Geir
Page 19
“And the man in your house?” Jager nudged. He shared a glance with Geir.
“What can I say? He wasn’t the type of man I thought he was. I didn’t plan to kill him, but … he made me mad.”
“Mad?” Geir asked softly. “You buried a knife in his chest.”
“He said something ugly about someone I love.” His gaze sharpened. “That man was nothing.”
There was a moment of silence, then Poppy, coughing slightly, said, “But he’s not why you’re here. So why?” He leaned back and closed his eyes.
Geir said simply, “Mouse.”
Poppy’s eyes popped open. He rolled his head to the side and groaned. “That damn kid. God, I loved him. And he loved me.”
“What can you tell me about him?” Geir asked.
“Only that I loved him like a son. I loved him like a lover. He was everything to me. And he felt the same way. But he had dreams that didn’t include me. Whereas he was my dream.”
“Why did Mouse leave?”
There was another silence, this one for a long moment.
Geir figured Poppy was trying to figure out how much they knew and how much trouble he was in. “We already know you forged the documents, and he stepped into Ryan Hanson’s shoes. But that wasn’t the name he was born with, was it?”
Poppy’s eyebrows rose. “Interesting …”
“It’s the only way he could become a SEAL, wasn’t it?”
“Absolutely. After he left home, he and Lance moved in with me here for a while, until they fell out, and Lance left. But that whole time, the dream of becoming a SEAL was all Mouse would talk about. Who are you guys, and how do you even know he was a SEAL?”
“He was in our unit,” Jager said. “What did you do with the man he replaced?”
Poppy winced. “He met with an unfortunate accident. I felt bad about that. But I’d have done anything for Mouse.”
“So why place the stuffed mouse in Morning’s house?” Geir asked, bewildered. “Mouse is dead. What could you even hope to achieve? And how did you know we were here?”
Poppy looked at him. “You really don’t know, do you?”
Geir shook his head. “What is it we don’t know?”
At that, Poppy started to laugh. Great big waves of laughter. “Wow. You really don’t know. Well, I won’t be the one to tell you. You’ve come this far on your own. You’ll have to do the rest of the work yourself.” Then he coughed. And he coughed and coughed.
The detective ushered them out into the hall and called for a nurse. The machine went off inside the room, and a crash cart and a medical team came racing.
Geir stared at Poppy. “That’s not fair. That’s so not fair.”
The detective reached out a hand. “Easy. He might survive this. He might not. You know a little more. Maybe that’s enough.”
Jager’s voice was hard. “Hell no, it’s not enough. What did he mean, we came this far and can work for the rest?”
Detective Nelson looked at him and said, “Well, maybe you should tell me what he meant about the young man who met his early demise. Are you telling me Poppy murdered somebody?”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll find Poppy murdered dozens of people,” Geir said quietly. “The two in his house for sure, Ken at Morning’s B&B. Also the man whose identity Mouse stole. And we have to consider Poppy might have been involved in the murders of our families and friends—although why, I don’t know. Originally he did everything he could to help Mouse reach his dream. Instead of Mouse going through the training like every other naval officer, Poppy took a shortcut that cost a young man his life and gave us somebody incredibly poorly trained. It explains all the times we had to help Mouse deal with things. We couldn’t believe how absolutely inept he was. But it’s amazing because we never went on active missions. We trained most of the time, and he was gone a lot of the time. He also broke his leg and was always sick. He spent way too much time out of training. It was a joke how he was not SEAL material, but he was part of us, a part of our unit,” Jager added. “So we did everything we could to make him do better.”
Geir shook his head and said, “Goddamn it. We’re so damn close.”
Just then the hospital room door opened, and the doctor stepped out. He looked at the detective and shook his head. Then he turned and walked away.
And Geir realized Poppy had had the last laugh after all.
Epilogue
Jager Elstad shifted impatiently. He couldn’t wait for the surprise to happen. He’d been instrumental in making it come about, but a bit of doubt remained if he’d done the right thing.
Geir was slumped in Badger’s living room. Dotty, as if understanding his mood, lay at his side. Jager knew all his friend thought about was finding a way or an excuse to get back to Morning. She and Geir had talked constantly for the last two weeks, but this long-distance stuff sucked.
Finally Badger said, “Geir, are you with us?”
“I’m here,” Geir responded, his voice heavy. “What the hell are we doing now?”
“The same as we always were,” Badger said. “So far we ran Poppy down. We confirmed that our Mouse impersonated Ryan Hanson. The police and NCIS are looking into what happened to the original Ryan.”
“And yet we still don’t know who betrayed us,” Jager growled. “That’s pissing me right off.”
Just then the doorbell rang. Dotty jumped up barking as Kat walked from the living room toward the front door. A muttering of voices was heard there.
Jager looked over to find Geir still staring up at the ceiling. Everybody else knew about the surprise, except for Geir. He’d been like a lovesick teenager since returning from San Diego, so the unit had finally gone behind Geir’s back to make something happen.
Kat walked into the room, and Jager grinned. Beside Kat stood a very hesitant, a very nervous Morning Blossom. Jager looked over at Badger.
Badger studied Morning with interest. Dotty was wiggling at Morning’s legs, her tail wagging furiously. Morning had a hand down on the gentle dog’s head, but her gaze was on Geir.
Jager hopped up. “Whatever else has to be done, it’ll be my mission. You’ve all had your turn to lead one leg of this. Now it’s mine.”
Geir shook his head, but he hadn’t turned to look toward the front doorway. “It’ll be me again. You can’t go alone.”
“You’re not coming with me,” Jager said cheerfully, wondering how long it would take Geir to notice his visitor.
“And why the hell not?” Geir lifted his head and glared at him. “No way in hell I’ll stay—” His gaze locked on Morning Blossom. He bolted to his feet, raced across the room, caught her up in his arms, twirled her around and crushed her against him.
She burst out laughing, her arms wrapped around him as she hung on tight. Dotty barked several times then, when ignored, wandered back to Badger’s side.
Overcome with emotion, Jager had to turn away. He’d helped bring this about, but, at the same time, something made him so very sad. He was the only one alone now. Not that he ever wanted anything like that for himself, but how did he face his six buddies and all their partners and be the odd man out? He shoved his hands into his pockets and said, “I might have to go back to the beginning.”
Badger stared at him. “Are you serious? Back to Kabul?”
“Do you have any other suggestions? Any other lines to pull?” Jager asked. “I thought for sure we’d find the answers in California, and we came to a dead end there. That was Mouse’s launching point to get into the navy. But we didn’t find another lover there. We didn’t find another person who would want to go after us because of Mouse’s death.”
“Should we contact the stepfather again?” Badger asked.
“No,” Talon said. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s been gone from Mouse’s life for a long time.”
“Well, this is something at least,” Erick said, shaking the cell phone in his hand as he walked into the living room from the kitchen. “I just spoke with Nelson
, the San Diego detective handling Poppy’s file.” Erick wore a wide grin, but the gleam in his eyes said a whole lot more. “Their initial investigation so far came up with a name found in some files kept at Poppy’s main residence. The detective wanted to know if it meant anything to us or not. Mouse had a good friend, Freddie Brown.”
“And where was this good friend?” Badger asked.
“In Colorado.”
Talon frowned. “Where in Colorado?”
“Worked in Vail. At one of the big hotels and was a lifty part time.”
“Can we call him? Talk to him on the phone?”
“He disappeared a few days ago. Nobody knows where he is.” Erick’s smile turned predatory. “That’s why the detective called us, to track him down. We have a name and a place.”
“Damn it,” Jager said. Then he froze, and his heart seized. “I’m definitely going. That’s where my parents’ motorhome ran off the road.”
At that moment, Geir returned, carrying Morning Blossom in his arms, his face beaming. He let her down gently on her feet, and she raced across the room and flung her arms around Jager.
He hugged her tight and whispered, “Nice entrance.”
She pushed her hair back, beamed up at him and said, “Thank you. For everything.”
He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “You look after him. That big bear needs somebody.”
She stepped out of Jager’s arms, gave him a misty smile and said, “So do you.” She patted his cheek. “You’re next.”
At that, the men burst out laughing. Jager just glared at her. He shook his head and walked to the front door. “If you get more information, let me know.”
“Where are you going?” Badger called out.
Jager turned. “Hunting in Vail.”
“Brown might not be there anymore.”
Jager waved a hand. “Maybe not, but, if he had anything to do with my parents’ deaths, I will find him.”
This concludes Book 6 of SEALs of Steel: Geir.
Read about Jager: SEALs of Steel, Book 7
SEALs of Steel: Jager (Book #7)
When an eight-man unit hit a landmine, all were injured but one died. The remaining seven aim to see Mouse’s death avenged.
On the hunt for answers about who set up the trap, Jager tracks Mouse’s friend to Colorado only to discover he’s disappeared.
Allison gets caught up in the investigation and the attraction to Jager is undeniable. Passion turns to deadly purpose when they follow a killer to Santa Fe, where he’s hunting badgers…
Book 7 is available now!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Geir: SEALs of Steel, Book 6! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
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Dale Mayer
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KILL OR BE KILLED
Part of an elite SEAL team, Mason takes on the dangerous jobs no one else wants to do – or can do. When he’s on a mission, he’s focused and dedicated. When he’s not, he plays as hard as he fights.
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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GEIR: SEALS OF STEEL, BOOK 6
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2018
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773360-83-6
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