Code Name: Luminous (27 page)

“But his mind is on the mission and he’s so upset about
Captain Cobbs.”

“Rule number two,” Nina began. “Life goes on, and although
we will cherish every memory we have of Patrick Cobbs, those who are left need
to be reminded they are alive and to keep living. T-man is beating himself up
over this. He needs a distraction.”

Nina pecked her cheek, and Lumin closed and locked the door
behind them. Once again, she stared at the phone. She snatched it up and walked
down the hall into Tony’s bedroom. Opening the door, his scent eased her fears.
She smelled his aftershave when she lay down on his sheets. As she thumbed the
button on his bedside lamp, darkness draped the room. His cell rang once before
he answered.

“Hey, are you working?”
Working,
was that even the right term?

“Hi,” he said quietly. “No, taking fifteen minutes to get a
rest.”

“Where are you?”

“In a tent.”
The sound of him
rolling elicited the image of him on his back and settling with an arm behind
his head, looking up at the canvas. “How is she?”

He didn’t have to say her name to know who he was asking
about.
“Strong.
Rayanne
and
Cindy are too. We talked and we cried. I hope it helped.”

“I’m sure it did.”

“Get some rest. I just wanted to call and tell you how proud
I am of you.”

Silence.

“I am.”

“Would it bother you if I didn’t go through with the
officer’s training?”

“Yes, but not for the reasons you’re probably thinking.”

Tony’s voice rumbled with a low timbre. “What should I be
thinking?”

“That you can twist fate’s arm behind its
back, but it will never say ‘uncle’ or change the outcome.
Bad luck
exists. Accidents happen. Most of all, you are a leader and men die in war.”

“But we weren’t in the sands of the Middle East or in the
jungle under fire, and I lost one of the most prominent mentors of my life.”

“Did you order Captain Cobbs onto the bridge?”

“No. I told him to get off.”

“Did he listen?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Tony sighed.
“Because we work as a team.
The water was breaching the banks and time had run out.”

Lumin clung to the phone and spoke calmly, but her heart
hurt for Tony. “He did his job, and he died in the line of duty helping to save
the people of that valley. Marg understands this. She accepted the risks long ago
when she married him. They both wanted forever, and they’ll have it. I don’t
believe love dies, Tony. Not when you’re with the right person.”

“Our team hasn’t lost a single man in eleven years, Lumin.
Not when Ghost ran the show. He gave me an ounce of responsibility and his best
friend is dead.”

“The Admiral will come to terms with it, and I’m sure Kayla
will be there in case he stumbles.”

“You’re going to be a good lawyer. Being an enlisted SEAL
doesn’t really add up to that.”

Lumin shook her head and her gaze darted to the moon, almost
full, out the window. “You can be whatever you want to be, Tony, but men will
follow you whether you decide to be an officer or not.”

“I don’t know what I want anymore.”

“Doubt can lick at your toes, Petty Officer Bale; it does
for all of us, but I won’t let it consume you.”

“I let you consume me, and the word ‘lick’ coming from your
mouth shouldn’t be said unless we’re in the same room.”

She smiled. “I’m lying on your bed, staring out the window.”

With a husky voice he said, “Are you wearing anything?”

“No, I like the moon casting its light on my skin.”

He let out a deep breath. “So do
I
.”

“Are you alone in that tent, Petty Officer Bale?” she asked,
feeling a flick of excitement catch in her belly.

“Wish you were here.”

“I don’t have to be. I feel you near me even when you’re
not.”

“Hmm.
Is my pure light trying to
seduce me over the phone?”

She smiled.

“You’re smiling. I can see it.” His voice was raspier.

“I am.”

“So am I. My hands are sliding down your hips and around to
your amazing ass, drawing your warm skin against mine. You are so beautiful,
Lumin.”

She closed her eyes and imagined his warm rough hands
instead of her own. “Wet,” she whispered, as her fingers reached the moist lips
of her sex.

“I’m kissing your inner thigh, running my palms along your
gorgeous legs. You can feel my warm breath.”

She imagined his broad shoulders bowed before her, his mouth
making her flesh ripple with each kiss. The roughness of his unshaven cheek
grazed her as his strong tongue flicked at her bundle of nerves.

“You smell so good. My tongue wants to taste all of you.”

“Tony?”

“Right here, baby, I’m turning you over. With a gentle grip
around your wrists I’m holding them above your head. I kiss the sway of your
spine.
The sway of your cheeks.
Lift that beautiful
ass in the air. ”

A short gasp escaped her mouth, but she wasn’t embarrassed.
“I feel your chest.
Your weight on me.”
Her face was
pressed into the pillow. She felt him.
Smelled him.
“Please, I want you inside me.
Slowly.
Deeply.”

“Oh, Jesus, help me, I love you.”

“Come inside me, please, oh please,” she begged.
“Harder, Tony.”

They both
moaned,
orgasming
at the same time.

“Petty Officer Bale?”

“Oh crap,” he hissed. “What is it, Nathan?”

“Sir, the Admiral wants us in the HQ tent. Five minutes.”

“Roger that.” He paused and then spoke quietly to her. “I
think I actually feel guilty over sex for the first time in my life.”

“Don’t. We have to keep living, Tony.”

“I know, and I know it was an accident, but it doesn’t hurt
any less.”

“Nor should it, but we’ll be there for Marg and the girls,
and I’m here for you.” She heard him shuffle and a zipper being pulled up.

“Lumin, I meant everything I’ve said to you. I know I don’t
have a great track record, but I don’t want anyone else but you.
Just you.”
She heard the flap of canvas.

She sat up in the bed and curled an arm around her legs. “Be
careful, SEAL.”

“Think I’ve found a good reason to do that. I can’t wait to
see you again, my lady.”

“I’m not that girl anymore. The virus left scars.
Ugly ones.”

“Doesn’t matter, as long as I have you to
come home to.
That’s all I need.”

“Tony—faith is something that doesn’t only apply to the
heavens. I have faith in you. If you ever lose yours, I’ll keep some in spare
for both of us.”

“How did you get to be so smart, and how the hell did I get
so lucky?”

“You’re hot.” She burst out laughing, and then muffled it
remembering she had guests.

“Keep the light on inside that beautiful heart of yours, and
I’ll find my way home. Bye.”

She flopped back on the bed and smiled up at the ceiling.
These were the moments the girls told her she had to hang on to because the
darker ones would swarm to rip her heart out. Down the hall, Marg had to face
every day from now on without the man she loved beside her. It was a sobering
thought. One she would never forget.

She shivered a little now that Tony’s voice wasn’t keeping
her warm. Staring around his bedroom, her eyes landed on his closet, and she
smiled to herself as she slipped off the bed and walked toward it.

Chapter Twenty

Date: 08.05.2014

Time: 1700UTC 0800hrs PST

Mission: Code Name Luminous

Thane stood in front of a collage of maps—New Mexico,
Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and California. He’d stared at them for an hour, but
couldn’t focus. Two days had passed since Pat died. The teams had reconvened in
Kingman. No one looked him in the eye, and he fought every minute to bite down
on his grief. He couldn’t let his men see it had cut so deep he could barely
think straight, because if they did, they’d all lose their motivation. Every
once in a while he’d turn and swear he saw Pat out of the corner of his eye.
Once he’d even called his name, the patterns ingrained for so many years, his
swim buddy by his side. He felt the loss, but refused to acknowledge it until
Dafoe was brought down, and he hoped to God it was by his hand.

A vibration against his hip grabbed his attention and he
yanked his cell from its case. He viewed the number and took a deep breath.
“Marg, hey sweetheart, how you holding up?”

“Thane,” her voice rippled with panic. “Lumin is gone.”

His brow wrinkled. “Gone?”

“She didn’t get up so I went to check in her room. The
window was open, the lamp knocked over and the sheets were pulled clean off the
bed.”

He swiveled to locate Tinman. He sat with the rest of Alpha
Squad taking cover from the heat. The normal banter between the men silenced.
Possibilities swirled in his mind, and they kept landing in the same place.
“Dafoe.”

“What does he want with her?” Marg asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Find her, Thane. She’s so young and naïve. Don’t let her
die too.” Marg choked off a gasp of emotion. Her voice tightened. “I’m sorry, I
didn’t mean that—”

He had to hold himself in
check,
her words fed the guilt weighing heavy in his chest. Could he have saved his
friend? Tinman wore every bit of the accident, but Thane couldn’t put the blame
at anyone’s feet except Murphy’s Law. “I know you didn’t.” He cleared the tight
ball from his throat. “We’ll find her. I’ll send someone from Lieutenant
Manchester’s NCIS office to investigate.”

“I have to do something. I just can’t sit here. Maybe I
should ask the neighbors if they saw anything.”

“Stay until someone from NCIS shows up, and then I want you
to take the girls and go to our place. You remember where I keep the spare key?”

“Yes.”

“Call me when you’re about to leave.”

“Thane—are you going to tell Tony?”

“I don’t know, Marg.”

“Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?” The hackles stood up on his neck. Marg and
the girls were his responsibility now that Pat was gone. He was too far away
from them. His gut twisted.

“Kayla and Nina just walked in.”

“Don’t tell her,” he ordered.

“You want me to lie to her? Thane, I can’t—”

“Yes, you bloody can or she’ll be putting her nose to the
ground to find Lumin.”

“Morning, ladies,” Marg greeted them with a steady voice.

He heard Kayla ask where Lumin was.

“I
gotta
go, Thane.”

“Don’t tell them.” He hung up.

Why would Dafoe want Lumin? Dafoe knew Bjornson was dead.
Kayla had said he’d stolen his notes from the university. What more was there,
unless Dafoe thought he could trade Lumin for the vaccine?

Five minutes later he got off the phone with Manchester, who
agreed to send two of his agents to Tony’s apartment. He gave him the
summarized version, and Manchester listened quietly without going into cop mode
and asking a thousand questions. Thane also hoped like hell his wife would be
gone when they showed up or she’d be on high alert instantly.

The desert wind rippled the canvas at the edge of the tent,
his team sitting in quiet reflection. They’d had two days waiting on Jake
Ackerman’s team to find leads to Dafoe’s hiding place. Base Command rooted
through Dafoe’s background looking for a direction. Just a single crumb of
information to find his trail, that’s all they needed. The United States was a
big country, but DEVGRU’s skills could reduce that to quadrants and cut away
the edges narrowing the search.

Walking into the group of grieving men, he snagged a chair
and sat amongst them, clutching his hands together.

“Any word, sir?”
Tony asked
solemnly to break the silence.

“Yes, but I’m waiting for a report from Lieutenant
Manchester.”

“Manchester?” Tony’s gaze landed on him.
“Why
Manchester?”

Thane breathed out a shallow gust of air. “He’s sent two men
to your apartment, T-man.”

“What?” Tony stiffened.

“Petty Officer Bale, Lumin is gone, we—”

Tony jumped to his feet. “Gone!” he shouted, his hazel eyes
sparking with alarm.

“Sit, T-man.”

“Where’s Lumin?”

“We don’t know. Marg went to wake her up this morning and
she was gone.”

Tony’s shoulders relaxed a little. “She probably just went
for a walk, or to get groceries.”

Thane struggled with the right words. “No, I’m afraid not.
There were signs that indicate she was taken.”

“When did this happen?” Tony’s anger radiated out of every
pore, his fists clenching.

“A few minutes ago.”
His cell rang
with the Canadian anthem and he answered it, keeping a wary eye on Tony.
“Kayla.”

“Lumin has been taken. Lieutenant Manchester’s officers are
here.”

“And I want you to let them do their job. You stay with
Marg. I told her she could stay at our place. Take her and the girls there.”

“She’s knows the way. I’m going—”

“No, you will not,” he growled into the phone. Tony leaned
over and said something to Mace. Mace shook his head, but Tony had already
turned away from him and was running for the clutch of pilots standing near the
helos
parked in the desert.
“Bale!
Shit.”

“What’s going on?” Kayla asked.

“What do
ya
think? The guy’s lost
his focus. He’s coming.”

“Could anyone have stopped you when you were looking for me?
Let him go.”

Mace and the rest of the team sat like sprung coils ready to
follow Tony.
“Fox.
Ed, Mace. Go with him,” he ordered.
All three of them vaulted out of their chairs.
“Anything from
Manchester’s men?”

“No, but Lumin definitely put up a struggle,” Kayla said.

He heard Kelsey in the background as Kayla walked through
Tony’s condo. “It has to be Dafoe, but why does he want her? All I can think of
is a trade, Lumin for the vaccine.”

“Will you?
If it comes to that?”

“I will, because if that’s what he wants, he’ll have to come
out of hiding and that’s when I’m going to kill him.”

Kayla began to say something and then stopped herself. “I’ll
call you later.”

* * * *

Tony threw open the front door of his condo and thundered
inside. Kayla stood in his living room with Manchester.

“Tony, what—” Kayla took a step toward him but stopped. His
gaze pinned itself to the hallway and that’s where his feet took him. He
faltered at the entry to his bedroom. The lamp was broken and lay in pieces on
the floor. One curtain was ripped from its rings and sat limp against the
window frame. His gaze settled on the bed sheets. They lay strung out from the
bed to the window. He read the room. She’d clung to them as her only salvation.
Right here, last night, he’d made love to her. Hundreds of miles apart, but he
was here with her.
Loving her.
When had they taken
her? She didn’t have a chance to call out for help.

Mace pulled him from his thoughts, brushing by him and
entering the room. Ed and Fox remained in the hallway.

“Petty Officer Bale,” Manchester queried as he joined them.
“Don’t get involved in this. You have a bigger mission. I will find Lumin.”

He stared at the bed sheets, his mind working on what he saw
before him. There was no other mission, but he didn’t voice it.

“Admiral Austen sent us to assist if we could,” Mace said.
“Kayla, where are Marg and the girls?”

“Nina took them to our place. She’ll stay with them.”

Anger seeped between the cracks of numbness, bringing him
back to life and giving him a direction. Tony grabbed Kayla’s hand and drew her
into the room. “Where—is—she?”

“Tony.” She looked to Mace for help. “I don’t know. There’s
no clue. Manchester’s men searched the grounds and in here. They took prints
from the lamp, but it’s probably only going to be yours and Lumin’s.”

“Mace, what do you see?” he demanded.

Mace crossed his arms and let out a long, slow breath.
“A struggle.”
He darted a wary glance at him. “She was
probably sleeping and they came in quietly this time.” He wandered to the
window and leaned over it. His head cranked to look at Manchester. “Is this
blood?”

“What?” Tony vaulted across the room and looked at the
frame.

Manchester nodded. “We’ve taken a sample. If we’re lucky, it
will belong to one of her abductors. The lab is working on it now.”

Tony’s anger peaked and he smashed a fist through the
drywall, slamming into a metal stud.

Fox squatted by the broken lamp. He didn’t touch anything,
just surveyed the shattered shards of ceramic. He turned his attention to the
bed, then up to him. “Is everyone who was here a sound sleeper? This would have
made a racket when it broke on the wooden floor.”

Lieutenant Manchester’s eyes narrowed. “Marg is under a lot
of duress.”

Fox put his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to his
feet. “T-man, is anything missing?”

He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate over the thunder
of his pulse. Opening them again, he glanced at every surface. He had the
typical “guys” bedroom, the bare essentials and a couple pictures on the wall.
His dresser held a few framed photos of him and Mace graduating from SEAL
training, and a picture of him, Nina, Mace and Squirt at the beach. He pulled
the drawer open on the bedside table. Nothing was
missing,
there were a couple books and the case with his SEAL trident. He swallowed
deeply and remembered when Kayla began wearing Ghost’s. Nina wore Mace’s. Any
brother knew when they saw a woman wearing
it,
she had
given her heart to a SEAL.

“Everything is here,” he said, closing the drawer. He walked
to his closet and slid open the door. His clothes hung undisturbed on the
hangers, jeans, shirts, his shoes on the floor where he left them. His dress
uniform hanging neatly pressed, reminded him he’d soon wear it again to his
captain’s funeral. Three spare sets of fatigues, except…he pulled the hangers
apart. Where was his third
cammo
jacket? He hadn’t
packed it.

Months ago, they thought the Blood Shark had bugged them to
find Kayla. Manchester’s NCIS team had taken their clothes. The investigators
had returned their uniforms and he’d brought his spares home. He’d only kept a
couple at the base, and then he remembered. “Kayla,” he said, turning on his
heel. It had been Kayla who had bugged the team when they’d gone into Syria for
a black op.

“What?” she asked,
blinking.

“The satellite tracker you put in our uniforms last year.”

“What about them?” She blushed.

“Did you put them in all of our
cammos
?”

“Yes,” she said, looking embarrassed. “What about it?”

“My jacket is missing.”

Everyone looked at him with a blank expression. “My jacket
is missing. I think Lumin put it on.”

“Not surprised,” she said with a reminiscent smile. “I did
the same with Thane’s clothes every time he left.” She shrugged. “His scent was
still there.”

Ed, who had been silent, but present said, “You wear our
clothes when we’re gone?”

Kayla gave him a look as if it were the stupidest statement
she’d ever heard. “Well, duh!”

“I had this set in my locker at the base,” Tony interjected.
“Manchester, your agents never found Kayla’s trackers, only the one the Blood
Shark had put on her.
Kayla, where did you hide it?”

Kayla let out a gasp, catching on.
“Under
the right hand chest button pocket.
It needed to be close to the heart
to pick up vitals.”

“Come on,” he shouted, and gripped her arm. “We’re going to
the base.”

“Tony, it’s a long shot. I mean we don’t even know if she’s
wearing it,” she said, running behind him.

“She is. She has to be.”

Mace put it into double-time beside them.
“Would
the battery last this long?”

“It’s dormant until it senses motion,” Kayla confirmed. “If
it’s been hanging in Tony’s closet, it might still have some life left.”

“You bugged the team?” Ed asked as they crossed the front
lawn at a fast clip for Tony’s car.

“Long story,” Kayla said, and hopped in the front seat when
Tony unlocked it.

“Wouldn’t mind hearing it some time,” Ed, ever the Casanova,
said.

“I’m married, Cracker.” She grabbed the seat belt and
clicked it into the buckle.

Ed leaned over to look inside the car while Mace and Fox
jumped in. “You’re as hard-assed as we are?”

Kayla gripped the door handle. “Worse,” she replied and
slammed the door shut.

* * * *

All of them thundered past Captain
Reddings
’
office, making him look up. “What the hell is going on?” He rose from his desk,
and Ed detoured into the captain’s office to update him.

Kayla hit a chair running, and it rolled fifteen feet to
stop in front of the satellite monitoring station. She tapped furiously,
entering a sequence of letter and numbers. He and Mace hung over her shoulder
while Fox stood back with an intense but hopeful expression. “Barry, any more
reports on outbreaks?” she asked at the same time.