Killing Honor (14 page)

“You wouldn’t, you know.”

He shrugged, obviously not happy with the turn in subject. He and Addison had been super close growing up until he’d left for boot camp and BUD/S training. She’d stayed at home for a few months, from what I saw, but without Chris there to anchor her, she left not too long after him.

“We’re talking about you here, not me.”

“Why can’t we talk about both?”

He sighed. “Listen, Addison is busy, and I don’t really have anything to tell her. At least, not until the current operation is over.”

I chuckled wryly.  Didn’t that just take the cake? “You could just say hello.”

His brow furrowed, his eyes darkening. “I understand that you and Brody aren’t doing too hot, yeah?”

“Did he tell you that?”

“A little birdie did.”

“Is he the birdie?”

“Obviously not. He’s not a little birdie.” He said it like that was the most obvious fact in the world and I was stupid for not knowing that. Typical Chris. “I put two and two together last night when he was practically crying into his beer.”

“Chris, it’s just so hard,” I leaned my head against the back of the couch. “I love him so much. I don’t know how to fix this.”

“I know you love him,” Chris said. “A lot of SEAL marriages end in divorce, and I don’t want that for you, Dee. You deserve so much more. But Brody’s in a unit that will deploy a lot more than a normal SEAL team. He’s going to end up gone a lot. We’re in the middle of a major op that will potentially take years to conclude. This isn’t going to ease up. It’s going to get worse.”

That thought was terrifying. Brody was barely home as it was now. For the last week, there were briefings and training ops and who else knew what that he had to leave for. He’d come home to sleep, and most of the time, he wasn’t even doing that because of the nightmares. “Why are you telling me this? Are you trying to scare me off?”

“No. I’m trying to get you to understand.”

“Understand what? What do I do?”

“Wait for him.” Chris cleared his throat. “You never talk to any of the other wives. They have this whole support system in place. They could help you with this.”

“I don’t feel right around them.”

“You’re a little younger than most of them, yeah.” Chris sighed. “I know it’s none of my business, but you’re as much my sister as Addison is. I worry about you.” He leaned forward. “You know, Brody talked a lot about you. He’d check his account online and watch those videos you uploaded for him of the twins. I can’t tell you how many times he’d play them.”

Tears welled up in my vision. “He did?”

“Damn straight. It was obnoxious. He was the proud daddy, always showing off his kids.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do you love him?”

I frowned. “Of course.” Loving him was never in doubt. Continuing to live with him was what I questioned. Wondering if he missed me at all.

“I can’t tell you much about his job. You know that. He can’t either.”

“I know.” Boy did I know. And while it drove me up a wall, I had to respect that. But it didn’t mean I had to like it.

“I do know that he adores you, and the twins. I’ve never seen a man so dedicated to coming home.”

“I made him promise me he would.”

“Well, he’s here. And he’ll be here for a while, but not forever. He’s a SEAL. It’s his job. I hate to be the bad guy… but you’re going to have to understand that.”

“I know that, Chris. I’m not stupid.”

“He adores you. He adores Riley and Jackie.” The pause in Chris’s speak caught my attention.

I glanced at him. “But?”

“Your job is just as important as his. You never hang out with the SEAL wives. And you should.”

“We’re back on that? I told you, Chris. I don’t feel right around them. And I don’t know any of them.”

“It’s a small community.”

“I know.”

“Maybe if you did, you could find this an easier adjustment. I mean, Master Chief’s wife is real nice. So are some of the others.”

“Why do I feel like you’re chastising me?”

“I don’t mean to, but you and Brody are like family. Especially you, and I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

“I wish you were really my brother. I’d like to think things would have been different if you were.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I am your brother. And if Brody does something to hurt you, I’ll kick his ass.”

I couldn’t help myself. I snorted. Chris was a big guy, just as tall as my Brody. But he was leaner. Brody had more developed musculature. Chris was wiry, though, which wasn’t necessarily an advantage… it was just different. But if I had to choose, I’d have laid my money on Brody to win that fight. Not that I would ever tell Chris that.

Chris and I moved on to other subjects, and spent the next hour just talking, catching up before he had to go back to the base. I hated that it was so easy with Chris and that with Brody it was so much more difficult to just talk. But after sitting with Chris for that long, it made me realize that the one thing that Brody and I hadn’t done was talk.

~*~*~

Brody

Most of the team was in the briefing room when I got there, except Master Chief Collins hadn’t shown up yet. Naturally, this was the cue for Urban and Bonham to toss paper footballs back and forth across the table. Murphy was reading something in the folder, his feet up on the table. Hardy wasn’t there yet.

“Hey, Battles!” Urban tossed a paper football at my head. I caught it before it struck me. “Play with us.”

I threw it back to him. “Nah, I’m good.”

Urban’s face was almost a pout, if his eyes hadn’t rolled up. “You’re no fun anymore. If that’s marriage, count me out.”

I laughed. “No woman would have your snarky ass, Urban.”

“Good morning, my little minions,” Master Chief Collins said as he entered the room. The guys hushed instantly as Cadence Long came in the room. “You boys remember Miss Long, yes?”

“Mornin’ ma’am.” Bonham said, nodding to her.

“Good morning, gentlemen.” She took a seat next to where Master Chief stood.

“Got the data from the last raid decrypted. Miss Cadence Long was most helpful in getting it fast tracked for us from the NSA.”

“Thank you, Master Chief. It wasn’t hard. The NSA is just as dedicated to stopping international arms dealers as anyone else.”

Master Chief plugged his laptop into the projector and turned the machine on. He glanced around the room. “Where’s Hardy?”

“Here!” Hardy strode into the room. “Sorry I was late. I was visiting a friend.”

“Is that what they’re calling hookers these days?” Urban grinned.

Hardy flipped him off and flopped in the seat next to Murphy. “It was actually your mom, Urban. She said to tell you hi.” Urban growled and pushed the chair back, but Master Chief waved him back to his seat. Urban grumbled, but he sat back down.

“All right, you guys. Settle down. We have a lot to get through today, so let’s get started.” 

They settled into the briefing, Master Chief taking the time to walk them through what they already knew. Simon Giroux was a faceless mask they hadn’t yet uncovered, but he was the head of an international arms dealing operation. His business spread over every continent and he had his fingers into a lot of pies.

None of this was new to me. I’d spent the last two years working on finding and bringing down Giroux. We’d uncovered that he had three grown sons, and one daughter. We had photos on all the sons, but not the daughter. She was far more careful, and just as paranoid as her father, it seemed.

“Now, Miss Long will be taking you through the rest of the information.”

Long stood up and switched places with Master Chief. “We think that Giroux might have contacts pretty high up in the US government. The last few raids, they’ve known your team was coming. Which means, either the people giving the orders are Giroux, or there’s a mole on your team.”

“That’s outrageous!” A chorus of protests filled the air, mine included. Was she seriously suggesting that one of our own would betray us? It couldn’t happen. We were a brotherhood.

“Quiet!” Master Chief shouted.

“What, like a Senator or something?” Urban spat out. “Because we know it’s not us.”

Master Chief shook his head. “We’re unsure at this point where the leak is. We’re working on it. So, it’s become necessary to separate SEAL Team Thirteen from the military.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “We’re not Navy anymore?”

“You will all receive DD-214s from the United States Navy. It will appear as if you all have been discharged.” He stood up straight. “All of you are moving into a top secret position. We are no longer regulated like the military is. We don’t report to anyone except the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not even Congress at this point in time.”

“Master Chief, what does that mean for our families? I mean…” I trailed off. I wasn’t really sure how to phrase the question forming up inside me. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what the question was.

“It changes nothing for them. They’ll still get the same benefits as active duty military does. As far as the families go, you’re moving departments. You’re still government-employed. Just a new office.”

Somehow, that didn’t really make me feel any better about this.  “Master Chief, if you don’t mind the question, why is this happening now?”

“Miss Long?”

“We analyzed all the data from the computers your team seized. They’ve known about us for a while. We have reason to believe that our identities are in breach. The move will further keep your identities separate from the government and the potential breach.”

I snapped my head up. In breach? Fear bubbled inside me. If they knew who I was, they’d know about Devyn and the girls. But I wasn’t home all the time. How could I keep them safe when I was gone all the time? The guys all looked as concerned as I felt.

“What do we do?” Murphy asked, breaking the stunned silence we’d all fallen into. His voice was low, laced with dangerous promises.

“Luckily, we’ve got a lot of new information. Personnel files, mostly. These came off the laptop. I don’t believe this one was cleaned prior to us taking possession, because it had files on very high personnel in the Giroux organization.”

“What about Giroux himself?” Hardy asked. “No pictures, no bio data, nothing?”

“Nope. Only text mentions and no mention of what he looks like.” Long started on talking about particular employees, showing the data on the projector, but I couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. I should have been paying attention, but my mind was on Devyn. She had basic self-defense. I’d taught her some years ago. Chris had taught her more. She knew how to fire a gun if she needed to, but she hated it. But… if she came face to face with a Giroux operative? Devyn didn’t have the experience to deal with a known killer.

I was a selfish bastard. I was so hyper focused on getting her to understand that this was my job that I didn’t even think about what this would do to her. We’d made a good many enemies over the years, and most of them would love to know about us, about our families. We had some protection as a SEAL team. The community usually kept pretty quiet about who its members were in general. Now that we were no longer military, this both expanded our capabilities, and made everything more of a risk.

Devyn hadn’t chosen this life. She couldn’t even have fathomed this life. The deployments were unpredictable. Sometimes they could be two years. Other times, missions could be done in a day or two. Maybe a week. A month. It was the life I had chosen and wanted since I was sixteen. She’d only been seventeen when we’d gotten married, a year younger than me. Maybe she hadn’t yet realized what marrying a SEAL entailed?

“Battles?”

I snapped from my thoughts and turned my attention to Master Chief. “Yes, Master Chief?”

“You seem distracted, son. You all right?”

“Just thinking.” I glanced around the room, all eyes suddenly on me. How long had I zoned out? I cleared my throat. “My apologies. I’m here.”

“Good. Because it’s important that we start gathering information on all these people. We need to know where they are.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything more. I cursed internally for letting Devyn interfere with the job. I forced myself to remain present and listened as Cadence Long went over each subject on the projector screen, and their job in the organization. It wasn’t until they reached the Giroux family, that an intense feeling of dread came over me.

“Here’s my crown jewel. It seems that the laptop had a lot of information on Simon Giroux’s daughter, Marie Giroux. We couldn’t find much of anything on her before this. But we’ve got a bead on her now. While her brothers went to school in France, she was sent to a school in Britain. She’s a major player in the arms deals.”

“Charming,” Hardy replied. I slid my gaze up, my eyes landing on the picture of the dark-haired woman with the brilliant and piercing blue eyes. I stopped, cold slithering into my body.

It couldn’t be. 

I could be wrong. But even as Master Chief continued, I knew I wasn’t.

“She’s been off grid more than a year. We haven’t been able to pinpoint a location for her at all.” Cadence said. “That’s her, though.”

My veins iced over in recognition, because there was no mistaking those eyes. I was surprised I hadn’t seen it earlier. The woman in the image was skinnier, her eyes more sunken. No glasses. But the eyes were unmistakable.

“Fuck me.”

“Ew, dude.” Urban said. “I’d rather do your mother than that woman.”

“Shut up.” I snapped. “Master Chief, I know her.”

“Battles…”

“I mean, I met her. My wife knows her.”

“Are you fucking serious?” Hardy sat up.

“As a heart attack. She was at my house. She had lunch with my wife!” I ran my hands through my short spikes, wishing it was long enough to yank out. “Her name… Jane. Jane Espinoza. I only saw her once, and she was wearing glasses and leaving my house. But I can’t miss those eyes. I know it was her.”

“Shit.” Urban blinked. “I’ll run a background check on her.”

My breath left me as Devyn’s words came back. Jane was going to babysit the kids tonight, which meant she would be at the house today. Alone. With Devyn. Devyn was alone with a stone cold killing machine. And that killing machine was the daughter of an international arms dealer.