Read Online The Protector by Gennita Low - Free Book Online

normal life. Poverty had never bothered him, since he had been taught to take care of himself and his family. He could do anything.
    And being a SEAL reinforced that pride. Except that his deployment overseas and what he had seen was eating at hissoul bit by bit, and sometimes he thought he would go a little crazy. He had learned that there were other kinds of poverty in the world, some more horrific than others. Most of the time, he did his job with his SEAL brothers and left quickly. If the team stayed longer, he usually ended up giving most of his cash away. That was why Hawk always joked about his needing to marry every poor girl he’d helped and sending her home to Louisiana.
    Jazz looked at the tin huts in the small shantytown Vivi was driving through. People peered out of windows and men stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the vehicle passing by. The ride was bumpy and slowed down by carts and livestock haphazardly blocking their way. They finally stopped in the middle of the dirt path. Children raced over and climbed onto the vehicle, swarming like ants, peering inside at the occupants curiously. They were dirty and bedraggled. Some of them yelled out to Rose.
    “Is it safe for you to be out of the vehicle?” Jazz asked. He had experienced the vicious kiddie pickpockets in Rome before.
    “I think I can take of myself. What about you?” Vivi didn’t wait for his answer, climbing out of the car. She pulled the lever to move her seat forward. “Rose?”
    The girl gave Jazz a pleading look, then obeyed Vivi’s request. The moment she was outside, the kids started talking to her all at once. She shrugged at them, pushing away some of them rudely. Vivi slammed the door shut.
    Jazz opened his and climbed out. He attracted even more attention. Young girls started appearing from nowhere, surrounding him. He looked at Vivi, who stared in contempt.
    “It’s the uniform, Lieutenant,” she informed him in a clipped voice.
    He frowned. “What’s wrong with my uniform?”
    A girl slipped her hand into his. “GI want girl? GI take me out?”
    Vivi cocked her head. “Need more explanation?” She turned away, leaving him with the crowd of young women.
    Jazz gently unlaced the girl’s hand from his, shaking his head. “No, thank you,” he told her. She pouted at his reply. He began going after Vivi and Rose, even as the bolder girls kept touching him.
    When he caught up with them, Vivi darted him a scathing glance. “Maybe you can marry one of them and take her home to your maman.”
    “You sound like Hawk,” Jazz commented as he unhooked another hand from his belt.
    “I hope not,” she retorted. “I wouldn’t want to be compared to a bunch of drunk soldiers telling each other whom to marry.”
    “You don’t just dislike uniforms, do you?” Jazz asked quizzically. “It’s the men, too.”
    She rubbed her pale pink lips together. “My opinion is formed by observation and experience. Soldiers use their weapons too freely and frequently.” She slanted a downward gaze below his belt and added, “And they destroy everything.”
    So his French film noir heroine had an acid tongue. No wonder he had the feeling all along that she wasn’t on his side.
    “That’s what soldiers do,” he agreed. He had always believed that one couldn’t win an argument by taking the opposite side immediately. “Are you one of those who believe that there will be no wars if there weren’t soldiers?”
    Vivi and Rose came to a halt outside one of the huts. The younger girl had been dragging her feet, growing more and more reluctant as they went nearer. The broken wooden door leading into the house was open, and shouts were coming from inside.
    “Soldiers count their success by their number of kills, Jazz. I don’t think they care whether there’s war or not, just where the next battle is to add to the count,” Vivi murmured softly as she gazed at the entrance to the hut. “And in between kills, they enjoy the