Chapter 1
Ever Wonder What If?
Ever wonder what would happen if you chose to do something else today? What if you decided to do something different? What if you decided to sleep in later? What if you decided not to go to work? What if you decided not to go out to dinner? What if you were just minding your own business?
It takes only one incident to change a lifetime.
It’s been four years since the “event,” and I still ask myself these questions over and over. The following is my story, and because of it, I’m grateful I decided to do everything I did four years ago. I’m not perfect. I have my flaws although I will deny them. I’m lucky in many ways. I learned more about my life, desires, ambitions, and my family from the events that took place four years prior.
I served my country for twenty-four years in the navy. I came from a navy family. My great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all in the navy. I can say without a doubt that I was essentially born into the navy. My father was a Navy SEAL, and he has always been my mentor and role model. I find he taught me the most about being a man, a father, a husband, and a leader.
I was the commanding officer of the navy’s elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as DEVGRU, or to some, as Seal Team 6. Although the official Seal Team 6 was dissolved in 1987, to us, it always survived as just Seal Team 6. We always prefer the name Seal Team 6 as it carries many traditions. We existed under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command.
We have always been the best of the best—America’s team for when it was on the line. I fought for our country during wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world. I saw men killed in battle. I helped save men from dying in battle. The crazy thing is, I never thought I’d have to use all my skills and resources to save my own family right here in the United States of America.
I’m Retired US Navy SEAL Commanding Officer of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Seal Team 6, Captain Ryan Williams, and here is my story as I best remember it.
Protect Hero Description:
Highly trained special ops military personnel. A criminal organization engaged in a nationwide kidnapping spree and terrorist plotting. Meticulous detail, non-stop action, and gut-wrenching drama.
Protect Hero offers near-real adventure that reflects the modern world’s raging drug and border wars, acts of terror, and the pervasive problem of human trafficking.
As the leader of Seal Team Six, Captain Ryan Williams has built a distinguished military career. Performing valiantly under fire, he risked death to save his men while eliminating the terrorists responsible for a presidential assassination attempt.
Williams is ready for a well-deserved break, and when his grateful community offers him an all-expenses-paid night out with his wife, he happily accepts. It will be their first real date in years. The couple’s children, Jaxon and Emma, will spend the night at Momma’s Place, the local affiliate of a chain of nationwide sitting services.
A night of relaxation turns cataclysmic when the organized crime syndicate known as the Cartel raids Momma’s Place locations across Arizona. Its reason for kidnapping every child present and Williams’ kids? To sell them as work slaves and prostitutes, to receive ransom payment from wealthy Americans, or to be sold as children to wealthy foreigners. The Cartel’s leader also has personal reasons for stealing Williams’ kids, which Williams does not know.
William’s first indication of danger comes from Jaxon’s frantic voice call message: “We are being taken. We are being taken.”
Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of local law enforcement, desperate to save his children, Williams takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his fellow Navy Seals, his Army Ranger brother, and some well-placed government contacts, Williams forms Protect Hero, an elite private security force dedicated to the safe return of his children.
The Cartel, which also dabbles in helping terrorists enter the United States and has reasons for stealing Captain Williams’ kids, thinks the raid on Momma’s Place was a major coup. Williams and his special ops friends are determined to show them just how wrong they are.
