“The idiot didn’t know him ticking off the names of his brother-in-law’s squad was akin to signing their death warrants, but he admitted to meeting with Roman, face-to-face. He was calling out names, ordering each member of the squad a fucking beer,” Uncle Lenox fumed. “Gannon said Roman joked about a bitch being out on patrol with the men. At the time, Gannon didn’t think anything about it—Roman knowing just by the last names one was a woman.”
“Okay, so Roman knew she was in the region. But finding her would be like finding a needle in a haystack,” Trey put in.
“Not if word got to the men in charge that Roman was asking around about a female soldier. Not if the female was a McCoy and someone thought they’d found their ticket for an assassination without it being an assassination, because a man dying in combat is just that. And no one thought Roman had the firepower he had. No one anticipated that leaking Liberty’s whereabouts would lead to casualties and her capture.”
There was so much anger bouncing around the room my breath became unsteady. Not because I was fucking ticked way the hell off that we’d been right all along. Because I was bait. I’d been used and my men died because of it. The confirmation burned like lava down my throat.
A new fear rippled through me. How would I ever trust my chain of command after this?
“Are you motherfucking kidding me?” Drake roared.
“Wish I were,” Lenox returned.
“And Wick approved this shit?” Trey raged.
“Said, he knew nothing about it. Not until after she was captured, then he started putting pieces together and asking questions. No one gave him straight answers but the man’s not stupid. Once Drake confirmed the man who took Liberty was an American, Wick knew he’d been right.”
Without another word, Drake turned on his boot and stomped out of the room. And that stomp was so heavy I was amazed the floor under his feet didn’t buckle.
My eyes went to Trey’s. His green eyes glittered with malice and deadly intent.
“Trey?”
“Give him a minute. He’ll be back,” he said, misreading my query.
I wasn’t worried about Drake, I knew he’d be back. He’d never leave my side for long. But I was worried about what I saw on Trey’s face.
“Don’t—”
“Liberty, I say this with respect for you, for your man, for your father, but do not say shit to me right now.”
Oh, boy, he was in meltdown mode, too, and I didn’t know how to defuse the situation. So I decided to keep my mouth shut. I might not have been as experienced as the men in the room, they may’ve tried and failed more times than I’d even started, but even I knew the strongest warrior didn’t always know how they were going to win. They just knew they weren’t gonna lose.
And I wouldn’t lose—not to Roman, not to Gannon.
So I’d keep quiet and find a way to make Roman pay.
Then I’d figure out how I was going to continue to do my job after being betrayed in the worst kind of way.
37
“Brother, you look like you’re ready to come undone,” Carter said as he joined me behind the main office building.
I was taking in my surroundings, but not paying attention because I couldn’t stop thinking about how there was someone responsible for what happened to Liberty. Someone who put her in danger—on purpose. Men had died, she’d endured hell, and we’d never know who that someone was. Not even Blake with all her skills could dig deep enough to find the bastard hiding behind layers and layers of protection.
“Have you been briefed?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“What’s your take? You think Roman and Gannon meeting was a coincidence?”
“I’ve never been big on those,” Carter admitted. “But in this case, it looks like it was sheer dumb luck Roman stumbled upon a stupid fuck whose only intention was to order a case and flex in front of his brother-in-law.”
“You sure about that?”
My stomach twisted in that painful way that told me something wasn’t right. Something was coming.
I knew it.
I felt it.
I tasted it.
The feeling so heavy, my boots were sinking into the grassy patch I’d wandered out to.
Something’s coming.
“The way you asked that I’m not sure, I’m not so sure about anything now. What’s on your mind?”
“Feel it, Carter, that sharp pain in my gut, the prick on the back of my neck. Something’s not right. I can’t put my finger on it. Don’t know if we’re missing something. If the unease is coming from something that’s gonna happen. Or if it’s only a matter of time my woman will be back in the field under the command of the person or persons who thought it was a brilliant idea to leak intel to a lunatic who wanted to kill her. Not taking into consideration that as well-trained as Liberty is—and she is, brother. She’s good, but she was still too inexperienced to be put in that position—unprepared for what was going to happen. At the very least, the squad should’ve been briefed and a secondary team put in place as overwatch. What happened to her is so fucked I can’t wrap my head around it. But whatever it is, this shit is not right, I feel it.”
“I agree with you. We’ll be hyper-vigilant.”
That didn’t make the poison in the pit of my stomach disappear.
“Can’t be with her when she goes back out. We have a week until she reports and you know as well as I do, they’ll have her on recall and she can be called up and be sent out. A week, brother, to find and take out Roman before he’ll get another opportunity to snatch my woman.”
“Then we better get our asses in there and get to work.”
“Can’t lose her, Carter. I lived without her for weeks and felt like I was dying inside, and that was when I knew she was in Georgia with her family. She goes back out before that asshole’s in the ground, it will eat me alive. If he gets his hands on her again, you know, you fucking know, there won’t be anything to bring home but a pine box.”
There was a small pang of regret saying something like that to Carter knowing that he loved her. She was his family, but hammering home that this was not something they could fuck around with, won out.
“Know that,” Carter clipped.
“Yeah, I know you do. So I think you’ll understand when I tell you if this shit’s not done before she checks in with her new battalion, I’m going out to track this fucker and I’ll need you to have my back with that.”
“You’re gonna go out and not tell her?”
“Fuck, no. Learned my lesson with that shit. But she won’t be happy I’m goin’. That’s where you come in. Seems you can be a voice of reason when it comes to her.”
“That’s because I’m highly intelligent and articulate.”
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
With a pound on my shoulder, Carter turned to leave. “Whatever you need, you know that.”
And I damn well did. Carter was a good friend. But more than that, he was loyal to his friends and his family.
* * *
“How ya doin’?” I asked Liberty when the room cleared.
The guys were breaking for lunch and my woman looked like she’d been put through the wringer.
“I’m pissed.”
I bet she was. Someone did her dirty and I was right—Blake dug and found nothing. She even had her counterpart Dylan look and he hit just as many dead-ends as she did. Levi had called Wick. He didn’t know, and he’d looked far and wide and deep. Whoever had come up with the plan to use Liberty wasn’t going to be found.
That was a hard pill to swallow, but priority one was finding Roman.
Lenox had been in contact with local law enforcement in DC. He’d been assured the UN meeting due to take place tomorrow would have extra security. And they’d be on the lookout for Roman.
With any luck, Roman would be there with his uncle and he’d be taken out.
The problem was I didn’t believe in luck.
; “I know you are. Your mom seems pretty pissed, too.”
I’d learned something today, Blake McCoy was not shy and arresting—she looked like she would be. The woman had class written all over her. But Blake was not to be underestimated, she was downright frightening, especially when her daughter’s life had been threatened.
I’d also learned Blake had a mouth on her that rivaled the men I’d served with. She’d spouted so many cuss words, most of them sounded like she was making them up on the fly, and some didn’t make sense. But when she was mad, watch out—her mouth got the better of her and she let it fly.
“You know everyone talks about how protective the men are in this family. But honestly, they got nothing on my mom and aunts. Those women are fiercely protective over the family. They’re quieter about it, but each of them is loyal and strong and damn tough. All you need to do is look at my dad and the uncles to know there’s no way they’d choose weak women.”
I loved how close she was with her family.
Liberty looked around the room. Then her gaze settled back on mine and she asked, “Wanna get out of here?”
“Sure. What do you want for lunch?”
“No. I mean, get out for the day.”
The rational part of me wanted to tell her we had a case to work, we couldn’t just leave. But then I looked into her hopeful eyes and realized she needed a break.
“Where to?” I asked.
“I wanna show you something.”
Her face lit and I knew I’d made the right decision.
After I sent a text to Carter who was with Trey, and one to her dad, we headed out.
Both texted me back their own versions of “Thank God.” They knew it, they saw Liberty needed time to clear her head after all this new information had been piled on her, and they were all for her leaving the office for a while.
“Where to, baby?”
“My cousin Jackson’s house. It’s a huge mansion called The Manor.”
“Thought Jackson was a firefighter?” I asked.
A first responder’s salary and a mansion didn’t jibe.
“Hang a right at the next light,” Liberty told me, then turned in her seat and tucked her foot behind the back of her other knee and smiled. “Let me tell you the story of Jackson and Tuesday…”
Over the next twenty minutes as she intermittently gave me directions, she told me how her cousin had fallen in love with a supermodel, how Tuesday had been terrorized by a stalker, and finally how they came to live in a beautiful mansion called The Manor.
And when we pulled down a long tree-lined drive and the very large house came into view she was wrong. It wasn’t beautiful, it was over-the-top stunning. But it had nothing to do with the house and everything to do with the love that had been created in that home.
38
We were walking through Tuesday’s orchard, a warm breeze blowing through the pear and apple trees, beauty everywhere. I was thinking about how lucky Tuesday was to have this. She could, and did, walk the path that Jackson kept expertly manicured for her anytime she wanted.
“This is where I told my dad I was going to Ranger school,” I told Drake.
“Really?”
“I came home on leave for Jackson’s wedding. It was a surprise no one but me knew. I’d just found out I was going so I thought it was the perfect time to tell him.”
“Bet he was happy for you.”
“He was nervous for me. He’d been through Ranger school. He knew it would be difficult for me. First thing he asked was if I was sure. The second thing was if I’d been training, then he lectured me on proper foot care.”
“Yeah, you gotta take care of your feet. If you don’t, you’re fucked.” Humor laced his words but I ignored the teasing tone and thought back to Drake carrying me all the way to the exfil site because my feet were torn to shreds.
He’d carried me.
How could I not love this man?
We stopped in front of Carter and Delaney’s cherry tree. Most of the pink blossoms had already dropped, painting the grass around the sturdy trunk with blush-colored flowers.
“Do you want kids?” I asked.
Drake startled at my change of topic.
“Yeah. You?”
“I never really thought about having kids until I was sitting in my mom’s living room watching little Emma crawl on Quinn. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to have a bunch of little Drakes running around.”
I heard his sharp inhale and pinched my lips together in an effort to stop myself from saying anything else.
“Baby?” he called.
“Yeah?”
“Look at me.”
My eyes moved from the tree to Drake and he was smiling huge. “How many do you want?”
“More than one.”
“I agree. Like you, I’m an only child. I always wished I had a brother.”
“Sometimes I wished I had a sibling. Not because I was lonely—because I always had the cousins around—but because when we got into fights it was always uneven. Delaney and Quinn always stuck together. I wished I’d had someone who would always side with me even if I was wrong. But then they’d get into epic fights, too. And when those happened I praised Jesus I didn’t have a sister who stole my clothes and would give me the silent treatment over a curling iron.”
“I grew up in Texas. My parents still live there. My mom’s family was in California. Dad’s was in Maine so it was just us. They’re good parents, they had friends that had kids and they entertained a lot so there were people around but no family. Love that about your setup. You grew up with lots of family and you’re all still close. I want that and I want to give it to my kids.”
My heart started to beat a little faster, my breathing coming in rapid pants.
“My family’s awesome but a little in-your-face.”
“Only because they care.”
“This is true. Thick and thin, they’re always there.” I went back to staring at the tree. “Tuesday planted this tree for Carter and Delaney. Well, for the baby they lost. It was my Aunt Reagan’s idea. She has a tree planted in her backyard for each of us and she didn’t want the baby Laney and Carter lost to be left out. Tuesday loved the idea and planted this one.”
“What?” Drake’s voice had dropped to a painful whisper.
“You didn’t know?” I surmised.
“No. Fucking hell. I know everything there is to know about Church, except for anything that pertains to Delaney. He kept her hidden away.”
“She lost the baby a year before he got out.”
“I never understood why he kept her a secret. I get it now. I only had weeks away from you and it felt like I was walking around dead on my feet, searching for anything that would dull the pain, something to take the edge off so I could just sleep. If Carter felt even half of that for all those years, Christ, I understand why he never told us.”
Walking around dead on my feet.
If Carter even felt half of that.
God, I was so totally in love with this man I couldn’t find the words to tell him how much.
“I’m scared to go back out in the field.”
Another change of subject, another flash of confusion before he processed what I’d said.
“Know you are. But you’re gonna be fine.”
He was putting on a brave face for me, pretending he didn’t have the same worries I had.
“Would you think I was weak if I didn’t go back? I mean, if I took med leave from the field.”
“Weak—fuck, no. Would it be a shame to waste all of your talent? Yes. But I’d never think you were weak for needing time after what happened and how that came to be.”
“And if I wanted out of the Army?”
“Baby, just this morning I told you I would stand by you and follow you anywhere. If you cannot trust your leadership and you feel unsafe and want out, I will support that. If you want to go on profile and not go out for a while, I will support that. If you want to go ba
ck full Winchester and kick ass, I will support that, too. Whatever you want.”
The ball of unease started to loosen. I didn’t need to make a decision right now.
* * *
After we’d finished our walk around the orchard, Drake and I decided to go back to the office so we could spend some time with Trey before he headed home. And I’m glad we did. It was nice to see Trey back to looking relaxed. Even if I knew it was a façade, it made me feel better that he was no longer shooting fire from his eyes.
My dad and the uncles were all holed up in some secret meeting, leaving Brady, Carter, and Trey going over next week’s sniper class that Brady would be teaching.
Drake had immediately jumped into the conversation and I had to admit, the normalcy was good. There was no talk about Roman, or a crazy man taking pictures of me, or a possible assassination attempt on an Albanian that Marko had a beef with.
The guys invited me to go with them out to the range but I declined. I wanted to remind them that Trey should not be out walking the mile it would take to get there but I didn’t think Trey would appreciate my concern, and anyway, Brady said he was grabbing the keys to the Gator so they wouldn’t be walking.
Drake gave me a hot but too-short kiss before he left. This was met with Trey smiling, Carter smirking, and Brady looking extremely disinterested.
Once they were gone, I went in search of my mom and found her in the surveillance center where she had a workstation set up.
“Hey, Mama,” I said and plopped down in a chair I’d wheeled over.
“Hey there, toots.” She looked up from her computer screen, demonstrating what I already knew—she always had time for me. “Everything okay?”
“Am I crazy?”
“Narrow that down for me,” she teased. “Crazy about what?”
“Drake.”
“You certainly seem crazy about him.”
“I am. Is that crazy? I mean, I fell in love with him before I even opened my eyes and saw him.”
Mom shrugged and shook her head. “I fell in love with your dad in the parking lot of a Tastee-Freez. I can still remember what he was wearing.”
Taking Liberty: The Next Generation Page 29