Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14)

by Mathis, Loren

  True to his word, Joshua arrived back after lunch. Victoria was still sitting at his kitchen table, using his laptop, and reviewing documents from her attaché case that she had laid across his table. She looked up when Joshua opened the front door.

  “Hey,” he said as entered the kitchen. “Were you able to get in contact with your mother this morning?”

  Joshua was carrying a manila folder with him that was tucked underneath one of his strong arms. He laid it down on the opposite end of the table. Even in his regular camos he looked gorgeous.

  And yes, gorgeous was the appropriate word to describe him. He had movie star good looks that would give even Jake Gyllenhaal a run for his money. But unbelievably, he wasn’t conceited.

  Joshua was only three years older than Victoria, at thirty years old. When Victoria had first met him she had been sure that he was only looking for a quick roll in the hay with the cute “big girl.” But he had never treated her like she was anything less than beautiful to him.

  He’d actually appeared to love her curves, curves that she had been ashamed of (or at least hesitant to embrace) for a good portion of her life. She was a tall woman, so her curves didn’t necessarily make her overweight. However, at certain times she wished that she were that perfect size six.

  “Yes. I called her as soon as you left this morning. She was pretty freaked out when I told her that I had just interviewed Henning right before he was shot. I didn’t want to scare her too much though so I left out the part about the breakin.”

  “Okay, good. Well, I contacted a couple of friends of mine who are located in the Northeast and they’re going to take a little road trip up to NY. They’ll be on deck to keep an eye on your mom until we get this whole mess sorted out. She won’t even know that they are there.”

  All Victoria could do was stare at him for a moment. When she was finally able to speak her words came out in a soft whisper, “Thank you, Joshua.”

  “No problem. Henning’s death complicates matters, though. I spoke to my commanding officer today to let him know that you were with Henning right before the shooting.”

  “What, why?”

  “Because it’s material information that they would need to know Vicki. You were with Richard Henning moments before he was shot. I talked to my CO this morning and he wants me to bring you in for questioning at the base later this afternoon. You may remember something during the questioning that is probative to the investigation,” Joshua said, his light brown eyes were intently watching Victoria’s face.

  “Great, that’s just awesome. The FBI and Dallas Police Department interviewed me for hours about what I saw already, Joshua. And why would your bosses need to speak with me anyway about Henning’s murder?”

  “Yeah, I’m aware that you’ve been interviewed before. But now you’re going to have to talk to some of the members of the naval command in Coronado. You know that the Navy has a counterterrorism unit, and it’s no secret that Henning was kidnapped late this past year by a terrorist group, so I imagine that my commanders believe that it may be useful to determine what you saw. And besides, you’re a seasoned reporter, so you should be used to interviews by now.”

  “I’m used to conducting interviews not being the interviewee,” Victoria said sharply.

  Joshua didn’t break eye contact with her, but he didn’t comment either. He just stared at her with those brown eyes of his. No surprise there, Joshua was something of the “tall, dark, and quiet” type. During their past relationship, it had initially surprised her that Joshua really didn’t talk all that much. Or maybe she had just beaten him to the punch before he could get a word in edgewise.

  “Okay, fine, Joshua. If that’s what’s needed.” In a battle of wills, Victoria always hated giving in. But in this instance, answering a few questions from his commanding officers was the least she could do, especially considering that he was helping her out even though they weren’t even dating anymore.

  “You should know that I have been called away for a new assignment,” Joshua continued. “I’ll have to head out tomorrow morning.”

  What? He was leaving already? Victoria couldn’t believe it. She should have been used to it. After all, his career in the SEALs was one of the major contributing factors to their split. Still, she couldn’t help the uneasy feeling of the settled low in her stomach at his words.

  “Wait. Why? You have to go overseas tomorrow? I thought that you were on leave?” she asked incredulously.

  “Yeah, well you know, shit happens. I’ll be able to drive you back here to my home after your interview, but then I’ll have to head back to base to fly out tomorrow morning, bright and early. Don’t be worried though, I’ll make sure that I have some people looking out for you while I’m away, until we can get this whole thing sorted out. I heard back from Malcolm while I was out, so far there’s no indication from his contacts that you’re on this terrorist group’s radar. Odds are that the breakin was just a random burglary.”

  “I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you.”

  Joshua turned around from the refrigerator. He was holding a bottle of water in his left hand, which he opened and took a sip out of. “Yeah, since when?”

  “What?”

  “Since when have you been worried about me, Victoria?” Joshua’s eyes darkened with anger, and some other sort of emotion that Victoria couldn’t place. She took a hesitant step back. “Since you broke up with me a year ago after two years of being in a committed relationship with me?” he continued. “Since you basically told me to go screw myself? Since you made me feel like a dick for being in the military—for serving my country?”

  “How can you say that?” Victoria was completely floored. Did he really think that she hadn’t cared for him? That she still didn’t care for him? “You broke up with me! I told you that I wanted to be with you. You chose the teams over me,” she yelled back.

  “Yeah well, you left out the part where you gave me that ridiculous ultimatum. When we first started dating, I was up front with you, Victoria. Right from the very beginning. I never lied to you. I told you that I was in the Navy, and that it was my intention to make a career out of it. It wasn’t a secret. I didn’t try to hide it from you. And you still went out with me, dated me. Hell, you fucked my brains out for two years. So knowing what you knew, how could you think that it was right for you to throw my career back in my face, years later?”

  “Look, I don’t want to talk about this. You were right last night. We shouldn’t dwell on the past.”

  “No. I want an answer from you. You at least owe me that,” he said, challenging her. He grabbed her arm abruptly before she could leave the room. He wasn’t holding her arm hard enough to bruise her. Victoria knew that he would never intentionally hurt her. But she didn’t want to have this conversation with him right now … or ever.

  “What difference does it make at this point? Our relationship is over,” she screeched out. Knowing that she sounded a bit frantic, she took a deep breath and let it out before she continued. “Look, this situation is too hard for both of us, and I shouldn’t have come here. I’ll go to the interview with you this afternoon and then I’ll leave.”

  “What? That’s a stupid ass thing to do, Victoria—”

  “No, it’s not stupid. What was stupid was coming here in the first place. I shouldn’t have imposed on you. I can figure this out on my own. I have some other contacts that may be able to help me piece things together. And besides you said yourself that there’s no indication that I’m being targeted by the same terror group.”

  “Fine, Tory. If that’s what you want. Run away, per usual. With all the running that you do, I’m surprised that you’re not your perfect size four,” Joshua said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Victoria’s eyes snapped up and met his. Her stomach flipped over, and she felt slightly sick. “Fuck you,” Victoria said back to him, her face flushing with heat. Unfortunately, the heat that rose to her face didn’t prevent a chill
from sweeping over her.

  She watched as Joshua slammed his water bottle down on the kitchen table, “Yeah, been there, done that.” He then grabbed his car keys from off of the counter and headed back out the door. “We need to leave here in the next fifteen minutes for your interview. I’ll be waiting for you in the car.”

  ****

  Joshua fumed while he waited in his jeep for Victoria to come outside. It took approximately ten minutes before she shuffled out of the front door with her purse. He saw that she had changed from a T-shirt and jeans into a skirt and blouse. Inhaling deeply, Joshua counted down from ten. He had promised himself that he wasn’t going to do this with her. He’d promised himself that as mad as Victoria had made him in the past—that as mad as she still made him now—he was not going to fight with her again.

  He noticed that she didn’t slam the door when she got into his car. She looked calm, but he knew her. Victoria was trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.

  Damn. He hated it when she cried. And he knew that she had been crying over what he had said to her. That fact alone was enough to make him feel like shit.

  He was an asshole for what he had said, to poke at one of her weak spots like that. He knew that she was sensitive about her weight, that it was something that she struggled with more than she should have. What he had said had been a low blow. He had wanted to hurt her when he’d made his comment—to wound her as sharply as she had wounded him—and he had succeeded.

  Joshua decided not to bring up the proverbial “pink elephant in the room,” and drove to the base in silence. After flashing his military ID to the entrance guards, he hazarded a look over at Victoria. She was still staring out the passenger window, her hands tightly clutching the handles of her purse.

  “So you’re going to be meeting with my commanding officer, Mark Dewitt. He should only have a few questions for you,” Joshua brusquely commented. He parked his car and they both got out of the vehicle.

  Victoria didn’t say anything as he led her through to the ground floor entrance of one of the conference rooms where the meeting was supposed to take place. To his surprise, in addition to his CO Jack Ryland, FBI director, and Admiral Taylor were both seated at the oval conference table. What the hell had he just walked her into?

  “Lieutenant Laurent, thank you for bringing Ms. Sanchez in for her interview, you can be seated outside until the close of the meeting,” Mark stated.

  “Wait, sir. What exactly is this interview about? I was under the impression that you only had a few questions for Ms. Sanchez—she didn’t see the actual shooting of Richard Henning,” Joshua replied. He glanced over at Victoria and she was looking back at him with questioning eyes.

  Joshua watched as his CO’s eyes narrowed at him in warning. “Yes. I recall that that’s what you said when we spoke earlier this morning. However, the point of this interview Lieutenant, is to get the needed information from Ms. Sanchez, not your second hand account of what she may or may not have seen.” His commanding officer’s voice had taken on a frosty edge to it.

  Joshua knew that he was skating on thin ice with his CO—really, he was bordering on insubordination—but he didn’t care. He had the distinct feeling that he’d just unwittingly walked Victoria right into the lion’s den.

  “Should I contact Ms. Sanchez’s lawyer?” Joshua asked with as much edge as he could put into his voice.

  “No, it’s okay. I don’t have anything to hide. It’s fine. I can take care of myself,” Victoria said evenly. She looked at him, but somehow her eyes didn’t quite reach his.

  Joshua and Mark squared off for a tense moment before Joshua said, “Okay, I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

  ****

  “Okay gentleman, what questions can I answer for you?” Victoria asked. She sat down in a chair at the table that was directly across Joshua’s superior officers. She could tell that his CO was beyond pissed off at the exchange between him and Josh by the irritation that was evidence on his face.

  Although Joshua hadn’t been outright disrespectful, and hadn’t violated the chain of command, she was sure that he’d still hear about it later. The three men stared back at her with annoyed looks on their faces.

  “Why were you interviewing Richard Henning?” Mark Dewitt asked, “We’ve contacted your boss at the Dallas Star Gazette and he has confirmed that he did not assign this case to you.”

  Jeez they worked fast. “I wanted to interview Mr. Henning because of his recent ordeal in Pakistan. I thought it would be a good addition to my newspaper column.”

  The three men looked at one another before the FBI Director Ryland, asked, “What exactly did you see right before Mr. Henning was shot?” Even asking the question, the man had what had to have been a perpetual frown on his face. Victoria honestly doubted that he had ever cracked a smile in his life, about anything.

  Letting out a sigh, Victoria took her time explaining the details of her meeting with Henning up until Henning was rushed away by the ambulance.

  An hour had passed and she thought that interview was pretty much over when Ryland looked up from his notes and asked, “How did you know about the DEA drug investigation into Mr. Henning and his company?”

  “What? How did you—” Victoria cut her sentence off abruptly, her partially formed question hanging in the air. There was only one way that they could have known about that. Joshua must have told them.

  “Answer the question, Ms. Sanchez,” Mark Dewitt stated dryly. He had a slightly annoyed look on his face, as if she were wasting his precious time.

  “I’m not going to reveal my sources,” Victoria crossed her arms, looking back at the three men. Her body language screamed out “defiance” loud and clear. She never did take kindly to being bullied. She also knew that if she let Monika’s name slip, her friend would lose her job or worse.

  “Ms. Sanchez, we’re not playing around with you here. We know that your computer contains private information—information that you could not have gotten by yourself. Now, if you withhold valuable evidence from us, we will throw your ass in jail. And then you will sit there until you decide to be more forthcoming,” Ryland threatened.

  Wait a minute. If they had known what was on her computer that meant that they had to have had her computer. And that meant that Joshua hadn’t told them after all.

  “So let me get this straight … you had someone break into my apartment and steal my computer? You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I would like a lawyer present. I’m sure that I can find a law firm that would love to take on the Justice Department and the FBI for an unlawful search and seizure. And if I’m going to be charged with something, shouldn’t the local police be handling it?”

  Quiet gathered around the table as the three men looked at each other and then stared back at her across the table.

  “We had a warrant,” Ryland said. “And representatives from the Dallas police department aren’t aware of our current investigation because we can charge you with a federal crime, such as stealing classified information from a secure DEA database.”

  Crap. Now Victoria didn’t know how to respond to that. She took a few seconds to collect her thoughts and then put on the best poker face that she could muster under the circumstances before saying, “Criminalizing journalism now are you? Do you boys recall the First Amendment and the freedom of the press? I’d love to see you explain the trumped up charges to a federal judge. I’d like a copy of that warrant and I want to speak to my lawyer. I’m not going to say another word.”

  “I suggest that you talk, Ms. Sanchez. Once you get a lawyer involved, we won’t be inclined to help you,” Ryland said.

  “I didn’t do anything illegal. I want a lawyer.”

  ****

  Joshua had been waiting outside the conference room door for a little over an hour, waiting for Victoria to appear. He didn’t know what to think. It was puzzling that his commanding officer and the FBI would be questioning Victoria, a civilian, for such a long p
eriod for just being an eyewitness. Someone had made a mistake somewhere, if they thought that Victoria had anything to do with Henning’s murder.

  As soon as the door opened, Joshua’s head snapped up to attention. However, instead of seeing Victoria’s beautiful face, he saw the clearly disgruntled face of his CO walking out.

  “Commander Dewitt, are you all finished questioning Victoria?” Joshua asked, leaping to his feet while his CO stalked toward him.

  “Laurent, my office … now,” Mark said in a voice that brooked no insubordination. A deep frown was etched across the older man’s face and his lips were pursed into a grim, straight line. The two men walked the short distance to Mark’s office and Mark closed the door behind them.

  “How well do you know Victoria Sanchez?” Mark asked. He was seated behind his medium-sized, cherry wood desk, which was situated near the front of his large office.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did I stutter? How well do you know her?” Mark repeated the question as Joshua sat down in the seat in front of his desk.

  “We met three years ago. We were in an intimate relationship for two years until we broke up a year ago.”

  “Have you two been in regular contact since then?”

  “No, she came to see me yesterday. She got scared because her apartment was broken into shortly after Henning’s shooting. Her laptop was taken, but nothing else of value. Why are you asking me this?”

  “Because her computer contained notes on it that pointed to classified information having been leaked from either the FBI or DEA. The DEA drug investigation of the Henning Cooper Company is currently sealed and has not been made public yet.”

  And that’s when Joshua finally connected the dots together. He wasn’t Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley for nothing. “Wait a minute. You mean her laptop. The one that was stolen two days ago?” There could be only one reason that his CO knew about what was on Victoria’s stolen laptop—someone in the government had broken into her apartment and taken it.