Carol Ericson - Point Blank Seal

You can keep your protocol—he’ll go rogue to keep his family safe

Tortured in captivity, navy SEAL Miguel Estrada owes his survival to his fiancée, the memory of her keeping him strong through his darkest moments. But when his escape is compromised by military protocol and he suspects the woman he loves is being targeted, he turns rogue.

Jennifer Lynch has spent a year mourning Miguel and raising the baby he never met. But her reality is shaken once she finds him at her door and discovers they’re all at risk.

Putting his life on the line for Jennifer and their child, Miguel is forced to face some hard truths—and confront the secrets that might separate them permanently.

Red, White and Built

Miguel eyed the bat still clutched in Jennifer’s hand.

He spread his arms, palms up, and stated the obvious. “I’m not dead.”

She dropped the bat. It bounced once before toppling over. Then she breathed his name. “Miguel.”

In those two syllables, she expressed all the hope, longing and love that had kept him alive for a year and a half in captivity.

He closed the space between them and swept her into his arms, holding her body so close he couldn’t tell where his ended and hers began. He pressed his lips against her soft hair, the blond strands almost glowing in the dark as if they had collected all of the moonlight.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, tilting her head back, her cheeks wet. “My every prayer has been answered, but how. . .Why did they tell me you were dead?”

The navy and the CIA had their reasons, but he didn’t need to tell her those reasons—right now.

Point Blank SEAL

Carol Ericson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CAROL ERICSON is a bestselling, award-winning author of more than forty books. She has an eerie fascination for true-crime stories, a love of film noir and a weakness for reality TV, all of which fuel her imagination to create her own tales of murder, mayhem and mystery. To find out more about Carol and her current projects, please visit her website at www.carolericson.com, “where romance flirts with danger.”

For my two Wildcats

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text You can keep your protocol—he’ll go rogue to keep his family safe Tortured in captivity, navy SEAL Miguel Estrada owes his survival to his fiancée, the memory of her keeping him strong through his darkest moments. But when his escape is compromised by military protocol and he suspects the woman he loves is being targeted, he turns rogue. Jennifer Lynch has spent a year mourning Miguel and raising the baby he never met. But her reality is shaken once she finds him at her door and discovers they’re all at risk. Putting his life on the line for Jennifer and their child, Miguel is forced to face some hard truths—and confront the secrets that might separate them permanently. Red, White and Built

Introduction Miguel eyed the bat still clutched in Jennifer’s hand. He spread his arms, palms up, and stated the obvious. “I’m not dead.” She dropped the bat. It bounced once before toppling over. Then she breathed his name. “Miguel.” In those two syllables, she expressed all the hope, longing and love that had kept him alive for a year and a half in captivity. He closed the space between them and swept her into his arms, holding her body so close he couldn’t tell where his ended and hers began. He pressed his lips against her soft hair, the blond strands almost glowing in the dark as if they had collected all of the moonlight. She wrapped her arms around his waist, tilting her head back, her cheeks wet. “My every prayer has been answered, but how. . .Why did they tell me you were dead?” The navy and the CIA had their reasons, but he didn’t need to tell her those reasons—right now.

Title Page Point Blank SEAL Carol Ericson www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author CAROL ERICSON is a bestselling, award-winning author of more than forty books. She has an eerie fascination for true-crime stories, a love of film noir and a weakness for reality TV, all of which fuel her imagination to create her own tales of murder, mayhem and mystery. To find out more about Carol and her current projects, please visit her website at www.carolericson.com , “where romance flirts with danger.”

Dedication For my two Wildcats

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

A light glimmered among the rocks to his right, and Miguel Estrada shifted his MK 15 in response, his heart thudding against his chest. He whispered into the mic clipped to his flak jacket. “Twenty degrees to your right, up another thirty yards.”

Miguel couldn’t tell if the SEALs on the ground were following his directions or not. They’d moved out of his view behind some rocks, and they couldn’t answer him and risk giving away their position. He just had to trust they’d heard him and reacted accordingly, especially since this wasn’t his regular team and they were missing that natural rapport.

His world became the area in his scope, and his eyeball tracked back and forth to scan that world, looking for any movement or more light.

These caves tucked into the rugged interior of Afghanistan were a maze, deep and complex. The intelligence they’d received on the whereabouts of Vlad had led a team of SEALs, including him on sniper duty, to this godforsaken part of the world.

The intel suggested Vlad would be lightly guarded and relaxed, not suspecting the hell about to be unleashed upon him. Miguel just hoped Vlad didn’t have any children with him. That made everything more complicated—like the two boys the team had run into on their trek up here.

Thank God, it hadn’t been Miguel’s call to make on how to deal with the boys. Elias had decided to release them, and it looked like that had been a good call since they hadn’t seen them—or anyone else—since those boys had scampered across the rocks.

A light flickered again in the same area, and Miguel held his breath, waiting for an opportunity. If he could take out Vlad or anyone with Vlad from this vantage point, he’d do it and save the SEALs clambering over those boulders a few bullets.

The night scope on his sniper rifle cast a green glow on the rugged terrain, with every rock and every edge standing out in stark relief. If only he could see a person, other than the SEALs, he could help verify this location for them.

The brush behind him rustled and he tensed his muscles. He could probably handle one of those little gerbils or moles, but if that was a bat flapping his wings behind him he just might lose it.

Miguel tapped his fingernail against the trigger. Snipers generally had all the patience in the world, but those SEALs down there should’ve emerged from that cluster of boulders by now. Maybe they’d discovered something out of his sight. Miguel’s own team would’ve found a way to signal that news.

He licked the grit from his lips and shifted his rifle again, zeroing in on the area where the SEALs had disappeared earlier. If they’d gotten his message, they should’ve popped up twenty degrees to the right of the jagged outcropping that looked like a mouthful of bad teeth.