Rogenna Brewer - The SEAL's Special Mission

“You and the boy are coming with me.”

Navy SEAL Kenneth Nash has one objective—protect the son he’s never known. If that means dragging along his former sister-in-law Mallory Ward, then so be it. But while hiding out in a rustic cabin in the Rockies, Nash faces an unexpected problem.

Suddenly he’s feeling things for Mallory that he has no right to feel. Regardless of how this turns out, he could never be the family man that his son and Mallory deserve. Yet as danger approaches, Nash and Mallory’s attraction persists—and it could jeopardize the entire mission.

“You don’t trust me. I get it.”

No matter how many times Nash professed his innocence Mallory wasn’t going to believe him. “You haven’t even asked me if I killed those two marshals.”

“Let me and Ben go, Nash. You don’t need hostages. We’ll only slow you down.”

“Right on both counts.”

“Why, then? Do you really think you’re going to raise your son on the run, always looking over your shoulder? And what about me? You think I’m just going to go along for the ride? We have a good life.”

“That life’s over,” he said, feeling the need to put an end to false hope.

Uncertainty filled her eyes. If she hadn’t been afraid before, he could see she was now. “What are you not telling me, Nash?”

He pushed to his feet and stopped alongside the couch beside her. “I’m sorry if you can’t trust me, Mal, but you’ve got no one else you can trust.”

He continued walking and then stopped. “And for the record, I didn’t kill those two marshals. No matter what anyone else says.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever felt like chucking your old life for a new one? While this has always been a favorite fantasy of mine, the reality is I’m far too attached to my life for that kind of change. But what if you’d lost everything and had nothing more to lose?

Such is the case for Kenneth Nash. Wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder, the navy SEAL accepts a deal from the Feds that allows him to go deep undercover in search of the real killer. Seven years later, his cover is blown and he must choose between the integrity of his original mission or saving the son he’s never known along with the sister-in-law who testified against him.

There are somewhere between 9,000 and 10,000 families in the Witness Protection Program, also called Witness Security Program (WITSEC). According to the U.S. Marshals Service, no witness who’s followed the rules has ever been killed.

Some interesting facts about the program:

Witnesses can choose their new names, but are advised to keep current initials or the same first name.

Name changes are done by the court system just like any other name change, but the records are sealed.

Witnesses must not contact former associates or unprotected family members. Or return to the town from which they were relocated.

If the witness has a criminal history, local authorities are made aware of the situation. Only a small percentage of criminal witnesses return to a life of crime.

Can’t wait to find out what you think. You can contact me through my website, www.rogennabrewer.com, my Twitter account ( @rogenna) or on Facebook: /rogenna.

Happy reading!

Rogenna Brewer

The SEAL’s Special Mission

Rogenna Brewer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When an aptitude test labeled her suited for librarian or clergy, Rogenna Brewer joined the United States Navy. Ever the rebel, she landed in the chaplain’s office where duties included operating the base library. She’s served Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps personnel in such exotic locales as Midway Island and the Pentagon. She is not now, nor has she ever been, in the Witness Protection Program. But her grandfather did cross paths with Al Capone once and lived to tell about it. There may or may not have been bootleggers in her family history.

To those who keep me grounded in reality:

My husband and sons. My mother.

My best friends and fellow writers Tina Russo Radcliffe and Debra Salonen.

My lifeboat Linda Barrett, Jean Brashear, Dee Davis, Ginger Chambers, Annie Jones, Julie Kenner, Day LeClaire, Barbara McMahon, Lisa Mondello and Karen Sandler.

And to my editor Karen Reid who had to put up with a little too much Rogenna Reality TV for this book.

Contents

PROLOGUE PROLOGUE Coronado, California “FREEZE!” HER VOICE shook almost as badly as the SIG Sauer in her hand. After twenty weeks of G-man U in Quantico, Virginia, twenty-three-year-old rookie FBI Agent Mallory Ward never imagined facing down her first perp in her sister’s kitchen. “Freeze, Nash. I mean it, damn it!” Her false bravado lost all conviction as she tried to comprehend the bizarre scene playing out in front of her. Her brother-in-law, covered in her sister’s blood, cradled a blue bundle in the palms of his hands. “Dear Lord, Nash, what have you done?” Mallory shook her head to clear it. She’d stepped outside for just a moment. One minute Nash was giving her sister mouth-to-mouth. The next he was ordering Mallory to grab his cell phone from the pack he said he’d left outside the back door. When she couldn’t find his phone, she’d taken those precious extra seconds to grab hers from her rental car parked out front at the curb. Mallory kicked past an overturned chair and stepped over the cordless phone unit that had been ripped from the wall. Her sister’s still-warm body lay lifeless on the cold tile floor where her brother-in-law had been performing CPR. Mallory couldn’t remember if she’d punched 911 before dropping her cell phone to reach for her gun. Though only seconds, it seemed like a lifetime ago. She’d initially been willing to give Nash the benefit of the doubt when she stumbled upon him at the center of an obvious crime scene.... Until she watched the Navy SEAL slice the swell of her sister’s belly. “She’s gone, Mal.” His voice never wavered. “You have the right to remain silent...” “There was nothing more I could do for her, except save our son.” Nash dropped his KA-BAR in the puddle of blood. Sidestepping the slick pool, Mallory still managed to leave the imprint of her sole behind. Biting back the copper tang of panic, she continued to read him his Miranda rights—Article 31 in the military. “Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law....” Nash ignored her, concentrated on the little bundle in his arms. He covered the teeny nose and mouth with his own mouth. The tiny concave chest expanded and then contracted with each puff. “Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you...?” She couldn’t afford to make another rookie mistake. Sirens blared in the distance—emergency responders, too late to save her sister. Mallory’s world spun out of control. The tile floor rushed up to meet her.

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 FIFETEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

EPILOGUE

Extract

PROLOGUE

Coronado, California

“FREEZE!” HER VOICE shook almost as badly as the SIG Sauer in her hand. After twenty weeks of G-man U in Quantico, Virginia, twenty-three-year-old rookie FBI Agent Mallory Ward never imagined facing down her first perp in her sister’s kitchen. “Freeze, Nash. I mean it, damn it!”

Her false bravado lost all conviction as she tried to comprehend the bizarre scene playing out in front of her. Her brother-in-law, covered in her sister’s blood, cradled a blue bundle in the palms of his hands.