Breaking Through (Book 2 of the SEAL TEAM Heartbreakers) (42 page)

His eyes narrowed and his jaw hardened. “Special Operations soldiers are costly to train, and their equipment is more expensive. It is our belief that they’ve had carte blanche far too long. We don’t need to fund their toys any longer.”

“They are experts at using those stealth technologies you mentioned earlier. And they’re already trained and possess the expensive
toys
they’ll need to complete covert missions. Isn’t cutting their funding counterproductive? ”

He didn’t bother to answer but rose to his feet instead. “I’m afraid that’s all the time I have for now, Miss Kelly. I hope you got what you needed. I have another appointment in ten minutes.”

“Of course. Thank you, Senator.”

He herded her toward the door with a hand that brushed her arm but never quite grasped it.

“I meant to offer my condolences on the death of your stepson. I’m truly sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sure the SEALs who tried to rescue him did all they could, sir.”

His jaw tightened and his expression grew angry. “It wasn’t enough.” His eyes suddenly widened as he realized what she’d said.

“The way my son died is not common knowledge, Miss Kelly.”

“No, it isn’t. And I don’t really know any of the details. But there are Marine Corps personnel who know about it and are sympathetic. Is there some reason why you don’t want what happened to him to be common knowledge? He died a hero.”

“He died needlessly because some—CO in an office somewhere didn’t want to risk his Special Ops team.”

“But they went in, didn’t they?”

“They went in too late.”

“How many others did they save?”

“Fourteen men, but three died needlessly. Had they gone in an hour earlier, they would have all survived.”

Tess swallowed. God, she hated to push him anymore. “How do you know that?”

“I’ve read the official report. I know what happened,” he said, his tone sharp.

Sympathy for his pain nearly prevented her from saying more.

“If I felt so very strongly, sir, and had the resources to do so, I believe I’d send in someone to look into the way things were done and who was responsible.”

Welch’s features turned to stone. “The incident has already been reviewed, Ms. Kelly.”

“Is it very hard to maintain your objectivity when dealing with Special Ops funding because of your experience, Senator?”

The anger drained from his features and he became distant and cold. “Of course not. It’s part of the job. I have another appointment now, Miss Kelly.”

It was a good thing he wasn’t the only man on the committee.
“I appreciate your help with my article, Senator.” Tess extended her hand. He was slow in taking it.

“I’ll be looking for it, Miss Kelly.” His tone was a warning.

“I won’t misquote you. I promise. Thank you for seeing me.” She nodded, and sauntered out of the room. But all the way down the long hall, she was aware of his gaze burning into her back.

***

Brett stared out the window toward the Washington Monument. He narrowed his eyes against the piercing blue of the sky.

How would he tell her? She’d be on a high from the interview. God, he’d have to crush that. His stomach churned as though filled with gravel. Jesus. If anything happened—

He turned as he heard an electronic key being used in the lock. Tess was smiling as she came in, her cheeks flushed.

“I’m so relieved. He was very receptive to all my questions, but the last one. He ignored it. I don’t think he caught on to what I was doing until then. He was mad as hell when I left. But he did send someone to investigate the mission, Brett, and he holds some CO he wouldn’t name responsible for not sending in your team in time. He is manipulating things in the background. He said the mission was investigated. But I couldn’t figure out a way to ask about the investigation into the boys. Ian said another team of military investigators was following them. Do you think he put them on it?”

“I don’t know, honey.” He smiled at her excitement, though nausea threatened. He enfolded her in his arms and held her tight. “You left your cell phone here.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want it ringing while I was doing the interview.”

“A man called while you were gone. His name was Ahmed Hannah.”

“Yes, he’s Ian’s friend. He’s a writer for Al Zaman.”

Brett swallowed, though the action did nothing to relieve the dryness of his throat. She had done everything in her power to help him, help his team, and he could do nothing to cushion the blow. “He was calling about Ian, Tess. He was kidnapped off the street last night.”

CHAPTER 34

Hawk followed Captain Frank Morrow’s progress from the open door to the front of the room where a small table supported a projector. The thirty-two SEALs, members of Hawk’s platoon and one other, rose to attention.

“At ease,” Captain Morrow said as he reached for the remote. He motioned for his aide to adjust the focus on the projector. When the image was crystal clear, he forwarded the first slide. “I know some of you have only been on the ground for thirty-six hours, but in light of all the shit that’s gone down, I thought you’d all want to be a part of this mission.”

“Hooyah,” The room full of SEALs bellowed.

“Twelve hours ago, Ian Kelly was kidnapped by an extremist group associated with al-Qaeda. For several weeks, Kelly has been investigating the disappearance of young men and boys in the area. With Kelly’s help and the use of satellite technology and local intel, we’ve discovered the location of the boys and believe that Kelly has been transported to that location as well.

Morrow hit several slides showing a clustered group of ramshackle buildings. “The location is just outside the village of Zalem, which lies close to the border of Iran. If we don’t move quickly, the group may slip over the border into Iran, taking Kelly with them. We all know what will happen after that. ”

He muted the view on the projector. “We have an opportunity, gentlemen, to return at least thirty young men, possibly more, to their families here in Baghdad. This mission has the possibility to earn us some major goodwill from the Iraqi people and cooperation in the future.”

Morrow’s attention swung to Hawk for a moment. They’d had a long briefing about the political situations driving the deployment, the indictment, as well as Brett’s situation, including the fact that he was dating Kelly’s daughter. Though they couldn’t allow personal relationships or feelings to direct the missions they chose to undertake, other considerations carried enough weight to drive this one forward.

“Ian Kelly came to this country to investigate a situation that we, and the Iraqi forces, had overlooked. He was the main source of information about where these boys are being held. The assholes who have him don’t know that he had an opportunity to pass that info on to us some hours before he was abducted. This gives us the opportunity to make things right. He did our job for us. He deserves to go home in one piece.”

Morrow hit the mute button again, uncovering the next slide. “This is a detailed analysis of the complex. We’ve already got people designing a simulation of the main building where the boys are being held so you can do practice runs. We’ll be sending out drones to do surveillance before the raid to make sure no major changes have taken place. Now let’s look at the firepower they have at their disposal.”

For the next two hours, Morrow covered every aspect of the mission. Every scrap of information they’d been able to collect was gone over, as well as numerous pictures of the complex and the terrorists’ movements in the last twenty-four hours.

When he finally killed the projector, he concluded, “You’ll have twelve hours to prepare, gentlemen, then get some rest. You’ll need it. Dismissed.”

Hawk rose to his feet and bowed his back to relieve the cramped stiffness from sitting too long. Morrow approached him. “In my office. We have some things to discuss that have a bearing on the situation in San Diego.”

Hawk turned and instructed Lang to gather the team in their barracks and fell in behind the Captain as they made their way down a narrow hall to the Captain’s office. The small square room barely had room for a green metal desk and an office chair. “Have a seat, Hawk.” Morrow motioned to a sturdy metal folding chair with little padding.

“The team sent in to investigate Weaver and Armstrong’s protection detail were special investigators, sent at Senator Welch’s request. He also sent in a team to go over every aspect of his stepson’s death, including your team’s part in the rescue.”

Hawk shifted back in his chair. “I’m not surprised.” He controlled the urge to run a tired hand over his face. Jet lag, and, though he didn’t want to admit it, emotional issues had drained him over the last thirty-six hours. And now they had twelve hours before they stepped into a rescue and recovery mission.

“I know you and your team are still finding your feet after this sudden deployment. But I don’t have to tell you how important your platoon’s part in this rescue will be. It will be harder for someone to sling mud on a team who’ve just rescued kidnapped kids than one being investigated for overstepping their boundaries at home.”

“We’re all well aware of that, sir. That’s why we’re here to begin with.”

“Good. I’m documenting Welch’s movements in all these matters. And a copy will be sent to the Secretary of the Navy, as well as all the other interested parties at WARCOM. It will be up to them to pass these concerns onto the Senate Arms Committee. The possibility that these investigators might have identified some of our operators to the people they spoke with opens the possibility of the Senator taking some heat. I’d like to open a full-fledged investigation, but we may never be able to prove that’s what happened. The suspicion may be enough to make him back off.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“As for the particular boy you’ve been looking for. We did recover some information from Kelly’s room on each of the boys. We’ve made copies of all the stats and pictures. You should be able to identify all of the kids. The one that will hold a special importance in completely clearing Weaver and Armstrong will be included. I hope he’s there. I’ll be sending that information out to you in about an hour.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Morrow rose and Hawk followed suit.

“I know you don’t want to be here. Hell, none of us do. But I’m glad you and your team will be involved in this, Hawk,” Morrow offered his hand.

Hawk shook it. “We’ll do our best.”

Taking his leave of the Captain, Hawk stepped out of the building and breathed in the dry desert air. The sun beat down, hot and relentless. Sweat pooled in his armpits and ran down his sides before he’d made it halfway across the compound.

It would be about two a.m. at home and Zoe would be sound asleep. She’d be soft and warm, and if he were there, he’d be spooning her while they slept.

He brushed his hand over his forehead and wiped the sweat onto the leg of his cammies. He had to get his head in the game. He had to put Zoe out of his mind. His men needed him focused. She needed him focused. He’d promised her he’d do whatever it took to come home. And he intended to live up to that promise. Being prepared was part of that.

He reached the two-story cinderblock dormitory where his men were being housed, and, giving a nod to the men on guard outside, entered. The meeting room they’d agreed on was on the first floor and he walked down the long hallway to what was supposed to be a rec room, but only contained a television and gaming system. He shoved open the door.

“Rock a bye baby. On the tree top,” fifteen men’s voices blended in an off-key rendition of the lullaby while they swung their folded arms like they held babies. He stood in the doorway transfixed. His gaze jerked to Langley Marks’s face as he grinned at him and grasping his hand, pumped it up and down as though he were drawing water.

“Congratulations, Hawk. Trish told me just before we left.”

“Trish told you?”

“Yeah, she said Zoe’d been trying to tell you for weeks, but then we had the three weeks at Billy Machen and then everything went to hell for Brett.”

There’s something I need to tell you
. Those words looped through his head.
And then the phone had rung and he was out the door. Oh Jesus!

“Zoe’s pregnant.” He said the words out loud. Shock spiraled through him, his heart started racing and his breathing grew labored.
Jesus, he’d left her there at the house unprotected, and she was carrying their child.

“Yeah, man. You’re going to be a dad.”

***

Outside of Evan’s hospital room, Russell braced an arm against the wall and leaned in close to Clara so their conversation would not be overheard. The faint scent of her shampoo registered dully beneath the smell of antiseptic and some industrial cleaner.

“Evan’s too weak to survive surgery or chemo,” he said, repeating what the oncologist had told him. “Dr. Reynolds shared Evan’s scans and lab work with me. I looked over his complete chart. Reynolds is right.”

Clara ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it back from her face. A single tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it off. Worry and exhaustion had deepened the lines around her mouth and eyes. In the forty-eight hours that had passed since Evan had been admitted, they’d left his side only minutes at a time.

“Did he know about the cancer before he came to see you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She nodded and leaned back against the wall. Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I’m so sorry, Russell.”

“He’s probably been doubling up on his meds. He’s been sleeping more the last week or so. ”

“What can they do for him?” she asked.

Pain swallowed his voice and he shook his head. Her arms went around his waist and she held him, sharing his grief, offering him strength.

When he could speak he said, “They’ll keep him comfortable. He’s developing pneumonia despite the antibiotics and steroids they’re giving him. It won’t be long,”

A familiar figure strode toward them, her strides short and choppy, as though every step were an impatient stomp.
Ah hell. I don’t need this. But Evan might.