Tanner: SEALs of Honor, Book 18 Read online

  She looked at him and shook her head. She couldn’t hear him.

  He wondered at the chance that maybe Tom had the wrong pack. If she got his instead of hers, maybe she’d survive this after all. Of course the T could be for Tanner as well, and that didn’t make Wynn’s chances any better at surviving with a sabotaged chute and glider.

  Just then her wing ran into trouble. She struggled to so it would fill with air again. She hadn’t pulled her chute yet. If she got the pack intended for her, he knew it wouldn’t open. No reason to give her a good parachute if they wanted her to crash.

  She pulled her parachute cord, hard. It opened. As she popped up, the relief on her face made his heart warm. But they weren’t out of trouble yet. He sailed closer toward her, motioning for her to stay away from the brothers. He watched as the brothers struggled, then heard a shot fired, and Wynn’s parachute whipped about helplessly. Damn. That was a lucky shot. The silks shouldn’t be that badly damaged from a single hole but if they caught part of the rigging…

  Higher than he was, she dove toward him.

  And sailed below him. She screamed in panic.

  Scrambling, he caught her damaged chute as it whipped past, the jolt and extra weight taking him down faster. But he wrapped it several times around his arm and held on tight—and saw Tom, his own parachute failing to deploy, heading straight down to earth.

  Tom screamed and cried out for his brother.

  Tanner caught the look on Kirk’s face as he stared at his brother, with almost maniacal glee. More shots were fired. Tanner maneuvered to the far left, getting as far away from the brothers as they fought it out in front of them.

  Another bullet was fired, and Kirk’s glider ran into trouble now.

  Tanner realized that Tom knew he was going down and that his brother had given him one of the bad chutes.

  Kirk’s glider deflated, the wings flapping helplessly in the air. He opened his chute—and one more single shot was fired. Kirk hurtled to the ground after his brother. Screaming, Tom hit hard and bounced, then lay still.

  Wynn and Tanner—falling faster than they should have been because of the double weight, her dangling helplessly and him clutching the ungainly damaged chute—watched helplessly as Kirk landed not far from his brother.

  Neither man moved. Prepping for a hard landing, Tanner felt the weight release as she hit the ground first and rolled down the slight slope. He dropped the silks and landed hard, falling to his knees and rolling to take the blow. He came to a stop only to have her throw herself on top of him, crying out for him. He hugged her tight, both of them wrapped up in each other’s arms. He whispered against her ear, “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and whispered, “I’m a whole lot better than they are.”

  Shouts reached his ears. He lifted his head to see people racing toward them, and he realized how much of the fight up above had been seen by everybody below. They were surrounded very quickly with helping hands, unhooking and detaching their gear as medics raced over to the other two. Once he and Wynn were both free, Tanner stood and hugged her tight once more.

  His phone went off. He pulled it out to hear Mason’s voice. “We got six men on the way.”

  “I see two coming toward me right now,” he said. “Macklin and Jackson.”

  “Good. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay, but both Wynn and I were almost smashed into a pulp. Instead, the two men who attacked us, Kirk and Tom, the sons of Charlie, one of the co-owners of the school she used to work for, killed each other.” He quickly gave a rundown, then said, “Neither of us are feeling great. Still under the effects of whatever drug they gave us in the coffee. And, man, I sure would like to get that asshole who doped us picked up,” he said heavily. “But you know what? Maybe because we were drugged, we escaped any real injuries here, like a drunk driver in a car wreck. We lived, so we’re okay.”

  Jackson and Macklin reached them. They forced Tanner and Wynn to sit down and to get fully checked over by the medics and to have blood samples taken to prove what drugs were in their systems. Jackson and Macklin listened to Tanner and Wynn tell their story and then called the cops.

  Jackson said, “I’ll secure the van. We’ll need the forensic evidence on that one.”

  Tanner nodded. “Thanks. Honestly I just want to go home. The last two times I’ve been paragliding, it’s been total shit.”

  Wynn, still in his arms, laughed. She tilted her head back and said, “Well, you know what they say. Third time is the charm.”

  “Does that mean the third time is an easy flight, or the third time we don’t survive?”

  “Third time we have an easy flight,” she said firmly. “In both cases, these accidents were man-made. That’s got nothing to do with the sport.”

  He stared down at her and grinned. “True enough. I don’t know about you, but I think we deserve a couple days in bed, just resting.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Hear, hear. But how long until we can get there?”

  Jackson snorted, envy on his face. “It’ll be a couple hours yet. Not only do you have the police to deal with but, Wynn, you have to talk to your brother.”

  Her face wrinkled up in a grimace. “True enough.”

  It was six hours before they arrived in her driveway and parked. She got out slowly. “I didn’t realize how sore I would be.”

  “It’ll take a lot of hot Epsom salt baths and some muscle relaxants for us to feel better in a few days,” he said. “Not to mention, we have to wait for the drugs to leave our system.”

  She smiled. “But we will be taking relaxants and baths. And Tom and Kirk won’t be.”

  Chapter 17

  Todd met them at the doorway, the worry on his face breaking her heart. She walked closer, and her brother enveloped her in a big hug. “You really know how to scare a brother.”

  “I was pretty damn scared myself,” she whispered.

  He looked at her. “Kirk and Tom, really?”

  “But then Kirk pulled a fast one on Tom. Kirk gave Tom one of the bad parachutes, and I got one of the good ones. Until one of the brothers shot it up.”

  “So Tanner saves you—again—and Kirk throws Tom to the wolves. Then Tom turns around and shoots his brother’s paraglider after realizing what’s happened.”

  “Yeah. Kirk figured that, at the end of the day, he could probably blame everything on his brother and walk away free and clear, possibly getting half of the school all to himself.” She walked inside with Tanner. “It’s not very late, but I’m beat.”

  “Time to rest. No more accidents, no more break-ins. It’s over with,” Tanner said quietly. “Maybe, just maybe, it’ll all be good from now on.”

  She gently stroked his cheek. “Thank heavens for that.”

  Todd looked at Tanner and asked, “So are you moving in, or is she moving out?”

  Tanner’s eyebrows popped up. “I’m not sure. We haven’t discussed it.”

  “Well, you may not have,” Todd said, “but I cleared out the other wing of the house for all your apartment stuff. I figured you might as well move in. At least part-time. Considering you’re gone on missions all the time, this just needs to be your home.” And he hobbled off.

  Wynn, a surprised look on her face, turned to Tanner. “Don’t feel like you have to by any means,” she rushed to say. “I’ve never heard him talk like that before.”

  “We already cleared the air,” Tanner said with a big grin. “Todd’s just given me even more signs of his approval.”

  She hesitated. “Are you renting?”

  He nodded. “I am. And Todd’s right. I am gone a lot.”

  She nodded. “Of course you are. Heroes are like that.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, heroes?”

  “You’re a man of honor, and there’s no way you would give up your job, serving your country, even for a girlfriend,” she said gently. “And that’s the way it should be.”

  He looked at he
r, shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “You’ve been talking to Mason?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “No. What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Nothing. Just this thing about honor among the group.”

  She nodded. “Of course. You’re an honorable band of men. I’m just very happy you’re mine.”

  He leaned over and gave her a hard kiss. “Ditto.”

  Laughing, their arms wrapped around each other, they slowly moved into the living room.

  “I don’t know about you,” she said with feeling, “but I need to take a couple pills and lie down. And if you say ditto …”

  He chuckled. “You head on up to your room. I’ll bring in the bags and grab the medicine.”

  “Perfect.”

  As she headed upstairs, she couldn’t imagine what the next few days would be like, better than the last few for sure. They had to find out about Charlie’s arrest and someone needed to warn Rog and update Steve. She knew the police and Mason would handle most of it so she and Tanner could rest. The two of them had time together now… honestly… she hoped they had a lifetime together. She had no intention of letting Tanner out of her life again. You only found a hero like him once in a lifetime.

  Epilogue

  Jackson Pearson walked to the front of the truck and pulled on the lever that popped the hood. Damn truck. They were on a convoy, heading from training back into Coronado. He was driving a rig full of equipment. A smaller navy rig pulled up in front of him. The driver walked toward him with a smile. He looked at her and said, “Can I help you?”

  She chuckled. “The question really is, can I help you? I was instructed to come back and see if I could fix your rig.”

  While he watched, she clambered up on the bumper and took a look under the hood. She frowned and muttered. He’d been about to check it out himself but hadn’t had a chance before she got here.

  “Your engine is overheating,” she said. “Looks like you’ve got a hole in the radiator.” She continued to check underneath the hood for a moment; then she slid off the bumper and stood next to him. She frowned and asked him, “Where were you last?”

  He motioned back up the highway. “Popped in to get water.”

  She nodded. “Interesting.”

  “Why?” he asked, staring at her, then at the steam. She was small, maybe five feet two inches, tiny, and didn’t look like she would know the front end of a truck from the back end. But, not only was she knowledgeable, she appeared to be all business.

  “Because I’ve seen that type of a hole before.” She turned to look around. “I’m thinking this vehicle needs to be towed back.”

  “Why? What kind of hole is it?”

  “Did anybody know you were going into that store?”

  Exasperated, he put his hands on his hips. “Are you going to tell me what kind of hole that is?”

  “When you went inside the store,” she said, without answering him, “did you see anyone outside hanging around your truck, anything unusual?”

  Slowly realizing something was seriously wrong, he said, “No. Why? What was I supposed to see?”

  “Not see,” she said firmly. “But hear.”

  He stared at her, looked at the hole and shook his head. He frowned and turned to her again.

  She nodded. “Yes, that’s a bullet hole.”

  This concludes Book 18 of SEALs of Honor: Tanner.

  Read about Jackson: SEALs of Honor, Book 19

  SEALs of Honor: Jackson (Book #19)

  Brave, badass warriors who serve their country with honor and love their women to the limits of life and death.

  Jackson is Book #19 of the SEALs of Honor Series.

  Book 19 is available now!

  To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Tanner: SEALs of Honor, Book 18! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.

  Dear reader,

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  Cheers,

  Dale Mayer

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  About the Author

  Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

  She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.

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  TANNER: SEALS OF HONOR, BOOK 18

  Dale Mayer

  Valley Publishing

  Copyright © 2018

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-773360-93-5

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