“She didn’t come with me this time. But I promise you’ll get to meet her soon enough.”
“Okay.”
“Why don’t you give Uncle Rafe and I a chance to talk for a few minutes.”
“But Mommmmm….”
“Hey, buddy. Listen to your mom. Give me a chance to chill for a few minutes and then we’ll go play some ball.” Rafe waited for him to put up more of a fight.
“All right. But don’t take too long.”
“I won’t.”
“Me and my doll can watch, right Uncle Rafe?”
“Yes, you can.” Chase rolled his eyes, and Rafe remembered exactly what it was like to have a little sister want to tag along. It’s how Dawn had been and eventually, she’d fallen in love and married his best friend.
“Coffee or something stronger?” Dawn asked as she headed into the kitchen.
“I better stick with coffee.” He’d followed her and sat at the table.
“Wouldn’t you rather sit in the other room. The couch is a heck of a lot more comfortable than that chair.”
“Nah, we’re closer to the coffee pot here.”
Dawn shook her head as she filled two mugs. Pushing one in front of him, she sat across the table. “What’s going on? You seem distracted.”
“I’m not…”
When she quirked an eyebrow, he was busted. As soon as she became a mom there was no putting anything over on her. It’s like giving birth gave a woman some kind of secret powers.
“Fine. The woman I met, her name is Meghan, her brother was kidnapped by the Taliban.”
“Shiiioooot. What are you doing here then? Why aren’t you with her?”
He winced, this part might not go well. “I met her at the airport while we were stranded in Norfolk.” He gave her a minute to digest what he’d said but she didn’t say a word. Just waited for what he’d say next.
“There was something about her, I can’t explain it. I convinced her to have dinner with me. It was going well and then she saw the news report.”
“Oh my God. I can’t even imagine what she’s feeling right now. And no, I’m not shocked. You forget that the first time I hung out with you and Bob I came in and told Mom he was going to be my husband.”
“Shit, you’re right. I’d forgotten. Do you think it runs in the family?”
“Who knows, but as long as you’re happy I’m happy. What’s she like?”
“She’s a spitfire. Kind, funny, but hard as nails, all packed into a little body that can’t be five foot tall.”
Laughing, Dawn almost choked on her coffee. “Sounds like your perfect match.”
“Yeah, she does, doesn’t she? I had a hard time convincing her it was meant to be. Did I say she was smart and stubborn?”
“I think I’m going to like her.”
“Oh yeah, you will.”
“Does she live in Norfolk near you?”
“No, she lives and works in DC. She was in town visiting a friend. But she was going to Atlanta from there to visit her family.”
“I still think you should have gone with her.”
“To be honest, I was tempted. But I’ve been looking forward to seeing you and the kids. I hate that I had to postpone it so many times. I just hope we get through the week without me having to leave early.”
“That sounds like you already know something is going to happen.”
Rafe shrugged. There was nothing he could tell her. Besides he only had the intel that Tex had shared, it hadn’t come from command yet. Maybe it would all be resolved without needing them. “You know the drill. I can get called in at any time. But we’re all on leave so hopefully, we’ll be good.”
“How are you? You look tired, and I swear there’s a little grey in your hair now.”
“Bull shit.”
“Hey, the kids. I don’t need Chase saying that at school. I get enough phone calls from his teacher already.”
“Has he been getting into trouble? What’s been going on? You should have called me.”
“What are you going to do from two thousand miles away?”
“I could talk to him on the phone, or we could Skype.”
“He’s ten, he misses his father. I’ve been taking him to counseling. I think it’s helping. And before you say it, no we’re not moving to Virginia. This is our home.”
“But if I were closer, you said it yourself…”
“No, I said you’re not here. We’re fine. Their friends are here, my job is here. This is just something we have to learn how to live with.”
Dawn was tough. She and Bob had twelve years together before he’d been killed in action. It had been hard for him when they’d started dating. Bob was his best friend, and then he wanted to spend time with his sister. Teenage boys could be real jerks.
“I’m not trying to run your life. I worry about you and the kids. Now that Mom and Dad are gone, you’re here alone.”
“I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. This is home, Rafe. I’m not like you. I never wanted to travel or see the world. I was always happy here. I hated when we had to move around when Bob was given new orders.”
“Okay. But promise me if you need help with anything, you’ll call me. I know I make you promise every time, but I hope eventually you’ll actually call me.”
Dawn laughed. He knew her as well as she knew him. They’d gotten closer as they got older and they were the only family they had left.
“Uncle Rafe, is it time yet?”
“Honestly, I’m surprised they left us alone this long.”
“It’s okay. We can talk more after they go to bed.”
“Do we have to?” Dawn said doing her best whiny child impersonation. She did it well. He figured she had a lot of practice from hearing it.
“Let me change clothes and I’ll be right with you, Chase.”
“Yay.”
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” Dawn said while shaking her head. “He’s going to run you ragged.”
“I’m a Navy SEAL. You can’t possibly think a ten-year-old boy can wear me out?”
“We’ll see. When was the last time you slept?”
“I don’t remember, a couple of days probably. Don’t worry about me. I’m good.” He picked up his bag that he’d left in the living room and as he climbed the stairs, he could still hear Dawn laughing.
After a quick trip to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up, he checked his phone for messages. Nothing from Tex yet. He wasn’t sure if that was good news or not. He wanted to call Meghan and hear her voice, but then he wouldn’t want to hang up and he had Chase waiting on him, so a text would have to do.
Hi Spitfire. How’s it going? I’m at my sister's. No new info. Sorry.
As he rummaged in his bag for his jeans and sneakers, his phone pinged.
I’m glad you got there ok. I bet they were happy to see you. It’s ok here. No more news either. I hate waiting.
I’ll give Tex a call in a bit but if he had anything, he’d let me know. SD didn’t call again?
While he waited for her answer he finished getting changed.
SD = State Dept? Then no. Nothing. Asshats. They have to know more than they’re saying.
Unfortunately, he knew they did, so did he, but he couldn’t tell her either. If the Senator’s daughter was part of Charlie’s missionary group, then it would be a huge media nightmare if it got out.
I’ll check in later. I have a date with a kid and a basketball.
Have fun!
Love you. Xoxo
Rafe was halfway down the stairs before his phone pinged again. When he saw her message, nothing could have wiped the smile off his face.
Love you too.
Chapter 8
“Is that him?”
“Yeah,” Meghan answered.
“Sweet Jesus you have it bad.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You should see the look on your face,” Lizzie said with a smile. “It’
s about time you have someone in your life that can make you look like that. I’d about given up hope.”
“Gee thanks. It’s not like I’m eighty.”
“No, but you never do anything to try to find someone either.”
“Apparently, I didn’t need to go out and look. He just sort of fell into my lap.” They both laughed at that. Too bad it had to happen on one of the worst days of her life.
“I’m so freakin’ tired, but I don’t think I can sleep. Did the state department guy leave a phone number?”
“Yeah, let me get it.”
“What are you girls whispering about?”
“Nothing, Mom.”
Lizzie walked back into the room with the piece of paper. “Meggy has a boyfriend.”
“You do? It’s about time. I thought you were going to be an old maid.”
Meghan rolled her eyes. Her mother was going to go on about this unless something distracted her, bless her heart. The Alzheimer’s made her forgetful and she would talk about the same thing over and over again.
“I asked you not to call me that. I don’t need your kids picking it up.”
“Why not? It’s cute.”
“When I was ten maybe, not now.”
“Don’t be silly, Meggy fits you, dear. Your father loved the name. You know you’re named after his mom. He doted on you…”
It could have been worse, of all the repeat stories, Meghan loved the ones about her father.
But now that mom was there, they couldn’t call the guy from the state department. They needed to keep the information about Charlie from her for as long as they could. Neither of them knew how she’d react to it, or if she understood most of what they were saying at times. Every week she’d gotten a little worse. Soon she’d need someone to be with her around the clock.
“I think I’m going to go upstairs and try to get a little sleep.”
“But you just…,” Lizzie stopped herself mid-sentence and nodded. “I have your room made up.”
“Great, thank you. See you in a little while.”
“You just got here, Meg, you can’t leave yet.”
“I’m not leaving, Mom. Just going upstairs to take a little nap. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Oh okay, dear. Give me a kiss.”
Meghan dropped a kiss on her mom’s cheek. It always amazed her how soft her skin was, like silk. No matter how much she aged that was the one thing that hadn’t changed.
After she got into her room, she unpacked her bag, took off her makeup, and pulled her laptop out of its case. As she waited for it to boot up, she grabbed her phone and re-read Rafe’s last message. Lizzie was right, she did have it bad. But it was a good thing she’d checked because the battery was almost dead.
“Now where did I put that cord?” Rummaging through her bag, she finally came up with it. After getting it plugged in and making sure the volume was on, she put it on the nightstand and settled back against the pillows and grabbed the laptop.
The first thing she did was send an email to Charlie’s missionary group hoping someone would have more information. Ten of their people were missing, they had to know more than the news reported.
Even though Rafe’s friend hadn’t found anything else, it didn’t mean that there hadn’t been more in the news. She hadn’t seen anything since the initial report in Norfolk. It was very strange, as she searched site after site there was nothing other than what she already knew. There was no follow up news at all. They didn’t even mention where the group was based.
An American missionary group was kidnapped and there was a news blackout. Something was very wrong. As a last ditch effort to dig up anything at all, she called her job. It was a major newspaper, surely someone had picked up the story and investigated. And she knew just who to call. Checking to make sure there was enough charge on the phone, she took a deep breath and dialed his number.
“Josephs.”
“Hey Marty, it’s Meghan Henley.”
“Who?” Seriously? Could he be a bigger asshat?
“Meghan Henley. Society page. Three desks over from yours?”
“Ahh right. What’s up? I don’t have time for small talk I’m in the middle of filing my story.”
“This won’t take long. Do you have any news about the Missionary Group that was kidnapped in Afghanistan yesterday?”
“Huh.” She could hear his fingers on his keyboard. He hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
“Marty.”
“What?”
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard something like blah blah blah.”
“Why are you such an ass?” He actually chuckled. It figured that he heard that.
“Because I’m the best and can do what I want.”
“Of course, you are. Can you be human for a minute? Please? I need to know if you heard anything about the kidnapped missionary group.”
It was quiet on the other end of the phone. He’d actually stopped typing. Unless he’d hung up on her, that was entirely possible. She was about to disconnect and call him back when he answered.
“I saw something yesterday but that’s it.”
“Don’t you think that’s weird?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It could have been a false report.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How can you be sure? We get shit like that all the time.”
“That’s crap. We don’t get reports of false kidnappings in the middle east.”
“Listen, Miss Society Page, how would you know?”
“Because I follow the news, I don’t want to be the society page forever.”
“Why are you bugging me about this?”
“Because my brother is in that missionary group.” For a moment there was silence.
“Fuck. Are you sure?”
“Yes. Totally.”
“No, I meant are you sure they’ve been kidnapped. If they were really missing it would be all over the news. AP would have filed a follow-up story.”
It was exactly what Meghan had been thinking. It should have been. So why wasn’t it?
“I’ve got to get this filed.” Before she could answer he’d hung up. Asshat. But she got the information or more like non-information that she needed.
Not sure what to do next, she stared at the laptop screen with the one and only story about the kidnapping. As she read through it for the tenth time there was a knock on her door.
“Meghan? Are you awake?”
“Yeah, come on in.”
Lizzie opened the door while she balanced a tray with cookies and milk. She was turning into their mom, but it was kind of nice.
“Cookies?”
“Thanks,” Meghan answered as she grabbed a warm chocolate chip cookie and took a bite.
“Did you find out anything yet? Did you talk to the guy from the state department?
“No and no.”
“Nothing?”
“Not really. I’ve searched every place I can find on the internet and there is nothing other than the original story from yesterday. Then I called the paper. They haven’t gotten anything either.”
“How is that possible? There are ten people missing,” Lizzie said, her voice wobbly from holding back tears.
“I know, Lizzie.” Meghan reached out and squeezed her sister’s hand. “Let’s call that guy now. Maybe he can tell us what’s going on.”
“Okay.”
Dialing the number from the paper Lizzie had given her downstairs, she listened to the phone ring. After the fifth ring, it went to voicemail.
“You’ve reached the desk of Ted Clement. I can’t take your call right now. If you leave your name and number and what this is in reference to, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” Son of a bitch.
“This is Meghan Henley. You spoke to my sister yesterday. Our brother is part of the missionary group that was kidnapped. Please call us back. We need to know what’s going on, and what you’re doing to get him back.”
“
He didn’t answer?”
“Nope, it went straight to voicemail.”
“Ugh. Why give us a number if we can’t reach him?”
“It’s the weekend. Maybe he only works Monday through Friday?”
“But he’s in the government. Aren’t they supposed to handle this stuff no matter when it happens?”
“Lizzie, it’ll be okay. I promise. I don’t know what normal procedure is.”
“You can’t promise. We don’t even know if Charlie is still alive.” There was no holding back her tears. She pulled Lizzie into a hug and let her cry. It was like the dam had been opened and the flood waters poured out. She’d held it all in since last night and she needed the release.
All cried out, Lizzie pulled out of her arms and went to the bathroom to grab a tissue. Meghan wanted to throw something she was so frustrated. Why couldn’t she find out anything? They were family, they had a right to know.
Lizzie came back carrying a box of tissues and sat on the bed. “So now what do we do?”
“I’m not sure. I wrote to the general email at the Deliver Hope Ministry. I checked to see if they wrote back while you were in the bathroom. Nothing so far.”
“Unbelievable. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. How can no one know anything?”
“I feel the same way. There has to be more to this and that’s why they are keeping it quiet. Do you know the other people in his group?”
“Umm. Yes. Actually, he left me a list with all of their names, where they were going to be and when. I think I have it in my room. Be right back.”
Meghan wanted to go with her to search but she stayed put. It would only make Lizzie crazy if she started tearing the place apart. She’d just have to cool her jets and wait.
“I’ve got it.” Thank God. Meghan was about to lose her mind by the time Lizzie returned and handed her the typed sheet of paper. They’d all learned to be organized from their father. He’d had a mild case of OCD and nothing could ever be out of place.
As she perused the list nothing seemed out of the ordinary until she got to the second to last name. There was something familiar about it. Typing the name into search it took all of one second to give her the answer.
SEAL's Spitfire (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Black Eagle Book 1) Page 6