Press 'n SEAL

By Linda Rae Blair

Admiral Poindexter has a serious problem and only his friend's son can help. If the wrong people discover that he has asked for help, someone he loved would die—quickly, horribly. Snuffed out like a candle.

Press, Rachel and Trace do what they can. It soon becomes obvious to Press that he's going to need the help of his own best friend since childhood—Lieutenant Commander James Harticutt, Navy SEAL Team 6.

None of them could know then that a matter of weeks would have made a disastrous difference in the outcome of their search for an undercover CIA agent somewhere in the Middle East.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Rae Blair
• Release date: Nov 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465976567

Linda Rae Blair

Raleigh artist, Linda Rae Blair was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She has used her knowledge gained during extensive travel throughout the United States and her passion for art, history, mysteries, and scenery to create compact novels with rich characters so real you'll miss them when they're gone and places you'll swear you've been. She has lived in Seattle, WA, Monterey Bay, CA, Cincinnati, OH, and retired five years ago in the Raleigh, NC area.Her love of history is well-earned. She is a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of Mayflower fame. She is also descended from a strong line of Scots-Irish immigrants to America in the 1700s. She even had a great uncle who was robbed by the infamous outlaw Belle Starr.Her Scottish love story, “Elusive”, spans 200 years of Scottish history and intrigue via setting in 1700s Scotland and early 1900s Paris and Scotland.An avid reader who inhales novels by Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown and others in the romance/mystery genres, her imagination takes you to a variety of places and times all in the same story.Her travels to the beautiful southwestern states inspired her more modern historic romance combined with mystery, “100 Years of Brotherly Love”.Her mystery series, The Preston Andrews Mysteries now has 12 published entries, beginning with “Hard Press’d” which now claims over 50,000 downloads and, most recently, the softcover print version of the series in compilation form.Ms. Blair has spent many happy hours in Virginia Beach during off-season, when the winds blow cold and hard and the salty air whips at the weather-protected palms. This is the locale chosen for her Preston Andrews series. Locals and visitors alike find many familiar frames of reference in this series.Her homage to her love for Poirot is via her teeny tiny mystery, “The Board Game Murders”.Her newest series is aimed at a slightly younger and more female audience from that of The Preston Andrews series but begins in the backstory in “Pressing Reunion”.The Samantha Hartley, PI series is lighter and features a very young and not terribly experienced private investigator just beginning her career—with a slight assist from the Director of the FBI.One thing is for certain, she combines her passions into stories interesting to history buffs, travelers, and lovers of romance and mystery.

Book preview

PRESS ‘N SEAL

Linda Rae Blair

The characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialog in this novel either are the products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published by Linda Rae Blair at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Linda Rae Blair

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4659-7656-7

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A warm thank you to my dear cousin, John Alden Williams, who helped me ferret out the information about the customs of the areas of Afghanistan used in this novel.

My apologies to him for the fictional aspects I used for purposes of the story. That, after all, is the real fun of writing fiction. I can make things what I want instead of what they are.

DEDICATION

On August 6, 2011, the United States Navy, the United States Army and dozens of American families suffered a great loss. The helicopter carrying thirty-two souls, including twenty Navy SEALS, was blown out of the sky in Afghanistan. All of America mourned.

These thirty-two families lost a piece of their hearts that day. The entire country suffered a loss in that single event that will take years to undo in terms of the special skills lost that day.

To the families of all those lost, we grieve with you!

This book is dedicated to the memory of the Navy SEALS lost in action in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, and all members of our armed forces who have given their final measure in service of our country.

1

Andrews Mansion

Virginia Beach

August, 2011

The news was full of the disaster. Dozens of Navy SEALs, Special Forces, crew and Afghan soldiers killed in a ground-to-air missile attack against a helicopter up in the mountains of Afghanistan.

No survivors.

It was so bleak, so horrible to think about. All those lives snuffed out in an instant.

Press knew, without having to be told, that Lieutenant Commander James Harticutt of SEAL Team 6 was among the dead. He’d heard from him just the night before on SCYPE. He’d said he was leaving in the morning—couldn’t say where he was going—he’d be back in a few days. He’d call Press as soon as he got back.

The call would never come. The call from his father came instead. It was confirmed. His best friend since childhood was dead.

A shudder of grief ran through his system. Rachel had left him alone in his study to grieve. He wasn’t afraid for her to see him cry, for God’s sake. He just didn’t want her to see him break down completely.

As the sobs overtook him, he heard her quietly enter the room. She sat beside him drawing her bare feet under her and pulled his head to her breast. She simply held him while the tears flowed, and the sobs wracked his body.

Just as he had gone after her in Maine last year, she had come after him now.

The loss was overwhelming—not just for Press, not only for the families of those onboard that helicopter. If he’d been lost just weeks before…

2

Yale Campus

Freshman Year

Come on you lump! The girls are waiting downstairs.

Press, leave me alone. I’ve got a calculus final tomorrow. If I screw this one up, I’ll never get into Annapolis this fall.

Press knew his friend was right about the importance of the test. He also knew his own dad had recommended Jim to the Naval Academy. Recommendations from U.S. Senator William Andrews were not handed out frivolously, and they were respectfully honored. There was no way—with his stellar grades and the Senator’s recommendation—Jim wouldn’t get in next fall.

Jim had lost his place last year when they graduated from high school to a guy with almost perfect SATs and a recommendation from Teddy Kennedy. Therefore, he had spent his freshman year driving himself unmercifully to get top grades.

Geez, Press thought. How was he supposed to beat SATs that high—not even William Andrews could trump a recommendation from the Lion of the Senate and