals were the prey he was hunting tonight.

Directly through the woods, dead ahead at twelve o’clock, forty yards distant, was a cabin. According to the spooks from FInCOM—the agents from the Federal Intelligence Commission—inside the cabin was United States Senator Mike Branford’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Karen. The latest infrared satellite photos of the cabin revealed that at least four members of the terrorist group that had kidnapped her were inside the cabin with her. Another ten people were sleeping in a second structure, twenty yards to the northeast. And two five-man units of terrorists patrolled the surrounding woods. Only minutes ago, one of the units had come within four feet of Blue and the Alpha Squad. The unit commander had lit a cigarette, tossing the smoking match inches from Blue’s hand before ordering his men to move on.