Read SEALs of Honor: Markus for Free Online

But neither did she want to be close to the damn cabin. She turned her face up to the sky only she couldn’t see much for the canopy of trees overhead.
    Glancing around, she frowned. What was that? She studied the slight flare of color in the brush. Slowly she approached it.
    And did a little dance. It was her sweater. Woot!
    She shook it out and brushed the leaves off. She quickly slipped it on over her shoulders. She huddled into the warmth and smiled. Now that was so much better. As much as she loved the sweater, she was just happy to find she’d made it back here. She wasn’t lost. If she made it this far she could make her way back to the cabin. Or rather give the cabin a wide berth and come out on the road. Maybe even steal the truck they had parked way back.
    She liked the sound of that.
    Warmth and safety appealed. She also needed food in a big way.
    Now if only she’d thought to pocket a few of the apples before she left.
    She slowly picked her way back through the woods, wondering how far she dare go. Damn it.
    In the dark her sweater was going to glow neon bright.
    Shit. She stopped to consider that, then had a simple but odd solution. She quickly stripped off her thin sweater and her shirt. Then she put the sweater on first and her t-shirt over it. The t-shirt was big enough to go over the sweater easily. And she was warm this way. The dark navy hid the sweater except for the sleeves. She quickly folded the cuffs back, and pushed them up her arm. At least there’d only be a small band this way.
    She started moving again. And hit that odd light of dusk and her energy sagged yet again. She needed to stop and rest and she needed to eat.
    But neither was going to happen. She kept going, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other regardless of where she was going.
    By the time night settled she was shivering against the wind. When she wavered in place, she knew she was done. She collapsed against a huge tree trunk.
    She’d avoided voicing the truth.
    Only now she couldn’t avoid it any longer. She didn’t recognize anything about where she was.
    Somehow she’d gotten twisted around.
    She should have been back at the cabin by now. And there was no sign that she was still on the correct path. The truth was she was well and truly lost.
    She huddled in a tight ball and closed her eyes.
    Please let there be someone out looking for her.
    *
    “She has to be out there somewhere,” Markus said to Jake. “Are you sure you didn’t see any sign of her?”
    Jake shook his head. “Nope. I found the men. Took them out but didn’t see any sign of her.”
    “Damn it.”
    “I’m more worried about my daughter. We’ll worry about the young one later.”
    Markus understood. But with three men down and just the one man left inside they’d already wasted several hours, and she could be anywhere by now. He had finally gotten through to the rest of his team. Good thing as they’d been searching for him.
    Like he needed that.
    They were on their way and Markus studied the two men bound on the ground. They were a good hundred yards from the cabin and just off the driveway. Out of sight but not so far out that he couldn’t see anyone leaving the cabin.
    He had no way to confirm at this point that there were only two women and one male left inside, and he was kicking himself for not asking the guy in the pump house. As soon as the men were picked up he could go after the young woman. The two men at his feet were unconscious so they couldn’t give him answers.
    With a warning to Jake to stand guard he slipped up to the truck and peered into the front. No keys left in the ignition. That was fine, it was easy enough to disable it. He just needed a moment under the dash. Easing the door open he quickly disabled the truck, then closing the passenger door, he slipped to the front of the truck.
    After a quick look around, he raced up the road along the tree line. They’d had to walk in as the road was more bog than