by Gunn, Autumn
I froze. GPS. The same technology that confirmed Kate was being watched was working against me. How did I forget to disable that?
“Jax, are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I’m OK. Just processing. Do we know anything else?”
“Hrytsenko was an amateur boxing champ in Ukraine.”
“That would explain why his punches hurt as much as they did.”
“He got in some licks?”
“Yeah, some really good ones. Hardest I’ve been hit in a long time. Any chance you took a look at Kate?”
“His ex-wife?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t but I saw her name in the file. What do you know about Koval?”
“The person or the name?”
“The name.”
“I know Kate has it.”
“True, and it’s Ukrainian origin. Probably why Hrytsenko thought she was perfect for him.”
“You think she’s connected to all this?”
“No links right now. Probably just wrong place wrong time, but too early to be sure. I can do some checking if you want.”
My entire life I’ve been told I have trust issues, especially with women. After what my mother did to me, the number my first girlfriend pulled on me when I was deployed, my wife, and now possibly Kate, my issues with the women who are the close to me weren’t improving.
“Jax, are you there?”
I couldn’t speak. Finally, “Yes, I’m here.”
“I can take a look if you want. It won’t hurt.”
Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. I was already thinking Kate was the one. Everything was so fast, but so smooth. Maybe we were meant to be. Maybe this is how life is supposed to work. When everything makes sense it feels so right, and right now, suddenly, nothing was making sense.
“Sure. Let’s take a look.”
“OK, I’ll call you back.”
Click.
What had I gotten myself into? Was I being set up and worse yet, was I being set up by the Russian mafia. Who had I upset in that part of the world? My ops never took me there. Who did I upset that had a connection to that part of the world? Or maybe, this was all just a coincidence. Another way of life playing a nasty joke on me and driving my trust for others even deeper into the ground. I joined the SEAL Teams to make a difference. All the things that had happened to me up to that point in my life felt negative. I wanted to fight that and bring positivity to the world. Serve others. Pay it forward in hopes that it might make a difference. I never said it out loud and tried not to think it, but I hoped maybe my luck would turn around. And it had. I now had brothers from the Teams, and spread peace all around the world. Somehow bad luck found me again.
Chapter 10
“How well did you know your ex?”
As we lay in bed the thought couldn’t escape me.
“What do you mean? He was my ex-husband. I knew everything about him. I knew him better than he knew himself.”
“How did you meet?”
“Lockheed Martin Memorial Day company picnic. He came up and asked me if I was going to finish my watermelon.” Kate laughed.
“And did you?”
“No. His request was weird, but at that moment it was kind of endearing.”
“And you gave it to him?”
“Yeah, I remember looking at him oddly and figuring he was one of our mechanics or something, which he was. Sometimes analytical guys don’t have the best social skills, but their lack of finesse can be charming. There’s no pretense to it. It’s kind of cute.”
“You said he changed almost overnight. What happened?”
“Are you sure you want to talk about my ex?”
“Yeah, I just want to understand a little.”
“OK. Well, he started drinking heavily. He became really detached. Just spent time in front of my computer watching sports.”
“Did he have a favorite team?”
“Heavens, how would I know? I didn’t really pay attention to that. Just that he was watching sports.”
“He watched them when he got home from work?”
“He switched to second shift so he started getting home closer to midnight. I was taking care of Jerry so I was pretty tired when he arrived. He asked me to show him how to use the computer; so he could watch games.”
“Watch games on the computer? Why not on the TV?”
“He said we didn’t get those channels.”
“What channels?”
“I don’t know. The ones with the games. What’s up with all the questions? This is starting to feel like an interrogation. He changed. I left. End of story.”
“I know, but I’d like to gather a little intel just to put closure to this case.”
Kate rolled over and looked at me, her head comfortably resting on the pillow.
“Sorry.”
“No problem.”
“I don’t know what sports he watched, but we didn’t have them on our TV.”
“And did he watch them every night?”
“Saturday and Sundays mornings mostly. But sometimes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays afternoons. I remember because we ordered pizza a lot on those nights and for some reason he was really excited about those Tuesday and Wednesday games. He skipped work sometimes on those days. Made it up by working doubles on other days.”
“Did he shout anything during the games?”
“At me?”
“No, like yelling at the computer or the players or anything?”
“He would jump out of his seat sometimes, but not yell anything. Jerry and I were usually asleep. I do remember being woken up to that stupid word goal sometimes.”
“Goal?”
“Yeah, the announcer seemed to hold the o in the word forever. It would take him like 10 seconds just to say goal.”
“And you said he drank a lot?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he have a favorite beer?”
“He didn’t really drink beer. Mostly vodka.”
“Vodka tonics?”
“No, no, no. He never mixed it. I had some girlfriends over once and they mixed him a vodka cran and he wouldn’t drink it. Said mixing vodka is for sissies. We had a fight about it after my friends left.”
I stared up at the ceiling, realizing exactly what this meant.
“Everything OK? You look like you just realized something.”
“Everything is OK. Just one other question and then I’ll stop.”
“OK.”
“The computer he used was your personal computer or work computer?”
“Work computer.”
I truly believe Kate was telling me the truth, but wasn’t sure she was telling me everything. I wasn’t sure if I could trust her or if my mind was just overreacting.
“Everything OK, officer?” Kate smiled and tapped my nose with her index finger as I stared at the ceiling.
“Everything is OK, Miss,” I played along.
“So I’m free to go?”
“You’re free to go.”
“What if I don’t want to go? What if I want to stay?”
“Sorry ma’am, please clear the area,” I joked.
“Well, officer, I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’re going to have to cite me for resisting arrest.” Kate jumped on top of me and playfully pinned my hands down to the bed. She was sitting on my abs, and slowly started grinding back and forth. Needless to say it was working.
“Ma’am, you’re obstructing justice.”
“Jax Justice or the people’s pursuit of justice?”
“Both!” We laughed and Kate rolled off of me.
“I wanted to ask you about that actually. Is Justice your real name? It sounds so superheroish?”
“Maybe it’s both. Maybe I’m a real superhero.”
“So your dad’s name is Out For or something like that?” She tickled me under the arms. I squirmed.
“It might have been.”
“Well, I never met my dad. Don’t know who he is.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s OK. It was a long, long time ago.”
“And your mom?”
“Don’t know much about her either.” I paused.
Kate waited about 20 seconds. “Anything you do know?”
Was I really going to go down this path? Right now? The Navy shrink said the first step in improving my relationship with women is to trust them. Give your trust first. Guess there’s no better time to try than now.
“My mother left me on the doorstep of an orphanage at three weeks.”
“Oh my! I can’t believe that. What’s wrong with her?”
“She was young. She had no money, no husband, heck probably not even a boyfriend. I’m sure she was scared. At least she put me somewhere where I at least had a fighting chance. I’m not mad at her. I don’t hold any grudges…I think.”
“Well, you have every right to if you do.”
“Thanks, but I don’t. I’m trying to keep focused on positive things these days.”
“Did you ever meet your mom?”
“No.”
“Did you go looking for her?”
“No.”
“Not even once?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to be around anyone who doesn’t want to be around me.”
There was silence for at least a full minute. “That’s the way I felt about my ex. I’m not going to give my love to someone who doesn’t appreciate it and give me their love in return.”
A tear rolled down Kate’s eye. She reached over and gave me a big hug. It only lasted a few seconds and then she pulled away, wiping the tear from her eye.
“I’m sorry. What you said really resonated with me.”
“It’s OK. I understand.”
“As a SEAL I’m sure trust is a huge part of what you do and who you are. I’m sure you guys wouldn’t be able to do what you do without trust, and love.”
“You’re right. We don’t use the love word so much, but trust, yes, it’s everything.”
“Jax, I hope someday you can trust me. I know we’re still getting to know each other, but I feel really good about this. I want someone I can trust and someone who trusts me. Of course I want more than that, but that’s where it starts. Trust, respect, and love.”
I stared deeply in her eyes. “I want the same thing.”
We kissed and held it as the minutes went by. Eventually we both fell asleep, still together as one from that one kiss. One kiss is all it took.
Chapter 11
Kate dropped the kids off at school, which gave me time to think. Last night our conversation had really connected us. I felt it. She felt it. The reality was this morning I was still searching for the truth. How much does Kate know? What does Kate know? I just needed to hear from Laura and a lot of things would make sense.
I exercised all morning to keep my mind off of the news I was going to receive. If the call went South then I’d have to come up with a way to distance myself from Kate immediately. I couldn’t put myself and my daughter in any kind of potentially dangerous situation, especially not in our own home. If the call went well I might still have lingering issues about Kate. Is she holding something back? Is there more to her than I know? Is there more to her that she doesn’t want me to know? The answer would come in the middle of my afternoon coffee.
“Laura. I’m dying here. What did you find out?”
“Well, there’s more to this girl than we knew.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“It might not be so bad though.”
“I’m due for a pleasant surprise.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, yet, but hopefully I can give you something positive to start with.”
“Hit me.”
“Kate Koval. That’s her real name.”
“We’re off to a better start than last time.”
Laura laughed. “True. Anyways, June 10th of 2010 the CIA released over 900 pages of documents in regards to the Korean War. Not a big deal considering they release declassified docs way after the fact all the time. What was a bigger deal was that some additional docs were released on the Wikileaks type sites.”
“Wikileaks again?”
“Stay with me. During your SEAL training did you study how the SEALs, or should I say a specific SEAL, was used in Wonsan Harbor during the Korean Conflict?”
“That’s pretty vague, but I’m guessing you’re referring to Dick Lyon.”
“Exactly. Wonsan Harbor had been heavily mined before the U.S. and U.N. Navies forced a blockade. The North Koreans tried to keep adding mines, but UDTs were staying on top of it. The UDTs discovered the North Koreans were using a new shallow water mine inside the harbor. Dick Lyon, with only a pair of 24” bolt cutters and a ka-bar dove down, by himself, under the mines and cut the mooring cables.”
“Good old Dick Lyon. Does having 24” bolt cutters and a ka-bar consist of being heavily armed?”
We both laughed. “And don’t forget, this is before any scuba gear was issued.”
“And no American had confronted this kind of mine before.”
“Exactly. Well, do you remember what they found inside one of the mines that Dick Lyon recovered?”
“Kim Jong-il?”
“Very funny. He was a already a kid by then so maybe he had something to do with it. He might just be that evil. But, seriously, do you remember?”
“One second.” I tried to think back to all the SEAL history we had read during training. This was one of the ones that really stuck with me because it was a transformation for the SEALs. Korea was the first time we moved inland. Sure we were mostly still nautical, but now the UDTs were also on land. I couldn’t remember. “You got me.”
“A packing slip…in Russian.”
“OK. So the Soviets were supplying weapons to the North Koreans and the Cold War was in full swing. So?”
“So? I’ll tell you so. So, we had a Russian come to our side asking for asylum if he defected and worked as a double. Said it was his handwriting on that slip.”
“OK.”
“And guess who that was?”
“No idea.”
“Well neither do we, technically. But based on the information we have, the database says there’s a ninety-nine percent chance it the grandfather of…”
“You’re joking me!”
“Nope. The names match, the DOBs match, it all makes sense. When he was given citizenship he was laying low in something similar to what the witness protection program looks like today. Kate’s mother grew up in that house and Kate visited it numerous times. Whether she knew it as just grandpa and grandma’s house or for what it really was is what we don’t know.”
“So she might have some ties to Russia?”
“Or Ukraine. The Koval surname is Ukrainian. Her grandfather was Ukrainian. Ukraine is an interesting place because half of them seem to identify with Russia, while the other half don’t just not identify with Russia, they actually hate Russia and everything about it.”
“I remember guys telling stories of going on ops in Ukraine. They’d go to cities in the west like Lviv and try and speak Russian and they’d practically get spit on. Then they’d go to places in the east like Kharkov and the girls would love it.”
“My point exactly.”
“So Kate’s grandpa is a Ukrainian who was with the Russians in the Korean War until he defected to the American side. And Kate’s ex-husband is also a Ukrainian who was with the Russians until they invaded Ukraine at which point he defected to the American side.”
“Bingo.”
“And we don’t know how much Kate knows about either of these backstories.”
“Bingo again.”
