by Kaylea Cross
“I’m fine, sweetie. Did you get my present?”
“Yes, I’ve got it right here—I wanted you to see me open it.” She leaned out of view to grab it. “Did you get mine?”
Now it was his turn to smile. “You sent me something?”
She sat up, giving him an offended look. “Of course I did.” Then she lowered her voice, as if she didn’t want her mother to overhear. “Max helped me mail it last week. It should have gotten there by now.”
Hell of a thing, when the man who replaced him cared more about his relationship with Autumn than Sarah did. “That was nice of him. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll get here in the next day or two.”
But Autumn looked genuinely distressed. “It was supposed to be there for today. We paid extra to make sure you got it.” Her voice thickened.
“Baby, it’s okay. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s late, it just means the world to me that you’d send me something.”
She swallowed and wiped at her eyes before nodding. “I hate that you’re all alone over there at Christmas.”
His heart squeezed at her concern. “I’m not alone, I’ve got the guys with me.”
A small smile curved the corners of her lips. “Yeah, but they don’t get you presents.”
“We make do. And we’ve even got a Christmas tree set up out in the squad room. Wanna see?”
“Yeah.”
He lifted the laptop and shoved open the storeroom door so he could pan the camera around to show her the tree. A sturdy broom handle formed the trunk, and it was studded with toilet brushes that had been duct-taped to it—Reid hoped they were unused—with khaki-green shirts and socks rolled up over the “branches” to make it look green. Someone had pilfered a strand of white lights to wind around it, and they’d even hung grenades from the branches as ornaments.
“Pretty awesome, huh?”
Autumn laughed. “That’s the ugliest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.”
“What? We think it looks festive. Kai and Logan put it up the other day.”
“Are those…grenades? Real ones?”
Using them broke about a dozen base rules, but what the hell. “Yep. I think they add a nice touch.” He couldn’t help but grin at her horrified/fascinated expression, proud that she could identify them in the first place. His baby girl took an active interest in him and what he did for a living. And he’d already put the fear of God into her about drugs and boys. “The team’s real busy over here, lots to keep us busy, so don’t worry about me.”
She rolled her eyes, looking so much like her mother in that instant that it startled him. “I always worry about you, Dad.”
A wave of emotion hit him. How could he not love this child with every fiber of his being? “I know you do. But I promise I’ll be okay. You know I hate you worrying about me. I just wish I could have spent Christmas with you.” He hated being away from her for big events and holidays.
“It’s okay. You can’t help it.”
Reid’s throat thickened. It was little things like that, little comments that showed a maturity well beyond her years, that hit him hardest. She never played the pity card or laid guilt trips on him for being away from her so much.
Did she really understand why he was so dedicated to his job? Did she secretly feel like he was always letting her down, or choosing his job over her? The last thing he wanted was for her to constantly stress about his safety.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Why don’t you open your present so I can see?”
Her expression brightened. “Okay.” She set the parcel on the desk and began tearing at the paper to reveal the books he’d bought her. “Wow, you got me the whole Harry Potter series!” she cried.
“Only the best for my little bookworm. And there’s something taped to the top of the box, too.”
She tipped it toward her and tore off the envelope he’d attached. When she saw the brochure inside it she gasped, her whole face lighting up as she looked back at the computer screen. “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! You’re taking me to Universal Studios?!” Her eyes were huge with surprise and hope.
“Yes, ma’am. Orlando, sometime this spring, just you and me. We can hit Disney World while we’re there too. I’m back home at the end of March, so we’ll set a date for sometime in April. Not Easter, because that would be too busy.” Not to mention impossible, since Sarah always insisted Autumn be with her family for the long weekend. “That sound okay to you?”
“Yes! I’m so excited—you’re the best dad ever.” She clutched the brochure to her chest like it was the most precious thing anyone had ever given her and beamed at him.
He winced internally as her words struck him in the heart. I’m doing my best, baby girl. But maybe his best wasn’t good enough. “Anyway, fill me in on the latest with you. You excited about going skiing over the break?”
“Not really. I’m glad I get time off school, though. You got my pictures from the Christmas play, right?”
He’d replied to her email as soon as he’d received it, but maybe Sarah hadn’t told her. “I did, and I wrote back right away. You looked like an actual angel.”
She laughed. “Dad, all four of us did.”
“Nope. The others looked like girls dressed up as angels. You looked like a real one. And you sang like one too.”
Her cheeks flushed and she glanced away almost bashfully, but Reid could tell she was pleased by the compliment. He considered it one of his most important tasks as a father to make sure she had a solid sense of confidence and self-worth. “Yeah, okay.”
He propped his chin in his hand. “What else have you got planned for the holidays?”
“Oh, you know, the usual. Gifts at Gram and Gramp’s after breakfast, then church and over to Uncle Tom’s after that. Tomorrow we’re going to see Max’s parents, and then we—” She stopped and looked behind her as someone entered the room.
Reid fought to keep his expression neutral when he caught sight of the light brown hair and familiar profile at the back of the room. Sarah.
His ex said something to Autumn that he didn’t catch, and stood there with her arms folded, a cold expression on her face.
“But Mom, we’ve only been talking for a few minutes. Can’t I have a little more time?”
Sarah gave an emphatic shake of her head. “No. I told you what time we had to leave. Now say goodbye and get in the car. Hurry.”
She walked out of view without so much as a hey, Merry Christmas or kiss my ass to him, and Reid wasn’t sorry to see her go. He had to work to put on a smile for his daughter as she turned back to him with a crestfallen expression that broke his heart. “Sorry, Dad. Guess I have to go.”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t okay, it was total bullshit, but again, that wasn’t Autumn’s problem. He got that Sarah hated being a single parent while he was away; he just wished he could figure out a way to make peace with her so they could all move forward in a healthy way. “It was good to see you and hear your voice. I miss you like crazy.”
Autumn’s face crumpled and her voice turned rough. “I miss you too, Dad.”
Aw, shit, the sight of her fighting back tears just sliced him up inside. “Don’t cry, baby. We’ll set up another call in a few days or something, okay? And you can always email me.”
She nodded, visibly fought back her tears. “Okay. You be safe.”
“I will be safe. Promise. Love you, and have a good Christmas.”
Her expression was pure misery, nothing like what a little girl’s face should look like on Christmas Day, when she should have been beside herself with excitement about what presents might be waiting for her at her grandparents’ place. “You too. Love you.”
“Bye, sweetheart.”
“Bye.” She ended the call and the screen went blank.
It felt like his only lifeline to her had just been severed.
Reid closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face, all his emotions tangled in knots and topped off with an avala
nche of guilt. He loved his job, loved being part of the team, but at times like this he was never more aware of the damage his career did to the person who mattered to him most.
Autumn was growing up way too fast, turning into a young woman right before his eyes, and too often he only saw it as an observer from thousands of miles away. How many Christmases and birthdays had he missed already that he would never get back?
Too many.
Then he thought of Sarah and her coldness and the rage began to simmer just below the surface. He got why she hated his guts, and why she hated what he did for a living, because in her mind he’d placed that above his family, and that’s what ultimately had led to their split.
But they’d been divorced for nearly seven damn years, and since she was supposedly so happy with her new boyfriend Max, then why the hell couldn’t she let it go and at least try to be civil? And why use Autumn as a weapon when their little girl wound up suffering as much as him?
“Fuck,” he muttered, Autumn’s devastated expression burned into his mind as he shoved back from the table and stood. What he wouldn’t give for a bottle of Jack right now.
His mouth watered at the idea, his brain lighting up even all these years later in anticipation of what it could never have again. Alcohol had damn near destroyed his life and he knew better than to give into temptation, even once. One drink was one too many for him now, and he fought that battle every damn day.
“Hey, how’s Autumn?”
Reid swung around to find Zaid standing in the doorway of the squad room. “Sad,” he muttered, hating himself and this whole situation with Sarah. It wasn’t right. “She misses me, and she’s worried about me, when all she should be thinking about is what presents she’s going to get, or what games she’ll play with her cousins this afternoon.”
Zaid winced in sympathy. “Sorry, man. You weren’t on long with her.”
“No. Sarah made sure of that.” And if she tried to stop him from taking Autumn to Orlando for a father-daughter trip… Exhaling, he headed for the door and squeezed past Zaid into the hallway.
His teammate followed him out. “Wanted to talk to you about something,” Zaid said.
Reid stopped and turned to face him. “Sure, what’s up?” He was closest to Zaid of anyone on the team, and Reid had taken to hanging with him whenever he could.
Zaid was a good guy, he cared about everyone on the team, and bonus, he didn’t touch alcohol because of his religion. Maybe it made him a selfish prick to use Zaid that way, but it helped to be around someone who never drank. If Zaid suspected that was part of the reason Reid had been spending so much time with him over the past eight months, he’d never said anything.
“A situation’s just come up with the investigative team looking for The Jackal. You up for a private security detail for the next few hours?”
Beat the hell out of feeling sorry for himself on Christmas while his daughter was on the other side of the world, and having a duty to perform would help take his mind off everything for a while. “Yeah, sure. Who’s it for?”
“Agent Rabani and her team.”
Reid wasn’t positive, but it sure seemed like his buddy had a thing for her. There was no other explanation for the whole protective routine he was pulling today. Whatever Zaid needed, Reid was more than happy to be his wingman. “Okay. Where we headed?”
Zaid grabbed the door handle and paused to look at him. “Kabul. The guy they thought might be The Jackal just died in a targeted hit outside the police station.”
Chapter Seven
The vehicle he and Prentiss rode in jostled over the uneven road as Zaid drove into Kabul. It was full dark now, and that made their presence here even riskier given the present circumstances. Men with evil on their minds loved to come out after dark.
Jaliya and her boss were in the vehicle in front of them. In addition to their driver they also had an armed security agent with them. Along with Zaid and Prentiss, that gave them three hired guns to watch their backs.
Zaid got the feeling that his insistence on accompanying them here had annoyed Jaliya, but he didn’t care. He’d rather be here to guard her and risk being overbearing and overprotective than sitting back at base waiting on another assignment with his team and leaving her safety in someone else’s hands. Screw that. Thankfully, Taggart had granted him and Prentiss permission to do it.
The flash of emergency vehicle lights up ahead was visible from more than a block away as they approached the special police station. Zaid turned right to follow the other driver toward the main building.
After parking along the curb beyond the security gate he and Prentiss hopped out with their M4s. They maintained careful watch over the area as Jaliya and her boss—both armed with pistols tucked into thigh holsters—met with the acting deputy police chief outside the taped-off perimeter set up outside the headquarters.
The cold air carried the stench of scorched metal from the car burning somewhere behind the building, but he couldn’t see it as the acting deputy chief began to lead Jaliya and her boss to the other side of the compound.
To stop them from rounding a blind corner without checking what was on the other side first, Zaid intervened. “Hold it.”
The chief and Jaliya looked back at him in surprise but he ignored them and motioned to Prentiss. Together they rounded the corner of the building and swept the area out back where the targeted vehicle sat smoldering. He already didn’t like Jaliya being exposed out here; trusting that the cops had cleared the compound properly wasn’t happening.
There was no way he was letting either Jaliya or her boss near the explosion site until he was certain it was safe. If militants were responsible for the bombing, it was feasible that more IEDs might be planted nearby. Hitting first responders as they were attending to victims or clearing the site while large crowds gathered around seemed to be a favorite tactic.
His boots crunched over the gravel in the back parking lot as he turned the corner and got his first good look at the vehicle. The fire was long out but the twisted hulk of burned metal that had been the victim’s ride was still smoldering next to the small crater beside it.
Looked like the bomb had been small, and either attached to the undercarriage or maybe planted in the ground beneath it, set off remotely or by pressure plate. Zaid was betting on the former. Whoever had killed him had probably been watching from somewhere on the street, waiting for the vehicle to drive over the IED. One touch of a button on a cell phone, and boom.
Three fire crews stood next to their rigs in full gear while EOD teams scoured the area, looking for other devices. Ten yards from the ruined vehicle, an ambulance crew was busy loading a body bag into the back of a government vehicle. The charred remains of the former chief of special police.
“Got anything?” he asked Prentiss after he’d scanned the surroundings and satisfied himself that everything was secure.
“Negative. We’re clear.”
Zaid turned around and headed back to where the others waited around the side of the building. “Okay. We’re good. Go ahead.”
Jaliya gave him a small smile of thanks and nodded before following the deputy chief toward Zaid. “Could anyone on the force have been behind this?” she asked the man in Dari. “A rival maybe, someone who had a grudge against the victim, or someone who didn’t like his political views?”
“No,” the deputy chief said, his voice adamant. “Absolutely not. He was well-respected by his men and everyone at this office. No, this was done by an outsider.”
She translated for her boss before continuing with the questions. “So then why do you think he was targeted? Could he have been involved with something he shouldn’t have been? Maybe something to do with The Jackal?”
The man paused and threw her a look of complete disgust. “No. They killed him because he stood up to them. He was a good man. A hero to his people.”
Zaid slanted a glance at Jaliya to gauge her response. She was watching the man closely, but her expre
ssion gave nothing away about her inner thoughts. She was too smart for that.
He turned his attention back to his security work as she and her boss continued to question the deputy chief. The ambulance holding the deceased’s body drove off.
Zaid kept his back to the group behind him and watched everyone else, taking note of their positions and their movements. He was relieved when Jaliya and the others finally turned back and went inside the building, though he kept watch from inside as well, not about to let his guard down. For all they knew, someone within these very walls had helped plan or maybe even carried out the attack.
Jaliya, her boss and the deputy chief disappeared into an office a couple minutes later, leaving him and Prentiss standing guard out in the hallway.
Prentiss looked over at him from the other side of the door. “Think the vic was The Jackal?”
“No clue.” Was possible though. Maybe there was some serious infighting going on in The Jackal’s ranks.
The minutes ticked by as he and Prentiss stood sentry in the hall. What he wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall inside that office right now, while Jaliya kept peppering the deputy chief with questions, trying to piece together what had happened, and maybe even catch the other man in a lie.
Zaid wanted to know what was going on as badly as she and her boss did. If the dead guy had been The Jackal, then problem solved for the moment. “Guess we’ll find out within the next few days. If his network and shipments are disrupted going forward, then it was him. It’s possible he’s already got a few lined up that can still take place without him coordinating everything. But if he’s dead, sooner or later, there’ll be a major disruption in the chain of command and the operations.”
The death of a leader like that always left a vacuum in his absence. Maybe it would allow Jaliya’s team enough time to track down someone in the network before someone else took over the operation, and collar the organization once and for all.
Prentiss nodded and went back to scanning the hall as uniformed cops passed them with hard looks they both ignored. “And if it’s not him? They got any other promising leads?”