“Yeah? My guy wasn’t the guy,” Cooper said. “Did anyone else have any luck?” he asked Liam.
“Stan Rosewood, Conroy’s suspect was the recruiter.” He turned to look at Caroline. “That was the man who targeted you and the other women. He determined that you and the others didn’t have living family and had just moved so you weren’t likely to have made many friends yet. Therefore, your disappearance would fly under the radar.”
He watched as her eyes narrowed. “Who is this recruiter guy again? Where is this man?”
“It’s okay, I’m sure Conroy’s taking care of it,” Laird said.
Liam looked down at his food. He was no longer hungry.
“Stan Rosewood you said, right?” Caroline continued to stare at Liam.
“Conroy is going to make sure he pays,” Liam promised her.
“It’ll be taken care of.” Laird said.
Liam saw Addison gaze jerk to Laird’s face. “What do you mean by that?” she demanded.
“He’ll go down, is what I’m saying.”
“Are you going to kill him?” Addison asked.
“I don’t know all the particulars yet. Did he know that he was serving up women to be butchered?” he asked Liam.
Liam nodded.
“Then some way, somehow, he will end up dead,” Cooper said.
“You can’t do that,” Addison protested fiercely.
“Yes, they can,” Caroline said as she shoved away from the dining room table. “If they don’t, I will.”
“Addison?” Liam’s voice broke through her thoughts. She looked up and saw everyone at the table looking at her. She still couldn’t believe everything she’d just heard.
“Yes?”
“You were going to tell us what you had figured out.”
Get it together.
“Let me go get my comp.”
She got up from the dining room table and Liam followed her. “Are you all right?” he asked as she unplugged her laptop.
“No. But I’ll get there.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Addison?”
“Let me just show you what I’ve found okay?”
He pulled her into his arms and she sighed. She needed this. She took in the feel and magic of Liam. His strength surrounded her.
She finally pushed away. “Let’s go.”
He followed her back to the dining room.
“Brannon said he tried to get ahold of you,” Laird said to Liam as soon as they walked into the dining room. The table was empty of dishes.
“What’s going on?”
“He’s in Mexico City now. He finally caught a break. He sent shit to Conroy, but as we have just found out he’s been otherwise occupied, so we didn’t know about Brannon’s discovery.”
“Well what did Brannon say? Where is the information? Get him on the phone.” Liam demanded impatiently as he scrolled through his smartphone.
“Brannon’s plane was just taking off. The lead is about the origin of the weapons, and how Riaz was getting them to sell and distribute. They would get as far as the central distribution center in the middle east. He told me to look at the paperwork, we weren’t going to believe it.”
Addison needed to get them back on track. “So, Laird, what does this have to do with our killer?”
She saw Caroline nodding at her question.
“Brannon said that Riaz was paranoid and kept records of every single shipment he ever received, down to the lot number. The guy that Brannon tracked down was Riaz’s bookkeeper, so he was able to get copies of everything from this guy. Brannon put it into the company drop box. He’s pissed that Conroy hasn’t accessed it yet.”
“I’m pissed too,” Liam growled.
“What are you able to do with that information?” Caroline asked as she pushed up slowly from the table.
“Sit back down,” Liam said. “Do you need an icepack?”
“I’m fine Sir.”
“I thought we were past the Sir point,” Liam sighed. He looked over at Addison for help.
“Caroline, go sit down on the couch. Laird get her an icepack. Who knows how to access the drop box?” Addison spit out the orders and questions like a drill sergeant.
She saw Liam’s lip twitch. Well what the hell, she raised a teenage boy for God’s sake.
“Cooper. Laird. Do either of you have access to the almighty drop box, or is it just Conroy?”
Cooper stood up and stood in front of Addison. “May I use your laptop for a moment, Milady?”
“Cut the shit, and get me the information, Laughlin.” Liam glared at the young man.
“Let me log in, then it’s yours Cooper.” Addison sat down. Soon Cooper was into the scanned records that Brannon had sent.
Liam and Laird stood over Cooper as he called up the scanned documents. Cooper was flipping through the Bill of Ladings fast.
“Wait a second,” Liam said. “Go back.”
“Is that a request for reconsignment?” Cooper flipped back a page and they could see that the shipment of munitions had been halted, and rerouted. This could only be done at the request of a theater commander, which in this case was Admiral Quincy.
“You flipped by a bunch of different forms that looked the same, Coop,” Laird said.
“You’re right.” Cooper went backwards. They’d been concentrating on the origin and destination, not looking at the reconsignment request.
“Is it always Quincy making the request?” Addison asked.
“No, but it’s always a theater commander in the Navy. It’s going back eight years,” Cooper said.
“It was Quincy, Hawthorn and Jakowski,” Liam said. Addison saw him thinking. “Addison, I’d have you do some digging, but I’m going to phone a friend, it’ll be faster.”
“Fine by me.”
Everybody watched as Liam made his phone call.
“Hey Josiah,” Liam said into his phone. “I’m working on something for Si over at DHS. It’s confidential and critical. Can I put you on speaker? I just have one question.”
Liam gave a grim smile and put his phone down beside Addison’s laptop.
“Okay, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you,” the man named Josiah answered. “What’s your question?”
“Who would have been doing the munitions reconsignments paperwork for Admirals Quincy, Hawthorn and Jakowski?”
There was silence. Addison looked up at Liam and raised her eyebrows. He put his finger to his lips. She shrugged.
They all waited.
“Are we dealing with illegal arms sales?” Josiah finally asked.
“We’re not looking to build a case at the moment. This is related to something else. Something bigger.”
“Liam, what could be bigger?”
“Sir, you have to trust me.”
“I’m probably just confirming what you already suspected. It’s our friend Isaac Anders,” Josiah replied.
“Thanks.” Liam said heavily.
“You keep me in the goddamn loop. I want to hear from you as soon as you move on this. You got that?”
“You will Josiah, I promise.”
Josiah disconnected.
Addison about had a heart attack as her computer jumped on the table. Laird’s fist had come down with a meaty thud on the wood of the dining room table right beside her.
He patted her shoulder, “Sorry Lass, didn’t mean to startle you.”
Then he immediately starting yelling in her ear. “I knew it. I knew anybody who would leave men to die was dirty down to his ever-loving core. Let’s go kill the bastard,” Laird roared.
Cooper was continuing to scroll through the documents. “Jackpot.”
“What do you mean, jackpot?” Addison asked as she leaned over to look at what was on her computer screen.
She felt Liam’s comforting hand on her shoulder, as he leaned in closer to look.
“Every single one of these shipments went to the same three units. Yeah, sure, that happened,”
Cooper said sarcastically. “But here is the fucking bingo. And it’s not a bingo, it’s a blackout!” Cooper pointed to a contract for an airfreight service that was authorized to ship humanitarian supplies to Africa from the distribution center in Kuwait.”
“What?”
“What brain-dead idiot would sign-off on anything that stupid. If America was going to be sending humanitarian supplies, it sure as hell wouldn’t be coming from our distribution center that supplies our overseas military operations. Those supplies would be coming from the states.” Laird was truly incensed.
“It gets better. Read who signed the deal with Leviathan Shipping.” Cooper had his finger pressed to the bottom of her screen.
“Enlarge that, Coop,” Liam requested.
“Sucks getting old, doesn’t it Liam?” Laird teased.
“Seriously? You’re ready for the big reveal, and you’re going to give the Silver SEAL shit because he needs cheater glasses? That’s so not cool, Big Red,” Caroline called from the couch.
“It’s Anders. Rear Admiral Isaac ‘Asslick’ Anders,” Cooper crowed.
“He’s the one who had me kidnapped?” The icepack dropped to the floor as Caroline came to stand between Laird and Liam. “A Rear Admiral?”
“A piece of shit,” Laird said.
“What’s the next step?” Caroline asked.
“I should have never put the skids on this. I should have listened to you and Conroy, Addison.” Liam’s voice was low.
She turned as best she could in the dining room chair so she could look up him. She did not like how he sounded.
Not at all.
“We’re not sure that Anders is our killer.”
“Sure we are,” Laird said. “He diverted the weapons so he could sell them to Riaz. He ended up with cash in his pocket and a place to do hide-out in Mexico to kill women.”
“Laird. All this proves is the weapons,” Addison gritted out. “We still have to do our due diligence,” she glared at the Scotsman.
Warm fingers touched her cheek as Liam turned her head towards him. “Face it Addison, I screwed up on this. I’m just thankful it was before he kidnapped someone else.”
Addison could see the guilt in his face.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked.
Liam looked at his thick watch. “Conroy should be landing soon. When he gets here, we’re going to go apprehend Anders.”
“You’re not going to bring in DHS or the Master at Arms?”
“Can’t bring in DHS, Lass. There’s still that one contractor that Conroy is sure was the leak that pinpointed our whereabouts on Camano Island. Until Si cleans up his house, we can’t be talking to him.”
She turned her attention back to Liam. “The Master at Arms?”
“Who are we? Our authority lies with Si and DHS. We’re going to have to extricate the bastard on our own.”
“Now we just have to figure out how to get to him,” Cooper said.
“It’s time for a plan,” Laird said with no little amount of glee. “We need sustenance. I want pie.”
Addison saw Caroline roll her eyes.
“I’m going to call Stacy,” Liam said. “We need to find out Anders’ whereabouts.”
“Let me do it,” Addison said. “I just send a short text, and she gets back to me on a landline.”
“See, time for pie.” Laird crowed.
14
Liam’s mind was split in two. Half was busy figuring out how they would handle confronting Anders today at the celebration, and the other half was luxuriating in the warmth of Addison’s body plastered up next to him. The sun was just beginning to rise, and the few clouds there were in the blue sky were tinted pink, it was going to be a beautiful day.
Addison snuggled even closer.
“Liam?” she whispered.
“Go back to sleep, Honey.”
“M’okay.” But her pretty gray eyes stayed open, watching him.
“Whatchya thinking?” she asked.
“I was thinking of our future together,” he answered honestly.
Addison pressed a kiss onto the middle of his chest. “I was thinking of that in the middle of the night. How do you envision it?”
He liked that she wasn’t coy or tentative. “We’re together from here on out. It’s you and me. Just like it should have been all along.”
He felt her body melt over his on a long sigh. “Yes,” she sighed.
She stayed quiet for so long he thought she’d fallen back asleep. “What else were you thinking?” she asked.
“How the take down is going to happen.”
“It’s too bad Anders wasn’t at Bertrum’s going away party last night at Woody’s. It would have made things so much easier if he had been at the restaurant off base.”
Liam stroked her hair. “Yes, it would have. But nothing about this has been straight forward right from the start. Josiah is at the Pentagon, so he’s unavailable, and Si’s text was cryptic. We’re flying on our own without a net.”
Addison gave a delicate snort. “Like that bothers you.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. I just want to be able to turn over all of our evidence so we have our back-up in place when we take him down. But I’m not going to send it until I personally talk to Si or Josiah.”
He felt her nod.
She tugged at his arm so that she could see the watch on his wrist. “Five hours until the celebration starts.”
“Yeah, but we’re not going there until noon. We’re waiting for Declan and Brannon.”
She snorted again.
He tilted up her chin. “What you little smartass?”
“One old-fart rear-admiral and six of us. I’m thinking that’s a little bit of overkill, don’t you?”
“Five. You’re staying here with Caroline.”
“Damn, just when I was beginning to think you got smart with age.”
He pulled her up his body so they were nose to nose. “I did get smart with age, which is exactly why you will be babysitting Caroline here at the house.”
“If you think Caroline needs to be babysat, then have Big Red do it.”
A nameless fear twisted in his gut.
“I don’t have a good feeling about you being at the field, okay? I didn’t like what Anders had to say about you. He definitely set his sights on you.”
Addison’s expression showed empathy. “I get it. I really do, but that’s ridiculous. We’re going in loaded for bear for a mangy old mountain lion.”
“So why do you need to be there?” he asked reasonably. “Caroline can’t go, she’s still recovering. If you go, she’ll want to go. We still don’t have a bead on his accomplice. I’m not saying you’re not capable. But would you do this for me.”
Liam waited with baited breath.
“Me being there isn’t going to help. You’ll have this covered. Hell, you’ll be able to take down an army. Fine, I’ll stay with Caroline.”
Liam couldn’t believe the wave of relief that washed over him. He swooped in for a kiss, that soon turned into a lot more.
Liam looked at the agenda that they had given him when they came in through the Charles Porter gate.
Bouncy Houses
Climbing Rock Wall
Various Food Vendors Including Fried Snicker Bars
Oh Joy
“Couldn’t we have at least signed up for the 10k run?” Brannon bitched. “I’m so sick of being cooped up in little aluminum cylinders, I need the workout.”
“I think they might have a ball pit that you could jump in,” Declan suggested.
“Buy some food and blend in,” Liam commanded as he pulled down his ballcap even further. “We’ll meet at the climbing wall in seventy-five minutes.”
“I’m not eating anything with a huckleberry in it. That’s just wrong,” Conroy said.
“They have blackberries,” Stacy said as she meandered up to them. “Blackberry funnel cake is definitely the way to go.”
Liam couldn’
t help but notice she wasn’t eating anything, even though she was recommending items.
He frowned at his men, and everyone but Laird and Brannon dispersed.
“What do you have for me?” Liam asked Stacy.
“The brass is all going to be up on the dias when the pledge of allegiance starts. They’ll stay up there until the P-8’s do the fly overs. After that they’ll mingle around with everybody for the open house. The big draw is going to be the explosive ordnance detachment displays. That should be happening about three o’clock. Then at sundown we’ll have fireworks. But I doubt any of the big-wigs will stay that long, they never do.”
“It’s all about the meet and greet?” Laird guessed.
Stacy nodded.
“So you’re going to get him alone. Are you going to take him off base to try to get him to admit to the killings?”
He didn’t answer.
She gave a deep sigh. “I think I see a blackberry funnel cake with my name on it.”
“You don’t think she’s compromised, do you?” Declan asked as he came up from behind him. He handed Liam a lemonade and a hotdog. Liam immediately thought of Pink’s Hot Dogs in Los Angeles.
“No. I don’t.” Liam responded. “Everything Conroy came up with points to one of those two contractors working for Si’s boss. Still…Brannon,” Liam said turning to his friend.
“Yeah?” Brannon answered.
“Keep tabs on Stacy, make sure she stays safe. Give me an update if you see anything suspicious.”
He nodded as he set out after her.
“You McAllister’s aren’t known for being real trusting,” Laird said. He pulled out his phone. “Ordnance display starts in an hour and a half. I’m thinking that’s when we’ll have our shot.” He looked at Liam and laughed.
“What?”
“I’m picturing you in a beauty salon getting your hair dyed.”
“Get the hell out of here.” Liam gave another shudder. Caroline had been too keen this morning about getting hair dye and getting rid of the gray.
“You’ll stand out too much with the silver. You’ll be recognized,” she’d said.
Luckily Declan had the Chicago Cubs baseball hat for him to wear. That along with his sunglasses and he looked like any other vet. All he really cared about was staying out of Asslick’s line of sight. The rest of the men were fine.
SEAL at Sunrise (Silver SEALs Book 12) Page 14