SEAL Team 13 (SEAL Team 13 series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

ago.”
    “Huh,” the woman said, sounding slightly surprised, maybe even impressed. “Few survivors are of much use, and those who are would seem insane. It won’t go anywhere.”
    “As you say.”
    “Still,” she said, trailing off in thought. “Send a shadow team to follow and observe.”
    “And if this Masters seems to know something?”
    “Kill him,” the woman said casually. “The government is too stupid to be left bumbling around in the real world. Remind them that they are best left dealing with their fantasies.”
    The admiral nodded. “As you say, Matriarch.”
    The woman watched him back out, the unspoken dismissal thick in the air. When the door closed, she straightened and half turned.
    “Do we know of this Mr. Masters?”
    A man appeared from an alcove, tall and thin with graying hair and piercing blue eyes.
    “He has not appeared on any upper-level reports. I will request an archive search,” the man said calmly.
    “I don’t like it, Percy,” the woman admitted tiredly. “Too many factions, too many unknowns. It’s spiraling out of our control.”
    “Perhaps,” came the reply. “I doubt, however, that it ever was in our control.”
    “If it wasn’t, then we must take control now,” she responded hotly. “And soon. There’s too much at stake. We will control the veil, or see it destroyed. Ensure that our people in the government know that we will brook no interference from the United States or any other group. They are to use any means necessary to ensure that.”
    “Whatever you say, Matriarch,” the man said.
    As he faded back from the room, the old woman turned back to the fire and stared pensively into the crackling flames.

    SOUTHWESTERN MONTANA
THREE DAYS LATER
    There were no power lines running to the ranch-style home. No signs of civilization at all, in fact, beyond the small wind farm that was set a thousand feet to the north. The home was compact, built low into the land for shelter from the wind, and it blended into the natural landscape until it was all but invisible.
    Karson noted that there was clear range on all sides of the building. It was over a few hundred feet to the closest trees, and nothing within that distance was more than a few inches in height. The land sloped down from the house on all sides, providing perfect visibility, and he could see that lights were inset in the grounds.
    In short, the land around the house was an immaculately tailored kill zone.
    A man doesn’t build a place like this without being paranoid, insane, both…or rightfully wary for his life.
    Karson didn’t know which it was in this case, and wouldn’t even guess at it until he’d met Masters. He pulled his rental to a stop at the end of the drive, beside a beat-up Ford Expedition, and killed the engine. He stepped out onto the packed gravel and looked around for a moment before letting the car door shut and making his way toward the house.
    He knocked a few times, then rang the bell, but there was no response. Karson sighed, stepped back, and looked around. A sound caught his attention, a rhythmic thud that took him a moment to recognize. He moved toward it, walking around the side of the house, where he found a man, his back to the drive, splitting wood with a heavy splitter’s maul. Karson paused well out of reach and cleared his throat in order to catch the man’s attention.
    “Don’t want any, got no use for any, couldn’t afford it if I did.”
    It took the admiral a moment to piece together what that meant.
    “I’m not selling anything, Lieutenant.”
    The man stopped, letting the maul fall to one side before slowly turning to look at Karson. “I ain’t been a lieutenant for almost ten years now.”
    “That’s one of the things I’m here to talk to you about.”
    Harold Masters took a deep breath, then slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think I care, sir. Captain? Admiral?”
    “Vice Admiral Karson. ONI.”
    “Naval Intelligence,” Masters snorted.