Brandon's Bliss, Heroes For Hire (A SEALs of Honor Novel) by Dale Mayer

BRANDON'S BLISS Excerpt

Brandon bent down and searched his pockets. He pulled out a wallet and tossed it to Stone and then checked through the rest of his pockets. "I sure hope he wasn't active military. This had better not be an operation we stepped into," Brandon snapped.
"No, it isn't," Harrison said. "There's no name on the fatigues, and the styling's old. This is Army Surplus–looking stuff. He might have been military at one time. But he's likely a merc now."
Nothing else was in his pockets except a lighter and a couple coins and three keys. Brandon didn't know what the keys were for, but he dumped them into Stone's hand before heading for the dead man's boots. He took them off and searched the inside, one by one.
Kasha watched him curiously. "Why the boots?"
"Because a lot of men on missions keep a photograph or a letter from their loved ones there. It's for good luck," he said shortly.
She hadn't heard that before. It was fascinating to consider. In this case, the man didn't have anything in his boots. But when Brandon pulled off one sock, sure enough a simple piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and opened it. "It's got Bullard's name on it and the address. Well, rather the location. It's not like there's an address here."
The piece of paper was handed around, but there was nothing else helpful to be gained from it.
"Even with fingerprints, these freelance merc types wouldn't be in anybody's database when they're working small villages and abandoned properties, like this guy was. He's way too small potatoes and under the radar," Brandon said as he pulled off the other sock. When he found nothing, he put both socks back on and then slid the boots atop.
Again she couldn't help asking, "Why are you putting his boots back on?"
"He died the way he lived," Brandon said, his voice curt. "He was a soldier, one way or another, and they like to die with their boots on."

March 6
Heroes for Hire