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1
Joint Expeditionary BaseLittle Creek-Fort Story, Virginia Beach, Virginia
No Safe Haven had struck the team right at their heart. They had kidnapped Christopher “Iceman” Snow’s wife, Rose, Boyce “Preacher” Carmichael’s wife, Luna aka Karasu, and Remington “GQ” Nash’s fiancée, Celeste Potter.In the aftermath of Jayesh “Kodiak” Lyta’s teammates' women getting abducted by the brutal mastermind of the terrorist group, there was dead silence in the ready room, a room filled with a really bad, edgy feeling. A pall hung over them all because each of those women meant something more to not only their significant others but to the whole damn team.
Their main leader, CIA operative Rose Snow, was one of those women.
But she was so much more. To all of them, she was the woman who had steadfastly led them in Paris, when she’d been devastated by the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law. She’d been there in Bolivia through the betrayal of DEA agent Nancy Chambers, and the crazy operations that had netted them a laptop, leading them to England. She had been amazing as they navigated through all the intel to stop those attacks and save so many lives.
Losing Rose to the NSH kidnapping was a blow, a heavy, hard blow to the head and NSH knew that.
Then there was their CIA Shadowguard, Luna “Karasu” Carmichael. Preacher’s wife. She had put up one hell of a fight according to her husband. She had always been a kick-ass babe. Preacher had delivered his report in a monotone, clearly keeping his emotions in check, as were Iceman and GQ. They knew if the brass thought they were going to go off half-cocked to rescue them, they wouldn’t get the resources they needed to track that NSH bastard down. Karasu had been with them on so many missions, she was part of their team as was her partner, Axel “Volk” Beck. He sat at the table, quiet and stoic, but Kodiak sensed the seething rage beneath his calm exterior.
Karasu’s disappearance felt like they’d all been physically pummeled, kicked, and left bruised and bleeding.
Then there was Celeste Potter. This is where it got even more painful. Celeste had only just gotten engaged to GQ. She had been an NSA analyst and the only person with the brains to figure everything out from the confiscated NSH laptop. A sweet, nerdy geek who had blossomed from a withdrawn, repressed person during her courtship with GQ into an engaging, present-in-the-moment woman. She had saved the day with her secret AI friend, Ailee, Celeste’s artificial intelligence she had created and nurtured since she was a teenager. If it hadn’t been for the entity, the NSA computers would have been decimated. Unfortunately, Ailee had been destroyed while she battled to neutralize the virus Celeste herself had been coerced into writing while she and GQ were being held captive by NSH goons. Fearing the repercussions of remaining an employee with NSA, she had quit her coveted job and joined the CIA, specifically to track down and apprehend the mastermind behind NSH.
It was as if Celeste’s abduction had ripped out their collective hearts and left a huge, gaping, painful hole in their chests.
She hadn’t yet been trained to manage terrorists or taught self-defense like Rose and Karasu. Kodiak was terrified for her.
Even through the machinations of NSH, they had prevailed and prevented those attacks in London. But the NSH mastermind had been clever in his deceitful, diabolical distractions.
Losing the women was a devastating blow to the task force, but they would push forward. Quitting wasn’t in their vocabulary. In fact, Kodiak was encouraged as twisted as that was. Celeste had gotten too close. She may have even discovered the identity of the NSH mastermind. It was clear someone like him would want to stay anonymous where he could plot his evil plan in the shadows and strike before the team was even aware of what he had planned. But with his identity exposed, there would be a worldwide manhunt with the SEALs leading that charge.
He stared into his mug of coffee that had gone cold, his heart aching for Iceman, Preach, and GQ for the love they had found and was now …in jeopardy.
Kodiak noted the gleam in their eyes. He couldn’t imagine what they were feeling. GQ looked stricken, and still in a bit of shock, his handsome features pinched and haggard. Preacher was still, so still it almost looked like he wasn’t breathing. That was a very bad sign. When Preach went still, all hell broke loose. Then there was their boss. Each and every one of them saw that icy control. He looked frozen…cold. Cold, calculating, and in control, he noted; hard, unforgiving, and dangerous.
But even through that icy storm, Kodiak could see the heartache in Iceman’s pale blue eyes, and for that alone, NSH would pay dearly.
The door opened and a woman breezed in, followed by five men and another woman. She was dressed in khaki cargo pants and a loose open-button shirt in pastel stripes of pink, blue, and green, over a white tank top. Her chestnut hair was in a side braided rope, the end just tickling her waistband.
Anna Graham.
Oliver “Artful Dodger” Graham’s better half and Maximillian “Mad Max” Keegan’s little sister. She was all badass.
The three men dressed in camo with the flinty eyes he knew. The woman and the other two men were dressed in civvies, and he’d never seen them before, but they carried themselves with an air of confidence.
The camo guys were Tier 1. The tall one with the chestnut hair and piercing blue eyes was newly minted Master Chief Elliot “Reck’d” Jenson, one of the youngest master chiefs in the Navy. He was a juggernaut with a heated intensity that matched Iceman’s cool demeanor exactly. The second guy with the pale blond hair and uptilted eyes was on the same level as Preacher and Karasu. Ashton “Wraith” Shen could disappear like no one Kodiak ever knew. He’d gone to BUD/S with the guy. He was quiet, thoughtful, calm under pressure, and utterly lethal. The last one…God help them. His name was Trey “Panda” Chase and if people thought Ash “Kid Chaos” Wilder was crazy, they hadn’t ever met Panda. He took risks and usually came out of them virtually unscathed. SEALs were normally fearless, but Panda took it to another level.
Anna stopped in front of the room and the other six people took seats near the wall. She looked at each of them. “Hello. I'm so sorry that I have to be here under these circumstances. I’m no Rose, but I will do my best to take over for her in what we all hope will be a brief absence.” She took the time to look at Iceman, and he nodded at her. “We all know what’s at stake, have studied all the NSH cases, and are prepared to fill in.”
She turned to the three guys. “Some of you probably recognize these guys.” She introduced the Tier 1 operators. “They are here to step in for Iceman, Preacher, and GQ who will be heading out to track down their loved ones.” She indicated the three other people in the room. “This is NCIS Special Operations Agents Griffin Crawford and Adrian Lane, along with their FBI liaison, Agent Bree West. She’s just come off a deployment to West Africa and handled a volatile situation there. Your guys are in good hands.”
Bree nodded to them. The special forces community was small, and Kodiak was aware that Bree was currently engaged to Callen “Blitz” Berenger. He was a lucky bastard.
“Bree and I will be in constant contact as the search for the missing women will directly coincide with our search for the NSH leader. We have no idea what his/her motive was for abducting our people.” She leaned her hands on the table, her palms flat. “As of right now, we have no leads and no idea where NSH will strike again. But Rose, Karasu, and Celeste were taken by flesh-and-blood people, using concrete vehicles of transportation. We will find clues, and we will be ruthless in our pursuit of answers.”
“That’s all for today, people. The CIA and NSA have their best techs on this job. When we have any leads, you will be notified. Please keep your phones within easy reach. When we move, it will be fast.”
People rose and Kodiak made his way over to Wraith. He smiled a rare smile and reached out his hand. They shook, then came in for a hard hug.
“Man, I’m sorry about what’s happened. It has rippled through the whole community, and everyone is pissed. If it can happen to Tier 1 operators, well, it can happen to any of us.”
Kodiak nodded. “It’s good to see you, brother.” He squeezed Wraith’s shoulder. “Yeah, we aren’t going to rest until we find them and get that NSH bastard.”
Wraith nodded.
