Dark Water: Lantern Beach Blackout, Book 1

by Barritt, Christy

  Colton grabbed his gun and prepared himself to react.

  Chapter Eight

  Elise saw the man charging toward them and froze. In the blink of an eye, Colton nudged himself in front of her and drew his gun.

  At once, the implications of the situation hit her. Had this man followed her here? Would he finish what had been started back at her house? Elise flinched as she remembered the fear she’d felt as she waited for that man to catch her. She remembered the pain of being thrown to the floor. The pure desperation to get away.

  Her head swam. She’d been a fool to think she could run from it. Colton was right—trouble had followed her here.

  “Stay back!” Colton shouted.

  The man stopped and put his hands in the air. “Didn’t mean any problems.”

  Colton didn’t seem to buy it. His muscles remained tight. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

  “I live here. On the beach.”

  As the man said the words, Elise got a better look at his features. The man wore multiple layers, and his skin looked dirty and unwashed, as did his hair.

  Was he homeless?

  “You don’t need to be hanging out on this part of the beach.” Colton’s voice still sounded as hard as steel.

  “Okay, okay, man.” The guy took a step back, his hands still in the air. “Not trying to cause any trouble. Just looking for a place to settle down and enjoy the day.”

  “Find it on another part of the beach.” Colton reached into his pocket and pulled out some bills. With gun still in hand, he extended his other arm toward the man. “Take this. Get yourself something to eat or a room at the inn for the night.”

  The man nodded quickly and shoved the money into his pocket. “Thanks. I won’t bother you again. Sorry.”

  Colton waited until the man disappeared over the sand dune before putting the gun back into his holster. When he turned to face Elise, she felt her bones turning into JELL-O.

  How much more of this could she take? Would she be jumping at every stranger she saw until this was resolved? And, for that matter, would this ever truly be resolved?

  She was unsure about what the future held, and that left her feeling uneasy.

  She pulled her gaze up to meet Colton’s and saw him studying her. He was worried. She had no doubt about that.

  “Thank you,” she finally croaked out, rubbing her throat with one hand and pulling Colton’s jacket tighter around her with the other. The soothing scent of leather filled her senses, bringing her a moment of comfort.

  “Thankfully, it was a false alarm. But we do need to be on guard.”

  She nodded, probably too rapidly. Usually, she worked hard to remain expressionless, to hide how she really felt. It was part of her job. Her patients couldn’t know how horrified she was by some of the things they told her. But, right now, she was having trouble keeping herself in check.

  “Yes, I know,” she finally said. “Believe me, I know. I feel like I’ve unleashed something evil, for lack of a better word.”

  “You didn’t do anything, Elise.” Colton reached forward and squeezed her bicep. His touch sent a race of heat through her.

  A race of heat? Elise had no business feeling anything when Colton touched her. Colton was Daniel’s best friend. Feeling anything for him seemed like such a betrayal.

  Besides, she should have done right by Daniel. But she’d failed him. It seemed the ultimate injustice to show grace to one of his friends when she hadn’t extended that grace to her own husband.

  If only she could go back in time . . .

  She took a step away in an attempt to collect herself. “I should’ve handled this differently. Stayed quiet. Come straight here. I don’t know exactly.”

  “I would’ve done the same thing,” Colton said.

  Surprise rolled through Elise as she looked up into Colton’s brown eyes, searching them for a sign of the truth. “Really?”

  “Really. The command is supposed to be a safe place.”

  Something about his response made her lungs freeze, and her tension deepened. “Why do you say, ‘supposed to be’?”

  He rubbed his jaw like he always did when deep in thought. “Because I’ve suspected for a while now that someone is covering up something. I don’t know who has the answers, and no one is talking. Believe me, I’ve tried to figure it all out, to no avail. I think Daniel must’ve discovered something. Daniel was always like that. Always smart, astute. He was one of the best.”

  Elise swiped a hair away from between her eyes as the wind rushed over them again. “He was. His death was a great loss to the SEAL community.”

  “Not just to the SEAL community, but to the world—even if the world never knows it.”

  His words brought a balm-like comfort to the ragged edges of her soul. “You’re right. I suppose those complexities come with the job, huh?”

  “Daniel didn’t deserve the firestorm after his death. I know he’s dead and he’s not alive to see it. But you were. You went through a lot, and I am sorry about how he was treated.”

  Elise’s heart pounded in her ears as she remembered those horrible, horrible days.

  “Thank you.” But her voice sounded low and scratchy with emotions she had pushed down for too long now.

  “I should get you back inside.” Compassion and understanding laced Colton’s tone.

  “That sounds good. I guess I am more tired than I thought I was.”

  Before she walked back to the cottage, she gave one last glance over her shoulder. The homeless man was gone, but that didn’t mean danger wasn’t close. She didn’t know how long she would be safe here, but she dreaded to think about what the future might hold.

  * * *

  With Elise settled in her room, Colton called an emergency meeting with Dez and Griff. Ty joined them as they met in the living room.

  The last member of their team, Benjamin James, was on a mission in Virginia Beach right now. The man, a former bomb tech, was guarding a senator’s daughter who was in town. He’d join them here in a couple days.

  Colton explained to them the information Elise had shared.

  “What do you need us to do?” Dez asked.

  “There were several things in the metal box she found,” Colton said. “We don’t have any of the actual evidence—only photos of it.”

  “I’m not sure how much good photos will do.” Dez tilted his head, a skeptical look on his face.

  “We’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

  “Where are the originals?” Griff asked.

  “Hidden. Elise didn’t say where, and I didn’t ask.” Colton shifted. “Now, Griff, I want you to see if you can trace the phone number Daniel called from the burner phone.”

  “Will do.”

  Colton nodded at Dez. “Dez, I want you to try and figure out what this code means.”

  “I’m on it.”

  “Ty, if you’re willing to help, I’d love for you to take these pictures and see if you can ID anyone in them.”

  “I’d be more than happy to.”

  Colton shifted again, the weight of the situation pressing on him. “I want to make a list of everybody who could be responsible. Starting now.”

  “I think the most logical culprit would be one of the Savages,” Dez said.

  “I agree,” Colton said. “But it would be difficult for them to make it onto US soil.”

  “But it wouldn’t be unheard of.” Griff scowled and twirled the ever-present toothpick in his mouth.

  “True,” Colton said. “But let’s keep thinking.”

  “We’ve always suspected that an American was helping to finance them,” Dez said. “Maybe Daniel discovered who it was, and this person sent his men out to get Elise.”

  Colton swallowed hard at the thought. He hated thinking about Elise getting caught in the crosshairs of all this. But it was reality, and he needed to deal with it.

  “How about a mole on the inside at command?” Griff’s cold gaze dr
ifted from person to person. “Everyone blamed Daniel. But what if it was someone else?”

  Colton’s stomach clenched. That’s what he’d been thinking. “None of this happened until Elise went to the command and shared what she found.”

  “Who was there?” Dez asked.

  “Just Secretary of the Navy Stabler and Commander Larson.”

  Griff grunted. That summed up the situation perfectly. None of them wanted to think either of those men might be dirty. On top of that, Secretary Stabler was Benjamin’s uncle.

  All in all, Colton didn’t like any of those possibilities.

  “What about our other assignments for Blackout?” Dez asked.

  “This is priority,” Colton said. “But we have commitments. Until it’s time for your specific assignment, let’s focus on figuring out who is behind this. It’s not just Elise who’s in danger. It’s this island. And maybe even this country.”

  Chapter Nine

  Elise was grateful for some time alone. Something about being out there with Colton had stirred too many memories.

  Maybe it was just feeling his touch. It had brought flashes in time, flashes of when she and Daniel had been so happy.

  She sat on the edge of her bed and tried to control her thoughts. But it was too late. Flashbacks of the day she’d learned about her husband’s death slammed into her mind.

  Elise had just gotten home from work. Her day at the office had been a particularly grueling one as she tried to deal with people who had some pretty severe issues. She knew as a psychologist that she couldn’t take on her patients’ problems. But seeing people self-destruct was difficult, to say the least.

  She’d kicked off her shoes, turned on her favorite Taylor Swift album—it was her guilty pleasure—and went into the kitchen to begin cooking some stir-fry. Maybe she would watch a movie and start a fire to relax tonight. She needed to do something to unwind.

  She had gotten used to doing things on her own. Sometimes, she didn’t even feel like she was married at all. She and Daniel had been apart for more of their marriage than they had been together. It was the reality of life being married to a Navy SEAL.

  Before she started to cook, a knock sounded at her door. Elise assumed it was one of her neighbors. Maybe Ernie had accidentally gotten her mail, or maybe it was the Smiths wanting to let her know they would be going out of town.

  As soon as Elise opened the door and saw Colton and Dez’s faces, she knew something was wrong.

  “Where’s Daniel?” Her voice had come out low, cautious. Hope still lingered in the back of Elise’s mind, hope that she was reading too much into this situation. But she knew she wasn’t.

  “I am so sorry, Elise.” Colton’s voice cracked with emotion, and his eyes conveyed sorrow that words couldn’t express.

  He didn’t have to say anything else. She knew.

  The next instant, Colton held her as sobs escaped from the sacred places of her soul. The team had been doing training exercises when a horrible accident occurred. Daniel had been swept away by the ocean, and they hadn’t been able to locate his body.

  It had been four days, and the higher-ups had suspended the search.

  Daniel was presumed dead.

  It didn’t matter that she and Daniel had been having problems. He had been her husband, and she’d loved him. A part of her had died that day along with Daniel.

  To make matters worse, their last conversation had been more of a fight.

  “I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” she’d told Daniel as they stood at the door.

  He’d worn his uniform and had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He’d always kept his dark hair short—no fuss, as he liked to say.

  Daniel also liked to say, when talking about the SEALs, that for the team to work they had to have some members who could carry a house and others who could run around the house.

  In other words, they needed both strength and speed. Burly guys weren’t as fast as the leaner ones, and the leaner ones didn’t have the bulk to muscle through certain situations.

  Daniel had been strong but lean. On the outside, he’d been fit and hard. But on the inside, he had a soft, compassionate side.

  At least, he had until the months leading up to his death.

  “Don’t say that.” His eyes had pleaded with her. “We’ll talk about it more when I get back, okay?”

  Elise hadn’t said anything more.

  As Daniel had walked out the door, his expression was nothing less than heartbroken. She’d had the power to take that away, to make things right. Yet she hadn’t.

  Bitterness had begun to set in. When Daniel got back, he was going to have to make a choice: stay married or remain a SEAL. He couldn’t do both.

  Elise hadn’t wanted to whine, but she felt alone. Neglected. Sometimes, she felt like she was living with a stranger. She envied her friends who went on dates and trips with their spouses. Who had someone to help out at home.

  She wanted kids, but how could she bring a child into the world knowing she’d practically be a single mom?

  She didn’t want to give up on her marriage. But something needed to change.

  Colton and Dez had stayed by her side for the next three hours until Elise’s best friend could come over and stay with her that night.

  Elise had seen the grief and worry in Colton’s eyes as well. This hadn’t affected only her. Colton was going through a firestorm of grief and loss.

  The next few days had been awful as Elise tried to figure out the next steps.

  Right when she thought things couldn’t get worse, Commander Larson had shown up. The man was a decorated war hero with hair that had grayed at the sides. He wasn’t a necessarily big man, but he carried himself like a giant. He spoke with authority, and every action seemed purposeful. He’d almost been like a father figure to her.

  He’d wanted to tell her in person that they discovered a secret banking account Daniel had set up. The transactions there, which were worth almost one million, could be traced back to the Savages.

  Elise couldn’t believe her ears. She’d adamantly denied that Daniel would do something like that to her and to his country.

  She’d then learned that the government had suspected a traitor was feeding information to the terrorist group. They believed that person was Daniel.

  Everything around Elise had faded as his words echoed in her mind, each reverberation hitting her like a hammer to the head. “I don’t believe it, and I never will. I can’t believe that you’re even considering it.”

  Commander Larson had frowned before showing her a video of Daniel at that bank on the day the account had been set up. It seemed irrefutable proof. But Elise still didn’t buy it. There had to be an explanation.

  Larson had also shown her a picture of Daniel meeting with someone named Tara Campbell. The woman had worked for the CIA but was also believed to have ties with the Savages, the commander explained. She’d been killed a week before Daniel while in a conflict in Kabul, Afghanistan. Larson believed she and Daniel were working together and that both were receiving kickbacks for the information they provided.

  Those had been some of the worst days of Elise’s life. Nausea still roiled in her stomach when she thought about it.

  A year later, she still didn’t have answers. She had no idea what was going on. But she knew that there was no way Daniel was guilty of doing those things. She needed to find out the truth and clear her husband. She’d thought that task was impossible—until she’d found that hidden box in Daniel’s room.

  Her only comfort had been found in knowing that Colton was in her corner.

  She pulled a pillow into her lap and stared out the window at the beach. She only hoped she could find some answers—some closure—here. But she knew that the people behind this were desperate to cover up . . . something.

  Was she really prepared to find out what?

  * * *

  At the first opportunity, Cassidy pulled Colton and Ty aside.

&n
bsp; She’d wanted to talk to them earlier, but she’d been caught up in a phone call with the mayor about a music festival the town’s PR director was trying to plan for the spring. Even as they’d discussed some details, Cassidy had other things on her mind—things dealing with Elise’s presence here.

  This was her island, and Cassidy needed to know exactly what might be happening here right now. Because if this was as big as she thought it might be, it wasn’t just the people here in this house in danger. It was everyone in this community.

  She slipped from her bedroom and saw Ty and Colton standing near the front door talking in low tones.

  Before Cassidy could bring up the subject, Colton jumped in. “You know anything about a homeless man here on the island?”

  “The one who looks like Jason Momoa?” she asked.

  “The Aquaman guy?” Ty raised an eyebrow in mock jealousy. “Interesting observation.”

  “It wasn’t me. A group of ladies here on a girls’ weekend were talking about it.” Cassidy raised her hands in innocence. “Making it even more ironic, his name is Jason. And, by the way, you’re totally my hero, so no worries, okay?”

  “I wasn’t worried.”

  “Good.” Cassidy turned her hands over on the table, ready to spell out what she knew. “This Jason guy showed up here on the island about three days ago. As far as I can tell, he’s harmless. But we’re keeping an eye on him. Mac says he looks like trouble.”

  Colton nodded, his eyes focused with thought. “Do you have many homeless people here?”

  “Historically, no. But Mac said we always have a few people—usually surfers—who come here and become the stereotypical beach bums. As long as they can surf, they’re happy.”

  Mac McArthur was the former police chief, current mayor, and all-around fixture here in this town.

  “But it’s cold outside,” Colton said. “I can’t imagine wanting to live outside on this island in the winter.”

  “I know. Apparently, they set up little camps in the woods and sleep there at night while begging during the day or dumpster diving.” Cassidy saw that Colton’s eyes still looked tumultuous. “We’re looking into this. I’m not saying the homeless cause trouble, but we want to have both caution and compassion. You think this guy Jason is somehow connected with Elise?”