Brotherhood Protectors: Riser's Resolve: Men of Mercy (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

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  DOSSIER

  TASK FORCE SCORPION (TF-S)

  A branch of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)

  Ft. Grenada, MS--

  MACK GREY: Detachment Commander, Captain

  ♣ Recruited from the 75th Ranger Regiment, Ft. Benning, GA

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, interrogations specialist, psychological warfare

  ♣ First in Command. Responsible for ensuring and maintaining operational readiness.

  ♣ Height: 6’

  ♣ Weight: 195lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Gothic Serpent, Somalia. Operation Desert Storm, OIF, Operation Crescent Wind, Operation Rhino, Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Mountain Viper, Operation Eagle Fury, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  HUNTER JAMES: Warrant Officer, Detachment Commander

  ♣ Recruited from the 75th Ranger Regiment, Ft. Benning, GA

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, psychological warfare

  ♣ Responsible for overseeing all Team ops. Commands in absence of detachment commander.

  ♣ Height: 6’3”

  ♣ Weight: 230lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Crescent Wind, Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Mountain Viper

  RANGER JAMES: Team Daddy/Team Sergeant, Master Sgt.

  ♣ Recruited from the 75th Ranger Regiment, Ft. Benning, GA

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon

  ♣ Plans, coordinates & directs Team intelligence, analysis and dissemination.

  ♣ Height: 6’4”

  ♣ Weight: 225lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Crescent Wind, Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Mountain Viper, Operation Eagle Fury

  JARED CROWE: Weapons Sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class

  ♣ Recruited from Delta Force, Ft. Bragg, NC

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon, Sniper

  ♣ Weapons expert. Capable of firing and employing all small arm and crew served weapons

  ♣ Height: 6’0”

  ♣ Weight: 220lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Crescent Wind, Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  HOYT CROWE: Asst. Weapons Sergeant, Staff Sgt.

  ♣ Recruited from Delta Force, Ft. Bragg, NC

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon, Sniper

  ♣ Weapons expert. Capable of firing and employing all small arm and crew served weapons

  ♣ Height: 6’0”

  ♣ Weight: 210lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Crescent Wind, Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  AARON SPEIRS: Medical Sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class

  ♣ Recruited from Delta Force, Ft. Bragg, NC

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, medic

  ♣ The life-saver. Employs the latest field medical technology and limited surgical procedures

  ♣ Height: 6’1”

  ♣ Weight: 195lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  RISER MALLON: Asst. Medical Sergeant, Staff Sgt.

  ♣ Recruited from Delta Force, Ft. Bragg, NC

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon, medic

  ♣ The life-saver. Employs the latest field medical technology and limited surgical procedures

  ♣ Height: 6’2”

  ♣ Weight: 215lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Anaconda, Operation Jacana, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles,Operation Mountain Viper, Operation Eagle Fury

  MERC: Engineer Sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class

  ♣ Recruited from Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon, Demolitions, psychological operations

  ♣ Demolition expert. Trained in psychological warfare, conducts field interrogations.

  ♣ Height: 6’5”

  ♣ Weight: 250lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Classified

  ETHAN SLADE: Communications

  Sergeant/Commo Guy, Sgt. 1st Class

  ♣ Recruited from the 75th Ranger Regiment, Ft. Benning, GA

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special recon, communications

  ♣ Communications expert. Employ latest FM, multi-channel, and satellite communication devices.

  ♣ Height: 6’0”

  ♣ Weight: 200lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  CORD CARTER: Weapons Sergeant, Staff Sgt.

  ♣ Recruited from the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), Camp Lejeune, NC

  ♣ Specialized Skills: direct action, unconventional warfare, special reconnoissance, weapons expert/sniper

  ♣ Weapons expert. Capable of firing and employing all small arm and crew served weapons

  ♣ Height: 6’1”

  ♣ Weight: 210lbs

  ♣ Combat Experience: Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Condor, Operation Summit, Operation Volcano, Operation Achilles

  Chapter One

  Laney held her three-year-old daughter in her arms and stared up at the doctor in the small Radcliff, Mississippi emergency room. “Please, please just make her better.”

  She held her breath, ignoring the despair clawing at her lungs. She’d seen that look he was giving her before—too many times. The judgment. Deadbeat single mom. No money. No hope. No future.

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but your insurance…”

  Her eyes slid shut. I’m sorry was a phrase she’d learned to disregard. Her abusive husband had used it after beating her within an inch of her life. Then he’d gone to work the next day and acted the role of Mr. Perfect Cop, leaving Laney to fend for herself in a town full of citizens and coworkers who worshipped the ground he walked on. His half-hearted apologies had done little to soothe her: I’m sorry I yelled. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry I hit you; it’ll never happen again.

  That was when she’d learned to be strong. She’d learned for her daughter, for her sole reason for existence in this destructive world where men weren’t men anymore. John Wayne didn’t exist. There was no ride off into the sunset, just the ever-present darkness of nightfall, absent the moon’s spare light.

  “No!” she said to the doctor, opening her eyes and lasering him with her stare. “You will not give up on my child. I’l
l take on another job. I’ll clean your toilets, do your laundry, I don’t care, just please make her better.”

  Because what else is there if I don’t have my baby?

  “Excuse me, sir, may I talk to you?”

  At first, Laney didn’t recognize the man who’d approached the doctor. The good doctor, relieved to have any excuse to escape the sad woman and her sick daughter, didn’t even nod; he just walked away. The two stopped a few feet away, right beside a nurses’ station without any nurses.

  The newcomer wore a black shirt and dark blue jeans. His bulky arms stretched the limits of his shirt, and his hair was buzzed…military. Laney dropped her head to her sleeping daughter’s face. She could spot a crew cut a hundred miles out and spout off all the ramifications it carried with it. Sure, the whole world thought all men in uniform were full of honor. Her experience had been explicitly different. Her man had been a cop, not military, but he’d always cared about himself more than he did the people he’d pledged to protect, more than he did his own family.

  A lesson Laney had learned too young—too broke and dumb to see it coming.

  “Excuse me, ma’am. May I take a closer look?”

  Laney glanced up in surprise to see the same, cold doctor kneeling at her side and waiting for permission. The other man stood just behind him, his arms crossed and legs spread in a stance too painful to remember. It was the first good look she’d gotten at his face. “Riser?” she asked in surprise.

  He nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Laney shook off her shock at seeing the blond-haired soldier in the hospital. She’d specifically driven a few towns away so no one who knew them would be there to identify her. Didn’t it just figure that he’d be the one to show up tonight and possibly blow her whole cover?

  “You don’t have to call me ma’am. I’ve served you plenty of times in the bar.”

  He knew exactly who she was. At least she thought he did.

  “Sorry. Laney. Yes, I know your name.”

  “Ma’am? I need to inspect the child now. May I?” the doctor asked again.

  Those long hours of secretly watching him from the safety behind the bar, wishing she had the courage to strike up a conversation with the muscle-packed soldier, was obviously taking a toll on her senses. “Yes,” she choked out.

  “Can you lift her higher?”

  Laney sat up. Her right arm was asleep thanks to the last three hours of waiting in a cold bed. She lifted Lily who groaned and grabbed her tummy; her head, hot and feverish, still tucked into Laney’s shoulder.

  The doctor went about his inspection, while Laney focused on her daughter and not the man standing sentry a few feet away.

  “I won’t know for sure what’s wrong until I get a full blood panel to rule some things out. We’ll get her treatment as soon as we can.” The doctor, who’d never introduced himself, stood and dropped his stethoscope around his neck. “If it’s what I suspect we’ll need to remove her appendix. She’ll be in the hospital at least three or four days.”

  The doctor turned to look at Riser, who nodded instantly.

  Laney stiffened. “Great. I can cover it.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll have a nurse draw blood as soon as possible.” The doctor left.

  “What did you tell him?” Laney stared at Riser, whose gaze didn’t waver.

  “Not much, I just nudged him in your direction.”

  “Well, I don’t need any handouts. I can take care of us.” The thought of becoming reliant on a man again turned her stomach.

  “I can see that you are more than capable. That doesn’t mean you can’t accept a little help every now and then.”

  Laney paused, another rebuttal on the tip of her tongue. She’d talked back even though he was helping her. Why was he being so…calm? Her ex would have been yelling and punching walls by now. “Why?”

  His eyes turned even more inscrutable, if possible. “You needed help, and I was in a position to give it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  Riser and his sandy blond hair and perfect jaw turned and walked off before she could form a response, but she couldn’t help notice the dark bloodstain on his shirt. Is he injured?

  She shook off her concern for him. What did it matter? He’d obviously been the trigger for Lily’s treatment, for which she was grateful, but he was military—an alpha male, through and through—the type of man she didn’t want anything to do with ever again.

  “Mommy?” Lily’s weak voice drew Laney’s attention, and she cupped her daughter’s face, fighting off the tears.

  “I’m here, baby. Right here.”

  “I don’t feel good.”

  “I know, sweetie. The doctor is getting you some medicine right now. Just rest. Mommy will be here.”

  ###

  Riser Mallon strode away from the desperate woman and her sick child with a clenched jaw, ignoring the stabbing pain in his side. He’d overheard the whole conversation. The doctor had dismissed her as a no -insurance, no-pay patient who needed to evac his hospital ASAP, but that wasn’t what had made him intercede.

  It was the thread of desperation in her voice, paired with an iron will that refused to be broken.

  She could have made a scene, broken down into tears, yelled…but she didn’t. Her plea was quiet, serious, and intent, and it had tapped on a heart he didn’t realize he still possessed, waking it up with a jolt.

  Surprising to think that this intense mother, was the same quiet, almost shy, bartender from his town. Someone he’d spoken with on and off for the last year.

  Her sweetness and strength screamed she was a forever girl and not the type for a one night stand. That’s all he’d ever had to offer and so he’d forced himself to stay away, flirting with her outgoing friend instead.

  All that changed as soon as he’d heard her tonight. He had no choice but to get involved. Never given much thought to what her story was outside of the bar. Helping her and her kid though? That was a no-brainer.

  The stab wound in his side would hold until Laney’s little girl got treatment. Hell, he’d gone three days in the desert with a wound worse than this. He marched back to the waiting room and collapsed into the too-small plastic chair next to his best friend and teammate, Ethan.

  “You don’t seem any better,” Ethan said.

  “Because I’m not.”

  “The ER starting a new non-treatment policy?”

  “Apparently just for single mothers with sick children.” Riser nodded toward the retreating figure of the woman. Her shoulders were squared, telegraphing her fierce resolve. She held her daughter’s hand while a nurse rolled the girl down the hall on a fresh bed.

  “Shit, this whole place is bass-ackwards.”

  “Yep,” Riser said.

  “So, we’re gonna be here all night then?”

  “Yep.”

  “At least the chairs are comfortable.” Ethan leaned back in his, the plastic creaking in full protest under his two hundred and ten pounds of pure muscle.

  “Better than the last hospital.” Half their team had suffered either bullet wounds or shrapnel injuries on their last mission in the Congo. Their mission had gone unreported, as if it had never existed, as was normal in the Special Forces.

  “True, brother,” Ethan said. “I haven’t seen a rat or camel spider crawl across the floor yet.”

  “You must have missed the doctor.” The man had been so ready to dismiss the woman; Riser had to pull on the reserves in his control not to knock the doctor to the ground.

  “Sounds like a real winner.”

  “More like a real asshole.” Riser would have leaned back in his chair, just like Ethan, except for the deep cut in his side. He chose to hunch forward, elbows propped on his knees, acting like he preferred that position; truth was, he could no longer sit up straight.

  “Well, that’ll be the last time I let you get into a bar fight in this place,” Ethan said. “I can’t believe you let Duke talk us into going to that place anyway. That guy has alwa
ys been a wild card.”

  Riser had been trying to find a way to blow off steam after his last mission in the Congo, where his team had finally killed their biggest enemy, Jack Mankel, but they’d failed to find Caroline, the senator’s daughter Riser had failed to protect.

  Riser had been cagey and crawling the walls of his little one bedroom apartment back home when Duke had shown up at his door, six-pack in hand. “I haven’t seen him since Delta Force. He’s just as much fun as he was back then.”

  “As much fun as a fox in a chicken coop. He’s the one who threw the first punch.”

  “After that guy started talking trash,” Riser reminded him.

  “After you started flirting with his girlfriend,” Ethan said.

  Riser shrugged, “How was I supposed to know she had a man?”

  Ethan snorted and leaned back, threading his fingers together behind his neck. “Shoulda let me introduce you to Kate’s friend.”

  “The one from the FBI?” Riser asked incredulously. “I prefer my women soft and sweet. That chick would rip my balls off and eat ‘em for breakfast.”

  Ethan cringed. “She’s a little rough around the edges.”

  “A little?” Riser was pretty sure the woman was growing a mustache. “Look, man, go home. I’ll be fine here.” Besides, he wanted to stay until he was sure Laney received the care she needed and deserved.

  Ethan’s jet black brows hit his hair line. “And let Kate order me around all night, moving furniture and pictures and stuff?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t like it.” Riser had seen Ethan painting more than one room in his house pale blue. Kate had his teammate wrapped around her tough little pinky.

  Ethan shurugged and a grin tugged at his lips. “She is kinda sexy when she orders me around like that.”

  “You’re whipped bro, admit it.”

  “Hell yeah I am. One day you’ll understand.” Ethan stood and pulled the keys out of his pocket. “And I’m going to enjoy every second of watching you squirm.”

  Riser rolled his eyes. He had absolutely no intention of ever settling down. Ever. “When hell freezes over.”