by Laura Acton
The room went dead silent as a look of ‘what?’ crossed Alpha Team’s faces. Blaze looked first to Winds, then to Patch and then finally settled back on the General. What the hell?
William saw the looks of disbelief and explained. “When I knew that I was coming, Gambrill provided me all your names and personnel files. I had your clearances rushed through the proper channels because I was aware you might need to be involved at some point.”
Nick looked at Jon and then back at the General. He stated, “We understand the ramifications. But I want to offer my team the opportunity to opt out if they don’t feel comfortable with this situation.”
“Understood,” William responded.
As Nick’s eyes roved over his team, getting looks of ascent he smiled. They had Dan’s back no matter what was involved.
Blaze watched as all of Blondie’s new team stepped up to the plate. Blondie was lucky to have found a new place to belong. It did his heart good seeing this—the kid surely needed it and deserved it.
Patch checked his watch. “Sir, can we hold a moment, I need to do a quick check on Blondie. It’s about time for more sedative.”
The General nodded and Patch hopped up from the chair. Everyone took the opportunity to grab coffee, a donut, or piece of fruit and settled back into their seats wondering just what the heck the General had to tell them that required a security clearance.
Chapter Forty-Eight
July 17
Grand Citadel Hotel – Dan’s Room – 9:20 a.m.
Looking at Blondie, Patch’s stomach was tied in knots. Patch wasn’t sure he could take much more—it hurt too much when his brothers suffered. Nils’ suicide had been the last straw. Now he was back in the military—short term though it may be—he was now under the command of the General again.
He pulled the chair close and sat down. He checked Blondie’s IV site and shook his head. He got up and grabbed his kit. “Damn, Blondie you never make it easy for me, do you?” He removed the infiltrated IV from Blondie’s arm and began looking for another location to redo it. He needed to locate a good vein to use. Good thing that Blondie was still out so he wouldn’t see the needle—small blessings.
When he was done changing the IV, Patch elevated Blondie’s arm to reduce the swelling caused by the infiltration. Then he administered more sedative, pain meds, and rechecked his vitals. The antibiotic drip would have to be changed out in a little while—he’d have to keep watch on that.
Blaze and Bram stood in the bedroom doorway and Bram asked, “Everything okay?”
Patch nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I just had to restart the IV. It got infiltrated. Just glad he’s out and I didn’t have to start another one while he was awake.”
“Why?” Bram asked.
Blaze patted Bram’s shoulder. “Let’s just say, the kid doesn’t do well with needles.”
Bram nodded and filed that piece of trivia on Dan, but the way it was said made him think there was something more to it. He refrained from asking because it was time to get the briefing underway. The three of them rejoined the others in the main suite.
Grand Citadel Hotel – Main Suite – 9:45 a.m.
Patch kept Blondie’s door open and repositioned his chair so he could keep an eye on the antibiotic drip and then sat down ready to listen. Blaze and Bram resumed their seats, too. The briefing could begin.
William cleared his throat. “I’ll get right to it. After Daniel was attacked by Donner, Walter called me to let me know what happened. When Inspector Davis tried to take crime scene photos of Daniel covered in Donner’s blood, Walter acted quickly and gave an off-the-cuff excuse that military security could be compromised if such photos of Daniel were ever taken and released.”
A chorus of, “What?” and, “Picture?” was emitted with confusion.
“Gambrill didn’t tell you about that?”
“No, we never got the full briefing with Gambrill. Davis showed up with the information on the suicide and then all hell broke loose,” Jon responded.
Nick interjected, “Sir, we were briefed on some issues of a personal nature between yourself and Dan resulting from Sara’s death. We were shown the photo taken of Dan that day.” He rubbed his hands over his eyes to compose himself as the memory of it flooded in.
“We’ll respect your privacy there. That’s a matter for the two of you to address as you see fit. Please just tell us of things that would be relevant to Dan’s safety now,” Nick concluded.
William was a bit relieved they knew the history. It would be easier for them to understand having seen the photo. But how to start? So many tentacles that may or may not relate to one another—photos, Pletcher, Plouffe suspicions, pilfered mail, Daniel’s words, and the unit’s assumption of blackout protocol. How best to make everything make sense? All that rolled around in his head a moment—sorting it out and choosing an approach.
He began, “Walter knew the reasons behind my refusal to have my son photographed in distress. It stems from the photo taken the day Sara died. I decked that idiot photographer. In retaliation, he sold the photo to a tabloid paper that splashed that photo across their front page. How could they do that to a little boy?”
General Broderick clenched his fist as he tightened his mask in place. Now wasn’t the time to show emotion. “Sorry, I digress. As you may have noticed, I was in that photo and it showed my emotional reaction to Daniel’s anguish and Sara’s death. In my position, I am a target for many who will use almost anything to get to me. As a result, I’ve tried hard to protect those I care about from being targets my enemies can use.
“That photo has been sent to me many times in the last decade. Until recently, I thought its purpose was simply to harass me. There was never anything to suggest an actual threat to Daniel. However, I now believe there’s a credible threat to Daniel’s life and it’s connected to that photo. And if my suspicions prove true, it will shake Special Forces to the foundations.”
Blaze shared a quick glance with Winds and Patch. All three were on alert at the General’s mention of shaking the foundations of Special Forces. Blaze thought about the General’s reluctance to allow Angus in here last night—it was odd because Angus was a member of a Guardian unit. As such they were the most trusted members of Special Forces, with the highest security clearances. He turned his full attention back to the General.
William took a sip of coffee then said, “I have no proof to substantiate my suspicions and I ask that you bear with me as I try to explain the various tangents and seemingly unrelated events. If something doesn’t make sense, stop me and ask. I’ll do my best to explain, but there are things that still don’t make sense to me. Things my analysts haven’t deciphered.
“All I know for sure is that after years of the same taunts, something changed after Daniel’s last mission. As a result of that change and other things that came to light in the past year, I have a gut feeling that something I viewed as only harassment is much more sinister. If I’m right, recent events have placed Daniel in the crosshairs of a dangerous and unexpected enemy. I need your help to protect him and end the threat.”
He stopped and looked at each of them. He had their undivided attention. “When Daniel was eighteen and in boot camp, I received a copy of that photo anonymously. Red marker was used to scrawl the words ‘soft spot’ across Daniel’s chest. It unnerved me, but there was no defined threat, so there was nothing to do.
“I didn’t get any more until Daniel was in Special Forces training a few years later. After that, I got them fairly regularly, mostly with some obscure letters and numbers on them, the meaning of which I still don’t understand. However, some had very clear taunts written on them.” William stopped and took a small a drink.
He was about to continue when Lexa asked, “What kind of taunts?” hoping to profile the sender.
In his head, William saw every taunt that was sent. “There were several, but three that hit hardest were ‘toy soldier fallen?’, ‘run Danny run’, and ‘fly Danny fly’. I have them all. If
you think they might be useful, I could have my aide send a copy of them,” the General said flatly.
Lexa saw the same type of mask falling into place that Dan wore. It struck her as one way they were alike—they both hid their emotions.
Still struggling to connect the pieces that the General was slowly sharing, Nick responded, “That would probably help if you think they’re related to the current threat.”
Lexa probed, “Sir, why did those hit the hardest?”
Blaze was studying the General closely. He focused on the General’s eyes mostly because he knew how to read Blondie’s eyes. He wondered if the General had the same tell. He saw a slight shudder and glimpsed a momentary flash of sorrow in his eyes before the General answered Lexa’s question.
“Bec … ause …” William’s voice stuttered in an uncharacteristic manner.
My God, the General’s voice actually cracked, Patch noticed, and his own eyes went wide. That didn’t happen—where was General Badass?
General Broderick cleared his throat again and then continued firmly, “I remember those because I received each one after Daniel was injured. Whoever was sending them knew things that were not public knowledge. Injury reports are rarely released outside Special Forces due to the secrecy of missions. It led me to believe that whoever sent them was either in Special Forces or had an inside contact. There’s been an open investigation for years with no results.”
The currents in Winds’ mind began to swirl. Why would someone send photos like that to the General? How did ‘soft spot’ apply to Blondie and the General? General Badass didn’t give a damn about Blondie—evidenced by his unchecked abuse of Blondie over the years.
William continued, “The messages were never direct threats, just unsettling words about events that happened to Daniel. The analysts that examined them over the years had no leads and thought the person sending them was simply taunting me. Taking advantage of things that happened to Daniel to twist a virtual knife.
“I agreed with them until the last photo, but hold any questions about the last one, I’ll get there. As I said, the second photo I received was when Daniel was training for Special Forces. The message on that one was ‘fly Danny fly’. I received it a week after Daniel nearly died in a training accident.”
Loki gasped. “Sir, he nearly died? How?”
“Jumped off a cliff to save a fellow recruit,” William answered.
“Christ, he jumped off a cliff? I know Dano’s reckless sometimes, but what the hell happened? Why’d he do it?” Jon asked aghast.
The General looked at them, not really wanting to relive the experience, but decided to tell them anyway. “The Major in charge of training contacted me directly after it happened because Daniel lost a lot of blood and it was touch and go by the time he arrived at the hospital.
“It occurred when the recruit cadre was a week into the eight-week language immersion phase of training. One of the training officers wanted to try a new exercise that wasn’t a standard part of training. They selected four men that excelled in languages to participate since it wouldn’t put them behind the rest of the cadre. Daniel was one of the four and was chosen to lead the other three men in the exercise.
“It was an exercise that was supposed to assess and develop leadership skills under pressure and was conducted under open mics so the training officers could hear everything. Their task was simple. They were instructed to navigate to the top of a mountain and then rappel down the cliff face.
“However, unbeknownst to Daniel, the other three recruits had been instructed to be as obnoxious and difficult as possible. The purpose was to see if they could rattle Daniel on the hike up the mountain. Due to safety concerns, the recruits were also instructed to cease the behavior for the rappelling part.
“All the way up, the men gave Daniel a hard time and tested his patience by questioning every order. Major White said Daniel made mistakes as was to be expected. Daniel lost his cool at one point and called one recruit an asshat and told the recruit that with his bad attitude and lack of discipline he didn’t belong in Special Forces. Major White indicated that overall, Daniel handled it well in the three hours it took them to navigate to the rappelling location.”
Lexa thought, So that’s where Dan learned to deal with people like Aaron. She’d wondered how he’d kept his cool when Aaron gave him so much crap.
“When they got to the top, Daniel directed the recruits to prepare to rappel. He secured his lines and was the only one ready. Unfortunately, the men had really taken to hassling Daniel and forgot that it was supposed to stop at the top. They were completely out of line as they prepared to rappel—all three refused to secure their lines properly or listen to Daniel’s repeated orders.”
“Major White was about to intervene and remind the recruits of their instructions when Daniel firmly took command. Daniel reminded them that their behavior put the entire unit at risk. Then he stated he was in charge and if they didn’t like it to take it up with training officer later, but for now he was giving them a direct order to secure their lines.
“Two of the recruits realized their error and quickly set about securing their lines. However, the third recruit got into Daniel’s face and yelled, ‘Back off Broderick. You’re only here because Daddy pulled strings. You’re the one that doesn’t belong, asshole’. Then the recruit shoved Daniel, but lost his own footing and fell backwards off the cliff.
“Daniel hurled himself over the cliff in an attempt to grab the man. Incredibly, he was able to get a hold around the man’s waist as they both fell. As Daniel’s line reached its end, they slammed hard into the mountain several times. Daniel took the brunt of it because he was between the recruit he saved and the mountainside,” William stood to pace—needing to move.
“Somehow Daniel had the presence of mind to attach his safety harness to the unconscious recruit he was holding. It was a good thing he was able to do that because Daniel lost consciousness as the other recruits were pulling them up. If Daniel hadn’t done that, the man would’ve fallen to his death.
“Major White said none of them could quite figure out how Daniel managed to clip the guy in and still hold onto him—let alone remain conscious long enough to do it given Daniel’s injuries. You see, in the impact, Daniel bruised five ribs, sprained his right wrist, dislocated his right shoulder, suffered a concussion, and his spleen ruptured causing internal bleeding.
“When I got to the hospital and saw Daniel, my heart broke. He looked so young and vulnerable. The doctor stopped the internal bleeding by performing a laparoscopic partial splenectomy. Daniel had lost so much blood, he was ghostly pale. I sat with him for two days—until he finally regained consciousness. He was so bruised and battered—like he is now.”
William’s eyes turned towards the bedroom where Daniel was currently sedated. His son constantly amazed him with what he could endure physically and how fast he recovered. Daniel had an inner strength he admired and he was damned glad his son healed so quickly.
His gaze shifted to Patch as he said, “That was the first time that Daniel amazed the doctors. He was out of the hospital three days after waking up. He rejoined the cadre for the language immersion, but was excused from the daily physical workouts for six weeks.
“The doctors wanted to hold him out another eight weeks. They were worried about infections since he now only had a partial spleen. Daniel wanted to remain with his recruit cadre. So he worked hard to prove that he was fit by the time the cadre moved into the parachuting and swim phase.”
Patch glanced at Blondie—yeah, he knew about his resilience and spleen. It was one reason Blondie could become feverish so quickly. With only a partial spleen his immune system didn’t fight off infections as well as most people.
It was also the reason Blondie always complied with taking antibiotics when prescribed. Blondie once told him that pain he could deal with, so he avoided pain meds, but he wasn’t about to die because of some damned infection. Speaking of which, Patch noticed
that it was time to change out the antibiotic bag. He rose and headed into the bedroom.
William finished and saw Patch go into the bedroom to check on his son. He leaned back into the chair and his eyes clouded as he recalled when he first saw Daniel in the ICU. He’d regretted giving Daniel the special dispensation to try out early—his son was too young and he didn’t want to lose him. Daniel could’ve died if they hadn’t stopped the internal bleeding in time. William remained silent as he watched Patch replace the bag of antibiotics.
They were all shocked by the description of what Dan had done and his injuries. Lexa’s and Loki’s faces had drained of all color. A few got up and shifted around the room unable to sit still. Jon and Blaze paced slowly, both having similar thoughts along the lines of ‘damned crazy, too many unacceptable risks for others’.
Seeing Patch return to his seat and knowing the group needed to push forward, Nick prompted, “So, you got a photo after that and it said ‘fly Danny fly’. Right? When did you get the next one?”
The General sat so still for so long that everyone was beginning to wonder if he was going to respond. William finally refocused his eyes and looked at Blaze as he shared, “I got the next one about four months after Daniel joined your unit. That one said ‘run Danny run’. I received it about a week after Daniel was injured in the building explosion. I didn’t understand the meaning of the words until after I read the full mission report.”
Blaze saw something in the General’s eyes he didn’t expect—sadness.
General Broderick took a small steadying breath. He kept his eyes locked on the Captain. “I came to see Daniel every night. I was able to slip in the second night when Mason nodded off. Daniel’s face now reminds me of then. Thank you for watching over him. I hated to be so cold on the phone.”
Totally flabbergasted by the General’s words, Patch asked, “Why? You were a cold-hearted bastard who only wanted to know if he was dead.”
William flinched at that as he looked directly at Patch and explained, “In one way or another, Daniel seemed to always pay for me being a General. The photo messages had me worried. I figured if I distanced myself from Daniel—made it seem like I didn’t care—then whoever was sending the photos would stop and it would protect Daniel. I was wrong. The photos kept coming no matter how much distance I put between us.”