Dad for Charlie & the Sergeant's Temptation & the Alaskan Catch & New Year's Wedding (9781488015687)

by Stewart, Anna J. ; Sasson, Sophia; Carpenter, Beth; Jensen, Muriel

  Luke got to work looking through the car for something to secure the men. He found some rope in the trunk and hog-tied the two men to each other, then hauled them into warehouse. It turned out to be more of a storage unit. He threw the men inside, then closed the door. They made an anonymous phone call to the police.

  By unsaid agreement, they all piled into the kidnappers’ car, leaving the motorcycle on the street with the keys next to it. It would be stolen in seconds once they left. Reza sat in the front and Amine and Alessa sat in the back. Luke started driving to get them out of the area, they needed to be far away when the police arrived, but he had to think about where they could go.

  “Our apartment,” Alessa said without hesitation, as if she’d read his mind.

  Luke shook his head. The entire unit was staying in the same building. They couldn’t compromise their location. He motored the car toward the safe house where they had planned to hold the target. It was a huge risk, but he didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t arrange for another safe house with such little notice and they didn’t have the target yet, anyway.

  “So are you CIA?” Reza asked with a gleam in his eyes.

  “Let’s just say something like that.” The less he shared the safer they would be, but he couldn’t exactly keep pretending he and Alessa were just civilians. “You can’t tell anyone.” He added, taking a second to look Reza in the eyes. “You tell someone and we’ll die.”

  Reza nodded. “Do not worry, if there is one thing we know how to do, it’s keep our mouths shut.”

  Amine sniffed in the backseat and Luke glanced in the rearview mirror to see Alessa putting an arm around her.

  “I can’t protect you for long. What do you plan to do?” Luke asked Reza.

  He sighed. “I don’t know. I thought maybe we would make our way to the other side, to Rawalpindi, or go to the American consulate and ask for asylum. Is there anything you can do?”

  Luke shook his head. He had absolutely no contacts in the State Department and asylum applications were impossible in the current political climate in Washington, DC. “I think your best bet is to get to India. There’s less of a Taliban influence there and you’ll be well hidden.”

  Reza rubbed his head. “I only have so much money. It’s hard to find jobs in India.”

  “It’s not that easy in the United States,” Alessa noted.

  “It is when you have a degree and an education,” Reza said matter-of-factly and Luke saw Alessa sit up straighter. He wondered if going to college was something she’d ever considered. He had been ready to go into an ROTC program to experience regular college life, but at the last minute, Ethan and his father had leaned hard enough on him and he’d accepted his admission to West Point. He knew there were kids who staked their entire lives on getting into West Point, but he often wondered whether he’d have continued with the army if he’d experienced an existence outside the army family.

  “Think about it. I still believe India is your best option. You speak English, so you’ll be fine there.”

  He looked sideways at Reza and the man appeared pensive.

  “You’ll be safe at the house I’m taking you to, but I need you to stay inside and not make any phone calls or tell anyone where you are.” He was taking a big risk using the safe house where they planned to hold Azizi, but he had no other options. Luke wanted to make sure Reza and Amine understood the parameters so they didn’t inadvertently risk his unit’s lives.

  “Like prisoners,” Reza said.

  “Yes.” Luke’s tone was hard. He wanted there to be no confusion on this point. “I can drop you off somewhere else if this is not agreeable, but if you come with us, we need to keep you locked up for everyone’s safety.”

  Reza seemed to consider this and Luke turned onto a street that would take him a circuitous way to the safe house. He hadn’t seen anyone following them but it was hard to tell in the chaotic traffic.

  “I trust you,” Reza said softly and the words were like a punch to the gut. He didn’t deserve Reza’s trust. He had left the young man and his pregnant sister on a dangerous mountain in an effort to complete his mission. More than that, he had no idea whether he could truly protect them. Just like he couldn’t protect Alessa.

  When they arrived at the house, Luke quickly ushered them inside. While they’d selected the house because it offered a high cement fence and vegetation, it wasn’t completely private. Luke had called Boots and Dan, and he introduced them now by their cover names.

  Luke took Amine and Reza to one of the spare bedrooms.

  “We’ll bring you supplies in a little bit.” Alessa said thoughtfully. She went to the kitchen and brought back two glasses and a jug of water.

  Luke left the siblings and called the team together so they could talk. They gathered in the living room with Rodgers and Steele on the phone. It was time to wrap things up. Luke didn’t want this mission to drag on and get more complicated than it already was.

  He asked the team for ideas on where the target could be. They bandied it about, discussing various options until everyone was out of steam. Dan offered to go arrange for food. Boots and Dimples were patrolling the outside of the house. Rodgers and Steele were still back at the safe house. Luke pulled Alessa aside.

  “Do you have any ideas on who the leak might be?” Luke asked.

  Alessa shrugged. “I’m working on it.”

  Luke rubbed his neck. Alessa was hiding something. But he couldn’t imagine Rodgers or Dan or any of the other guys, for that matter, betraying the unit. Not on purpose. Then it hit him.

  “Boots told me Ethan asked him to keep an eye on the unit. Do you know if he was also monitoring Colonel McBride?”

  Alessa nodded. “I assume so. The colonel was my prime suspect initially.”

  “So after Ethan disappeared, who did Boots report his suspicions to?”

  “Nobody.”

  “But what if another unit member had been tasked with the same assignment by Colonel McBride? To keep an eye on the unit. What if they are under direct orders to keep tabs on me? Maybe the leak isn’t coming from one of the guys but Colonel McBride.”

  Alessa sighed. “That would explain it.”

  “Explain what?”

  “Give me a day to check something out.”

  “Alessa!”

  “Tomorrow, Luke. Before I betray a friend, I want to be sure.”

  He clenched his jaw. There was a lot he wanted to say, but knew by the tide of anger rushing through him that now was not the time. Alessa was supposed to be on his side.

  Luke went outside to find Boots, who was patrolling the grounds. Darkness had settled into the city but the sound of horns and the general populous moving around still screamed strong.

  “Go ahead and bar the windows from the inside so someone can’t get in.” Luke said after he’d reviewed the perimeter security. Boots nodded.

  “You know, you’re pretty good at this.” Boots said.

  Luke laughed. “That’s nice of you to say.”

  “No, I mean it. This isn’t an easy job. Ethan struggled with it, too, but I don’t think he could quite think outside the box like you can. Even though he encouraged us to break from the army mold, he had trouble doing it himself.”

  That didn’t surprise Luke. Ethan ate, slept and breathed the army. Luke often joked that he should really go into recruitment. The way he talked about the army, one would think joining up was the equivalent of winning the lottery.

  Boots slapped him on the shoulder. “I hope you stay.”

  Luke turned from the doorway. “What?”

  “I hope you keep command of the unit. I think we can do good work here. Together. This is a solid team, and you’re the right guy to lead it.”

  Luke was never one to seek praise, but Boots’s words shot a bolt of e
xcitement through him. Truth was, he had been enjoying the work with the unit—perhaps because it wasn’t the typical deployment. He was allowed to think for himself. He had a knack for this, and for the first time in his life, he was figuring out how to use his instincts to make strategic decisions. He wasn’t just doing things by the seat of his pants, but he also wasn’t overthinking every single move.

  Maybe the unit was the right place for him. It wasn’t as if he’d figured out some other dream career. What if this was where he was meant to stay? But it wasn’t an option for him. Not if he wanted Alessa.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  ALESSA KNEW IT was no use. As tired as she’d been the last few days, she’d figured sleep would descend as soon as she closed her eyes. Instead, she lay wide-awake blinking into the darkness of the cold house. She was thankful for a break from Luke so she could think about their relationship without his distracting presence. She had offered to take the night shift at the house with Rodgers. Luke had initially refused but she’d reminded him that with Amine there, it would be advantageous to have another woman just in case she went into labor and needed help before they could get a doctor or midwife. She looked over at the pregnant woman now and saw her hands moving over her belly.

  “You okay?” Alessa asked.

  “Yes,” came the small reply.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I am thinking about what kind of life I will give my child.”

  Alessa didn’t hesitate. “A better one than you had,” she said softly and meant it. A conversation she once had with her mother flitted back to her.

  He’s not perfect, but he’s given us a better life than what he had—and what I had—as a child.

  While her mother hadn’t shared a lot about her childhood, Alessa knew she’d grown up poor and had often gone to bed hungry. Alessa’s father had reminded them every night to be thankful for food on the table. She hadn’t really grasped the meaning of that until she’d run away from home when she was twelve years old.

  She’d taken a hundred dollars with her, money she had carefully saved from babysitting, and had grand plans to find a job and support herself. Then she’d discovered that not only could she not get a job even if she lied about her age, but that the money would get her a night at a motel and not much else. She’d survived for a week by barely eating and sleeping on a park bench, until someone stole her cash. It was the only time in her life she’d actually been glad to come home and have dinner. Yet food and shelter weren’t the only things a child needed. Her parents hadn’t realized it, and all her life she’d wondered whether she had enough love in her heart for a husband and children. She didn’t wonder anymore. Luke had thawed her heart.

  “I did not want this child. But now that I know he or she is coming, I want nothing more than to be a mother. I want to give love like it should be given.”

  Tears stung her eyes. Alessa knew exactly what Amine meant. She’d thought a lot about why Aidan had been able to take advantage of her like he had. It was because he had given her a glimpse of what it might be like to love and be loved.

  “How will you manage?” Alessa hadn’t meant to ask the question that way. When the other soldiers in the barracks talked about babies, it was always something they planned to do after they left the army. She’d only met a few who had children, and they spent their entire deployment counting the minutes until they could go home. They looked longingly at the birthday pictures, missing the cake they didn’t get to eat, reliving the first time their kid walked or scored a goal through videos. A never-ending litany of missed moments. It was partly why Alessa had never considered kids as something that could ever be a part of her life.

  “I am not knowing where you are from. But in my country, everybody takes care of a child. The whole village. All I have to do is provide the love. Allah will take care of the rest.”

  Alessa closed her eyes, wondering what it would be like if she had a child. The army would give her a housing allowance or a home on post. Once you had a family, you didn’t have to stay in the barracks. There were daycare facilities. Her salary was enough to buy food and necessities from the Post Exchange. There was a school at every post and when she deployed, there were services and programs to find child care stateside. It did take a village to raise a child, but her village was the army.

  “I did not go to school,” Amine said. “But whether I have a son or a daughter, I will send them to school. I will make sure they know how to read and write.”

  “Your English is pretty good,” Alessa commented.

  “Reza taught me. Since he was a little boy, he was into everything English. He learned from one of the foreign aid workers and he says to me, I will walk English and I will talk English and I will only be speaking to you in English.”

  “It’s a good thing he taught you. You will have many more options open to you.”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes knowing puts things in your head. My husband did not like me talking English. I listened to programs on the radio when we had a signal. He caught me once…”

  She didn’t need to say more for Alessa to understand.

  “I heard a story once,” Amine continued, “about an Afghan girl who went to America and became a doctor and has a big house and buys everything for herself. She didn’t even have a husband.”

  “That’s what education can do. You have a whole new life to look forward to.”

  Which made Alessa think about her own options. The GI Bill meant she could go to college if she wanted. In high school, a career counselor had told her she could have a great career in the “humanities.” Alessa still didn’t know what that meant. But one thing was for sure: after this mission, she would go visit the Barden Education Center when they returned to Fort Belvoir and find out what programs were available to her. She couldn’t just wait for the army to promote her. She’d always thought her path was to become an officer by being promoted through the enlisted ranks, but maybe she should consider other army careers. Get a degree. Maybe with Luke’s commendation, she could get time off to do a course. Then it hit her.

  She had assumed that all they had to do was keep their feelings for each other a secret until Luke left the army after this mission was complete. But Luke’s commendation in her file would be a firebrand against her career if they continued their relationship. If he didn’t put anything in her file, she’d be tagged as having been demoted to logistics. Most importantly, if she got promoted and someone on the team didn’t, they would no longer respect her.

  What if it doesn’t work out with me and Luke? Her career was real, a way to support herself and Julia. Without it, she’d be left with nothing. Without Luke, I’m back to where I was. Without the army, I’m nothing.

  * * *

  THINGS DIDN’T LOOK much better in the morning than they had the night before. Luke had no idea what to do with Reza and Amine—or Alessa, for that matter. So much was being left unsaid between them. And they were no closer to finding their target. He had the one location the guard had given him. Luke hadn’t discussed it with the team, unsure of whom he could trust.

  Reza, Steele, and Boots were out gathering supplies to replenish their stocks. Reza spoke Urdu fluently and offered to help them navigate the local marketplace. They had discussed it as a team and decided Reza was low risk. He’d given his phone to Luke and the guys would keep a close eye on him. Luke wanted no stone unturned and had instructed the team to continue looking into every lead regarding Azizi’s location. Dan and Dimples were surveilling one spot and Rodgers had been on the night shift surveilling another.

  Alessa entered the living room and set down two steaming cups of tea on the rickety coffee table.

  “How’s Amine?” he asked.

  “She’s sleeping. Didn’t get much rest last night.” She motioned with her head toward the back of the house. There was a storage room
there where they could speak with more privacy.

  “Alessa, that location the guard gave us—you, me and Boots are the only ones aware it even exists. Before I launch another raid, I need to know who the leak is. This is our last shot to get the guy. We can’t lose it.”

  The poker face was back. “I don’t want to ruin someone’s career over a hunch. I need more time.”

  “We are out of time!” Anger roared through him. After everything that had happened between them, Luke expected Alessa on his side. His team had narrowly escaped two potential ambushes. He couldn’t risk taking them into another one. Who was she protecting? And why didn’t she trust him? Hadn’t he lived up to her expectations as a leader? Did she think he couldn’t handle it? He gave her a hard look. “The only reason I let you come on this mission is to gather intelligence on the team. Tell me what you’ve found, Parrino. I’m not asking.”

  Her face cracked and his heart crumpled at the pain in her eyes. “Yes, sir.”

  He knew she meant to sound sarcastic but her voice came out small. He hated himself for taking that tone with her but it’s what he would’ve done if it had been any other team member. Wasn’t that what she had been asking of him, to treat her like all the others?

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s doing it maliciously. My guess is he thinks he’s doing his patriotic duty. I found some calls to the Pentagon and haven’t been able to figure out who they are going to, but I’ve confirmed they’re all being made by one unit member.”

  Luke’s pulse raced. “Who is it?”

  Alessa swallowed. “Rodgers.”