SEAL My Home: Bad Boys of SEAL Team 3, Book 2 (SEAL Brotherhood Series 9) (23 page)

It wasn’t a City bus, football stadium, or shopping center like they’d been discussing. It was a class of young, beautiful women who were loved by many others. They would have no idea what was to befall them as they became like slaughtered lambs.

He’d been sent the message, could now see his last day, and how it would be spent. After the violence and chaos, after the killing had been done and the screaming had stopped, he’d get his mat, put on his black clothes, strap the belt to his midsection and just disappear into a holy rain of fire.

God willing.

‡

R
ory had told
her to be especially careful about strange men wanting to speak with her, so when the large almond-eyed handsome youth asked for her name, she didn’t give it.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.”

“I understand,” he’d said and bowed. “Forgive me.” He appeared to be schooled in the art of charm and seduction. She distrusted him completely.

He turned his back to her and resumed tying his shoes without paying any further attention. Without any acknowledgement, he slipped his bag over his shoulder and left.

“Who was that?” Lindsay asked.

“Someone I don’t like. Can’t put my finger on it, but he gives me the creeps.”

Lindsay tilted her head and watched him drive away without looking back at them. “You’re right.”

“Let’s skip coffee. Can I meet you at the bookstore for lunch? What about that?”

“Let’s do that. I’ve never seen him before and the way he looked at you, it was like…possessive.”

“Sad thing about all this,” Megan began as they walked across the street, “Is you distrust people that are probably okay.”

“Yeah, but you forget who we are. We don’t do that, Megan. We distrust
everyone
. Occupational hazard. If we’d wanted safe and trusting, we wouldn’t be part of the SEAL community.”

Lindsay was right, of course. “Just wish I could talk to Rory. He’d calm me down. I’m really bothered by this guy for some reason.”

“Comes with the territory. And sweetie—,” Lindsay touched her palm to Megan’s cheek, “—It never gets better, but you get more used to it, more able to handle it.”

“Should we just cancel today?” Megan asked.

“No. I need to let you know about a couple of things.”

“Things like what Rory was telling me about last night?”

“Yes. I’m going to be moving.”

“Moving?” Megan didn’t understand.

“I’ll explain it all to you at lunch. I have to go home and pack. But I wanted to catch you first. See you at noon.”

She met Lindsay
for lunch at the Jewish deli, which was down the street from the bookstore.

Lindsay sighed, viewing the menu. “God, I must be pregnant. I’m ordering egg salad sandwiches and black olives. My sister said when she was pregnant, that’s all she ate too.”

“You think you could be?”

“Possible. I mean, we’re not using protection, and the number of times we, well, you know. We’ve been married four months. To be honest, I thought I got pregnant the first time we slept together. It’s as if my body just wanted to reach out, grab that man, and never let him go. It must be my internal clock. I want his baby so bad, it’s all I think about, Megan. Honest. Does that sound sick?”

It didn’t sound sick at all to her.

They ordered and then Megan wanted answers. “Spill. I want it all. No secrets. No more secrets between us,” she whispered to her best friend.

Lindsay searched the booth behind her, which was vacant, and twisted to see the single woman sitting behind Megan. Not seeing anyone particularly interested in either of them, she began in a whisper, leaning across the table to get as close to Megan as she could.

“We’re moving to one location, all the wives and kids. The little group, you know. You met most of them on the ski trip.”

“And?”

“Well, that’s it.”

“I don’t understand. You’re all moving in together? Selling your houses and doing like a SEAL commune thing or something?” Megan was perplexed.

“No, silly. We’re doing it temporarily.”

“How come?”

“For our own safety.”

Megan was flooded with panic. Why hadn’t she been included in the group? Wasn’t she part, even a peripheral part, of this community?

She finished her lunch and tried to settle her stomach through sheer willpower, but she was violently shaking inside. Something was boiling, festering.

She said goodbye to Lindsay and returned to work.

She immersed herself in the new releases she was supposed to shelve, removing the older books to be sent back to the publisher. As she stood, the delicious soreness between her legs gave her a moment’s relief as she remembered their night of lovemaking.

Then it hit her why she was so upset. She was totally vulnerable, exposed. Rory knew the wives were being moved when he talked with her this morning before he left her bed. Yet, he didn’t tell her. He tried to reassure her that there would be extra police patrols, because he said he might be of interest to this group that took his dad. But how could they watch her 24/7?

Or was she that important to him? They were letting the wives and children move in together for their own protection, and yet she, just because she didn’t have a ring, was being left out in the cold. If he really meant those words he said to her this morning, wouldn’t he insist she be protected?

She thought more about it all afternoon. Here she’d shelved nearly a hundred books, and she really hadn’t examined one of them. She
lived
for books. Now even that was changing. She could barely remember the authors’ names. None of the covers made her want to open up a single one.

Megan’s lighthearted mood of this morning was completely gone. Her best friend would be not going to yoga any longer, at least for the near future. She was jumping at everything, worrying about anyone who looked or talked to her funny. She was supposed to feel satisfied the San Diego police could keep her safe. She had no one to talk to about any of this.

She was utterly and completely alone. And even her books were of no comfort to her.

Something had to change. She wasn’t going to be anybody’s second anything. She’d always be his second or third on the list. He’d owe his first loyalty to his Team. She’d be forever relegated to the background, waiting for him. Waiting for him to come home so she could have a life.

Just like Grant, she’d fallen for someone who wasn’t fully available to her. And that was not something she was going to do any longer.

‡

“Y
ou have not
found Kennedy? You have the address,” the teacher said.

“May I tell you about a plan I am developing?” Moustafa answered.

“You aren’t paid to formulate plans. You are paid to do as you’re told.”

Moustafa was going to lose his temper one time with this teacher and then it would be too late. “Why is this Kennedy man so important?”

“He took something that belonged to me. He jeopardizes taking even more. It is a price I cannot pay. I must find him to complete my mission.”

Moustafa knew if he asked he wouldn’t be given the answer, so he didn’t ask what the mission was. But he felt the teacher had made a mistake. He let on how important Kennedy was to him.

He had not known the teacher as a particularly religious man, not like his last teacher, who was a local cleric, at least. This one was a businessman, a secular, so Moustafa wasn’t sure they worshiped the same God.

“You will take the others to help you. I have brought money, and tickets to Portland, Oregon, where we’ll meet up at the training center. If your mission is cut short, we will meet in heaven.”

Moustafa was prepared to meet the prophet, but he didn’t like the casual way the teacher played with his life. He agreed to pick Kennedy up and report back when he had him.

Raymond Corrigan was
not prepared for the visit from Lieutenant Commander Forsythe. It had been two days, and he was to be discharged. He planned to go back to New York. Derek had been transported to a private brain injury trauma center back there already. His empire was suffering from the vacuum his absence had created.

“Your son’s house has been ransacked, Mr. Corrigan.”

“Is Rory okay?” He felt his heart pounding in his chest.

“Yes, he’s with his teammates at an undisclosed location. However, at the moment, we are more concerned about you and your safety.”

“Don’t be. I have a crack team that has been working here to keep me safe. They’re ready to watch me night and day. I’m going to be very careful. But I just cannot sit here working from my new computer in my pajamas. My business isn’t run that way. I’ve got analysis to prepare, trades and trends to track, meetings to attend. It cannot be done from a hospital bed, gentlemen. That’s all there is to it. My company does not function without me, and that means my investors lose money, unless I am there to run it.”

“We can’t force you to stay behind. But you are most definitely a target. You were always the target and still are. They failed the first time. They learn, sir. You might not be so lucky the second time around. The SEALs won’t be anywhere close to save you this time.”

“I understand. But that wasn’t the plan, was it? You and your Feds with the cooperation of the San Diego P.D. were supposed to sweep these guys up. You had all the tracking information on that computer of mine. Why haven’t you located them?”

“We’re working on it.”

“And that’s why I’m a business man. We don’t operate that way. You have all this equipment and bullshit stuff to use, and you are stumbling over each other with your jurisdictional protocols and political handcuffs. I don’t operate in such a world.”

“And you’re not concerned they’ve found his house?”

“I assumed you take precautions. You said they’d be monitoring Rory’s house. You said they’d be protecting the families. Don’t expect that I will wait for any of you to get the kinds of results required to shut down this operation. I’m going to make a few million while you’re playing with your dicks.” He hesitated to add, “And then I’m going to convince my son to leave the Teams and come work for me.”

“They’ll try to use him to get to you.”

It had touched him that his son had put himself in harm’s way to save him and now was in further danger. But Corrigan felt he was a liability to the young SEAL the longer he remained on the West Coast, the longer he was at the beck and call of the doctors, the Navy, and anyone else who mistakenly tried to control him. Just like years ago, although he’d wished it were otherwise, he’d thought Rory would be better off without him and gave up the search. Too soon. That had been his mistake. Now he was leaving him for Rory’s safety, not his own. He hoped he could get through to the Naval officer.

“I think Rory demonstrated he can handle himself. I actually think it will be safer for him if I went back to New York. Tariq has a better chance of getting me there. That’s our turf. He knows my business associates and some of my habits.”

“The Feds will want to watch and coordinate a strategy. You won’t be free to roam, Corrigan.”

“Look, Forsythe, let’s be honest here, I understand what you’re saying, but I have nowhere to stay that’s secure here. What, you’re going to put me up at a Motel 6 while you figure things out? I mean you no disrespect, but we are playing on two separate fields with different equipment.”

He could feel his blood pressure rise. He could also see he was beginning to offend Forsythe, and that wasn’t very smart. “I’ve been in sticky situations before. I’ve hired extra security here at the hospital. I’ll have it on the private plane I’ve chartered. I have my office and home fully secured. Here, I have nothing. I’m a sitting duck, waiting for what? Waiting for some crazed fanatic—”

“Tariq is not a fanatic.”

“Whatever.” Corrigan was losing his patience. “I’m going home today, and you’re not going to stop me.”

‡