Page 46 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

Then, I noticed he was leaning against the tree to support his weight. A spot of blood is visible on his upper right thigh.

“Oh my God, Ethan, you’re hurt.”

“I think it’s through-and-through lucky for me. A couple of inches higher, and it could have been worse.”

“Can you walk?”

“I think so.”

“Check their pockets,” he commands. “See if you can find anything that might tell us who sent them.”

Check their pockets? Me? But they were ... dead.

As revolting as the concept seems, I don’t want to show him what a wimp I am.

As I approach the bodies, I see one has a hole in the center of his forehead; the other has a wound I can’t see, but a massive amount of blood is pooling beneath his upper torso.

Doing my best to avert my eyes, I search the two men’s pockets but can’t find anything.

I shrug my shoulders.

“Pros,” he says. “About what I expected. It probably means they’re Whitmore’s men.

“Got ’em from up there.” He points to a crotch in the trunk of the tree. “Wouldn’t have got me if I hadn’t slipped. The little things can always get you killed, no matter how good you are.”

“Are you sure those were the only ones following us?”

“I’m not sure about anything, but if I had to guess, I’d say these guys were the only ones nearby. There are probably others on standby, but it’ll give us a good headstart to get away.”

“Where will we go?”

“Not sure,” he responds, “but I think inland is a better bet. They’ll probably think we like sticking close to the coast. We’re probably better off going the other way.”

I help him toward the car, letting him put his weight on me. I hope he’s right that we aren’t in immediate danger, but I can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop.

As I help him into the car, I hear the cell phone in the glove compartment ping.

It’s from a number I don’t recognize.

19

ETHAN

The story has gone viral.

Graham is calling me with the news. After the encounter with the two men yesterday, I contacted him, and God bless him; he’s been hard at work.

Between the evidence he’s uncovered and what Yiva’s reporting has yielded, federal authorities have agreed to investigate.

We’re still not out of the woods.

Whitmore is still a free man and incredibly dangerous.

I’ve been keeping a closer eye out to make sure we’re not being followed.

I feel foolish for not being more careful before, and I have a throbbing pain in my leg to remind me.

Fortunately, the bullet had gone through without causing any permanent damage. As a SEAL, you are cross-trained in multiple areas of expertise, including medical corpsman, so I was able to patch myself up pretty well.

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