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  JAGER

  SEALs of Steel, Book 7

  Dale Mayer

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Complimentary Download

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  About The Last Wish

  Author’s Note

  Complimentary Download

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  About This Book

  When an eight-man unit hit a landmine, all were injured but one died. The remaining seven aim to see Mouse’s death avenged.

  On the hunt for answers about who set up the trap, Jager tracks Mouse’s friend to Colorado only to discover he’s disappeared.

  Allison gets caught up in the investigation and the attraction to Jager is undeniable. Passion turns to deadly purpose when they follow a killer to Santa Fe, where he’s hunting badgers…

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  KILL OR BE KILLED

  Part of an elite SEAL team, Mason takes on the dangerous jobs no one else wants to do – or can do. When he’s on a mission, he’s focused and dedicated. When he’s not, he plays as hard as he fights.

  Until he meets a woman he can’t have but can’t forget. Software developer, Tesla lost her brother in combat and has no intention of getting close to someone else in the military. Determined to save other US soldiers from a similar fate, she’s created a program that could save lives. But other countries know about the program, and they won’t stop until they get it – and get her.

  Time is running out … For her … For him … For them …

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  Prologue

  Jager Elstad shifted impatiently. He couldn’t wait for the surprise to happen. He’d been instrumental in making it come about, but a bit of doubt remained if he’d done the right thing.

  Geir was slumped in Badger’s living room. Dotty, as if understanding his mood, lay at his side. Jager knew all his friend thought about was finding a way or an excuse to get back to Morning. She and Geir had talked constantly for the last two weeks, but this long-distance stuff sucked.

  Finally Badger said, “Geir, are you with us?”

  “I’m here,” Geir responded, his voice heavy. “What the hell are we doing now?”

  “The same as we always were,” Badger said. “So far we ran Poppy down. We confirmed that our Mouse impersonated Ryan Hanson. The police and NCIS are looking into what happened to the original Ryan.”

  “And yet we still don’t know who betrayed us,” Jager growled. “That’s pissing me right off.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Dotty jumped up barking as Kat walked from the living room toward the front door. A muttering of voices was heard there.

  Jager looked over to find Geir still staring up at the ceiling. Everybody else knew about the surprise, except for Geir. He’d been like a lovesick teenager since returning from San Diego, so the unit had finally gone behind Geir’s back to make something happen.

  Kat walked into the room, and Jager grinned. Beside Kat stood a very hesitant, a very nervous Morning Blossom. Jager looked over at Badger.

  Badger studied Morning with interest. Dotty was wiggling at Morning’s legs, her tail wagging furiously. Morning had a hand down on the gentle dog’s head, but her gaze was on Geir.

  Jager hopped up. “Whatever else has to be done, it’ll be my mission. You’ve all had your turn to lead one leg of this. Now it’s mine.”

  Geir shook his head, but he hadn’t turned to look toward the front doorway. “It’ll be me again. You can’t go alone.”

  “You’re not coming with me,” Jager said cheerfully, wondering how long it would take Geir to notice his visitor.

  “And why the hell not?” Geir lifted his head and glared at him. “No way in hell I’ll stay—” His gaze locked on Morning Blossom. He bolted to his feet, raced across the room, caught her up in his arms, twirled her around and crushed her against him.

  She burst out laughing, her arms wrapped around him as she hung on tight. Dotty barked several times then, when ignored, wandered back to Badger’s side.

  Overcome with emotion, Jager had to turn away. He’d helped bring this about, but, at the same time, something made him so very sad. He was the only one alone now. Not that he ever wanted anything like that for himself, but how did he face his six buddies and all their partners and be the odd man out? He shoved his hands into his pockets and said, “I might have to go back to the beginning.”

  Badger stared at him. “Are you serious? Back to Kabul?”

  “Do you have any other suggestions? Any other lines to pull?” Jager asked. “I thought for sure we’d find the answers in California, and we came to a dead end there. That was Mouse’s launching point to get into the navy. But we didn’t find another lover there. We didn’t find another person who would want to go after us because of Mouse’s death.”

  “Should we contact the stepfather again?” Badger asked.

  “No,” Talon said. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s been gone from Mouse’s life for a long time.”

  “Well, this is something at least,” Erick said, shaking the cell phone in his hand as he walked into the living room from the kitchen. “I just spoke with Nelson, the San Diego detective handling Poppy’s file.” Erick wore a wide grin, but the gleam in his eyes said a whole lot more. “Their initial investigation so far came up with a name found in some files kept at Poppy’s main residence. The detective wanted to know if it meant anything to us or not. Mouse had a good friend, Freddie Brown.”

  “And where was this good friend?” Badger asked.

  “In Colorado.”

  Talon frowned. “Where in Colorado?”

  “Worked in Vail. At one of the big hotels and was a lifty part time.”

  “Can we call him? Talk to him on the phone?”

  “He disappeared a few days ago. Nobody knows where he is.” Erick’s smile turned predatory. “That’s why the detective called us, to track him down. We have a name and a place.”

  “Damn it,” Jager said. Then he froze, and his heart seized. “I’m definitely going. That’s where my parents’ motorhome ran off the road.”

  At that moment, Geir returned, carrying Morning Blossom in his arms, his face beaming. He let her down gently on her feet, and she raced across the room and flung her arms around Jager.

  He hugged her tight and whispered, “Nice entrance.”

  She pushed her hair back, beamed up at him and said, “Thank you. For everything.”

  He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “You look after him. That big bear needs somebody.”

  She stepped out of Jager’s arms, gave him a misty smile and said, “So do you.” She patted his cheek. “You’re next.”

  At that, the men burst out laughing. Jager just glared at her. He shook his head and walked to the front door. “If you get more information, let me know.”

  “Where are you going?” Badger called out.

  Jager turned. “Hunting in Vail.”

  “Brown might not be there anymore.”

  Jager waved a hand. “Maybe not, but, if he had anything to do with my parents’ deaths, I will find him.”

  Chapter 1

  Jager walked h ome, just a couple blocks away from Badger’s place, and went inside long enough to grab his go-bag and to retrieve his laptop from his home safe, both of which he deposited at the front door. He checked all the windows and doors, making sure each were locked, then glanced at the stove to make sure everything was off before leaving for a few days.

  Grabbing a jacket out of the front closet for the chillier Vail evenings, he picked up his bag and laptop and left.

  As Jager drove his second vehicle, a beat-up truck, to the airport to catch any flight heading in the direction of Colorado, his phone went off. He glanced down at the number, smiled when he realized it was Badger and tucked it back into his pocket. Knowing each of these leads brought them closer to the truth, to the serial killer after them—which became more and more dangerous for his friends and their respective new partners—Jager had taken the decision out of their hands as to who should accompany him and had chosen to go on this fact-finding trek alone.

  It wasn’t that he had a death wish, and he certainly understood a need for backup, but, right now, he didn’t think that was necessary because he didn’t know anything. His mind was still buzzing with all they’d learned about Mouse, and all they hadn’t learned. A naval investigation had been brought on by Mason looking into Mouse’s deceptive military background. It would send shock waves reverberating through the ranks.

  Jager took a left onto the main highway. Already roadside signs for the airport were visible.

  What his unit, with or without the navy’s assistance, also needed to do was find the body of the poor man Mouse had replaced. Jager didn’t even want to think about making calls to that family. But it did bring up another very interesting point. Did this man who Mouse replaced have a family?

  Regardless, it was hard to imagine someone stealing another man’s identity.

  Besides, no one in Badger’s SEALs team had known Mouse or the real Ryan Hanson prior to Mouse’s assignment to their unit. Presumably Mouse had had the same general physical features as his victim or had cosmetic surgery to make the transition. But, since Mouse, in his Ryan Hanson role, was a new recruit to Coronado base, his anonymity had worked for him. Mouse could step into Ryan’s shoes easily.

  Jager stayed right as the main highway broke into two spurs.

  It didn’t help Jager understand how Mouse had pulled off the water thing when he was scared to even walk by water. That one really bothered Jager because the water element was such a major aspect of their SEALs world. The last year of their unit’s missions—the only year that included Mouse—had varied from hostage rescues to taking out terrorists on the watch list to scout or recon missions. They’d skydived and conducted over-the-beach landings and had landed via small rubber craft. On one mission the takedown had been on the high seas. Their unit had chased down a ship in their own high-speed boats and had boarded it at night. Mouse had been with them all the way. And he’d been in the water—occasionally. But, when they’d been focusing on swimming two miles every day to build up endurance, something they had done on a regular basis when stationed close to water, Mouse had been on a firearms training upgrade.

  As Jager thought back, Mouse hadn’t had a superstrong constitution and had been plagued with various sicknesses since he’d joined their unit. One time Mouse had been down for over six weeks. Another time got himself badly injured during training. He had been down for months after that.

  Still, it pissed Jager off to think they might have been taken in. He tried to keep the hard edge of frustration at bay. Badger had started this mission to find answers because their friend Mouse had died. The rest of the unit had heartily joined in, needing something to focus on. Jager had felt rootless and lost for a long time; this mission had given him a direction.

  Watching the others at Badger’s place earlier today, all the guys with their partners, Jager understood he was alone in a way he hadn’t expected to be. He needed something to come home to. Something that would make the last couple years worth all this effort.

  Watching Geir fall for Morning Blossom had been an adventure in itself. But that Morning had gotten into trouble because of their mission made Jager even more cautious.

  Whoever this ringleader asshole was, the guy wasn’t giving up, wasn’t handing over ultimate control and was in no way letting this go. In fact, it was almost as if he’d refined his methodology, his system. Handing out maximum pain, a phrase the team were mulling over since it first popped up, was something that certainly applied. And to think Mouse had learned that lesson in childhood from his own mother was just heartbreaking, as evidenced by the writing on a wall in his room growing up.

  Although the guys in the unit had seen parts of Mouse’s scarred body, they had put it down to an ugly childhood environment. They had had no idea how ugly. Or how close the environment. Yet Mouse had come with a solid rep after having completed BUD/S training. Only now Jager and the rest of the unit knew it was Ryan and not Mouse who’d earned that distinction. Jager struggled to understand Mouse—both the boy and the young man he’d become.

  It blew Jager away that such subterfuge was possible within the navy. How had the computer files been doctored? But the only way it worked for Mouse was to take someone’s life. And, for that, Jager ached as he considered Mouse’s desperation.

  Poppy had helped Mouse, probably at great personal cost to himself. Poppy would have done anything to make Mouse’s dream of being a SEAL come true. Poppy would have done anything to keep Mouse coming back to him. But, as an adult, Mouse probably saw Poppy as a desperate old man who didn’t want to give up his young lover, and Poppy’s own assistance to make Mouse’s SEAL dream come true had taken Mouse from them all. Jager wondered how long Mouse could have kept up his SEAL charade.

  How long would this facade have existed before it blew up in Mouse’s face? And that was even without considering Mouse’s heightened fear of water. Obviously a lot of people overcame their fears and did great things. And maybe Mouse had exaggerated that fear to begin with. He easily kept others believing his fantasies, so maybe that was all part of it.

  Taking it slow while he ran through all this mentally, Jager drove into the main entrance at the airport, parked his truck in long-term parking and lucked upon a shuttle heading to the departing flights’ terminals.

  Buying a ticket for the next flight to Vail, he made his way to his gate and sat down with his laptop, seeing dozens of messages from his friends. He read them all and smiled. They understood, but they were pissed. Well, let them be pissed.

  He sent Mason and Erick an email, asking if they could confirm that the person who had planted the land mine responsible for blowing up their team was in the reported mass grave near Kabul.

  An instant response came from Erick. Get your ass back here, and I’ll talk to you.

  I’m waiting for my flight, Jager texted. That’s our only option at the moment. I need closure. We all need closure.

  His phone rang then. It was Erick.

  “You can’t go alone,” Erick growled.

  “I’m the only one left,” Jager said. “The only one without somebody else to get hurt and to get involved in our nightmare. I’m the best option. This asshole will get more aggressive if he’s allowed to continue, if not with us and our partners then with the world at large. I’m the only one not partnered up and have less to lose.”

  “You didn’t have to go alone.”

  “I haven’t gone anywhere yet,” Jager said cheerfully. “I should be in Vail in a few hours though.” He clicked through the rest of his emails on his laptop. “What about Tesla? Did she get anything else off our bug planted in the arms dealer’s warehouse?”

  “No, nothing helpful,” Erick said. “If we could find the real Ryan or find out what happened to him, that’s one thing. But it still won’t answer why?”

  “Unless this asshole is somebody from the dead Ryan’s family,” Jager said quietly. “Maybe they saw Mouse masquerading as that person?”

  “If only Poppy hadn’t died, w e could have gotten a whole lot more information from him.”

  “We got a lot there actually. The police will spend months investigating everything they found at Poppy’s house. And they gave us the lead on Freddie Brown.”

  “I still don’t like you going alone. You need a partner, backup for when things turn to shit,” Erick said.

  Jager smiled but didn’t argue with Erick. “Did they pass on any more information?” Jager asked.

  “Well, if you hadn’t taken off, you would have been here when the emails came in.”

  Jager groaned. “I did take off. So get over it, and pass on the information.”

  “Poppy had a list of everything he did. Names, states, boys. He tried girls but didn’t like it, went back to boys, but didn’t do mass numbers. He kept it to a select few. A couple who were very appreciative of his attention.”

  “Like Mouse?”

  “Yes, but Poppy appeared to love Mouse. That’s hard to understand how a pedophile can feel anything resembling true love.” Erick’s voice revealed the frustration they all felt. “Mason is handling coordination between the military and the city police. And, of course, NCIS is heavily involved now.”

  “Of course they are.” Jager sighed. “Which means they’ll close ranks, and we’ll have no luck getting any information.”

  “The biggest question now is, where’s the missing seaman? If Mouse took his place, was this Ryan murdered? Did he take a payout to disappear? And is somebody from the real Ryan’s world wanting justice for Mouse’s death, still thinking it’s their loved one who died in Kabul? Or, like you said, the opposite of that. Possibly targeting Mouse because he took their loved one’s place?”

  “And, once again, we have no answers.”

  “Well, we’re out of available men,” Erick said, a note of sly humor in his voice. “So, if you’re determined to do this alone, you have to make sure you call for backup when you need it. No vigilante moves. No lone-ranger moves. We’re all here for you. I’m slowly healing. I can run command center. I have nothing else for you at the moment, and every man here in the room with me—and, yes, they’re all still here—is pissed and looking for an outlet.”