SEAL Protected Read Online Free

tackling him around the legs. The gun pointed at Taryn fell away as she kicked the man who had been holding it. A gun went off – Tom’s – and the figure he was fighting dropped like a sack of bricks. Taryn kicked the man again, but he grabbed her by her hair and threw her against the car. She gritted her teeth and spat at him. He released her and came at me. Tom shot, but it went wide and the man grabbed my arm. He yanked me to my feet and pressed a gun to my temple.
     
    “Drop the weapon.” Tom froze; his eyes were wide. He raised his hands, gun in one and looked over the man’s shoulder. His lips curled up into a small smile and he shook his head. Cindy was on the ground and Taryn was against the car, but I realized the kidnapper couldn’t see Taryn. The man looked over his shoulder and I took the opportunity to elbow him in the gut. The kidnapper spun, but by then he’d lost his grip on me.
     
    “Tom!” I shouted. Tom shot and so did the kidnapper. The bullet caught the kidnapper in the neck and he dropped in a fountain of blood. I scrambled over to Cindy’s fallen form, checking her head. The sound of Tom crumbling to the ground raised my gaze. He was lying near Taryn. I crawled over to him and checked his pulse. It was slowing.
     
    “Are you all right?” he asked me. His eyes were unfocused.
     
    “I’m fine, are you?” I asked. My fingers flew to his neck, finding his pulse. Cindy was as stable as I could make her and Taryn were cursing behind me, so she was conscious. Tom was my first priority now. “Tom? Are you hurt? Where were you shot?” He groaned and rubbed at his head. His hands were shaking. Bit by bit his eyes slid closed, his gaze finding its way back to me. He cracked a weak smile at me, and then his eyes fluttered shut.
     
    I cursed under my breath and dialed for an ambulance. “Hi, I need an ambulance to…,” I checked the street signs, “The corner of Carter and Wellington for three people.” The operator asked me for the injuries. “Head wound, concussion with possible broken ribs, and a bullet wound – location unknown, blood not found.” I hung up when they told me it was on the way and gripped Tom’s hand.
     
    “Damn it, Daddy,” I muttered. This would have never happened if Tom hadn’t been hired. But if he hadn’t come, well, I didn’t want to think about what would have happened to us. “Hang in there, Tom.” I waited for the ambulance, praying that Tom would survive. I felt so terrible when I realized how disrespectful I had been towards the man who had now saved my life.
     

Chapter 4
    My father was furious. He was justified of course, but that didn’t excuse his shouting and banging around like a child.
     
    “You snuck out,” he roared. “You snuck out and you nearly died. And why? Why did you sneak out? Because you decided to rebel against my wishes.” He rounded on me, his face red with fury. “You are not a child, Michelle.”
     
    I twitched, fists clenching at my sides. “No, I’m not. So why do you treat me like one?” I said, my voice rising into a high-pitched shriek.
     
    “Because you act like one,” he shouted back. He sighed and his shoulders slumped forward. “I’m just trying to protect you. You have no idea what I have to go through to do that.”
     
    “I don’t want to be protected,” I replied, but the heat was gone out of my voice as well. “Daddy, I can take care of myself as long as you tell me what’s going on. If I had known people were after me I would have never gone out like that.” I sighed. “But you can’t expect me to go along with everything you do without knowing why you’re doing it. That’s not how I work, and I won’t do it.”
     
    “Not even if it’s for your own good?” he asked. I shook my head. “Yeah, just like your mother.” Neither one of us spoke for a minute after that. I remembered my mother. A fiery woman from Korea who had never let prejudice get in the way of standing next to