Suzanne Brockmann - Breaking the Rules

BY SUZANNE BROCKMANN

TROUBLESHOOTERS SERIES

The Unsung Hero

The Defiant Hero

Over the Edge

Out of Control

Into the Night

Gone Too Far

Flashpoint

Hot Target

Breaking Point

Into the Storm

Force of Nature

All Through the Night

Into the Fire

Dark of Night

Hot Pursuit

Breaking the Rules

SUNRISE KEY SERIES

Kiss and Tell

The Kissing Game

Otherwise Engaged

OTHER BOOKS

Heartthrob

Forbidden

Freedoms Price

Body Language

Stand-In Groom

Time Enough for Love

Infamous

Ladies Man

Bodyguard

Breaking the Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Suzanne Brockmann

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brockmann, Suzanne.
Breaking the rules : a novel / Suzanne Brockmann.
p. cm.(Troubleshooters; 16)
eISBN: 978-0-345-52124-8
1. United States, Navy, SEALSFiction. 2. Government investigatorsFiction. I. Title.
PS3552.R61455B75 2011
813.54dc22 2011000561

www.ballantinebooks.com

Jacket design: Jae Song

v3.1

For you, my readers

Thanks, as always, to the usual suspectsthe team at Ballantine, including my editor, Shauna Summers; my agent, Steve Axelrod; and my patient family: Ed and Jason Gaffney; Melanie, Dawson, and Aidan; and my parents Fred & Lee Brockmann.

A special shout-out to Scott Lutz for being an early-draft reader.

A huge thank-you to both the real Kathy Gordon and the real Nicola Chick. Your generous donations to The First Amendment Project are deeply and sincerely appreciated!

Thank you to the fabulous team at Advanced Physical Therapy in Sarasota: Casey, Lijah, Molly, Pam, and their fearless leader, Kitty Devine. Thanks for getting me back on my feetand for enduring an author on deadline in the process!

Big thanks to New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Novak for all her hard work raising money for diabetes research. For several years, Ive participated in Brendas enormous annual online charity auction. Its personal for Brenda, and now, after bringing Ben Gillman to life, its become personal for me, too. Visit www.brendanovak.auctionanything.com and help make a difference.

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank you, my readers, who trust me enough to follow wherever I will take you, and who continue to give me permission to write the stories of my heart.

As always, any mistakes Ive made or liberties Ive taken are completely my own.

I t happened so fast.

The IEDa car bomb, had to bewent off in the middle of the busy neighborhood.

One minute Izzy Zanella was letting Mark Jenkins use him as a sounding board for the pros and cons of putting in an offer on a house before he and his wife, Lindsey, sold their condowhich was ridiculous, because Izzy had never owned property in his thirty years of life and wasnt likely to change from being a renter anytime soon. But that was probably why Jenk was bouncing his thoughts off Izzybecause said thoughts would, absolutely, bounce.

Of course, their Navy SEAL teammate and resident pain in the ass Danny-Danny-bo-banny Gillman had never owned property either, but he had an Opinion with a capital O on the subjectand that O stood for boring. Dan had spent most of the morning dourly warning Jenkie to not even think about buying anything in this craphell marketnot until they had a buyer for the condo locked in.

Jenk, however, was in loveand not just with his adorable yet kick-ass wife. He was in love with his entire life, including Lindseys whoopsie-daisy pregnancy. It had just happened, or rather, theyd just found out about it. And even though they had nearly eight full months before Baby Day, Jenk really, really wanted to buy what was, without a doubt, his idea of the perfect house, particularly since it sat three perfect houses down from the equally perfect home of SEAL Team Sixteens former CO, Tommy Paoletti, whom Markie-Mark still loved nearly as much as Lindsey and their fabulous life.

And Izzy had to admit that living down the street from Tommy, who had a more-the-merrier policy to his almost-weekly cookouts, would be pretty flipping great.

Jenkins didnt want to hear any more of Gillmans doom and gloom, which was why he was walking next to Izzy and saying, If it turns out we cant sell the condo, we can always go to Plan B

Which was when the world went boom.

Izzy went from nodding his agreement to soul-kissing the street and inhaling rancid water from a puddle that was part yak piss, part toxic sludge.

He rolled over to do a quick head count of his teammates and encountered Dan Gillman, who was doing the exact same thing, his hand on Izzys legthe better to shake him with.

Zanella, Christ, are you all right? Gillman asked, far more urgently than Izzy would have expected, considering that Izzys main reason for finding Dan such a royal pain in the ass was the fact that Dan thought Izzy was the worlds biggest load. And hed come to his opinion about that long before Izzy had gone and married Dannys little sister, Eden, which had, inarguably, made things even more awkward.

In the best of times, they were frenemies. In the worst, they gave in to their animosity, at which point one of their fists usually ended up in the others face.

And it was usually Dannys fist and Izzys face. Although theyd definitely vice versad it a time or two in the recent past.

Izzy had to spit out the yak piss before he could do more than nod, but then he remembered that it wasnt too long ago that Dan had had the unnerving experience of witnessing a Marine whod been standing a few scant inches away from him get hit by shrapnel from a similar explosion.

The kid had bled out in a matter of minutes, despite Dans frantic attempts at first aid.

Im fine, Izzy reassured him. Their SEAL teammatesJenkins, Tony V., and Lopezwere all fine, too, thank God.

In fact, Lopez was so fine, he was already running toward the smoke and flames. Izzy scrambled to his feet and followed, with Jenk, Tony, and Gillman hot on his heels.

Theyd been a mere four blocks away from the former marketplace that was the bombs ground zero, and as they approached, the chaos increased.

More than one bus was on its side. Other cars were flipped upside down, one of them burning.

Civilians were everywhere. Crying. Bleeding. Some of them were running away, some not doing much of anything but lying, dazed, where theyd fallen, slapped down by the blasts giant invisible hand.

The United States Marines, God bless em, were already on the scene, a female officer coolly and efficiently taking command of the rescue effortgetting the injured people out of the vehicles, evacuating the surrounding buildings, putting out the fires.