“We took ‘em out. All but the pilot, he got away. Mason thinks they had some inside intel.” Hell, Jack’s Texas accent was on steroids. Yep, he was really upset.
“Mason thinks there was a mole?”
“That’s what he told Captain Hale. It was a close call.”
Drake turned to Dare, and the dark-haired man nodded his head solemnly. “Something was definitely fishy. They almost expected us. The pilot never turned off the engines. They had the same set up with the trigger that time I took the shot after the weapons were unloaded.”
Drake’s mind raced a mile a minute. He kept circling back to that weasel Edwin Marsh who kept insisting this was not going to be the drop site for the weapons. He wasn’t just a weasel, there had been a sick that just oozed off the bastard.
“Mase?” Drake said into the headset. When he didn’t answer, he called out Clint’s name.
They were still out of range.
“What?” Dare asked.
He could see Jack’s blond eyebrow raise.
“Marsh. I think he might be dirty. If there was somebody giving information on the Costa Rica op, then it’s possible there was for this one too. My money’s on Edwin Marsh, the slimy little fuck,” Drake said.
Both men nodded in agreement. Jack’s grin was positively feral.
“I want him. He’s mine. I remember what he said about those girls. I’m personally taking that boy out.” Again, Jack’s drawl was thick.
“I think you’ll have to stand in line,” Dare said as he clapped the big Texan on the shoulder.
“Riled much?” Drake asked trying to dispel Jack’s anger.
“Don’t,” Jack bit out. “Don’t make light of this. I know you’re trying to get me to loosen up, but some things won’t stand, treason and the atrocities being visited on those poor young girls are two of those them.”
“You’re right Jack,” Drake said softly. “You’re absolutely right.”
They waited in silence for the rest of the team to catch up, and watched over Yemisi who slept. When Mason arrived, Drake told him his suspicions.
“Clint, call Sheila. I think Drake’s instincts are spot on.”
Clint nodded. After he was done with the call, he swore a blue streak. Mason finally cut him off. “Just tell us,” he said with a sigh.
“Marsh is in the wind,” Clint said.
“Are they looking for him?” Finn asked.
“Yeah, but not too hard. Now they’re going to step it up,” Clint answered. “But Sheila’s going to be pulling threads to see who he could have been working with who would have known about the Costa Rica operation as well. She was actually pretty excited about the news.”
“Well goody for her,” Jack said sarcastically.
Every man stared at him. That was completely out of character.
“Jack, are you all right?” Mason asked.
“Yeah,” Jack said tightly. “This Yemisi just needs to get his ass in gear. Mason, do you have any idea as to how we’re going to rescue these girls?”
“Same as always, we wait for an opportunity to present itself, then depend on Finn to pull a miracle out of his ass.”
It was true. How often had Finn come up with something they needed at just the right time? Hell, the man was fucking MacGyver.
“But here’s my rabbit out of the hat. As soon as the rain lets up a little bit, a chopper will be bringing in Gray and his team. They’ll follow our coordinates and meet up with us. His team was just as adamant that those girls needed rescuing.”
Drake was relieved to see Jack’s face lose some of its strain.
“That’s good news,” Jack finally said.
AT LEAST THE RAIN HAD let up. Clint was in a better mood. But now it was hot, muggy, and buggy. Thank God for the insect repellent. Further on the con side was Drake in the rear with Wyatt Leeds, the youngest member of the two teams, and the kid thought he was funny. He wasn’t.
“Didn’t Dex just tell me that you had a kid? That’s really cool. Girl or boy?”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Boy.”
“Is this the first time you left him?” Wyatt asked as they both vaulted over a log.
“Yes.” Drake was hoping that answering in monosyllables would get the point across to Wyatt that he wasn’t interested in carrying on a conversation.
“That must have been tough. What’s the little guy’s name?”
“Andrew.”
“I have a cousin named Andrew. Hope your kid doesn’t turn out like him. He was in juvie a lot. Bet he ends up in prison.”
Drake shuddered at the thought of prison, since both of his parents were currently incarcerated. Really, he needed to get this kid to shut up.
“For the love of God, Wyatt, I can’t hear myself think, just give it a rest for a while, will ya?”
“Sure thing.” Wyatt grinned easily. Drake got the feeling Wyatt was told to shut up pretty often.
They’d been following Yemisi for three and a half days. Jack and Hunter Diaz were on point a couple of clicks ahead of them, scoping out the terrain. Both teams were antsy to find the girls. Meanwhile, Clint had been in touch with Sheila. She said that Edwin Marsh’s body was found in Brussels. Apparently, someone had not been happy with the fact that the weapons sale had not gone through as planned. As far as Drake was concerned, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
“Got something,” Jack’s voice came through Drake’s headset.
Drake and Wyatt paused as they waited for Jack to continue. He was taking forever. The two of them started moving again, and then after twenty minutes, they heard muted sounds and Jack spoke. “We found two of the girls. Hunter is speaking to them in French. They escaped. We need a medic.”
Gray came on the line, “Aiden, go up ahead and help.”
Drake knew his brother-in-law was the medic for Black Dawn. They had a problem though. They needed to get the girls treated, but still allow Yemisi to move forward toward his brother’s encampment without seeing the SEALs and the girls who’d escaped.
“I’m sticking like glue to Yemisi,” Mason said. “He’s heading northwest. You head southeast with the girls, and watch my GPS signal so we don’t meet. We should be fine.”
“Roger that,” Jack said.
“We might not have to do that,” Hunter said over the com link.
“Why?” Mason asked.
“The girls want to take us back to where the others are being held. We could just eliminate Yemisi right now.”
There was silence.
“How reliable are they?” Mason finally asked. “Will they get lost?”
“Even if they get lost, their trail will be easy enough to track. We’ve got this,” Jack assured him.
There was dead air on the com. Two minutes later Mason said, “It’s done. We don’t have to worry about Yemisi anymore. Everybody let’s move onto Jack and Hunter’s coordinates. I want to have rescued those girls by morning.”
Jack was picking up one of the girls when Drake and Wyatt caught up to them. The young girl was tall, but she was thin and hunched over, obviously in pain. His heart went out to her. The other girl was smaller. She had a grim smile on her face as she looked up at the men circling her. She spoke to Hunter and Aiden excitedly.
With no hint of fear, she pushed past Drake and started walking. “What did she say?” Drake asked Aiden.
“She said that we were big and strong, and our guns were bigger than the men who had held her captive. She expects us to kill all the bad men tout suite.”
“What does that mean?” Wyatt asked.
“Pretty damn quick,” Aiden answered with a laugh. “We just got our marching orders from a teenage girl. I love it.”
“That’s because you’re used to taking them from Evie, who isn’t much bigger than this girl is.” Drake grinned. He had to find something good in all of this, and that girl’s spirit was something bright to hold onto. Thinking about the girl who was being held so gently by Jack hurt his heart. But this one
was a soul sister of Evie and made his heart clench. He needed to protect her, just as he had always needed to protect his six younger sisters.
Drake watched as Hunter caught up with the girl whose name was Elise, and squatted in front of her. She listened solemnly, and then he got up and the two of them headed toward the rest of the team.
“You explained?” Mason asked.
“Yeah, I told her that she would be staying here with me, and the rest of you would follow her and Isobel’s trail. She said we needed to hurry back or she would run away and come help us.”
Every single SEAL had to work hard to keep a straight face. Yes, she was definitely Evie’s African twin.
“You better keep a good watch on her then,” Gray told his man.
“You better believe it,” Hunter said. “I asked her not to make me look bad in front of my commander.”
Drake turned one last time to look at Jack holding the injured girl Isobel, as Elise paced in front of them. God, Drake hoped that all the girls were in such good shape as Elise, but he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell of that being true, it was likely they were more like Isobel. He thought back to the prayers he’d said for Karen when she’d been clinging to life, and said some more now.
Chapter Seven
“YOU’RE GOING TO BE fine, Andrew, the doctor said so.” She kissed Andrew’s forehead, and reassured herself that he didn’t have a fever as she wrapped him up warmly in a tiny little leather bomber jacket that Mason and Sophia had bought for him. Then Karen wrapped him in his soft baby blanket and picked him up.
“Are you ready for a walk?” It seemed counterintuitive that she would be taking her sick son outside, but the doctor had assured her that for the croup a ten-minute walk out in the cool air would be good for his lungs.
Andrew looked up at her and started coughing. It sounded so agonizing. The cough went on and on, it sounded like he was barking. It’s just a mild case of the croup, the doctor had said. Karen fought back the tears. She wished Drake were there. Suck it up, Eastman, how many kindergartners did you used to teach? How many of them were sick at times? Didn’t you cope?
Her phone rang, it was her mom. She put her ear buds in as she headed out the door. “How’s Andy?”
“Andrew,” Karen automatically corrected. “He sounds terrible, Mom.” Karen placed the phone between her and the baby as she locked her apartment and headed down the walkway. The sun was just setting. She saw Mr. Ortiz walking his dog and he waved to her.
Karen rocked Andrew as he continued to cough. God, she hated the word croup, it sounded like a disease from the middle ages. “What, Mom?” She hadn’t been listening.
“Honey, he’s sounding better.”
Every cough had felt like a blow, so Karen had missed the fact that the amount and severity of coughing had begun to decrease.
She looked down at her son’s pink cheeks. “Are you feeling better, sweet boy?” He gave a soft cough. She laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She looked at the phone. They’d been out for eight minutes. “The doctor was right, Mom.”
“They often are, Honey.”
“He’s doing better.”
“I hear that.”
Her hand trembled as she tried to insert the key in the lock. She was so tired and relieved. As soon as she got into the apartment she locked the door and dropped onto the couch. Andrew let out a tired whimper.
“Are you doing okay, Karen? Do I need to come back down? Where’s Piper?”
“She worked with a friend over the weekend.”
“Why would she have done that?” Her mother’s tone was clipped.
“She didn’t know Andrew was sick,” she defended Drake’s young sister. “Seriously, Mom, I’m fine. Andrew and I just need a nap.”
“When was the last time you slept?”
Karen rested her head against the back of the couch and unwrapped the blanket from around Andrew as he wiggled. “I’m getting my zees.”
“Bullshit.”
“Mom, you had four kids, you did this just fine.”
“Your dad came home every night, I wasn’t cut open, I wasn’t trying to plan a wedding or move into a new home.”
Karen sat up straighter. Her mother couldn’t possibly know about the fact that she was moving out of the apartment this week, could she? She’d be down here in a shot if she’d found out.
“Karen Marie, why aren’t you answering me? Your silence sounds guilty.”
“Okay, you’re right I’m not getting as much sleep as I would like.”
“I worry about you. Have you heard when Drake’s coming home?” Karen’s heart plunged. There had been no word for the last thirteen days. She hated these types of missions the most. Usually they got some word.
Andrew started coughing again. “Mom, Andrew needs to be changed, can we talk about this later?”
“Only if you promise to call me later. If you don’t, I’ll start stalking you. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.”
“I love you, baby.”
“I know you do, Mom. I love you too,” she said right before she hung up.
Slowly Karen picked up Andrew and walked down the hall to her bedroom, he coughed the entire way. Even through his jacket she could feel his chest wheezing and it was scary. She’d just been at the pediatrician’s office yesterday, he’d assured her that her boy was going to be fine, but he sounded horrible. She put him down on the bed and took off his clothes so she could change his diaper and Karen crooned to him.
“You’re going to be big and strong like your daddy, did you know that? You’re probably going to be stubborn and a smartass, and make me laugh. But don’t think just because you’re cute you’ll get away with things like your daddy does. I’m going to be watching you.”
Andrew’s coughing slowed as he listened to her voice. “Do I just need to keep talking to you all night, and then you’ll get better?”
He wheezed in response.
“Keep it together, Karen,” she said in the same singsong voice. She didn’t want to upset her baby, so even when she wanted to rant and rave, she kept her tone soothing. “The doctor said lots of babies get the croup, and this is not a big deal. Mom said I had it too.” She watched in horror as a tear splashed on Andrew’s belly. She quickly wiped it off.
Dammit, she needed to keep it together. She got his clean diaper on and picked him up. He started coughing. She didn’t have the strength to walk with him. She could only sit on the bed and rock him.
Eventually his coughing turned to crying and Karen realized she’d zoned out. It was time for his dinner. She got settled and in between coughs, he fed.
“Karen?” She heard Piper call as she came in the front door of the apartment.
She sat up straighter, and put a big smile on her face. She didn’t want Piper to worry.
“Back here,” Karen responded.
Andrew let out a cry, that turned into a barking cough.
Piper hurried into the master bedroom. She looked down at her nephew in concern. “What’s wrong with Andrew?”
“It’s just the croup,” Karen said blithely.
“Bella used to get that, and Trenda would go crazy with worry. How are you holding up? Why didn’t you call me? I wouldn’t have stayed with Jan over the weekend, I would have been here.”
“You guys were working on your biology project. You wanted to get an A. I was fine.”
Piper scowled as she sat down on the side of the bed. “Did you call anyone to come and help you? Evie? Sophia? Lydia? Anyone?”
“Piper, the croup is normal. I took him to the pediatrician, they assured me he was fine, all is good.” She smiled. “I was waiting for you to come home so I could tell you some fantastic news.”
“First tell me how you got to the pediatrician. You’re not supposed to be driving.”
“I took a taxi.”
“Why would you do that, when you could have called Evie or me?”
“I didn’t want to bother anyone.”
“That’s stupid.”
“No it’s not. I can take care of myself,” Karen protested. “No let me tell you my good news.”
Piper arched her eyebrow. God, she looked just like her big brother when she did that.
“Tell me.”
“Mr. Albertson, the landlord, came and talked to me. He offered me a bonus if we moved out early.”
Piper started shaking her head before Karen could even finished her sentence.
“It was a sizeable bonus.”
“I don’t care how big the bonus is. There is enough going on with you still recovering, Drake gone, the wedding, and now Andrew being sick. You don’t need to move into the townhome any sooner than you planned to.”
“In my defense, he offered it before Andrew got sick.”
“You only get half points taken off. It’s still a stupid move.”
Karen’s auburn hair sifted over Andrew’s face as she nodded her head. He grabbed a fistful as he continued to suck.
Piper left the room, then came back. “I thought I saw them, but I didn’t believe it. There are boxes in the living room. You’ve been packing. Are you out of your mind? Karen, you’re doing too much.”
“I wasn’t until Andrew got sick. Seriously Piper I was handling everything just fine until Andrew got the croup.”
She’d screwed up. Plain and simple. But she would work her way out of this mess. She always did. If she just weren’t so damned tired everything would be just fine. It’s just that there were calls all the time trying to find a caterer and a band, and all she wanted to do was bond with Andrew. That had been her big plan, and it was crumbling right before her eyes.
“What you need to do is take care of yourself and Andrew.”
“I will. I am.” It was clear that Andrew was done feeding.
“Hand him to me.” Piper held out her arms. Karen handed her son to the young woman. He immediately started whimpering, then coughing. Piper got up. “I’m going to walk around the apartment with him for a while. Bella always liked when we did that. Why don’t you rest?”
“I’m fine, I think I’ll go make some dinner.”
Her Treasured SEAL Page 8