“You already put it in my coffee.”
“That’s not what I meant. You are from the south aren’t you?” Miranda laughed, she loved it when she could get him back.
“Yes, I am, bless your little heart.” It was his turn to smile, and then he didn’t wait for permission, just gave her the kiss she’d been hoping for. He tasted like coffee and bacon and she wanted as much as she could get.
“Now that’s more like it.”
“I would have to agree with you on that.”
“Breakfast is ready.” He said as he picked up her mug and steered her into the kitchen.
“You didn’t have to do all of this?”
“I wanted to. Besides, I’m starving. We never ate dinner last night.”
“Oh yeah. I guess I fell asleep didn’t I?”
“You needed it. I could have made something. As you can see, I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself.”
“I guess you are.” Besides the bacon, he’d made omelets and toast and hash brown potatoes. She sure hoped he was as hungry as he said because there was no way she was eating all of that.
“Do you need more coffee?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you for making this amazing breakfast.”
“Well, there might be a slight ulterior motive too.”
“I was wondering about that. Something to do with that phone call?”
“Yes, but let’s eat first and talk afterward. I am starving. You wouldn’t want me to keel over from hunger, would you?”
“Ehh, I’m sure you’d survive,” she replied with a giggle before taking a bite of bacon. Miranda had made it through about half of her omelet and eaten a few slices of the bacon when she was stuffed. Pushing the remainder of the food around her plate, she watched as Cam ate almost everything else. Where he put it, she had no idea. Maybe he had invisible pouches built into his body to store food for a rainy day? She’d never seen anyone eat so much in one sitting and not explode.
Miranda was waiting for him to bring up the phone call, but he held off while they cleared away breakfast and washed and put away all the dishes. They worked well together and made lots of small talk about the local area and the weather. It was odd, and obvious that he didn’t want to talk about whatever he’d found out.
There was nothing else to do, and no way to stall for more time. It’s not like what he had to tell her was horrible, but it wasn’t great either. The last thing he wanted was to disappoint her or wipe the bright smile from her face. But this was unavoidable.
“Let’s talk in the living room. The couch is a lot more comfortable than these chairs. I don’t know what my sister was thinking when she picked them out.”
“That they looked perfect with the table.”
“Maybe,” he said with a smile. Miranda was coming out of her shell and he couldn’t be happier. He believed a lot of it was just trying to always please her parents.
“My mother says it’s always best to just rip the bandage off in one quick pull. It hurts but the pain is quickly over.”
“What?”
“You’re stalling, whatever it is you have to say, just tell me. It’ll be okay unless you’re dumping me. Then I might have to hurt you.”
“I’m definitely not dumping you. I hope you weren’t thinking that.”
“No, but since you’d been stalling for so long I was starting to wonder.”
“I’m sorry. You are amazing…” Before he could go on she rolled her eyes at him and made the motion to get on with it. Oh yeah, she was definitely coming out of her shell. “We got called into work today. Not a mission as far as I know. But I have to go to the base for a debriefing on yesterday’s shooting. I don’t think it will take too long.”
“And that’s what you were worried about telling me?”
“Well, yeah. You came to visit me and then I’m almost two days late and now I have to go to work. It’s not much fun for you.”
“Cam, I understand. You don’t have to worry about me. What time do you have to be there?”
“Soon, at eleven hundred hours.”
“So what do I do? Stay here with Halo?”
“Not this time. Halo has to come with me, but I’m going to drop you off at Meghan’s. She said you’d want to go shopping or something? With any luck by the time you are done, I’ll be there to pick you up and we’ll still have time to go to the beach.”
“That sounds great. Meghan is okay with my barging in again?”
“Yup, Rafe said she suggested it.”
“Okay, see, no worries. I like Meghan. I wish I’d known her when she lived in Atlanta and we could have hung out then. Both she and Chrissy are hysterical.”
“And troublemakers. Don’t let them corrupt you.”
“No promises,” she said and kissed him. “I’m going to grab my bag and phone and make sure my mom hasn’t gone off the deep end again. Be right back.”
Cam watched her walk down the hall then called his chief.
“Jake, any news?”
“No, nothing else but Tex is checking in to it. He also said to let you know that the tracker you put on her phone is still working just fine.”
“Good. I don’t like letting her out of my sight when we don’t know where the threat is coming from.”
“Rafe feels the same way, but both of their trackers are hot. Tex will know where they are as long as they have their phones.”
“Copy that. Miranda’s getting ready and then I’ll drop her at Meghan’s and come in.”
“Copy that.” He’d just disconnected his call when Miranda appeared.
“Crisis averted.”
“What crisis?”
“The one called Cherise Stanhope. She just sent the second text message. Next would have been the first of many phone calls, but I headed her off at the pass. Told her I was going out shopping and I’d call her later.”
“You said she’s been worse since you came back. But I didn’t realize it was this bad.”
“The abduction flipped a switch and she’s way over the top now.”
“Maybe she’ll calm down when she realizes you’re safe.”
“You forget, I’m supposed to go back. When she finds that out she’ll need to be sedated.”
“Halo,” Cam called then looked around to make sure the stove was off, and the coffeemaker was unplugged. It was a habit since he traveled so much. Then he led Miranda into the hallway and locked the door. “Are you committed to going back? I understand why you want to go, but I’m sure you could get out of it if you wanted to.”
“Yes, I’m sure I could. But I feel like I need to do it for me. To prove that I’ve gotten over it.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, Sunshine.”
“I know, but…”
“Seriously, you went through hell. No one would think less of you if you didn’t go back. You can’t tell me Charlie would give you a hard time.”
“You’re right. But I was thinking it would be like falling off a horse and getting back on and riding.”
“If that’s truly what you want then I’ll back you one hundred percent but going through what you did isn’t remotely close to falling off a horse. You are suffering from PTSD and it could get much worse if you go back.”
“I didn’t think about that. But I’m not sure I have PTSD.”
“I’ve seen the symptoms, trust me, Sunshine, you do. Just promise you’ll think about it a bit more before you make the final preparations.”
“Okay, I promise.”
They’d reached Cam’s truck by then and he pushed the unlock button and opened the door. Halo jumped in the backseat, then he helped Miranda into the passenger seat. Walking around the perimeter, he checked that nothing looked out of place and then hopped in.
“Are you shopping for anything specific?”
“No, I figured I’d pick up a few more things. It’s more relaxed here so maybe a couple of t-shirts and a pair of sneakers. I didn’t think to pack anything casual this
time. I was too excited to see you.”
Cam smiled. He understood the feeling. He’d been like a caged bear for the last week and had been surprised no one shot him to put him out of his misery.
They reached Meghan’s a few minutes later and after he made sure Miranda was safe inside he headed to the base.
Chapter 11
As soon as Meghan closed the door, she turned around and laughed. “Woo hoo someone got laid last night. How was it?”
“What?” Miranda felt the color creep into her cheeks. Obviously, she had the answer to her question about looking different.
“Come on. You have that just fucked look and so did Cam. Are you going to tell me nothing happened?”
“Maybe,” Miranda’s cheeks were flaming based on how hot she felt. “Okay, yes we did, but I’m not going to tell you any details.”
“It’s okay. I wouldn’t want you to. I’d never be able to look at Cam again without thinking about it.” They both laughed, that would be horrible. No one should have that much information. “So what do you want to do for the next few hours?”
“Could we go shopping? Unless you have some other ideas?”
“We can start with shopping then grab some lunch and see what’s what after that.”
“Sounds great. Are you sure I’m not keeping you from anything?”
“It’s the weekend. Rafe was supposed to be home so I didn’t have any plans. But this happens all the time. That’s the hard part of being in a relationship with a special operator.”
“I’m figuring that out. But it was pretty much the same growing up with my dad.”
“You mean him being away all the time?” Miranda had forgotten she hadn’t told her about the CIA.
“It was hard because he was away for school plays, graduations, birthdays, so yeah. But I had Mom and she was always there. He was CIA for twenty years before he decided to get out and run for office. When he because a senator it was the same but different. He spends a lot of time in DC now and Mom didn’t want to move there.”
“I didn’t realize. But okay, enough of this depressing stuff. Do you want to go to the mall or somewhere else?”
“Where’s the best store for t-shirts and sneakers?”
“I know just the place.”
Miranda had never been in a Target, but she liked it. They had everything she wanted. After buying three new t-shirts and a couple of polos, she picked out a pair of sneakers. It was fun shopping with a girlfriend, although Meghan was a bad influence. She even talked her into trying on some bathing suits. That was the hardest part.
They went through all the racks looking for the perfect suit, but Miranda was convinced it didn’t exist. Meghan kept pushing her and eventually, they found three one-piece suits that would cover all her scars except those on her legs.
“Cam didn’t put you up to this did he?”
“Cam? No. Why would you ask that?”
“No reason. It’s just that we had this discussion yesterday about bathing suits. It’s a weird coincidence.”
Meghan put her hand over her heart. “I promise. I never discussed bathing suits with Cam.”
“Okay. I believe you. I think.” Then ducked as Meghan tossed a swimsuit at her head.
“Are you going to try those on or get all of them?”
Holding up the three suits one at a time, she realized none of them were too bad. But she definitely didn’t need three. “Try them on I guess.”
“Yes. Good choice. The changing rooms are this way.” She followed Meghan and got her little ticket thing then went in to try them on. “Don’t forget to come out and show me.”
Damn, what was she twelve? This part was like shopping with her mother. The last thing she wanted to do was model the swimsuit in the middle of a store full of people. Then she realized there wasn’t much difference between the store and the beach.
“Yeah, yeah. Give me a few minutes.”
In the tiny dressing room, she pulled off her clothes and tried the first one. It wasn’t too bad. Black with white diagonal stripes from her left shoulder to her right hip. It didn’t make her look like she was stuffed into the suit and she half liked it. With a sigh, she stepped outside to show Megan.
“Ohhh, I like that.”
“Yeah?” Miranda was trying not to look down and see how much the scars were showing. “Be right back in the next one.”
The second one was hideous. It hadn’t looked bad on the hanger but on her body, holy crapola. It was a definite no and couldn’t bear to step outside for anyone to see it. Quickly stripping off the horrific fabric, she grabbed her last choice.
“What’s going on in there, everything okay?”
“Yeah, but the second suit was horrible. I skipped to number three.”
It wouldn’t have been her choice, it was a bright blue, sort of like the sky without clouds and the color did a reverse fade to dark navy following the same diagonal lines as the shoulder straps in front and back. It was pretty, simple, and the color was one of her favorites. But it was bright and would draw attention to her.
Opening the door, she showed Meghan, except it wasn’t just her, Rafe and Cam were there too. She took a deep breath and told herself it was okay. If she was going to move forward with her life, then it had to be with all of it and not just the comfy parts.
“So, what do you think?”
Meghan clapped. “Oh yeah, this is it. It’s gorgeous and makes your eyes pop. I mean the black one was nice, but this is the one. Sort of like saying “Yes to the Dress” but instead it’s says, ‘yes to the swimsuit.’”
Miranda smiled and took another deep breath before asking the others. “What to do you think?” Slowly she raised her eyes to Cam’s. Her insecurity dissipated as soon as she saw the look on his face.
“You look gorgeous. I agree with Meghan. This is the color for you.”
“Thank you.” Rafe hadn’t said anything but he was nodding his head as Cam spoke. Another obstacle overcome. Maybe she’d needed to visit before now, instead of always letting Cam come to Georgia. Being away from her parent’s house was like freedom, even more so than being with the missionary group.
After changing into her clothes she grabbed her other choices and they checked out. Since the guys were back early, they went to lunch together.
“How about we go to the Mexican place down the street? I don’t want to go back to the Ice House for a while.” Meghan said.
“I agree. The food was great, but I’m not ready for more of the after meal entertainment,” Miranda said, trying to make light of yesterday’s shooting. They all smiled, but she caught the look Cam and Rafe exchanged and wondered if she’d find out what was going on.
The team was with Captain Knox in the conference room by the time Cam and Halo arrived. He didn’t like the solemn look on everyone’s faces, and the fact that even Murph didn’t make asshole remark about him being late wasn’t a good sign.
After he took his place at the table, Jake and the captain filled him in on what they’d found out about the shooter.
“We don’t have an ID yet, but we have a few leads and it looks like they were after us, not Miranda. But now that they know she’s here, that could change.”
“Why are they after us?”
“Chatter has turned up some weird information.”
“Why isn’t Lynch here then?” The CIA was the purveyor of that information and since he was embedded with their team, he was the one who shared the updates.
“Because he wasn’t the one who picked it up. I think you all know Chrissy Stillwell.” You could have heard a pin drop and every eye went from Chrissy to Ryan and back again. Holy shit. Things just got more complicated.
“Yes, we do. Sorry, no disrespect intended, but how are you involved in this?”
“I’m an analyst for the FBI, you all knew that. But you didn’t know what I analyzed, it’s top secret.”
Cam wondered if even Meghan knew what Chrissy did for the FBI. Probably not, and now
he understood why she hadn’t joined Meghan and Miranda on the shopping trip.
“Go ahead, Chrissy,” Captain Knox said.
As she set up her computer and started a slideshow of photos from the scene of yesterday’s shooting and explained what they were seeing. “I got called into work last night. Originally, my boss thought this was MS-13 activity against the restaurant owner, but then one of the cameras caught part of one of the shooter’s faces.”
Flipping to the image of the shooter’s partial, she then clicked to display the side-by-side with the full image.
Jake spoke first. “He doesn’t look familiar.”
“No, he wouldn’t to you. He’s been on our watchlist for quite a while. He was radicalized back in twenty-fourteen. His name is Musafa Arfat.”
“So that’s what you do? Monitor terrorist threats?” Rafe asked.
“Yes, mostly. Sometimes other stuff too. Depends. I’m good at analyzing scenarios and figuring out puzzles. So I get the nasty, complicated ones.”
“Who radicalized him?” Cam asked although he had a feeling he already knew.
“The Taliban, but apparently he and your friend Azfaar have a connection.”
“Fuck.”
“Exactly,” Captain Knox said. “It looks like the Saudi mission was partially wishful thinking and to get you guys out of hiding.”
“They were going to try to take us out? He must have his head up his ass,” Jake said.
“It looks like it. The intel was accurate about the threat, but you were too quick on following the threads. They were going to try to take out half the team at the bomb site and the other half at the airport. Somehow, they knew our plan. We think the guy Lynch put you in touch with worked for ISIS.”
“Azfaar is aligned with ISIS for sure?” Murph asked and then let out a low whistle.
“Yes.”
“Why is he all rapid dog on us?” Murph mumbled.
“Because you killed his baby brother. And now he wants revenge,” Knox said with a grim expression. “Problem is since he didn’t get you on foreign soil our hands are tied. You can’t operate her.”
“Fuck that,” Rafe said. “We’re just supposed to sit around and wait for him to pick us off one at a time, or worse our family or women?”
SEAL's Sunshine - Lynne St Jame Page 9
