by T. K. Leigh
I nodded. “Yeah. My dad served in the navy during Vietnam. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. His unit came under attack and, instead of retreating and leaving the wounded behind, he brought them all out to safety. He gave it to me when I turned thirteen, a few years before he died. He said it always served as a reminder that you sometimes have to do something for the greater good.”
My face dropped as I repeated the words, my father’s voice still strong in my head. A week ago, I would have believed that this mission was for the greater good…stopping a known terrorist from putting the country at risk. Now, with everything that had happened, with everything I had learned about Mackenzie and Charlie, I couldn’t shake the idea that perhaps her father was as much a victim in the entire plot as Charlie seemed to be.
“And you would never just give it away, would you?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
She nodded, bolting up from the bed and I kept my eyes glued on her. She seemed so confident in her own skin. Skin I was lucky enough to taste and feel. I licked my lips as my gaze scanned her figure. She must have sensed me staring and glanced over her shoulder, smirking.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a naked woman before,” she joked.
Placing my hands behind my head, I grinned lasciviously. “You know as well as I do that I’ve seen my fair share.”
A playful scowl spread across her mouth.
“But you’re the only one I care about.”
“Good answer,” she said as she grabbed a thigh-length red silk kimono and wrapped it around her body before heading toward an antique chest that sat on the floor of her bedroom.
I grabbed the blanket at the foot of the bed and covered myself from the waist down. Mackenzie pouted as she made her way back to me.
“Disappointed, Miss Delano?”
“Truthfully, yes. Penises are weird, but yours is exquisite, even when it’s not hard.” The demeanor on her face was frisky and I couldn’t resist laughing at her words.
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I do. Don’t get me wrong.” She lay on the bed next to me, placing a small ornate box on the night stand. “I really like your penis when it’s hard, too, but I like seeing you naked knowing we’re just relaxing and you’re not about to bang me.”
Shaking my head, I ran my fingers up and down the silk of her robe, an awareness of complete ease and familiarity washing over me. “So finish your story about your dad,” I said, my tone somewhat timid.
Rolling onto her back, she reached for the box, propping herself up. “My dad’s Irish. One of his distant ancestors fought for the British Colonial Army in the Anglo-Zulu war at the Battle at Rorke’s Drift in 1879.”
“I’ve read all about that,” I said, eyeing the box she held in her hand. “And I’ve seen the movie Zulu.”
“So you know the significance of that battle, don’t you?”
I nodded. “More Victoria Crosses were awarded due to valor and bravery in that battle than any other in British history.”
Closing her eyes, she flipped the lid on the box, revealing an artifact I didn’t think I’d ever see, other than in a museum. But there it was, sitting in an antique box, the lion and crow struck into the bronze a remarkable sight.
“Wow,” I exhaled, speechless.
“Your story about the Medal of Honor… I get it. You would never part with that. Your dad probably gave it to you to teach you an important life lesson. My dad gave this to me with tears in his eyes. I still remember his words. ‘Keep this close and you’ll always have a piece of me and your roots’.” She met my eyes, closing the box. “He was saying goodbye. He knew he wasn’t expected to come back home to me and my mama. Just like Charlie was onto something, I think my father was, too. That’s why he’s in hiding. Why we had to go into hiding.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feigning confusion.
“In the middle of the night, we were taken away from our homes to a new place and given new names and identities. Charlie was right. I have no idea how he put the pieces together, but he did. My name’s not Mackenzie, although I’m kind of used to it now.” A smile crawled across her lips. “My real name is Serafina Galloway. My father’s real name is Colonel Francis Mackenzie Galloway.” She glanced at me and I could tell a burden had been lifted off her. “I’ve had to keep it a secret forever, and I hate it. I hate that no one can call me by my real name or know about who I really am, where I came from.”
I stared at her, dazed. “Why me?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know why, but I trust you, Tyler. I know you’d never do anything to betray me. I feel like I can tell you anything.”
I swallowed hard, a burning sensation in my chest. I was sure it was a knife slashing into my heart, her words cutting me deep and bleeding me dry.
“And maybe you can help me figure it all out, too. For the longest time, I thought Charlie was crazy, mainly because when we dated I really did think my father was dead. But now? I don’t know. Don’t you think it’s all a bit suspicious?”
“I could certainly see why you’d think that.”
She flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I just want to find out what my father’s running from. Then maybe he can stop hiding and I can have him back. I’d do anything to have him back,” she said, a tremble in her voice.
I remained mute, unsure of how to respond, unsure of what I thought. A voice was nagging at me, offering a dozen other explanations that didn’t involve Galloway’s innocence as to why he had given her the Victoria Cross. But what if she was telling the truth? I had the same doubts and concerns. Could I put any faith in it, or did I simply want to believe her because it meant her father was an innocent victim wrongly accused?
Glancing at the woman next to me, I prayed that he was.
~~~~~~~~~~
“ELI, ARE YOU HERE?” I barked urgently as I entered my house after leaving Mackenzie.
“Yup. In here,” his familiar voice echoed from the office.
Giving a quick head scratch to Griffin, I walked down the hall. Eli was sitting behind the mahogany desk, his eyes glued to the laptop. I sat down opposite him and opened my mouth about to tell him what I had just learned, when he launched into news of his own.
“I’ve been going through credit card and bank statements to see if we can figure out a location of this Whitman guy. All of his account information lists a P.O. Box in Seattle and, unfortunately, that’s been a dead end. But, according to some of these bank statements, it looks like he frequents a liquor store in Port Isabel. It’s not a big town, so I think our best shot at tracking this guy down is to head over there with a photo and see if anyone can tell us where he lives.”
I simply stared at him blankly, only half-listening to what he was saying. My thoughts were elsewhere.
“Tyler, are you okay?” he asked.
“She knows her father’s still alive,” I admitted, my voice soft.
Eli’s eyes widened and the room was still. Sighing, he closed his laptop. “How did you find out?”
“She told me. All week, I’ve done everything right. I’ve made her feel as if I treasure her, as if I’m falling in love with her, all in the hopes that she begins to trust me and opens up to me.”
“And…?”
“And it’s worked. Better than I expected.”
“Why am I sensing a bit of hesitation on your part?”
“Because you know me, Eli, probably better than anyone else. Today, she finally admitted she knows her father’s alive, even after telling me he was dead. What happens tomorrow? What if she tells me where he is? How can I…?” Shutting my eyes, I fought against all the warnings my brain was shouting at me. “How can I be expected to walk away now?”
“You love her, don’t you?” Eli asked, surprising me.
“It’s not as simple as that,” I responded.
“Well, make it simple. Take out all the bullshit. Forget about your job for a minute, about why you app
roached her in the first place. If there was no job, no mission, no assignment, would you still want to be with her?”
“Without a doubt.”
“You loved Melanie, didn’t you?” Eli asked.
“I did,” I confessed. “More than I thought possible.”
“So you remember how you felt when you told her you loved her, right? And when she said those same words back to you?”
“Like it was yesterday.”
“And when you’re with Mackenzie, do you have that same feeling?”
“I feel more than that,” I said, unable to hold back. I was excited about how Mackenzie had changed me, had shattered the walls around my heart. She made me feel alive. She had shined a light on my dark and cold existence, melting the ice that had frozen me in that moment of time when I felt completely helpless and alone.
“It’s stronger,” I continued. “And clearer. It’s as if a surge of electricity flows through every inch of me whenever I’m near her or think about her. It’s like…” I paused, a rush of absolute happiness coursing through me. “It’s like lightning.”
Eli leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile crawling over his face. “Sounds like love, if you ask me.”
“But my brother’s right.” I slouched in my chair. Loving Mackenzie was the easy part. The hard part was coming to terms with everything else. “He reamed me out this morning when I suggested Galloway may be innocent. He said my feelings for Mackenzie are clouding my judgment. What if he’s right? No matter what, even if Galloway isn’t the man he’s been made out to be, I’m still stuck. I still used her to find out information about him. There’s no way this will end well. At some point, she’ll find out the truth and will hate me for it.”
“Maybe she’ll understand if you’re the one who tells her.”
I straightened my spine, my breath catching at his suggestion. “I can’t… What if word got around that the company was hired on this case and I blew it by spilling the beans? It would ruin us. Not to mention that she could easily contact her father and tell him we’re looking for him. I’m sure she knows where he is, or has a way of finding him.”
“That can’t be news to him,” Eli replied. “From where I’m sitting, it sounds like this man’s been on the run for years now. Just because he finds out your company was hired to track him down, it wouldn’t cause him to do anything different. Hell, according to his dossier, he worked in Army Counterintelligence. If I were in his shoes, I’d be offended if the feds weren’t after me, especially based on that encyclopedia of crimes he’s alleged to have committed.”
“You don’t think he’s responsible either, do you?”
Shaking his head dejectedly, Eli stared out the window at gray storm clouds rolling in. “I suppose it’s not our place to decide whether or not he’s guilty. A military judge will decide that during his court martial.”
“Alex said the same thing.”
“And he’s right…,” Eli interjected, his voice trailing off as if he wasn’t finished with his thought.
“What?”
“But if there is something fishy going on, if Charlie was sent away because he was too close to uncovering something that maybe has a connection to Mackenzie’s dad… I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that there are some extremely influential and powerful people behind whatever it is. A politician or a high-ranking officer maybe.”
“Like a colonel?”
Eli shrugged. “Perhaps. But Charlie was institutionalized years after Galloway performed his disappearing act. The only way he’d be responsible was if he was still in touch with people in the military.”
“Which isn’t impossible, is it?”
“No. It’s certainly not. We have to consider that a possibility.”
I leaned back in my chair, unable to determine which way was up anymore. Ever since making contact with Mackenzie, things had been spiraling out of control. From the break-ins, to the phone calls, and the convenient lack of information or anything to tie Galloway to the offenses he was alleged to have committed…
Running my fingers through my hair in frustration, I shot out of the chair, needing to do something to get to the bottom of this.
“Come on, Eli. Let’s see if we can find this Whitman character. If he’s a threat to Mackenzie, there may be a connection to her father. Let’s find out what that is.”
“Sir,” he said, powering down the laptop and holstering his pistol.
Mackenzie
“WELL, LOOK WHO’S HERE?” Jenna exclaimed as I made my way past the host stand at the Mexican restaurant set on the water. The smell of corn tortillas floated through the air and my stomach rumbled.
“Sorry I’m late,” I apologized, slightly out of breath from hurrying. I sat down across from Jenna and Brayden, both of whom had ridiculous grins on their faces. I tried to ignore their eager eyes.
“What? What are you looking at?”
“You, Mack. You look…different.”
“That’s because she finally had sex with something other than B.O.B.,” Brayden interjected, taking a drink from his margarita. He signaled a server to bring three more.
I beamed, my heart ready to burst from how amazing the past twenty-four hours had been. “I did, and it was everything I expected and then some!” I leaned back into the chair, feeling sated and normal for the first time in years. In an instant, everything had become so clear. Yes, Tyler could be distant and aloof, but I realized he just needed to feel in control of something. He was scared, just like I was, so I gave him what he needed. My heart, my breath, my life, my everything.
“So…” Brayden raised his eyebrows, holding two fingers a few inches apart from each other as if asking me about size.
Smiling, I shook my head and Brayden moved them farther apart. Unable to hold in my laughter, I shook my head once more, disbelief covering Brayden’s expression as he increased the distance between his fingers. When the length looked about right, I nodded.
“That’s it,” he said, throwing his napkin on the table. “I am officially green with envy, and we all know green is not my color.”
“No, but it’s certainly Tyler’s,” I said.
“Oh man, Mack,” Jenna said. “You are in it, aren’t you?”
“He makes me smile. He makes my heart…” I trailed off, scouring my brain for a word that could adequately describe my feelings.
“What?” Brayden asked urgently, leaning toward me. Both of their eyes were intense as they held onto every word I said, as if they were living the fairytale through me.
“Feel,” I said dreamily. “It’s not love, but−”
“Why do you say that?” Brayden interrupted.
“Because I’ve only known him a week.”
“So?” Jenna said, shrugging. “When I first met Richard, I knew he was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. He had a beautiful soul. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was like our souls knew we were meant to be. I didn’t fight it. I let nature and fate take its course and it led me to a beautiful relationship I never would have imagined.”
“Yes, but you guys aren’t the norm,” I countered. “Most people have to work at relationships.”
“No, they don’t, Mackenzie. If you have to work too hard at a relationship, you’re with the wrong person.” She grabbed a chip and dipped it in salsa, biting into it as the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance.
I tore my eyes from the table, feeling as if I was being put on the spot, and scanned the restaurant. It was a typical Mexican joint, although slightly more upscale. The floors were dark wood and there were chandeliers with tea lights hanging overhead. The walls were painted vibrant hues of orange, yellow, and red, and were adorned with various artifacts used to commemorate el Dia de los Muertos. A gust blew through the open windows, the sky looking ominous. A troubled feeling settled in my gut and I couldn’t help but think that something was off.
“Answer me this question,” Jenna said, bringing my attention back to her. “And
don’t think. Just spit out your response. What’s the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?”
Grinning, I answered, “Tyler. Without a doubt.” He had been the only thing on my mind since I met him. I barely paid any attention to the restaurant, my overdue bills, or the troubling phone calls. It was all Tyler.
“When you smile, why are you smiling?”
“Because I’m remembering something he’s said or done, or I’m just thinking about him. His arms, his body, his presence.”
“And when he says goodbye, do you feel an immediate emptiness in your soul?”
Locking eyes with my friend, I nodded. “An emptiness so painful, I don’t think I’ll ever get past it.”
“That, my dear friend, is love. And it’s the most amazing and excruciating feeling on the planet. It’s beautiful and cruel. It’s full of pleasure and pain. But within the spectrum of emotions, between those brutal swings of the pendulum, is where the magic lies. And I feel sorry for anyone who’s never experienced that all-consuming, horrible, agonizing, and exhilarating feeling of being in undeniable love with another human being. And you, my darling Mackenzie, bear all the signs of being in love.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and placed another chip in her mouth, a smug grin on her face. “And it’s about fucking time.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said skeptically. “Like I said, we’ve known each other for a week. And we’ve only been sleeping with each other for less than twenty-four hours. It should take longer.”
“But you’ve done other things, right?” Brayden asked, raising his eyebrows. “I mean before y’all got down and dirty last night, there was some foreplay action going on all week, correct?”
Biting my lip, I nodded. “Umm, yeah. Pretty much everything, except for sex. But the sex…” I closed my eyes, my skin tingling from the thought of Tyler’s body moving sensually on top of me as he had done all night long. I didn’t think I would ever tire of the things that man made me feel.
“Yeah?”