So, progress. Slow. Not too steady, but progress. Today’s snippet comes from the new novella, MOON CROSSED, which is the middle part of MOONSTRUCK: BETRAYAL. While it might be in middle, it also time travels a little, back to when Hannah was only a captain and before…well, just read it and you’ll see. Warning: This scene contains strong language because…Hannah is involved. Also, today’s Twitter #1lineWed theme is well…beware of shameless puns…

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“Can we talk?”

Duke studied her. The captain was not afraid to take on Dr. Jacobson. More important, she’d taken the doc’s guard dog down a couple of pegs. He could appreciate her authority but he wasn’t about to give anything away until he decided to trust her. He pushed out of the tank and slithered down the glass side, rather than swimming over to the dock and using the stairs. She gave him a rolling-eyed look of disgust in response to his showboating. He fought the urge to flex for her. Once he stood in front of her, he was surprised at her height. She wasn’t as tall as he originally thought. Command presence. The captain had it in spades. Good to know. Maybe the SEALs had found an ally.

“Maybe.” He wasn’t ready to commit.

“Seriously?”

He shrugged, wondering how far he could push her. She was attractive and he’d been without female company far longer than he cared to consider. He felt the rest of his team gather behind him, water rolling off them to leave puddles on the concrete floor.

“Fine. Questions I have. Answers you will give.”

His turn to roll eyes but Dalton beat him to the punch. “First, you must come to the dark side. We have cookies.”

“What happened to your predecessors?”

The question caught him flat-footed. Predecessors? His team were the first. Weren’t they? There was Gardner, though.

“There were five Air Force jet pilots assigned to this facility eighteen months ago for some weird project that was supposed to enhance them so they could fly for extended periods at halo altitude with no pressure suits or external oxygen sources. I met them before they reported. Shit.” She brushed fingers through her short hair. “One of them was on the list for astronaut training. They’re still here.”

The men exchanged uneasy looks before Duke spoke. “We’re the only ones here.”

“How do you know?”

They traded knowing looks this time. “Just accept that we know.”

“Fuck!” Hannah stomped around in a circle wishing she had something to hit. Or kick. Preferably those two asshole scientists. She deep breathed—in through her nose, out through her mouth—several times, calming. “How long have you been here?”

“Six months.” Duke glanced at Dalton. “Except the kid. He’s only been here two.”

“Late addition?”

“Replacement.” Duke’s voice sounded flat in his own ears. Flat and final.

“Motherfuckingdammitalltohell.” Her temper flared again. She had a really bad feeling about the sailor who’d been replaced. More breathing before she calmed down.

Duke understood her outburst. His anger simmered on a low boil.

“Okay. Fill me in.” Hannah jumped in before the big SEAL could argue. “My security clearance is way higher than yours. And while I report to the Joint Chiefs, I can bypass them and talk directly to the Secretary of Defense.”

“In that case…”

***

Two hours later, Hannah climbed into the back seat of the SUV idling near the front exit of the underground lab. Her head swam—no pun intended—with facts and suppositions, most of which she could barely wrap that head around. There was so much wrong about what happened in that lab on so many levels. She vowed to stop the project, no matter what she had to do. The thumb drive tucked into her bra was full to the gills—okay, so she couldn’t help herself—with information about the failed Angel Wings project and the shift to the Atlantis experiments. One of Duke Reagan’s frogmen turned out to be a computer wiz. He’d downloaded all the files for her—along with a bit of trivia.

Werewolves. Fucking werewolves in the US Army. A whole special gawddamned unit of them hiding in plain sight and doing secret missions. Not even the CIA knew about them. But Hannah did. Now. And wished she didn’t. Her head truly was going to explode and she wondered how the hell she’d ever sleep again because…werefuckingwolves! And frogmen. With the ability to breathe underwater. Like gawddamned fish. And there was one more bit of information that kept cropping up. The name Black Root. She had a really bad feeling about all this shit. And for the first time, she wondered who she could trust? How was she supposed to distinguish the white hats from the black hats when they all wore green?
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There it is. I hope you enjoyed. Writers, any puns in your WIPs? Readers, got any shameless puns to share?