Baby, It's You (Uncharted SEALs Book 5) - Delilah Devlin Page 0,2

ambassador to this little nation and lived in a freaking mansion. Her relationship with her sister wasn’t especially close; too many years divided them.

Cassie had gotten a job in the diplomatic corps right out of college and had only been home for brief visits, the last time to attend their parents’ funerals. And although Cassie did do her best to keep in touch—calling once a week, sending lavish gifts, even buying her a small, used car—Melanie didn’t feel comfortable around her more polished and sophisticated sister. Not like she did with the baby from the first moment they’d met.

She finished wiping the little girl’s fingers clean, removed the food tray, and lifted eighteen-month-old Emmy into her arms, just as she heard car doors slam outside on the cobbled driveway. Turning with the intention of walking to the window so the baby could wave good bye to her parents, Melanie caught a bright flash of light in the corner of her eye, felt a brief moment of complete, airless silence, then felt herself hurled through the air as an explosion of sound and debris hammered against her body.

The moment lengthened, searing pain stung her cheek, and a scream rent the air. And as her arms tightened around the precious bundle still held tightly against her chest, Melanie fell into darkness.

Chapter Two

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Two days into the mission, the SEALs found the band of insurgents responsible for the attack on an Army convoy, which had killed a dozen Americans soldiers in an ambush near Mosul. Because of the chatter they’d intercepted between the insurgents and their commanders, indicating a plan to move that night, the SEALs were taking the compound in daylight. So far, they’d met no resistance. Most of the ragtag combatants were settling down for an afternoon nap to escape the killer heat. The guards on the compound wall had been picked off one at a time by the SEAL team’s sniper, Wolf Kinkaid, without an alert being raised.

Now, the team ringed the largest house inside the compound, ready to take the structure and any souls inside.

“On my signal,” came the task leader’s voice in his ear, “three, two, one!”

Special Operator Carter Vance’s heart rate settled into its familiar mission-thud, slow and steady, as he reached up with his flashlight and shattered the window above him. Ignoring the shouts from the largest house inside the compound, he quickly pulled the safety pin from his grenade, stretched his arm, and tossed it through the window.

Covering his ears, he dove for the base of the cinderblock wall a second before the impact grenade hit the floor inside. The blast of several grenades going off at once ripped through the air.

“Go, go, go!” came across the comms, but he was already on his feet, his cheek against the stock of his M4A1 as he moved quickly toward the door hanging open on one hinge. He sighted down the barrel and turned in quick, jerking movements, side-to-side, seeking movement around the building, then reached out and yanked the door the rest of the way off before darting inside.

The dust hadn’t settled, but the team had to clear their target, look for any survivors among the insurgents occupying the house. Once he breached the door, he quickly moved out of the lit doorway into the shadowed interior. Splintered furniture and debris cracked and scraped under his boots.

Behind him, two more team members, “Big Mac” McLane and Billy Yates, scrambled inside while more were poised to enter from the rear to take the staircase leading to the upper floor. Carter gave a soft whistle to draw their gazes then signaled he’d check the doorway to the left that led into the kitchen.

Billy flashed a quick, easy grin—the young SEAL smiled no matter the danger. Big Mac nodded, pointed toward the corridor to the right, then hunched over the short assault weapon that looked like a kid’s toy gun in his massive hands and moved forward, Billy on his heels.

Carter slid up to the kitchen entrance, pointed his weapon into the room, then peeked inside for movement before pulling back. The room appeared empty. Taking a deep breath, he entered, searching every corner, opening cabinets and the pantry door for anyone who might be curled up inside. “Clear!” he said into the mike on his headset.

Glancing out the window, he noted the rest of his team moving around the compound, searching sheds, under tarps. They had the outdoors handled. “Big Mac, heading your way.”

As he stepped out into the