Cold Evidence (Evidence Series Book 6)

by Rachel Grant

  The thought made his eye twitch.

  His SEAL buddies were going to have a field day, calling him a glory hound and teasing him for going Hollywood.

  “This is the magnetometer reading that was taken a year ago,” Undine continued, “after the Wrasse was first located. Magnetometers can tell us when something is present, but they can’t provide more than positive or negative data. In this instance, it indicated iron or other metals were present on the seafloor, but no hint as to the actual configuration.” She pointed to a figure-eight-shaped red patch on the paper in front of her. “The reading was a big red blob, which now makes sense knowing there are two subs down there.”

  Undine and Stefan sat in the middle of the semicircle. Luke was to Undine’s right, her father to her left. Trey sat to Stefan’s left. The seating was cramped, but there was plenty of space between father and daughter. Her body language conveyed the rift between them to anyone who bothered to look. But at the same time, it was clear father and daughter cared about each other very much. A heartbreaking dynamic, if Luke could view it without bringing his understanding of the rift into focus.

  Luke knew Undine’s mother had essentially abandoned her when she was six. Similarly, Luke’s dad had suffered chronic pain. When Luke was a boy, his father had escaped into a prescription drug and alcohol addiction, where he stayed until the day when Luke was fourteen and his dad crawled into a bottle and never came out.

  He’d never been able to forgive his father for not finding another way to cope. For not choosing his sons over pills. Luke treated his body like a damn temple as a result. He drank alcohol, but rarely, and never, ever to excess.

  When the doctors said he would suffer persistent pain in his hip from the combat injury that had ended his tenure with the SEALs, he’d been shaken, fearing going down the path his father had taken. But he hadn’t taken a prescription painkiller in three years, two months, and sixteen days. Instead he worked out, until the pain in the rest of his body eclipsed that of his hip. When that failed, he meditated. And on the rare occasions when the pain fired up and it was so bad he was tempted to seek a stronger painkiller, he’d call his mother or his brother. He’d hear their voices and know they were enough reason to stick around. To not take the easy out that could lead him down the road to uncontrolled addiction.

  His family was that important to him. They were his reason for facing the pain head-on, for fighting his way through with nothing more than mind over neurons.

  Much as Luke hated Stefan, seeing Undine’s painful estrangement from the only real family she had triggered a disturbing ache, akin to the one in his hip, but more focused in the chest region, which meant he was going to have to come to some sort of accord with the bastard. Everyone estimated the excavation would take a full month, and he was committed to the bitter end.

  Undine shuffled the papers, bringing up the original side scan sonar image from a year ago, which showed almost nothing of interest, just a bump that was likely the conning tower of the USS Wrasse. “Now that there has been some clearing of the Soviet sub”—she purposely left out information on how and when that clearing had occurred, as this was for the camera—“I think we might be able to get a decent side scan image.”

  “Worth a shot,” Stefan said. “We’ll do some magnetometer readings as well. Maybe we can get more refined data with the new equipment we’ve just installed on Nereid.”

  Stefan, Luke had learned, had used his TV money to buy some new toys, equipping RV Nereid more like a treasure hunting—or underwater archaeology—vessel rather than a scientific research boat.

  Had Stefan been trying to lure his daughter back into the fold? Why did he need to?

  While he understood better than anyone the rift between the two, he didn’t understand why Undine, who loved the ocean and studying the living organisms within it as much as Luke ever had, wasn’t working in the field of her heart, especially when her father could pretty much hand it to her.

  Stefan prattled on for the camera about the sonar system and how it would provide them with enough information to develop a grid for the excavation. Then Undine took over and explained why having a framework for examining the Soviet sub was important, because admiralty laws protected the vessel in the same way US vessels were protected in foreign waters.

  “Excuse me,” the director, Diego, said off-camera. “Are you saying Russia retains sovereignty over this vessel even though it sank in US waters, and likely engaged an unarmed US submarine in battle before both sank?”

  “Yes, exactly. We can dive on it and examine it, but we can’t harm the integrity of what remains at the bottom of the strait. Presumably there are human remains aboard, and we need to treat the Soviet submariners who died with the same respect we wish for our men who’ve been lost in foreign waters. However, we can and need to examine the wreck, in an attempt to determine what happened to both vessels in October 1962. External evaluation won’t violate admiralty law.”

  “Will the remains of the US sailors be recovered from the USS Wrasse?” Diego asked. He knew the answer; they all did. This was again for the documentary-viewing public.

  “Yes,” Undine said. “But their recovery will not be filmed.”

  Diego gave the hand signal indicating that was a wrap, and she slumped against Luke’s shoulder now that the cameras weren’t rolling. Because he was a sucker, he kissed her temple.

  “You handled that like a pro, Undine,” Diego said. “No one will believe this was your first time in front of the camera since you were sixteen.”

  Luke frowned. Undine hadn’t been in any of Stefan’s documentaries since then? Luke had spent the last dozen years avoiding watching the institute’s regular films—which once upon a time had been his favorite thing to watch—because he hadn’t wanted to catch a glimpse of her or her esteemed father. Did she quit working for the institute immediately? He understood her not wanting to work for her dad, but he still didn’t understand why she didn’t pursue her own career in one of the many marine biology-related fields.

  He slid out from the bench seat, releasing her from her imprisoning position. She stood and stretched. “I need some fresh air. Join me on deck?” she asked Luke.

  “I’ll be up in a minute,” he said.

  “’Kay.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed him. Yesterday he’d have thought the action was to piss off her dad, but he had new perspective today, given her admission in the middle of the night.

  She dropped down, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and deepened the kiss before letting her go. He, however, did do that to piss off her dad. Or at least, that was what he told himself.

  As soon as she disappeared up the steps, he turned to Stefan. “Why did Undine leave marine biology?”

  Stefan scowled and glanced from Diego, who was conferring with Mario, the cameraman, mere feet away, then back to Luke. “You know why.”

  “I know why she left the institute. That’s not what I’m asking. I want to know why she holds an undergrad degree in archaeology and a master’s in nautical archaeology. When she was sixteen, she was well on her way to a bachelor of science in marine biology. Why did she change majors?”

  Stefan cleared his throat and glanced at the other three men in the cramped cabin. “Would you mind giving us a moment of privacy?”

  “No problem,” Diego said. He and Mario retreated to the upper deck, but Trey remained.

  “You too, Trey,” Stefan said, before Luke uttered the same words. After what Undine had told him, he itched to punch the man. Discussing her in front of Trey was dangerous to his self-control.

  As soon as they were alone, Stefan let out a heavy sigh. “She didn’t tell you?”

  “I wouldn’t be asking if she had.”

  “Then maybe I shouldn’t either.”

  “Cut the crap, Stefan, and tell me.”

  “It’s your fault, you know. She was brilliant. Is brilliant. She’d be running the institute already if she hadn’t changed majors.”


  Luke squeezed his hand into a fist. Yeah, it was a good thing Trey wasn’t here, because he wanted a punching bag right about now. “How could her changing majors possibly be my fault?”

  “When you lost your scholarship and I ensured no one in the field would hire you even to mop their floors, she gave me an ultimatum. She said she’d never dive with me again if I didn’t make things right for you.”

  He shrugged. He’d guessed something like that had happened from the phone conversation he’d heard. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

  “When I refused, she told me that as long as you can’t work as a marine biologist, she wouldn’t either. She said that if you couldn’t have the career you love, she should be punished the same way. After all, she claimed—and believed—you didn’t know. She gave up a brilliant career for an asshole who lied, manipulated, and used her.”

  The breath had whooshed out of Luke as Stefan’s first statement sank in. Undine had punished herself in the only way she could—in a manner that equaled Luke’s punishment. And all this time, he’d had no idea.

  She couldn’t make things right, so she’d made it fair.

  During all his years of being angry, he’d thought she’d never paid a price. In his mind, she was Princess Undine, who could lie, seduce, and ruin without penalty.

  But that wasn’t the truth at all. She’d paid dearly with the loss of the close bond with her dad. And she’d given up studying a subject she loved.

  “So you see why I hate you, Sevick,” Stefan said. “You ruined her future. You walked into my institute, and I treated you like a son. Hell, you were so smart and passionate about our research, I might even have wanted you for her—someday—when she was older. But you couldn’t wait. She was sixteen and on the cusp of so much, and you took and destroyed.”

  “I didn’t know, Stefan,” Luke said, the words hoarse in his throat. “I never would have touched her if I’d known she was only sixteen.”

  “Bullshit. You did know. And the one thing I protected her from was breaking her by telling her exactly how you used her. I was hoping she’d figure it out for herself when she was old enough to handle it, or that Trey would tell her. But he didn’t, and I couldn’t deliver that blow.”

  “What do you mean, ‘Trey would tell her’? What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the fact that Trey told you she was only sixteen. He told me how he warned you to back off, that she was too young. And you ignored him.”

  A dozen years ago, he’d constructed a mental dam to contain his rage. He’d survived SEAL training by knowing the limits of the dam. He’d channeled the anger into long, brutal workouts, letting the rage release in a controlled flow, like water filling a reservoir. He’d mastered the rage so it wouldn’t sneak up on him when he was underwater or on a mission. But now, that dam fissured, and he had no control over the flow.

  The object of his rage had a face, which, for the first time in twelve years, didn’t belong to either Stefan or Undine.

  He turned to the man he’d admired, the man who’d taken away his future. At least now he understood Stefan’s unrelenting fury. His utter lack of remorse. Even the reason he’d never held Undine responsible. It all made sense. “You stupid fuck. You believed Trey? That asshole never told me a damn thing.”

  Luke closed his eyes as memories came flooding back. Trey’s jealousy over Luke’s growing role at the institute and his animosity when Stefan promised Luke a prized spot on an upcoming research expedition.

  “You’ve kept a snake by your side all these years.” He shook his head. “Was he the one who told you? About Undine and me? Did you ever think that for him to know we’d had sex, he would’ve had to follow us to the cove? So ask yourself this, if he followed us, if he was watching, why didn’t Saint Trey stop us before it was too late?”

  Stefan blanched, but Luke didn’t much care. The fissure widened. The dam crumbled. Luke had a target to find.

  He left Stefan and bounded up the stairs. On the deck, he whirled in a circle, looking for Trey. He was on the bench, being interviewed by Diego. Sitting in the same spot where Luke had pulled a soaking-wet Undine onto his lap the day before.

  He stalked toward Trey, vaguely noting the camera was recording, but he didn’t have enough control left to care. He grabbed Trey by the collar and pulled him to his feet. “You gutless, spineless, rotten bastard. You lied.” He wanted to strangle the man, but found just enough control to avoid homicide.

  “What the hell are you talking about, Sevick?” Trey glanced nervously at the camera.

  Luke slapped him across the cheek. Not too hard. Just enough to get his attention. Like this was an interrogation. The quick kind, like when the clock was running down during an op, and the informant turned out to be playing both sides. “You get a slap every time you lie.”

  Trey tried to push him off, but Luke didn’t budge. He had twice Trey’s muscle mass and full knowledge of how to use it.

  “I don’t know what you mean!” Trey said.

  Luke slapped him again. The other cheek this time. “Lie.”

  “I never lied to Stefan.”

  Luke hit again with his right hand. “You lied twelve years ago. You’re lying now. It’s time for the truth.”

  “You mean when I told him about you and Undine? I didn’t lie. You had sex with her.”

  Luke checked his swing. Truth. “Keep going.”

  “I never—”

  Slap.

  “I can keep this up all day.” He couldn’t prompt Trey. The man had to say it on his own, or he’d claim Luke had fed him the words.

  “I don’t know—”

  Slap.

  His fingers itched to go for the throat. His slight grip on control was slipping.

  Deep breath. Focus.

  “Say it, dammit.” He raised his hand again as if to strike.

  Trey flinched, then slumped when the slap didn’t come. “I told Stefan that I’d warned you Undine was underage. I told him you knew.”

  “And?” Luke asked, hand poised.

  “It was a lie.”

  Luke took him by the scruff of his neck and made him face the camera, barely seeing the shocked bystanders who’d gathered behind them. “Say it into the camera, Trey. Tell everyone what you did.”

  “I lied. So Stefan would take away your scholarship and have you blackballed. I lied. But you’re still the asshole who had sex with an underage girl.”

  “And I’m guessing you’re the prick who watched it happen and didn’t do a damn thing to stop it.”

  “Why should I have when you were giving me the perfect opportunity to get rid of you?” Trey broke out of Luke’s grip and took a swing.

  Luke let it connect with his jaw and didn’t even feel the sting. It gave him the perfect excuse to do what he’d been burning to do. He pulled back and popped Trey in the jaw. Trey’s head snapped back, and he tumbled backward over the rail, hitting the water with a satisfying splash.

  Luke turned back to the audience that had gathered on deck. Stefan, Undine, Diego, Mario, and the four others who made up Stefan’s staff. He knew his eyes had to be downright feral. Punching Trey didn’t lessen the rage. If anything, he was more ramped up. “I’m out,” he said. “I can’t work with that asshole.”

  He needed to get the hell out of here. He hadn’t suffered a rage incident like this since the early days, before he learned how to channel it, before he built the mental dam. He jumped to the lower deck. Thank God they were still at the dock; otherwise, he’d have to swim to shore.

  He disembarked without looking back. As he marched toward the road, he heard Mario help Trey from the water. He fought the urge to turn around and shove the man back in the icy bay.

  Did Trey’s lie even matter?

  Would Stefan have backed off without it?

  The fact remained that Luke was the one who slept with Undine. He’d fucked up his own life in screwing around with the boss’s daughter. He might not have known her ag
e, but he knew damn well how close she and Stefan were.

  He’d envied their relationship and had viewed Stefan as a father figure. Not a surprising transference given his sorry excuse for a dad. Had he wanted Undine simply because his subconscious saw a way to secure Stefan as a father-in-law? Had he been interested in her back then because she was a means to an end?

  Was he actually guilty of the one thing Stefan had believed about him?

  And what the fuck was he doing with her now? Was he seeking revenge? There was no doubt that getting involved with her—getting her to fall in love with me—was a fine revenge on both Undine and Stefan.

  The rift between father and daughter was bigger than ever, and everyone involved knew Luke would just break Undine’s heart.

  The pumping rage that drove his feet down the dock whispered the ugly truth: If his goal was revenge, he couldn’t have planned it better.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Undine watched Luke bolt down the dock and was torn between giving him space and tearing after him. She realized now how much he’d been holding himself in check in the beginning, when their past kept slapping them in the face. The angry sex that first night as he battled anger and attraction made sense. It was a wonder they’d been able to move beyond his pent-up rage at all.

  But for a few magnificent days, their present hadn’t been overshadowed by the past, and they’d forged something new. Something real.

  Until her father and Trey had brought it all back.

  Luke marched out onto the main road and made a beeline for the gym. She let out a sigh of relief. He’d find an outlet that wasn’t Trey’s face. She wouldn’t mind throwing a few punches at Trey herself, but Luke’s strength combined with his anger could easily kill the man.