Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 (3 page)

She didn’t immediately respond, and it was one of the things that made Evie Crandall so special.  Yeah, she was totally on his side, but she was a thinker like him.  She contemplated her responses, so he knew when the chips were
really
down, she wasn’t just blowing smoke up his ass.  At the same time, she’d have his back as fiercely as his team.

“Three questions.”

“Shoot.”

“Did they deserve to be hurt.”

“Some did.”

“The ones that did, did you hurt them on purpose?”

“Fuck yeah.”  He picked up another cookie and bit into it with relish.

“Well, then that’s probably a good thing.”  She smiled.  “The ones that didn’t deserve to be hurt, did you hurt them on purpose?”

He didn’t answer.  But that was as good as answering, wasn’t it?

“Oh, honey.”

“Would you do it again, Finn?” she finally asked.

“God help me, Mom.  Yes, I would.  I had to do it to ultimately help them.” His voice cracked, and he thought he’d throw up.  He pushed away from the table.  He had to get the fuck out of there.

“Wait, baby boy, what does Mason say?  Does he say you crossed a line?”  She looked up at him as he trembled, every one of his instincts said to run, but he hadn’t said goodbye so he couldn’t leave.

“He says he would have done the exact same thing.  I don’t believe him.  He would have found a different way to handle it.  I don’t know how, but he would have.  Any of the others would have.  So Mason saying I made the right choice doesn’t matter.”

“No, it wouldn’t.”  She sighed.  She went around the table and grabbed him in a hard hug.  He rested his head on her shoulder for a long moment before he pushed away.

Taking a step back, he cupped her cheek.  “I’ve got to leave for a while.”

Evie bit her lip.

“How long is a while?”

“I don’t know.”  And he really didn’t.

“Can you tell me where you’re going?”

“I’m not sure yet.  Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you.  The team is going to be dropping by, and they’ll be asking questions.  I don’t want to put you in the situation where you have to keep things from them or lie.”

“Will you check in?”

“Eventually.”  It pained him to see her pat her sweater pocket again, looking for an imaginary cigarette.

“You’re hurting her!” Rebecca ran into the kitchen.  “You need to tell her where you’re going at least!”  Finn stared in shock at the fifteen-year-old girl with her long brown hair swinging and her eyes blazing with anger.

“Rebecca, calm down, he doesn’t mean to hurt me.”

“It doesn’t matter, Evie.  He is.”  She turned back to Finn.  “Don’t be selfish.  You need to promise to call her.”

Finn was amazed that this girl, who had once been so quiet, was yelling at him and defending his mother.  He was proud of the work his mother had done with her.

“You’re absolutely right, Rebecca. I’m sorry.  I promise to call her every two weeks, no matter what.  Will that work?”

Her jaw jutted out.  “Once a week.”

The corner of his mouth lifted.  “All right, once a week.  Will that work?”  Rebecca gave a short nod, then he saw her eyes fill with tears.

“Hey, hey, what’s this about?”  He stepped closer to her.

“I don’t want you to go, Finn.  I like having a big brother to talk to.”  He looked at the young girl, and his heart twisted.  Suddenly, the girl who had been on her knees in the farmhouse was superimposed on top of Rebecca.  He broke into a cold sweat and gritted his teeth.  He knew logically he was still in his mom’s kitchen and not back in time.

“I don’t want you to go.”  Rebecca’s voice.

“I’ll do anything, please let me go.”  It was the other girl’s voice.

Instead of brown hair and brown eyes, he saw blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Mom?” Finn called out.

“Finn?”  His mom’s voice helped to steady him.  He blinked and was once again able to see Rebecca.  He tried hard to give her the best smile he could, but it was pathetic, and he knew it.  She looked up at him, confused, but then he held out his arms, and she hit him like a freight train.

“I love you, Finn.”  Her love floored him.

“I love having a little sister.  You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me.  I’ll make sure to talk to
both
of my best girls every week.”

“You better.”  His mom came over and wrapped her arms around them.  He took comfort in it.

***

W
hen he got into his car, there was a message on the burner phone. 

Head to Austin, there is a project that needs your expertise.

He tried calling Declan again and got his voicemail. 
Figures.
  His childhood friend was probably ducking his calls at this point.  What an asshole, he thought fondly.

He looked out the rearview window into the back of his El Camino at the pitiful amount of stuff that he had packed.  He’d thought about putting his stuff in storage and getting out of the lease on his condo, but it seemed like too much of a bother.  What’s more, part of him really hoped he would be coming back to San Diego if he could ever get his shit together.

He stopped at a gas station near the highway and gassed up the car and stocked up on water before heading east.  For the next four hours, he focused on traffic, until he got out of the more populated areas and hit desert.  Then his brain began to consider what Declan’s cryptic message might mean.

He and Dec had been friends since grade school.  Both of their dads had worked together in Minnesota.  Now Declan was one of the founding members of a group called the Shadow Alliance. 

Declan had his fingers in pies all over the world.  Finn regularly tapped Dec’s organization when he needed something for the Midnight Delta team.  It paid off having a network of far-flung friends.  Even though he hadn’t helped in the sex trafficking mission, Finn figured he had kept tabs on it.  When the man said he had a project that needed Finn’s expertise, he really hoped it was related to the missing babies.  Midnight Delta didn’t have the time or the resources to keep looking, and the longer the infants stayed missing, the more likely they would never be found.

His fingers got sweaty on the wheel of the car.  His teammates had spent a lot of time working on this project in their spare time, but they had full-time jobs.  What’s more, it was likely they would be pulled away for a mission pretty soon.  It was just the way things worked in the Navy.

Yeah, and you’re leaving them in a lurch, aren’t you?

Finn pushed the thought away.  Right now with his fucked up headspace, he was more of a liability than anything else.  He looked over at the passenger seat.  He had his computer tablet with him.  He wasn’t anywhere close to the expert that Rylie, Clint or Lydia were on the computer, but he’d copied all of the information they’d had on the remaining unsolved missing baby cases. 

If Declan’s ‘project’ wasn’t the missing babies, then he would show him the information he had, ask for some help, and be on his merry way.

***

F
inn spent the night in Fredericksburg before heading into Austin.  He’d gotten in some Physical Training, and was starving by the time he hit town.  Craving Tex-Mex, he headed for Sixth Street when the phone rang. 

“You in town?” Declan asked.

“Don’t you have me tracked to within an inch of my life?”

“Maybe,” Declan conceded.  “I thought you’d like a semblance of privacy.  So you’re headed to Sixth Street.  Want a beer?”

“Food, man.  I’m hungry.”

“I know just the place.”  Declan gave him directions.  “There’s even shaded parking for your baby.” 

“Is the beer Pacifico?”

“Nah, we’ll be drinking Texas beer.”

“Fuck, not Shiner Bock.  That’s all Jack ever talks about,” Finn bitched, thinking about his teammate Jack Preston.

“Suck it up.  I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”  The phone went dead.  Finn shook his head and continued toward the most popular street in Austin.

There was one shaded parking spot waiting for him when he pulled up to the cantina—amazing.  Declan McAllister was one spooky dude.  He locked his El Camino and admired the sky blue paint job.  She was one of the few things that still gave him a certain amount of pleasure.  It was sad when a car was the only thing that even came close to making him happy.  Drake was right, he needed to pull his guilt-ridden head out of his ass, but he had no earthly idea how to do it. 

He opened the door of the restaurant and was hit by a wave of air conditioning.  After the humidity outside, he didn’t care what he had to drink, the cool air made it worth it.

He spotted Declan at the far table with his back against the wall.  He scowled, realizing he’d left him to sit with his own back toward the restaurant.  He hated that position.  Declan grinned knowing why Finn was irritated.

“Asshole,” Finn said as he arrived and angled the table so they both could sit against the back corner of the restaurant walls.

“Paranoid much?” Declan asked.

A waitress came over and asked in English, what they would like to drink.  When Finn asked for a Pacifico, he was offered a Shiner Bock instead.  Declan flashed him a grin.

“That’ll be fine,” Finn said in Spanish.

“Make it two,” Declan also said in Spanish.

She gave a wide smile and said she’d be right back with chips and beers.  While they waited, Declan looked Finn over like he was a bug under a microscope.

“What?  Are you considering dating me?”

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks.  You look tan.  Actually, you look good.”  Finn was gratified to see that his friend looked so much better than the last time he had seen him.  He winced as he remembered the hospital visit.

“Stop, I’m not there anymore.”

“Quit reading my mind.  My head, my space.  Remember?” Finn said as he circled the top of his head with his finger.  “Of course, it was an easy guess.”  It had been pretty harrowing when Declan had been in that hospital.  The only positive was he had been so drugged up he probably didn’t remember much.

“Quit with the morose thoughts, you’re the problem child now.”

“You still haven’t told me why you’re so tan. Where the hell have you been?” Finn asked.

“None of your business.”

“Oh cut the crap.  You’re not in Army Intelligence anymore.  Now you’re running your own damn super-spy agency, and you know I don’t have anyone to tell your secrets to, so spill it.”

“Paraguay.”

There was major flooding killing and displacing people down there, and he should have known the Shadow Alliance would be in the thick of things.  But Declan?

“I thought you did intelligence gathering.  I didn’t know you were on the ground.”

“I’m wherever they need me.  It’s a clusterfuck of epic proportions, so I’ve been there.”

“If they needed you there, what are you doing here?”

“Because you look to be a clusterfuck of epic proportions.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“When Finn Crandall decides to a request a discharge from his cherished team, it’s bad.”

“I’m on leave,” Finn corrected.

“Only because Clint is good at forging your signature, don’t try to bullshit me,” Declan set down his beer with a thud.  “I can’t stay long.”

“Good. I don’t need a fucking babysitter.”

“I did back then, so I’m returning the favor.  Can you tell me what happened?  You know you need to get it off your chest.”

Finn gave him a cold stare. 

Finally, Declan settled back and crossed his arms.

“For fuck’s sake, you already read every single document associated with the mission.  Why are you asking me questions?” Finn exclaimed.

“Because I want to hear it from you.  Because I’m serious.  You need to talk about it.”

“What?  That’s what they taught you?  Did you have sex after your share circles?”  Finn regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Dec.”

“Forget it.”

“No seriously, I was out of line.”

“You were, Crandall.”  He winced.  Dec never called him by his last name.

“You have to forgive me.  Nobody wanted you to get better more than I did.  You needed those group sessions.”

“I said leave it alone.”  Declan’s eyes were emerald ice.

The waitress brought the beer, chips, and three different types of salsas.  She also brought some homemade flour tortillas and butter.  Each man placed their order, then waited until the waitress was out of ear shot before continuing their conversation.

“Dec?”

“Look, Finn, you’re fucked in the head.  Been there, have the T-Shirt.  We’re fine, until we aren’t again, then we’ll be fine again.  But I will beat the shit out of you if you go too far.”

Finn breathed a sigh of relief.  “So why Austin?”

Declan set down his tortilla and snagged his beer.  After taking a sip, he took out his phone.  He pulled up a file and showed it to Finn.  “Look familiar?”

Finn grabbed the smartphone out of his friend’s hands and went through all of the information.  They were the records of the five births of the missing babies .  They contained the names of the birth mothers, sex of the baby, APGAR score, weight, time, and date of birth.  The only details on the people who bought the babies were the dates they picked up the kids, the amount they paid, and the city they had flown in from.

“I’ve read all of this before.  What’s your point?”

“One of your five mothers is here in Austin.”

This was news to him.  He had all of the records he had pulled from the team’s computers.  Even though he hadn’t been to any of the brainstorming sessions in the last couple of weeks, they knew he was interested in the progress of reuniting the mothers and the babies.

“Are you sure of your information?”

Declan raised his eyebrow.  Stupid question, of course, Declan was sure.

The waitress came to the table with their entrees. 

“Which of the girls?” Finn asked before taking a bite.

“Dasha.”

“I don’t get it.  Rylie and Lydia managed to reunite her with her great-uncle, and they were living in New York.”

“Apparently, you’re not the only one who wants to be off the grid.  Sergei and Dasha are here in Austin.  They’re staying with an old friend of his named Lou Donatelli.  He used to own a private detective agency here in Austin.”