by Becky McGraw
TWISTED HONOR
Deep Six Security, Book Two
Slade’s Story
Becky McGraw
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Acknowledgements
First, I’d like to thank the brave men and women who defend and protect our country at great risk to themselves. A wound is not limited to those that can be seen by the naked eye. The ones that are the deepest sometimes are those that you can’t see. The research I did on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy for this book was fascinating. It is not a new therapy, but has shown such swift and amazing results that it was endorsed and approved by the military two years ago to treat warriors returning home with PTSD.
If you suffer from PTSD or panic attacks, or other unseen wounds or know someone who does, you can check out this amazing therapy here: http://www.emdria.org/?2
Heroes are not just of the human species. Military War Dogs are just as much warriors and veterans as their handlers. Some MWD are trained to do forward observation for military units, others, like Lola in Twisted Honor, are trained in explosives detection and some are specially trained to comfort soldiers while they are deployed and missing home. Some are even trained to be multi-purpose dogs to be used by spec ops teams for a variety of tasks, even parajumping!
When these heroic animals come home, they are often in need of loving forever homes and are adopted out, either by the Department of Defense or several MWD adoption agencies. If you have the facilities and ability to adopt a returning MWD veteran there are several organizations you can contact for more information:
Department of Defense: http://www.37trw.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120611-035.pdf
Pets for Patriots: http://blog.petsforpatriots.org/about-military-working-dog-adoptions/
Vets Adopt Pets: http://vetsadoptpets.org/militaryworkingdogadoptions.html
An interesting tidbit about the dog model representing Lola on the cover of TWISTED HONOR:
The dog on the cover is Kelep, a male German Shepherd who was loaned to us for the photo shoot. Kelep’s grandmother is an actual canine hero. She participated with first responders as a search and rescue partner after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. More can be found on her and other 9/11 canine heroes in the book Dog Heroes of September 11th.
Thank you to Eric David Battershell of Eric Battershell Photography/FITography for capturing the perfect image of handsome fitness model Zeke Samples and Kelep for the cover of Twisted Honor. Thank you also to Kelep’s owners for allowing him to participate in the shoot. He’s a beautiful animal, and my cover is amazing with him on it.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
TWISTED HONOR, Copyright © September, 2015 by Becky McGraw.
ISBN-10:1943188025
ISBN-13:978-1-943188-02-4
All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author.
CHAPTER ONE
A red-wrapped box with a big white bow sitting in the center of his desk stopped Slade in his tracks as he flipped on the light in his office at Deep Six Security. Immediately his hackles rose, but he glanced at Lola, who had already taken her position on the pillow behind his desk and relaxed. If there were explosives in the box she’d be up and barking. Lola’s training would never go away, even with the additional training she’d received to help him in a different way when they first got home. He didn’t like being paranoid, hated it in fact, but had accepted that was part of his makeup since he was medically retired from the Marine Corps.
Walking behind the desk, he sat down and pulled the box to him. Maybe Logan had left him a private gift to thank him for being the best man at his wedding this past weekend. He deserved a fricking medal. One he could pin to the chest of his old uniform above all the others, even the purple heart. Lola deserved one too, since Slade had to put her in a damned kennel most of the weekend.
Playing peacekeeper between all his guys and the politicians, military brass, FBI suits and CIA spooks who showed up to the reception had been absolute hell. Slade would almost have preferred being back in the sandbox with Lola clearing buildings. Pressure built in his head and his muscles tensed. Lola whined and got up to nudge him in the thigh with her nose. Slade blew out a breath then scratched between her ears until the pressure eased.
“Good girl,” he praised, and she licked his hand. “I’m fine now—it wasn’t anything. You worry too damned much.” Lola barked as if she understood. She eyeballed him for a second longer, then seemed satisfied because she walked back over to her pillow to plop down.
Oddly enough, she was the only one who understood him. Since he got home five years ago, Slade just felt like he didn’t fit in with most people anymore unless he made them fit. But at least he’d finally found his inner peace again. Between dealing with his head injury and then subsequent heart injury dealt to him by Jeannie, it hadn’t been easily found.
He knew now that Lola was the only woman he needed in his life permanently. Lieutenant Lola had been through hell with him in the corps, and she understood him. She’d even dealt with her own injuries too. Somehow they both made it home alive, and he was thankful to still have her. He knew he could always count on her to have his six.
Since he’d come home five years ago, Slade had fought hard to find Zen in his life. The way he’d achieved it was by being in charge of only himself and Lola. He liked it that way, and hoped doing his best friend a favor here didn’t upset that Zen. Why Logan thought he was the only one capable of running the company while he was gone, Slade didn’t know. If he were Logan, he’d be the last one he chose for that job.
What upset Slade about the whole deal the most is that Logan hadn’t mentioned it to him until the last minute at the reception last night. There was a reason for that. Logan knew if Slade had time to think about it or find other options he wouldn’t be in this hot seat. Especially since he left him without a single instruction on what the hell was going on at the moment.
This morning he’d tried to call Logan and Susan about ten times each to get a SITREP, but neither of them answered their phone.
With
a huffed breath, he fingered the ribbon all the way around the box then leaned down to shake it and listen. Something heavy shifted from side to side in the box. Sliding a nail under the tape holding the ribbon in place, he lifted it then removed the lid on the box. Clouds of white tissue paper covered whatever was inside and he rifled through it until he saw two cell phones at the bottom of the box. One cellphone had an unmistakable sharp-toothed-fish print case on it. The Barracuda. That would be Susan’s cell phone. The other had a hard tactical case on it and that had to be Logan’s.
That answered why they weren’t picking up their phones. And it pissed Slade off that they were going off the grid for their honeymoon, and dumping all of this in his lap without a SITREP of any kind. Every problem and decision was his now, without any kind of guidance.
Well, David Logan was going to get what he deserved for doing this to him. If he was in charge, some changes would be made while Logan was away. Changes that he’d been after Dave to make for six months, like hiring more people.
His first hire would be Logan’s sister Cecelia, before she signed a new contract with the Army. At the reception, he’d overheard her ask Logan to hire her before she renewed her contract, and his resounding, “Hell no—nothing has changed.”
Afterwards Slade struck up a conversation with the pretty blonde to try and find out what was going on between her and her brother. Well, that’s what he used for an opening to talk to her. If she hadn’t talked for two hours about it, he may have had an opening for his real purpose—asking her out.
He found out from Captain Cecelia Logan that she was a com specialist responsible for outfitting spec ops guys at a very forward base in Afghanistan during her last deployment, which made him pucker for Dave. Maybe her brother didn’t want to know and that’s why he didn’t talk to her about it. If he heard where her post had been, Logan would have known like Slade that it meant even though she didn’t have direct combat experience there, she’d had plenty of combat exposure, because the forward bases were always under attack.
If Slade were Logan, he’d have hired her just to keep her from going back. But Logan had just cut her off, and Slade couldn’t figure out why.
She had a degree in marketing that could help him get new contracts, relieve some of that stress from him. Her Army background meant she could help Dexter with outfitting them with com for operations. She’d had military training including weapons training.
She would be a good fit for them.
The only reason he could think he wouldn’t hire her is that she was family. Maybe he thought there would be family drama in the office. From talking to her, he didn’t think that would be the case at all. Or maybe it was because she was a female. But since Susan kicked his ass about not having more women at the company, Slade didn’t think that was it either.
Well Slade was in charge now, and he was going to give her the chance to prove herself that Logan denied her. If it didn’t work out, Logan could fire her and she could always rejoin the Army, but he didn’t think Susan would let that happen.
“Morning,” Mac Mackenzie said walking into Slade’s office. “Damn, I’m still recovering from that reception, how about you?” He sat down in the chair across from Slade’s desk and his gaze locked on the box. “What’s in the box?”
“Logan’s death warrant,” Slade grumbled, picking up the cell phones to put them back inside the box.
“Oh shit...what’s in the envelope?” he asked.
Slade’s eyes fell to the envelope on his desk, which he’d forgotten about. “I have no idea. I’m almost afraid to look. It was in the box with Logan and Susan’s cell phones.”
“That’s really odd. Those two never go anywhere without their phones. If something happened here that he didn’t know about, Logan would have a coronary.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on with him.” Slade shrugged as he flipped the envelope over to look at the back. “Yeah, he got married, but I think he had a lobotomy or something too. I’ve never seen the man so goofy as he was at that reception, and he didn’t even have a drink except for that sip of champagne during the toast.”
“That’s what love’ll do for you,” Mac said, and his eyes darkened. “Hope it works out better for him than it did for me.”
“Or me,” Slade added.
Jeannie had taught Slade a valuable lesson when he got home from the sandbox. Mac had learned a similar lesson from his ex-wife. Hell, from Logan’s experience with his own ex-girlfriend, Slade thought he’d learned too, but against all odds Susan had fixed him.
Susan was a different kind of woman, the kind Logan needed, tough and take-no-shit.
“Love is for fools, but considering who he married, it’ll probably work out just fine,” Mac said with a laugh. “She’ll kick him in the balls if he ever tries to leave her.”
“Well, we need to figure out what the status is here.” Slade ripped open the envelope, and pulled out the note inside, hoping it had some information for him. “Logan left without even giving me a clue as to what is going on here.”
He unfolded the note and scanned it, and it contained nothing more in there than he already knew. Except his boss threatened to kill him if Deep Six wasn’t intact when they got back from their honeymoon.
“We?” Mac repeated, his eyebrows raised.
Slade’s eyes flew up to his. “Yeah, we. I’m not about to try and run this place alone. I don’t want to run it at all. Y’all are going to step up and help me, and I’m going to help you by hiring the people that Dave should have hired long ago to help us.”
“Oh, man. You are taking your life in your hands,” Mac said, holding his hands up. “I don’t want any part of that, buddy. Logan is as tight as Gray’s assh—”
“We having a meeting nobody told me about?” Grayson asked shortly, as he walked into Slade’s office and took the chair beside Mac. “And my asshole is as tight as your mouth should be, jerkoff. I got a call from the fiancé of the woman you’re working for.”
Mac’s eyebrows shot up. “Jared Calmes?”
Now, Gray looked surprised. “Um, no...this man’s name was Fred something...Layton.”
“Now, that’s interesting, what did he want?” Mac asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Wanted to know why you were talking to his employees about him. Said you should be checking her out not him, because she’s the one doing the cheating.”
“I’m not stalking him. That’s not who I’ve been following, and yeah, Jared is not cheating.” Mac looked thoughtful for a moment. “Layton? I think that’s Jared’s boss at the plant if I’m not mistaken.” He looked at Slade, who had just been listening. “Another prime example of why I don’t get involved with women anymore.”
“That’s a prime example of why you should avoid those kind of cases is what that is. Why do you take those kind of cases?” Gray asked, with a shake of his head.
Mac shot him a look. “To put the beans in the basket so you have something to count, Grayson,” he replied smugly.
Slade cleared his throat to break up the argument he saw brewing. “I need you to count those beans and tell me how much leeway we have to hire a few more people and still be comfortable, Gray. Push the envelope, because I want to hire some good people and that isn’t going to be cheap. You’ll have that bookkeeper if you do things right.”
Gray whistled. “Man you like to live dangerously. Logan will have your nuts in a wringer if you do that.”
“He left me with them in a wringer, so I’m just returning the favor. Now, get me those numbers and y’all clear out. I’m going to schedule my first interview before she leaves town.”
Cee Cee’s flight out was scheduled for tomorrow, so Slade needed to talk to her today. Jerking the phone up, he punched in the number she’d scratched on a piece of paper for him at the reception. At the time, he thought he’d catch up with her for a drink before she left town, or something, but now he wanted a lot more from her.
“Hello?” she answered, s
ounding out of breath.
“Cee Cee? This is Slade, we talked at your brother’s reception?” When she didn’t respond, he charged on. “I’d like you to come by the Deep Six office downtown and talk to me before you fly out.”
“Well, my flight out is at zero six hundred, so it’ll have to be today. What’s up?” she asked, still breathing hard.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Running by my parent’s farm.” Slade heard her tennis shoes pounding the pavement. “Gotta keep up the PT if I’m going back.”
Well, hopefully she wouldn’t be going back. “I have a proposition for you.”
“I told you last night I’m not interested,” she replied with a sharp laugh.
Blood rushed up to Slade’s face. He’d been on his third scotch when he asked for her phone number, and vaguely recalled flirting with her shamelessly to get it. They’d talked so long, he was going in for the close before she left.
What the hell had he been thinking? Logan would fucking kill him.
Slade knew exactly what he’d been thinking, that she looked damned good in that little black dress and come-fuck-me-heels with her blonde spiky hair and tanned skin. At the time he hadn’t been too concerned about Logan, because she certainly hadn’t looked like anybody’s little sister, or a soldier.
Slade cleared his throat. “Not that kind of proposition. But either way, your brother will probably put a bullet in me when he gets back.”
Her footfalls slowed then stopped and after several heavy breaths, she asked, “What did you have in mind? You know I’m always up for anything that will aggravate my brother.”
Susan was now married to the boss, and had proven herself on their last mission, so Slade knew her days as their secretary were over. Gray needed a bookkeeper so he could do what he did best, slicing and dicing financial records to find bad guys.
“I need a secretary and a bookkeeper. You pick which one you want.”
“I can’t even balance my own checkbook, so bookkeeper is out.” Cee Cee laughed, and after a few more heavy breaths, she said, “Dave won’t hire me, so you’re wasting your time.”
