Free A SEAL to Save Her by Karen Anders Page A

apartheid, but a man of mixed birth didn’t fit into either world. With that stigma, he was going to make everything he did all about him. The more money and power he accumulated, the more he could punch his own ticket. Now all that was being jeopardized by Kaczewski.
    â€œIt was a cakewalk! Tyler Keighley was flown out ahead of schedule to Landstuhl. I heard they nabbed a body from the SEAL ambush. That’s not good.”
    â€œI’ll spin that and anyone who investigates that Mr. Carter left my service and went rogue. There’s going to be backlash and they’ll probably have boots on the ground within twenty-four hours. I’ll search from the air. You need to find that damn woman and whoever is helping her and put them down. Understood?”
    â€œYes, got it.”
    â€œAnd Raoul...you screw up this time and I’ll freaking kill you myself.”
    Headquarters, Naval Criminal Investigative Service,
San Diego, California
    NCIS special agent Austin Beck said, “Lavender,” and tossed the Nerf basketball toward the small hoop attached by suction cups to the wall. It missed, went wide and Austin cursed softly, then chuckled as it hit fellow special agent Derrick Gunn in the head.
    Derrick grunted from his desk and threw a sidelong glance at Special Agent Amber Dalton, rolling his eyes. “Boring, surfer boy.”
    She laughed and eyed the two men. “You guys are no help at all.”
    â€œWhat do we know about colors for a wedding? Derrick’s color blind.”
    â€œI am not,” he said, snatching up the ball. He threw the spongy orange orb back at Austin, who caught it, exploded from his desk chair and did a layup, as if these points would be the win for the last few seconds of a crucial NBA game.
    â€œScore and game!” he said, walking around with his hands in the air. “The surfer boy is all about the pastels.”
    Amber’s brows rose. “Pastels. Wow, good color vocab, Gunn.”
    â€œYeah, he’ll make someone a good little wife one day.” Amber’s eyes shot daggers and Derrick just shot that death stare at him. “Okay, I’m getting serious,” Austin said when he saw Amber’s long-suffering look. “How about a creamy yellow the same color as warm butter?” He stuck out his chin and spoke with an upper-crust British accent. “Since it’s an evening wedding, it would go with black.”
    â€œNot bad actually, Austin.”
    â€œWhat? The color or the accent?”
    â€œBoth,” Amber said.
    â€œI’m sure your bridesmaids will look smashing in yellow.” Supervisory Special Agent in Charge Kai Talbot, Austin’s boss, breezed into the room and they all stiffened. “Gunn, Beck. SECNAV is waiting for you upstairs.”
    SECNAV—better known as the secretary of the navy—only got involved for the big stuff. Austin got excited. Big cases meant he’d get into the thick of it, do what he was trained to do. He was well aware that Derrick thought he was lacking in abilities because he projected a laid-back surfer look, but there wasn’t anything laid-back about him when it came to carrying out his duty as an NCIS agent. They looked at her blankly for a moment. “Go.”
    â€œYou putting us in, coach?”
    She grabbed a file off her desk and started for the stairs, giving Austin an indulgent but stern look. Okay, so something big was definitely up. He dashed after her, with Derrick bringing up the rear, shooting Amber a sorry-you’re-not-included look of sympathy.
    As they entered the ready room, SECNAV Stewart Olsen was at his desk. When Kai, Derrick and Austin walked in and stood before the big screen, he got right to the point.
    â€œThere’s been an incident at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Senator Piper Jones is missing. She went to Bagram to see her brother Tyler Keighley, a navy SEAL who was just in an ambush not more than eighteen hours ago.