SEALs of Honor: Shadow by Dale Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

without alerting the enemy.
    But then the men had been easy to capture. And he wondered about that. As in they were too easy to capture. Shouldn’t these men be more of a challenge?
    Swede leaned closer. “Canadian team is suspicious. Says it’s too easy.”
    “I agree.” Shadow studied the collection of soldiers. “They don’t look worried.”
    “We’ve disarmed them,” Markus said adding, “at least our weapons stash is growing.”
    Then Shadow got it. He spun around behind him, searching for the enemy. “They are a distraction. While we’re here worrying about them, the others are setting plans in motion.”
    “Time to get back to the cabin.” Swede pivoted and blended into the woods. Shadow was close enough behind to hear his radio crackle and Mason’s voice but too far behind to hear the words. He suspected they were all considering what was beneath this ploy.
    “We need to make sure the senator is okay,” he muttered to Mason.
    “He’s still in the truck.”
    “I’m not sure he is.” Markus shook his head. “Like I said before, I think that’s a slight of hand movement and we fell for it.”
    There was an awkward silence on the other end. “That would not be good.”
    Swede, slightly ahead, turned and nodded in agreement at Shadow. There had to be some reason for the extra men to be scattered and easily caught.
    Not to mention they were well trained soldiers. They were trained killers, weapons aside.
    The truck came into view.
    And lying underneath, trying to do something, was Cooper again. This time he had Evan helping him.
    Then where the hell was Arianna? He spun and twisted so he could peer up into the trees above then shifted to look at others around him lest the enemy could see him and understand what he’d been looking for. He’d caught sight of Kevin’s black windbreaker. Enough to know the boy was up there.
    Cooper motioned to him with his hand. Shadow crouched down to see what the issue was. And found a second bomb. Jesus. He ran fingers over his face.
    Just as he was trying to figure what to do, bullets circled the truck in a hail of gunfire, all coming from high up in the trees.
    They were surrounded.
    Shadow melted into the background. He hated to leave Cooper under the truck. If anyone chose to shoot the truck then the hostages, if they were still there, Cooper would be killed. That’s why they hadn’t had a guard down below. The guards had been above.
    And that meant Kevin and Arianna were in trouble too. He spun in time to see Swede take aim and fire. A man gave a cry and fell to the ground twenty feet away. He landed heavy and didn’t move.
    Instantly, the area where they stood came under a barrage of bullets. But they’d moved already. Swede popped off another one as Shadow raced to the base of the tree holding the two family members. Gunfire spat all around him.
    Realizing they’d been outplayed, he scrambled up the tree as Swede moved in and out of the bushes below him drawing the fire away.
    In the distance he heard more gunshots. Not a good sign. Their captives had probably heard the gunfire and used it as a signal to overpower the men guarding them. The Canadian contingency had been right. This was too easy. Well, not any longer. Shadow climbed rapidly. He landed quietly on the huge branch he’d left Kevin on and found him wrapped around the tree, his eyes closed and trembling.
    “Kevin, it’s me,” Shadow whispered.
    Kevin’s eyes popped open and he stared at Shadow. Then threw himself into his arms. Unprepared for the onslaught, Shadow had to quickly adjust his grip and position to handle the tiny tornado. But he held him close to his chest. “Where is your sister?” he asked, quietly searching through the tree. She’d been left with Cooper. Cooper was under the truck. He gave Kevin a shake. “Where is your sister?”
    “Don’t know.” Kevin lifted a tear stained face to him. “She saw someone on another tree trying to make their way over here. She