by Becky McGraw
“That’s good for your health,” she replied with a laugh, folding her arms. “Now what is Layla’s last name?”
“She says it’s Smith, but I think she’s lying. Doesn’t matter anyway—I’m sure the gang didn’t ask her name at all. They would just want her for one thing.” His body tensed and his face pinched as he stared at his hamburger.
“What happened? When did she leave?” Lou Ellen asked.
“While I was with you on Thanksgiving, she left with a banger named Dragon. I don’t know which gang he’s affiliated with, but my neighbor insists he was a gangster.”
“Did he drag her off? Or did she go willingly?” Lou Ellen asked, as he finally took a bite of his burger. He chewed, then swallowed twice as if it wouldn’t go down.
“She left on her own, but I doubt she knew what she was doing. Whether she stayed gone on her own is the question I need answered. She’s probably in big trouble, because, although she tries to act tough, she’s pretty naive. I know she’s not with Varrio or the Crips. I spent a week in each territory looking for her and found nothing. That mean’s she’s probably with MS-13, which scares the shit out of me.”
“Why did she run away from home? When?” Lou Ellen asked.
“She’s been on the street a year and a half, with me for six months of that time,” Griff replied, rewrapping his burger to toss it into the bag, before he looked at her. “Sad situation. Her father was an alcoholic and petty thief, her mother a druggie. She and her brother were in that environment until CPS took custody of them when her mother violated probation. They put them in different foster homes. Hers was abusive and her case worker wouldn’t help her, so she figured she’d be better off on her own.” He cleared his throat. “I think she made the right decision, but thank God she found me or there’s no telling what would’ve happened to her.”
Lou Ellen couldn’t speak for a moment as she fought the burn in her eyes. “How old is her brother?” she finally asked, her heart breaking for children she didn’t even know.
How many kids had been let down so badly by the system? How many of them didn’t run into heroes like this man? How many died just trying to survive?
She really didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
“He was twelve then, so probably almost fourteen now. Layla was like his mother, so it killed her to be separated from him. She has no idea where he was sent.”
“So MS-13, huh?” Lou Ellen asked and shivered again, not from the cold.
She’d read a lot about that gang in the local newspaper. Every day there was another murder or crime attributed to them. According to police, they were the most brutal gang in the city and trafficked in new members across the border every day. It wasn’t just a Texas problem either, their branches were now spread to every state in the union to create a drug pipeline.
“Yes, you’ve heard of them?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as they swung her way.
“Unfortunately, yes, I’ve heard too much lately,” she replied with a sigh. “I think we’re going to need all hands for deck for this one. We’ll talk to Dave and Slade at the compound and come up with a game plan.” Lou Ellen put the car in gear and looked over at him. “You can tell me your story on the way to the compound. That is my price for helping you.”
Griff’s body tensed and his hand moved toward the door handle. Lou Ellen waited for him to make a decision. She wasn’t stepping off into this if he was on the fence about being completely honest with her. He finally nodded and she smiled as she took her foot off the brake to head to the compound.
“You made the right decision too,” Lou Ellen said with smile, which earned her a growl from the other side of the car.
While he was telling her his story, she would be making up one of her own to explain how they met. She knew if she told the guys the truth, they would assign her a bodyguard or tail her every time she went to volunteer at the shelter from now on.
Chapter 8
“Time’s a ticking,” Lou Ellen said, glancing over at her now-silent passenger. “We now have thirty-eight minutes before we arrive at the gate to the compound. I’ll leave you outside of that gate if I don’t know who you are by the time we get there.”
Griff squirmed in his seat to sit up straighter, because it was obvious she wasn’t going to let him off the hook. “First, I need you to promise that you will not intervene in any way or tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”
She pulled onto the interstate, then looked over at him. “I told you I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I won’t. Just so you know, I have special access clearance because we will be handling government and military contracts at our new office, so you’re not breaking protocol.”
Protocol and clearance meant nothing to Griff anymore. His worry about protocol and clearance levels disappeared when the government let his family be murdered and tossed him aside to fend for himself. His biggest concern was her being killed for getting involved in his problems. This woman seemed to be one of those “Ms. Fix-it” types.
“Promise me that no matter what I tell you, you will not get involved,” he demanded, turning in the seat to look at her.
“I’m an office manager, not an operator, and don’t pretend to be one,” she said glancing at him. “I assure you I won’t get involved, unless they show up on my doorstep, in which case they will be dealt with.”
The words were right, but still didn’t include the promise he realized he wouldn’t be getting from her. With a sigh, Griff sat back in his seat, laid his head on the headrest and tried to figure out where to begin.
“Eight years ago, I was a CIA Agent. My last assignment with the agency was in the Philippines. My team of six men was sent into Julo, Sulu to gather counter-intelligence on the activities of Abu Sayyaf, a jihadist militant group. In two years we gathered plenty of inconsequential intel and rescued a few hostages they took for ransom to fund themselves. But we could never carry out the primary objective of the mission.”
“What was the primary objective?” she asked, looking over at him with intense eyes.
Griff took a deep breath and blew it out. He’d never told this story to anyone and doing so now felt strange. Admitting that the government issued orders to assassinate people seemed wrong. But he’d taken those orders for five years, while he was an agent and thought nothing of it. He’d since seen the error in his ways, and realized how stupid he’d been to trust the agency who abandoned him to the wolves in the end.
“Our primary goal was to find and assassinate Khadir Janjalini, one of Khadaffy Janjalini’s sons, who was being groomed to take over leadership of the group. He trained in the Middle East when he was a teenager, with Osama Bin Laden himself, before he was killed.”
“Wow, that was a heavy duty mission,” she commented, her hands gripping the wheel tight. “So what happened?”
“There were several traitors in the group who we paid for information. Two weeks before we were scheduled to go home, one of them discovered where Khadir was hiding in the jungle, but money wouldn’t buy that information from him. He wanted to be included in the takedown. Like a fool, I agreed, because I wanted that feather badly before we went home. I was burnt out on deployment and I knew it might mean a promotion that would keep me in the states.”
“So did you accomplish your objective?” she asked, but her voice told him she already knew that wasn’t the case.
“No, we were set up by our informant and ambushed.” Griff swallowed down the bile that surged up to choke him as visuals of that scene replayed in his mind. “Four of my men were killed and one was captured. I got away and hid in the jungle for a couple of months until I could manage to contact the agency. They sent in an extraction team to get me out and tried to rescue my agent who’d been captured, but it was too late.”
“That had to be horrific,” she whispered.
“That was the good part,” Griff replied, his throat raw as the bile pushed higher and he tasted the bitterness in his mouth. “I may need you to pull over for
me when I’m done.”
“Good God, there’s more?” she asked, glancing at him again.
“Yes, there’s more.” Griff’s chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. The incredible pain took over his whole body. “When I finally made it back to the states, I went home to Jonesboro. My wife told me she was tired of being a single parent, that she and my daughter needed me more than the government needed me.”
“How long had you been in the service?” Lou Ellen asked.
“Twenty years in the Army with five moves and two deployments, then five with the agency and countless missions. She wanted me to turn in my resignation, and it was a fair request. I went to the office two weeks later to do that.”
Griff dry-heaved twice, Lou Ellen swerved then sped down the next exit as he rolled down the window and stuck his head outside. The icy air swept over his face, freezing the tears in his eyes. He swallowed hard and ducked back inside the car, but left the window down. The temperature of the air outside matched the coldness inside his body.
“A week after I resigned, I went out to walk the dog. When I got back to the house, I found both my wife and daughter had been m-mu-murdered,” Griff growled through chattering teeth, fighting the rage that tried to consume him.
Like it always did, thinking about the waste of those two beautiful, innocent lives put him on the verge of wanting to commit murder himself. He should have been there to protect them, instead of gallivanting all over the world fighting enemies that weren’t his own.
The government he’d committed his life to should’ve made sure they protected his family, while he fought those enemies. They should have told him his cover had been blown in the worst way possible when he got home, so he could protect them.
“Who killed them?” Lou Ellen asked in a horrified whisper, her words chopped by her chattering teeth. “I’m so sorry, Griff.”
“The CIA killed them as surely as if they were the ones who put the bullet in the back of their heads. I found out from my boss at the funeral that they knew my cover had been blown by the captured agent who was tortured to death.”
“Why didn’t they tell you? Why didn’t they protect you and your family?” she asked, her voice strengthening with her indignation.
“That is the golden question, isn’t it?” he asked with a bitter laugh. “According to my supervisor, they had something in the works, but they had to get it approved up the chain first. After I quit, it wasn’t a priority.”
“Good, God—that is just—unconscionable. How can that man sleep at night?”
“He almost died after he told me that. I had a meltdown and no control over my mind or body when I almost killed him at the funeral. A few of my Army buddies pulled me off of him at the last minute, or I would have.”
“I can’t blame you. Did you go to jail? I can’t see how any sane jury would convict you.”
“The agency didn’t want it to go to court and air all their dirty laundry. I was arrested, but they arranged for me to spend six months in a secure mental institution trying to get my shit together. When I got out, I had nothing. No family, no home, no job and no will to live. I buried myself in a bottle, went into the shadows and prayed I would drown.”
“How did you stop?” Lou Ellen asked. “You’re sober now, right?”
Griff sucked in a shuddering breath. “A year and a half ago, I met this kid who saved me,” he replied, with a harsh laugh. “Keeping her safe on the streets became my new purpose. She reminded me of a mocha version of my daughter. After I heard her story, until today, I never wanted another drink again. It took me a year sober to convince her to trust me. Another six months now to convince her to give me a chance to be the family she never had.”
“How long have you been homeless? Why are you still living in the shadows?” she asked, turning right when she reached the bottom of the ramp.
“Almost three years—and because I have a feeling those terrorists are still looking for me,” he replied, clenching his gut to keep the two bites of hamburger where they belonged. “The man I killed wasn’t just a soldier in that group, he was going to be their savior. If I went back on the grid, they would know about it and anyone I’m associated with would be in danger, too. That includes Layla—and now possibly you.”
Lou Ellen wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and laughed. “After you meet the men I work with, you won’t be worried about me, I promise. They will help us find Layla—then I am going to help you find yourself again.”
Griff sighed, because he’d been right. Ms. Fix-it had a bone between her teeth now, and that bone could be from his skeleton, if he wasn’t careful.
Chapter 9
“They should all be here soon,” Lou Ellen said, pressing the group text to send an alert to the team. The only ones she didn’t text were Hawk, who was in Arizona for a funeral, and Gray who was in New Jersey until after the new year.
Slade would be there quickest because he and Taylor still lived in his apartment in the bunkhouse. Caleb and Levi shared the bunkroom, so they would be right behind him. Logan would be a few minutes, because his and Susan’s house was in between town and the compound.
Thank goodness Dex and Grace were in town for the holidays. Their computer guru could work his magic to dig into the police and FBI databases to find out which gang that thug who had the girl was affiliated with, and his likely whereabouts.
Lou Ellen even called in Cade Winters, who was no longer with the team, since he was in medical school. They needed to find that girl fast, and when they did, Cade could treat any injuries she might have quietly. He was also former Delta Force and CIA, so he might have some insight to share with her on Griff’s situation and suggestions on how she could fix it.
“Let me show you where you’ll be staying.” Lou Ellen laughed nervously, which was a condition that rarely afflicted her. But since they’d arrived at the compound, Griff had fallen into silent mode again, so she was filling in the silence with chatter. “You can take a quick shower and I’ll find you a change of clothes. I’m sure with all the men around here, I can find something to fit you.”
Griff followed her down the hall to Logan’s apartment at the back of the office, where she stopped to punch in the security code. The door clicked open and he followed her inside, still without a word. She hoped like hell he’d find his tongue before the men arrived, because they needed info only he could give to help him.
“The bathroom is over there,” she said pointing to the closed door across the suite. “There’s water and soda in the fridge over there if you want some. Just help yourself.” She turned to leave, but bumped right into Griff’s broad chest. His hands shot up to her shoulders and his fingers dug in as his intense eyes burned into hers.
“Oh, sorry—I, ah—” she said, but when his hand drifted up to cup her cheek, tingles zipped down her throat to her nipples and her train of thought derailed.
“You are an angel,” he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. The sincerity in his rich voice grabbed her heart and squeezed hard. “Thank you for helping me. You’ll never know how much it means.”
Lou laughed again, but it came out sounding like a giggle, which appalled her. She hadn’t giggled since she was sixteen years old.
“Everyone needs help now and again. It’s my pleasure to be able to do it,” she said, as she stepped back. “As for being an angel, I’m sure you’ll revise that opinion once you know me better. My personality tends to veer toward the other end of that spectrum.”
He frowned as his hands dropped to his sides. “I sincerely doubt that. There aren’t many people who would help someone on the fringe. You help a lot of those people without wanting a thing, and don’t look down on them while you do it. Don’t minimize that, it’s a gift.”
“I’ve been on the fringe and it’s not a pleasant place,” she replied. After her second husband almost bankrupted her, she was homeless for a brief time and hopeless. If not for Allison Rooks, she might still be in that place. What she
was doing wasn’t exceptional, it was paying forward the blessings she had received.
He actually laughed. “I don’t believe that, but whatever the reason you help the shadow people, we thank you.”
“Lou! Where’s the fire?!?” Slade shouted down the hallway.
“That’s Slade—he’s about your size, just a little beefier, so I’ll get him to find you something to wear.” She laugh-giggled again and felt her face heat. “I have to warn you, though, he’s into crazy drawers, so there’s no telling what you might get.”
“Thank you. I’ll take anything that’s clean,” Griff replied.
She patted his shoulder as she walked past him to the door. “You take as long as you want in there. We keep it stocked, so you should find everything you need. If not, let me know.” Why in the hell did her throat close up tighter with every word?
Because this man hasn’t even kissed you and you are as revved and ready to go as if he’d just given you an orgasm. No man had ever done that to her before. He looked into her eyes with that smoldering look and her damned panties melted.
Lou Ellen shivered as she left the suite. She found Slade at her desk with his boots propped up on the top while he texted. The smile on his face said he was texting with his wife. Probably SEX-ting, knowing them, because they went at it like rabbits, which could explain her recent pregnancy announcement.
“Does Taylor let you prop your boots on the furniture? If so, I need to talk to her,” Lou said as she stopped beside the desk to stare at his boots. His wife was petite, but fiery. There was no doubt who ruled the roost in their relationship, but she let Slade think that was him. Smart girl.
He broke eye contact with his phone to grin up at her. “My beautiful wife lets me do anything I want to do,” Slade replied, sliding his feet off the desk. “And don’t you go trying to change that. What’s the emergency?”
“You’ll find out when everyone else gets here,” she replied as she walked behind her desk. She looked around for his sidekick, but Lola wasn’t with him. “Where’s Lola?”
