Lockdown by Traci Hunter Abramson

Author:Traci Hunter Abramson [Abramson, Traci Hunter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608615162
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2011-07-04T14:00:00+00:00

17

Victor Cross stood on the high school lawn in the evening twilight. He had been working with the governor’s task force off and on since the massacre, and tonight he had decided to take Commander Bennett up on his invitation to watch an exercise firsthand. After meeting with the SEAL team, his curiosity had been heightened, and he was eager to see firsthand how fast the SEALs could neutralize a threat.

In front of him, police were storming the school from all sides. For years Victor had been working undercover, sometimes with a partner, sometimes without. Rarely in his investigations did he get to see this kind of teamwork in action. He glanced down at his watch, pleased with the demonstration.

The actor playing the gunman had been neutralized in less than two minutes from the time the exercise had started. Granted, response time would have had to be added to that, which could be about four minutes from the local police station or three from the university. Still, that would be just enough time. His thoughts were interrupted when someone stepped up beside him. He looked down, surprised to see a familiar face.

“What do you think?” Riley asked, motioning to the school.

“Impressive,” Victor said, his eyebrows lifting. He remembered Riley well from her years at Oswell—not because she was the sort he often came across in his undercover work, but because she had been one of those very few who had faced the gunman and lived to tell about it. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you would steer clear of this kind of action.”

“This is the first one I’ve come to,” Riley admitted. “I’m not ready to watch the inside action, but I thought it might help to see the other side of a disaster.”

“It’s good to see you’re doing so well,” he told her in his smooth, authoritative voice. “I expect the task force will be pleased with the progress if the rest of the week has been this successful.”

“The participants have made their share of mistakes, but the SEALs feel they were mistakes that needed to be made in order for them to learn.” Riley glanced up at the parking lot lights blinking on. “I imagine this scenario will be a lot more realistic for the last three sessions, since we’ll be able to conduct those during the day.”

“That’s right. School lets out next week, doesn’t it?”

Riley nodded. “Graduation is a week from Saturday.”

They stood there in silence a moment longer until one of the SEALs emerged and motioned to Riley.

Riley moved away from Victor, walking forward to greet the broad-shouldered man wearing camouflage and a cocky grin. “I guess I’ll see you later,” she called over her shoulder.

Several of the law enforcement officers emerged from the building, and Victor could read the tension from across the lawn. Even though this was just a training exercise, it had clearly been realistic enough to evoke emotion from the participants. Three more of the SEALs approached Riley, each of them completely relaxed as though this was just a walk in the park.

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.