Chapter 1
There were training missions, and then there were training missions. Devlin Hayman was in Afghanistan as one of two SEAL teams training Afghan military groups in new open-warfare tactics.
Between the dust, dirt, and language issues, he was just about fed up. But he was here to help the Afghan military’s elite, and that made it worth doing. Although this afternoon was a whole different story because he would be learning something, training with the new drones.
And not just for the Afghans, but for the SEALs as well. Currently teams ran the drones in very specialized operations throughout the world. But definitely something for the SEALs to know and understand. Devlin had worked on some of the basic models. But this one was high-tech. And he wanted in on it. The manufacturer had sent a representative from its design team. He should be here now. At thirteen hundred hours, training would commence.
What a great way to spend his last day. He shipped out tomorrow, heading stateside. He couldn’t wait. He’d been here for three weeks—eaten a pound of dirt, he was sure. Reconsidering all the time he’d been here, he’d probably eaten three or four pounds.
But it wasn’t so much that. The training had gone well. Just his patience was running short. It seemed like every trainee looked forward; yet they all forgot to look behind. And it was damn important to always watch your back.
Still this type of training was essential. These men were allies. Besides, the process had gotten a whole lot easier once Easton took over—another member of Devlin’s team, who had the patience of a saint. He was right up there with Swede from Mason’s unit.
Ryder and Corey rounded out Devlin’s crew.
Four of Mason’s unit were here too, including Mason himself, plus Shadow, Markus and, of course, Swede. A lot of personnel switches in and out of various specialties had been worked through to get the appropriate men to this drone training. Swede, even with his size, was patient with the tech stuff. And always just off to the side was Shadow. That man was lethal, quiet, and silent. You never heard him arrive or leave. Like the stealth drones themselves.
Devlin walked over to Ryder and Corey. The training session would be called in another twenty minutes.
At the sound of a mechanical whine, Devlin glanced in the sky to see a drone far to his left. Making sure everything was good in front—and back—of them, he nudged Ryder and pointed for Corey. They twisted to look.
This one was more bat-shaped—looked almost like a stealth fighter plane, only smaller.
“That’s one of the new ones,” Devlin said.
Corey grinned, practically bouncing on his feet. “Can’t wait to play with those.”
“I heard the engineer arrived already,” Ryder said.
“Good. I’m looking forward to learning about those things.” Devlin watched as Corey followed the drone in the air.
“Not sure I am,” Ryder said. “I’d much rather have a gun in my hand than a remote.”
Devlin laughed. “You can have both, you know?”
“You’re the one who’s good with those things,” Ryder said. “Me, I’m a big ole grunt.”
“Like hell. You’re the best IED man we’ve got.”
Ryder shrugged. “Sure, I can handle anything that goes boom in the night. But that thing, in the night? I’m not so sure about.”
“Well, this afternoon you’ll have a chance to find out.”
“I can get the whole war over and done, take out the enemy before he sees anything. But to think a drone can pinpoint and deliver a shot with the accuracy these machines can, and have nobody even see them …” Ryder shook his head. “That’s like, freaky, man.”
“You guys ready to call it?” Markus walked over behind them.
“Absolutely,” Devlin said. “I can’t wait to get to those.” He motioned at the drones above.
Markus nodded. “I’ve heard a lot about them. The private sectors have moved forward with them at a rapid rate too.”
“That’s just wrong,” Devlin said in protest. “We need the latest technology. They can go to hell with that one.”
“Tell Levi that,” Markus said with a grin. “You heard how bad his unit was blown to shreds. Well, they made a comeback and have taken revenge on the rest of the world by getting the biggest and baddest of everything.”
“Shit.” Devlin tossed one last glance up at the drone and turned to face the rest of the men.
They had a short talk, and then they dispersed for lunch. But he couldn’t forget Markus’s words. Levi and his unit had been blown to shit—the whole lot of them. But they’d survived and gone on to build Legendary Security, a fast-growing, incredibly well-respected private security company. They’d only been in business for a few months, and they were already snagging top jobs.
But, of course, why wouldn’t they be, considering they’d already recruited some of the top men from the military. Hell, so far, they only had former SEALs working for them, as far as Devlin knew. Even Flynn, who’d been drummed out.
And Flynn was a hell of a good guy too. Then Devlin remembered the nicknames for Levi’s company. “Levi might have some of the best tech toys, but some very romantic nicknames sure followed him.”
Markus laughed. “The latest I heard was Heroes of the Heart.”
Ryder snorted beside them. “Last I heard was Heroes for Hire.”
“Yeah, heroes being the common denominator,” Markus added. “Seems every time another woman moves into the compound, she comes up with a new name for the company. Levi’s beside himself thinking that one of them might stick.”
Devlin glanced at Markus and said, tongue-in-cheek, “You should know. You’re part of the Keepers’ unit.”
“That’s hardly our call sign, as you know.” Markus grinned. “But, since I understand where that name comes from, I can hardly argue with it. Besides, I could discourage it until I’m blue in the face. Mason already tried that a million times, and we can’t get anybody to ignore it.”
“Probably because you argued it so often and heavily,” Ryder said with a big grin. “Besides, how the hell did every one of you end up with some kind of perfect romance?”
Markus slapped Ryder on the shoulder. “Dude, if you tried it, you wouldn’t knock it. We’d never thought to find partners like we have. Yet look at us. And the total count is something stupid, like ten for ten now.”
“We included Levi because that relationship is fantastic too,” Ryder added. “I’m really happy for Ice. She’s one hell of a pilot. Dozens of men had their sights on her, but she’s never had eyes for anyone but Levi.”
“I tell you,” Markus said, “if they ever have a wedding, they’ll invite half the military to the ceremony. Although, from what I hear, the compound’s almost big enough for it.”
“Compound?” Devlin asked. “Is that really what they have?”
“Yes. Fully gated, fully secured. Bullard’s even in on the act. He helped set up the security on the place. And Ice, well, she’s got two helos there. Talk about a perfect setup. I tell you, they are in for some serious business.”
It boggled the mind. But given the people involved, it made a lot of sense. Devlin had never met Bullard but had heard lots. He was an icon in his own world, even though he’d set up his business in Africa. Less rules and questions, he’d said once, when asked about his choice. Just as much a legend as Levi was. The name Legendary Security was perfect for anybody in the business. And Levi had a hell of a lot of connections. He and Ice. Those two would be unstoppable. Devlin was happy for them and maybe jealous. He hadn’t given any thought to his future after his life as a SEAL. Just no time for that.
His military life was everything to him at present. So he didn’t understand the whole relationship thing Markus had talked about. Devlin had no time for that shit. He was one of the few who were more into a short-term relationship because it came with no strings. He didn’t worry about it when he headed off into the field. And he was doing mission after mission too. If not being deployed, he was learning or teaching. And it was all good but, at the same time, just provided no room for a relationship.
So kudos to Markus and the other men who made it work. No way in hell was Devlin after the same thing.
Not that he was superstitious or anything, but when Ryder had talked about not wanting to hook up with the Keepers—in case it was contagious—Devlin had privately agreed. The last thing he wanted to do was end up as part of their group. Ryder felt the same. Now several Keepers were already married. Yet more of Devlin’s SEAL buddies were going through their own current struggles with relationships, and then a whole mess of them were single—and not by choice, like Ryder for instance. Divorce rates were high. Military wives didn’t have it easy. The Keepers’ group somehow knocked down the number of singles, one by one.
Still Devlin needn’t worry; a relationship wasn’t in the cards for him.
Now he could fully get into some of that specialized drone training. And all the men here were the best of the best. But there were, of course, specialties. From IEDs to snipers to drone operators. Sure, several would be trained on the basic ones, but these babies were special. And Devlin wanted to play too. The drones were to become standard equipment moving forward. And that would be one hell of an arsenal.
If he found the engineer, it’d be a great opportunity to speak with him about what he was currently working on.
Devlin glanced around and stepped back. The guys had just wrapped up the morning teaching session. He walked toward where the drones were. Several men talked with Mason. When he caught sight of Devlin, Mason motioned him over.
Perfect. He introduced himself. He got the first man’s name, Brent, but he didn’t appear to be the engineer. Three women were nearby. One was tweaking a remote in her hand. As for the other two, they were operating drones. He figured something must be wrong with one of them as the woman really struggled to move hers.
He wanted to grab the remote from her hand and take over. But he probably knew less about it than she did, considering she was already handling one.
At that moment her drone did a very erratic movement.
“Whoa,” he said. The men turned and watched it.
One of them called, “Bristol, bring it back.”
“We can’t,” she responded, watching as another woman tweaked the remote. “Something’s wrong with the controller.”
The other woman shook her head and offered the handset to Bristol.
“Thanks, Morgan,” Bristol said, who then slipped off the cover. Whatever she did stabilized the drone. With the same skillful movement, Bristol, now holding the handset, brought the drone in for a perfect landing on the ground in front of them.
This close, Devlin could see it was six to seven feet in length. Bigger than he had thought. And yet, in the sky, it looked no bigger than a falcon or hawk.
At first glance anybody would expect it to be a bird.
The men returned to their conversation. Devlin listened with half an ear as he watched the women setting up tables for this afternoon’s training. First would be a demonstration, then a simulation on laptops, and finally they would form small groups to work with the actual drones, providing three were in full operation. As he understood, the women were the instructors.
Devlin could get behind that. Generally he got along well with females.
And they really liked him. Then again, he was very amiable.
Ryder, on the other hand, who tended to be curt most days, wasn’t looking forward to the training. He was also dealing with the end of a long-term relationship. And that was hurting him. He wasn’t looking at women in the best light currently.
Poor guy.
Another reason why Ryder wanted nothing to do with the Keepers.
Devlin cast a glance around, but not seeing any reason to stay, he walked away from the group of men still discussing this afternoon’s schedule and headed toward the women. As soon as he took the next step though, two MPs stepped in front of him.
“Can’t allow you to pass this point, sir.”
He nodded. But kept his eye on the three female trainers. He hoped he got the one with blonde hair. He was always partial to blondes.