“Brooks,” she said. “Rosemary Brooks. I do online advertising.”
“Well, Miss Rosemary Brooks—and it is ‘miss,’ right? Since we’re getting honest and real right now.”
She gave her head a toss, and there it was, a smile. It was the first time that had flickered in her gorgeous eyes. “Unattached, yes. So why does this feel as if you’re about to walk out the door with all kinds of promises of calling or getting together? Just so we’re clear, I’d just as soon you not. False promises are the worst, you know, sitting around and waiting for a call that never comes. Would you instead like to say thanks for…?” She held out her hand, which he took as he leaned down and pulled her into a kiss, taking it deep, feeling the sheet slip as she went up on her knees, pressing all that softness into him. Then he pulled back.
“Thanks for the night, you mean, for the sex. Well, if I took your number, it means I’ll call. But you’re right, this was no strings, no nothing. I’ve got to go, anyway. Have a plane to catch. So tell me, Rosemary, how long are you here in this part of the world?”
She said nothing for a second, and he leaned down and kissed her when she didn’t answer. Yeah, there was definitely something there. He pulled back and took in the interest she couldn’t hide as she sat back down and reached for the sheet, covering her breasts again. She licked her lips and pulled in another breath.
“Tomorrow I head home,” she said.
He stood up and knew he needed to go when he heard his phone ding again. Yeah, Jess would have his ass. She must have known, as she waved her hand.
“Go,” she said. “If you call, you call. If you don’t, it was nice meeting you.”
He started to the door, pulled it open, and looked back at her. “You too, Rosemary,” he said, then stepped out, stopping himself from saying he’d call. As much as he’d like it, he was an operator, never in one place long enough to form any type of long-term thing.
He pocketed his phone as he strode to the elevator and pressed the button to take him up to the penthouse, where his team was waiting, and his bags too. It was time to go back home.
Chapter Five
“Just a heads-up, everyone,” Jess said as he stood in their warehouse. “Word just came down from Sienna that the raid on the target’s condo didn’t turn up the missing information, and if it gets into the wrong hands, it could reflect badly on the Harris Group and lead to questions about their partnerships with people in our government who don’t want anyone in the public knowing. Apparently, one of the missing documents outlines the terms of the financial aid the group was given by governments, linking them to this DNA fabrication. In the wrong hands, it could embarrass several countries funding this part of the company that isn’t supposed to exist. Worse, it could end up in the hands of an enemy who will use it to gain the upper hand.”
The safe was open, and Matthew was shoving in several stacks of cash the colonel had handed them when they’d landed. Where exactly it had come from, no one knew for sure. Could’ve been the treasury or some agency, all unaccounted for. It was something they needed, along with ammunition and guns. Their stash would’ve been a doomsday prepper’s dream, all because they were a part of the government that did the kinds of things that weren’t officially sanctioned.
It was their go cash, which they could use to disappear and start a new life in the event shit hit the fan. That was something Luke hadn’t considered too closely, because he, unlike the rest of his team, had a family he knew would hunt him down, unwilling to let him go, even if he up and disappeared because he was suddenly on the most-wanted list. His siblings, he realized, could end up on the wrong side of something, asking questions that could end up getting one of them killed.
“Well, maybe that’s a good thing,” Rex said. “If the White House and these other countries have their hands in this kind of thing, that doesn’t sit right. You all know I’ve voiced my objections quite strongly on this mission. It’s one thing when these kinds of genetics companies use technology to find cures for the uncurable, but this little sideline has me wondering about every conviction that has ever been made based on crime-scene DNA evidence. Have entire scenes been fabricated? Seems we really are taking a step into some dangerous territory I’m not entirely comfortable with. If we piss off the wrong person one day, who’s to say it won’t be our asses on the line, with us being hunted down and set up for something? There’s no coming back from that. I mean, who are we taking orders from anymore, anyway? At one time, this war we were fighting made sense.”
Matthew closed up the safe, and Shaun was adding their guns to the munitions pile. This commercial warehouse was owned by a numbered company, located in an area that housed everything from retail supplies to automotive shops. No one in the military knew where they set up storage, including their colonel.
“You know something about the missing documents?” Jess said, sitting on a crate in the corner, his arms crossed, his beard and mustache long gone. His hair was short, neat and tidy. Like all of them, Jess was dressed casually in blue jeans and a T-shirt.
“I wish, because if I found them, I’m not sure I’d be too inclined to turn them over to the CIA, who’ll likely see them destroyed,” Rex said. “No, whatever happened to them, I seriously hope they turn up and shit hits the fan and exposes these assholes.”
Luke, like the rest of them, said nothing, and his gaze settled on Shaun, who was lingering in the door.
Matthew stood up. “Well, this has been fun, but not sure what any of that has to do with us. We went in, got the innocent guy, emptied the condo. We’re done. Now how about we talk about Luke and the babe he was with? I’d rather hear about that.” He was so matter of fact.
“You’re just jealous because she wanted me,” Luke said. “You had no chance with the babe—whose name is Rosemary, from Indiana, by the way. I even got her number.” He didn’t know why he’d added that.
“Since when do you ever get a woman’s number?” Shaun jumped in.
Now he wondered why he’d brought it up. He should have kept his damn mouth shut, as he now had all their attention.
“I let you have her,” Matthew said, and Rex laughed at his expense. Jess, too.
“You wish…” Luke started.
Everyone took that as their cue to leave. Rex was first out of the warehouse, followed by Matthew. After Shaun stepped out, Jess rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder, leaving just the two of them.
“Luke, just wanted to give you another heads-up on the lead you had Sienna run, the one she said was a dead end.”
“She said it was red-flagged, not a dead end. The US Marshals Service used the name for a new identity for someone in witness protection,” Luke said and shrugged. Something about taking Sienna’s word for it didn’t go over well for him, and he knew any of them on the team would’ve felt the same. That was the kind of oversight that could lead to one of them ending up dead. “Seems kind of odd, don’t you think? You and I both know Sienna and have for a long time. Any of that sit right with you? Because it didn’t with me.”
Jess glanced away with a look Luke knew meant he wasn’t happy about something. “Don’t know,” he said. “She came to me again and told me she had a word with you about this, and she just wants to make sure you understand that she was being straight about this and you need to leave it alone.”
“Ah, I see,” Luke said. On a mission, if he’d been told to leave it alone, that was exactly what he’d have to do. An order was an order—but not from the CIA. “So is this where you tell me to drop it, too? Because you know I can’t do that. Somewhere out there is the biggest mystery yet about what happened to my dad. Maybe I shouldn’t care, but I’ve got access to the kinds of leads that should enable me to find him.”
“I said that Sienna came to me asking for you to leave it alone,” Jess said. “I’m not telling you to because you and I both know this is personal for you. I’m just saying that the next time you go looking, you could raise some flags.”
He ju
st took in his boss, their team leader. For a minute, he didn’t know what to say. This little warning meant he’d stepped on someone’s toes, but whoever this Raymond O’Connell in Wisconsin was, he wouldn’t be leaving it alone. “So what are you saying, Jess? Is this something that’ll get me into hot water?”
“No, I’m saying next time, the order to leave it alone will come down from the colonel. For Sienna to come to me after this so-called favor means she wants to be sure you don’t go doing any more looking into this guy. Either he’s their asset or there’s something else about him that has them not wanting anyone poking around. So anything you want to check out or look at, tell me, and I’ll do it for you. And a word of advice: When Sienna comes asking to do you a favor again, your answer is no.” Jess slapped his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got things to do. Don’t you have a plane to catch?”
“Yeah, and some family things, too. What about you?” he asked as he followed Jess out.
“Same old,” he said. “Heading back to an empty house to take care of some personal business.”
They locked up the warehouse, and he took in Jess’s pickup, which was parked with Luke’s bags loaded in back, ready for the plane he’d hop back to Billings, where his own pickup was waiting. Then he’d drive back to Livingston. As he settled in the passenger seat, his team leader behind the wheel, he considered everything Jess had said.
“Since you said I’m red-flagged, can you do me a favor, Jess?”
Jess pulled onto the road. “Name it.”
“Find out the skinny on this Raymond O’Connell. Is it as Sienna said, or is it something else?”
Jess said nothing as he pulled onto the main road, the traffic heavy. “Consider it done. But, Luke, I have to ask you one thing about this. I know you’re dead set on finding out about your dad, but you ever ask yourself whether maybe, just maybe, we might uncover something you may not want to know?”
He took in the traffic on the road ahead. “Every day,” he replied, “but that’s not going to solve anything now, is it? Because not knowing is worse.”
Chapter Six
He’d let himself in the front door of his mom’s house after parking on the road in front, because it seemed everyone was there. Owen’s van was in the driveway, with Ryan’s pickup beside it and Marcus and Charlotte’s Subaru behind, beside Karen and her other half’s Mercedes. Then there was Suzanne and her work-in-progress MGB. So much for slipping in with his case of lager, settling onto the sofa, and getting his head around his last job. His work was something he didn’t talk about with his family.
He stepped inside, hearing voices from the kitchen and out back as he dropped the case of beer and his bag on the floor, then opened the closet and tucked his SIG into the gun safe on the top shelf. He kept the Glock that lived in his ankle holster where it was and closed the door.
“Hey there, you’re home,” Owen said, poking his head around the corner. “Didn’t know you were on your way back.” He looked the same as he always did, in a white shirt and faded jeans.
Luke lifted his bag and the case of beer and strode toward him, handing him the case. “Didn’t know I needed to call. Put that in the fridge for me,” he said.
In fact, that was something he usually did, calling his mom to give her a heads-up, but that meant, oops, she would tell every one of his siblings and they would come over, just like now.
As he strode to the end of the hall where his room was, he flicked on the lights in the bathroom and his mom’s room as he passed. It was just something he did to settle in and make sure nothing could or would jump out at him.
He could hear Owen in the kitchen, talking to someone, as he settled his bag on the queen bed in his room, which seemed to never change. He opened the closet, seeing the clothes he never took with him on missions, then closed it and started back down the hall, flicking the lights back off room by room as he made his way to the kitchen.
Karen was dressed in white sweats and a loose white T-shirt, her hair the same bright red she was known for. It was shoulder length, hanging loose, unlike her usual ponytail. She was barefoot, and he took in how short she was. “Well, that was a short trip,” she said. “Clean shaven, too. Where were you this time, or can’t you tell me?”
He reached into the fridge for a beer and pulled one out, then twisted off the cap and leaned against the closed fridge door. He couldn’t have explained it to anyone, but he needed to have something against his back as soon as he got home, stepping into this civilized life, the opposite of his other life as a team man. His family had no idea of all the things he did, the people he’d killed. The missions were all classified. No one in the civilized world had any idea of what really went on.
“You know I can’t, but I do want to talk with you all about something I’ve found out.”
What the hell was he doing? He lifted his beer and took in the way Karen and Owen exchanged a glance. He didn’t miss their confusion.
“This sounds ominous,” Karen said.
Owen said nothing at first as he lifted his beer and took a swallow. “And what would this something be?” He gestured to Luke.
Luke took in everyone in the backyard, who still hadn’t figured out he was there. Eva was perched on Marcus’s shoulders, and he was standing with Ryan, talking. The grill was unmanned. He realized this was what they always did. Even though they had their own lives, they really didn’t, because they shared everything. There was Jack talking with Suzanne, and he didn’t see Harold. His mom, Jenny, and Alison were at the patio table with Charlotte. It seemed everything about their lives here had continued to go on.
“There is something I want to talk to you all about—Marcus, Ryan, Suzanne, just us, no one else. So if you can set some time aside…” He could feel himself stepping into something he shouldn’t, but at the same time, he didn’t want to wait anymore. He could see the minute they understood this was likely serious.
“Okay, should I get them now? Because you’re making me a little nervous,” Karen said.
Owen leaned against the sink, saying nothing.
“You know what?” Luke said. “With everyone here, this isn’t the kind of thing I want anyone to walk in on, namely the kids and Mom. How about we head out and talk somewhere else? Actually, now would be better than waiting.”
He had all their attention now, and Karen’s face showed the alarm he was positive she was feeling. It wasn’t lost on him that Owen still hadn’t said anything.
“Now you’re scaring me, Luke,” Karen said. “How about you spill it and just tell us? Is this work, some trouble you’re in, or…”
“It’s about Dad.”
Karen couldn’t have appeared more shocked, and Owen seemed to freeze before slowly dragging his gaze up to him. Karen reached over to touch Owen’s arm as she glanced between her brothers. “You know what?” she said. “Let’s meet back at my place. Owen, you bring Suzanne, and I’ll tell Marcus and Ryan. If it’s all the same to you, let’s not wait.”
He watched his sister as she stepped outside and made her way over to Ryan and Marcus, who stared at him through the window, giving everything to him. Something changed in them when they knew he was there.
The door squeaked open, and Ryan strode in, his gaze going right to Luke. Their mom was moving their way, too. Of course, she’d spotted that he was back, but right now, the last thing he wanted to do was talk about this with her.
“Didn’t know you were coming in,” his mom said. “Did you get something to eat?”
There was something about her, her short dark hair. Alison followed her in, and Eva too.
“Yeah, I grabbed something on the drive in,” Luke said. “Sorry, I should have called.”
He spotted Suzanne and Karen through the window. Something in Suzanne’s expression told him Karen had given her a hint as to what he’d said.
“But you know what? I’m actually going to head out in a minute here,” he said. “There are some things I need to do.”
&n
bsp; His mom said nothing. Even Alison and Eva were watching him intently.
Just then, Karen jumped in, forcing a yawn. “Well, we’re heading home. We’ve decided to make it an early night. It’s been a long week.”
To Jack’s credit, he said nothing as she dragged him past. Then Suzanne made her excuses, as well. Luke lifted his beer, taking another swallow, while Marcus and Charlotte got Eva bundled up. Ryan said something to Jenny, and then it was just him in the kitchen with Owen, as his mom was seeing everyone else out.
“I’m curious, Luke,” Owen said. “What is this? Dad walked out eighteen years ago, without a goodbye, so what exactly is this about? What do we need to talk about? Is this a walk down memory lane or what?”
The way his brother asked, for a minute Luke thought for sure he’d say he wasn’t interested, and goodnight. He couldn’t say anything in reply, as he heard the door close and spotted his mom coming their way.
“You ready?” Luke said.
Their mom walked past them and continued on into the kitchen, then lifted her hand and took them both in. “Well, what are you two waiting for? You think I don’t know something’s up when you show up and everyone is leaving all of a sudden? Go wherever you all are going, but if this is about a surprise for me, remember I don’t like surprises.”
She was a smart woman. At the same time, he couldn’t help wondering if she had any idea of what they were talking about. He didn’t want to see the kind of hurt he knew the thought of his dad would bring her.
“Fine, no surprises,” Luke said. “Ready, Owen?” He set his beer on the counter and tapped Owen’s chest with his hand.
“I guess,” Owen said.
They started to the door, and he could hear his mom moving about in the kitchen as they went out. He realized their mom seemed to have her hand in each of their lives.
#6--The Missing Father--O’Connells Page 3