“I…I don’t know what to say,” Davidson stated.
“I say, Hallelujah!” Lopez shouted. “Two kids on a corporal’s salary? Not gonna happen.”
As Lopez whopped and broke into his happy dance, Davidson stared down at his rank. He never thought they would ever let him get past private first class. Not after how he started out, but Brandt must have convinced the brass.
Why did this silly piece of cloth make Davidson feel so proud?
Their little celebration was cut short, as Rebecca walked in.
She had that look. Like something was wrong, really, really wrong. Everyone parted for her entrance.
“Vin, can I see you for a moment?”
Uh oh. Rebecca used the sergeant, now first lieutenant’s first name. This wasn’t going to be good.
* * *
Rebecca didn’t even bother to find out who the Asian guy was. It must be their new point man. There was plenty of time to introduce herself…later.
Brandt led her into his office then closed the door behind them.
“What’s wrong?”
Rebecca opened her arms and he hugged her. “Babe…”
The tears started to flow against her will. Brandt smoothed her hair back from her face. “What is it?
Rebecca bit her lower lip, not wanting to say the words that needed to be said. Once she said them, her condition became real and a part of her. Still, she didn’t want her pregnancy to be real.
“I’m…”
“Rebecca, you are freaking me out,” Brandt stated.
Well, she couldn’t be the source of this battle-hardened warrior’s freak out.
“I’m pregnant,” Rebecca said in a rush. It was the only way to get the words out.
There was a momentary beat, then Brandt whooped, picking Rebecca up by the waist and spinning her around. His usual response to another baby on the way.
This time though Rebecca fake-punched his shoulders. “Oh no, you don’t get to celebrate this time. We agreed to wait another few years before trying to get pregnant, if ever.”
Brandt smiled widely, kissing her on the cheek. “I don’t care, this is the best news!”
“No, no it isn’t, Vin,” Rebecca retorted. “You don’t have to carry the baby for nine months.”
“I would if I could, you know that. I’d carry you around with the baby for nine months if I could,” Brandt said, still smiling, still kissing her on the cheek between words.
“This is all your fault,” Rebecca admonished.
“Um, I think we both participated in the baby making, my dear.”
Rebecca punched him again, but she was pretty sure it hurt her knuckles more than it hurt him. “It is your stupid super sperm, overcoming all obstacles.”
“What can I say?” Brandt smiled. “When you are right, you are right.”
Ugh, he was being so infuriating. The news didn’t bother him in the least. He wasn’t concerned for the future at all.
“You do realize it could be twins…or triplets.”
“I know. Great isn’t it?” Brandt responded, putting his shoulder forward so she could more effectively punch it again.
Which Rebecca was more than happy to do. “Your mother is a twin in a third set of twins.”
“Yep,” Brandt responded. “Kasa may be the odd single birth out.”
This was not what Rebecca wanted to hear. Not at all.
“How can you be so calm about all of this?”
“Because we are going to have at least another baby.”
Then he kissed her full on the lips and suddenly that didn’t sound all that bad.
* * *
Bunny flexed her knee. Even after all the surgeries and rehab, her leg still felt stiff and if she wasn’t careful, it would lock up at the most inopportune moments. The limb was what was standing between her and returning to field duty.
“Sore?” Stark asked.
Bunny shrugged it off. “It’s good.”
Stark gave her that look like, “You can’t fool me, girlfriend.”
No, she couldn’t.
“I should be hearing today if the doctors are releasing me from their care,” Bunny stated. “I’d love to get out of this attic.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Bunny realized her error. “No offense of course.”
Stark’s mother chuckled. “None taken.”
Bunny looked across the screens. More than half of them were devoted to Stark’s side business. Bringing companies into the twenty-first century. Bunny knew that Stark and his mother were now making ten times more money at that than they were consulting for the Army, but they swore they would never give up their patriotic duty.
The one thing missing in the attic was Stark’s girlfriend. If the relationship was still going.
“Tika?” Bunny asked trying to tread lightly.
Stark shrugged. “She decided to stay in Dallas.”
Bunny thought she knew the reason why. Tika had gotten stuck on a tarmac and supposedly met an Apple guy. Talk about adding insult to injury. After some pretty transparent “I’ve been delayed” tactics, Bunny guessed that Tika had finally owned up to the fact she wasn’t ever coming home.
As much as Bunny tried, she just couldn’t feel sorry for Stark. He deserved way better. You just had to sit in this attic long enough to see it. Tika had been too lightweight for Stark.
But the way Stark was sulking, it didn’t look like he felt the same way.
Just when Bunny was rising to go back to the hospital and maybe hurry along that release from care, a klaxon went off and the lights went from low soft yellow to flashing red.
Bunny scanned the screens. One was blinking on and off. Stark shut down the alarms.
“Just a level seventeen emergency.”
That was pretty low down the chain, but Stark liked to be thorough. Many a global crisis started with a small blip on the screen.
“What is it?”
CHAPTER 4
Stark read the update quickly. There wasn’t much to it.
“The Lithuanian embassy in Peru has been taken over by rebels,” Stark explained.
“Wasn’t the necklace those thugs tried to pull off Lopez, Peruvian?” his mother asked.
“Yep,” Stark replied, searching through the members of the embassy staff to see if there were any red flags. “Oh no…”
“What?” Bunny asked, leaning over his shoulder. God he loved her scent.
“One of the assistants to the ambassador is Bridget Svengurd.”
“No,” Bunny sighed, sitting down. “Not Svengurd’s niece?”
“The one and the same.”
Bunny looked about to say something when her phone beeped. An email. Bunny read it rapidly. The smile on her face told her it was her long-awaited release from care letter. Stark was going to miss her.
“Okay, I’m cleared,” Bunny said, rising, looking like she was going to take advantage of that fact immediately. “I’m going to head over to the National Geographic Museum on 7th. They have a permanent Peruvian exhibit with a curator expert in Pre-Columbian Peru.”
Before either he or his mother could reply, Bunny was gone, bounding down the stairs. Stark supposed it took a certain personality to really enjoy the attic.
Another beep sounded. This wasn’t an international crisis, the signal was for their business. His mom fielded this one while Stark continued researching the Peruvian incident. It all felt a bit too coincidental to Stark. Out of all the countries to have a Lithuanian embassy taken over? And one with Svengurd’s niece?
Hmmm…
Stark’s mom finished up her conversation. “We’ll take care of it right away.”
Stark turned to his mother. “What’s up?”
Her fingers flew across the keyboard. It was more like she was playing music than hacking. “The convention center’s lighting system went down.”
Stark joined his mother. He’d coded that system himself. “How?”
“They have no idea, but they’ve
got a runway show in two hours and they need the lights back up.”
Which should be no big deal. Stark should have been able to get into the convention center’s main frame and reboot the lights, but guess what? Someone had damaged the remote access terminal.
Great. Just great.
“You’re going to need to go out there,” his mother said.
“Me? What about you?”
His mother’s eyebrow went up. “I’ve got a chocolate lasagna in the oven.”
Okay, that was a good reason not to leave the house.
“We do know that the last time I left the attic to go out into the field, I nearly got myself killed?” Stark reminded his mother.
His mom patted him on the knee. “I think you can manage.”
“But the Peru --”
“Get going,” his mother said, waving him off. “I’ve got it. I’ll finish your research, then let Brandt and his team know the results.”
Stark sighed. He hated it when his mother was ahead of things. There was no point in arguing, so Stark packed up what he would need.
“And you’ll keep Bunny in the loop?”
Rolling her eyes, his mother shooed him the rest of the way out the door.
Stupid servers, always messing with his life.
* * *
The men were joking around, telling old war stories to the new guy. Rebecca really wasn’t listening. She’d just smile and laugh when the others did. She had much heavier things on her mind. Like how was she going to deliver essentially a cantaloupe or two through her private parts? Again.
You’d think with time you’d forget the pain, but nope. Rebecca could remember it as if it were yesterday. Unlike other women who seemed to forget the day-long torture that was labor, Rebecca could recall every last moment of it.
And the midnight feedings? Walking around like a zombie for three to six months? Yep, that was fresh in her mind as well.
And this time she had Kasa and the twins to take care of as well. She really didn’t see how she was going to do it. Especially with Brandt’s mother “helping.” Maybe moving back east hadn’t been the best idea in the world.
Brandt didn’t seem to mind. He leaned back against a file cabinet, enjoying Lopez’s retelling of Moscow, a broad, easy smile on her husband’s face. She kind of wanted to wipe it off. He should be as freaked out as she was.
Lopez recreated a helicopter maneuver, spinning around on his heel, a necklace flying out from his chest.
“Is that the necklace that the guy wanted to steal?” Rebecca asked.
Lopez stopped, had to stabilize himself, then gazed down at the stone pendant. “Weird, right? It’s just some cheap good luck charm from Peru.”
Rebecca offered her hand. “May I see it?”
“Weirdo,” Lopez said, but unknotted the leather tie around his neck and gave it over.
“What are you thinking?” her husband asked.
“Not sure yet,” Rebecca answered. “But it certainly isn’t cheap.”
“I know my cousin, Jeffe. Trust me, it didn’t cost him much.”
Rebecca shook her head. “Then the person selling the pendant didn’t know its true value.”
“How do you figure?” Davidson asked. The new point man stepped forward to examine the necklace as well.
“This is raw quartz,” Rebecca reported. “See the sparkle in the gouge marks?”
The men nodded in unison. Soldiers were so cute when they were concentrating.
“And these are stone tool marks,” Rebecca explained. “This was carved centuries ago, if not millennia.”
“Great,” Brandt mumbled. “We don’t do so well with ancient artifacts.”
Lopez snatched the necklace back. “I’m telling you it’s just a good luck charm for the new baby.”
Rebecca snapped a picture of the carvings before Lopez put the pendant back on. She texted Bunny, giving her the broad strokes of the artifact.
“I’m heading to the National Geographic Museum already,” Bunny texted back. “I’ll have it checked out.”
Good to see Bunny up and about again. The woman had an exceptional mind, especially as it related to ancient history.
Lopez’s cellphone chimed. He checked his Facebook app, grunting. “Maria is back in the hospital.”
“More salsa induced indigestion?” Davidson asked, elbowing his friend.
Lopez didn’t immediately retort. Instead he seemed to read the message, over and over again. “Um, no…it looks like she’d six centimeters dilated.”
Brandt patted Lopez’s back. “Congrats. You should head out.”
“Yah, yah,” Lopez said, still seeming in shock.
“This is a good thing, right?” the new guy, Ki, asked.
Davidson was the one who stepped forward to answer. “There’s been a few false alarms is all.”
This time it was Brandt’s phone that rang.
The team was quite popular this morning.
* * *
Brandt listened to Stark’s mom’s briefing. Yes, it was still a little weird that he was getting briefed by their IT guy’s mother, but he’d had to get over that a while ago. He didn’t interrupt. The information flowed through the phone.
He had to agree that there were way too many coincidences in the recent chain of events, so when she asked if he wanted transportation arranged for Peru, he simply said yes. The Lithuanian government had no support in the area, so they were more than open to the idea of America stepping in to free their diplomats.
Brandt clicked off the connection without preamble. Stark’s mother was used to it.
“What’s wrong?” Rebecca asked.
“The Lithuanian embassy has been taken over by hostile forces in…Peru.”
Rebecca tilted her head. “Not a coincidence I would say.”
“I would agree,” Brandt stated. “Which is why we are wheels up in a half an hour.”
“I’m coming,” Rebecca replied. Before he could argue, she set into her “I’m going to explain to you why you’re wrong” speech.
Before she could get too far along, he held up his hand. “Fine.”
Ki raised an eyebrow. “We are taking a civilian along?”
Brandt grinned, Ki really was new at this. “Yes. Unless you would like to argue with her?”
Ki was obviously a very smart man, as he shook his head vigorously. Which was a good thing. Rebecca had her fist on her hip. She wasn’t taking anyone’s flak.
Brandt turned to find Lopez looking pensive. Brandt hadn’t seen that expression since Levont died. Then it hit him. Maria was in labor. For real this time.
“If you want to sit this one out,” Brandt offered. They had Ki and who knew if this Peru situation was really a situation at all.
“No, no,” Lopez said, a smile coming back to his lips. “Momma’s got it. Maria could be in labor until next week for all we know.”
“Good to have you,” Brandt said.
He then turned back to Rebecca. “So should you or I call my mother to tell her she needs to watch the kids?”
Rebecca chuckled. “Oh, that is all you, honey.”
* * *
Bunny strode into the National Geographic Museum, but pulled to a halt a few feet into the foyer. This was like an amusement park for history geeks. She could possibly spend the rest of her life in this building and never leave. Now maybe she understood Stark’s love of his attic.
She was greeted by a docent.
“Can I help you find anything?” the older woman asked. She looked like a museum docent, like she was born to it. You could tell the woman came from money. That was a silk scarf around her neck and a Neiman Marcus cable knit sweater. The woman looked unassuming yet was wearing probably a thousand dollars worth of clothing.
“Yes, I need to speak with Dr. Yedy Rojas,” Bunny explained.
“Ah, right this way…” the woman said, turning down a side hallway. “He is checking some new artifacts that are going to be added to our South American
collection.”
They passed an authentic samurai armor. A flint that might have been used to create the first fire. And a thousand other artifacts delineating humanity’s journey to the present day, passing each collection as if moving through time.
Why didn’t every person in the country want to live here?
Finally they reached the South American wing. Of course there were a lot of flashy Aztec and Incan artifacts. Even the National Geographic had to give the people what they wanted. All bright colored feathers and tales of human sacrifices.
But there was so much more to South America than that. As a matter of fact, a small alcove off to the side of the main hall told of the Peruvian history. As promised, Dr. Rojas had a glass case open and was arranging some arrows.
What Bunny wasn’t expecting was how young the doctor was. Probably not a few years older than herself and he was well…swarthy to say the least. As if Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek had a love child.
Rojas rose and turned his hazel eyes to her. Bunny found it hard to speak for a moment. That much hotness should not be contained in a single human form.
“You were looking for me?” Rojas asked in heavily accented English. It was like he was reciting poetry.
“Um…” Bunny fumbled to speak. The docent gave her that look that Bunny was embarrassing herself. “Um…yes…we have…”
She couldn’t finish, so she just shoved her phone forward showing him the picture of the pendant.
“Ah. A talisman.”
Good. He recognized it. “Incan?” Bunny managed to wrestle out.
“Oh, no, no,” Rojas said. “It is much, much older. And much more controversial.”
* * *
Stark walked into the IT room of the convention center. Talk about a mess. Candy wrappers were all over the console. Spilled soft drinks made a wet slick on the desk. Stark couldn’t even bring himself to put his fingers on the keyboard. Besides he really couldn’t fix anything from here. He needed to get down to the server room and go straight to the source to get the lights up in time. After that was completed, Stark would fix whatever those yahoos had done here.
Then he’d give the convention center’s techs a tongue-lashing that even his mother would be proud of. No cookies for them.
Turning away from the abomination that the IT center had become, Stark went down a short flight of steps to cut across the convention center’s main floor. It was the quickest way to the server room.
The 3rd Cycle of the Betrayed Series Collection: Extremely Controversial Historical Thrillers (Betrayed Series Boxed set) Page 28
