Code Word

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “Matt was on a three-week road trip,” CJ told her, referring to her husband, who played for the Miami Marlins. “We’ve been flying out to meet him on the weekends.”

  “You’ve been flying all over the country with three kids? By yourself?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, but it wasn’t really that bad. Kailey loves to fly, and she can be really helpful when she wants to be.”

  “I assume Matt must be home now since you don’t have the kids with you.”

  “Yesterday was an off day, and his game is late today, so he doesn’t have to go in until eleven,” CJ told her. “Everyone was still asleep when I left, but if I know my family, I’ll probably get home to find them all in my bed eating Pop Tarts and watching cartoons.”

  Carina smiled at the image, finding herself a little wistful. CJ was only a few years older than Carina, but she was living the dream that Carina had hoped to find for herself someday. Not that she needed an enormous house like CJ’s or a famous husband. Rather, she wanted to find someone to love, someone who loved her the way Matt loved CJ.

  She had been to their home often over the past few months, and she was always amazed at the absolute joy CJ and Matt found in being together and in spending time with their children. Carina knew Matt’s schedule was hard on their family life, but she had never heard either of them complain about it. Matt loved his job, and CJ supported him completely.

  In a way, it was probably Matt’s job that had allowed Carina and CJ to become such close friends. Matt had left for spring training a couple of months after Carina and Bianca moved to Miami. Bianca had instantly become CJ’s favorite babysitter, and they had quickly started sitting together in church so Bianca and Carina could help CJ with the kids while Matt was out of town.

  CJ had even picked Bianca up a couple of times so Carina could attend the singles branch. After only a few weeks, Bianca had insisted that Carina start coming with her to the family ward again. She said she missed having her to sit with, but sometimes Carina wondered if her younger sister just didn’t trust her to get to church on her own. Sure, she had missed a couple of weeks when Bianca had gone with CJ’s family, but it wasn’t like it was that big of a deal. Besides, she would have plenty of time to check out the singles branch again in a couple of years when Bianca left for college.

  “It really does feel like we haven’t talked in forever,” CJ commented, breaking into Carina’s thoughts. “How is everything going with you?”

  Carina’s shoulders lifted. “I was just thinking how weird it’s going to be when Bianca goes off to college.”

  “I can imagine. You’ll have to learn how to think of yourself for a change.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Everything you do now is for your sisters,” CJ said, stating the obvious. “You don’t date, you don’t even socialize unless it has something to do with Bianca.” CJ’s eyes narrowed as though looking at her from a new perspective. “Do you even have any friends who aren’t married?”

  “Sure,” Carina said automatically.

  “Who?”

  Carina thought for a minute. “There’s Keisha from work. She’s single.”

  “Isn’t she the one with all of the piercings and tattoos? The one you said is always talking about partying?”

  Carina nodded.

  “Then she doesn’t count.” CJ shook her head. “I’m talking about someone you actually might be friends with, someone you can go out with.”

  “I went out to dinner with you just last month.”

  “Carina, going to Chuck E. Cheese’s for my son’s birthday party doesn’t count.”

  “Of course it counts,” Carina insisted, humor lighting her eyes. “I happen to have a soft spot for Spencer and Chuck E. Cheese.”

  “Yes, well, Spencer loves you too, but I think you might consider going out with someone who’s a little older than three. Maybe even someone your own age,” CJ pressed. “I heard there’s a young single adult event coming up in a few weeks. You could let Bianca come spend the night with me so you can go enjoy yourself for a change.”

  Carina shook her head. “I don’t know . . .”

  “Carina, don’t you think it’s time you get more involved in church?” CJ asked gently.

  “I am involved. I make sure Bianca goes to Young Women every week. I go to church every Sunday.”

  “Okay, but are you really going for yourself?” CJ asked perceptively.

  The question hit home. Lately Carina had been going through the motions of attending church. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in God. She just wasn’t so sure she liked Him at the moment. A sense of unfairness pressed to the forefront of her thoughts. Why had she been forced to put her dreams on hold because her sisters’ needs always rated as a higher priority?

  Every time she talked to Gianna on the phone or received a text, Carina could tell how much she was enjoying college. And Bianca was thriving here in every aspect of her life. Yet, so often, Carina felt like she was simply existing.

  She didn’t answer CJ’s question, instead turning her attention to Bianca, who was walking toward them. She had her damp hair pulled into a messy knot on top of her head, and she was already wearing her street clothes.

  Bianca greeted CJ before turning to her sister. “Hey, Carina, are you ready to go? I have a yearbook meeting this morning.”

  “Sure.” Carina stood up and put a hand on CJ’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”

  CJ stood as well and waited for Carina’s eyes to meet hers. “Promise me you’ll think about it.”

  “Okay, I’ll think about it. But no promises,” Carina said, even though her mind was already made up.

  She crossed the pool deck behind Bianca, but when she approached her car, she noticed the plain white envelope tucked beneath the windshield wiper. Carina pulled it off, prepared to throw it away. Then she noticed her name printed in red ink across it. Curious, she opened the envelope and pulled out the card. A picture of New York City graced the front, a city scene near Central Park. A number was written beneath it: 995 5. On the inside, there was a simple message scrawled in the same red ink. Remember who you really are.

  Carina’s heart immediately picked up speed. She looked around the parking lot and at the street beyond. Two girls jogged by on a nearby sidewalk. Cars flowed by, interrupted only by the traffic signal at the corner. The parking lot remained vacant, except for the half dozen cars parked there. She stared down at the words again, her mind trying to wrap around the potential implications.

  She shook her head, fighting against the paranoia that always seemed to be just beneath the surface. Surely this was just a note from some friend from church, some kind of inspirational message. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that she was the daughter of a convicted mobster, a man who had pled guilty to murdering her mother.

  Instinctively, she reached into the outside pocket of her briefcase to make sure her semiautomatic pistol was in easy reach. She had learned to shoot early in life, but her hatred of guns had prevented her from owning one until after her mother’s death. Since then, she had never gone anywhere unarmed.

  She looked at the front of the card again, at the red numbers written beneath the picture. There weren’t enough digits to be a phone number or a zip code. A sense of uneasiness crept over her once more as she stared at the buildings of Central Park. Could this have anything to do with her mother’s visits to New York right before her death? Could this be some kind of message from the family? And if so, who was it from, and what did it mean?

  “What’s that?” Bianca asked, startling Carina out of her thoughts.

  “Nothing.” Carina tucked it into her briefcase and repeated the words in the hopes of convincing herself. “It’s nothing.”

  5

  “Have you seen this?” Seth asked from across his shared office with Jay.

  “What?” Jay unfolded his long, lean body from his oversized desk chair. At his height, the
standard-issue variety just didn’t accommodate him. He dropped a hand on Seth’s chair, identical to his own, and looked over his shoulder.

  A news article filled the computer screen on Seth’s desk, the headline much like the others they had seen over the past few days. “Look here.”

  Jay read the sentence Seth had pointed to, and his eyes widened. The article spelled out the organization of the SEALs, specifying their command structure and several acronyms and code words he had never seen or heard outside of a classified environment. Until now. “How in the world did that leak out?”

  Seth shrugged and let out a frustrated sigh. “The White House and Congress are so busy playing politics that someone is leaking classified information.”

  Brent Miller appeared in the doorway. “I gather you’ve seen the news.”

  “Yeah.” Seth nodded, his expression dark. “Do we know where the leak is?”

  “It looks like it came from the top,” Brent said. “The White House doesn’t believe that releasing code words will have any damaging effect.”

  “We know better,” Seth grumbled.

  “Yeah, well, we weren’t elected to the Oval Office.” Brent motioned to Jay and nodded toward the hallway. “Jay, Kel wants to see you.”

  “What about?”

  Brent shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

  Confusion still evident on his face, Jay nodded and headed down the hall toward the office of SEAL Team Eight’s commander. Prior to being wounded in action, Kel Bennett had commanded the Saint Squad. It was because of his injury that Jay had received his Saint Squad assignment.

  The door was open when he arrived, and the commander waved him in.

  “Good morning, Commander.” Jay remained just outside the threshold. “Brent said you wanted to see me?”

  “That’s right.” Commander Bennett nodded to the door. “Come on in and close the door.”

  Jay did as he was told and then took the chair the commander motioned toward. He noted the unusually serious expression on his leader’s face and asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “I hope so.” His eyes were direct, and he studied Jay for a moment before speaking again. “I talked to the unit psychologist last night.”

  Jay’s eyes narrowed, the commander’s tone adding weight to his impression that something wasn’t quite right. “And?”

  “He’s expressed some concerns.”

  A little sense of panic skittered through him. “I thought I’d already been cleared.”

  “You were, but I wanted to talk to you myself. The doctor can’t tell me what you discussed with him, but I’ve seen the mission’s after-action report,” Commander Bennett told him. “My guess is that the woman who died is troubling you.”

  “I’m fine,” Jay said a little too quickly.

  “No one said you aren’t.” He leaned forward, resting his arms on the edge of his desk. “But the fact remains that this is the first time you’ve shot someone who wasn’t actively trying to kill you.”

  Something lodged in Jay’s throat, and he remained silent.

  His boss studied him for a moment. “How is everything working out for you with the Saint Squad? Are you happy there?”

  Confused, Jay nodded. “Well, yeah. I guess.”

  “I’m just asking since you’re about to hit your one-year mark with them. I know they have a different dynamic than the other squads on the team,” the commander explained. “I’m getting ready to make some adjustments because of some new recruits coming out of BUD/S training. There’s also a guy over on another team who might be interested in transferring into the Saint Squad. Would you like a change, or would you prefer to stay where you are?”

  Jay looked at him suspiciously. “You’re giving me a choice?”

  “A say in the matter, at least.”

  “I guess I never really thought about being with another squad.” He tried to visualize what it would be like to be with people who were more like him, guys who didn’t have wives waiting for them at home, men who didn’t all belong to the same church. A hollowness settled into the pit of his stomach at the thought of going out drinking with one of the other squads or hanging out at a bar and trying to pick up women. He missed women, but he couldn’t say he particularly missed the bar scene.

  Slowly, Jay shook his head. “I think I’d prefer to stay where I am.”

  Commander Bennett nodded, and he pushed to a stand. “I’ve been over all of the reports, and the woman’s death wasn’t your fault. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better.”

  Jay simply nodded and stood too.

  “One other thing,” Commander Bennett said before Jay could reach for the door. “My wife and I are blessing our baby on Sunday. I’ve invited the rest of the guys in your squad to come. We’d love for you to be there too.”

  Startled by the casual invitation, Jay nodded. “Sure.”

  “Great.” The commander motioned toward the door. “Can you let Brent know I need to see him?”

  * * *

  Carina sat down on one of the two pieces of furniture in Lou’s living room, a brown plaid couch he had picked up from a local thrift store. She waited for Lou to take a seat beside her before handing him the card she had discovered on her windshield an hour earlier.

  “What’s this?” Lou asked in Italian. He pulled the card free of the envelope, his dark, bushy eyebrows drawing together in concentration. “Where did you find this?”

  “It was on my windshield this morning. I found it after I picked up Bianca at the pool.” Carina responded in his native language and hoped he didn’t notice the waver in her voice. “Lou, I was only in the pool area for about ten minutes. At first I thought maybe it was a note from someone at church, but I called both of my visiting teachers and CJ. None of them knew anything about it.”

  Lou shook his head, considering. “You haven’t heard from your father, have you?”

  “No. I don’t even think he knows where we are.”

  “Could Gianna have told him?”

  “I doubt it. Why would she contact the man who killed our mother?”

  “She still doesn’t believe he’s guilty.”

  “Gianna only sees the best in people. Unfortunately, the courts said differently,” Carina reminded him. “What do I do about this?”

  “Nothing. You’re untouchable. The family won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I thought you said the family doesn’t know where we are. Besides, if you didn’t think there was any danger, why were you so eager for us to move after Dad was convicted?” Carina asked pointedly.

  “We moved because Bianca wanted this new coach,” Lou insisted. “You know that.”

  Carina studied him, unable to decipher the older man’s emotions. “Lou, why do you always do that? Why do you always try to protect me? I know what my family is like. I’ve seen what they’ve done.”

  His face reddened, and he stood up. “You’ve seen nothing!”

  “I have!” Carina’s temper flared just as quickly as Lou’s. She stood and faced him. “I may not know everything, but I know what happened in my father’s office. I saw the guns and the cash. I saw the government officials who came over for dinner but who were really there to collect their payoffs. And I know what happened when Leone Hamilton came to meet with Dad and Uncle Marciano at our house but didn’t leave there breathing.”

  Lou’s eyes widened. “How do you know . . . ?”

  “I was there!” Carina shouted. She took a steadying breath. “The cops might think that mob hits don’t happen anymore, but I know someone in my family killed Leone and then made it look like he drowned in Lake Michigan. I even know the name of the doctor who got paid off after doing the autopsy.”

  “How? How would you know this? You were only a child.”

  “I stopped being a child when I was ten, the first time I saw Uncle Marciano pull a gun on Aunt Clarice for asking too many questions.” Carina raked her fingers through her hair and dropped her ha
nds to her side. “Lou, I know you’ve been protecting us for all of these years. What I don’t understand is who you’re protecting us from or why.”

  Lou tapped the card against his hand, his eyes remaining on Carina. “It’s enough to know that I’m on your side.”

  “Lou . . .” Carina began, but Lou moved to the door.

  “This is nothing more than a reminder from your past,” Lou insisted and handed her back the card. “Don’t you worry. I’ll look into it.”

  Carina closed her hand over his on the doorknob. “Why won’t you tell me what I need to know? I need the truth. I need to understand how I fit into this mess that I call my family.”

  “You think you want the truth, but sometimes the truth doesn’t set you free. Sometimes it only anchors you in the past.” He shook his head. “Go to work and trust me on this, cara mia.”

  Carina opened her mouth to argue further, but she caught the determination in Lou’s eyes. With a sigh, she released his hand and let Lou open the door. “Promise me you’ll let me know what you find.”

  Lou nodded, but his eyes didn’t meet hers.

  A weight still on her heart, Carina walked outside and wondered if she would ever truly be free of a past she barely understood.

  6

  “What am I doing here?” Jay asked from the backseat of Seth’s car. The parking lot beside the Mormon church was crawling with families making their way into the building, and Jay still wasn’t sure how Seth had convinced him to join them.

  “You’re going to church. The whole squad is here to support Kel. You should be here too.”

  Jay clenched his jaw for a moment. Ever since the bin Laden raid, Seth had become more insistent that Jay spend time with them. Barbecues and fishing trips, he could handle, but going to church with Seth and his wife made him feel like he was an alien who didn’t know what planet he had landed on.

  Jay noticed a man in his late twenties cross the parking lot toward them carrying a toddler. Beside him, a pretty blonde cradled a newborn. The man couldn’t be more than a year or two older than him, and he already had a family of four. Again, Jay shook his head. “Seth, this is crazy.”