Waiting for Him

by Samantha Cole

  He popped a piece of toast in his mouth, chewed and washed it down with a sip of strong coffee. “You ready to see your aunt again?”

  She swallowed a mouthful of French toast and syrup. “Yes, but I’m not as nervous as I was last night. I’m excited now. I only hope she doesn’t faint.”

  Her eyes glistened and he knew she was teasing him. Shit, he was never going to live that down. “Keep it up, Kitten, and next time I get you naked, I’ll give you so many orgasms, you’ll be the one fainting.”

  He chuckled at her blush. Damn, she was adorable. He eyed her plate and saw she was almost done, so he signaled the waitress for their check. Glancing up at the wall clock by the exit, he noted it was just after eleven-thirty. They’d slept in since Harry had said Kat’s aunt would be home around noon.

  Boomer had checked in with Ian before breakfast and learned Jake was back at the compound, irritable, but resting. The Trident women—Kristen, Angie, and Jenn—were fussing over him and driving him bat-shit crazy. CC was flying Marco and Devon to an airport about thirty minutes from Murfreesboro, and they would rendezvous with them around thirteen hundred hours. Hopefully, by then, they would know where they were headed next.

  Tossing enough money on the table to cover the check and tip, he stood and helped her out of the booth. He didn’t let go of her hand, but instead, linked their fingers together, smiling to himself on how right it felt. This morning while he’d been lying in bed watching her sleep, he realized he was in love with her. Some might call him insane, since she’d only walked back into his life less than three days ago, but the truth was, he’d never stopped loving her. And now they had a chance at the future they’d been denied so long ago.

  He held the car door open for her, scanning the little town for any threats, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Yeah, there were a few people eyeing them, but this was a town where everyone knew everyone, and the two of them were strangers. He smiled and said hello to an older couple on his way around to the driver’s side, then climbed in and started the engine. There wasn’t much else to do but hope Irina and friends had made it back early, so he did a U-turn and steered the car toward her house.

  Glancing at Kat, he noticed she was getting nervous again and squeezed her hand. “Everything will be fine, Kitten.”

  “Oh, I know everything will be okay with my aunt, but I’m scared she won’t know anything that will help us find out why those men are after me.”

  “If she doesn’t, then we’ll find some other way to figure it out. Brody is still hitting the computer, trying to find what we’re missing. Maybe by the time Marco and Dev get here we’ll have some more info.”

  Pulling into the driveway, they saw a tan Toyota Camry and Boomer sighed in relief. He knew, despite what she’d said at breakfast, Kat was stressing over the first few minutes of this upcoming reunion and he was grateful she didn’t have to wait any longer. Parking the car behind the other vehicle, he got out and walked around to her door. As he helped her out, the front door to the house opened and Boomer wasn’t too surprised to see Harry walk out.

  The older man met them halfway. “I kept my word and haven’t said anything to her, but I thought it’d be best for me to be here. It’s not every day a woman’s niece comes back from the dead.”

  His words startled them, but Boomer was the first to recover. “How’d you know?”

  Harry grinned. “I ain’t stupid, son. I’ve known what happened to Irina’s brother and family for years, or at least I thought I did. Their pictures are all over the place in there. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Although, I’m sure I’m missing a few pieces of the puzzle along with Irina. So, how do you want to do this? She’s in the kitchen making coffee and heating up my pie.”

  Boomer looked at Kat, who shrugged, then back at Harry. “You know her better than we do at this point, so I’ll be willing to follow your lead.”

  The other man nodded. “Okay. Why don’t you wait out here then, and give me a few minutes.”

  The couple agreed and watched as Harry disappeared back into the house. It was four, maybe five minutes before the door flew open, and a shorter older version of Kat came barreling out to the front yard. She gasped and cried out, but never slowed down, running straight to her niece with open arms. Tears fell from both women as they embraced. Irina kept pulling back, staring at Kat, and then hugging her fiercely again. “Katerina, Katerina! Oh, my Lord! I don’t understand, but I’ve never been so happy in my life. My Katerina is back!”

  Boomer joined Harry on the front steps and gave the two women a few minutes alone.

  “I take it this is going to be a long story, isn’t it, son?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “If you’d like, I can come back later. I just wanted to make sure Irina didn’t need me.”

  He thought about it a moment and decided Harry might come in handy. Once they left, they’d need someone to keep an eye on Irina just in case anyone came here looking for them. He’d also call Ian and see if Trident had some contacts they could use to protect the older woman. Kat would be devastated if anything happened to her aunt. “If it’s all right with you, sir, I think it would be better if you heard everything.”

  Harry tilted his head in acknowledgement and continued to watch the tearful reunion.

  Twenty minutes later the four of them were sitting around Irina’s dining room table, sipping coffee. The pie in front of each of them went untouched, except for Harry’s. While listening to Kat tell the older couple what had happened twelve years ago all the way to the present, Boomer regarded the quaint little home. There were pictures of Katerina, Alex, and their parents strategically placed throughout the rooms, and it was obvious how much Irina had loved and missed her family. Sadness filled his chest as he spotted the picture from Alex and his graduation ceremony. He remembered the photo of the Maier family well, because he’d been the one to take it with Kat’s camera at her request. The four of them looked so happy, their futures bright with promise. But all the happiness had been destroyed by greed and evil. He shook his head to clear the anger which was building up inside him, and came back to the present.

  Kat’s story was interrupted by the occasional ‘oh, dear’ and ‘you poor child’ from Irina. She hadn’t let go of her niece’s hand since they’d come into the house, and Boomer knew the feeling of needing to be connected to the long-lost woman.

  When Kat took a breath after telling them how she ended up at Trident, Boomer took over. “We’re doing everything we can to keep Kat safe, Irina, but we need your help. Ivan gave her a key to a safety deposit box in Norfolk. There was only a photograph inside it, and we were hoping you could tell us where it was taken.”

  As Kat took the picture out of her purse and handed it to Irina, Boomer gave the retired Major a military hand signal to indicate more had happened in Norfolk and he’d fill the man in later. Kat had agreed with him when he’d suggested they not tell her aunt about the attempted kidnapping the day before. It would only worry her.

  “Oh my, this brings back memories. This is your dad when he was about five or six years old. So I was about seven then. That’s my mother’s prized rose bush at the corner of the house. It was beautiful. This is the house we lived in first, before we moved to Durham. We moved to Murfreesboro when I was twelve, almost thirteen. That’s when Daddy took over the pharmacy here. Before then, he worked for other pharmacists.”

  Normally, Boomer wouldn’t have minded the woman reminiscing the past, but she’d skipped over some important information. “Irina, do you remember the name of the town the first house was in, the one in the picture?”

  “Oh, of course. That’s what you needed to know, wasn’t it? This was our house in Mint Hill, about a half hour east of Charlotte.”

  Boomer nodded. “I’ve heard of it. My bosses grew up in Charlotte and their folks still live there. You wouldn’t happen to remember the address in Mint Hill, would you?

  “Of course
, dear. It was 58 Sycamore Road, but it’s not there anymore.”

  Everyone stared at the woman in confusion as Kat asked, “What do you mean, Aunt Irina?”

  “Didn’t your father ever tell you? Well, obviously he didn’t. Our home in Mint Hill burned down, there’s nothing left.”

  “What? How come I never heard of this?” While Kat was shocked, Boomer held back a groan. He’d thought for sure it’s where they had to go next, but now he wasn’t so certain.

  Irina patted Kat’s hand. “It was no secret, Katerina. I guess you just don’t remember ever hearing the story. The house was struck by lightning one night and went up in flames. Luckily, we all got out unharmed, but the house was a total loss. The only things left were a pile of rubble and the chimney. That’s when my father took a job at a pharmacy in Durham. The pay was better there and my grandmother had just passed away, so we were able to stay in her house for a while.”

  Irina stood, went to the bookshelf, and retrieved an old photo album which looked like it was from the 1970s. She brought it back to the table and handed it to Kat. “This has all our pictures from back then. The only reason we still have them is because my mother had brought them to her sister’s house one day and accidentally left them there.”

  Kat fingered the flower covered album. “I remember this. Mom kept it with all our other albums.”

  “I have them all, Katerina.” She pointed to the shelf and Kat’s eyes followed. They filled up when she saw the stack of albums her mother had kept in the family room. “When I had to sell your house after…after the accident, I kept everything with sentimental value. Some of it’s up in the attic, but I liked flipping through these at night when I was missing you all so terribly. I always wondered what would happen to everything after I was gone, but now…now it all belongs to you, my beautiful Katerina.”

  Kat stood and hugged her aunt, and the flood of tears started again. Harry caught Boomer’s eye and jerked his thumb toward the front door. Happy to get away from the crying—he never knew what to do or say around women in tears—Boomer followed the older man out to the front steps. Harry gave a fake, exaggerated shudder and shook his head. “Damn, I hate when women cry. Gives me the fucking willies.”

  Boomer barked out a laugh. “Same goes for me.”

  “Glad they waited until I was done with my pie. Now, why don’t you tell me what you don’t want Irina to know.”

  He filled the man in on the abduction attempt. “I’m going to call my boss before we leave and have him send someone to keep an eye on Irina, just in case.”

  Pulling out his cell phone, Harry replied, “No need. We may be a small town, but our sheriff is former special ops himself. Makes sure his deputies aren’t slackers. He also happens to be my younger brother. If it’s all right with you, I can have him come by and you can fill him in. If you hadn’t noticed, strangers kind of stick out around here, especially city-slickers.”

  Boomer knew the man was right, but would reserve judgment of the locals’ ability to protect Irina until he met the sheriff. “Okay. Why don’t you give him a call while I check on the status of my team. My back up should’ve landed by now.”

  As if summoning them, Boomer’s phone rang and Marco’s nickname of ‘Polo’ appeared on the screen. Answering it, he gave his teammate an update and Irina’s address for their GPS. Confirming they were about thirty minutes away, he hung up and waited for Harry to finish his own call. With everything under control at the moment, the only thing bugging him was they had no idea where to go from here.

  When the two men reentered the house, they were relieved to see the waterworks had been turned off again. The women were sitting at the table going through the old photo album as the men sat down again. Kat flipped a page and Boomer immediately noticed something…actually several somethings. “Kat, let me have the album a second, please.”

  At his excited tone, she glanced at him and shrugged. “Sure, what’s wrong?”

  He quickly scanned the pages before and after the one she’d been on. There were six photos on each page and every one had been neatly lined up with the others. But on the left side of the current page, there was one picture missing, probably the one from the deposit box. And the picture next to the empty space was turned upside down. Boomer gently peeled back the plastic sheet protecting the photos and removed the inverted one. It was another picture of Ivan standing at the corner of the old house, but Irina was also in this one. The seven-year-old was grinning and showing off her missing front tooth. Boomer flipped it over and found what he hoped was their next clue.

  “That’s my dad’s handwriting.”

  Kat hadn’t needed to tell him. After all these years he still recognized Ivan Maier’s precise penmanship.

  “What’s it say, son?” Harry asked.

  He read off what was appeared to be some sort of code. “NW-X-17D-24A.”

  “Anyone know what it means?”

  They all looked at each other with confused faces. Kat asked what they were all thinking, “Now what?”

  Boomer sighed. “I’ll call Brody. Maybe he can figure out what your father was trying to tell us. Kat, while I’m doing that, can you check the backs of all the other pictures in there. Irina, is it okay if we take this album along with the others? There might be something else in them we’re missing.”

  “Of course, Benny. They belong to Katerina anyway.”

  Boomer tried to hide his wince at her calling him ‘Benny’. She obviously picked it up fast from Kat’s use of it. He strode to the front door and took out his phone again. By the time he was done filling in Egghead, a patrol car was pulling up to the mailboxes next to the road. Harry must’ve heard it because he came outside at the same time the sheriff exited the vehicle.

  Harry introduced the two men and they shook hands. “Pleased to meet you, Sheriff Bernhard.”

  “Same here, Ben. But call me Marty. Harry tells me we might have a problem here.”

  “I hope not, Marty.” Boomer filled the other man in and just as he was wrapping things up, a rental sedan pulled into the drive. “Here’s my backup.”

  More introductions were done as Devon and Marco joined the group. Devon clapped his teammate on the back. “So, what’s up next, Baby Boomer?”

  Boomer growled, but didn’t take the teasing bait. The guys only added the ‘Baby’ to his call sign when they wanted to get a rise out of him or ease tensions. Instead of getting snarky, he told them about the note on the back of the photo. “I think our next stop is Mint Hill. There’s gotta be some reason why Ivan used those two pictures as clues.”

  “I agree. It’ll take about four and a half hours to get there, which means it’ll be too late to take a look around tonight. We can stay at my folks’ place. They’re out in San Diego visiting my brother while his team’s INCONUS.” The youngest of the Sawyer family, Nick, had followed in his brothers’ footsteps and was a Navy SEAL on Team Three. It’d been a few months since he’d been on U.S. soil.

  Boomer looked at his boss in confusion. “Why can’t we make a puddle jump in the jet? We can be there in under an hour.”

  “CC’s daughter went into labor about two hours ago with his first grandchild. He was refueling and heading right back down to Tampa. I’ll call Ian and have him get a hold of Chase. He can send one of his jets to Charlotte for us.” Chase Dixon owned Blackhawk Security and supplied Trident and other companies with additional trained personnel or transports if needed.

  “All right. Then we better get on the road. Let me get Kat.” He rolled his eyes. “Get ready for more tears as she and her aunt say goodbye.”

  Almost as one, the other men all shuddered.

  Chapter 13

  It was just after six p.m. when they all walked into a pub not too far from the Sawyer family home. Kat couldn’t help but notice the drooling stares from most of the women toward the three handsome men who surrounded her. The guys were impressive by height and physiques alone, but add in their good-looking faces and she could
just imagine how many of the women wished they were her at the moment. She was sure they might change their minds when they found out people were trying to kidnap and possibly kill her.

  After they sat at a table, a pretty waitress with fake tits openly flirted with Benny, Devon, and Marco, but only the latter flirted back. From what Kat had been told, Devon was happily engaged while Marco was currently single. As for Benny, he only seemed to have eyes for her and it made her body tingle when she saw the heat in his gaze. She hoped it meant he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Not knowing how many bedrooms there were in Devon’s parents’ house, she didn’t know the sleeping arrangements for the night. Kat prayed Benny and her would be sharing a room.

  “So, Kat, what was Baby Boomer like as a kid?”

  She looked at Devon in amusement. “I know his nickname is Boomer because he’s trained in explosives, but why do you call him Baby Boomer?”

  “Two reasons. One, because he’s the youngest guy on the team. And two, because he hates it.”

  Kat giggled as Benny rolled his eyes. “So, of course, the more he hates it, the more everyone uses it.”

  A grin spread across Devon’s face. “Pretty much, yeah. A lot of call signs received in the military are not ones we would’ve picked for ourselves. Mine’s ‘Devil Dog’, and while it’s a long story, let’s just say it involved my foot locker and a month’s supply of Drake’s Devil Dogs.”

  She laughed. “I love those! Mom always used to stock up on those and Yodels.” She looked at Benny’s other teammate. “So, Marco, what’s your nickname, or don’t you have one.”

  “I got lucky with mine, no embarrassing story behind it. They gave me ‘Polo’ as in Marco Polo.”

  “Oh, how cute!”

  The other men chuckled and Marco pretended to be insulted. “First time someone’s called my name cute.”