Breaking Dawn, page 1
Breaking Dawn
Delta Force Strong Book #8
Elle James
Twisted Page Inc
Contents
Breaking Dawn
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Afterword
SEAL Salvation
Prologue
About the Author
Also by Elle James
Breaking Dawn
Delta Force Strong Book #8
New York Times & USA Today
Bestselling Author
* * *
ELLE JAMES
Copyright © 2021 by Elle James
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
* * *
EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-62695-381-9
PRINT ISBN: 978-1-62695-683-4
Dedicated to my pups who keep me moving when I would sit all day. Getting up fifty times an hour to take them outside makes me limber, nimble and less sedentary. Love my Bandit and Charli.
Elle James
Author’s Note
Enjoy other military books by Elle James
* * *
Delta Force Strong
Ivy’s Delta (Delta Force 3 Crossover)
Breaking Silence (#1)
Breaking Rules (#2)
Breaking Away (#3)
Breaking Free (#4)
Breaking Hearts (#5)
Breaking Ties (#6)
Breaking Point (#7)
Breaking Dawn (#8)
Breaking Promises (#9)
Visit ellejames.com for titles and release dates
For hot cowboys, visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com
and join Elle James's Newsletter at
https://ellejames.com/contact/
Chapter 1
Sergeant First Class Lance Rankin strode toward the two Black Hawk helicopters, rotors turning, on the tarmac at an Israeli airbase near Jerusalem. Having just arrived in the country to augment a special mission, he hefted the bag containing his submachine gun and ammo. He leaned close to his Delta Force counterpart, who’d been in the country longer than him, to receive the briefing he’d hoped to have before they moved out.
“Glad you made it,” Master Sergeant Ketchum yelled over the noise of the engines. “We’ll have to brief you on the way. Intel indicated that our target will be moved to an undisclosed location tomorrow. It’s now or never if we want to get him out.”
“Give me the details,” Lance said.
Ketchum nodded and continued toward the aircraft. “You’ll be working directly with Mika Blue of the Israeli Defense Force, who’s part of the point team. Once the team breaches the building, you and Blue will grab the target and get him to the extraction point. Blue is a skilled fighter and can interpret.”
“Who is our target?” Lance asked.
“I’ll brief you once we’re all on board. For now, meet the Deltas. I’m going to check on the other members of our combined team.” Ketchum turned and hurried back the way they’d come.
Lance climbed into the Black Hawk and settled on the bench beside another Delta Force operative balancing a sniper rifle between his knees. He wore a black armored vest loaded with numerous magazines and a couple of hand grenades. He gave Lance a chin lift and held out his hand. “Gonzo.”
Lance shook his hand. “Lance Rankin.”
Gonzo frowned. “Call sign?”
Lance shrugged. “Lance.”
“No nickname?” The man’s eyes narrowed as he studied Lance, his gaze taking in the scar next to Lance’s left eye. “We’ll have to fix that. How about Scar, Phantom or Freddy?”
Lance’s lips twisted. “Or Lance or Rankin.”
Gonzo shook his head. “What do you like to do when you’re not out playing Army?”
Again, he shrugged. “I like to hike, run and build computers.”
“How about Hiker or Runner?” Gonzo suggested.
“Or Hack...” the guy across from his said.
“Hack, it is,” Gonzo grinned. “Welcome to the team, Hack.”
Though he was “on loan,” Lance would be a part of this unique team organized to perform a dangerous extraction. That had been all the information he’d been given before he’d left Fort Hood less than twenty-four hours ago. He’d been assured he’d be briefed once he had boots on the ground in Israel.
The man seated on the other side of Gonzo leaned forward, hand outstretched. “Bass.”
Lance shook his hand and the hands of the other two Deltas seated across from him.
“Smoke,” the one who’d suggested Hack was the smaller guy of the two, wiry and rugged.
Gonzo tipped his chin toward him. “He likes to pop smoke whenever he can. Likes a dramatic entrance.”
The guy beside him was tall and lean. “Ice.”
“On account of he doesn’t get flustered when shit hits the fan,” Smoke said.
“He keeps so cool, you’d get frostbite if you touched him,” Gonzo added.
“Whatever,” Ice said. “They tell you anything about this mission?”
“Not yet.”
Ice snorted. “Gonna be a shit show.”
Lance didn’t like the sound of that. “How so?”
Smoke jabbed Ice with his elbow. “Let Ketchum give him the low down.”
“Yeah,” Gonzo said. “Let Ketchum.” He nodded toward the man headed their way. “Here comes the rest of the team.”
Ice snorted again. “Good thing the other Hawk is filled with more Deltas.”
“How did we get stuck in this one?” Ice asked.
Gonzo grinned. “Hand selected for our skills, no doubt.”
As the soldiers neared the helicopter, Lance’s brow furrowed. One was shorter than Ketchum and appeared to be a lightweight, seeming too small to carry a rifle, ammo and wear an armored vest. “Are we teaming with a kid?” Lance asked.
“Worse,” Ice said through gritted teeth.
“Woman,” Smoke said, his tone flat, his lips pressing into a thin line.
“Hey.” Gonzo glared at them. “Those soldiers, male and female, have as much or more combat time than either one of you. They’re highly decorated in the Israeli Defense Force and members of the Sayeret Matkal—the equivalent of our Delta Force. So, don’t judge one of them based on her gender. She earned her rank.”
Ketchum and the five members of the IDF climbed on board. Ketchum directed the woman to take the seat beside Lance. Sliding onto the bench across from her, the Master Sergeant leaned forward. “Lance Rankin—”
“It’s Hack,” Gonzo interrupted. “For the purpose of this mission, he’ll be Hack.”
Ketchum nodded. “Hack…” He tipped his head toward the woman. “Meet Mikayla Blum.”
She held out her hand, her lips twisting. “For the purpose of this mission, call me Mika Blue. Nice to meet you.” Her voice was firm and her English perfect, with no hint of an accent. American English.
He took her small hand in his, surprised at the strength of her grip, despite her soft skin. All the while, he shook her hand, he couldn’t help thinking, Holy shit, we’re going into enemy territory with a female. Some men viewed females on the battlefield as bad luck. Two members of the team he’d be working with had already voiced their displeasure.
Now, Lance understood why he’d been hand-picked for this mission.
Mika lifted her chin and met his gaze head-on. “I understand you fought against ISIS alongside an all-female Kurdish militia.”
He nodded. “I did. They were some of the bravest and most fierce fighters I’ve had the honor of serving with.”
Ice cursed.
Smoke muttered, “You could have said something.”
Lance ignored them and focused on the woman who’d take point with him. “Been a member of Sayeret Matkal long?” he asked.
She nodded. “Long enough. Over four years.” Her gaze left his as she checked her gear. A moment later, she looked up and pinned him with her brown-black gaze. “Have you been a member of Delta Force for long?”
He fought a grin. “Eight years and some change.” He liked that she wasn’t backing down or letting him off lightly. As a female fighter in an elite force in a part of the world where men believed a woman’s place was in the home, she had to have dealt with a great deal of flak from her male counterparts.
Fortunately, his experience with the female militia had changed his attitude about women in combat. He’d still felt protective of them, but no more so than other members of his team. Well, maybe a little more protective. Some of them had left children at home with grandparents while fighting to drive ISIS from their country. Still, he’d never been on an extraction mission with women as part of his team.
Ketchum leaned toward Lance. “We’ve been tasked to rescue and return Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Yaron. Hamas captured him while he was on a diplomatic visit to Lebanon.”
Ketchum pulled out a computer tablet, tapped the screen with his finger and brought up a satellite image. “He’s being held in the ruins of a bombed-out Palestinia
“We’ll land on the other side of this ridge from the village and go in on foot. Once we have Yaron, the choppers will meet us here.” He pointed to a clearing not far from the building. “We anticipate twenty-five to thirty Hamas soldiers in attendance. Our team of twenty will move in, subdue the guards, clear the building and retrieve Yaron.” He glanced up. “Questions?”
“Are they equipped with anti-aircraft weapons?” Lance asked.
“They have access to rocket-propelled grenades they’ve used in the past to target Israeli gunships. Whether they have them in the village, we don’t know.”
Lance nodded. “So, we assume yes, for planning purposes.” He reached for the tablet and studied the terrain leading from the ridge to the structure where Hamas allegedly held Yaron. He frowned and pointed at a rock bluff behind the building. “Is that a drop-off?”
Ketchum nodded. “Intel on the ground estimates it’s a two-hundred-foot cliff. Bravo Team, that’s us, will get into position along the ridge and wait until Alpha Team circles around that cliff and establishes a perimeter surrounding the village. They will move in to tighten the perimeter to make certain no one alerts Hamas or enters the village while we’re conducting our extraction. Once they’re in place, we’ll rappel in, take out the guards, clear the building and extract the diplomat.”
Lance zoomed in on the terrain. The two-dimensional image did little to indicate how steep the hill was on either side of the cliff or any potential drop-offs that might be hidden from the satellite cameras by trees or other vegetation. Lance liked it better when they practiced maneuvers before executing them. With Hamas scheduled to move Yaron the next day, they didn’t have time for such luxuries.
He turned to Mika. “Have you ever rappelled?”
She nodded. “I have. I’ve trained others as well.”
“We have everything we’ll need to get to the bottom of that cliff. It’s the fastest, quietest way in. We’ll take out any rear guards using rifles with silencers.” Ketchum nodded toward Gonzo. “Gonzo is one of our best snipers. He’ll cover us from the ridgeline.”
The team performed a communications check while in route, ensuring all radios were functioning and on the same frequency. The IDF fighters had all been equipped with radio headsets similar to those used by the Deltas.
Lance checked and double-checked his rifle, pistol, gear and ammo. In his peripheral vision, he noted Mika doing the same. Once she was finished, she sat staring out the side door of the Black Hawk, her rifle resting across her knees, pointing out the door.
A dozen questions simmered in Lance’s mind as he studied the woman who would be his partner, storming the building and freeing the Israeli diplomat. Chit-chat was held to a minimum, with the noise of the helicopter engines and rotors roaring in their ears. At the same time, the aircraft ate the distance between the airbase and their landing zone deep in Palestinian territory.
What felt like hours later, the helicopters slowed and lowered.
Lance’s pulse quickened, and adrenaline surged through his system.
Game time.
Chapter 2
As soon as the helicopter touched the ground in a valley west of the village, Alpha and Bravo teams leaped out. The helicopters lifted into the air and flew a safe distance away.
The twenty-man team navigated the terrain, ascending the hill. Once they reached the top, Alpha Team immediately split and circled the cliff, finding their way down the other side on a gentler slope.
Bravo team set up the rappelling gear, anchoring four ropes securely around trees or boulders and leaving their lengths coiled at the top of the cliff, ready to lower them when they received word from Alpha Team that the village perimeter had been secured. The members of Bravo Team tied six-foot lengths of rope around their legs and waists to form seats and clipped a D-ring to the harness in front.
Once they were ready, Bravo Team crept to the edge of the ridgeline. Gonzo had already established his position and surveyed the village below through his scope and night-vision goggles.
Lance settled on the ground beside Mika’s slim form decked out in combat gear, her hair pulled into a single ponytail, hanging halfway down her back.
“Have you always wanted to be in the military?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
She gave him a brief glance, cocking an eyebrow. “Have you?”
He nodded and studied the buildings and terrain below. “My mother and father were both in the Army. My grandfather was a Marine. It was in my blood.”
Mika nodded. “My mother died when I was six. My father was in the Army. He did the best he could with a daughter.”
“He did a good job,” Lance said. “From what I understand, it’s difficult to complete the training to get into Sayeret Matkal. The fact that you did it is impressive.”
She shot another glance in his direction, the starlight shining down on her narrowed eyes. “Meaning a woman is less likely than a man to complete the training successfully?”
“Not at all. Anyone completing the training is impressive.” Lance grinned and changed the subject. “If you were a brat like me, you must have grown up near a military installation.”
“I did.” Mika’s gaze returned to the village again. “They brought you all the way from Fort Hood, Texas, just for this mission.” It was a statement, not a question.
Lance grinned. “Were they afraid no one else could get along with you?”
Mika’s body stiffened. “I asked for someone who’d fought alongside women. I didn’t want someone who felt like he had to protect me when, in fact, I might be the one to protect him. We have a mission to perform, a life to save. We cannot afford distractions based on gender.”
Lance gave her a mock salute. “Message received, loud and clear.”
Her shoulders relaxed a little. “Did they pull you from another mission to come here?”
Lance shook his head. “No. I was scheduled from some R&R.”
She looked his way, her brow furrowing. “R&R?”
“Vacation.” He found himself studying her face in the starlight. She had high cheekbones and a strong jawline, but her lips were full and soft. When she wasn’t frowning, her brows winged upward, as dark as her ponytail and surprisingly delicate. She was a striking woman.
“Where were you going on vacation?” she asked.
“I was going to rent a cabin close to the fort on Belton Lake and do a little boating and fishing. My buddies were going to join me on the weekend. It’s something different than hanging out at the Salty Dog, our usual haunt.” He’d asked Rucker Sloan, his teammate, to take over his cabin and boat rental reservation. The team would have been disappointed if he’d canceled. They had all planned on crashing his vacation when they got off duty that weekend. Blade and his girl, Sophia, had volunteered to bring the booze. Dash was bringing the music. Rucker and Tank had volunteered to supply the steaks. Everyone was bringing something. As much time as they spent together on missions and during the workweek, it was always fun to get together out of uniform and away from the structured environment of the military.
“You didn’t have to come,” she said. “Surely, they could have found someone else.”
He shrugged. “Maybe they asked around, and I was the only one available. It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”
“My father used to take me fishing when he was off duty,” she said quietly.
“Is he still in the military?” Lance asked.
