Page 1 of Justice for the SEAL
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Logan O’Malley workedfor a bunch ofassholes.
He picked up his tequila and swirled it in a circle, staring into the liquid like it had the power to turn back time, to make him forget the things he’d heard that had knocked his entire world off itsmotherfuckingaxis.
Jax and Cowboy had killed a Navy SEAL. One of their own employees. An original member of HERO Force namedGarrisonCole.
Allegedly.
He downed the rest of his drink inonegulp.
He could see now how stupid he was for looking up to them. Howchildish.
Naive.
Jax and Cowboy had sat him down in Cowboy’s office, shutting the door even though the rest of the team was on a mission in Dubai. There was a lawsuit, Jax said. A civil case against the two of them for wrongfuldeath.
But it was his face that fucked with Logan’sbrain.
Jax registered no emotion while he recounted the story of Cole’s death. None at all. The leader of HERO Force was nothing if not pragmatic, but he could have been talking about a broken fax machine or running out of copypaper.
He was downright icy, and Logan had been filled withunease.No.
Suspicion.
The bartender poured him anotherdrink.
Logan wasn’t usually a guy to go with his gut. Analytics and proof, rational thought and logic. Science. But sitting in that room listening to Jax had his inner empathscreaming.
Theydidit.
Jax and Cowboy fucking killed one of theirownguys.
Logan probably wouldn’t have found out about it at all, except now they were being sued for wrongful death in a civil suit, years after the criminal charges against them had been dismissed, and they neededhishelp.
Well,theydidn’t need it,exactly.
AnthonyRoycedid.
The crack of a cue ball was followed by the thud of balls dropping into pockets and Logan’s eyes focused on the liquor bottles on the shelf in front of him. The bar smelled like cigarettes from a time when smoking had been allowed. It was stale and foul, just like his meeting an hour ago, the air conditioning barely cooling thehumidair.
Jax had brought him in the conference room to meet Justice Royce, a state judge who looked so goddamn respectable sitting in the HERO Force conference room, and that’s when the dirty laundry really got pulled out from underthebed.
Jax and Cowboy told him Royce was the guy who’d dismissed the criminal charges against them, and now he was getting deaththreats.
That’s when Logan started thinking of quitting his job. His bosses were no better than the dirtbags HERO Force was always fighting backagainst.
You can go back totheNSA.
Hell, there were a hundred and one jobs he was qualified for. That wasn’t the issue. The problem was he still wanted to work for the company he’d thought he was working for—where the men had integrity and fought forjustice.
He hated himself in that moment. Hated the blind faith he’d allowed himself to have inthesemen.
Jax and Royce were still across the street at HERO Force headquarters right now, probably getting their stories straight in case Royce was called to testify. What afuckingjoke.
You have a choicetomake.
He could go to work on the Royce case like it was business as usual, or he could hand in his resignation. He took another sip oftequila.
