Free Under Fire: The Admiral by Beyond the Page Publishing

taking your rank into
consideration, we need to get you out of here.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Ben said, slapping
debris from his pants.
    “You do that and this op is blown,” Gemma
said.
    The SEAL pressed his lips together and
nodded. “Yes, ma’am, that it is.”
    Gemma let go of Hunter and stepped closed to
Vegas. “It’s more than drugs.”
    “Ma’am, that’s . . .”
    Gemma pulled herself to her full height and
put her face inches from the taller man’s face. “Don’t . . . you .
. . dare . . . say . . . classified, or need-to-know, or any other
bullshit. You may think because you’re SEALs you can yank me
around. I can guarantee, you fuck with me and you’ll learn what
being yanked around really is. Tell me .” Her voice was
dead-on harsh and loaded with authority.
    Ben stepped back and the SEALs exchanged
glances. The lieutenant’s gaze settled on Hunter. The whites of his
eyes were in sharp contrast with the green and black paint smeared
on his face. Hunter sighed. “Tell her. Everything is blown
anyway.”
    Vegas turned to the third man. “Bambi?”
    “Sure. I don’t want to find out what it feels
like to get yanked around by an admiral,” he said.
    Vegas looked at Ben. “What about him?”
    “Oh, for crap’s sake,” Gemma said. “You and I
both know when this is done the men in black will swoop in,
threaten us with torture and IRS audits till we die if we say
anything other than the story line they feed us. He’s good.” Gemma
turned and gave him a wicked look. “Isn’t that right, Dr.
Walsh?”
    Ben nodded. “It is.”
    Vegas eyed him and grinned. “You open your
mouth about any of this we will know . We will find you and
you won’t have to worry about men in black or the IRS. Got it?”
    “Got it.” He was being threatened with death
by a man in camouflage and carrying a half dozen weapons. What else
was he going to say?
    Vegas turned to Gemma. “You know about the
cocaine subs?”
    Gemma nodded.
    “The trawler. It’s guarding a sub.”
    “Here in Ecuador.” Gemma’s voice bubbled with
excitement.
    “Yes, hidden off a branch of a river not far
north of us.”
    Ben and Gemma exchanged looks. Was it the
river she’d planned to follow?
    “How big is it? How much drugs?” She put her
hands on top of her head.
    “The biggest we’ve seen and none yet. Our
intel is another boat will bring the drugs in today or tomorrow.
The Secret Service is working on a counterfeit lead. Bales going on
the sub could also hold millions of funny-money dollars.”
    Ben rocked back on his heels. In forty-eight
hours he’d been shot at, in a plane crash, stumbling through the
jungle, found a woman he’d been searching twenty years for, and now
listened to Navy SEALs talking about busting a counterfeit ring and
drug traffickers like normal people talk about the weather. Un-fucking-believable .
    “Getting you two to safety is now our
priority. They’ll have to catch these guys at sea.”
    “No,” Gemma said politely.
    “Excuse me?” There was no politeness in
Vegas’s voice. He turned an ear to her like he hadn’t heard
correctly.
    Yeah, excuse me? Ben gave her the same
look Vegas did.
    “I’m asking that you don’t report we’re
here.”
    “Ma’am, I . . .”
    “Lieutenant, I am more than aware of how
operations like this are set up. There are combined forces from
three countries out there. Think about it. This was not set up as a
personnel extraction. You tell them I’m here”—she glanced sideways
at Ben—“ we’re here, it will complicate an already
complicated situation. Those subs are built to be damn near
impervious to radar. They slip out into the ocean and they’re gone.
Putting tons of drugs and millions in funny money on the street. I
don’t want this to be blown because of us. Let it play out as
planned.”
    Ben nodded agreement.
    Hunter spoke up. “Ya know, LT, she’s right on
both counts. Command won’t like an admiral sitting in the middle of
all of