SEAL Undercover (Silver SEALs Book 10)

by Desiree Holt

  “Well, what the hell is it?” Kurt Cavanaugh demanded. “Don’t keep us waiting. We have enough to be on edge about.”

  “All right.” She let out a breath. “I know Luis can be a bit uncontainable at times but he can usually sniff out trouble.”

  She went on to give them the details of her phone call from him, being sure to include every bit of information. When she finished, everyone stared at her for a moment.

  Then Gavin smacked his fist on the arm of his chair. “Damn it, Lorena, I know that bastard Rojas has put a lot of money in our pockets and is providing the manpower we need. But hell. This is a very delicate operation. Any little thing could upset it. He can’t go off like that without checking with us first.”

  Lorena’s smile held little humor. “I’m not sure I want to be the one to tell him that. When I brought you all into my arrangement with him, giving him a wider choice of travel routes, none of you objected to the millions rolling your way from his drug sales. I believe I’m correct in that?” She looked around.

  “That doesn’t give him the right to go off on his own like that,” Jed reminded her. “This all has to be closely coordinated or it can easily fall apart. What if he tickled someone’s curiosity? One slip of someone’s tongue, one wrong move—”

  She held up her hand. “We all know that. Luis does, too. But if we have a ringer here with us, it can affect him as much as it does us.”

  “So, are you saying this isn’t the real Max and Regan Ferren?” Anna Whitlow asked.

  “I’m saying we don’t know for sure,” Lorena answered, “but it looks suspicious. He’s very suspicious after the hospital visit. He’s convinced something doesn’t add up, such as perhaps Bernardo isn’t even in that hospital room. Didn’t even have a heart attack or open heart surgery. He said they all but threw him into the elevator. He certainly didn’t get a look at Bernardo.”

  “So he couldn’t see if Bernardo was even in the room?” Hildie asked.

  Lorena shook her head. “Luis never got a chance to find out. He said the men were very smooth in the way they got him out of the area.”

  Gavin took a swallow of his drink. “And what’s so secretive about a man recuperating from open-heart surgery, anyway? Why does he need men like that guarding him?”

  “It may be the same men who were there when I went to see him,” Jed pointed out. “Their company does a lot of under-the-table business, especially in foreign countries. The group on the losing side isn’t always so happy with him. And he’s very vulnerable in the hospital. Anyone could get to him in his condition. It sounded reasonable at the time.”

  “Here’s what I want to know.” Kurt rose and began to pace the great room. “Why is it necessary to have so many guards there who, according to Luis, look like they came from a Special Ops unit? Why are the drapes closed over the window and the door to his room, unless it’s to hide the fact the room is empty? Why was there a guy in who couldn’t look more out of place be sitting at the nurses’ station? And where the hell is Jeanne Ferren?”

  “Jed, I know this man is a friend of yours. That’s why we accepted him, but—”

  Jed glared at everyone. “You all accepted hm because he could supply the weapons and munitions we needed for this. It wasn’t as if we could put this job out for bid.”

  “But are you sure we should be doing business with someone who deals with the kind of people who necessitate that kind of protection?” Elizabeth Emery asked.

  “Exactly what kind of people do you imagine us contacting for something like this?” Jed barked a laugh. “And Bernardo was a known quantity who has the same goals we do. Don’t get a holier than thou attitude, Elizabeth. We’re not much better. Think of the people who will be killed when we launch our program.” He looked around the room. “Anyone want to change their minds?” ,He waited for the space of two heartbeats. “No? Okay, then let’s move along.”

  “Here’s a question.” Gavin cleared his throat. “If this couple here are ringers, where are the real Max and Regan Ferren?”

  Jed stopped pacing. “A good question.”

  Elias, who hadn’t said much, went to the bar to refill his glass then turned to everyone. “Lorena has passed along what little Rojas learned. That’s all we have at the moment. We can’t exactly start asking questions to see what’s really going on. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to proceed from here? Do we think Jed should go to Denver again and see what’s going on?”

  ”And call attention to us and our project?” Elizabeth Emery wet her lips. “Surely people as smart as we are can figure out what in the hell is going on here and what to do about it.” She looked around. “And, in case it’s slipped anyone’s mind, we need to make damn sure the shipments we ordered are still a go and will be delivered on time.”

  “Max—either real or fake—assured us they are,” Lorena said. “Let’s pin him on it in the morning.”

  “Assuming the worst,” Lorena broke in, “and these are imposters, does anyone have any idea how someone got word of our plans and set us up?”

  “Fuck no, and that’s disturbing.” Kurt raked his fingers through his hair. “We’re hardly stupid people. We should have some ideas here. Tomorrow we’re going to discuss the exact steps after the incidents on the Fourth as well as how we’re handling the person we’re putting in the top slot, and if these people—”

  “That person has to remember he’s just a figurehead,” Hildie interrupted. “That’s it.”

  “Not a problem. All he wants is the publicity and the glory. The moment we take control of Congress and remove the president, we’ll be in control. All the way.”

  Anna cleared her throat. “I hate to ask at this late date—and I am not doubting anyone, especially my husband— but are you sure this is going to work? We have so much invested in it.”

  “Like a charm,” Lorena answered. “We’ve all worked and planned very hard for it. You know that better than anyone. Put enough money in the right hands so when disaster strikes, we have people begging us to take over. The world will most definitely be our oyster.”

  “Then we’d better figure out whether the two people who are right now probably returning from their stroll in the moonlight are the real deal or not.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have let them outside by themselves.” This came from Kurt.

  “Just how would you have us stop them?” Jed asked. “Tell them they can’t go anywhere by themselves?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Kurt interjected. “They can’t go anywhere without us knowing, and it gave us a chance to learn this information. But, somehow, we have to validate them. Make sure they are the real Regan and Max Ferren.”

  “Exactly how are we going to do that?” Hildie Kavanaugh demanded. “It’s not as if we can take their fingerprints and run them through a database.”

  “If Bernardo’s in the hospital—or even if he’s somewhere else— and Max is here, who’s running the factory?” Gavin asked.

  “Their general manager,” Jed answered. “I called him when I was in Denver and again before I met with the real-or-not-real Max and Regan. Told him I was just checking on things. Bernardo had involved him from the start. He said sometimes both of the brothers are away at the same time. He’s been with the company for fifteen years, so he can handle it during those times.”

  “Well.” Lorena looked around the room. “Does anyone have any suggestions that are practical and make sense? I’d say after Luis’s trip this whole thing is very suspicious. And why are they out there taking a walk by themselves, anyway? This isn’t exactly a place where you stroll around at night, Jed. Are they hiding something? We cannot afford anything to go wrong. Not at this point.”

  No one said a word.

  “Have you picked up anything on the bugs in their room?” Kurt wanted to know.

  Jed shook his head. “Not a thing. In fact, it’s almost as if they know I’ve got listening devices in there and they’re performing for them. Same thing at the h
otel.”

  “They can’t be too worried about them,” Kurt pointed out, “or they’d have brought jammers with them. Not that people like having their privacy invaded, but they’re behaving exactly like people who have nothing to hide.”

  “And maybe they don’t.” Then she paused, forehead wrinkled in thought. “This all happened so fast, and we only have Rojas’s word for it that something’s off. There is, however, something else that concerns me. Jed, when you went to visit Bernardo, you saw Jeanne, right?”

  He nodded. “And I gave her the number of your cell phone, as you requested. I also gave her Anna’s, Just in case.”

  “Right.” Anna nodded. “Because we know none of their regular friends know about this group, and I thought she might need someone here to talk to. Maybe get some moral support while her husband recovers from open heart surgery. Anyway, she has not called once. Wouldn’t one of us have heard from her if there was a problem?”

  “Assuming she still has the cellphone and is able to call.”

  Silence blanketed the room while they digested what the Whitlows had said.

  “Well.” Lorena cleared her throat. “We need a way to confirm if these people are the real Ferrens or not. And if they aren’t, who sent them? Tomorrow we’re going to be discussing what happens after July 4th and how we proceed. If we have a ringer here, we have to take care of that first.”

  Gavin nodded. “Agreed. We need to do some serious thinking and come up with possible solutions. For right now, however, I suggest that we break up this little pow-wow. If the Ferrens walk back into the house and see us congregated here, they’re liable to get suspicious.”

  “Right,” Jed added. “We don’t want them to get the idea we’re having a meeting without them. We’d just raise their suspicions if we’re wrong in our assumptions.”

  “I agree,” Gavin Emery said. “Elias, I have some brand new imported cigars if you’d like to join me on the patio and indulge.”

  “Go ahead,” Lorena urged her husband. “After all this, I have the start of a headache. I think I’ll take something for it and turn in early.”

  “Me, too,” Elizabeth Emery echoed.

  “I have some calls to make.” Kurt Cavanaugh rose from the easy chair where he’d been sitting. “I guess I’ll head upstairs, too.”

  “Amna, why don’t you fix some tea for yourself before you go upstairs,” Jed suggested. “I’ll be along after a while. I have some work to do down here before I call it a day.”

  “That’s a good idea. Let me just clean up the glasses here.”

  Jed was still sitting in the great room with his laptop, searching for anything he could find on the Ferrens, when the front door opened and the Ferrens walked back in. He closed the laptop and stood.

  “Oh, don’t bother to get up,” Regan said.

  “Right,” Max agreed. “If you’ve work to do, don’t let us interrupt.”

  “It’s nothing that can’t wait. How was the walk?” He managed a grin. “No wild animals, right?”

  “Right.” Max looked around the room. “Everyone gone to bed?”

  “Most of them. Gavin and Elias are out on the patio smoking cigars. I’m sure they’d love to have you join them.”

  Max grinned. “Thanks. But I think my wife would shoot me if I indulged.”

  “We should turn in early, too,” Regan urged. “It’s been a long day, and I’m sure tomorrow will be even longer. We’ll be discussing the next steps, right? At least that’s how Bernardo told us it would go.”

  Jed managed to keep the pleasant expression on his face. “That’s the plan.”

  “Then we’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Sure I can’t offer you a drink?” He’d play the gracious host if it killed him. Besides, what better way to avoid raising their suspicions, just in case they weren’t the real deal.

  “No, but thanks anyway.”

  “Okay, then. Breakfast at nine and then we get to work. See you then.”

  He watched them climb the stairs, trying to read their body language and determine if they were even truly married. He saw nothing that raised any red flags. If they were ringers, they were damn good at doing this. And that sent a heavy chill down his spine.

  *****

  Max closed the door to their room, wishing the doors had locks. The vibes he got from Jed when they returned to the house made all his senses send out warnings. What the hell had happened while they were outside?

  “I think I’ll take a shower before turning in.”

  Although his tone was casual, his body was tense. Every one of his senses was on high alert. Something was going on here. He had no idea what, but he’d bet it had to do with that scum Luis Rojas checking out Bernardo Ferren’s hospital situation. He’d learned in the SEALs that you could plan every mission down to the last detail, but you couldn’t do much for the unexpected.

  Regan glanced at him and nodded her understanding. “I think I will, too. You go first.”

  He stripped off his clothes, tossed them on a chair, and walked naked into the bathroom. Once he had the spray adjusted the way he wanted, he stepped into it and took one of the quickest showers ever. Regan took his place and did the same thing. Then they wrapped in towels and left the water running while they took advantage of the opportunity to talk.

  “Something’s weird here,” she said. “I could feel it when we stepped back into the house.”

  Max nodded. “Yeah, me, too. You know Rojas called Lorena and gave her every little detail plus his assessment.”

  “And you know they discussed it while we were outside. I just wish we had some way to know what happens next.”

  Regan blotted water from her hair with one corner of the towel. “Do you think they’ll actually get into a discussion tomorrow of what comes next? I mean, if they think we’re not the real thing?”

  He shrugged. “Hard to say. I’m sure Jed has done everything he can to make sure this goes forward. It’s unfortunate that Luis Rojas decided to take matters into his own hands and visit Bernardo. However, Si is on top of it, and reinforcements are arriving tonight and rendezvousing with Lou Valenti. If we have to fight our way out of here tomorrow, at least we won’t be on our own.”

  “Are you going to connect with Si tomorrow?”

  Max nodded. In the morning before breakfast. Then I have to signal him on the secure cell once every hour. It’s set up so I can tap one button and it send the right signal to him. If there’s trouble, I tap a different button.”

  “And if all hell breaks loose?”

  “Then I call him and tell him to have everyone get their asses here ASAP.” He pulled her against him, his arm around her body. God. She felt so good. “And when this is over…” His voice trailed off.

  Regan nodded. “When this is over.”

  “Meanwhile, I think I need a good-night kiss or I won’t sleep.”

  She laughed. “Okay, sailor, pucker up.”

  He was glad that in the grip of danger, personal as well as national, she still had a sense of humor. When this was all over, he definitely was not letting her go.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jed Whitlow was shaving the next morning, standing at the bathroom sink wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist, when his wife walked in, holding her cell phone.

  “I have a question.”

  He rinsed his razor and stroked it through another line of cream. “Okay. Shoot.”

  “Do you think I should try and call Jeanne? Maybe she isn’t sure if she should contact us. Or it might be that Bernardo is worried that somehow whoever has them squirreled away has set up a way to trace cell calls.”

  Jed thought for a moment while he shaved the rest of his face. Finished, he rinsed the razor, knocked it against the sink for good measure, and wiped his face.

  “Good point,” he acknowledged at last. “It might be worth the chance, though, to see if we have enemies in our midst.”

  “Okay. I’m going to call her right now before
we go downstairs.”

  Jed watched as she brought up her contacts list, found number for Jeanne Ferren, and hit Dial. He waited, watching, but nothing happened.

  “Don’t leave a message,” he ordered. “If they hit redial, all they’ll get is the burner phone you’re using.”

  “You’re right.” She disconnected and put the cell in the pocket of her slacks. “I’ll try her again later. I’ll just go on downstairs, put the breakfast casseroles in to heat, warm up the pastries, and make sure the coffeemaker is on.”

  “I’ll be down in just a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on the Ferrens and see if you spot anything wrong.”

  She sighed, “I will, but I’m not sure I’d even know if something was off.”

  “Use your intuition. You’ve got great instincts.”

  Anna flashed him a quick smile. “If you say so. I’m not so sure they’re working if I didn’t spot anything wrong with the Ferrens, even after we spent two days with them.”

  Jed snorted. “Don’t sell yourself short. I didn’t either. Remember?”

  She frowned. “And don’t you think that’s weird? You, especially, are a great judge of people.”

  “I think I was prepared not to like them because I was pissed off about Bernardo’s heart attack, callous bastard that I am.”

  She shook her head. “We’ve been planning this for so long that the possibility of something unexpected screwing it all up was the overriding factor. They might not be our cup of tea, but then not everyone in this group is. We became united by a common enemy and then decided to attack that enemy and change things.”

  “You’re right.” He hung his towel on a hook and walked naked into the bedroom, still talking as he dressed. “I’m getting a real bad feeling about things, though. And about what we might have to do to fix this.”

  She walked over to stand in front of him, placing her hand gently on his cheek. “But you’ll handle it. You always do.”

  “Thanks for your confidence.” He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Okay, go ahead and get breakfast ready. We’ll need the energy.”