SEAL Undercover (Silver SEALs Book 10) Read online

  It took a long time after Dylan’s death before she even dipped her toe into the dating waters. Mostly her experiences had been…nice. A bland word that perfectly described the situation. But there was something about Max DiSalvo that made her hormones do a little tap dance. Would the temptation he presented be too great for her? Or maybe she was the only one having inappropriate thoughts. They were here to carry out an urgent mission. She was sure he had nothing else but that on his mind.

  Get your brain together, Regan. You’re here on a matter of national security.

  That was primary. She had twenty-plus years of discipline to call on, and she wasn’t about to let Si down because she’d suddenly turned into a horny teenager. Still…

  Swallowing a sigh, she went about the business of unpacking her clothes and taking a few moments to freshen up in the bathroom. It was going to be a long afternoon.

  *****

  Max let out a long breath. What the hell was wrong with him? Even when he was deliberately looking for female companionship, he didn’t have this kind of reaction to someone. Sometimes he wished he did, and that his dick was a little more enthusiastic about some of the women he chose to spend his free time with.

  Not that that particular organ had shirked his duty when it was clothes off and onto the mattress. But he’d made up his mind he couldn’t give the proper attention to a relationship while he was still in the SEALs. And in retirement he’d finally realized that just having sex as an exercise didn’t have the excitement it once did. As the rest of his life stretched out before him, he finally understood that he wanted what many of his friends had. What Si had. A woman he connected with on all levels who wanted to share his life with him. But why did she have to be the one he was going into a dangerous mission with?

  They’d have to make sure they convinced the people in the cabal they were in fact a real married couple. Could they do that and leave sex out of the picture?

  Jackass. You don’t even know if she’s attracted to you, and this is for sure not the time to find out. Stick to business.

  He washed up in the bathroom then opened the special suitcase he’d brought. Si had told him to bring everything he’d need for this meeting plus the one with the cabal. He certainly had whatever would be required, although he hoped he wouldn’t have to use them. He glanced over the toys he’d packed—a Glock 17 with several boxes of ammo plus a Browning SA-22 grade one takedown rifle, so-called because it can be taken apart and carried in a small canvas bag. He’d also packed his Ka-Bar utility knife, in case he got into some close quarters situations.

  A knock sounded on the door and, when he looked up, he saw Si in the doorway, a hard-sided suitcase in one hand, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

  “If you’re asking to come in, the door’s open, right?”

  Si wandered over to the open suitcase and studied the weapons Max had placed on the bed. “I see you brought your toys with you.”

  “Never leave home without them.”

  “I have some additional goodies for you,” Si told him. “Some Ferren Industries weapons.” “They’ll think it’s strange if you don’t bring any of those with you, so I have a few here for you to show them.”

  “Because I need those with the Ferren name on them?”

  “Yes. Believe it or not, there’s a target range at the back end of this property.”

  Max barked a laugh. “Nothing about this place would surprise me at this point.”

  “We’ll block out some time to get you and Regan some target practice so you both can get a feel for them.”

  “The wives shoot, too?”

  Si chuckled. “Oh, yeah. Wait until you meet them. Oh, and Regan knows her way around guns. No worries there.”

  “Good to know. I always wanted a wife who could shoot straight.” Then he frowned. “Are you saying they’ll expect me to demonstrate the efficiency of these weapons?”

  Si nodded. “Most likely. Remember. They’re going to arm these fucking terrorists they’ve been smuggling into this country. Regan has pieced together enough chatter to know they’re planning simultaneous attacks in well-populated areas. Ferren was also getting them explosives, but we’ll take care of that. I don’t know if they have any of the guns at the lodge, just to see what’s being used. If they do, just in case, only the ones you demonstrate will work. The firing pins will have been removed. But that should be no problem for you. There hasn’t been a weapon made yet that you couldn’t handle in less than five minutes.”

  Max shook his head. “Jesus Christ, Si. Who the fuck are these people?”

  “We’ll be starting to review them after lunch. You won’t believe half this shit.”

  “But I’ll bet I will.”

  They both turned to see Regan standing in the doorway.

  “That’s right,” Si agreed. “You did the initial workup when you first pieced this together.”

  She shook her head. “It still makes me sick that people who have untold wealth and power because of this country want to destroy it.”

  “How did they all get together?” Max asked. “Si, that’s one thing you never explained when you gave me the rundown.”

  “I wanted to wait until I could lay it all out for both of you at the same time.” He glanced at his watch. “Come on. I think lunch is ready. Let’s eat and get back to business.”

  The lunch was delicious, but Max noticed he wasn’t the only one eager to finish and get on with things. Once the dishes were cleared away, Silas turned the laptop on again, and once more set up the small screen at the end of the table.

  “Let’s begin with the Whitlows, Jed and Anna. Their place is in Utah near the Four Corners, as it’s called, where Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico touch.”

  He hit a key, and a picture of the couple popped up on the screen. Jed had close-cropped, curly gray hair and a long face, dominated by a hawk-like nose. Anna, on the other hand, seemed shorter than he was, almost petite, with blonde hair that fell to her rounded jawline. Her face was set in a look of arrogance. Max disliked her at once and wondered if she was like this in person.

  Si went on to describe the size of their wealth and the connections they had. “It still surprises me that no matter how much money some people have, it’s never enough. In the past five years, they’ve made millions from the Rojas cartel smuggling both people and goods into this country, using Whitlow’s land as a distribution point.”

  This kind of business always made Max sick to his stomach. The human misery that resulted from it just kept rising, but the people making money just kept on keeping on. Why shut off the money stream, right?

  Si clicked through the rest of the group. Gavin and Elizabeth Emery were both in their early fifties. Their ranch was in New Mexico.

  Another click and they were looking at Lorena Alvaro and her husband, Elias.

  “She’s the link to the cartel,” Si told them. “Well, actually her husband is. Their ranch is two hundred and fifty thousand acres, located in the southwest corner of Arizona so it bumps up against both California and the Mexican state of Sonora.”

  “Very convenient,” Max commented.

  “Sure is. For decades they’ve been collecting a king’s ransom from the cartels for allowing them to use their land as a direct route to smuggle drugs and even people into the country. Apparently the arrangement began with his grandfather, who came here with millions from the drug business and bought this ranch. When ownership changed, the situation barely missed a beat. Except I understand the ante was upped. Lorena is a greedy bitch.”

  “Greedy is right.” Regan shook her head. “You’d think the millions they’ve made in ranching and investments would be enough for her.”

  “For some people,” Si pointed out, “there’s no such thing as enough.”

  “Question.” Max looked down at the open folder in front of him. “According to this info you gave us, she’s really the one who calls the shots in this nasty little group.”

  Si nodded.
“Jed Whitlow thinks he’s in charge but he’s fooling himself. That woman is tougher and more heartless than most of the men I’ve met in my life. She’s hungry for power, and I’m not even sure if taking over this country will satisfy her.”

  “Jesus.” Max blew out a breath. “Those are the worst kind of people. Heartless, soulless, and feeding on power and control. Other people’s lives mean nothing to them.”

  “You got that right. In many ways like the tribal leaders you knocked heads with in the sandbox. Human life, except their own, means nothing to them. Money and power. Those are their drugs.”

  “And they don’t care who they kill to get it,” Kevin added. “I’ve seen more situations like this than I can count. Too many of them.”

  “Next up are the Cavanaughs, Kurt and Hildie. Their ranch is in Colorado and has been in the family for four generations. Besides thriving in the beef industry, they have mineral-rich land which has provided a steady stream of royalties for the rights.

  “And finally, we have the Ferrens.” He looked at Max and Regan. “Bernardo is the only anomaly. He’s not a rancher. As we dug into the history of each of them, we learned he and Jed Whitlow are friends from college who have kept in touch all these years. He and his brother own Ferren Arms Manufacturing in Colorado. They produce handguns similar to the Glock and four different models of rifles, including a sniper rifle that’s supposed to be the best thing on the market. Jed reached out to him when this little group got past the stage of kicking ideas around.”

  George raked his fingers through his hair. “Jesus Christ!”

  “Exactly.”

  “How did they all connect?” Max wanted to know. “The original four, I mean.”

  “I can answer that,” Regan told hm. “I started researching them as soon as the first bits of chatter came across my desk. It seems they were all at a regional cattlemen’s convention. They didn’t usually attend them anymore, but this particular one was for people in the same financial category as theirs. The meeting was to discuss restrictive government regulations as they applied to ranching, especially water rights. Somehow, probably from comments they’d all made in the meetings, the four couples gravitated toward each other, and that’s when the genesis of the plan from hell was formed.”

  “Lorena also saw another way to use the power of the cartel her husband had a connection with.” Si clicked to bring up another screen.

  Several ugly faces stared out at them. To Max they looked like the high-value targets he and his team had been tasked with either capturing or killing. A chill slithered down his spine, knowing firsthand how vicious they were. Soulless, despite their proclamations to the contrary.

  “He used them,” Si continued, “to smuggle the terrorists into this country

  “If their plan is to stage simultaneous bloodbaths around the country,” Max asked, “what comes after that?”

  “Disruption of law enforcement and the military,” Si told him. “Putting their own people in place. Creating their own version of a military state where they control all the money and resources.”

  “It has to have taken a long time for them to put this together,” George spoke up for the first time.

  Si nodded. “That convention was five years ago. We believe they have been meeting regularly ever since. Developing resources. Funding places for the devils they’re smuggling into this country to prepare and wait.”

  “You told me they have someone in place to step into the leadership role,” Max reminded him, “but you haven’t identified him yet.”

  Si nodded. “My bosses at DHS have three possible, but we can’t pin down which one of them it is. All of them are unhappy with the current administration. They believe they’ve been shunted aside. Given weak roles in the administration. Had their power diluted. When you have a president as confident and take-charge as this one, he’s going to make enemies. In both parties, I might add.”

  Max refilled his coffee mug from the carafe on the table. “So, let me get this straight. A bunch of people with too much money and egos bigger than the Atlantic Ocean get their noses out of joint at the way the government regulates their industry. They decide they’ll take over the country and run it for their benefit. Have I got that right?”

  “Except for one thing.” Si looked from one to other of the people at the table. “Some of what we picked up Regan has interpreted in a way that makes my stomach climb my backbone. Once they’ve got the good old U. S. of A., they plan to expand to other countries including Mexico, and put it in the hands of the cartels, at least more than it is now. And maybe the Middle East, so the soulless terrorists they’re importing for their big blowup here can have their revenge on the countries shutting them down.”

  The silence around the table was so thick Max was sure he could cut it with a knife.

  “Holy mother fucking god.” He almost whispered the words. “And this meeting Regan and I are attending is, what, the final gathering before the first big event?”

  Si nodded.

  “Well, then, we’d best get on with this session. I want every detail, and I mean every single one, that you’ve got on all the people involved. I want to know how our backup will work, how we contact you, what our extraction is if we need it. You and me, Si. We’ll plan this like a regular SEAL mission It’s the only way it has a chance to succeed.”

  Chapter Four

  Max stood on the back patio, staring out at the vast expanse of green lawn that stretched away from the house. Trees stood as tall sentinels bordering each side, and he knew that beyond them was electrified fencing with concertina wire on the top. He knew it because Si had given him the video tour of the property and pointed out all the security measures. For a moment, he wished he could drag all these people he and Regan would be meeting with back to this house and beat the shit out of them until they were bloody and broken. What kind of people were they who would turn on their own country that way?

  He heard the sliding door open behind him and turned to see Regan step out onto the patio. Despite the intensity of the day-long session, and the stomach-turning events and people they were discussing, she still looked cool and contained. The only indication of its effect on her were the faint lines of strain at the corners of her eyes and her mouth. She carried a tablet in her hand similar to the one Si had given Max the day before.

  “Mind if I join you?” she asked.

  “Absolutely not.” He smiled. “In fact, I should be getting acquainted with my wife.”

  She chuckled. “I’m curious as to how this will all work. I’ve never done this before.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Played a role? Pretended to be someone you aren’t?”

  She shook her head. “Like I said earlier today, I’m the most comfortable working inside.”

  “Well, you’ve done a hell of a job ferreting this out.” He lifted his glass in a toast. “Without you, this plot never would have come to light, and this country would be hit with a massive disaster. Caught totally unaware.”

  “If what Si learned is true and they have whatever this is set for the Fourth of July, we can’t afford to make one mistake at this meeting.”

  He nodded. “No kidding. The Fourth of July—Independence Day—is coming up in three weeks. That means they’ll be planning the final details in this meeting. I don’t know what kind of security they have at this place we’re going to, but I’ll need to find a way to slip off in the evening and reach out to Si.”

  “It’ll be tricky,” she pointed out, “but we’ll figure it out. The first thing we’ll need to do is check the security they have in place. See if it’s all electronic or if they have flesh-and-blood security men hanging around.”

  “Remember, we have one more test to pass before we even get to that,” he reminded her. “We have to check into the hotel in the town near this lodge and meet with Whitlow. Apparently he’s promised to give them a full assessment of us to make sure we won’t cause a problem before he lets us into the inner circle.”
/>   “But Bernardo vouched for us. Si made sure of that when he saw him.” She frowned.

  “However, I’ll bet everyone in this little group is nervous since Bernardo’s ‘heart attack’ happened.”

  Max snorted. “I’m surprised he didn’t have a real one when Si walked into his office and told him we had the goods on him for his illegal arms sales. And that we’d frozen all his offshore accounts.”

  “And I’m surprised he didn’t just pick up the phone and call for his attorney,” she told him.

  Max actually chuckled. “I think when someone comes to your home at six in the morning a Homeland Security Badge, two FBI agents, and a folder full of paperwork including your offshore bank accounts, you have a good idea a lawyer isn’t going to help. Si told me it was a tossup who he was more afraid of, Si and his merry band or the people in this little group. You can bet that weapons or not, this so-called friends would have disposed of him where no one would find him. They don’t want this kind of thing spilling over onto them.”

  “Si said Bernardo did a masterful job of convincing Jed Whitlow bis heart attack was real and that his brother could be trusted.”

  Max frowned. “I hope his wife isn’t a loose cannon.”

  Regan shook her head. “As I understand it, she’s so afraid her high-society friends will find out her husband is on the verge of going to prison, she was willing to do anything.”

  “They aren’t really going to let him off, are they?” Max asked.

  “Not completely. But it’s up to DHS what happens to him when we get this wrapped up.”

  Max drained his glass and glanced at Regan. “Can I get you something? I’m drinking plain soda but perhaps wine? Or whatever?”

  “Soda for me, too. Thanks. And we probably should get to work on that thick folder Si handed us and learn our parts.” She grinned. “Think I’ll get an award if I play it right?”

  He moved so he was standing close enough that he was looking directly into her eyes. “You’ll get more than that if we pull it off. And I personally will buy you anything you like.”