The Naughty Nine: Where Danger and Passion Collide

by Nina Bruhns

  Dameon rifled through the stack, his anger getting a chokehold on his throat.

  “You’re telling me they can use these? For Christ’s sake, Eric! Out of context?”

  “Yes, they can and we can’t provide the context--at least as far as Jesse and the Army are concerned.”

  Dameon was livid. “Even given the fact that it makes it impossible for her to defend herself?!”

  “Yes, even so. That’s the rub. Could Jesse petition? Yes, she could. But she would have to go through her commanding officer and she refuses to do that.”

  “Why?”

  Eric sighed, then stared down at the desk for a moment before meeting his friend’s eyes. “That I can’t tell you, Dameon. Something happened, and yes, I know what occurred. But I can’t tell you, man. I will tell you that I understand why she doesn’t want to go to her superior officer. Moreover, I agree with her.”

  “Tell me, Eric. I have to hear it.”

  `Eric shook his head and sighed. “I can’t, Dameon.”

  “Does it have to do with why she left the Army?”

  `“Yes. It does.”

  “And it involves her commanding officer?”

  Eric nodded. “I can’t say anymore. It truly is attorney client privilege.”

  In the silence that followed, Dameon’s heart was racing. He berated himself, furious. Damn, why hadn’t he been more insistent? Why had he agreed to let her handle this alone?

  Eric pushed away from the table and strode to the floor-length windows, peering out into the dark night. After a moment, he turned back to Dameon with a quizzical expression.

  “You know Dameon, while I can’t tell you, her father might. You need to talk to him, bro. Sean was super impressed with you. I know that Jesse has sworn her father to secrecy but if he understands how serious this is he may be willing to break his promise to her.”

  Returning to the conference table, Eric sat down and leaned forward resting on his forearms. His eyes betrayed his concern. Dameon noted that there wasn’t a hint of a smile on his friend’s usually cheerful countenance.

  “My honest opinion, Dameon? I need help. If I don’t get some way of answering all of the charges these assholes are going to make? At the most Jesse is looking at being with Trey a couple of times a month--in court supervised visits.”

  Dameon’s anger had quieted to a simmering, more dangerous rage. He rose to his feet. Leveling a hard glare at Eric, he threw down his marker.

  “A few minutes ago, Eric, you said you were the only person standing in the way of Jesse losing Trey. You’re wrong. There are a lot of other people who stand in the way of her losing him--not the least of whom is me.”

  Red Rock Rises: Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Hell, yeah! Of course, I’d love to have a drink with you, Dameon. Any time you want to come to Georgia, man, let me know. I’ll give you the royal treatment. Where the hell are you now?”

  “Third table to the left, in the back corner.”

  Sean O’Donnell jumped to his feet and glanced around Paddy’s Lounge, a startled frown marring his brow. When he spotted Dameon in the corner, his frown morphed into a huge grin. His eyes shining with excitement, he barreled across the crowded tavern, shouting before he got there.

  “Well, smack my mack! I’ll be damned. What the hell are you doing here, Dameon? And why didn’t you let me know you were coming? Damn, man, I’m heading out of here tomorrow night for a three-month stint in Korea. Fuck, I would’ve hated like hell to ’ave missed you! And, Christ, how did you know where to find me? Don’t tell me this corn patch of a town knows me so well that--”

  Sean’s glee stuck in his throat when he caught Dameon’s expression.

  “Fuck, Dameon. Is Jesse…? Trey…?”

  Dameon shook his head and clasped Sean’s arm pulling him close.

  “No, Sean, it’s okay. They’re both… fine.”

  He gestured to the chair across from him and waved the barmaid over.

  “What are you drinking, Sean?”

  “Hell, what I always drink. Wild Turkey.”

  Dameon nodded to the waitress. “Bring us a bottle and two glasses.”

  Sean settled into his chair, his brows knit in a heavy frown. His words were clipped.

  “I’ll give you five seconds to spit out why you’re here, man, then--”

  “I need your help, Sean.”

  Sean startled then relaxed somewhat. “Oh Christ, what’s that hard-headed daughter of mine done now? Goddammit. I told her if she didn’t give in to how you both feel about each other, you’re not going to be able to get people to sit in the same room with you. Hell’s bell’s the sparks between you two could light a man’s ass on fire.”

  Dameon allowed himself to snort in appreciation. He wished it was as uncomplicated as Jesse pushing him away, afraid to get close. He gave a pained smile then shook his head.

  “No, Sean. Nothing that simple. I take it you haven’t heard from Jesse?”

  “Should I have?”

  “Yeah, you should have. But since you didn’t, I’m going to do what your daughter would consider unethical and bring you up to date. Let me put it this way, Sean. While this is obviously about Jesse, it’s also about Trey. You appreciate what I’m doing with your grandson? Well, everything I’ve done is about to be wiped out. It’ll send him down the drain. And take your daughter with it.”

  “God. Dammit. Dameon. Spit it out.”

  “Garrett filed suit demanding full custody of Trey. He claimed that living with his mother puts Trey in physical danger. The court decided that his claim had enough merit that they expedited the hearing. They also slapped Jesse with a restraining order forbidding her to see or speak to Trey until the hearing.”

  Sean was incredulous. “Jesus fucking Christ. When’s the hearing?”

  “Monday.” He glanced at his watch confirming that it was past midnight, “Two days from today.”

  Sean face contorted with a mix of anger and dismay. “Damn, Wolf. I can’t get out of this mission. Hell, I’m leading it--”

  “I’m not asking you to, Sean. But I am asking you to help me. Help me understand. The information I’m giving you came from Jesse’s lawyer. Eric Grant is a friend of mine, a fellow Ranger. After holding your sobbing grandson in my arms for thirty minutes, I told Eric he’d be short a critical body part if he didn’t fill me in.”

  Dameon paused to give the clearly upset man time to absorb the seriousness of what they were up against.

  “I had to go to Eric because ever since Jesse received the summons, she’s refused to see me or speak to me. She’s completely shut me out. She also warned Eric that if he revealed information to me OR to you, she’d fire him. The fact that Eric is going over her head should tell you we are in a shitload of trouble.”

  Dameon gave O’Donnell a quick overview of Garrett’s case and how the lawyers planned to use Dameon and his office to smear Jesse.

  “I can handle the things they’re saying about her arrest and Trey’s arrest. After my testimony they’ll be damn sorry they used that tack. But, Sean? I need to know why Jesse won’t go to the Army. Why she won’t petition or at the very least get a letter from her commanding officer supporting her. Why did she leave, Sean? Eric said you know. He’s prohibited by attorney client privilege to tell me. You’re not. I’m telling you, if I’m going to be able to help your daughter keep her son, I need to know what happened.”

  Sean put his head in his hands and was silent for a long moment. When he looked up at Dameon, the sheer agony raging in the man’s eyes was difficult for Dameon to face.

  “Dammit, Wolf. She was always such a superstar. It killed her that she had to leave the way she did. She’s a proud woman, an honorable one. She stands on principle and has a fierce sense of right and wrong. And fuck, the irony is that they practically ran her out, all to protect that dishonorable fucking son of a bitch.”

  Seeing the strain on Sean’s face, Dameon could only imagine how difficult this was for Sean.
Not only was he furious at whatever had happened, but by telling Dameon, he was also breaking a promise to his daughter. Dameon kept his silence, giving the struggling man time to come to grips with his emotional dilemma.

  Sean met his eyes and didn’t look away throughout the challenging retelling. “On the surface, it’s a familiar story. Hardly new. At the end of a mission, her commanding officer, Col. Elliott Caldwell, came on to her. He attacked her and tried to rape her. Jesse’s a fighter. What the hell was she supposed to do? Let him rape her? Jesse hit him, hard enough to break his nose and knock out a tooth when she split his lip. Caldwell called in his aide who didn’t see the assault—only the aftermath. Caldwell was enraged. He claimed that Jesse came on to him and when he refused her, she attacked him. He called her a cunt and in front of his aide said that she was a shame to her rank, to her unit and to her country. According to Jesse he said: ‘I’m going to run you of out of this man’s army if it is the last thing I do. The Army is no place for oversexed sluts.’ ”

  Sean took a long swallow of his drink and stared vacantly at the wall, his face flushed, his eyes dark with anger. Dameon marveled at the man’s restraint. His own anger was so intense he could barely breathe. His chest felt like an accordion that a demonic musician had squeezed all the air out of and failed to open it to let new air in. He carefully put his glass down on the table. He had the urge to break something, smash it. The glass seemed a more likely target than the half empty bottle of whisky.

  Sean brushed at his eyes and continued, his voice vibrating with emotion.

  “The Colonel also claimed that she was drunk, which as you well know, is not what my daughter does. If they’d done a sobriety test at the time, it would have shown that the bastard had polished off a bottle of Jameson’s before he attacked her.”

  He paused and absentmindedly sipped on his drink. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

  “The rest won’t surprise you. Colonel Caldwell put together a case that made Jesse out to be a slut and a sexual predator, a nymphomaniac. Her general, Tom Peters, who happens to be a friend of mine, would have had no choice but to file an Article 38 against her, at minimum an Article 15. You can’t attack your superior officer without consequences. Tom Peters told me privately that with the financial resources that fucker Caldwell had, it was a certainty that Jesse would lose the case. That would mean a loss of rank, pay and a serious blot on her record. Not only that, the fucking media would have had a field day. Can you imagine what those vultures would have done with a gorgeous redheaded bombshell as their primary witness? Over time, they’d have crucified her. As you would expect, Jesse blamed herself. Said she never should have gone to his suite. And hell, she shouldn’t have. The deciding factor in her leaving the Army was that she knew that Garrett would grab it and run with it. She’d lose Trey for good.”

  Sean closed his eyes but not before Dameon saw the tears collecting in the corners.

  “And I’ll be fucked. It looks like she might lose him anyway. Jesus Christ.”

  Dameon thought he’d hidden his furious response to Sean’s recital until he saw the older man looking at him with concern.

  “I don’t blame you for being angry, Dameon. If I could kill the guy I would. You going to be okay, son?”

  Dameon forced himself to respond quietly when what he wanted to do was yell and pound on the table.

  “You know, Sean, I also would kill that man if I could. Somehow, some way, I will make him pay for what he did. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it kills me that Jesse wasn’t willing to talk to me about any of this.”

  He tried to shake off his anger that was about sixty percent hurt. He appealed to her father. “How could she not have known that I would support her? That I would be proud of her? That she did the only thing she could to protect her son?” Dameon struggled against his pain but unable to hide his frustration, he added with a dejected sigh, “But she wouldn’t confide in me. Because she didn’t trust me.”

  He turned to the crusty sergeant who was staring at him with a troubled frown. He sought to turn the attention away from himself and Jesse. “Thank you, Sean, for telling me this. I know it was hard for you. I appreciate your faith in me. And, yes, it will make a difference in how we develop the case.”

  Sean’s eyes filled with tears.

  “I’m sorry, Dameon. I hate that you’re hurt. Damn her. She’s doing what she always does. Since she was a kid. It’s just gotten worse. As the crap coming at her has gotten bigger and uglier, she’s pulled into herself more than ever. Thinks she can’t trust anyone but herself. And the hell of it is, I’m to blame for a lot of it. I wasn’t there when she needed me. Christ, even now, I’m leaving for a three month rotation and can’t even be in the courtroom to support her when she fights for her son.”

  Dameon refilled both of their glasses and raised his to Sean.

  “I’m going to be there on your behalf and my own. With your help we’re going to go in there with a case that will ensure that Jesse ends up with Trey.”

  Wishing that he could spare Sean this last outrage but knowing that he couldn’t, Dameon pulled the sheaf of photographs out of his canvas satchel.

  “Sorry, Sergeant, but I need more help. I hate to show you these but this is what we are dealing with.”

  For the next several minutes Dameon sat back, allowing Sean to pore over the photographs. The litany of curse words that spewed from his mouth was epic. Dameon couldn’t help but smile just a little in spite of the situation. His own repertoire was piddling in comparison.

  “As you can see, they’ve blacked out uniforms and faces so all the pictures tell you is that Jesse spent a lot of time virtually naked with multiple groups of men. The hell of it is, because all of her missions were classified, she can’t disclose where she was and what she was doing. According to Eric, they’re going to claim that she is a long time prostitute.”

  Surprisingly, Sean didn’t answer. His rage apparently rendered him speechless.

  “Do you know any of the men in her unit? Any chance they’re here at Benning? Yes? Good. Tell them they need to meet with me at my hotel at zero nine hundred hours. Eric is coming in. With the guys in her squad and you and me, Sean, we’re going to help Eric answer the charges against your daughter without compromising the Army or Jesse’s role in it.”

  Dameon lowered his voice, not attempting to mask the cold fury he felt.

  “And, Sean, when we’re done getting Trey back? We’re gonna make those fucking lawyers pay for what they did. The U. S. Army doesn’t look kindly on having classified materials revealed without permission. Lawson and Schemer think they don’t take prisoners? Hell, they’ve never run up against a Former Army Ranger who also happens to be an officer of the law--and a Police Chief to boot.”

  Dameon tipped his glass to Sean and quaffed the remainder of his drink. His smile was hard, cold.

  “Ask me sometime how I got my code name… ”

  * * *

  “Thanks for calling on us, Chief Macarios. You don’t know how much it means that we have a chance to help Red Rock. She was our de facto leader on every mission. She was the one in the most danger, the most vulnerable position, and she never let us down. She was front and center and never shirked even the toughest assignment. If anything she welcomed it. We gave her the code name—Red Rock. But she earned it. Hell, she really was our rock.”

  Wildfire added, “In direct contrast to that son of a bitch Colonel; the only reason he was in the field on that last mission was because it was being closely watched by Allied Command. It was a big fucking deal. Millions of dollars in illegal weapons were at stake and we raked in no less than 20 tango terrorists. The Colonel knew how important it was. Or he would have been back at HQ giving armchair orders as he usually did.”

  “Please, men, since you go by your code names, call me Wolf. Tell me about the Colonel. Where is he now?”

  Whiplash grunted. “He’s a total asshole. Word is that his family bought him a position at
West Point. They’re Boston Brahmin types. Accustomed to taking what they want. I guess he’s good looking in that patrician ‘Haavard’ sort of way. But a true pansy ass. He had a rep and he still does. But anyone who knows Red Rock knows what happened. None of us were surprised when she resigned. And given how honorable she is and dishonorable he is, none of us were surprised that Red Rock took the hit. Imagine she wasn’t given much of a choice. If it makes you feel better, Wolf, General Peters has the fucker on a short leash. I wouldn’t be surprised if Caldwell spends the rest of his active duty life, parking his cowardly ass, behind a desk where he won’t be a danger to his men or women.”

  Dameon stored away the information for future reference and turned to the issue at hand.

  “Look, men, you’ve all seen these pictures. You know what they’re going to try to say about Jesse. I don’t expect you to tell me who is in the pictures with her or the nature of the mission.” He nodded to Eric. “But we need to give Eric something he can work with in court. None of you can testify on her behalf but I can. I spent 10 years as a Ranger doing what you and Red Rock did in many of the same places. Without compromising you, I want to tell you where I think these photos were taken. All I’m asking you to do is confirm that I’m right. I’ve studied them and I’m certain I know 90 % of them. Will that work for you?”

  Sean broke in. “Don’t forget Wolf, after each of her missions she got a commendation.”

  “Damn, Sean, you’re right. Here’s what we’ll do, Eric. Let them show the pictures. I will identify the places and then you can make the point that commendations followed. If that doesn’t make the point that she was involved in an honorable high level mission, I don’t know what will.”

  After a lengthy session, Dameon had what he needed and Eric agreed. He thanked the men and said a hard good-bye to Sean. He assured them they’d helped their Red Rock get what she needed most, her son.

  On the way to the plane, Dameon questioned Eric, “Do Garrett’s lawyers know why she resigned her commission?”