The SEAL’s Ward

by Katie Knight

  Tess couldn’t hold back her sad smile over that. “Control is your specialty, isn’t it?”

  He closed his eyes. “Look, Tess. I’m sorry. I—”

  “It’s fine.” She stood fast and looked away so he wouldn’t see her tears. One more “It was just sex” speech would shatter her heart permanently. Running away wasn’t the bravest move, but it would help her survive to live another day. She smoothed a hand down the front of her sweater then backed away toward the stairs. “I’m going to head to bed myself. Really tired. Long day. Goodnight. See you in the morning.”

  The weight of Jed’s stare lingered on her long after she’d climbed the stairs and closed the door to her bedroom. Even after she’d changed into her PJs and snuggled beneath her covers, her skin still tingled from his icy blue gaze and the spark of heat and hurt that lingered there.

  Twenty-Nine

  “Why don’t we take a break?” Tess had felt on edge since her conversation with Jed the night before, so it wasn’t a surprise that Nala picked up on her nervous energy halfway through the next day. As a result, lessons weren’t going well. They needed to pause and reset. She didn’t dare take Nala outside after Jed’s warnings, but now seemed like as good a time as any to give Nala the books she’d ordered for her and prepare the little girl for her upcoming departure. “I have something for you.”

  “Like a present?” Nala asked, her dark eyes wide behind her glasses. “Seriously? Can I open it now?”

  “Yes, I think you can.” Tess chuckled and headed for the stairs. “You stay here and I’ll be right back.”

  She grabbed the brown paper-wrapped bundle from her bedroom then headed back to the living room where Nala sat on the sofa, her legs tucked beneath her. She’d not reached her growth spurt yet. From her long, gangly legs and the pictures she’d seen of Nala and her parents that Jed had around the house, she guessed Nala would be tall.

  “Here.” Tess handed the little girl the present then took a seat on the other end of the sofa. “I hope you like it.”

  “Wow. Thanks. I’m sure I will. Why’d you get it for me though?” Nala turned the package over then shook it, listening to hear if it made noise. “It’s not my birthday for another three months.”

  “I know.” Tess gave her a small smile then took a deep breath. “I just thought you’d like these. Besides, I wanted to make sure you got them while I was still here.”

  Nala gave her a wary look. “Are you leaving?”

  “Not yet.” She exhaled slow. “But soon. Once you don’t need me anymore.”

  “But I do need you. I’m gonna keep needing you for a long time, Tess.” Tears started to gather in the little girl’s eyes. “Don’t go. Please. Things are so nice with you here, and what about J-jed? He l-loves y-you.”

  Tess winced, not sure if the reaction was in response to the return of Nala’s stutter or her false belief about Jed’s love…or both. “Jed doesn’t love me. We’re friends, that’s all. And even if I leave, it doesn’t mean that I won’t write to you every day and stay in touch.”

  “B-but w-what about m-my s-school w-work?” Tears streamed down Nala’s cheeks now, unbidden, falling onto the brown paper in wet splats. “W-what about u-us? I-I thought you were my f-friend, T-tess. I t-thought you c-cared.”

  “Oh, baby.” She reached over and pulled the little girl into her arms, her own eyes stinging. “I do care. More than you’ll ever know. But sometimes the best thing we can do for everyone is to let go and move on. I want you and Jed to be happy, but I need to be happy too.”

  “Why c-can’t you be h-happy h-here?” Nala asked between sobs against Tess’s shoulder.

  Because I can’t fix everything. I can’t make Jed love me if he doesn’t.

  Instead she said, “Because I got invited back for a second interview for a job working at a museum in Washington, DC. It’s totally different from what I’m doing now and way too cool to pass up. If things work out, it’ll be hard, though, leaving you and Jed, but I think it’s the right thing. You’ll be fine, honey. I promise.”

  “I d-don’t feel f-fine. I d-don’t think I’ll e-ever be f-fine a-again.” Nala’s sobs grew deeper, harder, and Tess knew this wasn’t all about her leaving. This was old grief, old pain that the little girl needed to release in order to heal. She’d been through enough long nights alone, crying into her lonely pillow to know the difference. “F-first, I lost my p-parents. Now, I’m l-losing y-you.”

  “You’re not losing me, sweetie. You’ll never lose me.” She pulled back to cup Nala’s cheeks, swiping away her tears with her thumbs. “Anytime you need me, anytime at all, you just call. I’m here for you. Now and always. We’re partners, remember?”

  The little girl’s tears dried to a few sniffles, and she flopped back against the couch cushions. “I don’t want you to go.”

  Funny how that stutter came and went depending on Nala’s stress levels. Tess was glad to hear she felt more relaxed after releasing all those pent-up emotions. She smoothed her hand over the girl’s black braids, then gave a sad smile. “Part of me doesn’t want to go either. But the other part of me knows I need to. You won’t understand now, but someday you’ll realize that sometimes being happy in the long run means being sad in the short-term.”

  Nala snorted and gave Tess a side glance. “Now you sound like Jed. Preaching like a sermon on Sunday, as my mom used to say. Thinking he’s got to save everybody.”

  Tess laughed. From the mouth of babes. People didn’t give kids enough credit. They saw and understood far more than their age suggested. “I bet I would’ve liked your mom.”

  “She was the best.” Nala straightened and picked up her package again. “Should I open this now?”

  “Yes!” Tess grinned. “Please.”

  The little girl tore through the paper to the books inside. “Oh my gosh! Books. I love them! Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome, sweetie.” Tess hugged Nala again then gathered up the scraps of paper to carry them into the kitchen to throw away. “Those were all favorite reads of mine when I was your age. I thought you might like them too.”

  “I can’t wait to start them!” Nala said, lovingly running her hands over the covers before carefully opening each one and smelling it. A true book lover indeed. “Thank you, Tess. Thank you, thank you!”

  “No problem.” She looked over at the clock on the wall. It was after one p.m. They’d worked through lunch. “Are you hungry? I can make us some sandwiches.”

  “Yes, please,” Nala called, already digging back into her second time through Little Women. “And chips too?”

  “And chips.” Tess hummed as she pulled out the ingredients for peanut butter and jelly. She still had to tell Jed she was going, but a tiny portion of her stress was lifted, knowing that Nala would be okay. As she grabbed the bread and a knife from the drawer, a knock sounded on the front door. Her heart skipped a beat, more from surprise than anything. It was a bit early for mail delivery, but perhaps they were running ahead of schedule. Besides, even as ballsy as these guys Jed was after were, she doubted they’d have the cojones to just knock on the front door. Nala started to get up to answer, but Tess caught her. “No, honey. I’ve got it. You keep reading.”

  “Okay.” Nala gave her a brief smile before refocusing on her pages again.

  Tess still had the knife in her hand as she checked the peephole at the door. It was only a table knife, but she could still poke someone enough to hurt them with it, if not do any actual stabbing damage. But when she checked the porch, no one was there. Huh. Weird.

  Maybe it was a delivery. She hadn’t ordered anything, and Jed hadn’t mentioned anything, but then again, it wasn’t like they were a couple. He wasn’t obligated to tell her everything.

  Ever cautious, after checking out the living room windows and still not seeing anyone, Tess opened the front door and searched the area. No boxes or packages. No mail. A seed of dread blossomed inside her. Something was off. She glanced across the street but didn�
�t see anything suspicious. Looked both ways down the street. Nothing out of the ordinary. The back of her neck prickled like she was being watched. Maybe a direct assault wasn’t so ballsy of them after all. They’d tried to break-in and get Nala once already at the house and again at the park. Not to mention tampering with the gas lines.

  She stepped back inside the house and locked the front door, saying to Nala, “Sweetie, let’s get your shoes on. I think we should get out of here after all.”

  “Yeah, sweetie,” a male voice said from behind her. “Get your shoes on.”

  Tess turned slowly to find a tall guy with about an inch of blond hair sticking up all over his head in torn jeans and a T-shirt holding a gun to Nala’s head. The little girl was shaking so hard, the book in her hands trembled.

  “Let her go,” Tess said, gripping the knife in her hand tighter.

  “Or what?” the guy snorted. “You’ll butter me to death?”

  Before Tess could respond, Nala dropped her book and stomped hard on the man’s foot. She tried to run to Tess, but the man grabbed her by her braids and yanked her back into him, pointing the gun at Tess now.

  “Look, bitch. You two have caused me enough trouble already. I’m done with this.” He cocked his head toward the back door. “Go. We’re taking a little ride. And if either of you gives me any shit, I’ll kill you both.”

  From the dead look in his eyes, Tess had no doubt he’d follow through on his promise.

  She slid her feet into her sneakers while Nala did the same, all the while feeling the weight of that gun pointed at her, like a stone on her chest.

  “Move it,” the guy said, waving the gun toward the door for Tess to precede him and Nala. He mumbled to himself as they made their way out the back door of the house and out to the street where a black SUV idled. The same black SUV that had been at the park that day when Nala had almost been kidnapped. “Wasted enough fucking time on this as it is. Lost my job, all for some dumb kid who should’ve died with her parents anyway. Get in the car!”

  Tess’s heart plummeted to her toes. “It’s you. You killed Nala’s parents.”

  The guy pulled open the rear door of the SUV and shoved the little girl inside then turned to Tess. “Shut the fuck up, bitch, and do as you’re told.”

  Sharp pain radiated from the side of Tess’s head as he slammed the butt of the gun against her skull. Darkness descended, and the ground rushed up fast to meet her. As Tess lost consciousness, the piercing sound of Nala’s screams reverberated inside of her head.

  Thirty

  “Wait a minute, say that again.” Jed sat back in the booth and stared across the table at Owen. The guy had called right before lunch and asked Jed to meet him at this greasy spoon diner around the corner from the warehouse. Said he had new information on the Jacksons’ accident and since they expected to make arrests soon, he could finally share. Of course, Jed had agreed to the meeting. Finally, this was the break he’d been waiting for. Except now, the words coming out of Owen’s mouth were the last ones he’d ever expected. “You think Nathan Steenman’s responsible for all this?”

  “I don’t think. I know.” Owen pushed a file across the table to Jed. “We’ve been collecting evidence since my SAC allowed us to reopen the case. At first, all the signs pointed to your friend Kevin being the sole perpetrator, but then I realized that there was no way a guy with his limited funds could’ve covered all this up so well.”

  “But he was a SEAL. He’s got the skills.” Jed flipped through the pages of the report.

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t have the means. Or the motive. Or rather, he didn’t—not until Steenman paid him a boatload of money to do his dirty work for him.” Owen motioned for the waiter to bring him a refill on his soda. “I’m telling you, man, hard as it is to believe, it’s all right there. Bank deposits. Sure, we had to do some digging and uncover the off-shore accounts that Steenman ran his illegal payments through, but once we cracked it, the case broke wide open.”

  “Why, though?” Jed stared down at a photo of Martin and Ayesha’s smiling faces, taken shortly before the accident. “Why would he kill them? It makes no sense. Steenman’s a good guy. He a well-known philanthropist. His son was a war hero, for Christ’s sake.”

  “There’s more to him than you realize.” Owen sat back as the waiter brought him a fresh drink, then pulled out another sheaf of papers from beneath his jacket. “Take a look at those. Talk about a bombshell.” He cringed. “Sorry, bad pun.”

  Jed scowled down at the confidential transcripts of the hearings following the death of Scott Steenman and the others on his SEAL team. According to the testimony, the deaths had been caused by friendly fire, fire that had fallen on them in the form of smart bombs hitting the wrong target due to faulty technology from Steenman Systems. Further documents proved that the glitches had shown up in testing, and Steenman had lied about having them fixed. Jed’s stomach clenched, and he grasped the edge of the table in a white-knuckled grip. Nathan’s son, as well as the rest of his SEAL team, had died because of Steenman’s own shoddy product.

  Rather than own up to that, he’d used his power and prestige to cover it up. Okay. Shit like that unfortunately happened all the time in the world. But there were still parts that didn’t make sense. “Sorry, this is awful. But I still don’t see how this relates to the Jacksons’ accident.”

  “Take a look at the last page of the report. There’s a list of servicemen present as witnesses at the hearing that day,” Owen said.

  Sure enough, near the bottom of the page was Martin’s name. Fuck. “He knew what Steenman did.”

  “Yep. And my guess is, knowing Martin, he couldn’t let an injustice like that slide. Lives were lost. Lives of servicemen who’d been let down by their country. That demanded retribution. He probably left that hearing and headed straight to the Pentagon. It was just his bad luck that the guy he went to happened to be in Steenman’s pocket and warned the man that trouble was coming.”

  “And Nathan couldn’t let that happen.”

  “Nope. He needed this to go away quick. First, because his business depends on government contracts. And second, his son was being awarded the Medal of Honor. For a guy like Steenman who lives his life in pursuit of fame and glory, having the world know he was a failure, and that his son had died because of it was unacceptable.” Owen shook his head and crossed his arms. “The guy won a medal himself in Vietnam, back in the day. Meritorious Service Medal. Our profilers think that’s probably what kicked off his need for public approval.”

  “Jesus.” Jed rubbed his eyes and sighed. “So, Steenman paid off the rest of the witnesses from the hearing?”

  “Yep. All the money has been tracked and accounted for. He tried to pay Martin off too, but the guy was way too good for that.”

  “And it got him and Ayesha killed.” Jed sat back and stared at the ceiling, grief threatening to overwhelm him again. “Dammit, dude,” he whispered to the sky. “Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you tell me what was happening?”

  “He needed you out of it,” Owen said quietly. “You were his insurance policy. Nala’s godfather. If anything happened to him and Ayesha, he needed you to be there to take care of his child.”

  Jed hung his head, blinking back the sting of tears, his head pounding with anger and recriminations. “What about Kevin Walker? How does he fit into all this?”

  “He’s the guy Nathan hired to cut the brake lines on Nala’s parents’ car when it became clear there was no way to buy off Martin and shut his mouth.” Owen took another swallow of soda. “He’s worked for Steenman for a few years and has done other dirty work for him. Then Steenman transferred him to your team to keep an eye on you since he knew Martin’s daughter was living with you.”

  “Shit. And Nala saw Kevin that night in the driveway. She could identify him. And if she saw him, then he probably saw her too.” His stomach lodged somewhere near his throat, clogging his chest. “And I practically led him right to her. Oh, fuc
k.” He was shoving out of the booth and heading for the door before Owen even made a move. “I need to get home. Something bad’s going to happen. I can feel it.”

  “Wait for me!” Owen yelled, slapping some money down on the table then running to catch up with Jed as he pushed through the door out into the cold late October day. Halloween was in a couple of days and the gloomy, overcast sky was certainly the perfect accompaniment. Owen climbed behind the wheel of the government-issue sedan while Jed got into the passenger side. They’d taken Owen’s car to lunch. After cranking the engine and signaling, Owen pulled out into the lane and zoomed toward Jed’s house. “If something’s going down, let me handle it, okay?”

  “It that asshole does anything to hurt the women I love, I’ll make him regret the day he was born.” Jed ignored the curious look Owen gave him and instead pulled out his phone to dial Tess’s number. It rang and rang then went to voicemail. “Shit. Hurry up.”

  “I’m already going twenty over the speed limit,” Owen said as they squealed around another corner. “I don’t have much time either. The FBI’s planning to raid Steenman’s warehouse later this afternoon. I need to be back for that.”

  They screeched to a halt at the curb in front of Jed’s house, and he barely waited for the car to stop before he was out the door and running up the sidewalk to the porch. He tried the front door and found it unlocked. His heart nosedived to his toes, leaving him feeling sick and shaky and a tad dazed. He inched inside and saw a kitchen knife lying on the floor, along with several books. New ones, from the look of them. He bent down and picked one up. Little Women. On the inside flap were the words, “From Tess, with love.”

  His chest squeezed. “Tess? Nala? Anyone here?”

  Even as he said the words, he knew they were gone. Owen came in behind him, gun drawn and began clearing the rooms. At last, he called from the kitchen. “In here.”