Page 1 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

Prologue

SLIPPING INTO THE ICU UNIT of the private military hospital wasn't an easy task. It would be considered insane from most men's point of view. Even a SEAL's. But that was exactly what former Lieutenant Ian Richards of the Navy SEALs did.

Under the cover of night, he managed to slip into the hospital, make his way to the ICU, and wait until the guard at Nathan Malone's door dozed off before he slipped in, in the guise of an orderly.

His first sight of his friend nearly stole his breath.

Sweet Jesus. Nathan was in so many damned casts and wrapped in so many bandages he looked more like a mummy than a man. But it was a far sight easier on the eyes than the naked, ravaged SEAL they had dragged out of Fuentes's compound four months before.

Tortured, beaten, sliced and diced. His face had been so disfigured it was hard to tell he was human, let alone the friend Ian had known for the better part of his life.

How the hell Nathan had survived the nineteen months in Fuentes's care, Ian couldn't even imagine. Drugged constantly on the powerful date rape drug known as whore's dust, and encouraged repeatedly to rape the women brought to him, Nathan had lived in hell. The reports they had gathered indicated he had never taken one of the women locked in the cells with him, but the doctors and psychologists working with him said he might never recover from the amount of drugs pumped into his system.

Ian knew better. Nathan was strong. Too damned strong to let Fuentes win like this. But he had to be certain.

Even after the months Ian had been away, been considered a betrayer, a Judas to his friends, and marked as a deserter by the U.S. government, Ian had had to return to assure himself Nathan would survive.

Ian moved to the bed, sliding between it and the curtain that had been pushed back to allow the guards to see all but a very small section of the area. Right by Nathan's head. His covered, wrapped head.

"Damn, buddy, do you think they have you wrapped up tight enough?" he asked his friend, knowing Nathan couldn't hear him. Wishing he could.

Hell, somehow he had gotten used to being on the inside of a team, rather than fighting alone to survive. He had gotten used to the men he fought with, had grown to trust them, only to learn at the end of it, he was fighting alone once again.

Long ago, Nathan and his family had saved Ian and his mother's life. On a cold desert night, with only his screams of rage surrounding him, a boy and his father had found him, saved him and his dying mother, and given Ian a friendship he had never known before that.

And now, when his friend awoke, he would believe that friendship had been betrayed.

He grimaced at the thought of it, his jaw tightening in rage at the situation he had been forced into. Because of blood. Because sometimes, a man could do nothing about where he came from, he could only control where he went. And where Ian was heading, Nathan or Durango team couldn't go.

Ian could only go alone.

"We had a wild ride huh, bro," he whispered, his voice nearly silent, but the breath of the words easing a part of him.

Nathan was unconscious, comatose, but somehow, knowing the words were whispering past his lips eased Ian. Maybe, just maybe, his friend would hear a part of them, know, understand, that beneath the near silent whisper was the truth. It had been a wild ride, and now it was over.

He reached out, let his fingers touch his friend's shoulder as a grin tugged at his lips.

Nathan "Irish" Malone. All smiles and wild blue eyes, a man who as a boy had saved his life.

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