by Bella Juarez
David’s look turned deadly. “Why couldn’t you just fucking die, badass?”
“Amy wouldn’t let me and she’ll never leave me. But she will leave you and so will Irene when they find out about this. So how are we doing this, David? Are you doing the right thing? Do you even know what that is anymore? Tell me who that fucking sniper was,” Gavin said.
“Fuck you and your proof!” David snarled as he got out of the car.
* * * *
The SWAT team was in place and waiting for the signal when they heard a gunshot at the back of the house. They swung into action as they burst into the small house. They heard gunshots from the rear of the house and started to return fire. There was an eerie calm when all of the weapons went silent. Three people were wounded. Gavin walked to the rear of the house where Rock and his team stood at a distance. The SWAT officers were attempting to administer aid and in the distance there was the sound of a siren.
“Lieutenant! It’s the chief!” Jimmy yelled.
Gavin walked to the group of men huddled around David Ortiz. David opened his eyes and looked at Gavin.
“Take care of them…” David said with his last breath.
Gavin knelt beside David. I guess you thought this was the right thing, didn’t you Chief? Gavin wanted to ask out loud. The other officers who entered the small home found the items they were looking for and turned them over to the SEAL team. Gavin found Rock.
“This will be hard to explain,” Gavin said.
“What do you need to explain?” Rock asked.
“How do I break this to Irene and Amy? I have to tell them.”
“Don’t you think telling them he’s dead will be bad enough? I’m making it so you can’t tell anyone. That information is now classified top secret in an ongoing operation. Chief Walsh, you can’t discuss what you know about David Ortiz and his dealings with Nayyaf Bakri at this time. No one but us knows the other shit Ortiz did. Let it die with him for now. They don’t need to be humiliated and grieving at the same time,” Rock said, turning away to leave.
“Thanks, Rock.”
“I’m not doing this for you,” Rock snapped without looking at him.
* * * *
The funeral for Chief David Ortiz lasted three days. Irene and Amy were beside themselves with grief. David was buried with full police honors. Thank goodness David had insisted publicly that he wanted to be in on the raid. It answered a lot of questions that Gavin really could not and did not want to answer. The inquiry into David’s death and the internal affairs investigation lasted much longer. He and the SWAT officers were questioned over and over concerning the night of the raid and the fatal bullet.
Rock and his team managed to get the information they needed from the laptop, and four months later Rock asked Gavin to join him in San Diego. They would interrogate Krazi Mummar once more. Gavin was really concerned about leaving Amy and Irene alone, especially Irene. Amy had informed him that Irene had started counseling. Gavin was seeing Irene as the mother he never had and he was protective of her almost as much as he was of Amy.
“Honey, the last thing in the world Irene should do is retire!” Gavin said to Amy over dinner one night.
“She’s insistent and she has thirty years. I think they’re forcing her out and she’s really in no mind to argue.”
“She needs to! She needs to do something, sell that house and move into a smaller place, start traveling, something!”
“I told her the same thing. I’ve been giving her more work with the wedding.”
“She needs to get a hobby and get out of that house.”
“She started doing something. She’s taking dance lessons at the senior center,” Amy said.
“I don’t care what it is. I’d really like to see her move out of that house.”
Amy looked down at her plate and picked at her food. Gavin reached out and took Amy’s free hand.
“I miss him…” Amy started.
Gavin went to Amy and knelt next to her chair. He gathered her in his arms and held her as she cried.
“I know, honey. I know you do,” Gavin said.
Amy wiped the tears away and took a drink.
“How about you get out of here for a long weekend?” Gavin asked.
“I don’t want to leave Irene.”
“Then ask her along and while I’m working you two can hang out and see San Diego.”
“You would do that? You wouldn’t mind her coming along?” Amy asked.
“Nope. I want to hear you giggle again,” Gavin said with a mischievous smile.
Chapter 21
Naval Special Warfare Command
Office of the Commander
Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, California
August 08, 2008/1845 Zulu
Gavin, Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, and Rock were sitting in Dixie’s office as they planned for a little fishing trip. They had decided against interrogating Mummar on US soil because of the fact that he could have a lawyer present if he asked for one. Instead, they decided to question him on a little boat the SEALs had used for “research and development” purposes. They would take the detainee into international waters. Gavin sat and listened to Lieutenant Colonel Reese Thompson talk about the computer virus that had been put on the commander of ForceRecon Personnel’s computer and stolen all sorts of passwords and information from the system.
Rock then detailed a computer virus that he discovered at Randolph. Chief Sara Brooks and a technician Rock brought along from Randolph were working on figuring out exactly what kind of damage had been inflicted at Randolph. Thompson informed them that the damage at Quantico was still unknown because no one knew how long that flash drive had been in that computer.
“Rock, did you say it was sent in an e-mail?” Thompson asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“Wait a minute. Thompson, yours was a flash drive planted in a computer and, Rock, yours was spread through an e-mail?” Gavin asked. The men agreed. “That’s a little inconsistent isn’t? How do we know we’re dealing with the same people?”
“Ramirez-Merles, aka Lima’s fingerprints were found on the flash drive that was left at Quantico and Lima was found dead in Marion, Texas. It’s a small town right outside San Antonio and down the road from Randolph Air Force Base. His body was dumped at the side of the road near some train tracks. Railroad workers found him almost a week ago. He was killed with the same gun you were shot with, badass. That sniper didn’t miss this time,” Dixie said.
A chill ran through Gavin as he recalled that night. The look on Amy’s face and her screams were what flashed in his memory.
“Lima gets around,” Lieutenant Colonel Thompson said.
“Not anymore, and we needed him alive,” Rock said.
“Is that why we’re talking to Mummar? He was in pretty close contact with him for a while,” Gavin said.
“Not so much. His cousin Abdul was Lima’s running buddy. Those were the two bastards that kidnapped my kids,” Lieutenant Colonel Thompson said.
“Okay, boys, let’s come up with a plan,” Dixie said.
“I’ve got to go check on the progress my IT technician and Sara are making. I’ll be back in a few,” Rock said as he left the office.
For three hours Gavin, Thompson, Rock, and Dixie discussed what they would do and exactly what kind of information they wanted from their detainee. Rock returned and as always he had a brilliant plan. Because of the personal connection, Lieutenant Colonel Thompson would go along as an observer. Gavin would do the interrogating and Rock would be the heavy if it was needed. They had to find a way to terrorize the man without leaving a mark. Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, as it turned out, was a sadistic bastard. Thompson was the one that came up with that little plan.
They broke for the evening. Gavin walked down the hallway with Thompson as they exited the building. Gavin was interested in Thompson’s twin boys. Reese Thompson was a proud father and could talk endlessly about his wife and kids.
“They’re good and growing so fast. I’m picking Victoria up from the airport on Thursday. She’s coming out for a long weekend,” Reese said.
“Really? My fiancée and her aunt are flying out on Thursday,” Gavin said.
“Victoria and I need some alone time. I just got back from Afghanistan three months ago. We need to reconnect. It’s hard to make some time for ourselves with the kids. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Reese said with a grin.
“How long were you in Afghanistan?”
“Five months. My boys were huge when I got back,” Reese said proudly.
Gavin and Reese went their separate ways. Gavin made his way through the main drag of Coronado. He glanced over while he was sitting in traffic and saw McP’s, a favorite SEAL hangout, and smiled. Gavin had some fond memories of McP’s. He recalled when he and some of the SEALs he served with would gather at McP’s and sit around and talk. They would plan missions, spill secrets and tell lies. As he started to move with traffic, he refocused. It was Monday, and for the next two days they would be out at sea with their favorite detainee.
* * * *
Krazi Mummar was being questioned once more. Gavin wanted to reach out and strangle the bastard! Gavin was an expert at this type of questioning, but this guy was being impossible! Abdul, Mummar’s cousin, cracked a lot quicker. Mummar’s company was the front company that had gained access to Quantico. Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, Rock, and Gavin had been on his trail for almost four years. Now they had taken the boat out some two hundred nautical miles from San Diego and were in international waters.
“Who put that flash drive in the computer? And when did they do it?” Gavin asked once more.
“I have the right to remain silent,” Mummar said in his thick accent.
They had been at this for hours. Gavin could tell Rock’s tolerance had reached its limit by the way Rock rolled his eyes. Rock was usually pretty controlled until he got pissed off. He stood and walked to Gavin.
“Let me handle this for a minute,” Rock said.
Mummar regarded Rock with some amusement. Rock sat in front of the man and watched him for a moment. Gavin wanted to smile. He knew Rock, and Mummar’s time was up. It was game over in a way this guy would never forget.
“You have no rights,” Rock said.
“You do not frighten me,” Mummar said with contempt.
“Good!” Rock walked around Mummar.
Rock nodded to Lieutenant Colonel Thompson and the CIA interrogators that stood waiting in the shadows. Thompson had a dangerous look as he walked behind Mummar and roughly lifted him from the chair.
“How about a swim today?” Rock asked with a dangerous grin.
“Your waterboard methods are known to me and it does not frighten me,” Mummar said.
“Waterboarding?” Rock asked, laughing. “You’ve been watching too many movies. I’m throwing your ass off this boat and feeding you to the sharks. Paint him,” Rock ordered.
“You cannot do that,” Mummar said.
“Sure I can. You don’t want to tell me what I need to know, I’ve got no use for you. Paint him, boys.”
The agents came forward and dragged Mummar to the edge of the boat. Rock and Gavin sauntered behind the other men as they tied Mummar’s arms to a crane. The agents stepped back and Thompson picked up a bucket and threw the contents on the detainee. Gavin watched as Mummar gagged at the foul, rotting, and bloody contents of the bucket. The detainee watched in horror as the bloody mess started soaking into his clothes. Rock looked on with some satisfaction at Mummar’s confused expression.
“Are you planning on telling me what I want to know?” Rock demanded.
“You cannot do this!” Mummar said more urgently.
“Last chance, tell me what I want to know! Who put that flash drive in that computer at Quantico? And when in the hell was it put there?” Rock asked.
“I–I–I c–cannot.” Mummar shuddered.
“Have it your way,” Rock said with an indifferent shrug.
Rock gave the signal to lift the crane’s contents and take it overboard. The three men started casually talking about Gavin’s upcoming wedding. Thompson excused himself and went below. Rock started teasing Gavin about being pussy whipped into a fancy-ass wedding in St. Thomas.
“Will you stand up at my wedding?” Gavin asked.
“You sure you want me to do that? I’ve seen your bride and she’s really…sweet,” Rock said with a mischievous glint in his green eyes.
“It’s either you or JJ.”
Rock let out an evil chuckle. “Why not both? Let’s see how much she loves you.”
“I know she loves me. I’m waiting for the day you get yours, Rock.”
Rock looked away wistfully. “Ain’t happening. If it hasn’t happened by now it never will.”
“I don’t know…I’m still holding out for JJ, too. I can’t wait for the day he falls.”
“Huh! Like I said, ain’t happening.”
The look on Rock’s face was different when he talked about his chances this time. Gavin honed in on something that he found almost laughable. Could it be that the Rock, the legend, was…in love? Nah, can’t be…Gavin’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the screams from below. Rock peered over the side.
“You say something?” Rock called out.
“I will tell you what you want to know!” Mummar screamed in panic.
As they were lifting the detainee from the water, a huge great white shark lunged from the ocean and snapped at his legs.
“Fuck! That was close!” Gavin exclaimed. His heart felt like it was in his throat.
“No shit! Maybe he’ll quit screwing with me and tell me what I want to know,” Rock said.
When Mummar reached the deck of the boat, he was kept suspended, his feet almost touching but not quite. The man was attempting to compose himself.
“Quit fucking with me!” Rock barked. Mummar stared at Rock, wide eyed. “Tell me what I want to know, in detail. I won’t do this little exercise twice, I’m just going throw your ass over and leave! Take him below.”
Gavin smiled at Rock when they were alone. Something was different. Rock usually went on and on about a woman once he got hold of something. He was unusually quiet this time. Rock looked over at the waters of the Pacific and Gavin could see him shiver. This is good! Gavin briefly wondered about the mysterious woman and how she managed to subdue the Rock.
“Go get my information. I’m getting tired of fucking around with this son of a bitch. I want to go home,” Rock said.
“What’s the hurry? You got a date, Rock?” Gavin teased.
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Gavin followed the agents and as he reached the door he turned to Rock.
“Bring her with you to the wedding,” Gavin said as he made his exit.
* * * *
Amy and Irene walked through the terminal at the San Diego Airport. Amy was scanning the people as they made their way out of the terminal and into the public area of the airport. She wasn’t sure what to look for. She knew that Gavin was in San Diego in a military capacity. It was also now common knowledge that he was in the Navy Reserve and working with the Navy on a regular basis. She smiled when she spotted him. He is in uniform. She patted Irene’s arm and pointed.
“There he is,” Amy said.
“Oh my goodness! I wouldn’t want to run into him in the dark!” Irene said.
Gavin saw them and waved. He took large strides as he closed the distance between them. He hurried to Amy and gathered her in a bear hug as he kissed her.
“Hello, hottie!” Releasing Amy, he put his arm around Irene and gave her a light hug as well. “Irene! I’m glad you decided to come after all,” he said enthusiastically.
“Thank you, Gavin. I don’t want to be a third wheel. I’ll figure out something if you two want to go off on you own,” Irene said.
“Nah, never! I work until Saturday morning. With you as her chaperone, I won’t worry abo
ut Amy getting into trouble. You know what a flirt she is,” Gavin said, winking at Irene.
Amy giggled. She could see Irene visibly relax as she smiled at Gavin’s little joke. The whole flight Irene had worried that he was just being nice or that she had cajoled him into asking Irene to come to San Diego. She had tried to make it clear for the four-hour flight that nothing of the sort was true. It was all Gavin’s idea. Him welcoming Irene the way he had confirmed what she was telling her aunt.
“What’s the plan?” Amy asked Gavin as they drove.
It was early evening. Gavin decided to take them to The Fish Market in San Diego before they crossed the long bridge to Coronado where they were staying.
As dinner was winding down, Gavin took a key card from his pocket and handed it to Irene. Irene would be in the room across the hallway from them.
“I hope you like it. It’s the Hotel del Coronado,” Gavin said.
“I’m sure I will. This food was really good,” Irene said.
Amy looked at Irene’s plate. It didn’t look as if she had touched it. Amy and Gavin exchanged worried looks.
They drove across the long bridge that attached San Diego to Coronado. When they reached the hotel it was very late. Irene walked into her room and Gavin followed her inside with her bag. Amy felt emotion catch in her throat as she watched how tender Gavin was with Irene. Gavin led Amy inside their room and shut the door behind them.
“How did she do?’ Gavin asked, concerned.
“Okay. She’s worried she’ll be in the way.”
“Didn’t you tell her we wanted her here?” Gavin asked with a frown.
“Yes. You did a good job convincing her when we were at the airport,” Amy said as she walked to Gavin. “Thank you. You’ve really been good to her.” Amy kissed Gavin.