#6--The Missing Father--O’Connells

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “Brooks is my last name,” she said. “It was my ex’s. I’m divorced. And online advertising isn’t that much of a stretch. But you, Luke, what did you tell me about yourself? There was no truth on your end. I was the one at the end of the bar. I didn’t target you. You walked down to me. You’re a military operator, so who was playing whom? It wasn’t just me. At the same time, I guess I need to say thank you for my dad. You got him out.”

  “We always do. That was what we agreed to.”

  “You didn’t have to kill him—Ben.”

  He wiped his hand over his face, shaking his head. “Consider that a mercy,” he said. “He went after my family. You don’t put a gun to my mother and my six-year-old niece. He crossed a line. Death was too good for him.” He needed to end this, to get off the phone, but he still wanted to know how she could target innocent people, his family.

  “Ben always was a hothead,” Rosemary said. “But, Luke, my dad never should’ve been arrested. He never should’ve been sent away like he was. He was just trying to do the right thing. I can’t believe you wouldn’t be horrified about what he uncovered and tried to expose. We were left with no choice. Your government would never have let him go. He wouldn’t even have been given a trial or a lawyer. He’d still be sitting in some hole, buried for the rest of his life…”

  “They’re your government too, Rosemary—and I don’t get to pick and choose what I agree with in the military. I follow orders. Besides, this is all kind of a moot point. I don’t even know why I called. Maybe curiosity. Us having drinks and you taking me up to your room, was that your plan? Would you have slept with anyone else on my team? How did you know we’d even be in the bar? It seems you were waiting. I just don’t get it. Let’s start there, because you have a lot to answer for.”

  She sighed. “You know what? That’s a lot of questions, and I’m not sure I want to answer you. How do I know you’re not going to come after the rest of my family—Joel, Martin, Liam? By the way, they’re scared shitless right now. Would you kill them too, and me, for our hand in getting our dad out?”

  Outside, the realtor was now hammering the sign into the ground.

  “What part did you have in threatening my family?” Luke said. “Did you know Ben held a gun to the head of my mother and my little niece? Do you know the nightmares she has now? You think that’s fair, doing that to a little girl? So why me? Why my family? You didn’t answer me. Would you have taken anyone on my team to your room?”

  Why did he want to know so bad?

  “Honestly, I never planned to take you to my room,” she said. “There was something about you that had me acting against my better judgement. I’m sorry, Luke. I would never have been part of something that put your family in danger like that, or a little girl. We didn’t know Ben would do that. However, I think saying I’m sorry for something I didn’t do would be the same as you saying you’re sorry for taking my dad, don’t you think?” She sighed again. “Your family was innocent, and so was my dad. I don’t think there’s anything else to say, is there?”

  “Actually, there’s a lot to say, a lot of answers I need. How did you even know where we were?” He realized he could go on and on, but there was something different about talking on the phone and not looking someone in the eye. He couldn’t tell when she was lying to him.

  “I don’t have answers to give you,” she said. “I think it would be best if I said goodbye. You killed my brother for what he did. Was there another way? Of course there was. So I think we’ve said all we need to. Goodbye, Luke.”

  Then she hung up, and he pulled his cell phone away from his ear. As the realtor drove off, he took in the house and thought of his brother, Charlotte, and Eva, who were now staying at his mom’s. He’d go back home and see them.

  Talking to Rosemary had accomplished only one thing: It had left him with the need for more answers. He needed to make sure with one hundred percent certainty that nothing about her could come back on him and his family.

  Maybe he wasn’t all that trusting, but what had kept him alive so far was expecting the unexpected.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Luke strode down the hall of the base, his boots squeaking on the hard floor, which always appeared freshly washed. He didn’t know why, but he found himself looking over his shoulder and wondering if Sienna was around, because really, he needed to address his issues with her even though finding his dad and getting answers about him were now way down on the list of his priorities. After everything, his questions about his dad didn’t seem important anymore.

  As he thought about Rosemary and Sienna, he was starting to wonder who was more deceitful. Sienna had backstabbed him by going to Jess like she had. What was she really up to? Was she behind the disappearance of the Raymond O’Connell he had found in Wisconsin, creating an entire cover story about witness protection, or had that identity vanished all because he was asking? A coincidence, really. But Luke didn’t believe in coincidence.

  It seemed his need to find his dad had shifted to a need to deal with two women. Sienna was blowing him off by sending him toward dead ends, and it had him trusting her less than he had before. Asking the wrong questions could have him or any member of his team dead. Would she willingly toss them away or lead him and his team as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter? At one time, he’d have said no, but now he couldn’t. What he’d discovered kind of blurred the lines of who was and wasn’t a criminal.

  As had been pointed out to him, no missing person report had been filed about his dad, because he’d simply walked away, and his mom had never questioned it. He couldn’t get her words out of his head. How could a man simply disappear as if he’d never existed? Was his dad a spook or something? Maybe, but then, he could be seeing ghosts because of what he did and because of the game Sienna seemed to be playing.

  He took in the halls of the base, seeing the secure room ahead with its door closed. He dropped his cell phone into the plastic slot attached to the wall, which held the phones of everyone who walked through that door. Classified was classified, and certain procedures still had to be followed.

  He punched in the code and strode through, seeing Jess, Rex, Matthew, and Shaun already there, and the colonel too. Something about Jess’s expression would have been unreadable to anyone else, but Luke knew something was up.

  “Well, glad you’re here,” the colonel said. “Seems that little incident in your hometown has landed an entire shitstorm of problems on my desk. I was just asking everyone here if they had any idea how the target, Stefan Schwartz, could suddenly disappear from a secure facility, but it seems you’re all suddenly playing deaf and dumb.” The way he barked it out sounded accusatory.

  “Colonel, are you in some way trying to hold me responsible for what happened to my family, my mother and little niece? You know why harm came down on them. It was because of something we did while doing your dirty work, the dirty business of this government.” He knew he was out of line, but he didn’t give a shit and could feel his adrenaline pumping as he fisted his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jess perched on the end of the boardroom table, just shaking his head, pissed, angry, feeling exactly what he was feeling.

  “You challenging my authority there, son?” The colonel stepped around the table and up to him as if he could kick his ass even though he was several inches shorter than Luke. He knew he was daring him to hit him, to do something so he could toss him in the brig.

  “Oh, I’m sure you’d love that, wouldn’t you, Colonel?” Luke said.

  Then Matthew was there, his hand on his shoulder in front of him, pushing him. “Walk away,” he said, moving him back.

  “Colonel, you are way off base here,” Jess said. “My team is owed an apology. I already told you we have no idea about Stefan Schwartz. He’s in the wind? We did our job, turned him over. Take it up with whoever was holding him.”

  Luke could no longer see the colonel because Matthew was in his face, holding him back. Maybe he’d than
k him later, but right now he wouldn’t have minded putting a fist in his face.

  “You’d better hope you weren’t involved, Sergeant Major, for your team’s sake, because if you were, there’d be nothing I could do to save you,” the colonel said, then walked out of the secure room. The man wanted heads to roll.

  For a minute, no one said anything.

  “You take care of your problem?” Jess said.

  Luke knew he was referring to Rosemary, and he hesitated. “Working on it. I’ll be taking care of that next. But something about this has bothered me and doesn’t quite sit right. How did she know we were there? Don’t any of you wonder about how convenient that was? That kind of information about our team isn’t just out there, you know.”

  Shaun, whom Luke still owed a world of thanks, was leaning against the back wall. Next to him was Rex, whose expression told Luke he’d just figured out what he was getting at.

  Rex glanced over to Jess and then Shaun. “Yeah, that’s kind of creeping me out a bit.”

  Jess said nothing, just taking him in.

  “You know what?” Luke continued. “I have a bunch of questions about all this. One of them is about Sienna. Matthew, you were pretty cozy with her at the bar. I think we need to have a talk about her, because I’m starting to wonder if she was behind what happened. One of Schwartz’s sons turned over his documents, but we didn’t get them all. Sienna certainly didn’t get them for us. The rest were missing, remember? Maybe she had something to do with my family suddenly coming into the line of fire.”

  Jess was shaking his head.

  Matthew was right in his face now. “You’d better watch yourself, Luke. I was friendly with Sienna, but if you’re saying I’m part of this in any way…”

  Jess was already there, pulling him back. “Knock it off,” he said. “Luke isn’t saying that, but what was that with Sienna, anyway?”

  Matthew didn’t look too happy to be questioned. “Flirting. Who gives a shit? She’s attractive. We were done our job and blowing off some steam. She’s single, I’m single. Why does it matter?”

  The way Shaun was watching them, Luke wondered what he was thinking.

  “You really think Sienna was behind that when we already know the woman you picked up in the bar got into your phone?” Rex added.

  Luke didn’t know what to say. “Well, think about it. How did she get there? How did she know it was us? It was quite a coincidence, all of it. I think Sienna knows more.”

  Jess gave him everything, hard, intense, then pulled in a breath. “Well, let’s find out for sure. Luke, you need to go take care of that business with the girl. Matthew, since you’re more friendly with Sienna, go and work our CIA agent and find out what it is she’s done, what she knows, and whether she had a hand in any of this. If she did, I want to know exactly how.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Of all the places he’d never been, Terre Haute, Indiana, was one of them.

  As he pulled up in his rental car and parked in front of a two-story home with a porch and a black Jeep in the driveway, the street reminded him of his hometown in some ways. He took in the neighborhood, seeing kids on bikes, and started up the sidewalk. The oak tree out front had to have been one of the reasons she owned this place. It was the perfect climbing tree and gave the area an established feel.

  He strode up the three steps and tapped on the screen door, which was open. He could hear her voice inside. The sun was out, and he was already sweating. She came around the corner and stopped with the phone to her ear. She was barefoot in a gray sundress, and her hair was pulled up.

  “Larry, I’m going to have to call you back,” she said. Then she hung up the phone and stood there for a second, just staring at him. What was it about her? Time seemed to stand still. “What are you doing here?” she said, but she didn’t take a step closer to open the door to him.

  “We have some things to discuss,” he said. “Open the door.”

  She hesitated, then set her phone down on the hall table before flicking a small metal latch and pushing the screen door open with a squeak. “I guess I should thank you for not breaking the latch on the door,” she said.

  He stepped inside, taking her in, remembering how good her body looked naked. He had to remind himself his family had been in danger because of her. “I’m not about to break your door in. I’m here to talk about Ben and what he did, breaking into my brother’s place, putting a gun to my mother’s head and terrorizing the little girl my brother and his wife are adopting. Do you have any idea what that kind of event does to a kid?”

  She didn’t pull her gaze from him at first, but then she shut her eyes, shaking her head. “Look, as I said, Ben was always a hothead. We never expected him to do what he did. This was about getting Dad out. I suppose you already exacted your revenge, killing him and his friend. Of course I’m not okay with him doing what he did. Joel was the one who called me and told me he had gone too far. One of your team talked with my brothers. I have to wonder, though, is that our fate as well? Is that why you’re here, Luke, to kill me?”

  The way she said it, she wasn’t begging for her life. She was so matter of fact as she lifted her hands toward him. “No, I had no idea Ben would drag an innocent child and your mother into it. Do you want me to say I’m sorry? Would that help?” She turned and strode into the living room, over to a small desk by a bookcase in the corner. A red and gold area rug had been tossed over the hardwood floor, and the walls were all dark wood paneling. The house looked restored, likely a hundred years old.

  “I want to know why you were at the bar,” Luke said. “You said you didn’t plan on me, but you had to know we were there. Who gave you the information?”

  “What?” she said. “Why does it matter who? It’s done, right? Or are you here for some retribution? Come on, Luke. Yes, I broke into your phone when you were sleeping. Was that the plan? There was no plan, but getting all your contacts and everything helped. It was what my brother had asked for. Ben knew what hotel you were in and figured you’d be at the bar. He knew something about your operation before it went down. I was already at the hotel then, because I had checked in two days earlier, but you probably already know that.”

  He didn’t, but he wondered if Jess did.

  “I was in town to convince my dad to leave,” she said. “He wouldn’t, because he said he was supposed to meet with someone from the BBC. You already know his contact didn’t show, so here we are. Dad’s out, and we seem to have traded my brother’s life for his. If I had to go back, would I do something differently? Yes, of course I would. I wouldn’t let Ben shoulder all this himself, especially now, seeing that your family was targeted. This wasn’t about going after your families. It was about going after each one of you because of what you did.”

  “So someone tipped off Ben,” he said. “Who was it?”

  She lifted her hands in confusion as she stepped around her desk. Her laptop was open. “I don’t know. Some contact he said he had. Military, I think. I didn’t ask. Is this why you came all the way out here? You called me, Luke, remember? This is kind of overkill. Or is there something else I need to worry about?” Her eyes were soft and sad at the same time.

  “You think I’m here to kill you?”

  She just shrugged. Anyone else would have been terrified, but she wasn’t. “Well, aren’t you?”

  “No, I’m not a monster. You think I would sleep with you the way I did and then show up and kill you? This is personal, Rosemary.”

  “For me too. It’s no different than you doing what you did to my dad. He was innocent, and you saying you were ordered to do it doesn’t make it right. Guess we could go round and round on this, but it won’t solve anything. Who’s more wrong here? I’m sorry about your mother and the little girl, but I didn’t do it, and neither did my other brothers. Nor did we know Ben would do that. I’d like to think it wasn’t Ben’s plan. You need to ask yourself if you would’ve done the same thing as him if the roles were reversed.”
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  Her arms were slender, crossed in front of her. He’d expected her to be nervous, but she was anything but. He couldn’t help wondering if she really was that naive about her brother. He’d seen the look in Ben’s eyes. He was a trained killer. Would he have pulled the trigger? Without hesitation.

  “Not that, never a kid,” he said. “I’ve done things I can’t take back, but there’re lines I won’t cross. Bringing a war to my family wasn’t okay.”

  She nodded. “Point taken, and your team members also got their point through to my brothers. The one who tied Martin up in his garage left him there for over twenty-four hours and dislocated his shoulder, by the way. He didn’t deserve that. He was in over his head. Joel and Liam, too. We all got it. Our dad is safe. Joel turned over some of his documents, yes, but the other ones your country wants, the ones you’ll never get, I know the men who have them—a copy, that is.” She lifted her chin to him.

  He nodded. “Now, why did I know you were going to say that?”

  She shrugged. “Is this where you demand all of it? If you do, the answer is no. Although my dad’s free, there’s just something about the way all of this went down that makes me think I’ll need my own get-out-of-jail-free card, for me and my family. We’re not criminals or bad people.”

  Could he blame her? No. “I would’ve thought you’d send your dad’s information to all the news stations, journalists everywhere.”

  “Who says I didn’t?” was all she said. He realized there was so much more to Rosemary Brooks than he could have realized.

  “You know, there could have been something between us, I like to think,” he said.

  She pulled in a breath and glanced away, uncomfortable.

  “So let me ask you something, face to face,” he continued. “If it hadn’t been me who approached you, if it had been someone else from the team, would you have slept with him, too?”