Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” Lewis swore. “Women don’t belong on a sub.”
Davin growled and stepped forward. “That’s your goddamn response to that? That women don’t belong? Nothing about how the men in your command should be better? It’s a wonder she survived this long. If I didn’t need information so bad, I’d beat your ass right here.”
“And I’d let him,” Allan said. “We’ll speak on that later. Right now, we need to find COB.”
Fast.
Chapter 11
The rank air filled her nose and she came to coughing and sputtering. The light was nearly nonexistent in this place.
Wherever I am.
Whatever her location turned out to be, she knew she was in deep shit. Wrists and ankles bound and something making it hard for her to breathe. Perhaps it was the remnants of whatever she’d been given or something else was going on. Like an injury to her lungs or ribs.
It took her a bit but she managed to struggle to a seated position. There was no wall beside her. It was like she was in the middle of a warehouse floor. Just her.
And whatever fuck brought me here.
God, she needed a break from this. A small bark of laughter burst from her.
Makes the bit with Davin not seem at all that important now. Except that it was my flight response that got me into this situation. Had I stayed with him, I’m guessing right now, I could be enjoying some much needed cock. Or at least be safe in his arms.
She loved that man. And she wanted to be with him.
Neha tried to figure this out but her head was still a bit fuzzy. Her brother was still in jail.
I think. So who did that leave?
Lewis? I mean I know the man doesn’t like me but this seems a bit more than he would do. I can’t imagine him wanting to get his hands dirty.
If only she’d gotten the names of the guilty from COB, perhaps she would have a jumping point. Again, left with nothing because all she was good at doing was running.
Chin to her chest, she berated herself. Ran to the Navy to escape her family. Ran from potential danger there. Ran from the man who had been nothing but incredible to her. Ran into danger.
This wasn’t looking good for her at all. She strained to hear something. Anything. But all that she picked up on was her own wheezing as she struggled to breathe a bit easier. This place had tons of dust in the air and it was different than she was used to.
Not that I have a lot of experience in being kidnapped.
If there were someone watching her, she didn’t want to let them know she was awake, although if they had a camera on her, they would know already.
All great questions and yet all in fact bringing her right back to where she was now. Confused, in pain, and scared out of her every loving mind.
In an instant, she was back with Judge Stabler. She watched him as he gazed back at her with his black eyes, expression full of fondness as he wove more tales about his time as a submariner. He was everything she could have wanted for a father and they weren’t blood. Didn’t matter. When people asked her about her father, this, was the man who came to mind. The one she was so proud of and wished her friends, few though there were, could meet him. And see him for the man she knew he was.
“There’s something you need to know about submarine service, Neha,” he’d told her one day.
She was sitting cross-legged on the chair in his office listening with rapt attention. “What is that?”
“First, don’t get me wrong, it takes a strong person to be in the military, to be willing to give up that sacrifice, that life so many take for granted to put it all on the line, daily for people who will spit on you instead of saying thank you. To put up with threats and not seeing your family. It’s a hard life and harder still if you want to do it and have a family of your own.”
There was something more he’d not spit out yet. She tucked some curls behind her ear.
“But?”
He smiled at her and she cherished it. “But it’s more than that in a submarine. It’s not like a ship where you can get off if there is a problem. You’re under all that water, moving through pressure that can crush you and wants to crush you. Depending on where you go, you could be down for six months or more. That’s important to think about. No fresh, no sunlight, no room to be on your own and away from the men you are there with. The amount of courage it takes to be a submariner runs deep. Fathoms deep and before you decide that is what you want to do and where you want to commit your life to. Make sure you have it and know you have it. Because there will be situations that you need. There will be times when you don’t think you will survive but the last thing you can deal with on a submarine is panic. That’s not a luxury you have down there.”