Hawken's Heart by Suzanne Brockmann

Author:Suzanne Brockmann [Brockmann, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Category
ISBN: 0778321665
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2009-02-08T21:22:00+00:00

Chapter 10

People had turned out in droves to see the freak show.Crash's chains clanked as he was led into the courtroom for his hearing. He tried not to look up at all the faces looking down at him from the gallery.

Tried and failed.

The surviving members of his SEAL Team—his former SEAL Team—were sitting in the back, arms crossed, venom in their eyes.

They thought he was responsible for Captain Lovett and the Possum's death. They believed the ballistics report. Why shouldn't they? Everyone else did.

Except Nell Burns. God, she was sitting there as well. Crash felt a rush of hot and then cold at the thought that she hadn't stayed away. What was wrong with her? What did he have to say or do to make her stay away from him for good?

Crash didn't want to waste any time at all worrying about Nell running around, proclaiming his innocence, stirring things up and catching the attention of a man who'd killed an admiral to keep his identity hidden.

He would rather picture Nell safe at home. Sweet Mary, he'd rather picture Nell having breakfast in bed with Dexter Lancaster than have to worry about her becoming another target for a man with no scruples.

He purposely didn't meet her eyes, even though he made it clear that he saw her. He purposely, coldly, turned his back on her, praying that she would leave.

But as he turned, he saw another familiar face in the crowd.

Lt. Commander Blue McCoy of Alpha Squad was sitting in the front row of the side balcony.

Crash hadn't expected Blue McCoy to come to gape at him, to sit there mentally spitting at him, ready to cheer when the court expressed its desire to impose the death sentence.

He'd liked working with Blue. He'd trusted the quiet man almost immediately. And he'd thought that Blue had trusted him as well.

He tried not to look in Blue's direction, either, but a flash of movement caught his eye.

He turned and Blue did it again. Moving quickly, almost invisibly, he hand-signalled Crash. Are you okay?

There were no accusations in Blue's eyes—no hatred, no animosity. Only concern.

Crash turned to face the judge without responding. He couldn't respond. What could he possibly say?

He closed his hand around the bent piece of metal he had concealed in his palm, feeling its rough edges scrape against his skin. He couldn't wait to be free of these chains. He couldn't wait to see the sky again.

He couldn't wait to find the man who had killed Jake, and send the bastard straight to hell.

It was only a matter of minutes now.

He sat through the procedure, barely hearing the droning of the lawyers' voices. He could feel his former SEAL Team members' hot eyes on his back. He could feel Blue watching him as well.

And if he closed his eyes and breathed really deeply, he could pretend that he could smell Nell's sweet perfume.

As the two guards escorted Crash from the courtroom, Nell willed him to turn his head and acknowledge that she was there.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.