SEAL INVESTIGATIONS: A 5-Books SEAL Romance Series

by Lola Silverman

  “And since Yates is whipped”—Bones let that statement hang—“he immediately obeyed. We got the hell out of there. Romero was handling the FBI goons. He gave them the slip with some bullshit story about getting his CO to talk to them. And here we are.”

  “Where is Romero?” Trapp realized there were more than a few people missing. “And where are the girls?”

  Bones grinned. “Tasha and Marina took the girls to Marina’s place. It’s like Fort Knox. They’ll be safe there.”

  “And Romero is tracking that second vehicle that entered the training area after you did.” Yates shrugged. “Apparently Oliver can’t even remember to check for a tail.”

  “A tail?” Trapp felt his gut clench. “Who was following us?”

  “Not sure.” Yates seemed unconcerned. “We’ll figure it out. Romero will either bring them here for interrogation or get rid of them.”

  Trapp pressed his lips together. He could not think of the rest of it He could not think about watching Isabella die. He couldn’t talk about it right now. In fact if he stopped for even a moment he was going to break down.”

  “Trapp.” Sparks shifted his weapon to the other arm and frowned. “What happened to Isabella?”

  Shit.

  *

  Isabella peered into the bushes. There was something wrong with them. It was like looking at one of those holographic images. The kind where a secondary picture jumps out at you.

  No sooner had her brain formulated that thought then a rifle barrel emerged from the foliage. She sucked in a sharp breath of surprise and threw her hands into the air. The man holding the weapon was covered in greenery and war paint. He looked absolutely terrifying.

  “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  She hadn’t expected him to speak. Nor had she expected to recognize his voice. “Romero?” she whispered.

  He grabbed her arm and shoved her back toward the vehicle. She moved to the driver’s door, thinking that they would just get inside and drive away. Romero surprised her by heading for the passenger’s side. He threw open the door and grabbed Fullerton. Thankfully Fullerton seemed to shocked to make much noise.

  Seconds later they were hoofing it over the rough terrain toward some location known only to their guide. Isabella waited a few minutes before speaking. She couldn’t figure out what Romero’s game was. Why leave the vehicle? She needed Internet access to get the info she had just realized she needed about Captain Oliver. She only had suspicions. Now she needed proof.

  “Where are we going?” Isabella finally asked in as loud a voice as she dared. “Do you know where Alex is?”

  Romero didn’t turn and his voice was terse. “Was he with you?”

  “No. He was in the car ahead of ours. Something happened. The vehicle stopped. So I’m assuming Alex escaped somehow?”

  “If he did, he’ll be going the same place we are.” Romero kept walking. “The commander knows this place just like we do.”

  “We have to stop a second,” she told Romero. “I need to check something and I need Internet to do it.”

  “Can’t stop. We’re out in the open,” Romero argued.

  “I know.” She argued right back. This was important. “That’s why I have service on my phone. Please?”

  Romero grunted in irritation. Behind her, Fullerton was muttering something under his breath about the insanity of SEALs. Isabella quickly pulled out her phone and logged into her account at Homeland Security. She could only hope that she could get in and out before they realized she was on the system. If they pinpointed her location, things were bound to get awkward.

  “What are you doing?” Romero snorted. “You’re risking our lives to check your email?”

  “No.” She didn’t appreciate the automatic assumption that she was a moron. “Oliver must have a reason for committing treason on this scale. He must have lost someone.”

  “His wife,” Romero said simply. “Her name was Emily. She got some disease while she was with him overseas. I don’t remember the details.”

  “Of course!” Isabella whispered excitedly. “Oliver suspected it was some kind of terror attack, but wasn’t allowed by the brass to pursue it.”

  Romero looked at her as though she were insane. “You think that’s why he’s doing this? Kill hundreds of thousands just because his wife died?”

  “If Cassidy died, what would you do?” Isabella asked him.

  He did not even pause. “Burn the whole damn world down.”

  *

  There was something big coming through the trees. Trapp signaled his men and they all took up defensive positions. It sounded like King Kong, which meant there was no way it was Romero. The SEAL would have been moving in silence. Oliver had no more reasons to hide his presence. He had already made his move and it was an end game.

  The bushes parted just where Trapp had entered the camp. Oliver shoved his way into the clearing with a .45 in hand. He waved it wildly from one side to the other. “Where are the crates?”

  He sounded unhinged. Trapp’s danger meter was on overload. This man was a ticking time bomb. “Why do you want the crates, Captain? Why would you want to hurt thousands of innocent people? You’re a SEAL. You’re a SEAL Captain. You command men to protect innocents. Why throw that away?” Trapp tried like hell to sound reasonable.

  “Just give me what I came for and I’ll put your men down instead of torturing them to death.” Spittle flew from Oliver’s mouth and his eyes were crazed.

  “No.” Trapp folded his arms. “Not until you tell me what’s really going on. What would make an honorable man turn traitor to his country.”

  There was another rustle in the bushes on the other side of the clearing. Oliver turned around as though he expected an attack. Then Isabella, Fullerton, and Romero came cautiously into the clearing.

  Isabella.

  Trapp thought his throat might close. He could not breathe. He could not speak. She was alive? How was that even possible?

  “Emily wouldn’t want this,” Isabella told Oliver. “I know that your wife died. I know that she was a victim of a terrorist attack.”

  “You shut up!” Oliver screamed. His voice was high pitched and murder to the ears. “You don’t know anything about it!”

  “I know that you obviously loved her,” Isabella soothed. “She was your wife. She was the love of your life and they wouldn’t even let you find out the truth about her death. It must have killed you to be a man who defends the weak, but can’t even help his own wife.”

  “It wasn’t fair!”

  To Trapp’s shock, Oliver actually swiped at his eyes as though he were tearing up. But Isabella wasn’t done. “Don’t taint her memory like this, Captain Oliver. She wouldn’t have wanted that. She was proud of you. I’ve seen pictures of her standing by your side when you were awarded the Navy Cross. She was proud of you. Don’t ruin that. Don’t ruin her memory. She was a good woman. She didn’t deserve what happened. But she doesn’t deserve to have thousands murdered in her name either.”

  “Emily,” Oliver whispered as he sank to his knees. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so damn sorry.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Isabella was nearly knocked off her feet as Alex grabbed her in a huge hug. She squeezed him back, but eventually started beating on his shoulders when she could hardly catch her breath. “You’re squishing me!” she gasped.

  “Oh. Sorry.” Alex stepped back. “I’m sorry. Wait. How are you here? What happened? I saw you shot!”

  He swept her up into his arms and buried his face in her hair. She felt his lips on her neck and gave a little shiver of delight. She truly loved this man. It was hard to believe that this was all over. Well mostly. It wasn’t over yet. There was still so much left to tie up. So many loose ends to find and clip off. Hasim had to pay for what he had done.

  “It was Fullerton,” Isabella explained. “You know, the first dead guy who wasn’t really dead.”

  Fullerton walked up, waving and looki
ng a little sheepish. The scene at Little Creek had exploded. There were Homeland Security agents everywhere. Representatives from the CDC had come to take the crates of Mr. Trips in for further testing and classification. Captain Oliver was in custody. The naval base police were there. Flashing lights and men in uniform milled about as though this was a holiday get together. Nobody knew what was going on while simultaneously everyone thought they knew what was going on. So of course it was pretty much like every other military operation that had ever gone down.

  “Oliver brought Fullerton in as a way to trap us,” Isabella gave Alex the short version. “Then when they brought him in to interrogate me, I managed to convince him that I wasn’t crazy.”

  Fullerton picked up the conversation. “I did some digging and realized that your captain had been blocking your request for leave, but didn’t have any actual reason for it. I dug around more and started wondering why he seemed to be the person behind every single anonymous tip, interagency suggestion of suspects, and pretty much had his hands in every bit of this investigation.”

  “So Fullerton agreed to help me stage my death.” Isabella touched Alex’s cheek. “I was wearing two bulletproof vests when he shot me. Hurt like a motherfucker!”

  Alex was laughing. “I thought I was going to die when I saw him shoot you. I couldn’t do anything. I felt so useless.”

  “You’re never useless.” Isabella cupped his face in her hands. He was still cradling her close to his chest. She pressed her nose to the triangle of skin visible at his throat. The scent of him was exactly right.

  “Okay.” Fullerton cleared his throat. “I think I’ll just go over there. I’m sure I’m needed elsewhere.”

  TRAPP CHUCKLED TO himself as the other agent hastily excused himself. The entire place was seething with people and Trapp didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was this woman he was holding in his arms.

  “They had Rachel there, by the way,” Isabella told him softly. “One of the other agents told me that they’re releasing her to Cassidy as we speak.”

  “I don’t know what to do about Rachel.” He got sick even thinking about it. “I’m sure the short answer is lots of therapy, but how do I start?”

  “You love her, right? Cassidy loves her. You guys have to keep on loving her. Talk to Marina. She was held captive. Not quite like Rachel was, but Marina might have some insight. Eventually she’s going to be okay. I promise.”

  “Never like she was before.” Trapp wasn’t sure why that was such a big deal to him. But it was. “I feel like something I did robbed my sister of her life. The only reason she was involved was because Hasim was trying to get back at me.”

  “That’s not your fault,” Isabella insisted. “You were just doing your job. It could have been anyone else’s family targeted for the same reason. You know that! We’re always at risk.”

  He remembered their conversation from before. “You mean because we spend out lives trying to protect a way of life that isn’t really for us to have.”

  “Exactly.” Isabella did not look satisfied by that answer. “Which is totally unfair, you know?”

  “I would agree.”

  “I want a life!” Isabella was gaining intensity. He could have sworn he could feel her body heating up even through their clothing. “I want to wake up every single morning beside you. I want to know that you’re going to come home at night and kiss me before bedtime.”

  “Just before bed,” he asked suggestively.

  She giggled. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do.” He had already been thinking this over a lot. “It’s going to take some doing. I’m a SEAL. The rest of my team are SEALs. That’s a commitment that we don’t take lightly.”

  “You guys have done your time.” She nuzzled his neck and he couldn’t even formulate a coherent sentence in his head.

  He wanted her. That was all he knew. It was the only thing that mattered. Then he saw Fullerton walking up and realized that there was still more red tape to take care of. And gah! The paperwork. He could not even imagine the amount of paperwork this was going to spawn.

  “So,” Fullerton mused, rocking back and forth on his heels. “You two are free to go.”

  “Just like that?” Isabella seemed surprised. “Don’t they want debriefing or something?”

  “At this point there’s going to be a very long investigation. I mean the kind that will probably take Internal Affairs months to go through. So for now, just go home and we’ll call you. Sound good?”

  Trapp might have answered, but he was already heading toward the SUV that Oliver had used to bring them out here. It was time to go home and he was so ready.

  *

  Isabella didn’t have to ask where they were going. She already knew. Cassidy had texted to say she was headed back to Richmond. She and Romero were taking Rachel home. There was no doubt in Isabella’s mind that Alex would want to be there. He had things to take care of between himself and Rachel.

  Contrary to what Isabella had expected, the apartment was not crowded when they arrived. Romero was sitting quietly in the background. Rachel was nowhere to be found, and Cassidy was making tea in the kitchen. It all looked very—domestic.

  “She’s in the shower,” Cassidy said as they walked inside. “Just have a seat. Do you want tea?”

  “I would love some,” Isabella said eagerly. “Thank you.”

  Alex looked almost confused. He took a seat next to Romero and shook his head. “No thank you, I’m—uh—I’m fine.”

  “Calm down,” Romero murmured. “You’re acting like a spaz.”

  Isabella just managed not to laugh at the comment. Apparently Alex’s spazzy behavior was on par with everyone else’s calm. She would agree that he looked uncomfortable, but that was to be expected. He didn’t know what to expect and men like Alexander Trapp always knew what to expect.

  Isabella had just accepted a cup of steaming hot peppermint tea when Rachel walked back into the living room. Her hair was wet and she was wearing a fuzzy blue bathrobe. Her feet were bare and with her hair combed and pushed behind her ears she looked all of seventeen years old.

  Isabella could tell the moment she spotted her brother. Rachel drew up and stiffened. Then she took a seat and wrapped her hand around the warm mug that Cassidy handed her. It was so quiet in the room that the sound of a pin dropping probably would have shattered something.

  “Okay,” Isabella said, unable to take it anymore. “Can we dispense with the formalities or whatever it is that we’re all waiting for? Yes. This has been super messed up. Yes. It’s awkward as shit, but if you guys just talk maybe it will be less that way sooner rather than later.”

  Rachel stared at Isabella. “Who are you and why are you here?”

  “My name is Isabella Rockwood. I worked with your brother in Marakesh and other places in the Middle East while he was interacting with the Armeen al Saud brothers.” Isabella felt suddenly out of place. “I was helping him to find you.”

  Then Alex seemed to wake up. He cleared his throat. “She’s here because I want her here.”

  “Why?” Rachel seemed more interested in this than anything else.

  He shifted, looking uncomfortable, but he did not hesitate to speak. “Because I love her and she makes me feel better.”

  Isabella thought her heart might explode with joy. That was pretty much the most awesome compliment that she’d ever received. She couldn’t help but smile at Alex. Man she loved him!

  TRAPP GAZED AT his sister. She looked intrigued by his apparent relationship with Isabella, but he felt like it was more of a distraction than anything else. With a deep breath, he dove in and hoped he didn’t screw up too badly.

  “Rachel, I want to talk about what happened.”

  “Well I don’t.” She sipped her tea.

  “Help me understand.”

  “Understand?” Rachel’s bitter laugh tore his heart open. “You pissed off Hasim. He used me to get back at you. It was pretty simple. I thin
k I figured it out the first day he held me. I didn’t get treated like anyone else. I was special. I didn’t know why. Then one time when I told him that my brother was coming for me, Hasim said that he was glad. It was what he was hoping for.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Trapp felt sick with the knowledge that this was all his fault.

  “No.” Rachel pointed at him, stabbing her finger in the air. “You don’t get to hide behind the guilt. You don’t get to just sit there and whine about how much you wanted to help me, or how you didn’t mean for this to happen. I know all of that already. Okay?”

  “Why are you so angry?”

  “I don’t know!” She burst into sobs. “I know it’s not your fault. I know that Hasim is the sick one. I’m just so mad that I had to go through that just because he’s some fucking sociopath with daddy issues.”

  “Whoa.” Isabella was the one to suddenly step in. “What did you say?”

  “Oh come on!” Rachel burst out. “Surely you know he’s got daddy issues.”

  “We know that Jabar was the favorite,” Trapp said slowly.

  Rachel snorted. “That’s a glossed over version. Hasim was in disgrace. His brother had told his father that Hasim took a gamble and lost money on several investments. Their father is on the verge of disinheriting him.”

  “So why the big show of power?”

  “To make his father proud,” Rachel retorted. “I heard Hasim on the phone with his father. He told him that you guys had his brothers murdered.”

  Trapp realized exactly what had to happen. “So the old Sheik believes that we had his other two sons murdered. He believes that the American government is responsible for his family’s dishonor.”

  “Yes.”

  Trapp glanced over and met Isabella’s gaze. They knew exactly what had to be done. It would require some maneuvering, but it was most certainly possible. But for now, there was still one more thing that Trapp needed to do here at home.

  “Rachel.” He got on his knees in front of her chair. Taking her hands in his, he set her mug aside before lifting her fingers to his lips. “I am so sorry. I have been looking for you since the moment you went missing. I promise. When Captain Oliver blocked me from doing it myself, I sent the most capable me I know to help me out. But I was always running the show. I was always involved. I was always looking for you.”