Hot Zone by Ben Lovett Read Free Book Online

the fact it held a removable carry handle, which allowed him to change his scopes and sights with quickness and ease. Tonight he had a laser sight mounted. All of their weapons encased in airtight, waterproof bags so there was no chance of the saltwater spray damaging them and potentially causing them to jam or accidentally discharge.
    Ghost cradled his beloved Remington 700 sniper rifle like it was his Child. He planned on staying on the surface and watching over the zodiacs and acting as lookout. He had his diving equipment in case an emergency called for it, but for the most part he planned on just talking to the guys on their radios to keep them informed of surface activity.
    As the seven figures stood on the aircraft elevator platform looking out to the dark abyss the platform began moving slowly down. Moments later they found themselves at water level. A large opening in the rear of the ship was fitted with a retractable ramp that allowed easy access to the water.
    Ice got onto his radio: "SEAL team in position, cut engines."
    The humming of the ships engines cut instantly as it began to slow, the wake that was being thrown out subsided enough that they could launch the zodiacs without fear of broaching.
    "Let's go folks, it's time." Ice, Skip, Storm and Jordan grabbed one zodiac, placed it onto the ramp and sat in place, Shooter gave the zodiac one push and it slid straight into the sea. Shooter, Roo and Ghost pushed their zodiac onto the ramp, all three pushed and jumped simultaneously.
    In the water now, both engines kicked into gear and pulled them away from the ship. "SEAL team clear." Ice said into his radio. Over the buzzing of the outboard engines they could just hear the ship engage its engines in gear.
    Jordan was in awe of the enormity of the Kitty Hawk as it moved away from them. In contrast she was now on a boat that barely fit the four of them as they began the thirty-eight mile trip southwest to the exclusion zone, or what Roo had aptly named it:
    The Dead Zone.
    For the first twenty minutes or so the only noise from the zodiacs came from the engines themselves. Everyone held deep concentration, focusing on the mission, a mission with many question marks. In Jordan's boat, Skip and Storm started checking their weapons, ammunition supplies and dive equipment. The smooth seas made this easier than what it would normally be. Ice was steering the boat with a glazed look, he was off in his own world.
    Ice Riley's most dangerous mission had been a rescue mission off the coast of Turkey. Two American soldiers had been taken hostage on board a small tanker and Riley's mission, along with his team had been to take over the boat, which was anchored off the coast and rescue the hostages. He had strange feelings of deja vu heading into the black horizon and he hoped this mission wouldn't end as the other one had.
    * * *
    Cruising off the Turkish coast a SEAL team pulled their zodiacs to within a mile of the tanker, this was as close as they would be able to get without certain detection and they would have to swim the rest of the way.
    The ocean was unsettled, a side effect of the cold front moving down from the north. This gave the team the added cover of the sea's rising swell; anyone would have a tough time distinguishing their movement in the distance from that of the waves. Furthermore, god had pulled a dark cloud cover over the stars darkening the surroundings. Riley could not have asked for better conditions.
    As the seven SEAL's made it to the anchored ship they spread out around the hull. Each one had his own grappling hook attached to his back.
    The grappling hook was a device used for scaling high, inaccessible areas that shot as much as one hundred yards of high tensile, non-fraying line that held a large magnetized hook on the end. It was also able to retract up to three hundred pounds.
    Each man looked at his watch, waiting for it to tick over to 02:15, then deployed the grappling hook to the railing