Saturday Book Tease

A kidnapping leads to a dangerous rescue mission--and love--in Freeing Fatima!

Hello, Readers!

Welcome to another Saturday Book Tease. This week’s tease is an excerpt from book #3 in my award-winning Green Beret series, Freeing Fatima.

Book #3 continues the story begun in book #2, Loving Leisl, picking up where it left off, smack in the middle of a high-speed chase!

Summary:

She never believed in fairytales. He never believed himself a hero. They were both wrong.

When Fatima Ali was taken by terrorists, she thought her life was over. When they took her mother away too, she lost all hope, until she saw the tall man with warm amber eyes.

Sgt. Marcus DuBose, codename: Skyscraper, never allowed himself to grow attached to hostages. His job was to get in, rescue, and return them home with the greatest efficiency. The deadliest of his Spec Ops team, Skyscraper is cold and calculating, but beneath the icy surface beats the heart of a musician, and oddly enough, a man who believes he’s unworthy of love.

In a shootout in Old Town Bucharest, he sees her for the first time. The high-value hostage is the daughter of the Islamic State’s newest bomb-maker. But she’s not the little girl he expected. Instead, he discovers she’s a young woman. A beautiful and brave young woman!

When their eyes meet, something inside Skyscraper awakens, and when she screams for help, he comes running. With his captain and teammates at his side, he’s hot on the trail of the kidnappers in a race across Eastern Europe. With a mole leaking information inside their own command blowing their cover, time is not on their side. The clock is ticking as Skyscraper lets down his guard and breaks his own rule to free Fatima. Will she reject the highly trained killer, or will a fairytale finally come true for the star-crossed lovers?

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Chapter One

The sun peaked over the horizon as Skyscraper slammed on the brakes. The van came to a screeching halt kicking up gravel on the edge of the road. His team leader, Captain Nathan James Oliver, code name, Outlaw, slapped the dashboard.

“What the hell?” He looked at the man behind the wheel.

“Sorry, Outlaw,” he said. “Coyote. At least, I hope that’s what it was.” Marcus DuBose, aka, Skyscraper, rubbed his eyes. “They’re still moving,” he said, looking at the GPS clipped to the vent on the dash of the stolen van. It had been five hours since the chaotic firefight with the terrorists in Old Town Bucharest. They’d terminated the hit squad sent to kill them, thanks to the timely arrival of Cobra and his team, aided by their own man, Doc. When Doc went down from a bullet to the chest, the terrorists they’d been tracking ran taking with them the chemical engineering prodigy and hostage, Fatima Ali. There was no time to stop and think, no time to help Doc. Cobra and the SEALs stayed behind with their medic. Doc was their teammate, their friend, their family, and yet, they still had a job to do, and a high-priority kidnapping victim to rescue.

“As long as they don’t ditch that damned car, we’ll be able to find them.” Outlaw looked over his shoulder into the back of the van. His men, Hank ‘Hollywood’ Jimenez, Allen Williamson, whom they called Ghost, and the two new temporary additions to his Special Operations Group, Lt. Shane McCall, aka Badger and his Chief Warrant Officer Nick Perrillo, code name Jersey, all sat slumped against the side walls, exhausted. “Everyone okay back there?”

“We were, until Skyscraper’s shitty driving disrupted our nap,” grumbled Hollywood.

“Shut up, Hank. I ain’t having killing a coyote on my conscience.” Skyscraper maneuvered the van back onto the road.

“You cut the throats of terrorists, but you balk at running over a damned wild dog.”

Skyscraper threw a look at Hollywood in the rearview mirror. “Coyote ain’t done a thing but be a coyote. He hasn’t killed innocent people. I’m not about hurting animals, just evil-ass terrorists.”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” said Outlaw. “We need to catch up. If I’m not mistaken, they’re heading for Chisinau and the international airport there. We crossed over into Moldova about twenty minutes back.” Outlaw held up the map on his screen showing it to the men in the back.

“But where are they going? Where do they think they can fly with a hostage?” Ghost asked.

“Most likely they have a plane waiting. If the Saudi Crown Prince’s brother is indeed the one orchestrating this then that means Prince Nayef would have the means to provide safe transport out,” said Badger.

“A private jet,” Skyscraper mumbled. “Oil billionaires never travel any other way, right?”

“And that’s why we need to catch up because once they get onto the tarmac, we won’t be able to stop them,” Outlaw pointed out.

“Roger that, Captain.” Skyscraper pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The van sped up tearing down the deserted back road in a race against time. “She saw me, you know.”

“What? Who?” Outlaw looked at Marcus.

“The girl, or young woman, I should say. She looked right at me before they shoved her into the car. Screamed for me to help her.”

“And we will, Marcus. We are.” Outlaw patted his shoulder.

“Damn right we are. She’s strong, though. I could see it in her eyes. Pretty eyes,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper before he clammed up once again to focus on driving.

Outlaw’s eyebrow came up. Skyscraper didn’t often say much. The tallest, and deadliest of his team members was usually quiet, reserved. When he did speak, it carried weight because his observations had, on more than one occasion, led to their team’s success and saved lives. He’d never once heard the younger man make this kind of comment before regarding the subject of a mission. It struck him as odd, but then, the entire mission had been one surprise after the next. His thoughts drifted to Doc, last seen lying on the ground, blood staining his vest. He sent a silent prayer up for his friend, and then sent another back home to his wife, Emma. The baby was due at any moment, and he knew he’d never forgive himself for not being there when it arrived. He still didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. They’d decided to wait and see, to be surprised. There was too much on his mind, too much to worry about, but right now, he had to focus on rescuing this woman. She was the priority. Everything else would fall in line.

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