“I want you home before dark and don’t let the sunset catch you in the other town you hear me?” I was expecting an argument, she argues me to death about everything, and sometimes I let her, if it’s not a big deal, other times, like now, all it takes is a look.
“But Logan we have so much to do. I know to a man it might not seem like much, but planning a wedding is not a nine to five operation.” I guess my silence alerted her to the danger she was about to walk her ass right into. I’d told her about that shit, but things were still new and it looked like it was gonna take her some more time yet, to get the hang of this shit.
She looked up from her bowl of fruit and caught the look on my face, nothing sinister, just a raised brow; but that was enough to have her backtracking and acting like she had some damn sense. “Fine, I’ll be home before dark.”
“The fuck is it that y’all got to do today anyway, build the damn hall?”
“Very funny Logan, I will have you know, we’re looking at patterns for the tables and chairs, we still haven’t chosen the crystal…”
Her mouth was moving but I wasn’t hearing shit. I held my hand up for her to stop. “Sorry I asked.” Was Connor really getting involved in this shit? I have got to have a word with my brother; this was some female shit, and no place for warriors.
“I know that look Logan and you promised so don’t even.”
“The fuck did I promise?” I drank the last of my coffee and rose to leave before she talked me into some shit I was not even interested in, she’s good at that shit. Usually she waits ‘til I’m inside her to start her shit, but if she’s pulling her stunts at the damn breakfast table that means I’ve been slipping.
“You said we could discuss this stuff and you’d help but so far you always come up with excuses…”
“Uh huh and when did we have this conversation about me having anything to do with this shit, or more to the point, handing over my balls? Just book the church, put on a dress and let’s do this shit already.” I knew she was gonna have something to say about that, and was in no way surprised by the loud screech. My baby can make some annoying ass noises when she wants to.
I put my shit in the dishwasher and tried to make my escape before she wound down. If that bottom lip of hers starts to tremble she can talk me into pretty much anything, so I needed to be out of dodge in case that shit was next on her agenda. “But Logan…”
“Ehhhh, gotta go to work baby.” I kept my eyes forward as I held up my hand for silence and beat feet for the door. Fucking sly ass female, she sped up behind me and I moved faster, it was a bitch move but what the fuck was I supposed to do?
The woman was driving me crazy with this shit. Connor was looking like he was weakening on this front and I’d be fucked if I’m gonna be knee deep in tulle and flowers and whatever the fuck else she’s always lecturing me about when it comes to the wedding.
That shit’ll just be fodder for Ty and his smartass mouth, and I really didn’t want to have to off one of my brothers over this shit. But if he called me bitch made one more time because of this wedding shit, I’m gonna have to cap him.
Chapter 3
LOGAN
“You fucks ready let’s roll.” They were lined off like sentinels outside in my yard waiting for me. I ignored their disrespectful smirks and grabbed the cup of coffee Connor held out to me. It was his turn for breakfast again I guess, then again since he’d brought Dani home I don’t think any of the others had seriously taken up cooking duty again.
It was sexist I know, but I preferred a good home cooked meal prepared by someone who knew what the fuck they were doing, to a half ass job by one of my brothers. The bra burners could go fuck themselves. Gabriella was shy about cooking for them for some reason, but I wasn’t about to push her, she’d come around when she was ready or the fucks could eat take out when it was our turn.
“We were waiting for you bro damn, it’s getting harder and harder to get a move on these days. Those of us who aren’t leg shackled would like to get the day started at a decent hour you know.”
Quinn was always the other one starting some shit. It’s like he and Tyler took turns being the assholes of the bunch. I took a sip of hickory and headed for my bike.
“Fuck you Quinn.” The laughter that followed brought a smile to my face. Things had been kind of tense since we’d got the orders that were still up in the air.
We were all just getting into the groove of things here and no one was looking forward to heading back into the deep dark hole that was this war. Especially since we’d already fought this particular fight once before; it smacked of repetition.
Not to mention it was extremely rare to be given a heads-up about an upcoming mission like this one. Usually an order came in and you had to be out in the next five minutes, no questions.
I wasn’t too thrilled about that and I’m sure my brothers were probably starting to think along the same lines, but we were all waiting to see which way the wind blows. If anything looks too hinky to me I’d scratch the fuck no questions, I wasn’t about to walk my team into some fucked up situation that some asshole in a higher position pulled together out his ass.
It’s been known to happen more than the American public may know. That’s what happens when assholes start using the armed men and women of the nation as their own personal mercs, evil, twisted fucks.
On top of that we’d made some moves that could set things off here in our own backyard, and we were waiting to see the results from that. After much deliberation we’d gone ahead and moved the laundered money that someone had put in Danielle’s name through her family’s charity. Robert her ex was still insisting that he didn’t know who he was working for and Crampton had given up all he had. Whoever was pulling their strings was still in the shadows, which was a dangerous thing for all involved; it was like chasing smoke.
Our stakeouts down at the pier still hadn’t given up anything and the old guys weren’t having any luck either. It’s as if whoever we were dealing with had eyes and ears all around and knew when to lay low.
I didn’t like that theory, it spoke volumes as to what we might be dealing with here and that wasn’t good. I guess we could’ve called in local law enforcement by now, but what were we gonna tell them? And besides, we’re not big on trusting that shit. More often than not those fuckers were on the take. How else can you explain an operation that was so well insulated? Nah, I’ll hold off on that for now
***
We rode out in formation, some of us on our bikes and some in trucks, according to what role we were gonna play today. Sometimes someone had to make a supply run or some shit, so a bike wasn’t gonna cut it. I could see why the people here were still getting used to us we were a militant a little bunch to be sure. Even the way we rode shouted military, do not fuck with us. Add the tats and shit and well you had blueprint for stereotyping.
Quinn and Ty were fucking with Connor in his truck, tailgating him like fucking teenagers as they left through the gate. I waited for the others to pull out ahead of me as I sat my ride. I always ride in the back just in case some shit is about to go down. Cowards hardly ever come at you straight on, so I knew whatever popped off would more than likely come from the rear. I wasn’t expecting shit to go there in this little town, but I was trained to prepare for anything, and never let them catch you slipping.
My phone rang just as I turned the key in the ignition. I didn’t check the readout because I thought it was my woman. She likes to call and fill my ear with cutesy shit to start my day off, even though I’d just left her body not an hour ago.
“Hey.” I was already smiling like a sap.
“Do you know what your commander was up to before he died?”
“Say what?”
“You should really look into that before you go digging into things that don’t have anything to do with you. Some of us don’t appreciate nosy fuckers messing around in our business.” The line went dead. I slammed out of the truck with my hand up in the co
mmand position. I was sure they could all see me since we hadn’t cleared the fucking property yet.
To a man they all stopped and came towards me, faces already set in stern lines because they knew some shit had gone down. I waited until they were all within spitting distance so my words wouldn’t carry.
“Just got a call, don’t know who yet, but listen.” I’d hit record on my phone as soon as the robotic voice had started talking. The same message replayed and my brothers already had their backs up before it was over.
“That’s bullshit.”
“Of course it is Connor, we know that. But this hump is obviously up to something. We gotta think, why would they go to all this trouble, for what? Did you hear him say ‘nosy fuckers in our business? What have we been sniffing around in lately?”
“Whatever the fuck is going on around here might be more than we first thought. If they’re making voice altering phone calls and shit like this is a damn action movie, we must be getting too close. But this crosses the fucking line, what does he mean what the commander was up to?”
Tyler was my wild child. He and the Commander had shared a close relationship, we all did, but Ty is everybody’s problem child and we tend to keep them closer than most. If these fucks tried to blemish the Commander’s name in anyway I’m pretty sure I’ll have a hard as fuck time keeping him from going rogue.
“The money, it’s got to be about the money we moved.” It was a fuck load of money that we’d found in an account Dani’s ex Robert and that Rosalind woman had set up using Dani’s name. Quinn was still monitoring that shit to see what popped off, but so far nothing. We all knew that with that kind of money involved it wasn’t gonna go down that easy, but it was a risk we’d had to take to smoke the fuckers out. I just thought we had more time, damn. Connor looked back towards his place where Dani was just coming out the door. She looked over and waved with a bright smile, then my door opened and Gaby came prancing out.
“Handle that Con. The rest of you know what to do. Gabriella, come here.” She glanced over at me in surprise, probably because of the tone of my voice. The others scattered around the perimeter as she walked towards me. “I need you to stay inside today.”
“But…” I just lifted my brow and that shut her up.
“Yes sir.” I tapped her ass lightly to let her know I was pleased with her response, before pulling her in to kiss her forehead. “Good girl.” We looked over to where I was sure Connor was telling his woman the same thing.
The women headed into Con’s place while the brothers met in a huddle in the middle of the compound. “Change of plans, let’s make sure this place is secure.” I passed my phone off to Quinn. “Check this out, find out how this hump got my number and where that call came from.”
Most people don’t understand the strength of the technology the armed forces deal with. They see us as civilians without any backing now that we were stateside, but the reality was that my guys and I were always smart.
We brought shit home with us that we knew would come in handy when it came to protecting our asses as well as our families. Some of us had shit in our head that it would take a stick of dynamite to remove.
Each man went about his business making sure our shit was on lock. I called one of the men on the job to let them know we were either going to be late, or not there at all today, and to send someone else out to make the runs. The last job was almost done and we had a few more lined up after this, and were even at the point of turning people away.
All in all things were going fine except for the shit that was going on down by the water. We were accomplishing a lot of what we had set out to do, making strides. I wasn’t about to let anything fuck with our program.
My brothers and I had been through the bowels of hell together, they see me as their designated leader and I take that shit seriously. No one was gonna get through me to hurt my family, fuck that.
“Everything looks cool Lo, but I say we take this shit as an eminent threat. Whatever this is I think this was the first volley, which means they’re gonna come at us with more unless we back down, and I’m guessing we’re not about to that shit right.” Zak was usually quiet, but he was always ready for a good tussle. It had been a while since we’d kicked any major ass, except for Con’s little skirmish a few weeks ago. Somehow these people had figured out what we were up to, and since the leak hadn’t come from any of us, I’m guessing it was the asshole ex, the sidepiece, or Crampton. And since Crampton was bitch made, I’m more inclined to believe it was one of the other two.
“Con we have to go hunting, let’s see if your boy was dumb enough to talk. Who do we have in NOLA that can nab the ratchet broad he was messing with?”
There was a lot of throat clearing which told me that I may or may not like what was coming next. The seven of us were a unit, but we dealt with other brothers in arms, sometimes people from other branches. Some of them were more fucked up than others, and we tend to attract the rougher element.
When all eyes turned to Zak I pretty much knew what was coming and so did he, from the reaction we got. “Fuck no, uh-uh anybody else, fuck, I’ll go get the skel myself.” Damn, I thought he was over this shit.
“Bro, we gotta do what we gotta do, and we don’t have time for you to make that run and head back here. Where is she hiding out?” I turned to Quinn because he would be the best one to give me what I needed since he was the one keeping tabs on Rosalind or whatever the fuck she was going by these days.
“French Quarter a little place off Chartres St. The place is old and noisy as fuck and it’s right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the tourist crowd. I guess she learned her lesson last time; but there’s one thing she missed, there’s a balcony.” He grinned at that because Vanessa, the Lieutenant we were planning to send after her, wasn’t called Cat-woman for nothing; that chick could climb.
“Tell me you’re okay with this brother. We won’t do it if you ain’t but we need her. Is she stateside Con?” He looked at Zak as he nodded his head and rocked back on his heels with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Man up bro, stop being afraid of one little woman, what is she four-eleven?” I turned to scowl at everyone’s pain in the ass.
“Ty shut the fuck up, who said anything about being afraid?” Zak looked angry enough to chew nails. We all knew the story about Zak and Nessa, well some of it anyway. That was one tale he hadn’t shared in its entirety. But we all knew that something had gone down between those two and whatever it was it had ended badly.
The way he was glowering at Ty he wasn’t over shit, and knowing Nessa, she wasn’t gonna back down either. I need this fuckery on top of everything else. But you gotta do what you gotta do. “Make the call Con. Zak, I expect you to be on your best behavior.” It was short fucking notice but it looked like we were in the middle of some shit, now was not the time for bullshit. Fucking women.
“I’m cool, just keep her little ass in check when she gets here or I’m gonna finish what I started.” He walked away after that cryptic note and I was already second-guessing my decision to bring her here.
If I knew more about what had gone down with them I could maybe try to mediate, but I didn’t know shit. The only thing I was sure of is that another man wasn’t involved, because had it been anything like that, my brother would’ve been court martialed already, so hopefully whatever it was wasn’t too bad.
“Have any of you ever figured out what the fuck went down between those two?” I watched him storm towards the gym we all used. That more than anything told me what kind of mood he was in. Poor sap, she still had him tied up in knots.
“What always goes down between a male and a female Cap? I don’t know the particulars but from what I remember about last time, this shit ought to be good. I’ma stock up on beer and popcorn, that shit was better than the movies, or more like ringside at a Heavyweight bout.”
“Ty, anyone ever tell you you’re a pain in the ass?”
“Nope, what I ain’t is whipped like the r
est of you fucks; looks like Zak’s gonna be next. Y’all keep that wedding shit away from me ya hear, shit’s catching.”
Like I said, problem child. He loped of somewhere to give the rest of us peace of mind for a minute. He was joking and acting like everything was cool, but all of us knew to keep an eye on his high-strung ass. He was already wound tight about the Desert Fox business, and this would just be one more thing to bring out that fucker’s crazy.
Chapter 4
LOGAN
We sat around in my kitchen all day working out strategy. It might’ve seemed like a bit much to anyone looking in from the outside, but we knew that every little thing meant something.
You learn that shit fast when you were in the thick of battle, returning enemy fire and your heart went out to the kid you saw trapped in the middle of the crossfires, only to see that same kid detonate when one of your fellow soldiers go to help. A couple episodes of that shit and you learn to be overly cautious about every damn thing.
Outwardly I was cool I had to be. I’d learned a long time ago that the boys followed my lead. It wasn’t something that we were conscious of, but it was the truth nonetheless. If I was in a shit mood, they’d pick up on it, and that could sway the day for everybody. So if I let on that I was more upset by the caller’s innuendo, then for sure they would be too. So I had to keep that shit close to the vest until I knew what was going on. Then I was gonna fuck somebody’s shit up for trying to mar a good man’s name.
LOGAN SEAL Team Seven (Book 2) Page 2