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

hell of doing something other than losing us more men and women?”
    The assembled men looked at each other furtively, and no one answered, not until Karson quietly cleared his throat.
    As one the table looked at the most junior man there, their expressions ranging from incredulous surprise to near malicious disapproval. The president, however, just nodded. “I’m listening, Admiral.”
    “The first confirmed case was ten years ago,” Karson said, taking a deep breath as he mustered his courage. “The USS Fitzgerald was lost in the South China Sea, leaving only a handful of survivors. The initial investigation took over a year, and wasn’t really bumped up to this department for three years. Most of the survivors went with the official story, which was that there was a training accident and a fire on board the ship.”
    “We’re aware of this.”
    “Yes, sir.” Karson looked down at the table, avoiding the censorious gaze of the vice admiral on the other side of it. “The Fitzgerald was in that area on a retrieval mission, picking up a SEAL team that was coming back from a penetration of Chinese territory. Only two of the men survived, although they did achieve their mission of extracting the agent we’d flipped.”
    Karson took out a folder and tossed it open onto the table.
    “Meet one Harold Masters, team name ‘Hawk.’ He was an up-and-coming lieutenant in the Teams before that mission, on a fast track to command his own squad. He refused to go with the official story, except in public. In his reports he stated categorically, time and again, that his team had been attacked by something resembling a giant squid.”
    Karson looked up at the assembled men, his eyes landing on Durance. “The CIA handler who was overseeing the extraction recommended that he be silenced before his ravings could spill over into other operations. Masters’s security clearance was revoked, and he chose to retire rather than being drummed out on a dishonorable.”
    “What does this have to do with anything, Karson?” Durance asked.
    “Look at what he’s been doing since that mission,” Karson said quietly, pushing a folder toward the other man. “We keep tabs on people like him, in case they need to be reminded of their confidentiality agreements. He hasn’t. However, he has been doing a lot of research since then.”
    “Old copies of the Bible, Talmud, and Koran?” Durance asked, looking over the report. “Prophecy texts from 100 BC? Books on mysticism, new-age bullshit, and so-called cryptozoology? He’s a nut.”
    “Fact. Masters’s SEAL team was destroyed by some kind of giant squid. His account agrees with his teammate’s, and even the Chinese national swore the same thing when we recovered him. And what they’ve said has been backed up by later encounters with similar creatures. Yes, his research isn’t exactly conventional, but these are the sorts of things we’re here to discuss, gentlemen,” Karson said firmly. “Masters has also read works on exobiology, genetic mutations, and paleobiology. This is a man who’s looking for answers, and he’s been looking for them for at least five years longer than we have.”
    “We have resources he can’t even imagine. Anything he’s learned, we can find in seconds.” Cullen snorted derisively.
    “True, but we would still need five years to build up that kind of knowledge,” Karson said in return. “Sirs, please, I’m not suggesting that we throw out everything we’ve done. What I’m saying is that it’s time to start thinking outside the box, at least until we can determine how big the damn box is. Masters was no fool—he’s cast a wide net, and I say we go ask him if he’s caught anything in it.”
    The gathered men grumbled quietly, but went silent when the president leaned forward.
    “You think this will get us anywhere, Admiral?”
    “I don’t think we can afford to ignore the possibility that it might, Mr. President.”
    The president nodded.