Tucker thought about his own parents in Oregon, who had attempted to run a medical marijuana business, a grow farm, and decided to give it up because of the inherent dangers. He was never so relieved when he found out his dad went back to work as a mechanic. But they still had the land.
“Kelly, I think it’s beyond time we need to get this information to Kyle.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “It’s his call. He might want to abort.”
“I understand.”
“Tell me about Sven. You trust him?”
“With my life. He’s solid. I didn’t even know about what you guys did. I think he wants them as badly as I do. He sees this as an opportunity to make a difference. Honest.”
Tucker still didn’t like it, but he knew exactly what he had to do next.
Chapter 10
“Stay right where you are, Brandy. I’ll be over in five minutes.” Brawley’s voice was low, nearly a whisper, and she could tell he was trying to hide their conversation from Dorie.
Brandy checked her phone and still hadn’t received a message from Tucker. Instinct made her lock all her windows. She didn’t know the significance of the doll, but the fact that it had been addressed to Tucker and had been designated “baby gift” led her to suspect there was some history involving the last mission, and Brawley would know about it. She still trusted him enough to believe he’d understand what next to do.
True to his word, Brawley steamed into the driveway and burst through the front door as soon as she unlocked it without saying a word. He stared down at the doll on the table, instantly used the box to scoop it up, and then threw it out the back door—as far away from the house as he could. He waited. Nothing further happened.
“What’s going on?” she asked, standing beside him.
“Pack. You have to get out of this house right now, Brandy. I’m going to take you over to our place, and then we’ll figure out where we’ll go.”
“We? What do you mean we?”
“I don’t have time to explain it, but get your clothes packed right now. Take anything you care about but quickly.”
She ran to the bedroom, pulled out a suitcase and started throwing things in. It struck her as she was putting underwear and tops into the bag she didn’t know what kind of trip she was packing for.
Brawley had removed the carpet in their closet, accessed Tucker’s gun stash, and started loading up things he hadn’t taken with him on the deployment.
“Why are you doing that?”
“So no one else will find them.”
“Who are we talking about?”
“Just pack, dammit.”
Brandy was instantly in tears, confused, afraid, and heaving for breath. Brawley ran to her side, gave her a hug like he’d never done before, and whispered, “We have a problem here. You have to remain calm. I’m here to get you out of this house ASAP and to someplace safe. I promise I’ll explain everything when we get there.”
She managed to nod her head against his chest and untangle herself from his grip. She felt the cold realization that the dream world she was living in had been shattered by the real world. Something was out there trying to take it all away. She wasn’t going to second-guess it. She’d just act. That’s what Tucker would do.
“Birth records, marriage certificates, your passport, bank records? You have them in one place?” Brawley asked.
“Yes, in the box in the pantry. Everything’s in there. I have a file drawer for paid bills—”
“Leave them. I’ll get your box. Do a double check and make sure nothing too personal, too important is left behind.”
He tossed the extra duty bag over his shoulder on his way to the pantry. Brandy stood in the middle of the bedroom, searching, then started going through drawers. She found a filled journal of Tucker’s and decided that should come with her. She scanned the bed, her eyes filling with tears again. Bending down, she lovingly straightened the covers and plumped the pillows, as if it would be the last time she would touch that place that had brought her and Tucker so much delight. If Brawley wasn’t with her, she’d just curl up into a ball and stay there under the covers, where it was warm and where it smelled like the man she missed so much now.
Now Brandy understood how people felt when they had to pack for a natural disaster and hoped she hadn’t left anything behind.
Brawley grabbed her suitcase as she locked the front door. “Everything’s locked, even all the windows,” she said hurriedly.
“Good.” Brawley tossed her suitcase into the back seat of his truck as she climbed into the cab.
He checked both directions on the street before he pulled out. Brandy didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There were several vacant cars and small trucks parked along the curb, and one turning into a driveway. It was nearly dark, and most of the families living there would be having dinner, she thought.
He raced down the street and headed for the freeway, checking his rearview mirror constantly.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m just going to make sure.” Then he dialed someone, still checking the mirrors. He mumbled to himself, “Come on. Come on, pick up.”
They entered the freeway, which was clogged with late commuter traffic, causing them to slow down. Brandy heard squawking on the other end of the phone. Brawley began leaving a message.
“Collins. Hey, we got a situation here. I’m with Brandy. I’m taking her over to my place. I gotta talk to you, man. Like pronto.”
Brandy had met this mysterious Collins man at one of the graduations. He was their team handler, the go-to guy in case they needed anything done for them by the Navy or to help locate an asset.
Brawley finally relaxed as they weaved in and around slower traffic until they passed two exits. At the third exit, he veered off and doubled back toward the direction of his house, using smaller streets that threaded along the freeway. He turned to her, asking, “So, you tried calling Tucker, right?”
“Of course. I called him first.” She knew he didn’t want questions, but she didn’t care. “What is it with that doll? What’s going on, Brawley, or what do you think is going on?”
“I’m not sure. And I can’t explain much, but that doll was very clearly a warning. Like a night letter.”
“What?”
“Over in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bad guys would leave notes on the doors of some of the people they were targeting, or on a school door, warning the kids and women to stay away.”
“Because?”
“Because, in many cases, that house, that school was targeted for an attack. Not always, but the night letters put the fear of God into the villagers. It was very effective that way.”
Brandy sat still and swallowed hard, staring out the windshield of Brawley’s truck, her stomach churning. Why would anyone target her, or her house, or Tucker? She felt the heavy thumping of her heart, and the way her mouth was parched. She knew she had to calm down, for the sake of the baby she was carrying.
“But that’s over there. This is here. This is the US,” she dared to whisper, knowing Brawley wouldn’t like her question.
Brawley shrugged, checked his surroundings again, and then began to slow down. He exhaled then repositioned his hands on the steering wheel. “I don’t mean to scare you, but a lot of the team guys have thought for some time that the enemy is trying to bring the war to us. At least to show us that they can. With all of our border issues, San Diego would be an easy place to infiltrate, get in the country, and conduct mayhem. They won’t win, Brandy. They’ll never win, but they want us to know they’re coming. They want to invoke fear. That’s what that doll is about.”
“But what’s the significance of it—of that missing hand?”
“I can’t really talk about it until I have permission, but I promise you, I’ll do it just as soon as I can. You’ll just have to hang on a bit. Can you do that for me?”
Brandy nodded.
“And I need you to keep Dorie calm too. That’
s a tall order, but I have to focus on something else first, and I’ve got a couple other calls to make. I need her to remain calm until we figure out the next step.”
“But—”
“Please, Brandy. I can’t give you any more than that, but I need your help. It’s that important. Tucker would do the same thing if it was reversed. You gotta trust me.”
Brandy was suddenly felt grateful, no matter what Brawley had been through, that he was with her and not with the rest of the team overseas. She never thought she’d feel that way about his breakdown, but right now, she could see that all his training had kicked in and he was totally focused, thinking clearly, and was someone she could count on.
And that’s exactly what she intended to do.
When they arrived at the Hanks’ home, Dorie had set the dinner preparation aside and was reading a story to Jessica. Her eyes got huge when she saw Brandy enter the room right behind her husband.
“When you said you had to go pick up something, well, I didn’t expect this, Brawley.”
“Hey Dorie,” Brandy said as she wheeled her suitcase through the front door, then bent and gave her a kiss on her cheek, giving another one to Jessica.
“Dada!” The little one outstretched her arms, and Brawley picked her up. While Jessica was playing with Brawley’s beard, her dad tried to explain the situation to his wife.
“Brandy got a package delivered to their house. It was a warning that she’s not safe. I brought her over here, but Dorie, honey, we got to pack up too. If they know where she lives, they’re going to know where we do too.”
“Oh my God! No!” Dorie stammered as she stood, her hand over her mouth. “This can’t be happening.”
Brandy threw her arms around her to calm her down. “We hope not, but Brawley’s just trying to be careful. Apparently, you may be in danger here. You need to get things put together just like I did. He’s trying to find out what’s going on. Even if it turns out to be a false alarm, we have to plan to get someplace safe for now. Help me, okay?”
“Is Tucker okay?”
“They’ve gone dark. No word from him yet, so he doesn’t know,” said Brandy.
“As far as we know,” inserted Brawley. “Let’s get some clothes packed for all three of us. I’ll get some other things we might need, and then I’d like to be out of here in like ten minutes. Can we do that?”
Dorie nodded, walking like a zombie to their bedroom. Brawley handed Jessica to Brandy when his cell rang.
“Thank God, Collins.” After a brief acknowledgement, Brawley continued, “A package was delivered to Tucker’s house, and Brandy picked it up. It was a doll wrapped in paper. Labeled as a baby gift.”
He paused for Collin’s comment.
“No, she opened it. And yes, I’ll tell her. When she called me, I raced over and tossed the thing in the backyard. It’s still there now, the paper it was wrapped in, the box. Everything. Someone needs to go check it out. I didn’t see any wires, powder, or anything suspicious, but who knows? You need to get the bomb squad.”
Brandy tried to get Jessica interested in the book but wasn’t having much luck. She saw Brawley remind Dorie to pack certain things while he was on the phone with Collins.
“Listen, sir, the right hand was cut off the doll. It wasn’t a new toy, but rather like something from a used toy store or charity store. And in light of what went on in Nigeria with the doctor, I just know these assholes are somehow here. Can that even be possible?”
Brawley listened to some further instructions and then hung up.
“Okay, we’re to get to a motel nearby until we get more details. I’m going to call Christy right now. Let’s complete the packing and take off, okay?”
Both Dorie and Brandy nodded. Even Jessica did so.
“He told me to pack banking information, passports or marriage licenses, anything legal, personal, too,” Brandy reminded her best friend in a whisper.
Dorie stood before her in tears. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“But thank God we have Brawley.”
Dorie went back to her search while Brandy walked Jessica to the living room again. She overheard Brawley on the phone with Christy Lansdowne.
“—No, absolutely not, Christy. I’m not going to put you or your family in danger. Collins instructed me to get a couple of rooms at the Marriott. But if Kyle calls, be sure to tell him to contact Collins. He’s arranging a team to go over to the house, and then they’ll come here and do a quick search. Do not open the door for anybody. No parcels, got it? And he’ll want you to alert the other wives when the time comes, so be ready, okay?”
When Brawley hung up, she asked him again about the package. “You told Collins you’d tell me something. What’s that?”
“That wasn’t your fault, but if you ever get something like that mailed or delivered and you don’t recognize who it’s from, you don’t open it. You call someone who will get in touch with Naval Security.”
She must have been shaking because Jessica was touching her cheeks, looking for tears.
“Brandy, a lot of these rules are changing. It didn’t used to be this way. Same reasons we want you off social media, not posting anything on Facebook. The bad guys are out there, and unfortunately, the families are targets.”
Jessica was squirming in her arms, so Brawley took her. “Let’s get this show on the road.” He called to Dorie. “Are you ready?”
“The passports. I forgot where I put them,” she answered.
“I got ’em in my duty bag. All set?”
“I know I’m forgetting something, but I can’t even think right now.” Dorie passed him and headed to the kitchen. “Let me just clean up these dinner things, and—”
But Brawley was right behind her, gently taking a pan from her hands and speaking to her softly, “Sweetheart, leave it. We gotta go. No one cares about that right now. We gotta get out of here.”
As they ran to the truck and placed the bags inside, Brandy slipped her phone out from her purse and noted there still was no answer from Tucker.
She wasn’t even sure what to tell him.
Chapter 11
Kyle was studying diagrams and maps when Tucker entered his room.
“Kyle, I think we have a problem,” he said.
His LPO looked up, gave him a frown, and then went back to looking over a floorplan, probably of the house they were to invade tonight.
“What’s got you bothered?” his Chief mumbled.
“There’s something you don’t know about Sven and Kelly.”
That got Kyle’s attention. “Oh yeah?”
“First of all, Sven and Kelly spent time together gathering all the surveillance on the Dutch guy’s house.”
“I know that. So?”
“But you don’t know that Kelly is Jenna’s sister-in-law.”
Kyle was cool about it, pretending to get occupied with the maps. Then with one sweep of his arm, he wiped everything off his bed. “Fuck me.”
“Exactly.”
“How did you hear this?”
“Sven told me on the ride over. Kelly was married to Jenna’s brother, who was our benefactor’s son.”
“Was?”
“As in he died of an overdose.”
“I get it now. It would have been nice if someone had told me. So what you’re saying is all this help we’re getting is partly personal—well, that part we knew, but we didn’t know members of this team had a personal stake in the outcome as well. I fucking don’t like this.”
“What are we going to do?”
“A little late for that, don’t you think? Unless you don’t feel you can trust her or Sven?”
“That’s a tough one. I just don’t trust anyone who isn’t honest right out of the box, Kyle. That’s not how we roll.”
“Yeah, but it’s what we get sometimes, right?”
Tucker chuckled darkly. “It’s not the first and won’t be the last we get faulty intel. Story of our job, right, Kyle?”
> “Amen to that.”
“So, what’s next?”
Kyle stood up. He stretched his arms above his head and behind his neck then rolled down as if to touch his nose to his knees in a yoga stretch. He let out a big exhale and grumbled, “We come to Jesus.”
Tucker’s job was to get everyone assembled in the great room off the kitchen. Not many were happy about this. Sven nodded respectfully toward him, standing in the shadows at the corner of the room. Kelly was making another pot of coffee.
“Okay, guys,” Kyle began. “We’ve just been updated on some information on this mission I want you in on. Sven and Kelly have a little secret, it turns out. And let me say, for the record, if one of you guys ever does anything like this to me, I promise I’ll get you busted, and off the teams. I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your miserable Naval careers peeling potatoes on a sub.”
“What the hell?” Fredo remarked. “What happened?”
“No, man. What you doin’ fuckin’ with our LPO?” grumbled T.J., looking around the room. Several others, including Jake, Armando, and Jameson agreed.
DeWayne Huggles pointed to Kelly. “I never liked you!” Tucker could see all his earlier concerns had come crashing back to haunt him. Haunt them all.
“So which one of you wants to tell the team?” barked Kyle.
“I’ll do it.” Sven stepped from the corner and studied all their faces before he began. “I got a tip that the American nurse was being held here on the island. I did some digging into her family background, because I was getting nothing from the Africa Corp folks. I was on hold, and, well, I got tired of waiting. I knew time was of the essence and they were dealing with something much bigger than they were capable of handling. And the big problem is that they don’t pay ransoms, not because they don’t value their people, but they never have enough money.”
Tucker watched the faces of the men remain hard. So far, Sven hadn’t cracked their veneer.
“I discovered who Jenna’s father was. He’s a very wealthy investor, did well in the tech industry in the Pacific Northwest, and was semi-retired, donating his vast fortune to worthy causes. The man’s a good guy.”
SEAL's Rescue Page 6