Guarding ClaraBrotherhood Protectors World
Barb Han
Contents
Brotherhood Protectors
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Also by Barb Han
About Barb Han
Brotherhood Protectors
About Elle James
Copyright © 2020, Barb Han
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
© 2020 Twisted Page Press, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.
Brotherhood Protectors
Original Series by Elle James
Brotherhood Protectors Series
Montana SEAL (#1)
Bride Protector SEAL (#2)
Montana D-Force (#3)
Cowboy D-Force (#4)
Montana Ranger (#5)
Montana Dog Soldier (#6)
Montana SEAL Daddy (#7)
Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow (#8)
Montana SEAL Undercover Daddy (#9)
Cape Cod SEAL Rescue (#10)
Montana SEAL Friendly Fire (#11)
Montana SEAL’s Mail-Order Bride (#12)
SEAL Justice (#13)
Ranger Creed (#14)
Delta Force Strong (#15)
Montana Rescue (Sleeper SEAL)
Hot SEAL Salty Dog (SEALs in Paradise)
Hot SEAL Hawaiian Nights (SEALs in Paradise)
To Elle James for letting me write in your world and introducing me to your awesome readers—a huge thank you. You already know how much I love you.
Chapter 1
Many more days in Haiti and Daniel Damon was certain he’d be the one doing the wild chanting and voodoo doll toting. Or maybe he’d just walk around muttering unintelligible words, begging for loose change. He was losing it, seeing dead men—men he’d killed in combat—almost everywhere he looked. His mind played tricks on him.
Daniel shook off the melancholy mood, trying not to think about the reality that this place was a hotbed for human trafficking. Or the fact that countless young girls and boys had passed through these lands on their way to some unknown destination to be sex slaves or indentured servants until they were deemed no longer useful. Very much alive in a fate worse than death before they’d disappear forever.
Death was final. Certain. Death ended suffering.
Don’t get him wrong. There were good people here, too. People who needed help. It had become all too easy for Daniel to see the bad side of humanity. The side that plotted, murdered and treated human life like it was worth less than a tank of gasoline.
He caught himself wading into that unproductive cesspool of despair again.
That meant he needed to hear his daughter’s voice to get his feet grounded, to get his bearings.
He stole away for a quick break from Help Haiti Now, the do-gooder organization his wife had signed him up for to get him to stop skulking around the house—he believed those were her exact words—and find a purpose now that he’d left ManTech, a Blackwater-type organization that acted as a special operations unit for the U.S. Government. He’d walked away from ManTech when an operative went rogue, turning on the organization and making the names of its operatives public on the dark Web. The dark cloud that had hung over Daniel’s head all his life had struck again.
Naomi, his wife, picked up on the third ring.
“Is it bad that I’d rather be home right now than here?” Daniel said cheerily, trying to mask the exhaustion and stress in his voice. He should be in Dallas figuring out his next move, trying to save his marriage and clearing his head instead of picking through dirt and finding nothing but animal carcasses.
“This is good for you, for us,” Naomi said quietly. “Another week and you’ll have rebuilt the country anyway,” she added with forced-sounding cheer.
“Hardly feels like we’re making a dent here.” He couldn’t mask his frustration if he’d tried. The horrendous earthquake that had struck rivaled the one that had occurred in 2010.
“You are.”
“Difficult to get much done in a couple of weeks.” His indifferent tone probably irked her to high heaven.
“One man can barely make a dent in two weeks, true. But a hundred and ten men over several months ... now that’s a different story.”
“Is that how many signed up?” There were a lot of Sunday morning bench warmers there. No doubt those men had been forced in the game by their wives same as Daniel. All he could think about was what had gone down at his last job. Several operatives had been murdered on recent operations because of a mole in the organization. Several good men. And proving that God had a wicked sense of irony, He’d let Daniel live.
“Because of you, Daniel. They agreed to do this because of you. You started this,” she continued. This didn’t seem the right time to remind her that she’d been the one to sign him up. If she didn’t have so much damn pride in her voice he’d tell her that he was coming home on the next flight if there was room.
She didn’t miss a beat, “The mayor spoke about the project today in the town square of all places. Ruthie was so proud of her daddy. I might have a picture. I’ll send it after we hang up.”
They both knew this had been Naomi’s pet project and a lame attempt at trying to help him—how’d she put it?—shake the past and get his footing on solid ground again.
An annoying little voice reminded him that he was getting what he deserved. If he hadn’t come home numb to the world, to his family maybe Naomi wouldn’t have felt the need to ship him off again. It was hard for military wives to have a
