Being as close as we have been and dealing with the shit we did as a team, there was no room for secrets. Each of us was pretty much well aware of what the other was made of. I don’t know why I would expect anything different in this situation, after all hadn’t I stepped in when Ty and his woman were having their thing just a short while ago?
It’s part of what we do, we look out for each other in all ways. But I had to be the one to have the misfortune of falling for the CO’s kid, which meant that these fucks were gonna be in my ass like an enema for the rest of my life. She’s practically the sister we never had, and each of them thinks they have a stake.
“We’re not asking that brother, it’s just, we know how you are, and she’s-well she’s the commander’s kid…”
“Con, what the fuck do you think I’m gonna do to her?”
“Er, I don’t want to be the one to bring it up, but we’ve all seen the dungeon.”
“It’s not a dungeon Dev you ass, it’s a playroom.”
“Don’t look very playful to me.” Quinn was fighting not to laugh.
“Look, are we here to work or gossip? Because I have a fuck load of shit I could be doing back at the house.”
“Don’t get snappy, we just wanted to be sure, we know how… I’m sorry but I have to ask. Does she know what you’re into?” If anyone else asked me that shit I’d have knocked them on their ass already, but because it was Con and because I knew where he was coming from, I gave him that one.
“Yes!” Fucking Ty shook his head and walked away whistling. I should never have told them about my preferences, but one drunken night mixed with a little melancholy and I’d spilled it all. Now it was coming back to bite me in the ass because I know how they are. I’m never gonna hear the end of this shit.
At least it worked to take our minds off of things for a while, even though I can’t say I appreciate it being at my expense. Lo and Con had the good sense to keep their mouths shut, but I can’t say the same for the others. Thank fuck I was spared Zak’s input since he was left back at the compound with the women.
I called Susie every hour on the hour to make sure she was okay. Just hearing her voice helped to keep me leashed somewhat, but I knew one thing for damn sure, this was the last time I was letting her go anywhere where I couldn’t have eyes on her.
By end of day, I was a wreck. Never in my life would I have ever thought one little girl could tie me up in so many knots. It was like going through withdrawals, any minute now I expected to break out in a sweat. The guys left me alone when they were no longer getting a rise out of me. And I have to admit to being relieved that that shit was over with.
They didn’t have to say the words, but I knew they were happy for me. And with the joking aside, they knew I would never hurt her. If I thought for one moment that I was too much for her I would’ve…no, that’s a lie. I would never have given her up, not for anything.
***
I sat through dinner at Zak’s but my heart wasn’t in it. I felt off not having her here, like I was missing a limb. No one made mention of my silent withdrawal but I knew they were all aware. And when I excused myself early no one thought anything of it.
I walked around my place trying to pick up her scent. I lifted her pillow to my nose and inhaled deeply. In the closet, I ran my hands over the clothes she’d left hanging there, but it wasn’t enough, I wanted her here with me, where she belonged.
I laid awake in bed, tossing and turning like a bitch until I finally settled it in my mind that I was never letting her do this shit again, that this was the last time I’d spend a night like this. It was the only way I could find enough peace to put my mind at rest. I called her one last time to say goodnight and the sadness in her voice convinced me that she missed me as much as I did her.
“Cord?”
“Yes baby?”
“When can I come home?”
“Tomorrow, I’m coming for you tomorrow. Your mom’s just gonna have to deal.” That seemed to perk her up a little before we said goodnight and hung up. Only then was I able to nod off, but even then I didn’t let myself go in to deep REM, not while she was so far away from me.
CHAPTER 9
LYON
***
“Mengele the fu…I mean what are you up to little girl?”
“Nothing daddy.” Nothing my ass! There were fumes coming out the beaker she was fucking around with. The pothead decided to give her a complete chemistry set and now I sleep with one eye open. The little shit scares me more than the fucks in the desert.
“I told you about lying to me?” She has this way of looking at me that makes me want to give her-her way in everything. “I’m not lying daddy, promise. Daddy can you get me some PVC?” That sounded innocent enough, but I’m not trusting that shit.
“What are you gonna use it for?” I folded my arms and waited for whatever was gonna come out of her mouth. Damn kid can twist the truth better than a politician. “Stuff.” What the fuck? I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose where a headache was just getting started.
“I’m not getting it unless you tell me what it’s for.” She studied me like she was the adult and I the pain in the ass kid. “Hmm, I’ll just have to ask somebody else then.” She started humming as she went back to her concoction. Shit, I have to put out a bulletin to everybody in the family. Fuck I forgot. Now she has a network of people she’d hoodwinked into buying her innocent act.
She’d worked the SEALs and their women when they were here for the holidays. Now she talks to them on the computer with the Face whatever the fuck. “Let’s go it’s movie night.” At least once a week Kat, and I along with the kids watch a show together. I’ve seen more brainless shit in the last couple years than I care to remember, but a man’s gotta do his part or he’ll get shit from the wife.
She sighed and mumbled some shit under her breath before putting away her little experiment. The way she moved told me that whatever the shit was it was dangerous. I’ll have to remember to toss the shit when she goes to bed later.
The others were already gathered in the theatre room with popcorn and enough candy to rot their damn teeth. “It’s your turn to pick the movie Catalina what did you choose?”
“SAW one through six.” She ran and jumped in her seat while the other kids groaned. I just looked at her while in my head I ran through all the facilities in the country that could do something with her before she ended up on the FBI’s most wanted list.
“Kat…” That one held up her hand as she tried to slide by me. “Mengele we’re not watching that, I thought I got rid of that crap.” I’ma sue the fucking credit card company for letting her order that shit. “Watch Cinderella or some shi…”
“That’s boring daddy, that’s for babies.” Why the fuck me? The others didn’t say anything because the last time they complained about her movie of choice, I lit into them for ganging up on my baby. Fuck did I know she was into this shit?
Now they were looking at me like this shit was my fault. I looked at Kat’s pregnant ass and my soul groaned. If even one of the triplets she was carrying turned out like this one, I’m not gonna make it. No fucking way.
I made her choose something else which pissed her off no end, but I’m accustomed to the females in this family being mad at some fuck any given hour of the damn day.
It sure did my heart good though that we could sit here like this. Little Cody was already in his crib asleep and the other five were glued to the TV. The only time the house was this quiet.
After the movie, I took Mengele up to bed because as usual, she fell asleep on the couch. I took my shower and locked up before heading upstairs to give Kat’s greedy ass her nightly dose so she could go off to sleep or stay up and read, whatever she was in the mood for. Pregnancy always makes her feisty and her pussy stays hungry. I’m not complaining though.
When I was sure she had her quota for the night, which meant my dick was raw, I slipped out of bed and headed to my office. This is the time of day
when my mind starts to wander and shit, when I start thinking about the fuckery that was still out there. It’s also the time when I go digging into shit since everyone was in bed or in their rooms on the damn computer, and I was sure I won’t be interrupted or caught more like it.
I started by doing my usual spying on my kids shit. I give a fuck, they live in my house I watch their lil asses twenty-four seven. I put every kind of tracking device known to man on their computers, phones, whatever electronic bullshit my parents and Kat’s are always giving them like I’m running a fucking space program.
I have to keep an eye on Mengele and her shit, but these days my focus is mostly on Caitiebear-gotta see what that boy is saying to my girl. Who don’t like that shit can get fucked, invasion of privacy my ass. I’d rather invade my kids’ privacy than find them in a ditch somewhere. They want that much privacy they should buy their own damn place.
I’m fucked if I’m gonna be one of those parents on the damn news blaming everybody and their mother for my kids’ actions. If my kids end up fucked in the head it’s gonna be all on me, that’s what the fuck I signed up for when I knocked Kat’s ass up each and every time. Except for Hitler’s little henchman, with that one I don’t know what the fuck.
I tapped in the keys and waited. I don’t ever find anything that would make me lose my shit, always a bunch of high school fuckery, but today was different. The screen name was one I’d never seen before, don’t know why that should matter, damn girl’s always meeting some kid or another that likes to use my place as a depot between the school and their own house.
But something about this looked wrong, friendofAlice, weird fucking name. I opened it up and felt my blood go to zing. “What the fuck?” I was halfway out of my chair, not sure what I was gonna do, when she came bursting through the door. I shut down my comp and watched her as she came towards me with her laptop.
“Daddy!” She sounded not scared but close. I hadn’t even had time to wonder if she’d bring it to me. Her mother and I have drilled it into their heads a thousand times that if anything spooks them on line they’re to bring it to us, but you know kids, heads hard as fuck. “Yes baby what is it? She walked over and held the screen out for my perusal.
“I don’t know who that is daddy.” On the screen were the words I’d just read myself. ‘If you want to be with Todd I can help you…your parents don’t need to know. Meet me after school tomorrow by the old playground.’ That was all the shit said, I guess they were testing the waters.
“I’ll take care of it baby, did you answer?” She shook her head no and looked close to tears. The damn kid had only just settled down after the boy left two weeks ago.
“Okay go back to your room and don’t worry about it, but if you get any more messages from this person I wanna know about it.” She kissed my cheek the way she’s been doing since she was old enough to hold her head up on her own. “And Caitiebear, thanks for coming to me with this.” She gave me her mother’s smile before leaving the room. I was so proud of her for coming to me, but I couldn’t let on that I’d seen it already of course. Then she’d tell her mother that I was spying and Kat would dig into my ass with her shit.
There was no time to dwell I had to figure out what was going on. My first thought was the fuckers that had placed her in the middle of this trafficking shit, but lately that’s always my first thought. I went after the IPO and did an intense trace. It’s when I started hitting firewalls and the shit started bouncing all over the place that I knew I was on the right track.
“These motherfuckers.” I had to think, if they can reach her, then they can send anything through the damn computer. I know my kid doesn’t have anything sensitive on there, but what the fuck else can they do? “Mancini.” Smarmy fuck had given me his number a week ago after according to him he’d reassured himself that I was safe, crazy fuck.
“Lyon!” I rolled my eyes, something I picked up from my annoying ass wife, and if she did that shit to me for the same reason I was doing it to him then she had problems. “They’re after my kid.” I heard a noise like a chair falling back onto its front legs.
“Tell me.” I gave him what I had and he walked me through safeguards for the PCs. Lucky for me I already had half the shit we needed and what I didn’t have we improvised. He didn’t ask any questions about why I needed homeland security grade shit for my kids’ computers and I didn’t ask how his ass knew about the shit he’d just taught me. By the time we got off the phone, three hours had gone by.
If my wife or kids had come through that door in the last half hour they would’ve run screaming. I had no doubt my face showed every emotion I was feeling and none of it was good. How the fuck did they know the kid was gone? There was only one answer; somebody had eyes on my place. Now I have to worry about whether or not the kid was safe. Ain’t this a bitch?
I put in a few calls to make sure he, and his family was okay in their new home a thousand miles away from my kid. Tomorrow, I’ll see about some kind of protection for the little shit just in case. I have to come up with a story for my wife, she and Caitiebear are close and I’m sure our daughter is going to tell her about that little missive.
Kat’s already on high alert. I don’t kid myself that she doesn’t know something is up, she knows me. All my putting her off isn’t fooling her ass one bit, but as always I strive to shield her from life and its fuck-ups.
I headed back to our bedroom where she was sitting up with one of her magazines. Probably some shit about redoing the house again or some fuck. Anything to make my ass nuts.
I was spared the inquisition by our son’s fussing in the crib she’d brought into our room. Since it was my turn to walk the floors, I told her pregnant ass to go to sleep. Not like I expected her to listen, but at least I tried.
I picked Cody up and changed his diaper before heading down to get one of his bottles of expressed milk. I must be out of my mind to want to go through this shit again, fucking late night feedings.
Before you know it, Kat and her damn kids are gonna overrun my ass. Three girls, every time I think about it, I break out in a cold sweat. Elena says it’s payback. Like I did some shit to her as a kid that I needed to pay for. Meddling fuck.
Kat’s been giving Mengele looks lately, as if she’s trying to see into her head. Probably thinks she can get a head start on this new batch she’s carrying. Good luck with that.
By the time Cody stopped his screaming fit the house was quiet. I made the rounds, looking in on all of them, making doubly sure the place was secure, before going up to bed. She was waiting up for me. Fuck!
“What’s the matter, the babies keeping you up?” I climbed into bed and hauled her into my arms. It’s the only time I feel whole, when I’m holding her like this. I forgot a long time ago what it was like before I found her. “No, they’re fine. It’s Caitie. I know she told you about the email, what’s that about?”
“I’m not sure but I’m gonna find out. You know what I’m gonna say, nothing for you to worry about, just put it out of your mind.” I knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that that was gonna happen, so I did the only thing I knew would take her mind off of it.
I rolled her to her back, covered her lips with mine and slid into her still wet snatch. For the next half an hour she was too busy to think about shit. And by the time I pulled out of her, she was out like a light. Thank fuck.
***
The next morning, I had to go in to the shop. I still had a lot of back log from the holidays and there was no time to spare. I took my kids to school myself so I could have more time with my daughter, make sure she was okay. I didn’t want to worry her, so I played that shit down, but with the understanding that she was not to interact with anyone she didn’t know on the Internet. I hate that fucking thing like poison.
Mancini and I hadn’t had any luck tracing the email back to the source, but we both agreed it was a Trojan horse. I’d kept my cool for my wife and kid, but underneath that calm facade I was stea
ming.
I’d promised the SEALs that I’d try to hold off until they got their shit sorted out, but this shit was too close for comfort. No way was I waiting around for these fucks to strike again.
I watched them walk into the building and saw their detail pull in behind me before turning around and heading for work.
The first thing I did after I’d made a dent in our workload, was call a meet between my usual crew, the ones who knew just a little more about who I am than most. This shit could come back on them too if anyone went digging. So far these fucks were only after me, but who’s to say how long that would last.
“They sent a message to my kid last night.” I let that settle in and calmed down the furor that arose. I held my hand up for quiet. “You know I told you those boys asked us to stay put until they can get in front of this thing, but it goes without saying, this shit changes things. I’m heading for the desert by nightfall. Who’s in?”
“You have to ask? How’s Caitie?” Jared stood by my side as always, ready to go to war. And as much as I would love to go it alone, I knew they’d never let that happen. “She’s gonna be okay, a little shaken up but I took care of it. You should know I did a run on the Porters. I have their whereabouts as we speak. I have no problem coming back and helping these boys do what they have to, but I’m putting an end to my part of this deal now.”
“We shoulda taken them out since the night we left Law’s place. When are we heading out?” Tommy was another who I knew I could count on. In the room were all the men who had ridden into the desert with me that long ago night. No one had ever mentioned it. It was just something we’d done, the same as we’ve done for others in need before and since.
I was about to answer when my phone rang. I walked away to answer thinking it was probably Kat or one of the kids calling to let me know they’d made it home from school, but I picked up my stride when I saw the number on the readout. My blood was already up, it would only take one more thing to make me lose my shit completely, and seeing the man I’d left to look over my wife and kids calling could be just that thing.
Cord SEAL Team Seven (Book 5) Page 11
