SEALs of Honor: Taylor Read online

  TAYLOR

  SEALs of Honor, Book 22

  Dale Mayer

  Table of Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  About Colton

  The Mavericks

  Excerpt from Kerrick: The Mavericks, Book 1

  Author’s Note

  Complimentary Download

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  About This Book

  Murder is a deadly way to start a relationship …

  Finally back in Coronado and his own apartment but still tired from traveling, Taylor helps a neighbor by closing her apartment door as she dashes back to work. But, as he does so, a smell he’s all too familiar with permeates the air. And he’s plunged into a multiple homicide with no meaning or end …

  Midge doesn’t understand what’s happened to her life, … but now her home, her workplace, her neighbors are all in danger and are all suspect. … Taylor is the only piece of normalcy in her world-gone-crazy right now.

  But even he can’t keep an eye on her all the time …

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  Prologue

  Taylor Robinson walked into his small apartment on base, dropped his bag on the floor, flipped on his stereo, strode to his couch and threw himself down, full length, and collapsed. He groaned, speaking out loud to the empty space, “Thank God for my own space.”

  A voice called from the hallway, “Did you mean to leave your door open?”

  His neighbor poked her head in. Frizzy red hair from her shoulders to the top of her crown and a bright flashing grin. Midge. Taylor hopped up and walked over, rolling his shoulders and his neck. “It’s so good to be home.”

  “You do travel a lot,” she said with a smile. She was in her office wear, heading out to work.

  He glanced at his watch. “Are you on night shift?”

  She shook her head. “Nah, just got called back for an emergency. I hadn’t even made it home yet, and now I’m ordered back.” She wrinkled up her face. “And you know how we all love that.”

  “As in not,” he said with a laugh. “I’m back from a crazy-ass trip, and I’m glad to be home.”

  “Rough?”

  He smiled. He couldn’t help it. She was more of a pixie type but always had a bright smile. He didn’t know if she was sweet on him or if she just had that kind of personality, but he never would be mean to her because she was so friendly. “It was rough,” he said. “No clue why but there’s something about coming home with two people who just hooked up and are crazy in love with each other.” He shook his head. “Not what I expected, though I should have.”

  She laughed. “Hey, you often have women over, so, if it’s jealousy, just find another one.”

  “I’m not that bad,” he protested. “I haven’t had a relationship in months.”

  She gave him a mock look of shock. “Wow,” she said with a chuckle. With a finger wave she headed down the hallway.

  He stepped out and watched her stride away. She was short, maybe five feet, and always had a smile for him. He looked the other way, down the hall and across at her apartment, realizing her door was open a hair too. He would have called out to her and said something about it, but she’d already disappeared down the stairs.

  With a groan, he stepped down the hall and across to her apartment and went to close the door when he caught the smell. He frowned. His heart raced. He still had his weapon. He pulled it out and nudged the door open. With the gun up and ready, he checked around the corner. The place had been destroyed, but that still didn’t explain the smell. He kept going through the rooms until he got to the bedroom. And there, lying on top of the bedding, was a nude male. One Taylor recognized.

  The guy worked in the supply offices. Taylor had seen him several times … but not like this. Taylor raced back out to the hallway and down the stairs, moving as fast as he could to catch Midge. He didn’t know what the hell had gone on, but no way was she walking away from a dead guy in her apartment.

  She had just opened her car door when she saw him. She stopped, turned, looked up at him and smiled. “What’s the matter? You missed me already?”

  Her manner was so nonchalant and casual, he was flummoxed. He pulled to a stop in front of her. Her brain registered the gun in his hand, and her hands shot up.

  “What the hell?” he asked. “Did you just leave your apartment?”

  She shook her head. “No. I was coming home and got the call at the top of the stairs. I had to turn around and come back in again. I never made it to my apartment. So I was turning around when I saw your apartment door was open.”

  “Did you go into your apartment?”

  She frowned at him. “I just told you that I didn’t.”

  He took a deep breath. “Did you touch the doorknob?”

  She stopped, looked at him and shook her head. “No, I didn’t even make it to my apartment. Remember? I was pissed. I didn’t want to head back out again.”

  “Well, you can’t go to work. Call your boss back, and tell him that you can’t make it.”

  “Why?” she asked. “I’ll just get in deeper shit for that.”

  “Because you left your door to your apartment open. I went to go shut it for you.”

  She looked up at him. “I didn’t get to my apartment. Didn’t you hear me?”

  “Your apartment door was open,” he enunciated clearly. “Did you hear me?”

  He watched her comprehension finally click. She swallowed hard. “Was I broken into?”

  He reached out, touching her shoulder. “Are you in a relationship with Gary?”

  She stared at him. “I don’t have a boyfriend. Gary who?”

  “Gary Sims. He works in supply.”

  She shook her head. “Maybe he does, but I don’t really know the man. I’ve likely seen him around, as we both work on base, but I don’t know him. Not really. I work in staff records. That’s not even close to his department.”

  “I get that,” he said. “Do you know him?”

  Frustrated and angry now, she stomped her foot. “I answered that already. What’s this about?”

  He reached out again and grabbed her hand. “He’s dead in your bed—and the only thing he’s wearing are three bullet holes, one in his forehead.”

  Chapter 1

  Midge Holloway wouldn’t believe Taylor until she saw it for herself. They now stood in the hallway, outside Midge’s apartment. She stared at Taylor. Then her head started to shake, sending red curls everywhere. Her body followed. She wrapped her arms tight around her chest, but it was hard to hold back her shudders as shock set in. “I barely even knew the man,” she whispered. “What’s he doing in my apartment?”

  “I don’t know,” Taylor said grimly. “But we have a very limited window to find out.”

  She stared at him, her fuzzy mind confused as she struggled to understand what Taylor was talking about. She glanced up and down the hallway. “This is so wrong. I’ll be in so much fucking trouble.”

  “That you are,” he said. “So, somehow, we have to clear you of this.” He stop
ped talking and looked at her intently. “Presuming you’re innocent.”

  Her eyes widened, and she stared at him for a moment before her temper spiked. “I had absolutely nothing to do with any of this. How could you even think I would do something like that?”

  “Hey, I hated to ask, but I needed a clear answer,” Taylor said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m short on sleep. It’s been a rough couple of days. Look. In the last eight years that I’ve been in the navy, I’ve seen way too much shit. Not just on a personal level but globally. No, the scene in your apartment is not a new coup taking over a small country and leaving behind only bloodshed, bones and broken dreams. But, on a small scale, it’s really the same damn thing. You’ve got somebody who wanted something, and they’re using people as a way to get it. So you need to tell me how well you knew Gary.”

  Just then a door slammed down the hallway, and a guy turned to the stairway without even looking at them. They could hear his footsteps as he went downstairs. She looked at Taylor and whispered, “Did you recognize him?”

  He shrugged. “No. I can’t say that I did. You?”

  She frowned. “I don’t know,” she said. “I feel like I’m looking at everybody suspiciously. For that matter”—she turned to look at him—“how do I know you didn’t kill him? Maybe when your door was open, you had just raced away from my place.”

  He gave a bark of laughter. “If only I had the energy for all that. You can call Nelson and find out that I just got home like an hour ago.”

  “How long do you think the guy has been dead?”

  He watched her with respect. “Oh, good question. Because if he’s only been dead forty-five minutes, I could have killed him, but what would be my reason for letting you know a dead guy is in your room?”

  She frowned, not sure exactly what his reasoning would be. “Maybe you’re not a nice guy, but you’re not quite the asshole who would want me to come home in the dark and see that either.”

  He pursed his lips with a smirk and said, “Good theory but it’s a no on all counts.”

  She raised both hands in frustration. “Fine. So what now?”

  “We call in the police,” he said quietly. “And you don’t touch anything.”

  “I’m not touching nothing,” she snapped. “Except my cell phone. I have to go to work. You know that, right?”

  He shook his head. “Tell them an emergency came up.”

  “Are you kidding? That’s why I got called in to begin with. Somebody else had an emergency.”

  “Let me call the cops first. I’ll see if you can head off to work, but I’ve got a pretty good idea what the answer will be.”

  She groaned and paced while he made the call. She heard broken bits of the conversation, but the gist was clear. She’d better stay here, or her ass was on the line.

  It made sense, considering it was her apartment and all, but, at the same time, she didn’t want to get into more trouble at work either. Reluctant, but resigned, she picked up her phone and called her boss.

  His voice ripped through the air. “Why aren’t you back here yet? I told you that we needed you.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “But something major is going on in my apartment building.”

  “Unless you’re dead, dying or almost there,” he snapped, “you better get your ass over here or don’t bother coming tomorrow.”

  She gasped in outrage, but Taylor snapped her phone from her hand.

  *

  “Considering the police are standing at her apartment door and won’t let her inside or let her leave, you’d be well advised to change your attitude,” Taylor snapped. “I’d like your name and your rank so I can report you.”

  Silence followed on the other end of the phone. “Who the hell is this?”

  “It doesn’t matter who the hell this is,” Taylor said, refusing to give an inch. “You are not allowed to speak to an employee like that, plus, she not only has a viable excuse but couldn’t leave if she wanted to.”

  “Is she under arrest?” her boss asked suspiciously.

  “No, but maybe we should be looking at you, considering the way you apparently treat her.”

  Again came more silence, and her boss backtracked. “Look. I’ve had things blow up here too.”

  “She works in staff records,” Taylor shouted. “What could possibly blow up?”

  “We’ve had a breach,” he said. “Our computer systems have been hacked.”

  Silence. “Oh, very interesting,” Taylor said. “Well, you’ll hear about her emergency soon enough,” he said. “Do you know Gary Sims?”

  “From the supply department?” her boss asked, sounding curious. “Kinda but not really. No more than anybody else on base who only deals with him once or twice a year.”

  “He’s been murdered,” Taylor said.

  “What? And Midge is involved? That doesn’t sound like her. I didn’t think she had a boyfriend,” the boss said, clearly trying to make sense of the news.

  “Exactly. But he’s been murdered in her apartment, so you can see the problem now, right?”

  “But she was at work all day. She only left the office about an hour ago.”

  “That will definitely help keep her ass out of jail. But, at the moment, her ass is still swinging in the air, so she needs to be here until the cops tell her that she can leave.”

  Midge’s boss gave a heavy sigh. “What a messed-up day.”

  “As soon as I get it cleared here, I’ll bring her to you. And then we’ll see what we can figure out down there.”

  “What have you got to do with any of this?”

  “Maybe nothing, depends if I’m assigned to this detail,” Taylor said. “But chances are you won’t find access to too many guys like me,” he said. “I’m Taylor, Taylor Robinson. From Mason’s team.”

  “I’ll call Mason then to confirm. After all, not sure anybody on base doesn’t know who he is and could drop his name easily enough.” And her boss hung up.

  Immediately Taylor grabbed his own phone and dialed Mason himself. As soon as he answered at the other end, Taylor said, “You’ll get a call from someone in staff records. I’ve got Midge here. She lives across the hallway from me. We’ve only gotten home about an hour ago, each of us separately,” he clarified. “Her door was open, and, when I went to shut it, I caught a smell that I definitely recognized.”

  “Hey, Taylor. How are you? Nice to know you made it back home, safe and sound,” Mason said, his tone amused. “Can you do anything but get yourself into trouble?”

  “Back to the problem,” Taylor snapped. “The dead guy’s in her bed. She’s been at work all day but came home and was just coming up to her apartment, then got the call to return to work. So right now we’re waiting on the military police to come and sort this out.”

  “And that’s got what to do with me? Other than being interesting, of course. The last thing we need is yet another murderer on base.”

  “Because her boss will call you any second. I reamed him out because he reamed her out while she stood here in shock. No way in hell the cops will let her leave. You know that.”

  “And you threw me under the bus, why?” Then he laughed. “Whatever,” Mason said. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll talk to him.”

  “Yeah, he thinks I’m a crackpot. But get this. The reason she had been called back to work was because they had a breach at the records office. Apparently their computer system was hacked. He’s the head of staff records.”

  “What?” Mason said. “Now that is a whole different story.”

  “Not only a different story,” Taylor said, “but I think you better let Tesla know. Because, if the staff records section has been hacked, you know somebody has gotten through one part of the navy’s online defense system. So chances are, the hacker was looking for a lot more than staff records.”

  “We’re on it,” Mason said. “It’s also hardly coincidental that you found a dead body in the apartment of somebody who works at the dep
artment just hacked.”

  “No coincidences in life, right?”

  “Exactly.” And Mason was gone.

  Taylor turned to see her staring at him. He took his phone off Speaker and said, “I felt it would be better if you heard that. It’s best if we have no secrets at the moment. It’ll be tough enough coming up.”

  She nodded slowly. “This is big, isn’t it?”

  He gently brushed back the ringlet from her forehead. “It doesn’t get any bigger,” he said quietly. Just then the police came up the stairs. She gave Taylor a brave smile. “Are you ready for this?”

  He shrugged and gave her a bright grin. “Always.”

  Chapter 2

  No way anybody could ever be ready for this. She watched in amazement as Taylor became more formal but answered every question with the same calm serenity she wished she could have mustered but had no way to even begin to produce. She was still dealing with the shock of everything that had happened so far, and the questions just sent her into an increasingly downward spiral. She had slipped to monosyllabic answers for every question they asked. She knew they were trying to get more out of her, but she didn’t know what she was supposed to tell them.

  Soon it all ran together and became one long and somewhat repetitive narrative. No, she had no idea how this guy got into her apartment. No, she had no idea why he was here. No, she had no idea who killed him. No, she lived alone. She’d been at work all day and hadn’t even made it to her apartment. The first she even knew there was a problem was from Taylor. She’d been called back in to work because of a problem in her department. They must contact her boss because she wasn’t cleared to tell anybody anything about her work.

  And so it continued. Finally she sagged against the wall and slowly slid down until she sat on the hallway floor. She knew it was dirty; it was probably filthy and full of all kinds of things she didn’t want to think about, but her legs had turned to rubber, and she could no longer stand.