“But was he? George said there was a tunnel underneath the house that blew up. Do we even know he made it into the tunnel?”
“Yeah. He made it in. We had agents waiting for him. When they had him in the tunnel, they detonated the explosives that blew the house. We took him to Baghdad, and that was it.”
“You just left him in Baghdad? I don’t think I believe that.”
“Azayiz had someone meet our agents there. They took him. I don’t know who they were. I didn’t want to know. Like I said, after the house blew, he was dead to us.”
“So you handed him over to some guys who could have very well killed him that day?”
“We handed him off to who Azayiz instructed us to hand him off to. We didn’t do this for your dad. We’re not in the business of making members of our military disappear. I wouldn’t have even considered it if he didn’t play the Azayiz card. Bluntly, she was—and still is—much more important to us than your dad. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings.”
“It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I used the agency as a way to find out who my mom was. It’s why I joined, and it’s why I quit after I accomplished that. I have no interest in this agency beyond that.”
“So I’m guessing you’re not going to help us find Azayiz then?”
“I didn’t say that. She was the one who told my dad to rescue me as a baby. I don’t know what she’s become now, but I owe her my life for that. And if you’re telling the truth—which I think you are—then she’s the only one who would know what happened to Dad after the tunnel. I have to at least try to find out. I’ll go to Pakistan on one condition.”
“I think this entire conversation has been enough of a condition. You don’t have any more favors stored up.”
“Maybe not, but I’m going to ask anyway. My bodyguard—as you call him—was my dad’s team leader.”
“I know who he is.”
“When I leave for Pakistan, I want the agency to arrange for him to go back to Iraq and try to retrace my dad’s steps from that side. And I want you to send Raine Laghari with him.”
“The agent assigned to the teams in Virginia Beach? Why her?”
“Because she’s the only person I trust in the agency.”
“You don’t trust George?”
“Not at all. And I definitely don’t trust you.”
He smiles. “I’m okay with sending them over there, but Millie, best-case scenario that your dad is alive, he agreed to never surface and never come back to this country. If you find him, what then?”
“One step at a time,” I say, standing up. “I don’t get on a plane until Raine and Chase tell me they’re on their way to Iraq.”
He nods. “Agent Marsh.”
I turn back around to face him.
“I hope you find what you’re looking for. Surprisingly, I kind of like you.”
I stare at him for a second and leave without replying.
***
Chase and I ride back to the hotel in silence. Once we get there, I make him stand outside by the loud fountains as I tell him everything the director told me. He doesn’t say anything until I’m done talking.
Finally he takes a deep breath and says, “Are you okay? That’s the most important thing to me right now.”
“Yeah. It’s a lot, but I’m fine. I think he’s telling the truth.”
“You’re better at reading people than I am, so let’s assume he is. It still doesn’t mean Mack’s alive. But let’s find out. Put this bullshit to rest once and for all.” He pulls me to him and hugs me tightly. “Promise me you won’t get your hopes up. Swear to me.”
I rest my head on his chest and hug him back. “I promise. Let’s get this over with and get back home.”
“Agreed,” he says. “Are you okay if I go back to my room? I need to call Mariel, and it’s not going to be pretty.”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
“And you’re going to call Mason?”
“Yeah. I’ll call you after I talk to him.”
When I get to my room, I pick up my phone. He answers on one ring.
“Well, Millie Marsh,” Captain Culver says. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Hey, Captain. I think I’m going to be seeing you soon.”
“I hope for personal reasons, but from the tone of your voice, I’m guessing it’s for other reasons.”
“Yeah. I can’t talk about it on an unsecured line. But, yeah, I’m sure you’ll hear about it in the next few hours. In the meantime, I need to ask you a favor.”
“Anything,” he says. “You know that.”
“This mission is going to make Mason want to come back as team lead—“
“Millie,” he interrupts, “don’t even ask me to say no to him. I need him here, and that’s not within your purview to ask.”
“No. It’s not that,” I say slowly. “But I don’t want him on this mission. You know we’re dating. It would be a huge conflict of interest. Neither one of us could be objective. Will you promise me that?”
Chapter Seventeen
Mason
San Diego, California
2020
When I hang up the phone with Millie, I’m mad. I know she’s not telling me everything. Again. But at least she told me she’s going to Pakistan. And that means I’m going, too. I call Culver.
“I’ve been waiting for your call,” Culver says. “I just got the brief on the new mission involving Millie.”
“Yeah. I have to be in on that one.”
“Look, Mason. I want you back. You know that. But if you come back, you’re in for three or four months—however long it takes Stevie to recover. And, of course, I’ll take you longer than that—however long you want to stay.”
“Yeah. I get it. I’m in—for as long as it takes.”
“And just because you’re coming back doesn’t mean you’re going on this mission. It sounds like we’re going in immediately on this one, and I’m not sure you’re going to be mission-ready by then.”
“Give me any test you want to give me. I haven’t lost a step. I’m ready right now.”
“I’m sure that’s true. Just get here, and we can talk about it then. I’ll set you up with transport out this afternoon. Get to the base as soon as possible.”
When I get on the plane, I call Millie for the third time. I haven’t talked to her since she called me this morning. She’s not answering my calls or the several texts I’ve sent.
Unfortunately, I find out why when I land in Virginia Beach. Culver meets my plane. I’m barely on firm ground when he starts in.
“Millie asked me not to put your team on this mission.”
The engines are still winding down on the plane, so I think—and hope—I misunderstood him. “What’d you say?”
“You heard me the first time. She thinks it’s a conflict of interest because you’re dating,” he says with annoyance rising in his voice. “Why didn’t you leave her alone when I asked you to? I knew something like this was going to happen.”
I want to punch something so badly right now, but I know I need to keep everything in check, including my tone. “You’re not considering sending someone else, are you?” I say as unemotionally as I can. “You know my team is the best positioned for this mission.”
“I know, and it pisses me off that something else is clouding my decision. I don’t like emotional decisions, and I’m starting to feel like this is one,” he snarls.
“It’s not for me,” I continue on in an impressively even tone, considering how mad I am. Culver pulled me off the mission where she was kidnapped. I can’t let someone be responsible for her safety again. “This is not personal. My team is the most qualified. We’re already read in on the details of this network—this family. We’ve worked with Millie. The minute this mission starts, it’s one hundred per
cent the job for me—and it will be for her, too. I guarantee that.”
We’ve reached the parking lot where JJ—my second-in-command on the team—is waiting for me.
“Let me think about it,” Culver says as he heads to his car. “I’ll call you later tonight.”
“Welcome back, brother,” JJ says, cautiously eyeing my clenched jaw. He knows how to read every one of my moods, and he knows this one isn’t good. “What’s Culver thinking about?”
“Millie asked him to call us off this mission,” I say as I throw my backpack into the back seat.
“She did what now?” JJ shakes his head—the way he does when he disagrees with me on a decision I make on a mission.
“You heard me.”
“You talked to her about it?”
“Not yet,” I say, slamming the door so hard, it makes the car vibrate for a second. “She’s not returning my messages.”
JJ whistles. “Whew. How’s that sitting with you?”
“Not well,” I say, pounding my fist into the dashboard. “Not well at all. I’m going to need several shots of whiskey in my system right now.”
“Good thing we’re headed to a bar then.”
“Don’t tell any of the other guys about Millie. Just between us.”
JJ nods. “I know this is the wrong time to talk about it, but when this is over, I think you seriously need to reevaluate your relationship. I told you from the beginning you were stepping on a land mine with that one.”
“You’re right. It’s not the time to talk about it, but it’s definitely entered my mind more than a few times today,” I say as we pull into the bar parking lot. “By the way, sorry about that dent I put in your dashboard.”
As soon as we walk in the door, the jaw jacking starts hitting me from all sides.
“Well look what the cat just drug in,” Butch drawls as he points his pool stick at me. “We got a California boy in our presence.”
I give him a harder than necessary chest bump. “Man, you know this blood is all Texas. That California air isn’t strong enough to change that.”
Hawk comes over and shoves me from behind. “I don’t know, man. Your hair is looking real pretty. You getting Hollywood on us?”
“I live in San Diego, dumbass,” I say as I duck to avoid his attempt at messing up my hair.
“What’s up, Bryce?” I say to the rookie of the group. “Man, you leave for a couple months and your kids are full-grown when you get back. You almost have a real man’s beard now.”
“Ah no, that’s still just baby peach fuzz,” Ty says as he tugs on Bryce’s beard on the way over to me. “Good to see you, brother. You’ve been missed.”
I chuck him on the shoulder. “Damn. I hate to admit it, but I missed your ugly faces, too. Where’s Mouse? He hiding in a corner somewhere as usual?”
They all start laughing, shaking their heads. “Mouse has got himself a lady friend since you’ve been gone,” Butch says. “And she’s got him on a short leash—barely lets him poke his head outside when we’re in town.”
“Speaking of leashes, did Millie give you permission to leave town?” Hawk says. “Or did she finally come to her senses and break up with your ugly ass?”
“Are we going to talk about relationships and then braid each other’s hair?” JJ steps in. “Let’s play pool. Butch and Mase owe me at least five thousand dollars in losses, and tonight is my night to get it back.”
“Never going to happen, brother,” I say, patting him on the back.
Butch hands me a pool stick. “You still got any skill, or am I going to have to find another partner?”
I shove him toward the head of the table. “Just shut up and break.”
As I watch him break, I get a text from Culver.
You’re in. Meeting at seven hundred tomorrow morning. Wheels up likely tomorrow afternoon. Welcome back.
Chapter Eighteen
Virginia Beach, Virginia
July 29, 2011
“Mack, I’m sorry,” Rear Admiral Peters said. “This is the only way we will even consider doing this for you. If you leave, you’re gone for good.”
Mack started to protest again, but Peters cut him off.
“Frankly, I wouldn’t even be considering this at all if our partners at the agency weren’t asking,” Peters continued. “I can’t believe you kept this information from us. Do you have any idea the risk you put your team in? Your daughter is related to one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. It’s such a conflict to have you on the teams. I would have dismissed you on the spot if I had known—or locked you up. But I’m guessing you knew that.”
“I didn’t tell anyone for my daughter’s safety. It wasn’t about keeping my job,” Mack said. “Her safety is the only thing that has ever mattered to me.”
“And how’s that working out for you now? If we’re to believe the agency, Yusef Hadzic is tracking you and your daughter. And I’m truly sorry for both of you. But my job is to protect the teams, and you being part of them is just a huge safety breach for the program—not to mention the PR problems. If the press found out that one of our elite special operators is related to an international terrorist . . . it would be unbelievably damaging to our reputation.”
Mack’s chest tightened. He took a deep breath to try to remain calm. “I don’t understand why I can’t disappear until we take their organization out and then come back.”
Peters’s face remained hard. “We’ve been trying to find them for fifteen years, with absolutely no luck. If we ever find them—and that’s a huge if—then possibly we would consider you coming back. But until then, if you disappear, we’re wiping you clean—no passport, your citizenship revoked, wiped clean from naval records. We can’t put ourselves in danger because of your secret.”
Mack slowly nodded his head as he considered his choices.
“If you want to take your daughter with you, we’d consider delivering her to wherever you end up—”
Mack cut Peters off. “No. No way. She stays right where she is.”
“We can’t protect her, Mack. She’ll get death benefits, so no one suspects anything, but we can’t physically protect her. I’m sorry, but she’s not our problem.”
“I don’t need you to protect her. I’ve got that covered.”
“No active SEALs can help you with this. I’ll ask you again: Do any of your team members know who she really is?”
“And I tell you again: no. No one knows.”
“Not even Chase?”
“Chase doesn’t know,” Mack said, lying. Chase was the only person he had ever told about who Millie really was.
Peters folded his arms as he stared at Mack. “What’s it going to be, Mack? I need your decision now.”
“Let’s do it,” Mack said quietly. “I need to disappear.”
Peters stood up. “It’s going to happen on this trip to Iraq. Your agency contact will let you know the details as soon as we have them firmed up. Good luck to you, Mack.”
Mack stood up and shook Peters’s outstretched hand. “Thank you, sir.”
When Mack left the office, he saw Chase standing to the side.
“What was that all about?” Chase said.
“Some bullshit about retirement,” Mack said, avoiding Chase’s eyes.
“They trying to talk you into staying?”
Mack started walking down the hall away from the office. “Naw. I guess I’m the first of the guys on the UBL mission to retire. They were just going over what’s acceptable to say in the outside world and what’s not.”
“What’s acceptable?”
“Basically nothing. Keep your mouth shut and forget it ever happened.”
“Sounds about right. I’m retiring three months after you. I guess I’ll get that talk soon.”
“Probably,” Mack said,
changing the subject. “They found anyone to replace you at team lead?”
“Probably Bobby. He’s been waiting for a team. I don’t know, though. I’d give the keys to Harry right now.”
“No, man. He’s too young.”
“I don’t know. I think he’s definitely going to make it further than any of us. Maybe Rear Admiral Culver someday.”
Mack tried to play along, but his mind was on Millie. He wished he could see her one more time, but he knew he’d never be able to leave if he did. “Yeah. That’ll be the day. No way Culver outranks you,” Mack said, forcing a smile.
Chase grabbed Mack’s arm and stopped him. “You okay? You seem kind of out of it.”
“Yeah, I’m good. All good,” Mack said briskly. “Just looking forward to getting over there. You know I get restless when we’re not busy.”
“Yeah, well wheels up tomorrow morning. Hopefully we’ll get back soon, so it won’t delay your trip to San Diego with Millie. When are you scheduled to leave? August 6?”
“That’s the plan,” Mack said, his voice cracking slightly.
Chase sighed. “Well you know what we always say: ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy.’”
Chapter Nineteen
Millie
Virginia Beach, Virginia
2020
When I drive past the guard gate at the base, I glance over to the last place I saw my dad alive. For the first time, it doesn’t fill me with dread. I’m trying to keep my promise to Chase, but despite my best efforts to suppress it, I can feel a little glimmer of hope growing inside me. I pull into the parking lot and see Raine waiting for me as usual. She’s not even trying to control the smirk that’s growing on her face.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away from all of this,” she says, sweeping her arm dramatically in the air like she’s Vanna White introducing the next puzzle.
I grab her into a hug. “You told me I couldn’t stay away from the agency. The truth is I couldn’t stay away from you.”
The Only Reason: A Novel (Trident Trilogy: Book Two) Page 9
