SEALs Honor by Elle James Read Free Book Online Page A

the ground and
hustled toward the hill.
    Delaney
and her crew stayed long enough to provide cover, then flew south a couple
clicks to a wide open, deserted location and landed to await word from the
team.
    Delaney
sat behind the controls, wishing she could pull off her gloves and bite her
nails. Waiting had never been her strong suit. The guys on the ground would see
action before the night was over.
    Question
was, would they live to tell?
     
    Tuck
took point, and the rest of the team fanned out in a V to his sides and behind.
Armed with M4A1 rifles with the SOPMOD upgrades including sound suppression and
night vision devices, they moved through the darkness like cougars stalking
prey.
    Treading
silently over the rocky terrain, Tuck eased to the top of the hill and checked
for posted sentries. He spotted one twenty yards from where they hunkered low.
He pointed to Reaper and motioned for him to take out the guard.
    Reaper
slipped away from the others and, within minutes, dispatched the man with the
point of his knife. Quick, quiet, and efficient, Reaper rejoined the others
before they descended the hill toward the village. Halfway down, Tuck held up
his fist and the group of men stopped. He pointed to Reaper and Gator to join
him.
    Through
his NVGs, Tuck picked out the bright green signature of a man standing guard on
top of a building at the south end where the road led into the village. Tuck
dispatched Gator to take him out. Not long afterward, Gator signaled from the
top of the building, with one flash of a red lens light up at the hill.
    The
team moved into the village, Tuck counting mud-brick, fenced compounds until he
reached the sixth one on the left, set back a little from the main dirt road.
Inside the walls would be a house and storage buildings, all looking very
similar, like mud boxes, either square or rectangular. Until they crossed over
the fence made of large stones stacked, chinked, and covered in a mortar-like
mud, they couldn’t see into the structures.
    Tuck
was first to pull himself up over the wall and drop to the ground on the other
side. Reaper was right behind him. Gator and Dustman brought up the rear while Big
Bird and Fish remained on the other side of the fence, positioned at the far
corners to watch for anyone attempting to go in or out. They'd provide back up,
should the team need it.
    Tuck
pointed to Reaper and indicated he should sweep the left, while Tuck took the
right and they rounded the main structure within the wall. No one stirred. Tuck
stopped in front of the back door, tested the handle, then slid his knife into
the gap, and pushed the lock open.
    He
slipped in and Reaper followed.
    Once
inside, they moved room to room, passing a living area and then a bedroom where
three adult women crowded on a sleeping mat on the bare floor with small
children tucked against them.
    In
the next room, the heat signature of a man lying on the floor caught Tuck's attention.
He appeared to be an older man, not the Taliban leader they were supposed to
find. Either he would be found in another building on the compound, or they had
the wrong home.
    Tuck
motioned Reaper ahead of him and out of the home, pulling the door closed
behind him.
    Reaper
moved on to the next building, similar in size to the first. Gator followed,
the big guy so quiet, he was one giant shadow in the night.
    Tuck
joined them against the building. He directed Dustman to be the lookout at the
corner, while Tuck, Gator, and Reaper stood beneath a window where they could
hear the low hum of voices through a narrow opening.
    Tuck
made out some of the words in Pashto. They were talking about crops and the
amount of money they could get for the current poppy harvest. When the man
speaking mentioned how many weapons that would buy, Tuck's adrenaline shot up.
This had to be the place. He nodded to Reaper and they ducked around the other
side of the building to the entrance.
    Tuck
led the way, pushing against the door, hinges squeaking