by Elle Boon
Chapter Fifteen
Jase counted to ten in his head trying to calm his first instinct to lunge at the admiral holding a gun aimed at Brooke. He could see the resolve to kill her in the other man’s face. “Listen, you don’t have to do this, man. I’ll let you walk out of here right now, but if you pull that trigger, you’re a dead man,” he warned Jase.
The admiral’s lips tilted up in a grin. “You think I don’t have a backup plan? Where’s little Jack, Brookey?”
Brooke’s eyes widened, fear like a living breathing thing wafting off of her. He wanted to go to her and hold her, reassure her his team wouldn’t allow anything to happen to their son.
“He’s somewhere you’ll never find him.”
With a snort, Admiral Davis shook his head. “You know, your mother loved our son Mark. I didn’t understand why. I mean, sure I admired how good he was at sports, figured he got those genes from me. But when he came out as gay, I was done. I’m glad nobody knew he was my kid. Now, she feels your son can replace the one she lost. I told her I was fine with it. Hell, she’s a little crazy, but I’ve loved that woman since we were kids, long before she met your dad. She and I, we should’ve gotten married, but I messed up. It didn’t take Nancy long to realize her mistake. If she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant with you while I was overseas, she’d have left your dad. That stupid fucker was all about his vows, though,” he spat.
As the other man was talking, Jase could see each word was like a dagger to Brooke. Not only had her mother had an affair, but it had gone on since the beginning and her beloved brother was this man’s son. His mind caught onto the mention of their son. “What does any of that have to do with Jack?”
“Why, she’s going to raise him as her own. We’re going to be a family. What with everyone else gone, she’ll become his mother, and I’ll be his dad.” The admiral said it in a casual tone, like he was talking about the weather.
“Does she know you tried to have the both of us killed?” Brooke asked.
Admiral Davis waved the gun back and forth. “No, and now she’ll never know. Little Jack will be brought up right and be the son I never got to raise.”
“Over my dead body.” Brooke had moved farther away as the other man spoke, getting closer to the large island in the kitchen.
Nodding he waved the gun up and down. “That’s exactly the end game.”
Jase saw the other man’s eyes, knew he was going to fire. He didn’t know how good a shot the admiral was, or wasn’t, only knew there was no way he could reach him in time to stop it. In a blink of an eye, his world flashed before his face. He threw his body to the right, praying he could block the shot with his own flesh, yelling for Brooke to run in case he did get hit. He pulled his gun from the back of his pants; in a move he’d done hundreds of times, he swung his arm, firing off two shots. The admiral’s eyes widened and two wounds appeared on him. Two on the chest directly above where his heart was located. They were kill shots.
He rolled, coming up onto his feet in a crouch. His body didn’t exhibit any signs of being shot, which had him running toward where he’d seen Brooke. “Brooke,” he yelled, skidding around the tile floor. Never on a mission had he ever lost control, but now, he found himself shaking as he rounded the counter, praying she was okay.
Brooke rolled over, wincing as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. “Are you hurt?” she asked, hurrying toward him. Her hands went up and down his torso, checking him for injury.
“No, dammit, Brooke, stop that. Are you hit? Let me see?” Jase pulled her hands off his body while he looked her over. There was some blood on the side of her shirt. He lifted it but found only a small cut. “What happened?”
She pointed to the broken piece of pottery. “I must’ve fallen on that when I jumped. Is he?” she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.
Jase pulled her against his chest and nodded. “Yeah, I need to contact Erik. Fuck, a goddamn admiral from Washington. I’m so sorry, baby.”
“Do you think he had anything to do with my dad’s accident?” her voice wobbled. “Oh god, my mother. What do you think he meant about taking Jack as her own?” She tried to get up, knocking her head into his chin.
“Ow, settle down. He’s with Kai and the team.”
Brooke shook her head. “She’s his grandma. He loves her, and she looks so sweet and innocent.” Her words tumbled out of her mouth.
Jase tucked the gun back into his pants, thinking about what she said. “There’s no way she’d know how to find him. Sweetheart, Jack is safe.”
“Are you sure?” Hope and love stared back at him from her hazel eyes.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Positive. Why don’t you go out on the patio while I contact Erik so we can get a cleanup crew here? I’ll need to find out how to proceed since officially I’m deceased.”
Her arms went around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you for saving my life.”
He laid his head on top of hers. She had no clue he could do nothing else. Sure, he had Jack now, but without her, he would only be half a man. “You’re my life, Brooke. Without you, I’d be half a man.”
A tear dropped from one eye, but she wiped it away. “I wish my dad was here. I wish he could see what a good man and father you are. But, wishes and rainbows aren’t something you get every day. I wished for you to come back and I got you, so I guess I shouldn’t push my luck. Can I call Kai, or one of the others, to check on Jack? I have this overwhelming need to hear his voice.”
“If you go out to the truck, turn it on and hit the button that has the phone symbol. All you gotta do is say ‘call Kai’, it’ll connect him for you.” Jase walked her toward the patio doors, keeping his body between Brooke and the dead man on the floor.
A small kiss on the lips, and she was heading toward their borrowed truck. She didn’t know it, but he had an inkling everything wasn’t as it seemed. “Did you hear all that, Erik?”
“Loud and clear, my friend. I’m on my way there now. I should be arriving in five, give or take a minute. Fuck, that is one fucked up mama. Not your woman but her mama.” The sound of gears shifting sounded through their connection.
“You got a cleanup crew coming in, or is the alphabet crew handling this?” He pulled what looked like an older sheet out of the hall closet. The dark blue color would be better than nothing.
The door to the patio flung open with a crash. “Jase, my mother came and took Jack. Kai said she showed up, and they assumed we knew. That we must’ve told her where he was; otherwise, how would she know? She has my baby,” she sobbed.
“Fuck,” Erik snarled. “Hold on, I’m almost there. I can pull up the tracker on her car. Did Kai say what she was driving?”
Jase pulled his cell out, dialing Kai before Erik had finished speaking. The other man answered on the first ring. “What kind of vehicle was she driving?” he asked without a hello.
“Shit! I’m sorry man. She was driving a silver Lexus four door.” Kai didn’t make any excuses.
Jase relayed the info to Erik. The sound of a throaty engine floated through the open doors. “Erik is here,” he told Brooke, pulling her behind him. Still, his hand went to the gun at his back.
Minutes later his partner walked in, his head going left and right taking in the scene.
“Easy, no need to shoot,” Erik said. He ambled over, setting a bag on the counter, pulling out a computer. Within minutes he had a program up and running. “Alright, I got her. Oh, looks like mama is coming home.”
Jase and Brooke looked at the body lying on the floor. “We need to hide the vehicles. If she sees ours, she’s liable to keep going.” Jase looked at Erik, gauging his thoughts.
“I agree. They live out here without another house on either side, it’ll be hard to stash and get back here before she arrives.” He didn’t look up from the screen as he spoke.
“Let’s put them in the garage. She never parks in it,” Brooke said.
“That was the old Nancy.
What if she does now?” Jase had to state the obvious. Her mother wasn’t the woman Brooke thought she was.
Erik lifted his hand. “She’s gotta drive around to the backside here to access the garage, right? At their nod, he continued. “Well, if she starts to leave, I’ll shoot out her tires. Done.”
The decisive way Erik handled things was one of the reasons he was an effective operative. He didn’t overthink things; he did them and did them well, the first time. If a roadblock appeared, his mind went to the best way to get through them, over them, or around them. To him, nothing wasn’t doable. “Alright, give me your keys, Erik. I’ll move your car in after I get the truck in.”
“No can do, Jase.”
Erik’s negative answer had Jase dropping his hand. “What?”
The other man shook his head, typed in a few more things then shut his laptop. “I’ll drive my precious into the garage. Nobody drives my precious but me.”
At Erik’s words, Jase laughed. “You realize that’s crazy, don’t you? I mean, I’ve driven cars that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Jase walked out with Erik.
*****
Brooke listened to Jase and Erik arguing, but her fear and worry for Jack had her wringing her hands. She wanted to call her mother and demand answers. Looking down at her shirt, she grimaced at the blood stain. “I can’t let Jack see me like this.”
She’d left clothes at her parent’s house but wasn’t sure if her mother had moved them or not. Heck, she wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Going back down the hall, she tried to erase the image of the dead body in the other room from her mind. She opened Mark’s bedroom door on impulse. Her mother had kept it exactly how it had been before he’d died. Standing in the open doorway, she wondered if her dad suspected that Mark wasn’t his biological son. Not once in all her eleven years had she suspected. Of course, she’d been young, too young to have picked up on anything unless it was said outright. But, she could remember how proud her dad had been when Mark had made varsity. Their dad always went to games, even when their mother wouldn’t. No, if he knew, he didn’t care one way or the other. She shut the door and moved to her old bedroom. Unlike Mark’s, her room had been renovated. No longer was it the somewhat girlie room she’d had. Being a tomboy, she didn’t want the pink bedroom, instead she wanted a pale blue, like the sky. Her bed had been a full size, with a patchwork quilt made from different pieces of fabric from rock bands she’d liked. One of the ladies at church had sewn it for her, and she’d loved it. Her mother hated it, but because her dad had proclaimed it perfect, she was able to keep it.
Now, looking into the room that was once hers, she couldn’t believe the difference. Thomas the Train was painted on one wall, with the theme continued throughout the room. At the time, she’d thought it was great the way her mother had embraced Jack. However, now it took on a whole new meaning. Walking around the room, she ignored all the toys and went to the closet, amazed at the clothes for little boys inside. “Fucking seriously?” In a box at the back labeled Brooke, she found some of her clothes. Quickly, she pulled out a top and slid it on.
“Jase,” she called as she walked out of the room, stopping in her tracks as she came face-to-face with her father.
“Hi, Brooke.”
She froze, clutching the stained shirt in her hand. “Dad?”
He nodded. “It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you or Jase. I had no clue he was alive. I…I’ve been working to find out the same thing as him. Come on, I think it’s best I explain this once to both of you. You have my word, Brookey. I’m not a bad guy, no matter what’s going through your mind.”
He had no clue what was going through her mind. She wanted to throw her arms around him, feel if he was real. She wanted to demand answers. Wanted to know why he’d let her think he was dead. “You…you let me think you were dead. Do you know what that did to me?” she hated the way her voice broke, but dammit, he’s her dad, and she’d thought she’d lost him.
Mark Frazee reached for her, but she jumped back. “No, don’t. I’m not…I don’t know what’s going on, but your wife has my son. Her lover,” she swallowed. “Admiral Davis tried to kill me and told me some awful things. Now you show up, and I don’t know what to believe.”
The feel of Jase moving in behind her gave her the strength she needed to stand there and confront her dad. “Tell me what’s going on, dad.”
From the beginning, her dad explained how missions were being compromised. Missions he’d been somewhat a part of. When he’d been implicated, they’d taken measures to find the source. It was then Jase had shown up.
“So, you thought I was a spy? That was why you didn’t want me with your daughter?” Jase asked.
Admiral Frazee nodded. “Then you were caught on tape and the rest…you know. Only now it’s clear who orchestrated it all.”
She looked down the hall toward where the body was. “You didn’t know about his and mom’s affair?”
Her dad shook his head. “Not until the day we faked my death. Yes, it was planned. We found out where the trail inside had led, and it went all the way to Washington. The only thing we didn’t know was how it went from here to there. He made the mistake of moving another couple pieces around since my death. I’ve been holed up with security twenty-four-seven. They had no other recourse but realize it wasn’t me. The higher ups also knew I didn’t have the access to DC the way he did. I just don’t understand why he hated me so much. I’ve known him for over thirty years.”
“People, it’s show time. Crazy granny is pulling in,” Erik called from the other room.
Brooke bit her lip, wondering if she should tell her dad what they’d learned. Time ran out as the sound of a door shutting had them all moving.
“I need you to promise to stay calm until Jack is away from her. We don’t know how she’ll react, when she finds out her lover is dead.” Jase pulled her face toward him.
Brooke took a calming breath. “I’ll try.”
Jase nodded once then pecked her on the lips. “That’s my girl.”
The sound of her mother talking to Jack set her teeth on edge. She hated the hoity-toity way she spoke to him, as if he were an adult instead of a two year old child. Jack’s sweet, childish voice brought a smile to her as he asked if he could have a snack. Her son was always hungry.
“Jacky, you’ll get fat if you continue to eat like a horse. Those idiots who had you said you just ate. Now, why don’t you go into your room and play while I make a phone call?”
“Yes, grandma,” Jack said in a subdued tone.
“What did I tell you to call me on the way here?”
“But you not my mommy,” Jack cried.
Brooke slapped her hand across her mouth, keeping the cry of outrage from spilling out.
The sound of her mother’s heels clacking across the tile proceeded her next words. “Jack, your mother left with that man. You know, the one you told me about. She told me to come get you and that I was to raise you as my own. That makes me your mother. Now, do as I told you, or I’ll have to punish you.”
Her mother had never sounded the way she did, in that moment, in all the years Brooke had known her. Snobby, bitchy, and conceited were things Brooke would associate with Nancy Frazee, but this crazy woman, speaking to her son, was not her mother. She shook her head at Jase when he raised a brow. She watched from the safety of the hall closet as Jack trotted past, a stuffed toy in his tiny hand.
“Children. I’ll bring this one up right with the help of a good man,” Nancy muttered.
Brooke eased out of the room, making her way down to where her son had gone. She’d leave her mother to Jase and her dad. Right now, she wanted to hold her baby and let him know she didn’t leave him. That she would never leave him. Her heart ached at the dejected look on his face as he’d walked past.
*****
Jase tilted his head toward the kitchen. They could hear Nancy mumbling to herself. He made a swirling motion with one finger near his
temple, wondering if the woman was certifiable or not. Admiral Frazee shook his head then shrugged his shoulders. Jase wondered where Erik and the body had gone. If they had still been in the room, Nancy would’ve been freaking out by then.
“Davis, where are you. I’ve called you over ten times. I’m getting worried. Have you taken care of our pest problem? Remember, she’s my child, so try to make it look good, and if you can make it painless, that would be great, but if not,” she stopped talking. Jase could picture her lifting a shoulder.
Brooke’s dad appeared shocked at the words coming from his wife’s mouth.
Admiral Frazee stepped out of the room, his shoulders back like he owned the world, not just the house, His footsteps loud as he walked into the kitchen. “Hello, Nancy, you’re looking rather unwell. Did you see a ghost or something?”
Jase wanted to applaud the man as he looked behind him and all around before facing his wife.
“You. You’re dead.” Nancy pointed her finger at Mark.
“Clearly, not. I’d ask you if you wanted to touch me to prove how wrong you are, but I think we both know how much you abhor that thought. Not to mention, I find it truly distasteful myself these days.”
Nancy backed away as Jase rounded the corner. He saw Erik enter from the other room, and more men were out in the back. “Mrs. Frazee, I need you to stay calm.”
Her face angled toward him. “You. What are you doing here? Where’s my baby?” She took a step, stopping as her husband put his arm out. “Don’t touch me, you fiend.”
Admiral Frazee laughed. “Believe me, I don’t want used goods.”
“I’ll have you know, Davis is twice the man as you. You all thought you were so smart, trying to hide from us. Jack always takes his stuffed bear with him. I always know where he’s at. Brooke was never trustworthy enough to keep him. I had to make sure I knew where he was at all times. Davis made sure I had everything I needed, even access to Jack. He was my first and only love. If you would’ve only been a better father to Mark, he wouldn’t have turned out the way he did. Davis would’ve loved him. If it wasn’t for Brooke, I wouldn’t have stayed with you and your damn morals. Well, guess what, Mr. Morality, I’ve been sleeping with Davis since long before you and all the time we’ve been together.”
