I couldn’t help myself. I snorted. Chris was a big guy, just as tall as my Brody. But he was leaner. Brody had more developed musculature. Chris was wiry, though, which wasn’t necessarily an advantage… it was just different. But if I had to choose, I’d have laid my money on Brody to win that fight. Not that I would ever tell Chris that.
Chris and I moved on to other subjects, and spent the next hour just talking, catching up before he had to go back to the base. I hated that it was so easy with Chris and that with Brody it was so much more difficult to just talk. But after sitting with Chris for that long, it made me realize that the one thing that Brody and I hadn’t done was talk.
*
Brody
Most of the team was in the briefing room when I got there, except Master Chief Collins hadn’t shown up yet. Naturally, this was the cue for Urban and Bonham to toss paper footballs back and forth across the table. Murphy was reading something in the folder, his feet up on the table. Hardy wasn’t there yet.
“Hey, Battles!” Urban tossed a paper football at my head. I caught it before it struck me. “Play with us.”
I threw it back to him. “Nah, I’m good.”
Urban’s face was almost a pout, if his eyes hadn’t rolled up. “You’re no fun anymore. If that’s marriage, count me out.”
I laughed. “No woman would have your snarky ass, Urban.”
“Good morning, my little minions,” Master Chief Collins said as he entered the room. The guys hushed instantly as Cadence Long came in the room. “You boys remember Miss Long, yes?”
“Mornin’ ma’am.” Bonham said, nodding to her.
“Good morning, gentlemen.” She took a seat next to where Master Chief stood.
“Got the data from the last raid decrypted. Miss Cadence Long was most helpful in getting it fast tracked for us from the NSA.”
“Thank you, Master Chief. It wasn’t hard. The NSA is just as dedicated to stopping international arms dealers as anyone else.”
Master Chief plugged his laptop into the projector and turned the machine on. He glanced around the room. “Where’s Hardy?”
“Here!” Hardy strode into the room. “Sorry I was late. I was visiting a friend.”
“Is that what they’re calling hookers these days?” Urban grinned.
Hardy flipped him off and flopped in the seat next to Murphy. “It was actually your mom, Urban. She said to tell you hi.” Urban growled and pushed the chair back, but Master Chief waved him back to his seat. Urban grumbled, but he sat back down.
“All right, you guys. Settle down. We have a lot to get through today, so let’s get started.”
They settled into the briefing, Master Chief taking the time to walk them through what they already knew. Simon Giroux was a faceless mask they hadn’t yet uncovered, but he was the head of an international arms dealing operation. His business spread over every continent and he had his fingers into a lot of pies.
None of this was new to me. I’d spent the last two years working on finding and bringing down Giroux. We’d uncovered that he had three grown sons, and one daughter. We had photos on all the sons, but not the daughter. She was far more careful, and just as paranoid as her father, it seemed.
“Now, Miss Long will be taking you through the rest of the information.”
Long stood up and switched places with Master Chief. “We think that Giroux might have contacts pretty high up in the US government. The last few raids, they’ve known your team was coming. Which means, either the people giving the orders are Giroux, or there’s a mole on your team.”
“That’s outrageous!” A chorus of protests filled the air, mine included. Was she seriously suggesting that one of our own would betray us? It couldn’t happen. We were a brotherhood.
“Quiet!” Master Chief shouted.
“What, like a Senator or something?” Urban spat out. “Because we know it’s not us.”
Master Chief shook his head. “We’re unsure at this point where the leak is. We’re working on it. So, it’s become necessary to separate SEAL Team Thirteen from the military.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. “We’re not Navy anymore?”
“You will all receive DD-214s from the United States Navy. It will appear as if you all have been discharged.” He stood up straight. “All of you are moving into a top secret position. We are no longer regulated like the military is. We don’t report to anyone except the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not even Congress at this point in time.”
“Master Chief, what does that mean for our families? I mean…” I trailed off. I wasn’t really sure how to phrase the question forming up inside me. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what the question was.
“It changes nothing for them. They’ll still get the same benefits as active duty military does. As far as the families go, you’re moving departments. You’re still government-employed. Just a new office.”
Somehow, that didn’t really make me feel any better about this. “Master Chief, if you don’t mind the question, why is this happening now?”
“Miss Long?”
“We analyzed all the data from the computers your team seized. They’ve known about us for a while. We have reason to believe that our identities are in breach. The move will further keep your identities separate from the government and the potential breach.”
I snapped my head up. In breach? Fear bubbled inside me. If they knew who I was, they’d know about Devyn and the girls. But I wasn’t home all the time. How could I keep them safe when I was gone all the time? The guys all looked as concerned as I felt.
“What do we do?” Murphy asked, breaking the stunned silence we’d all fallen into. His voice was low, laced with dangerous promises.
“Luckily, we’ve got a lot of new information. Personnel files, mostly. These came off the laptop. I don’t believe this one was cleaned prior to us taking possession, because it had files on very high personnel in the Giroux organization.”
“What about Giroux himself?” Hardy asked. “No pictures, no bio data, nothing?”
“Nope. Only text mentions and no mention of what he looks like.” Long started on talking about particular employees, showing the data on the projector, but I couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. I should have been paying attention, but my mind was on Devyn. She had basic self-defense. I’d taught her some years ago. Chris had taught her more. She knew how to fire a gun if she needed to, but she hated it. But… if she came face to face with a Giroux operative? Devyn didn’t have the experience to deal with a known killer.
I was a selfish bastard. I was so hyper focused on getting her to understand that this was my job that I didn’t even think about what this would do to her. We’d made a good many enemies over the years, and most of them would love to know about us, about our families. We had some protection as a SEAL team. The community usually kept pretty quiet about who its members were in general. Now that we were no longer military, this both expanded our capabilities, and made everything more of a risk.
Devyn hadn’t chosen this life. She couldn’t even have fathomed this life. The deployments were unpredictable. Sometimes they could be two years. Other times, missions could be done in a day or two. Maybe a week. A month. It was the life I had chosen and wanted since I was sixteen. She’d only been seventeen when we’d gotten married, a year younger than me. Maybe she hadn’t yet realized what marrying a SEAL entailed?
“Battles?”
I snapped from my thoughts and turned my attention to Master Chief. “Yes, Master Chief?”
“You seem distracted, son. You all right?”
“Just thinking.” I glanced around the room, all eyes suddenly on me. How long had I zoned out? I cleared my throat. “My apologies. I’m here.”
“Good. Because it’s important that we start gathering information on all these people. We need to know where they are.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything more. I cursed internally for letting Devyn interfere with the job.
I forced myself to remain present and listened as Cadence Long went over each subject on the projector screen, and their job in the organization. It wasn’t until they reached the Giroux family, that an intense feeling of dread came over me.
“Here’s my crown jewel. It seems that the laptop had a lot of information on Simon Giroux’s daughter, Marie Giroux. We couldn’t find much of anything on her before this. But we’ve got a bead on her now. While her brothers went to school in France, she was sent to a school in Britain. She’s a major player in the arms deals.”
“Charming,” Hardy replied. I slid my gaze up, my eyes landing on the picture of the dark-haired woman with the brilliant and piercing blue eyes. I stopped, cold slithering into my body.
It couldn’t be.
I could be wrong. But even as Master Chief continued, I knew I wasn’t.
“She’s been off grid more than a year. We haven’t been able to pinpoint a location for her at all.” Cadence said. “That’s her, though.”
My veins iced over in recognition, because there was no mistaking those eyes. I was surprised I hadn’t seen it earlier. The woman in the image was skinnier, her eyes more sunken. No glasses. But the eyes were unmistakable.
“Fuck me.”
“Ew, dude.” Urban said. “I’d rather do your mother than that woman.”
“Shut up.” I snapped. “Master Chief, I know her.”
“Battles…”
“I mean, I met her. My wife knows her.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Hardy sat up.
“As a heart attack. She was at my house. She had lunch with my wife.” I ran my hands through my short spikes, wishing it were long enough to yank out. “Her name… Jane. Jane Espinoza. I only saw her once, and she was wearing glasses and leaving my house. But I can’t miss those eyes. I know it was her.”
“Shit.” Urban blinked. “I’ll run a background check on her.”
My breath left me as Devyn’s words came back. Jane was going to babysit the kids tonight, which meant she would be at the house today. Alone. With Devyn. Devyn was alone with a stone cold killing machine. And that killing machine was the daughter of an international arms dealer.
I slammed the chair back, not caring when it toppled over. I grabbed my cover. “I have to get home.”
“Battles, wait!”
“She’s there!” I screamed at the room. “That woman… she’s at my house right now. With my wife. My children. Right fucking now.” I shook my head and backed up more, toward the door. “I’m not going to let her hurt them.”
“Look, she’s been here for over a year. There has to be a reason why she hasn’t made a move yet.” Murphy. Always the voice of reason. Well, I didn’t want reason. I wanted my family to be safe.
“Does it matter? That’s my family!”
“Okay, calm down. Hardy, Murphy, you two get some guys and back him up. Battles, you head home, but you wait to go inside!” I was moving before Master Chief finished. I didn’t stop until I reached the truck and that was only to pull out my phone.
I hit the speed dial for Devyn and let it ring as I pulled from my parking spot and sped down the road toward the front gate. I slowed only to cross the gate, turn left, and gunned it down the strand. I was ten minutes from our house. I spat out a quick message to Devyn’s voicemail since she didn’t answer and tossed my phone into the passenger seat. The road stretched out before me, surrounded on both sides by beach and ocean. I pressed down on the gas, and prayed that I could get home before Marie Giroux realized we were on to her.
Chapter Sixteen
‡
Devyn
Jane leaned over the counter on her elbows, her hands clasped together in front. I finished the dishes without looking at her, because already her disapproving glare burned into my back. I’d managed to get Vera to watch the girls for a few hours to give me a break and let me hang out with a grown-up for a while. Maybe it wasn’t the best use of in-law babysitting, but Vera was happy to do it.
“I don’t get why you’re giving me that look, Jane.” I dried off my hands and turned to face her. She’d been quietly disapproving since I’d told her about the fight with Brody.
“The man has zero respect for you,” she replied. “You lot have a fight, and then he’s sweet for five minutes, and you’re ready to forget everything and forgive him for being an arsehole.”
“That’s how marriage works.” I shrugged and grabbed my phone from the table. I’d let Riley play games on it after lunch before Vera had come to pick her and Jackie up, so it had remnants of food on the screen.
“That is not how marriage works.” Her voice was stern, like a mother’s. I almost laughed in her face. I’d never even listened to my own mother, so there was no way I’d listen to someone trying to sound like one.
I grabbed a paper towel to clean off my screen. “Besides, his job is important. He has to keep some secrets. National security and all that, you know.” I was being flippant about it, but really, Jane made me think. Could I live like this long-term, wondering what trouble he was getting into that I couldn’t help him with, or that might get him killed? Two years of constant worry had been so draining on me. I couldn’t deny a certain weight was lifted when he came home.
“A job that is more important than you, his wife? Or his children?” Why was Jane still here? She’d only come to watch the girls, but Vera had taken them at the last minute, which suited me just fine. Jane was starting to get on my nerves.
“What would you have me do, Jane? Leave him?”
“Yes.” Her face was deadly serious, no smiles, no joking mannerisms. “You could do so much better, love.”
“I love him.”
“You’re blinded by him,” she snapped. “Men like that… they’re not married to you. They’re married to their job. They’re married to the horror they inflict on people. He doesn’t look it now, but there’s a monster growing inside him, one that will eat away at his soul and eventually, will consume you.”
I sighed as I wiped off my screen. I had a missed call from Brody. “I’m not leaving my husband, Jane. I cannot even fathom what would make you say these things to me.”
“Because I see what you don’t,” she said. Her eyes flashed behind the glasses she wore. She exhaled through her nose. “I don’t mean to push, love. I’m sorry. I just… hate seeing you upset.”
I smiled and set my phone face down on the counter. “I know. I’m okay, though. Me and Brody… we’ll be okay too. It’s just gotta take some time. I know we can do this. We’re going to talk about it when he gets home tonight.”
She pushed off the counter, straightening to her full height. “I’m going to use the head and then I should go. Just think about what I’m saying, all right?”
“All right.”
Jane’s footsteps receded up the stairs to the bathroom.
Jane had an actual hate-on for Brody, and that made me uneasy. Brody had always been my best friend, even before we were together as a couple. I met Jane a year after Brody had left. She filled a hole in my life, and for that, I was grateful to her. But Brody was my husband, and the father of my children, and I wasn’t going to leave him because my new friend didn’t like him.
And speaking of Brody… he’d called. I picked up my phone. The light for voicemails was on. Actually… There were four missed calls from Brody, and worry began to eat at me. What did he want? And why call so much? The last one was about three minutes before.
I dialed the voicemail, and held it up to my ear as my husband’s voice boomed in my ear. “Devyn, I know we’re not exactly getting along well and I’m sorry about that. But I really need your trust right now. Your friend, Jane. She’s not who she says she is. Her real name is Marie Giroux. She’s the daughter of an international arms dealer. I don’t know why she’s there, but I need you to act like nothing is wrong, and sit tight until I get there. Don’t give her any indication that you know about her. I’m on my way, but I’m still about ten minutes out. Be careful
. I love you.”
I hit the end button, trying not to panic, but I was failing miserably. I trusted Brody with my life. Which scared the shit out of me. Because if what he was saying was true, I was caught up in something horrible enough that Brody felt the need to warn me ahead of time. Surely this was related to Brody’s work, but why was she here with me?
“Who was on the phone?”
I yelped and the phone clattered to the floor. I fisted my hands to keep from shaking. Jane paused a few feet away, confusion on her face.
“You’re jumpy. What’s wrong?”
“You just… surprised me. I was checking voicemail.” Why did I say that? That was stupid.
Jane scrutinized me, her eyes casing over me, burning into me. I picked up the phone and set it down on the counter, face down. If I held on to it, my hands would shake, and she’d for sure figure me out. But when I met her eyes, something seemed to dawn on her. She sighed heavily. “Oh, bloody hell. This isn’t what I wanted, love.”
“Jane? What are you talking about?”
She reached behind her. When she extended her arm toward me, she had a pistol in it, the barrel facing me. “This was not how things were supposed to turn out. Once I finished the job, I was just going to move away. You’d never know the difference. Never know what happened. We’d just lose contact. No harm, no foul. Who was on the phone, Devyn?”
“What are you doing?” I stared at the barrel, the dark metal almost sinking into my soul. “What… why are you pointing a gun at me?”
“You’ve never looked at me with fear in your eyes. Not once in the last year. Which means that phone call you got, probably from your dear husband, told you who I really am.” A half-smirk twitched at the corner of her lips. “It was only a matter of time before my cover was blown, especially after I lost my damn laptop. I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I sincerely don’t want to hurt you, Devyn.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Now that depends on you, on your cooperation. You see, now I need an exit plan, and you’re it.”
SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style Page 76