Hudson: SEALs of Honor Book 27 Read online

  “Might be time to think about it too,” he said.

  He shook his head. “I don’t have near enough to retire on.”

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  And Dennis’s phone rang. He stepped back a few feet, while Hudson crouched and continued to stare at the body. Then he got up and walked off to the side, where he had a better lay of the land, and looked around at the alleyway. It was an obvious dumping spot, but, at the same time, the location itself was wide open, and an awful lot of apartments nearby could look down here easily enough.

  The alleyway was a short block, so Hudson could see the end of it right from where he stood. Seemed a park was on the other side of the fence. Maybe not a very popular park but definitely a green space was there. Just as he stood here, looking around, he heard a ping, and his instincts had him flattening instantly. A shout came from the side. And Dennis crouched behind a Dumpster, staring at him.

  Hudson nodded, pointed his finger to his lips, and waited. He rolled over up against the fence and, in a crouched position, raced toward Dennis. He joined him behind the Dumpster.

  “Who was that shot intended for?” Dennis asked furiously.

  “I’m not sure,” Hudson said. “It could have been either of us.”

  “This has got nothing to do with me,” Dennis snapped.

  “Sorry, Dennis, but your job means that it has everything to do with you.”

  He groaned. “I just wanted to snowboard.”

  “Nice try. Who was on the phone?”

  “Why?” he asked suspiciously, looking at him.

  “It was your station, wasn’t it? Has the con woman been killed?” Hudson guessed.

  “How the hell do you know?” he snapped. “Besides, she’s not dead.”

  “Good for her,” he said, “bad for this guy because that means he’ll come for round two.”

  “Jesus, so then he was after you.”

  “Probably, but she’s also been talking to you,” he said in a cheerful voice.

  “Man, you’re really starting to piss me off.”

  “Well, that’s all right. You can help me convince Avery to come away with me.”

  “Ha. She’s smart. She’ll stay a hell of a long way away from you.”

  “Not me,” he said. “It’s these guys. I don’t want them thinking she’s a loose thread to be cleaned up.”

  “Same thing.”

  “Not quite. Is your not-so-elderly con artist going to make it?”

  “We think so. That’s what the call was about. They’re at the hospital.”

  “You’d better call them back and double up security. If the sniper finds out she’s still alive, he’ll be back for another shot.”

  “How many of these guys are there?”

  “Now that brings up another possibility. Maybe they’re shutting down the North American operation. Apparently four have tickets out of Dodge, but, now that we have two others dead, that leaves ten more that we confirmed from the group, plus any number of wannabe recruits.”

  “And why would anybody want to join this group?”

  “Who knows? I sure as hell don’t know,” he said in exasperation. “I don’t have all the answers here.”

  “Seems like you’ve got more than your fair share,” he said. “And suspiciously so.”

  “Oh, give it a rest. Besides, maybe there was a meeting, like between two gangs or something, and it broke out into a fight, and the two sides are warring off against each other. Hell, maybe the newbies wanna take over the group.”

  “That’s an awful lot of conjecture with absolutely no answers.”

  “If we can get out of this place, maybe we can get a few.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice? But right now we’re pinned down by a sniper.”

  “Did you call it in?” he asked.

  He glared at him. “Of course I did.”

  “Well, help should be on the way then.”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’ll still be a while. And why do I want to bring any of my men in here to have them deal with this mess?”

  “Chances are the sniper’s long gone anyway. But, just in case,” Hudson said, “it came from that building across the road there.” He pointed out the one where the shot had been fired from. “I’ll go check it out.” And, with that, he bolted to his feet and disappeared into the darkness.

  Dennis called out behind him, “Wait! Get back here!”

  But Hudson ignored him and kept on running.

  Chapter 6

  When Avery woke, it was dark out, but she could see the light breaking across the horizon. It had to be about 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. She yawned and sat up, then realized that, although tired, she didn’t feel too bad. She got up, padded her way to the bathroom, and, after using the facilities, stepped out into the living room, wondering if she wanted to stay up, but realized it was so damn early that she should probably go back to sleep. But then her gaze landed on Hudson’s laptop.

  He had left it open. She walked over, saw the note, saying he’d gone out. He’d actually put a time stamp down, noting it was written last night at eleven o’clock. She checked her watch; sure enough, that was five and a half hours ago. Swearing to herself, she pulled out her phone and sent him a text, hoping he would answer it. When he didn’t, she sent him another one. When there was no answer again, she contacted Dennis. When he answered right away, she said, “The fact that you answered is probably not good.”

  “If you’re looking for Hudson, he’s out after a sniper.”

  She gasped. “Is he hurt?”

  “He’s fine at the moment, but somebody’s taking potshots at us,” he said, “and you need to stay inside and locked up where you’re secure.”

  “Why? Am I in trouble?”

  “Hopefully not,” he said. “But the mystery woman we caught outside the restaurant, was shot through the station window,” he said. “She’s in the hospital right now. She’ll live, but it was a little too close of a call for all of us.”

  “So these bad guys are trying to clean up, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, I think Hudson was correct there. It looks like a lot of these international terrorists are in the country right now, and some of them could be involved in these Vail events. We don’t really know for sure yet.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in the alleyway with the body of the second military man that Hudson saw in the hotel, which he confirmed for me. That’s why he came out at this hour of the night.”

  “Good Lord,” she said, scrubbing her face. “Well, I’m not going back to sleep now.”

  “Maybe not, but, if you hook up with this guy, you have to realize this is the kind of life you’ll lead.”

  “What does your wife think about your career?”

  “She probably hates it,” he said. “Once she did tell me that she hated it, but she hated living without me more, so here we are.”

  “And I agree with her,” she said. “Of course we’ll worry, but, if we worry every time someone crosses the street, it won’t get us anywhere either.”

  “Just a little crazier with worry,” he said. “Anyway I’ll hang up because I’m busy, and he’ll contact you as soon as he can.”

  “But you don’t even know if he’s alive, do you?”

  “No,” he said. And then, in a surprisingly gentle voice, he added, “But there’s absolutely no reason to suspect that he’s not.” And, with that, he hung up. She sat down with a thud on the chair that Hudson had been sitting in and looked around her.

  How quickly her world had changed. She had been on a visit with him once, when he had gotten called away, but he had kept it more or less away from the public eye and had kept it from her. She had pestered him with questions, and he had told her a little bit, but he hadn’t told her very much, which in retrospect made sense.

  This time, of course, he was right in the thick of things. Which is also where he preferred to be. It was a valid point that Dennis had made about hooking up with him. But, of cou
rse, she was already hooked up with him. Fact is, they’d been wandering around the dating issue for a long time. Neither one of them had gotten seriously involved with anybody else, leaving themselves open, just in case it did happen between them, which was very telling.

  And that was just stupid at this point. They were wasting time, and she didn’t want to do it anymore. But that meant Hudson had to get home in order for them to move on and to actually cement this relationship. Then figure out just how they would live because she didn’t want to live apart from him either.

  She shook her head at her own thoughts. “Listen to me,” she said. “I’m acting like it’s already a done deal.”

  In many ways it was a done deal. She had been talking about leaving Vail for a long time, and, as far as she was concerned, this was the last straw, and she was more than happy to move. But she still would have to sell her apartment, find another location to live, plus get another job.

  So where in all of this did that leave her, except with a lot of decisions to be made. She got up and poured herself a glass of water, wondering if it was too early for coffee. But, with all her musing and time wasting, it was five now. Still early, but she’d been up at that hour many times before.

  She put on coffee, realizing that sleep was definitely a done deal for her now, also realizing that, if Hudson could have responded, he would have—which meant either that he was in trouble or that he was somewhere where he didn’t have time, couldn’t, or didn’t want to expose himself with a message. She would just have to sit back and wait. She sat back down again while the coffee dripped, lifted his laptop, and brought up the screen in front of her.

  She found a bunch of notes and a document. She read it with interest, even though she was prying. She didn’t mean to, but, as he wasn’t here, and she didn’t know where the hell he had gone, when he was coming back, or even if he was coming back, she had no compunction about reading it.

  And it was about this terrorist organization. Fascinated, she read further and further, until she completed his notes and sat back with a sigh. What a group. Basically the page was full of hypotheses of what could be going on, each more terrifying than the last. But the fact was, they started off fairly innocently and got worse and worse. By the end of it, she wondered if life was safe for anyone in the world.

  And to think that was the world he lived in every day. It didn’t even resemble the world she lived in. Was she so naive to think that the world operated on a whole different level? Or was it just because she hadn’t touched on the evil side very much that it seemed like it operated on the level she was accustomed to? And it wasn’t her naiveté, just her bounds of experience. When her phone rang, she was relieved to see Hudson’s name.

  “Hudson, you okay?”

  “I’m not Hudson,” the hard voice said. “But if you want your boyfriend back, you’ll bring his laptop and all the notes he has to this address.”

  Immediately she was given an address. She wrote it down quickly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “What have you done with him?”

  “I haven’t done anything,” he said, “yet. But, if you don’t bring it in the next thirty-five minutes,” he said, “he’s dead.” And, with that, he hung up.

  She gasped and immediately phoned Dennis.

  “What’s going on?” he said. And just enough fatigue and impatience were in his voice that she knew she was interrupting him.

  “Hudson’s in trouble,” she snapped, then quickly relayed the information.

  Dennis swore heavily.

  “We don’t have time for that,” she said. “I’ve got thirty-five minutes, that’s all.”

  “I’ve got a team,” he said. “We’ll set up a perimeter.”

  “You don’t think they’ll see that?”

  “Maybe,” he said, “but you can’t go in there alone. We can’t risk any more lives,” he said.

  “More?”

  “We’ve got two cops down,” he said.

  And she realized just how bad this morning was getting. “I’m so sorry. Hopefully they’ll make it.”

  “Well, we’re hoping so,” he said, “but, at this point in time, it’s a shit show.”

  “Well, it’s not Hudson’s fault,” she said, “and you called him out to the scene on this.”

  “I did.”

  But she could hear the gears of his brain churning. “I’ll go,” she said. “I’ll be at this address.”

  “Avery, if you do, you’re dead.”

  “And, if I don’t, he’s dead,” she snapped. “They didn’t really leave me any choice.”

  “Which is why they did this,” he said. “Give me a minute. I’ll call you back. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I don’t have time to do anything stupid,” she cried out. “We’re out of time. Don’t you understand that?”

  “Stay where you are,” he roared. “I’ll call you back in two minutes.” And he hung up.

  She stared down at the phone in her hand. “No, that’s what you say you’ll do,” she snapped. “But that doesn’t mean you will. And I don’t have time to wait.”

  And she realized, in that moment, that she would do absolutely anything to keep Hudson alive. She smiled as she realized what she should have concluded so long ago. “Sorry, Hudson,” she said. “I know you’ll be livid when you find out that I’m coming after you. Hopefully you’re actually aware and alive and well enough to be cognizant,” she said, “because I’ll take a lashing from your tongue rather than let these guys harm you. But I’d rather come and help you out than live another day without you,” she said quietly to the empty room. “So, ready or not, here I come.”

  Then Dennis called her. “Okay,” he said, “I’m coming to pick you up.”

  “You’ve got two minutes,” she said, “because I’m leaving now.”

  “Don’t you dare,” he snapped. “I’m coming. Meet me out front.” And, with that, he hung up.

  She raced into the bedroom, quickly dressed, grabbed all of Hudson’s material and popped it into a tote bag, then grabbed a second one, before racing out to the front of her building. If nothing else, she would hopefully get a chance to see Hudson again.

  *

  Hudson studied the area around the building. He heard voices, low and indistinct. He couldn’t tell who was talking or where. He also didn’t know if he was looking for one man or two. But considering as many as sixteen of the known terrorist members were in the country, it was quite possible Hudson was facing even more. It could be an entire team. So being alone was not exactly the ideal scenario, but neither was leaving at a point in time when it was possible to get some answers.

  And hell, they needed answers in a big way. He couldn’t believe that he’d come for a visit with Avery and had ended up in this mess. But then why not? It seemed like a lot of things in his life ended up as some sort of nightmare, when he’d least expect it. With the one man in his sights just around the corner, Hudson searched the rest of the hallway and the large office area.

  The glass doors gave him a slight insight into what was inside the rooms but just enough of a screen blurred his vision. But it did reveal somebody standing up ahead, who appeared to be leaning against a wall, talking on the phone. He was casual, relaxed, so he had no idea what was going on, and this was the first person Hudson had seen so far. He crept a little farther down the hallway to make sure that the guy on the phone was still in his line of vision, but also checking to see if anybody else was around.

  Didn’t appear to be.

  Up ahead was a noise, ever-so-slight. Hudson froze and then immediately slipped across the hallway into the room on the other side. Another one with glass doors. He wondered how anybody got any work done up here if everybody was behind glass doors; surely it would be more of a curiosity and a distraction than anything.

  Maybe, if all the same company shared the space, it would work. He shrugged as he faded as much as he could against the white walls. And that was pretty hard to
do when not so much as a potted plant helped to conceal him. Even the desks were white, so any other color stood out like a sore thumb, like him.

  And like the man on the phone.

  Even as Hudson strained to listen, he sensed somebody coming. He didn’t see evidence of it for a while, but then came a slight noise yet again. Not much he could do about it. If anybody looked in his direction, they might see him. He dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, as if he were a package or a piece of furniture. The glass doors were just distorted enough to make that plausible.

  At least he hoped so. He was still getting over that whole glass panes thing when another figure appeared near the glass door. He studied the shape, trying to figure out exactly who was there and wondering if it was a different person than the one who had been on the phone. If the guy spoke, Hudson might recognize the voice. As it was, the other man had been slumped, so it was hard to discern if this one was of the same build or height.

  Frustrated and wary, Hudson stayed in his position and then heard a second voice. Now he knew there was at least two of them. Or was it two more? Just no way to know. But what he heard next made his blood run cold.

  “Did you get her?”

  “Yeah, and she’s on her way.”

  “Of course she is. Anything for her lover boy.”

  “Well, either we need to find the asshole or we need to make it look like we’ve got him, so we can get the information she’s got.”

  “What difference does it make? Pop her one, take the laptop she’s bringing, and whatever notes this idiot has on us, and we’re good to go.”

  “You don’t even know that he has anything.”

  “He’s a Navy SEAL and belongs to that team I’ve heard rumors about. And, if he even saw my face, he knows, and he’s got notes.”

  At that, Hudson’s blood ran cold. How many Navy SEALs could possibly be in Vail right now? He was the only one he knew of, and their brotherhood was pretty damn strong, pretty damn connected. If somebody else was around here, he would probably already know. Which meant these guys were talking about him, making the her in question Avery. And that was enough to make terror ripple through him. What the hell had they done?