Final Strike

  VICTOR - VHF/AM radio.

  VISUAL - Sighting of a friendly aircraft; opposite of “BLIND.”

  WEEDS - Indicates that aircraft are operating close to the surface.

  WILCO - Will comply with received instructions.

  ZIPPER - Acknowledge radio transmissions with two clicks of the mike button.

  Part One

  The Beginning of the End

  “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… We must do that which we think we cannot.”

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Prologue

  Thane could still smell the burnt wood and explosives that took out his friends and changed the course of his and his team’s lives forever. Even now, almost a year later, the sounds, the scents, hell, the feelings, were just like it had happened yesterday. He had tried to move forward, for his men, to help them, but it was hard. Every time he thought he was taking a step forward, something would come and smack them down right back to where they started, or maybe it was just Thane. He was the last of his team to find a purpose in life, and possibly the one who needed it the most.

  He looked out into the dark night and wanted to scream, standing in the meeting room of the mansion they were using for a headquarters. Alex’s family was more than generous with the team, and had helped them each find a way to continue to move on with their lives. Even if it was through the ones they loved. Harper Bret barreled into their investigation, Alex’s parents had seen a way to keep the team involved in what they did best, help people. Even though the ranch was where they would be focused, part of being a SEAL would always be with them. This company Harper was building to help agencies with investigations was just what they needed to still feel like they were doing something good. Thane wasn’t sure how this whole fucked up mess was going to end, but truthfully, he didn’t know what he was feeling.

  They were all expecting him to be the leader like he had always been, but Lieutenant Commander Thane Grete was not the same man as he was a year ago. Then he had been a force to be reckoned with, although he would never recognize the strength he exuded. Thane was larger than life for most of the men, and he hadn’t even tried to be the super hero they all looked up to, it was just who he was.

  When Thane joined the military, it was because there was nowhere else to go. An orphan who didn’t even know his family, Thane had been brought up in the system. No one had adopted the sullen baby who appeared on the doorstep of a church when he was a year old. Then he found what he had needed, a purpose, a family, and most of all, a place that he could call his own, in the service. That is what he held onto, and when it was suddenly taken away, it was like his identity had been taken with it. Thane had no clue who he was supposed to be, he felt lost at times.

  It started out like a normal mission. Terrorist activity that needed to be dealt with. Being a member of a SEAL Team was all he ever wanted when he was younger. The fast life and excitement from the movies was what the young men saw prior to enlistment. When reality hit, it could be a serious problem. Things were never as good as what they appeared to be on TV. However, it was where he belonged and what he did. The good, bad, and the ugly was who he was. But not his team, they were better than that. Thane was so proud of the men he had recruited. When they approached him to lead a team, Thane had been hesitant, leading a team was a lot of responsibility. He had been chosen by his Commander to lead his own team after a mission where Thane had taken over when their leader was injured. He had led them all to safety and received a pretty little medal that really didn’t mean much to Thane. It was his job, and that humbleness, which the Commander recognized and Team TEN was born. Thane requested to go through SEAL training again with a class, so he could chose the men he wanted to work with. It had been the best decision of his life.

  Sam “Clipper” Roge had been the youngest member of the team with the youthfulness still there, and the excitement still fresh. Thane had taken to him right away, thinking of the younger man as the little brother he had always wanted. They had a lot in common. When Clipper had come into the military, he was the typical blonde haired blue-eyed surfer. His long curly locks had been like a mantra for him. When he had to get them shaved, the poor boy almost cried. Thus his name, Clipper, because he cursed the man who refused to use scissors and just shaved his locks off with a smile.

  Thane and Sam had a lot in common strangely enough. Sam had lost both of his parents and only uncle in a car accident. He and his cousin, who had been a few years older, were put into the system together. The three of them had seemed to connect instantly, it was something Thane didn’t spend too much time thinking about, it would have made him realize he wasn’t the nobody he thought himself to be.

  Melanie Shook had been Sam’s only family, a sweet gorgeous woman who Thane felt an instant attraction to. Sam had teased him mercilessly about it. Every time they were all together you could feel the attraction, but Thane refused to act on it. He said she was too young and innocent for him. It was true, but that didn’t stop Thane from falling in love with her a little more each time he saw her. Sam knew about his feelings, and had encouraged Thane to pursue her, but Thane declined, knowing he was too rough for her. She was a cousin and best friend of Sam’s, but more than that, she was the one woman Thane knew he could never have, and it drove him crazy. Her long brown hair and tall voluptuous body reminded him of the old pin up girls. She downplayed her beauty, but it still was like a beacon to Thane. She smiled and the sun shined, she was smart, quiet, and when you got to know her, spunky.

  Many leaves they had spent together, hanging out, and having fun. Melanie graduated with a degree in Political Science. Thane was impressed that she worked for the State Department in its Foreign Relations section. They were able to talk about the places they had both been. It just made it even more obvious they were meant to be together. That is why it had been so hard since the incident for Thane, he hadn’t gone to the one place he should have for support. Instead, Thane had been a coward and had spoken to her only a few times on the phone.

  Thane had always protected the younger man, but when the time came, he had failed him. He had failed them all…

  “Status?” OIC said quietly and focused on the building they had watched for the last week. Their Target was in there, they knew it, and he came like clockwork. Visiting a woman whom he frequented often, the Intel had been solid. They had been in a safe house for weeks, and finally everything fell into place. The team was ready for this mission to be over with.

  Boyscout, who was point, looked around and waited. They called for Champagne, which was two teams in front—one behind. Boyscout was the leader of the team on the right, he and three men were situated where they would enter the building and take the right set of stairs to the second floor, then the other ones would take the left set with the other team covering from behind. Thane had made sure that each of the men knew who they were to follow. Clipper was behind him, and would not move unless his superior directed him to. Even though he was the team leader, Thane didn’t usually take point, that was what he loved about his team, they were able to each lead a mission confidently. He had trained them like that, because of his past experience.

  He and Clipper were both trained as EMTs. Clipper was always the last on the scene and went on missions when there was potential of rescuing people in need of treatment. It didn’t minimize the man’s lethalness. When push came to shove, he was a SEAL and would help protect everyone in the mission. Clipper was best in hand-to-hand combat and could wield a knife with the skill many were envious of.

  “Green,” the quiet voices started announcing and Boyscout waited. Thane watched him out of the corner of his eye. He was still the leader and the one responsible for the men, they were his, and he wanted to make sure they were all moving.

  There was a pause, and they waited for their final okay for the mission. Clipper was bouncing a little behind him, the adrenaline was flowing fast, and he w
as going to have to put a fuckin’ boot up his ass if he didn’t settle. Even the slightest movement could draw attention. Looking over his shoulder, Thane gave Clipper a warning look to calm down. The younger soldier nodded slowly and rolled his eyes a little. It was an old battle they had on every mission. Sooner or later Clipper would know when he had pushed it too far like he had right now.

  The man they had been searching for had been verified as being in an apartment on the second floor. Their mission was to grab the man. He was responsible for the death of a lot of people, sitting in this hovel directing terrorist attacks around the world. Many soldiers had died because of this asshole, and the team was determined to make sure not another ounce of blood was shed from this man. Since the war of terrorism started, the team had been involved in many missions to find and bring to justice men who had their hands in the deaths of so many people. Thane believed in his job, and knew they had kept people safe; many of the men in custody had been brought in by his team and other SEAL teams. It was their job, some agreed, and others didn’t, but the bottom line was they saved lives.

  There was a little movement but not much, it was dusk and they were going into the building at the most opportune time. Boyscout was watching out of the corner of his eye at the surrounding people who seemingly were innocently strolling. They were waiting for 1800 hours, when most of the people were off the street. He turned and looked at him and nodded. Thane looked at his watch and they had the go code.

  Commander Greese, who was in charge of the SEAL teams, told him when they left on this mission that when they came back, they were going to talk. Thane loved his job, but also knew there was something he was missing. He wanted a family, and the more time he spent with Sam and Mel, he realized something was missing in his life.

  Ted and Marie had it, and some of the others were growing as restless as he was when they had leave. SEAL Team TEN had seen its share of missions, and the Commander was worried they were getting burnt out. He figured when they returned, it was going to be time to take a nice long leave in order to recharge and get priorities straight. Besides, Marie had just given birth to a sweet little girl none of them had met, including her dad.

  Being in the military, his life was making a difference, when as a child, he had been helpless to do anything. Sam had felt the same way, and the two had spent hours talking about what they wanted to accomplish.

  “Irene, I repeat, Irene,” he said clearly, which meant they had the go to do the mission. Now it was a matter of waiting for the correct time. Boyscout tapped on his watch and looked at the specs of the building. He knew it like the back of his hand, but Boyscout was compulsive about planning and Intel. He had the same information on his watch but he was confident in Boyscout and so he did a last check before they would move.

  “Heads Up,” Thane said quietly into the mike, and then waited and watched for the movement he just saw. It was almost time, the sun was setting, from now on, the communication would only be hand signals, they were going dark, since the smallest noise could draw attention to them, and that wasn’t what they wanted right now.

  Boyscout watched and he held up a fist, it meant hold up. They all watched as a group of men came around the corner, they waited for them to pass and then the first team began to walk swiftly toward the entrance of the building. They were halfway across the street when Boyscout said he saw him.

  The lone man walked with determination, LC heard the tap in the ear wick three times, and all of the men froze and walked to the side. They saw the man too, coming around the edge of the corner where Boyscout and his team were.

  The man walked to the front of the building they were breaching and stopped, he grinned and looked around, his eyes stopping on each of his team members. Boyscout didn’t have time to react as the man opened his arms wide and lifted them to the sky, that’s when he saw the bomb strapped to the man’s stomach and stood up and yelled, “Joker!”

  The man pressed something on his chest and laughed—the explosion rocked the street.

  When Thane had come to, his shoulder and leg had been burned, then he looked down and had seen the shrapnel embedded in his body and refused to let it slow him down. His men were there, and they needed help.

  “Status?” LC barked and no one answered. “Damn it, Status.” Still no response.

  He shook his head and looked. He met Sam’s eyes and knew he was staring into hell.

  Thane shook with fear, he could feel the cold and sweatiness of his skin, and it pissed him off. There was a time he wasn’t afraid of anything, but now he was, he was afraid to lose another member of his team. Damn it, he could still feel Clipper in his arms as he carried him to the safe house, they had only been a few blocks away when the bomb went off, but it seemed to take forever to reach safety. The crowds that had come to see what had happened almost had blown their cover. If Thane wouldn’t have ducked into several abandoned buildings, the locals would have known a group of Americans had been close to the explosion. The fallout would have been huge, considering the crater that was now in the place where a full apartment building had once stood.

  Thane had known Sam was going to die, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from trying, never leave a man behind was more than a saying, it was the truth. He hadn’t been able to find anyone else, and only hoped that when he arrived to the apartment the rest of the team would be there.

  When they arrived to the safe house, Thane had tried to save Sam. It was futile, but he refused to accept his brother in arms was beyond saving. Thane’s shoulder was fucked up from the blast, and blood ran down his hands into his friends open chest wound as Thane administered CPR. Even when the soldiers from NATO arrived to help them extricate, Thane had refused to stop.

  It had been a man whom he trained several years before for the NATO military that had bent down and whispered into his ear. “LC, he is gone.” Major Dario Moghodan knew what his friend was going through, because he felt the same way.

  “NO!” Thane had screamed and the man had put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him away from Clipper. When Thane looked up to Dario’s face, all he could see was the sorrow in his fellow soldier’s eyes.

  “I got you,” Dario said and Thane knew he was telling the truth. They developed a bond when they were training, one that had only grown with time. Even though they had been assigned in different places and teams, they were still friends and had kept in touch.

  Chapter One

  The secretary looked around her office and shook her head, no one was there, and her desk was right like she left it. They didn’t know it was her. With a sigh of relief she walked to the chair she had spent all of her working life in and sat down. How things had changed over the years, it was really her fault that her son wanted to be a SEAL. She worked around them and introduced him to the life.

  When her husband was KIA, the Commander of the SEALs felt sorry for her. Struggling to make ends meet while raising a son, he gave her the job, and she had known it was out of pity. It was laughable at first, their pity. They didn’t know her husband’s betrayal of their country led to his own death. However, she would never tell, she was now as beholden to them as her husband had been. She never thought that she would be a traitor to their country, but she had a son to think about. He was her world now, and she would do what she had to in order to keep him safe.

  Because she took the job the government offered her, her son looked up to the SEALs, and when he graduated from high school and joined the military, she had been proud, maybe her husband’s betrayal would finally come to an end. Of course, she thought that since the men her husband had been dealing with had not asked her for information in years, it had to be over. When he was accepted in the SEALs program, she had been thrilled, but so had the people controlling her. At his funeral, she had been crushed. The sacrifices she had made for what? Two matching flags were all that remained of her family, and a debt she couldn’t pay.

  The rage of her loss had been tapped when the same men came t
o her and told her how her son had died at the hands of his own team. Oh they had known what they were doing, a comment here and a comment there had fed her rage. They cultivated her, played with her, and finally owned her. Maureen had no idea how things had gotten so far out of hand. Every day she came to work expecting them to have found out, then she could tell them why. Now she was desperate to have this over with, too many lives had been affected by the information she had provided. What was once revenge had now turned to shame.

  Maureen came in this morning with the intention of turning herself in. She was going to tell them everything, and let them see what their lies had produced. All she had to do was wait for Commander Greese to come in and she would tell him. The woman he trusted over the years had aided in the destruction of a team. The one she thought was responsible for her son’s death. Their destruction was also the Commander’s destruction, he would be held responsible when they found out it was his mistake that led to all this. Her husband had been a spy and the Commander had been the cause.

  The phone rang and Maureen almost ignored it, she was done today anyway but she sighed and answered, “Commander Greese’s office.”

  “Hello, Maureen,” the voice said and she closed her eyes. She should have never picked up the phone.

  It had started as a mission. LT Norman “Apollo” Greese and LT Julio “Bingo” Skolfield in training to become leaders of a team, a new type of team the military was forming. It was 1962 and JFK authorized a Special Operation Command to develop force-of-choice group from the Army, Navy, and Air Force Special Forces, to conduct small unit missions that originate from and return to a river, ocean, swamp, delta, or coastline. The missions were crucial given they could maneuver in shallow water on the Persian Coastline. They were known as SEALs—Sea, Air, and Land Teams.