Swift Strike (SEAL Team 14 Book 2) by Loren Mathis Read Free Book Online Page B

doesn’t mean you have to call her right this instant, the point is that you call her eventually.”
    Rolling his eyes, Jesse shook his head. His friend was a consummate playboy and, like most SEALs, an adrenaline junkie. Luke also liked his women like he liked his cars: fast and flashy. He had ass lined up in damn near every port the Team docked in, and he thought Jesse was a fool not to sew his wild oats before “some broad castrated him”—figuratively speaking. Jesse had engaged in one night stands in the past, but he didn’t make it a habit. Thing was he just hadn’t been able to get himself to care about a woman enough to give a long-term relationship a try, at least not since Rose Ford. And he tried hard not to think about Rose.
    “It’s not bullshit,” Jesse replied, shrugging off the demons of his past. “Lena nearly died. I’m sure she has a lot of things on her mind right now. And grabbing a cup of coffee with me sometime isn’t one of those things.”
    Just thinking back about the look on Lena’s face when he’d forced his way into the room to rescue her still had the power to make his knees quake. There was no doubt about it—the militant who’d threatened Lena would have killed her without any qualms. She was extremely lucky to still be alive.
    “See, that’s your first problem, man. Grabbing a cup of coffee? Seriously? Jesus, you are in need of some big-time assistance here. If coffee is your idea of a good time you are not going to get laid anytime this decade.” Just when Luke was about to jump into a full blown tirade, Jesse got a much needed reprieve. Thank God, he really didn’t need to suffer through Luke’s infamous pearls of wisdom right now.
    “Is everyone here?”
    Every member of Team Fourteen perked up as Commander Mark Dewitt entered the room. With his all-encompassing drive for perfection, square jaw, rough-hewn face, and decades of military experience, Mark Dewitt had earned every inch of his tough as nails reputation. The expectations that he held for his each of his men were extraordinarily high—and each of them did their best to reach and exceed them.
    It was tight quarters aboard the ship and this conference room was no exception. Jesse and his team members were basically sitting on top of each other in the crowded room.
    “Yes, sir. Everyone is present and accounted for,” Lieutenant Junior Grade Joshua Laurent answered. As was their ritual after every mission, they were gathered to discuss how well they’d executed their clandestine operation.
    “All right, good work out there yesterday, men. All of the live hostages were found and released. As you know, African Union soldiers swept the grounds for hours after our departure. The body of Steven Cutler—the man whom Lena Westlake has identified as being killed moments before our takedown—has not been recovered.”
    Now that was odd. Jesse had never known of an extremist group to take the time to hide a body during a raid. Usually, the bad guys were too busy ducking and running for cover.
    “There is a possibility Cutler’s remains are still somewhere on the facility’s grounds. The AU soldiers are going to be rechecking the facilities within the next couple of days.”
    “The female hostage, Westlake, is she positive Cutler was killed?” Joshua asked.
    “She hasn’t yet deviated from her original statement. According to her, Cutler was stabbed multiple times a few minutes before our raid of the facility.”
    “That doesn’t make sense, sir,” Luke said. “There wouldn’t be enough time for anyone to hide a body that well in such a short period of time.”
    “Yeah, I’m aware. Look, Ms. Westlake and the other hostages were operating under some pretty fucked-up circumstances. It is entirely possible that she may have imagined what she says that she saw.”
    “Wait. You really think she had a hallucination of someone being stabbed to death right in front of her?” Jesse asked, raising his eyebrow in