Let Freedom Ring

by Weston Parker

  “He did, but not before getting so drunk that he danced on the bar with her. I might have also sent some shots over to them while he was trying to chat her up.”

  “Some?” I crossed my arms. “How many shots did you send over?”

  “Only about ten or so.” He laughed, then shrugged his giant shoulders. “It was part of the bet that he had to drink whatever I bought, so he did.”

  I cringed on the rookie’s behalf. “What happened?”

  “He convinced her to dance on the bar with him, but he didn’t take into account how low the ceiling fan was. It hit him in the head. He grabbed hold of her when he started falling, and both of them took a bit of a tumble.”

  “Are they okay?”

  He waved a hand at me. “Of course. I’m not a brute. I caught her and one of the others made sure he didn’t hit the ground. As I grabbed hold of her, though, the lieutenant walked in. I should mention that he doesn’t drink at all, and he’s crazy protective of her.”

  “I get that.” I couldn’t imagine how I would react to walking in on something like that if Sofia had been involved. “How does that end with you being in here?”

  “Apparently, my pranks and stunts are unbecoming of the uniform. I’m being taught a lesson. Why are you here?”

  “For killing a guy who talks too much,” I said.

  Dave laughed in response. “I’m pretty sure I could take you.” He gave me a long onceover, and suddenly, the humor faded from his expression, and seriousness took its place. He scratched his jaw, frowning at me. “What did you say your name was?”

  “Lincoln.”

  The frown deepened. “I heard a story about a SEAL named Lincoln. The way I heard it, the guy got dropped into a mission gone to shit but managed to save a whole team. That wouldn’t be you, would it?”

  “Nah, that’s just a story, man. You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” Also, when the fuck had the Navy started gossiping like little kids in middle school?

  I almost snorted out loud. Oh, right. Since always.

  It was too damn bad the gossips had missed a few vital parts of that story, though. Such as the fact that the Lincoln in question had been on suspension at the time and hadn’t had any fucking idea what he was getting himself into.

  Chapter 34

  Sofia

  A block of a man whose name was embroidered onto his jacket as “Jackson” stepped in front of me when I got to the base. “I’m sorry, ma’am. This area is off-limits.”

  “Of course, it is,” I snapped. “It’s a fucking military base. I know where I am, soldier. I also know where I need to go.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you have an appointment?”

  “Yes, with Charles Cantor. He’s my father.”

  Jackson did a double-take. “No shit. Really?”

  “Really. Step aside, and maybe I’ll tell him how good you are at security.” I knew I wasn’t being fair to him, but I needed to get to my dad.

  Urgency burned like a living thing inside of me. After the talk I’d had with Haley, I was one-hundred percent sure that my dad knew where Lincoln was and that he’d had something to do with his disappearance from my life.

  Jackson wisely let me in without any further argument, but he did check my ID to make sure I was who I said I was. Once I got onto the base, I headed straight for my father’s office.

  I had no way of knowing whether he’d be there or if it was even still his office, considering that he was technically retired, but it seemed as good a place as any to start searching for him. As it turned out, it had been the right move to try him there first.

  The door was open, and the inside of the office looked exactly like I remembered. He even still had the picture of me when I was five on his desk.

  “Do they know you’re retired or do people just keep their offices here for the rest of their lives?” I asked as I walked in, planting a hand on my hip.

  Dad frowned when he looked up from a folder spread out on the surface of his desk. “I still have business to attend to here. You know that. Once it’s all wrapped up, I’ll clear out. What are you doing here?”

  “I came to talk to you,” I said. “About Lincoln. Where is he?”

  His hazel eyes flashed at me. “This is not the place for that discussion, Sofia.”

  “Well, you didn’t want to have it at home, either.” I marched right up to his desk and stared down at him. “It’s been days since I’ve heard from him, and I’m worried. Where is he?”

  “That’s none of your concern,” he ground out. “It’s official business. You know better than to question me on matters I can’t discuss with you.”

  “Bullshit.” I folded my arms tightly across my chest and sat down without breaking eye contact. “I’m not leaving here until you tell me where he is.”

  “Sofia,” he said, his voice a low warning.

  Before he could say anything else, though, there was a faint clicking sound on the floor that sounded like crutches.

  As I turned around, I saw Lincoln’s very blond friend limping into the office. His skin was pale, but his jaw was set with determination. “I’m here to give my statement, sir.”

  “As you can see, Phillips, I’m in the middle of something.” My father leveled him with a glare, but the guy didn’t back down. “I’ll call for you to come in when I’m ready for you.”

  “With all due respect, sir, my statement in this matter is overdue. No one has contacted me, and now Dobbs isn’t answering his phone.”

  My heartbeat sped up at the mention of Lincoln. “What is going on here, Dad?”

  “Dad?” The guy frowned, then comprehension set in behind his light green eyes. “You’re Sofia, aren’t you? I remember you now. From the party.”

  “And you’re Eden.” It wasn’t a question. “You haven’t heard from Lincoln either?”

  He gave his head a curt shake. “Not a word. It’s been days. This isn’t like him. Something is wrong.”

  “Nothing is wrong,” my dad chimed in with a glare at both of us. “We have placed him on indefinite suspension and he’s the subject of an ongoing investigation. He’s in the brig. When will your generation learn your place?”

  Eden shuffled forward on his crutches. “My place, and Lincoln’s, is on active duty, sir. If you’ll take my statement, I have been cleared by my doctors to give it.”

  “You should be resting, son. Dobbs almost cost you your life not so long ago. Now is not—”

  “Lincoln didn’t almost cost me my life,” Eden said, his voice louder as red blotches mottled his skin. “He saved my life and everyone else’s too.”

  “Phillips, there is a civilian—”

  This time, I interrupted him. “I’m not going anywhere. My involvement with Lincoln is obviously clouding your vision right now, and I won’t have it. Being with him isn’t a crime, but what you’re doing to him might be.”

  My father turned a very unhealthy shade of red but then drew in a deep breath. “I’m too old for this shit. Phillips, get the hell off your feet before your doctors come after me. Sofia, if you’re staying, none of what you’re about to hear leaves this room.”

  “Of course, it won’t,” I bit out.

  Eden seemed surprised by my father’s sudden change of mind but took the seat beside me and rested his crutches against the armrest. When he was seated, my father picked up a legal pad full of notes from his desk and nodded at him.

  “If you take any strain while doing this, I’m taking you back to the hospital myself. I haven’t received notice that you’ve been discharged, nor have your doctors notified me that you’re cleared to make a statement.”

  Eden lowered his chin in acknowledgment. “I understand, sir.”

  “Do you also understand that I’ll need to get that clearance before anything you say here can be taken into serious consideration? You had a head injury, Phillips. It might have affected your memory.”

  “It didn’t,” Eden said quietly. “When I first woke
up, I was a little confused, but that’s no longer the case.”

  “Even so, I’ll need to speak with your doctors. That’s why I haven’t come to take your statement yet. I was waiting on the all-clear from them.”

  “I received it this morning, but I know you’ll need to follow up.”

  “Very well.” My father nodded. “You also understand that what you say here can affect your future? You were on that mission, too, Mr. Phillips. While on suspension, no less. Given that the only marks on your otherwise clear record are when you were with Dobbs, I—”

  “Exactly. I was with Dobbs, not under his influence but right there with him. My decisions have always been my own. When I have chosen to act in any manner contrary to orders or instructions, it has been my choice to do so.”

  “Yes, but Dobbs—”

  “No, there’s no but there, sir. You haven’t been out there with us. You have no idea what we’ve been through or what has led Lincoln to make the decisions he’s made. I’ve heard about what you were like before you became an instructor, and I respect you greatly, but I respect Lincoln more.”

  Dad’s jaw slackened, but Eden kept going.

  “Every so-called bad call Lincoln has made has saved lives. My own life has been one of those saved by him countless times.” He was panting now, but it didn’t look like exertion. To me, it looked like an impassioned belief.

  Dad must have thought the same thing because he didn’t stop him.

  “Whenever Lincoln has to make a decision he knows he’s going to get shit for, he makes it anyway because he doesn’t care about consequences to himself. All he cares about is doing his job to the best of his ability and getting everyone out alive.”

  Dad watched him carefully, then swiped at his lip with his tongue as he made a note. “If that is true, how did the two of you end up on a mission while you had been taken off active duty?”

  “Our lieutenant called us in, sir. It wasn’t our choice. We didn’t go rogue. We didn’t intercept information or bullshit our way onto that plane. We got called in and given the order to go.”

  My eyes widened as I flicked a glance at my father. “How did you not know about that?”

  His jaw tightened, but he didn’t answer my question. “Go on, Phillips.”

  “Lincoln asked if we had been cleared, but we were told we were needed and ordered to go. There was no time for questions or to run the order up the chain of command, not that it’s expected of us to do that anyway, but we were on the plane less than thirty minutes after arriving at the base.”

  Dad frowned. “One of our planes?”

  “Yes.” Eden swallowed. “Check the logs if you don’t believe me.”

  “I’ll do that.” The sound of the pen scratching against paper filled the air as he nodded to Eden. “What happened next?”

  “We were dropped into a firefight at that warehouse. I was blasted off my feet by debris not even five minutes later. Lincoln dragged me to safety before he ambushed the hostiles from behind. His sudden appearance distracted them enough that the team could regroup.”

  Emotion choked him up, but he seemed determined to get through his statement. “Lincoln barked the order that he had been put in charge. We knew most of the guys on the team, and they didn’t question him.”

  “Lincoln had been put in charge?” Dad’s eyebrows swept all the way up. “He took that order?”

  Eden nodded once. “Without question or argument. He rounded the team up, and with his guidance, they secured the stolen cache of weapons and got out before anyone got hurt.”

  “He left a trail of bodies in his wake,” Dad remarked. “None of them were ours, but it’s not standard operating procedure to practically blow up a warehouse in a populated area, shoot up a street, and just leave.”

  “None of that was his doing. The fires were already burning when we arrived. We saw the smoke from the air. Why has no one else given you any of this?”

  “We’ve been gathering information on the ground,” Dad said sharply. “I won’t have you questioning the process.”

  “Which means you haven’t bothered to speak to any of those guys because you were trying to build a case of recklessness against Lincoln.” My spine shot ramrod straight. “It’s been weeks. Who’s really being reckless here?”

  “You are on very thin ice with me right now, young lady.” Dad’s gaze darkened. “You don’t want to push me. You and I will discuss our situation later. Unless you want me to arrange an escort out of here for you, you will keep quiet.”

  He questioned Eden for a few more minutes until even I could see the other man was exhausted. He still wasn’t giving up, though.

  “The lieutenant made a bad call, sir. It almost cost the lives of all the SEALs involved, and it would have if Lincoln hadn’t been there. I’m not trying to pin the blame on him, but it’s not the first time something like this has happened with our lieutenant.”

  “We will question him, but this is about Lincoln Dobbs. Not his lieutenant.”

  “Sure, but have you never wondered why Lincoln has to make so many calls when it should be the lieutenant making them?”

  “No.” My father’s eyes narrowed. “Because it’s not Lincoln’s place to make calls. It’s his place to follow orders, which he seems incapable of doing. He doesn’t even wait for them to be made.”

  “Maybe you should look into that,” Eden suggested. His cheeks had paled again, and he swayed slightly in his seat. “I guarantee you won’t find what you think you will if you actually investigate.”

  “Dobss has been given plenty of opportunities to advance if he wanted to be in charge. It’s not his lieutenant’s fault if he doesn’t want to step up but can’t play on anyone else’s team either.”

  The corners of Eden’s lips pressed in, and he shook his head sadly. “Just look into it, sir. I’m not saying everything Lincoln has done has been smart or right, but he shouldn’t receive a dishonorable discharge just because he wasn’t ready to grow up yet.”

  Dad and I both frowned at Eden, but then Dad dismissed him. “Go get some rest. You look like you’re about to pass out. I’ll look into the information you provided.”

  He looked like he wanted to say more, but when he swayed again, he nodded. Dad called in one of the soldiers who walked past to help Eden back to his bed. Then he turned his attention on me.

  There was a lecture in his eyes, but I didn’t let him get to it. “I don’t know what you’ve been doing here, but you need to get Lincoln back.”

  “It’s not that simple. Eden’s account is only one piece of evidence, and he has a head injury. I won’t let you tell me how to do my job.”

  “I shouldn’t have to tell you how to do it. Heaven only knows my involvement with a man shouldn’t influence how you do it, either. Lincoln is one of the best you’ve got. Even you know it.”

  I stood up, sighing as I looked into my dad’s eyes. “Get him back, Dad. If you don’t, you won’t ever see me again. I won’t let you use me as a bargaining chip to end someone’s career.”

  Dozens of emotions flashed in Dad’s eyes, but before he could voice any of his thoughts, I spun around and marched out of his office. The door slammed behind me, the loud bang echoing in the corridor.

  Dad didn’t come after me. I only prayed it was because he was already doing the right thing, already trying to make this right.

  Chapter 35

  Lincoln

  “Dobbs, you’re out,” a guard yelled as he unlocked the gate. “Come with me. Move it. I don’t have all day.”

  Dave grinned at me. “Well, would you look at that? You’re being sprung. Congratulations, man.”

  “Thanks.” I bumped his fist when he held it out, but I couldn’t quite muster the same enthusiasm. “I’ll see you around.”

  At least I hoped I would. Dave had been my cellmate for only one night, but he’d made that one night a hell of a lot more tolerable just by being there.

  The talking had been annoying at times, but
it’d also kept me out of my head. As I stood up from my cot, though, I realized it couldn’t quite have been one night.

  Sure enough, the guard was yawning and his eyes were red and swollen like he’d just woken up. Since they’d taken my watch, I had no way of knowing what the time was.

  “Do you have the time?” I asked as I walked out of the cell that had been my home for God only knew how many days.

  The guard rolled his eyes. “It’s just before three in the morning.”

  “If you’re on night shift, why were you sleeping?” I couldn’t help myself. “Shouldn’t you have been making sure we didn’t fly the coop?”

  He rolled his eyes at me again. “I could hear Dave’s yapping all the time. Knew you were staying put. Now get the fuck out of here before I put you in the hospital for not knowing when to shut your trap.”

  Dave must have heard his comment because he started laughing. The booming sound followed me out into the corridor, and finally, a grin of my own broke through. I shook my head at myself, but I kind of wished he was going with me.

  “Where am I going?” I asked the stone-faced guard, but it seemed he’d decided to ignore me.

  A car was waiting for me when I stepped into the cool night air. It was quiet on the base, but some lights were on in the surrounding buildings.

  If I was being let out at this time of day, I was guessing someone had been burning the midnight oil with my investigation as well. Trepidation crept into my veins, but I kept it at bay. Whatever was going on, I’d face it head on. Just the same as I faced everything else that got thrown at me.

  An ensign waited in the car, merely nodding his head at me when I climbed in. As I closed the door, I leaned forward and frowned at him in the rearview mirror. “Where are we going?”

  “To the airfield, sir.” His voice was clipped and nervous, his eyes barely meeting mine before they were back on the road.

  “Are you scared of me?” I watched incredulously as he flinched at the sound of my voice. “Seriously?”