The Missing Father COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund, 2020, All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Editor: Talia Leduc
The Missing Father
The O’Connells
Lorhainne Eckhart
www.LorhainneEckhart.com
Contents
Keep in touch with Lorhainne
About the O’Connells
About The Missing Father
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
What’s coming next in The O’Connells
The Hometown Hero, Chapter 1
The Hometown Hero, Chapter 2
Other Works Available
How to Heal a Heart, Chapter 1
About the Author
Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist
Keep in touch with Lorhainne
Sign-up for Lorhainne’s Newsletter & Monday Blog
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About the O’Connells
The O’Connells of Livingston, Montana, are not your typical family. Follow them on their journey to the dark and dangerous side of love in a series of romantic thrillers you won’t want to miss. Raised by a single mother after their father’s mysterious disappearance eighteen years ago, the six grown siblings live in a small town with all kinds of hidden secrets, lies, and deception. Much like the contemporary family romance series focusing on the Friessens, this romantic suspense series follows the lives of the O’Connell family as each of the siblings searches for love.
The O’Connells
The Neighbor
The Third Call
The Secret Husband
The Quiet Day
The Commitment, An O’Connell Novella
The Missing Father
The Hometown Hero
Justice
The Family Secret
The Fallen O’Connell
The Return of the O’Connells
And The She Was Gone
The Stalker
The O’Connells Box Set Collections
The O’Connells Books 1 - 3
The O’Connells Books 4 - 6
About The Missing Father
The O’Connell family collides with danger in this shocking new story from NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Lorhainne Eckhart.
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Eighteen years ago, Luke O’Connell’s father was there one day, gone the next. His mother sat him and his siblings down and told them their father was gone, it was just them now, and they wouldn’t be seeing him again. But Luke never believed his father could just walk away from a family he’d said he loved. Now, from his role within a secretive military organization, he uses the intelligence he can access to follow leads on his father, but each is a dead end.
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Luke finds himself endlessly embroiled in deadly missions from secret bases, posing as a civilian for front companies, and tracking national enemies to capture or kill. But now, his questions have brought trouble back with him onto US soil, all the way to his hometown—and ultimately, his quest might put his family in the line of fire.
Chapter One
“So what you’re saying is our target is a whistleblower?” said Master Sergeant Rex Barnes. “The man grew a pair and exposed a corrupt billion-dollar lab linked to our government, and our target isn’t the company itself but the employee, who has now been named an enemy of the state? Just want to be sure I’m one hundred percent clear, here. This lab has been committing crimes against the public, fabricating crime scenes using DNA of their choosing, all with the blessing of the CIA, and we’re saying this is okay? The operation was privately funded, yet now the technology is being sold to every rogue government and criminal, and we’re meant to target the whistleblower who exposed the scheme? A man we once would’ve called a hero is now our enemy? Like, good God, what the hell has become of this country? Have we really been reduced to this?”
Master Sergeant Barnes was dark-haired and blue-eyed, hot-headed and ambitious, and at times he was confused for Luke, considering he had the same long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, the same broad shoulders, and the same height of six feet. Unlike Luke, though, Rex was grandstanding, as he usually did. He still hadn’t learned the art of shutting his damn trap and keeping it shut in front of anyone in charge.
“It sounds to me as if you’re challenging an order, Master Sergeant,” said Colonel Raymond Powers. “Is there a problem here that I don’t know about? Because last I heard, how this works is the orders come down from the White House, and you don’t question them. It’s not up to you to be the judge and jury and decide which assholes you shoot. The order comes down for your mission, I outline it, and you shut the fuck up and follow it. We don’t get to question what falls under national security and what doesn’t. You’re a grunt. You pick up the gun and shoot who we tell you to.”
Colonel Powers was the shortest member of the team, in his fifties, a retired operator on his third wife. He was standing at the end of the boardroom table in the command center where they were being briefed, wearing green fatigues and the same pissed-off, unsmiling expression he always had. “Sergeant Major, you need a minute with your team to see they have their heads screwed on straight?” he snapped at Jess Parker, the team leader.
Jess was perched on the end of the table instead of sitting in a seat, and he still hadn’t shaved since arriving back stateside three days earlier. His bushy reddish hair was shoulder-length, but his beard and mustache gave him a hillbilly biker look that wouldn’t have made him seem out of place on America’s Most Wanted. Added to that was the tattoo on his forearm, a skull and crossbones emblazoned with the words “Death before dishonor”—something that would’ve been frowned on in the regular military but was good for their unit.
The 77th Operational Delta, known as the Wardogs, were a special forces team that didn’t really exist, reporting directly to the White House, which was both good and bad. It had started because of the war on terror, but, as of late, they ha
d been more focused on protecting the dirty side of business.
“Nope, we’re good to go,” Jess said. “Seems Barnes has forgotten his manners and how he’s supposed to be seen and not heard, just like the child he is, in the presence of his commanding officers. Not to worry. He’s figuring it out now that we’re back stateside. Isn’t that right?”
Jess gave everything to Rex, who only lifted his hands arrogantly and didn’t say another word. There was just something about Jess, who’d run their team for six years. He garnered all their respect unconditionally, and he knew how to shut each of them down, take the heat, and keep them all alive.
“So you’ll be wheels up in two hours. That will be all,” the colonel said before striding out of the secure room on the base at Fort Bragg.
Luke swiveled in the old black leather chair, taking in the now closed door, before turning back toward Sergeant First Class Matthew Newman, sitting across from him in a white T-shirt and khakis. The newbie, at twenty-five, was eager to impress. He was from Nebraska, with hazel eyes and nice, silky, long dirty blond hair and a smile that could sweet-talk the pants off any woman. He could’ve passed for a surfer, Luke thought, and he always had a different woman on his arm. His eyes could flash with teasing one minute and be filled with the kind of look that would have any sane man running the other way the next.
“I’m with Rex on this one,” Matthew said. “This isn’t sitting too right, Jess, that someone could use my DNA to fabricate a crime scene while I’m on the other side of the world. Definitely leaves me with a cold chill.”
“This is what you signed up for,” Jess said. “You’re a grunt. You’re not paid to think. You follow orders, end of story. The Harris Group is one of the leading genetics companies, responsible for cutting-edge medical research that saves lives.” He took in each one of them.
From the other end of the table, Shaun Grant, Sergeant First Class, pitched in. “Doesn’t it seem odd to you that we’re being asked to go in and shut down this situation before it becomes known to the public? Seems as if more and more, we’re becoming hired thugs.” His black hair was close cropped, and he had dark skin and dark eyes, the biggest member of the team, at six foot two and likely three hundred pounds of solid muscle. His conference room chair seemed too small for his big frame. To Luke, Shaun was the one they all looked to, who had their backs and was always first through the door.
“So let me get this straight,” Rex started again. “We’re flying to Switzerland to capture a whistleblower, an executive at a private genetics lab funded by every government worldwide, which is stockpiling DNA from private citizens for all kinds of nefarious means in the name of research and development. He’s exposed them for working with the CIA and other countries to manipulate DNA evidence and engineer crime scenes, and he’s also exposed our government and the Harris Group for selling their technology to the highest bidder.
“But because he’s stepped on the wrong toes and just because our government can, we’re supposed to be okay with capturing this poor schmuck? He’s the one being screwed here, in my opinion. We’re going to toss him away in a hole forever, no trial, no nothing, because he sounded the alarm? This technology could result in any one of us being locked up forever on charges for a crime we didn’t commit. Sounds to me like we’re on the wrong side of this one.”
Luke had long past realized that an order was an order. He’d lost track of the number of missions that had strayed into the corporate world that the government had its hands in. The wrong side was the wrong side, but the lines had started to blur.
“It’s not up to us to question it,” Jess said, looking around at them. “You know that. We take the order, and you do your job. You don’t get an opinion. Are we clear here, or does anyone else have something to get off his chest before we’re wheels up?”
To Luke, the five-member team were like his brothers. His family back in Livingston would likely have a serious fit if they knew what really went on behind the scenes in their government, if they knew about the kinds of assholes he was protecting.
“No, fine,” Shaun said in his deep voice. “My mama always raised me to believe that honesty is the best policy, but scheming and dishonesty seem to be what we’re defending now. Makes perfect sense to me.” He was dressed in fatigues and a tan T-shirt. When he swiveled around in his chair, Luke sensed he seemed moodier than usual.
“Great, so now that we’re all clear, remember this isn’t a sanctioned military operation,” Jess said. “We’re going in as civilians. Know that this isn’t sitting right with me, either, but we don’t get to pick and choose our missions. We follow orders. That’s what we signed on for. You’ll need your suits for this one. Speaking of, Luke, how was your brother’s wedding? How’s your family?”
Luke could just make out Jess’s blue eyes as the man lifted the shades he’d worn inside, something the colonel also never busted him for. But then, they were Jess’s team, and they operated under an anonymity that Luke had once appreciated. The things they did wouldn’t sit right with members of the regular army.
“He’s married, but I’m not sure he buys into it, considering he’s still stuck on the fact that our dad ditched us as kids,” Luke said. “I didn’t know it still bothered him, even though it fucked us all around. But hey, he did it. He’s adopting the little girl, too, and I heard before leaving yesterday that he’s going to be a baby daddy. Charlotte’s preggers.”
“Marcus is married, adopting that kid, and now about to be a father? Good for him. I’m happy for him,” Rex said, jumping in, all smiles. “Has to make your mom happy.”
Luke just took in his team, who’d met his family only a handful of times but knew everything about them and then some. They all knew more about each other and their issues, their secrets, than their own families knew.
Then everyone was up and started to the door, ready to hit their lockers and grab their bags, their guns, everything they’d need.
“Luke, got a second?” Jess added before he could leave.
“Sure,” he said, realizing it was only him and Jess left in the conference room.
“Just wanted to give you a heads-up that the lead you asked Sienna to follow up on, the one about Raymond O’Connell, turned up nothing. Yes, Sienna was under the impression that I knew about the request. When she mentioned it to me, I knew the man had to be your dad, and I thought, ‘Now, what the hell is Luke doing?’ So now I’m asking, why are you having Sienna Parker, our CIA agent, look for your dad?”
In that moment, Luke wanted nothing more than to pull Sienna aside and ask her what the hell she was doing.
“You’ve known me a long time,” Luke said. “Fine, here it is. There’s just something about the fact that my father up and walked away from his family eighteen years ago that’s never sat right with me. We never heard from him again, and from what I’ve figured out, he vanished into thin air. Now, who does that? We have the resources, so yeah, I’ve been doing some homework. You going to bust me for that?”
Jess glanced over to the door and back to him, but he didn’t say anything for another second. “Cut the crap, Luke. You can’t have Sienna doing personal investigating for you. Your dad evidently doesn’t want to be found—but then again, there could be another option.”
“You mean that he could be dead?” Luke said. That was the thing he’d thought of over and over. If his father had disappeared and walked away, he was either dead or didn’t want to be found. “If he’s dead, how is it that I can’t find anything on him? The more I dig, the more holes I find.”
Jess ran his hand over his chin. “Well, then maybe you have your answer.” He started to the door before turning back to him. “Luke, if you keep digging, the answers you find may not be the ones you want. Oh, and one more thing,” Jess said, his hand on the door. “Consider this your birthday present, me coming to you. Sienna’s doing you this favor, but then she came to me. You may want to ask yourself, what is she up to?”
Chapter Two
/> “Hey there, Luke,” Sienna said. Her blond hair hung long and loose, and she wore a navy dress and pumps. She was slender and tall, at five foot seven, and she had been working with their team, gathering intelligence, for four years. She was the CIA side, with assets he didn’t want to know about.
“Sienna, you’re looking rather fetching in that dress,” he said.
That was another thing about her: She gave the impression of being a PTA mom, a former cheerleader from the Midwest, but in fact, she was really good at what she did.
She strode up to where he stood in the team’s hotel suite on the top floor of the five-star Emperor Hotel in Geneva, where he was cleaning his HK 416. Even though he couldn’t carry it under his suit, it was his go-to weapon of choice. However, the spot of sniper on the team was held by Matthew and then Rex. He’d be limited to his Glock today, hidden under his tailored blue suit, and he’d carry a spare strapped to his ankle.
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