Title: HOT Justice
A Hostile Operations Team Series Standalone
Author: Lynn Raye Harris
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 15, 2019
Blurb
She’s searching for justice. He’s searching for
peace.
What they need is each other. They just don’t know
it yet…
Dean “Wolf” Garner is the kind of guy who loves hard and leaves fast.
From the moment he rescues reporter Haylee Jamison in the Guatemalan jungle, he
can’t stop thinking about the dark-haired beauty. His life is too complicated
for romantic entanglements though—and not even a woman like Haylee can convince
him otherwise.
Haylee wasn’t supposed to be in the drug cartel’s compound, but she was
captured while on a mission of her own: find the trail of fake opioids entering
the US and halt the operation. Back home in DC, Haylee can’t stop thinking
about the gorgeous military operative who rocked her world for one steamy night
before leaving. But when she uncovers a conspiracy and finds herself in danger,
there’s only one man she trusts to keep her safe.
It’s easy for Wolf to risk his life to protect Haylee and give her the
justice she desires. The hard part is taking a chance and admitting what’s in
his heart before it’s too late.
Before he loses the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
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Excerpt
Mexico-Guatamala Border
Dean “Wolf” Garner waited for the jump command. He was
standing nut-to-butt with his teammates, all of them suited up and ready to go.
This was a HAHO jump where they’d fall out of the aircraft one behind the
other, open chutes about fifteen seconds in and then coast for forty miles to
the landing zone. Cade “Saint” Rogers was team lead and he’d be first out the
door. Wolf was second. Echo Squad would stack up behind the leader while they
were airborne and follow Saint’s lead as he guided them using GPS and
landmarks.
The C-130 Hercules doors were open and they’d switched over
to oxygen bottles. HAHO jumps were hell on the body, whether from the
minus-zero wind temps, the lack of oxygen and threat of hypoxia, or the
incredible snap of the harness when the chute deployed. It was a necessary evil
when trying to sneak up on the enemy, though.
They were currently at T-minus two. The PT had cleared them
all to jump and the jumpmaster was about to give the signal.
“You bastards stick with me,” Saint said into their
earpieces. “Let’s go get those hostages and get the fuck out.”
Seconds later, Wolf was free falling into the sky behind
Saint. Wolf deployed his chute, grunting as the harness snapped him hard
against the restraints. Jesus. He was carrying a hundred pounds of gear and
weaponry, which made the experience even more fun.
He sighted in on Saint and lined up. The rest of the team
followed, everyone checking in, and then they were gliding under canopy toward
the LZ.
The sun perched in the sky behind them, sinking quickly
toward the horizon. Everything below was bathed in golden light that faded into
darkness the father east Wolf looked. It was a beautiful sight and he never
took it for granted.
The terrain here was mountainous and green and a river cut
through the landscape, marking the border. This was the area where the Mexican
cartels got their rocket-propelled grenades and grenade launchers as well as
other military-grade equipment they used as they fought each other for
territory. It’d be fine if all they did was kill each other, but unfortunately
civilians often got caught in the crossfire.
Sometimes those civilians were American, and sometimes they
were held for ransom. Like now. A group of dentists and opticians on a mission
to provide services to an impoverished village had been swept up in the raid
and HOT had been tasked with getting them out.
It took twenty minutes, but the team touched down and
shrugged out of their chutes. They buried them, along with the special
jumpsuits and oxygen canisters. Then they slung their M4 rifles across their
chests and started the trek toward the camp where the cartel was holding the
hostages.
HOT had pictures of the camp from drone photography and they
knew the layout and the approximate number of people who guarded it. Echo Squad
wasn’t just there to extract hostages—they were also there to take out the
cartel members who were in the camp. At last count, that had been twenty.
Wolf didn’t feel sorry for the men. They were rough, evil,
nasty men who terrorized innocent civilians. They killed indiscriminately, and
they left messages in the form of headless bodies dangling from bridges and
trees.
No, Wolf had no problem with killing them. It took Echo
another forty minutes to reach the camp. It was dark by then, and the cartel
men were drinking. The hostages were nowhere to be seen, but HOT knew they were
being held in a rough concrete structure in the center of the camp. Ten men and
women from somewhere in Alabama, on a church mission to help the poor. They
were no doubt terrified and probably dehydrated and hungry.
“Like we planned it,” Saint said into their earpieces. The
team split up and fanned out around the camp. Wolf and Noah “Easy” Cross
slipped silently toward their target. They waited for the signal, then glided
toward the men they’d marked. A quick slip of the knife and two cartel members
would never harm anyone again.
A man emerged from the building where the hostages were,
dragging a woman with him. She was small and dark-haired and she fought
mightily. Wolf stiffened as the man thrust her against the side of the building
and dropped his mouth to her neck. She wrenched her head to the side and tried
to hit him but he caught her wrist and pinned her to the wall.
Wolf signaled Easy that this one was his. Easy nodded,
lifting his rifle to provide covering fire if necessary as Wolf crossed the
distance. The cartel members were falling quickly as his teammates took them
out. Soon, Echo would converge on the building.
The woman was fighting hard when Wolf slipped up behind the
man. Before Wolf could grab him, the man grunted and stumbled backward. His
hands dropped to his crotch and Wolf nearly laughed. Smart girl. Brave girl.
He yanked the man back and stabbed him in the kidney,
dropping him to the ground. The woman’s dark eyes widened. She was wearing a
stained white button-down shirt that had been torn open and jeans with tennis
shoes. Her black hair was wild and her skin was golden, and his heart thumped
once before he clamped down on the reaction.
“You’re American?” she asked in a soft southern accent.
“You’ve come to rescue us?”
“Yes,” he told her, turning to place her behind him as he
scanned the camp for any stragglers. Someone shouted in the distance and a shot
rang out.
“Got him,” Jax “Gem” Stone said in Wolf’s ear. “Fucker.”
“Status,” Saint ordered.
“All clear,” Malcolm “Mal” McCoy replied. The rest of Echo
Squad followed suit.
“Let’s get the hostages,” Saint said.
Wolf turned back to the girl, knowing that Easy had his back
and that his teammates were converging on the building to extract the hostages.
“You okay?” he asked, dropping his gaze over her body, back up to her eyes.
Dark, fiery eyes. Angry eyes.
She lifted her chin as she pulled her shirt together. “Yes.
Fine.”
“What’s your name?”
“What’s yours?” she shot back.
Wolf grinned. “Wolf.”
She blinked. “Is that really your name?”
“No, but I like it better than my real name. Which is Dean,
by the way.”
“Dean.” She paused for a moment. Then she thrust out her
hand. “I’m Haylee. Pleased to meet you.”
He took her hand. A sizzle of something electric rolled
through him. “You always so polite in dangerous situations?”
She grinned, and his heart thumped again. “I don’t know.
This is my first kidnapping.”
Author Bio
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynn Raye Harris burst onto the scene when she won a writing contest held by Harlequin. A former finalist for the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award and the National Readers Choice Award, Lynn lives in Alabama with her handsome former military husband and two crazy cats. Lynn writes about hot military heroes, sizzling international billionaires, and the women who dare to tame them. Her books have been called "exceptional and emotional," "intense," and "sizzling." To date, Lynn's books have sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
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