by Jamie Begley
“We would be protected if it were found out.”
“By whom? Our team wouldn’t be able to help—we’d become the targets. Who’s left to help? The government—including the president—and the whole world knows what power Allerton holds. He has diplomatic immunity for any crimes he commits in the United States and he owns homes and businesses around the globe. The only reason that child is still breathing is because Garrick went over the director’s head and asked his father to pull strings to get a private meeting with the president. If Garrick’s father and the president hadn’t been college roommates, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation. And, if Allerton finds out Evangeline is still alive, Garrick’s life won’t be worth shit. None of us even knew of Evangeline’s existence until Garrick stuck his neck out to break cover to save her.”
Garrick? Evangeline didn’t know anyone named Garrick.
“You thought this over before agreeing to the mission when the president asked if it was possible to get her out, didn’t you?”
“I’d be lying if I said no. And before you put a bullet in my head the way I know you want to, I suggest you listen to the rest of my plan before you do.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. Not if you want to keep everyone alive.”
Evangeline laid her head on the wall, wanting to go back downstairs and go to sleep and wake up in her grandmother’s house with Trudy sleeping next to her.
“I’ve given my resignation. My last order was to make you head of the team.”
“You think by making me commander that I’ll keep my mouth shut?”
“No, I know you well enough to know that won’t be the easy way out for me. I made you commander for the simple fact that it benefits me. I’ve been offered a position in Washington, and I have every intention of taking it. There’s only one thing standing in my way.”
“Me.”
“You give yourself too much credit, Hammer. Having a mistress might make me persona non grata at the military functions I’ll be invited to, but as far as the duties I’ll be taking over, it will be swept away. Peyton’s relatives have already washed their hands of her. An unwed mother doesn’t fit in their social circles.”
“They disgust me as much as you do.”
“Believe it or not, I love Peyton.”
“I don’t.”
“I do, and whether you report me or not, I’ll continue to see Peyton.”
“You don’t give a fuck about Peyton or Rae.”
“I’m not going to stand here all night and argue with you about what I do or do not feel about Peyton. Rae may be an unfortunate encumbrance—”
Evangeline started crying when she heard the shuffling of the men fighting.
“If you ever call Rae unfortunate again, I’ll kill you. The only reason you’re still breathing is because Peyton begged me not to kill you when I found her. You’ve got her convinced she loves you, and that if anyone finds out about her, you’ll take Rae from her.”
“I would.”
The mean man was just as awful as her mother. Evangeline felt sorry for Hammer; he wasn’t going to win the fight against the mean man. He was too nice.
“Over my dead body.”
“Don’t you get it? If my plan doesn’t work, none of us will be alive. If you’d listen, you’d have to admit it’s the only chance any of us have to stay alive. If not, you might as well start digging all our graves. The other men on the team might not have known why it was so important for us to get Evangeline out, but Allerton won’t care. They’ll be liabilities to him. Liabilities that he won’t allow to smear his image.”
“You and Allerton have a lot in common.”
“If that were true, we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation, nor would Peyton be an issue. Peyton wouldn’t be breathing. Anyone who comes close to exposing Allerton is dead.”
When Evangeline heard only silence, she started to rise onto her knees to see what they were doing. Before she could, though, the mean man continued talking.
“Evangeline’s sister is with their grandmother. Soleil is furious that her golden child died, and she’s blaming Trudy, saying that Evangeline would still be alive if she hadn’t convinced her to let them leave the island for Christmas. You should have seen the act Trudy put on when her mother told her she would be staying at a hotel with her instead of with the grandmother when she and Jasper arrived in the States.”
“It wasn’t an act. Both girls are terrified of their mother. From the bits and pieces that Evangeline has told me since we’ve been here, Soleil controls every aspect of her children’s lives, as well as those people she’s supposed to be helping. When she can’t, then Soleil gets their father involved. Jasper might come across as a brilliant water engineer, but from the information that Garrick’s been able to leak out, he doesn’t have any conscience about placing certain villages low on the priority list.”
“Trudy had a screaming fit when her parents told her they were about to go back to the island. She kept screaming that she wouldn’t get on a plane again. The grandmother said that Trudy could stay with her until she recovered from the trauma of losing Evangeline and the plane crash. Neither Soleil nor Jasper tried hard to change Trudy’s mind, and they didn’t hide the fact that they blamed her for Evangeline being on the plane.”
Evangeline was glad her sister would be able to stay with their grandmother. Joy filled her at what the mean man was telling Hammer.
Did that mean she would be able to go live with their grandmother as well? She missed her sissy so badly. She had only met their grandmother when they went to her house for Christmas. She wouldn’t mind living with her forever if she could be with her sister. She could buy her more of the jelly in a can.
“That works out better than we anticipated. It would have been too suspicious not to be recovering anyone from the plane crash, but it didn’t sit well with me that we couldn’t also extricate her.”
She was right; Hammer was a nice man.
“We did what we could. Trudy isn’t a threat to Allerton; Evangeline is. That is if we can keep her alive. That’s going to depend on you. The only way to keep her alive is to make her disappear without telling anyone where she is. If the mission is compromised, no one can be forced to give away her whereabouts if they don’t know her location. I found a place where Peyton and Rae can live a couple of states away. If my involvement with the mission gets compromised, I’ll be the first target Allerton goes for, and I’ll cover any tracks that could lead to them. Allerton won’t hesitate to use them to make me talk, which is why I’ve already turned command over to you. You’ll be the only one who knows where she is. I don’t want to know, and the president doesn’t want to know either. Her safety will be solely in your hands.”
“And why would I agree to keeping my mouth shut about Peyton and Rae? You’ve already turned command over to me.”
“I’ll do what I have to do to keep Peyton safe. Allerton won’t kill me if I’m the one who tells him that Evangeline is alive and what she knows. I’ll be an ally he can only dream about having. I won’t want to sell Evangeline out, but I will to make sure that Peyton is out of danger. I won’t have her hurt to get information out of me.
“It will only take the president to decide to use her as a bargain chip, or one of the team to fuck up and discuss the mission to the wrong person to put Allerton on the trail of finding her. As the commander of the mission that extricated her, I’d be the obvious person for him to go after first.”
“If you’re so fucking concerned about someone being safe, how about the wife and kids that you acknowledge?”
“Cassandra has agreed to put Tim and Marilyn in a private boarding school where they’re equipped at protecting children of high-profile parents. I’ve also bought a house where it’s guarded, gated, and I installed additional security myself. They’re as safe as I can make them, but truthfully, no one is untouchable if Allerton decides to target them. The only way any of us can
live normal lives is if Evangeline’s death is accepted and no one finds her, at least until we’re in a position that none of us will be in danger.”
“When in the fuck will that be?”
“That’s not our call; it’s the president’s.”
“Jesus Christ! You want me to sell my soul by keeping quiet about Peyton to protect Evangeline?”
“I want you to do your fucking duty! As much as you hate me, take a step back and think objectively the way you were trained to. I’m not proud of my behavior with Peyton. I fucked up. If I could do things differently, I would, but I can’t. The only way I can make amends is keep her safe. To do that, I need your help.”
“You forgot one thing; I have another choice. One that will keep Peyton, Rae, and Evangeline just as safe.”
“Kill me? You know me better than that. I plan every eventuality. That’s why I’ve never failed on a mission, even when the odds are against me. I made a file that has to be updated daily. If anything happens to me, Allerton will be contacted about Evangeline.”
“Are you insane? What if something happens to you beyond my control?”
“Then I suggest you make sure I live a long life until Evangeline can be useful. Well, what’s it going to be?”
“I really don’t have a choice, do I?”
“No, you don’t.”
“Don’t look so fucking pleased with yourself. You’re good, damn good. I’ll give you credit for playing dirty and tying my hands, but you’re not going to have it all your own way. I’ll find a place for Peyton to live, and I’m going to make it as hard as possible for you to get to her. I’ll keep an eye on her myself so that, when you do manage to see her, it’ll take you more than a few hours’ drive to reach her. Limiting your access to her won’t make her happy, but it’ll make my fucking day. You’re going to convince her that it’s your idea, or she won’t go for it. I’d cut you out of her life if I could.
“Peyton already threatened to run away with Rae when I told her I was going to report you. Some distance from you is the only thing I can do right now for her, and if she finds out that I’m the one responsible for moving her so far away from you she’ll hate me.”
Evangeline saw a tiny spider crawling over the windowsill as she continued listening to Hammer’s outburst of anger, still not understanding everything he was telling the mean man.
“You sorry piece of crap”—she heard him yell even louder—“you think you won? I hope I’m there the day when you finally realize what you could have had with Peyton. If you truly cared about her, you would have divorced Cassandra and waited for Peyton to get older. You could have had it all, but you had to be a greedy bastard. Get out of my face before I decide killing you would be worth chancing that little girl’s life.”
When Evangeline heard the sounds of footsteps coming back into the cabin, she used a gentle finger to nudge the spider back out the window before gingerly pulling the window shut. She quickly crawled across the loft to sneak back downstairs, and already covered herself and closed her eyes, when she heard the door open and close. Behind her closed lids, she saw the light go out and heard the television being turned off.
Holding her breath, she waited for Hammer to go upstairs to sleep.
“Kid, I know you’re awake.”
Her eyes flew open to see Hammer’s shadow by the steps.
“Next time, I better not catch you listening to my conversations.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Your sneaking around is what got us in this mess in the first place.”
His harsh voice had tears welling up in her eyes.
“I won’t do it again,” she sobbed out.
“Quit crying.”
“Okay.” Evangeline was afraid of making Hammer madder at her, but she wanted to ask him a question. “Can I go live with my grandmother?”
“We’ll see.”
Whatever hope she had that she would be able to live with Trudy died.
“We’ll see” was always the answer when adults didn’t want to tell the truth when you were crying.
“I’m going to bed. You need anything?”
“No.”
“Good night.”
Evangeline didn’t respond, too upset with him to be polite the way Trudy had taught her. Hammer might be a nice man, but she hated him right now. The mean man said that Hammer could hide her wherever he wanted. He could let her stay with her grandmother and Trudy if he wanted to.
Evangeline heard Hammer go up the steps, and then she heard the rustling of him getting on the mattress overhead.
Pulling the corner of the blanket up to her mouth, she used it to wipe her tears away. She missed Trudy so badly ….
As she lay on the bed crying, she remembered that the mean man said if she was found, Trudy would be hurt. That was when it finally dawned on her why Hammer couldn’t let her stay with her grandmother and Trudy. Hammer wanted to protect them the way Trudy said she was protecting her when she had made up the game they were playing.
This was her fault, because she had done something Trudy had kept telling her not to do. She didn’t want her sister hurt, and she was going to do what she had promised Trudy until they could be together again.
She would be brave.
Were three-year-old girls supposed to be brave? She didn’t know, but she was going to find out.
Chapter Two
“You want me to push the swing for you?”
Evangeline shook her head, rubbing her tennis shoe in the dirt instead of using it to set the swing in motion. She didn’t want to have fun. She was never going to have fun again.
Staring out at the dark park, Evangeline was ready to go back to the small cabin. She was excited when Hammer told her that he was going to let her go outside to play, and she was even more excited when he buckled her into a car seat, telling her that he was taking her to a park. Her eagerness faded, though, when she started to get sick to her stomach from the long car ride.
When he stopped at the park, it was already dark and she no longer wanted to play. There weren’t any other children around, and the trees were big and scary looking, like they would reach down and grab her with their branches.
Bright headlights pulling into the parking lot had her excitement building again. It could be a mommy or daddy bringing another little girl to play.
Disappointment filled her when only an older man got out of the car.
“Hammer.”
“Hunter.”
Evangeline looked up from where she’d been digging grooves into the dirt to watch the men shake each other’s hand before hugging each other.
“It’s good seeing you.”
“Great seeing you as well. I appreciate you coming.”
“I enjoyed the drive. I wish you let me bring Rachel; she would have liked meeting you. She’s always saying she wants to put a face to the man I’m always telling her about. How’s Jonas doing?”
“He’s doing well. I hope to meet Rachel one day. How’s John?”
“John’s in the military now. He just left after spending a week with his mom and sister.”
“Army?”
“Navy. I know. Don’t make that face at me. Rangers might lead the way, but he wanted to follow in his old man’s footsteps.”
“Then he’s walking in good ones.”
The man laughed. “You always did know how to kiss my ass when you wanted a favor. What is it this time?”
“It’s a big one.”
“Tell me what it is, then I’ll decide if I can do it.”
“Fair enough.”
Her shoe slipped in the pile of dirt, nearly making her slip out of the swing, when Hammer nodded his head in her direction.
The man called Hunter walked over to stand over her, his face becoming clearer from the light shining down from the light poles that surrounded the playground.
“Hello, little lady. What’s your name?”
She gave Hammer a quick glance before answering. “I�
�m Ginny.”
“She’s the favor I need from you.”
Hunter didn’t look back at Hammer, continuing to stare down at her. His kind eyes took in the crooked ponytail that Hammer had tried to fix and the clothes that were so big he had to roll the bottom of her jeans up so she wouldn’t trip over them. “My name is Will.”
Evangeline took the large hand that he held out to her. At the warmth of his hand, she suddenly wanted to burst into tears. His eyes turned even softer when she didn’t let his hand go. Turning his hand over, he clasped hers comfortingly.
“You don’t look like you’re feeling good. Are you all right?”
“My stomach hurts,” she said tearfully.
“She got carsick on the drive,” Hammer explained. “I tried to get her to eat, but she didn’t want anything. I managed to get her to drink some Gatorade.”
“Poor baby.”
Evangeline found herself lifted into his arms. Then he rested her on his hip with one arm while he dug into a pocket with the other hand to take out a piece of candy to give to her.
“It’s peppermint candy. I always keep a piece on me. My wife also gets carsick.”
She looked down at the candy in her hand before unwrapping it and popping it into her mouth. Then she put her arm around his shoulders and relaxed against him.
“Feel better?”
Evangeline nodded against his shoulder.
“She’s cute as a button,” Hunter said as he turned back to Hammer. “She’s not yours, so how’d you end up with her?”
Hammer tilted his head to the side. “How do you know she’s not mine?”
“Other than she doesn’t look a thing like you? The clothes don’t fit, and you wouldn’t have her out in the dead of night unless you had to. She’s the favor you’re needing from me?”
“Yes.”