Mission: Compromised Submissive (15 page)

Everyone had been seated and the band started to play. The audience was so packed
that
extra benches and chairs had been brought in and extended outside the yard area and along the sides just to accommodate the community and the soldiers that attended. Because the wedding party would have included half of the guests, they opted to have Skyler be the ring bear
er
, with
Heather
and Lizzy both sprinkling baskets of lilac and white rose blossoms down the path that proceeded Alaina. The kids looked adorable. Bot
h girls had matching dresses
that swished when they walked. Their hair had been curled up and side swept where they bounced up and down with each movement. They walked up and stood with both Rock and Maverick. The grooms
-
to
-
be were sexy as sin decked out in their Army blues. Both men had racks of ribbons pinned on their chest grand enough all soldiers in attendance would be in envy.

“Look how perfect they look
,
” Vice whispered to Dom. Whether it be the perfect wedding, or the whole night of life altering romance around her, she was feeling overly emotional and into the moment.

Dom clasped his fingers with hers, smiling down.
“Pet, the only perfection I see is you beside me.” He winked, dropping a sweet kiss along her cheek. He glanced back up as the band switched to the wedding march, pulling Vice closer.

Michael walked down the
a
isle with the gorgeous Alaina on his arm, smiling like a proud daddy. His black
t
ux and cowboy hat drew attention from the females in the audience, but especially Mrs. Sanders. She watched him like he had hung the moon. It was so unreal at how true and real everyone in their group loved. Like their job, they put their whole heart into it.

Alaina was the blushing beautiful bride of the century. Her simple slip
-
like dress fell perfectly against her small frame, fanning out slightly at the bottom in a delicate train. Her hair was in a loose, wavy braid that was swept to the side, adorned with little flowers and crystals that glowed. She defined elegance.

The ceremony was just as enchanting as the ambiance. As the trio said their vows, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. “I now pronounce you, husband, wife, and husband. You may kiss your bride, boys.” The preacher’s final words hung in the air while Rock and Maverick took turns kissing Alaina with more passion than the audience had ever witnessed. The flash of cameras went off like strobe lights, capturing the sealing moment of their future before the crowd went wild. Woops, hollers, catcalls, and yells drowned out the band, congratulating the happy new family as they took their first steps together as a married trio.

That night was the greatest party in the history of weddings. Given the guests’ reputations, it went wild. Dancing, drinking, eating, and togetherness. The true fundamentals of country living, mixed with the brotherhood of soldiers and family. Well into the early morning hours, the farm was buzzing. By the time Dom and Vice retired for the night, he had to carry her home.
“Come on
,
sugar. Let’s get you to bed
,
”
h
e cooed with her head resting on his chest. She was so delicate and fragile like this, and everything he could ever ask for.

The next week flew by. The farm was busy making plans for their upcoming vacation/honeymoon, which meant weaving through the piles and piles of confiscated evidence they had been procrastinating until after the wedding. Now they were down to the wire. Vacation or not, they had a job to do. Kodiak and Joker were busy pouring over the endless paper trail, trying to make heads or ta
i
ls out of the half English, half Arabic poorly translated documents when
P
op hollered from the other room. “Hey, I think you guys need to see this.”

“Whatcha got in there
,
Poppa Smurf?” Joker casually called out. His easygoing ways didn’t falter at even the most intense situations.

“I think I found what we’ve been looking for. Go get the others.”

“Roger. Be back in a minute.” Romeo rushed out of the room, returning shortly with Dom, Bud, and Rock. The others were busy searching the hard drives they had confiscated up at the main house. With so much to do, they had to spread out to have a bigger working area. Thankfully, the farm had all the room they needed.

“Whatcha got
,
Pops?” Rock said, propping his elbows on the back of Pop’s chair.

“Take a look at these. Tell me what they are.”

Rock took the small stack of papers and spread them out on the desk. The more he looked over them, the wider his eyes got. “Mother fucker. Has anyone else seen these?”

“No, you guys are the first.”

“Shit. Okay, w
e need a meeting now! This is…
damn. I can’t believe it. I mean, I knew there was a possibility, but fuck.” Rock stammered in disbelief. Romeo and Dom scooted him out of the way to take a look. Their reaction was about the same.

“No one can know about this but us. Not the rest of the house. It can’t be spoken of on the phone or anywhere unsecure. This is huge.” He bundled up the papers and stacked them neatly. “Are there any more like this?”

“Yeah. I have piles sorted out for things by urgency. Here is the
‘
what the fuck
’
pile. This one is for names and agencies involved, or
‘
who the fuck
’
. And this huge bastard is what I can only assume is things to come
,
aka ‘
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me
’
. It’s hard to make heads or tails of some of it. I still am only a third of the way through the mess.” Pop handed each stack neatly to Dom, helping to gather the other remaining untouched files.

“Meeting time. Gather up the troops and have them all meet at the main house. I want the girls and Michael out of earshot. The less people that know about this, the better. If a single word gets out, it could be the difference between life and death to us all. I refuse to put our family in more danger than they already are. Bud, phone the General. ‘Remind’ him of his di
n
ner date, but keep it casual. Meeting is at 1700.”

“Roger, I’m on it.” Bud spun on his heel, leaving with a purpose. They all knew the vitality of what the papers meant, but none had expected something of this caliber.

“Since you so delicately labeled the piles, I think it only fitting that this one be the ‘oh fuck’ pile. Because, whew. Oh fuck how the hell are we supposed to fix this?” Juju plopped down in the chair beside Pop.

“Damn if I know. This is the one time we are going to go against our nature and actually follow protocol. The General is the
only
one we follow orders from as always. From the looks of things, we can’t trust anyone but ourselves.”

Michael opted to take Alaina, Violet, Vince, Mrs. Sanders, Bella, and the kids out shopping and to dinner to give the team privacy. With the flight for the ‘
honeycation
’
as they had nicknamed the vacation/honeymoon
only three days away, there was still loads of preparing they needed to do. In less than three hours, they had purchased a new wardrobe for everyone and had moved on to the baby section. Michael had been a good sport and opted to take the kids to the park and on to get ice cream after the first huge purchase, leaving Vince to watch over the women and tend to the bags. With everything being right on Main Street, it was a nice walk with the grandkids. “So,
Poppa. We need to make sure a
untie Laina has a baby boy. How can we make sure the stork brings one and not another stinky girl like Lizzy and
Heather
?” Skyler asked, sitting beside Michael on the park bench.

“Well
,
son, I’m not sure we can make requests. That ol’ stork brings whatever God tells him to. But, ya know, girls aren’t all that bad.”

“Oh yeah they are. They never play fair, they run aways from
me, and they smell funny. AND..
.
t
hey always get the last piece of pie. Momma says I gotta give it to them because they are girls. It’s not fair!” His little bottom lip pouted out, making Michael snicker.

“Well now, I can see how that might make a man upset
,
b
ut it gets better. See, when you get bigger, it’s gonna be your responsibility to make sure no one hurts them girls. They are going to need a strong man around to protect them. And, from my experience, when you help a girl, it usually mea
ns more cake and pie for you.”
He half smirked a wink at the boy. Skyler’s face lit up, grinning up in a toothless smile.

“I guess a girl might not be too bad then.”

Michael chuckled, squeezing Skyler in a hug. “What do you say we go find your momma and the others and get us a hamburger. Afterwards, you can order anything off the desert menu you want. How’s that sound?”

“Really? Anything!”

“Anything.” Michael couldn’t help but laugh. The kids had brought such joy in all their lives. Being a grandpa to them all was the best redo life had given him. He might have screwed up and not been the father he should have been with Leland, but he had a chance to
now.

“Yay! Let’s go! Lizzy!
Heather
! We gots to go!” Skyler jumped up excited and ran to fetch the girls who were playing hopscotch.

General Ashburn arrived early as always. The team had all gathered in the main living area where they could sit comfortably and go over their findings. A dry erase board had been brought in, along with a few electronics to project the images on the wall. “So, what do you
have
for me?” General Ashburn said, sitting in the main recliner of the room.

“Pop? Since you found the honey pot, you get the honors
,
” Maverick volunteere
d. Pop grumbled a bit but went
to the front. He never was one for public speaking. Which was ironic given all of the ceremonies he had attended that required him to give speeches. And, to advance on to the next rank, each soldier had to go to a formal board hearing and be put through extensive questioning and grilling by the superior officers.

“First up, we have blue prints and documents supporting the allegations of the tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001. There are intricate detailed plans, diagrams, and supporting papers that lead us to believe that Vice President Kovak was the
leader
behind the attacks. He was seen having dinner with Al
Qaeda
exactly one month before the planes hit. During that time, these papers were created. If you look at the bottom of each of these, it has both his and Saddam H
u
ss
ei
n’s signatures.”

“I see why the urgent meeting. Go on
,
” the General had sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees with his attention so sharp he could cut the air. This was bigger than any of them had anticipated.

“They go on t
o show flight numbers, lessons…
It is a
cut
and dry case. There is everything in here. Look at this one. This is a phone log of each conversation
that took
place during the attacks. We have VP Kovak speaking directly to the attackers while on board the bowing 787.
In the next set of papers, we have lists of names, agencies, and accounts. From what I could gather, there are a number of government agencies doing the grunt work for the higher ups. We still have tons of files and the hard drives to filter through, but we have enough to put people away for a very long time.”

“And piss a lot of people off. This was covered up for a reason. Now, we get the job of digging it up and dragging those responsible to justice. I don’t have to express how delicate this mission is
,
troops. I will get ahold of my contacts and see what steps we need to do first. For now, put all of this in a safe location. No one is to know it exists
,
”
t
he
G
eneral instructed. “I will be back over for regular updates on your findings until we get the green light to move. Have an A bag ready by the door. You all will be on a 12-hour call. When it’s time, we jump.”

“Yes
,
sir
,
”
t
hey all said.

“What about the
vacation? Should we cancel?”
Rock asked, feeling his stomach drop at the idea of disappointing Alaina.

“No, no. That’s not necessary. It will take some time to put this all in motion. Go. Enjoy the family. But, your vacation destination has changed. I will foot the bill for the difference, but we need you close to where the cabinet is set to meet just in case something goes down.”

“Who?” Maverick asked.

“The chief of staff, VP, Gov. Tallon, Vancover, and Dante are all scheduled to meet in Cabo S
an
Luc
a
s during the same time as your vacation. I hope the girls will appreciate the crystal clear water and white sandy beaches over Hawaii.” General Ashburn broke his serious look when they all hooped their approval. Adding work to pleasure was never easily accepted, but hopefully the extra suite upgrades and resort features could make it easier.

“Oh, they will. Thank you again for coming on such short notice. We wanted to brief you on our findings immediately.” Dom shook the General’s hand.

“No, no. Please call me when more turns up. I need to get back before the little woman sticks me in the doghouse. Tonight is date night, and if I miss another one, this little ‘issue’ will be tiny compared to the hell she can bring down. Have a safe trip. I’ll be in contact.” He made his way through the group, saying goodbyes and headed home.

When the others got back from their outing, the team was waiting in the yard. “Holy hell, did they leave anything in the stores?” Kodiak laughed. Both truck beds were over flowing with new purchases.

“It doesn’t look like it. I see gawdy floral shirts and neon shorts in your future.” Vice laughed, punching Kodiak in the arm lightly as she walked by. He and the others all sighed, grumbling under their breath. Knowing the girls, Vice wasn’t too far off on her suspicions.

While the troops carried in all the merchandise, Rock, Maverick, Dom, and Vice walked over to them. “Well, we have a change of plans.”

“Please don’t tell me we aren’t going. I got most of this on sale and it is
no
nrefundable.” Alaina’s face scrunched up in worry.

“No.
Instead of Hawaii like we originally planned, we have upgraded to a fancy resort at the fabulous Cabo San Lucas! Two long weeks of fun in the sun, white sandy beaches, and crystal blue waters to melt your stresses away. Pack your bags peopl
e, we are traveling in style!”
Maverick said in his best radio voice.

“What! No way!” Bella squealed, grabbing on to Violet who jumped up and down in place. Alaina teared up, overwhelmed by happiness at the surprise. Her hormones had already started to take its toll, setting Rock and Maverick into comforting duty.

“Aw, baby, don’t cry! We can cancel if you don’t want to.” Rock hugged her tight.

“No! No. I am just so happy! I don’t know why I’m crying.” She sniffled with a smile, erupting the group in laughter.