Hot SEAL by Lynn Raye Harris Read Free Book Online

arrived a few minutes later, and everyone snapped to attention. Even Ace. Ivy simply stood straight and still and waited until the colonel told everyone to be at ease. Then she sank into a chair and sipped her coffee.
    “We’ve had intel that indicates our target might be headed for Miami. The Navy is sweeping the waters around Cuba and trying to intercept.”
    Ivy thought that might be an end to it then. She and Ace would be sent back to the DEA and the Navy would find the sub.  
    “Agent McGill,” the colonel said, and Ivy’s head snapped up.
    “Yes?”
    “How do you feel about going to the Keys?”
    “The Keys, sir?”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t think I understand.”
    “Miami’s too logical a guess for where they’re headed,” one of the men said. The name tape on his chest said Gordon. What everyone called him was Flash. “They know it as well as we do. And that’s not how the Freedom Force operates. They won’t sail into a port— any port.”
    “No,” the colonel said. “They’ll put into the Keys somewhere, meet up with the sleeper cell that’s currently there, and truck the missile overland—but not to Miami.”
    “Where are they going then?” Ace asked. He looked all kinds of fascinated right about now. Ivy was too, but damned if she’d show it.
    The colonel pointed at the map of Florida on-screen. “Tampa. US Central Command is based at MacDill Air Force Base, as well as Special Operations Command and Command Central. It’s a helluva target.”
    Ivy shuddered. It was indeed. Wipe out CENTCOM and you dealt a severe blow to the US’s ability to fight wars in the Middle East—not to mention the hit to the nation’s morale should such a thing happen.
    “But wouldn’t it be easier to sail into port in Tampa?” Ivy asked. “Why risk trying to offload it in the Keys?”
    “It would be easier,” Dane said, “but these guys aren’t exactly experienced seamen. It takes a special kind of person to be a submariner, and I’m going to guess these men aren’t it. They’ll be claustrophobic and half-crazy by the time they reach the Keys—assuming the Navy doesn’t pick them up first.”
    “That’s right,” the colonel said. “And if the Navy doesn’t get them first, we can’t let that nuke into the US. We’re intercepting it in the Keys.”
    “And if we can’t find them?” Ivy asked.
    The colonel’s dark eyes didn’t waver. “You’d better hope we do, Agent McGill. The alternative is that tens of thousands of people die—and Florida becomes a nuclear wasteland.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

    DC was muggy, but Florida was muggier. Ivy twisted her hair up onto her head and secured it with a ponytail holder from her purse. Then she grabbed her suitcase handle again and kept walking down the trail.
    They weren’t in Key West itself but on a smaller island called Emerald Key. It was still popular, but not as jam-packed with tourists as Key West. The team was staying in a resort that featured small bungalows tucked away among the palms. Ivy had her own bungalow thankfully. The beaches weren’t far, and there were several restaurants and shops on the main street. It was on Emerald Key that the Freedom Force sleeper cell was supposedly located.
    One of the men ran a small marina while the others worked in the various restaurants and businesses on the island. They had dossiers on the men from the CIA, and the plan was to track each of them down and follow them as they went about their daily business. If HOT was lucky—and they really needed to be lucky, Ivy thought—they’d find the submarine and the nuclear weapon before it could do any damage.
    Ivy stuck the key in the lock and opened the door. Blessedly cool air hit her as she walked inside. The bungalow wasn’t big—a main living area, a kitchenette, and a bedroom with an en suite bath—but it was clean and cool.
    And it was all hers. There were definitely some perks to being the only woman on a mission. As she understood it, there