Redemption River Read online

  Redemption River

  Men of Mercy

  Lindsey Anderson

  Cypress Bend Publishing, LLC

  Contents

  Copyright

  Introduction

  Acknowledgments

  DOSSIER

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Before you go…

  Resurrection River: Men of Mercy Book 2

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  Copyright © 2015 by Lindsay Cross

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 978-0-9968360-0-5

  Introduction

  Praise for the Men of Mercy Series

  “Lindsay Cross delivers high-powered action, alpha heroes and an exciting conclusion!”

  - ELLE JAMES

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

  “This is one of those books that the phrase sit down, shut up and hang on would be used because it’s a wild ride from page one to the end.”

  - 5 Star Goodreads Review, Redemption River

  “This book was wall to wall action. Once the danger hit, it never slowed down. I was late leaving my house because there was no way I could stop reading.”

  - 5 Star NetGalley Review, Redemption River

  Acknowledgments

  I want to give a huge thank you to Megan Mitcham for your daily motivation and for keeping it real. Your badass Base Branch Series rocks!!! I couldn’t have done it with out you!

  Another big shout out to Kim Killion and Jennifer Jakes-without you and a bucket load of patience, the Men of Mercy would never have these truly awesome covers.

  Thank you to my dad for giving me the love of reading and to my mom for dropping everything to read my books and catch those last minute mistakes.

  My beautiful beta readers, Jenna, Jamie and Lauren-you’ve helped make the Men of Mercy shine.

  And last, but most definitely not least, thank you to my true military hero-my husband. I love you all.

  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 Jacan, 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, spec
ial 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

  SHANE 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 recon,

  weapons expert/sniper

  ♣Weapons expert. Capable of firing and

  employing all small

  arm and crew served weapons

  ♣Height: 5’11”

  ♣Weight: 180lbs

  ♣Combat Experience: Operation Iraqi

  Freedom, 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 recon,

  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

  

  MR J: CIA Liaison, Embedded with ISA

  ♣Special Activities Division (SAD) of the

  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

  ♣Specialized Skills: Classified

  ♣Training: Classified

  ♣Height: 5’10”

  ♣Weight: 170lbs

  ♣Combat Experience: Classified

  1

  Delta Force 2007

  Somewhere outside of Karachi, Pakistan along the Indus River

  The desert moon highlighted every tree and piece of brush along the Indus River, but it did not touch Hunter James and his men. The small contingent lay on their stomachs in the sand, blending with the camouflage of shadows, legs in the water behind them.

  The cool night air was a welcome reprieve from Satan’s hell-on-earth heat. Long, dark strips of clouds cut across the ominous sky, slicing the crescent moon in half, and the shadows shifted across Hunter’s face. A crisp wind swept sand across the ground, but Hunter didn’t blink. Didn’t take his gaze from the high-powered night vision binoculars or NVGs.

  The only things that moved were the corpses.

  Limp bodies hung from ropes in irregular intervals along the twelve-foot concrete wall surrounding the newest compound of the terrorist organization ISA, the Islamic State of Afghanistan. Men. Women. Children. Each of them decorated with blood-painted signs. Traitor. Whore. Infidel.

  A normal person would have vomited at the gruesome sight. But not Hunter. Not any member of the team he led—Task Force Scorpion or TF-S. Death hadn’t fazed them in a long time. It couldn’t, not in their profession.

  “Son of a bitch. What kind of man decorates his home with dead women and children?” Ranger, Hunter’s brother and second in command, spoke through their team’s internal communication system. The remote mic system allowed them to communicate within a thousand yards of each other.

  “Not a man. A monster. And I plan on fitting him with his own personal noose, right after we play a little game of dull knife, dull spoon.” Jared, an elite scout sniper, shifted forward, careful not to break line out of the bushes.

  “Aw, hell no, man, you always get to have all the fun. It’s my turn this time. Plus, Mr. J already put you on probationary status after the Congo mission,” said Hoyt, Jared’s brother.

  “No one is killing Al Seriq tonight. That’s not the mission. We’re here on a capture and carry only.” Hunter tilted his head to the right, narrowing in on the west tower with his binoculars. A lone guard stood watch, his AK-47 clearly visible against the sky.

  “But Top, that could have changed, you don’t know. Mr. J hasn’t checked in. Could be command invoked a kill order,” Hoyt said. Top, or top dog, was Hunter’s nickname for being the first sergeant in charge of the group.

  Hunter sighed, not bothering to hide his irritation. Hoyt was a mischief-maker, his blond, curly hair and bright smile a constant source of attraction for women no matter where they were stationed. It only meant Hunter had to be more of a hard-ass.

  “You heard him. Besides, you’d puss out before you even started on his eyes,” Jared said. He was the more serious of the brothers, with darker hair that matched his grimmer personality.

  “Give it up. You know Top doesn’t break orders,” Ranger said. He leaned left and his shoulder brushed Hunter’s as he swept his binoculars in a constant motion, keeping an eye out for new combatants.

  “You four sound like a bunch of women. Why don’t y’all go ahead and have a cat fight and get it over with?” Shane Carter said. Though not related to either set of brothers by blood, Shane might as well be family. He and Ranger had become best friends at ten years old, and the two had been a team ever since.

  Hunter’s Task Force Scorpion was a group of nine men. All of them highly intelligent. All of them deadly. All of them fearless.

  Years of training together had honed the men to the sharp precision of a finely crafted blade. A blade the government wielded when the broad sword of the army failed. A blade that could slice the head off a terrorist organization, leaving the body in a pool of blood before the group even registered its death.

  If they were caught, there would be no rescue. No air strike. No news anchor demanding their release. According to the US government, TF-S didn’t exist.

  “Speaking of women, if you don’t hurry up and nail that redhead back home at The Wharf, I’m gonna do it for you,” Hoyt said to Ranger.

  Hunter stilled. Evie owned The Wharf, which just happened to be Mercy, Mississippi’s only bar.

  “Trust me, you couldn’t handle a woman like her if she jumped into your lap,” Ranger said. “Anyway, I like to appreciate my time with women, take it slow.”

  “Yeah, appreciate them right into a nursing home. You haven’t had a woman in three years. How much appreciating do you need?”

  “Enough. You two can compare dicks later. Eyes on the tower.” H
unter leveled his voice, fighting to keep his memories locked down tight. They needed to focus. Their mission was to capture a murderer. Not daydream in the sand.

  Muhammad Al Seriq, the new leader of ISA, murdered innocents with a ferocity that made his predecessor look like a GI Joe doll. After a Pashtun drug lord murdered his father, he joined ISA and quickly jumped up the ranking order. When the last leader of ISA had been murdered, Al Seriq took over, and moved the organization into Pakistan.

  Intel suspected Al Seriq was acquiring a massive shipment of weapons from a source unknown to the CIA. A source that had to be discovered before more of their weapons were used to kill more innocents.

  Hunter scanned the towers again, marking the guards’ routine, nailing down their weaknesses. “Intel has Al Seriq in the central compound. Remember, we’re here for extraction. Mr. J wants him for questioning.” They could all hear him, of course, but Hunter turned his head to look at them. “They can’t question a dead body.”

  Mr. J was TF-S’s liaison with the CIA and the only man to successfully embed with ISA. Ninety percent of the intel on ISA had come directly from him.

  Shane’s voice clicked on in Hunter’s ear. “Got it, Top. They won’t even know he’s missing until tomorrow’s call for prayer.”

  The rest of his men sounded their agreement. “All right, order of march is myself, Ranger, and Shane is trail. Jared and Hoyt, provide over-watch.” Hunter checked his SEIKO watch and then spoke into the comm system, “Team two, plan to meet at extraction point A at 0130.”

  “Roger.” Merc, recon expert and leader for Team two answered. TF-S had broken into two groups for this mission. One for invasion and one for extraction.

  “Moving.” The brothers spread out, rolling away from the group, careful to keep to the underbrush. Hunter held up the binoculars again, watching the guards again. The east tower guard dropped his AK over his shoulder and lit up a smoke.

  Hunter eased forward, his heart rate calm, his hands steady. The cold, comfortable weight of training settled over him. He smiled. This was what he lived for. The adrenaline rush of going into a situation and knowing he might not come out. And the pride of knowing there was no better way he could serve his country. Just like his old man.