Protecting Tex (SEAL of Protection #12)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Melody hadn’t slept at all. Not even a catnap. The conversation with Hope was horrendous. Her daughter hadn’t fully understood what she was hearing, and when she finally did? She’d fallen apart. John had always been larger than life to Hope. Her daddy. To hear that someone had hurt him and stolen him away? It was too much for her to bear.

Thank goodness Amy had been there to help console her. Melody had done her best, but she was grieving too. Was still in shock herself.

Amy had taken over. She’d made a noodle casserole for dinner, something neither Melody nor Hope ate much of. She’d done her best to answer all of Hope’s questions and gotten her settled in bed. She’d held Melody’s hand as she talked to Akilah, once more explaining everything that had happened that day. Melody had downplayed her injuries, not wanting to alarm her daughter. She was relieved when Akilah said she’d come home the next day.

Even though Amy had to be exhausted herself, she’d sat up with Melody until the wee hours of the morning. Though it was kind of a relief when Amy finally headed to the guest room, where her husband had gone to bed after doing several perimeter checks of the property.

But Melody hadn’t gone to her own room, as she’d promised her best friend she’d do in “just a minute.” Her arm was throbbing—hell, her entire body hurt—but that wasn’t what was keeping her up. It was wondering what John was going through. Where he was. If he was okay.

She couldn’t stop herself from reliving everything that had happened. Wishing she’d done things differently. Wondering if, had she been able to outrun the asshole chasing after her, today might’ve had another outcome. Maybe if the kidnappers hadn’t been able to use her to make John comply, he would’ve been able to get away. Or she might’ve been able to get the attention of one of their neighbors, who could’ve called the cops.

She also couldn’t stop wondering why this was happening. What the people who’d attacked them and taken John could possibly want. Honestly, all the what-ifs were driving her crazy. She needed information. Needed to know why this happened.

Melody was standing in the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee and staring out the window sightlessly, when a knock at the door startled her so badly, she jerked and almost dropped her cup. She stared at the door for the longest time, afraid to move. What if the men had changed their minds about letting her go and had come back to get her?

No, that was stupid. They wouldn’t knock on the freaking door. Taking a deep breath, she tried to slow her heartbeat. She put down the mug of coffee and debated what to do.

“Mel? It’s me. Caroline. And Matthew.”

Every muscle in Melody’s body relaxed. She practically ran toward the front of the house. She heard Amy behind her, asking who was at the door, but Melody didn’t stop. She barely remembered to turn off the alarm before unlocking the bolt to the front door and wrenching it open. As soon as she saw Caroline and Wolf, she burst into tears. She’d been holding herself together fairly well, but something about the sight of John’s oldest friend had her completely breaking down.

Caroline stepped into the house and wrapped her arms around Melody, leading her back inside and toward the couch. It took several minutes of crying before Melody was able to get control of her emotions once more.

“Mel, did you get any sleep last night?” Amy asked.

She thought about lying, but these were her friends. Her rocks. She shook her head.

“Right. First up…a nap,” Caroline announced, standing and pulling Melody up with her. As they headed down the hall toward her room, she balked.

“Not there. I…can’t. Not without John.”

She didn’t need to say anything else. Caroline turned toward the room Akilah used when she was home instead. To Melody’s surprise, her friend climbed onto the bed, pulling on her hand. Melody was too tired to resist. She let Caroline put her arms around her and sighed as she held her tightly.

“Matthew’s here now. He’s on this,” Caroline said softly, running a hand over the top of Melody’s head as if she were five instead of a grown woman. “He called all the people who have the skills to find him. There’s a guy from Hawaii flying in today. Beth and Ryleigh are computer geeks like Tex…no offense. And they’re pissed . Ryleigh isn’t coming here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time we got up from our nap, they had this entire fucked-up situation solved. There’s also a guy in Colorado talking with his contacts…and I guess there are a lot of them in some not-so-good circles.

“All I’m saying is…we’ve got this. Tex has had so many people’s backs for so long, everyone is doing everything in their power to have his now. Sleep, Melody. It’ll make you feel better.”

“I want him home,” she whispered.

“I know you do. And Matthew and the others do too. They’re doing everything in their power to make that happen.”

Amazingly, simply hearing that Wolf was on this, that there were people all over the country doing what they could to find her husband, allowed Melody to close her eyes and sleep. Finally.

Hours later, she woke up feeling surprisingly much better. Her heart still ached and her body still throbbed from all her injuries, but mentally, she felt stronger. Caroline wasn’t in the bed with her anymore.

After visiting the bathroom, Melody made her way into the living room—and blinked at seeing all the people. Amy and her husband were still there, as were Wolf and Caroline. Hope and Akilah were sitting in a corner, talking quietly. But there were also three other people she’d never met before.

An older-looking gentleman with black hair liberally sprinkled with silver. He was good-looking, but he also had an air of danger surrounding him that made Melody nervous. He was standing next to a woman with dark brown shoulder-length hair. She reminded Melody a lot of Caroline. She had a look of kindness about her. It seemed crazy that she’d be able to tell that just by looking at someone, but Melody had a knack for sensing those things.

Then there was another man who out of place. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, simply observing everyone else. He seemed a little disconnected from the others but no less…capable? Melody didn’t know what other word to use to describe him. He had the same vibe John and his badass friends had, but maybe a little muted. He had short brown hair and gray eyes that seemed to be taking everything at once. He was the first to notice Melody standing at the fringes of the room.

He cleared his throat and nodded in her direction.

“Melody! You’re up!” Caroline said, as she hurried toward her.

“Mom!” Hope exclaimed, also running toward Melody.

She hugged her daughter and reached for Akilah, who’d followed her sister. The three Keegan women huddled together for a long moment.

“How’re you two doing?” she asked quietly.

“We’re hanging in there,” Akilah said. “How’re you? Your face looks horrible.”

Melody chuckled. “Thanks.”

Akilah blushed. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“I know you didn’t. And I’m okay. I promise.”

“Mom, all these people are here to find Dad,” Hope said.

“I know, honey.”

“The guy with the silver hair says fuck a lot,” Hope whispered.

Melody heard chuckles from around the room. Her daughter wasn’t as discreet as she’d meant to be. “Well, he’s an adult. He’s allowed. You aren’t.”

“I know.”

Looking up, Melody caught Matthew’s gaze. He looked impatient, as if he had something important he wanted to tell her. With all these people here, she hoped someone had information about John. She looked at her daughters once more. “I’m going to need you guys to hang out in Hope’s room for a bit. Can you do that for me?”

“I want to hear about Dad,” Hope whined.

“I know you do, and I’ll tell you what I can, when I can. Right now, I need you to do as I say. Please,” Melody said.

For a second, she thought her strong-willed daughter was going to protest. But then she nodded and hugged Melody once more. “Okay, Mom.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“Come on, squirt. I want to hear all about school. This new boy you like, mean girls, and your friends,” Akilah said.

Melody was grateful for such an understanding daughter. She had no doubt Akilah didn’t care about any of those things, but the fact that she was willing to let the adults talk without Hope being able to overhear was a blessing.

The second the girls were out of earshot, Melody turned to Matthew. “What do we know?”

“Melody, I’d like to introduce you to some people. This is Baker Rawlins, and his wife Jodelle. They live in Hawaii and just got here thirty minutes ago. And this is Cade Turner. He lives in San Antonio with his wife Elizabeth. She’s currently downstairs, working on hacking into Tex’s computer. I’m not sure how much luck she’ll have with it, but she said something about working with Ryleigh, who’s still out in New Mexico. I’m sure those two will be able to find a way in.”

Thinking of anyone at John’s computers made Melody extremely uncomfortable, but she swallowed the feeling down. If it would help find her husband, she didn’t care who did what. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely, nodding at the three newcomers to the house.

“Right, so Ryleigh called earlier. She discovered what the note said, tied to that brick you found said,” Matthew said.

Melody froze. “She did? Did she talk to the detective?”

Baker snorted. “Fuck no. That fucker lips’s are sealed tighter than a camel’s ass in a sandstorm. She hacked into the files at the police station.”

The first thought Melody had was that Hope was right. This man did say fuck a lot. But she wasn’t offended. Not in the least. If ever there was a situation that warranted the prolific use of a swear word, it was this one. “What did it say?” she asked the room in general, afraid to know but needing answers all the same.

“They want money,” Matthew said quietly.

For some reason, Melody was relieved beyond measure. If all it took was money, she’d have her husband back before anything horrible could happen to him. “Awesome. We can do that. How much?”

No one in the room would meet her gaze—which was Melody’s first indication that something was really wrong. “Matthew?” she asked.

“A billion,” Baker said.

For a second, the amount didn’t register. When it did, Melody stumbled where she stood. Both Caroline and Amy rushed toward her. But Melody held out her hand, stopping them. “A billion dollars? Why in the hell do they think we have that kind of money? I mean, John has done well, but not that well. That’s insane!” The last two words were practically shouted.

“It is insane,” Baker agreed. “And it’s bullshit. They don’t want money. I mean, they do, but they also know that amount will be impossible to deliver.”

Melody felt bile rise up in her throat. “So why? What do they want? And…why haven’t the cops reached out to me and told me about the ransom?”

Once again, no one was meeting her gaze. She turned to look at Baker. A little rough around the edges, he was obviously the one least likely to beat around the bush. He’d tell her the way it was. “Baker?”

“Probably because the police think it’s a joke. And we aren’t sure what they really want yet. Just that the money seems to be a ruse. But just in case it isn’t, we’ve put out the word for assistance in raising it.”

Melody scoffed. “There’s no way we can raise that much,” she muttered.

“Actually, I think we can,” Matthew said. “Word’s spreading that Tex needs help. Money’s been pouring in all morning. From everywhere . Anyone Tex has ever helped is doing what they can to return the favor. Last Beth told us, there was over two hundred million in the account she set up.”

Melody stumbled to the couch and lowered herself onto the cushions. “Seriously?” she whispered. That kind of money was unfathomable to her.

“Everyone loves Tex,” Caroline said from where she’d sat next to her. “And it’s not just the people Tex has helped who are donating. Those people are contacting anyone and everyone they know. CEOs, men and women in the government, millionaires. It seems Tex has a reputation and everyone wants to make sure they help out, just in case they, or someone they love, need Tex’s services in the future.”

“So what now? If they don’t really want money, how do we get John back?”

Before anyone could answer her, Cade’s phone rang. Everyone turned to him expectantly. He answered it and put it on speaker.

“You’re live,” Cade said.

“Right, so I’m in,” a woman on the other end said. “Of course, Tex being Tex, he doesn’t have nicely organized files. They’re encrypted and they’re labeled all wonky. He’s got folders that say ‘recipes’ that obviously aren’t full of fucking recipes. It’s gonna take Ryleigh and me a while to see if I can find anything; to research the hundreds or thousands of names of people he’s helped and filter through the intel he’s gathered in the process of finding the missing.”

“Beth, Melody’s up. She’s here and knows about the note,” Cade said gently.

“Beth is Elizabeth, from the basement,” Amy said. “It’s too hard for her to come up and down the stairs every time she finds something, so she just calls Cade when she needs to talk to us.”

Melody sniffed slightly. “John does the same thing. Calls or texts me from the basement when he wants to tell me something. A lot of times it’s just to tell me he loves me. With those calls, I always assumed he was working on a particularly nasty case, and it made him want to make sure I knew how much I meant to him.” Even thinking about those calls made Melody tear up. But she blinked away the moisture. Now wasn’t the time to cry.

“Hi, Melody. I’m so sorry this happened. But we’re all on it. I hacked into the security system of your neighbor closest to where you and Tex were taken. Unfortunately, they’ve got motion-activated cameras, not the kind that are constantly recording. It caught the van coming straight at you guys, men dressed all in black with cloths covering their faces, getting out and going to Tex’s side and hitting him. I saw you get out of the other side of the car and run out of frame, followed by one man, then another. It caught a scream—assuming that was you—and then the camera goes dark. It started up again thirty seconds later when a fucking bird flew in front of the camera, but the street was empty. I wasn’t able to get a plate number because there was no plate. But we’re working other angles.”

Melody’s hopes faded. She knew the importance of cameras. How they could practically solve cases for the cops…and for her husband as well.

“Traffic cameras?” she asked hopefully.

“Working on it. But without a plate, not sure what good they’ll do. We know where you were let out?—”

Melody snorted.

“Sorry. Bad choice of words. Where you were pushed out of that fucking van, and we can get footage from convenience stores and banks along the route, but I’m not sure those will give us any useful intel. I think they’ll just be a waste of time that we could use to do something else,” Beth said.

It was a little weird to be talking to the woman through the phone when she was literally down the stairs from where they were, but Melody was getting a lot of information in a short period of time, and her head was spinning too much to care.

“So we don’t have any information about who took him or where he is?” Melody asked.

“Not exactly,” Baker said. “I spoke with Rex this morning. He’s out in Colorado, and he’s been talking to his contacts and researching all night. He’s been able to verify that none of the major sex trafficking players are involved. We thought maybe they were, because Tex has interrupted a lot of their operations. Had a hand in freeing large groups of women and children who cost people a lot of money. But from what Rex has been able to find out, people in those circles know better than to fuck with Tex. They know what he’s capable of, and while they hate losing money, they know they’ll lose a hell of a lot more if they dared to attempt to take Tex out of the equation. Besides, honestly, they aren’t smart enough to pull this off.”

Melody was both relieved and horrified. “Okay, so then who?”

“We’re working on it,” Beth said. “On another note, Ryleigh said that Tex isn’t wearing one of his newfangled trackers. Sorry.”

“Darn,” Melody said. She hadn’t thought he was, but she’d held out a glimmer of hope that maybe he’d decided to test it on himself. That would’ve made this so much easier.

“I’m still working some of my angles,” Baker said. “I know people in some pretty dark places. I pulled some markers, and they’ll get back to me if and when they have something to report.”

Melody was grateful for every single person in the room—and not in the room—for what they were doing to try to help. But she couldn’t help but think, deep down, that John was in terrible trouble here.

“Any fingerprints or DNA on the brick and the note?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“No. Nothing,” Beth said.

“So what now?” Melody asked.

“We keep collecting money and turning over every rock. We’re going to find him, Melody. I promise,” Matthew said.

She looked down at her hands in her lap. It wasn’t much of a plan, but she had to trust John’s friends. They wanted him found as much as she did. She had to be patient, which sucked. Because thinking about what John might be going through while his friends did their thing made her sick to her stomach. Deep down, she knew he was suffering. Whoever took him had wanted him to hurt. Wanted him to be miserable. She knew that by the way they’d beaten him in their car. The way they so callously pushed her out of the van in front of him.

A knock on the door startled Melody, and she watched as Baker stalked over to it. He didn’t bother to look through the peephole, simply wrenched it open. They all heard him ask, “Who are you?”

“Move,” a young, feminine voice barked.

Glancing toward the foyer, Melody saw a woman in her early to mid-twenties enter the living room. She had shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing black boots, khaki cargo pants, and a long-sleeve black shirt. Her eyes were wild as she looked around the room, taking in everyone there.

“Annie Fletcher? What the hell are you doing here? Does your father know where you are?” Matthew asked.

The young woman glared at him. “Of course he does. As soon as he called, I asked for emergency leave and headed this way. What do we know and what can I do to help? And don’t say nothing. I’m not eight years old anymore. I’m a fucking green beret. I might not be able to hack into a computer, but I can still help. Especially since people always discount me until they find my KA-BAR between their eyes.”

Melody blinked. She knew Annie. Had heard stories about her from John often. He was extremely proud of the young woman she’d become. Had bragged about how fast she’d moved up the ranks, how she was a damn good soldier. Simply making it through the training to be a green beret wasn’t an easy thing to do, but to do it as a woman was doubly impressive. John seemed to think she would continue to rise through the ranks and eventually be in charge of her own unit. For some reason, her being here made Melody feel a hell of a lot better. The power emanating from her was impressive.

“Damn glad to have you here,” Baker said with a small nod.

“I can’t wait to meet you!” Beth’s voice shouted from the speaker of Cade’s phone.

“So…what’s happening?” Annie asked, all business.

Melody had no problem sitting back and letting the others take control of the conversation and the situation. She was out of her depth and she knew it. She’d been a closed-caption reporter…not a super soldier or computer genius. She was very grateful for every single man and woman working to find John, not to mention those who’d been so generously sending in money.

Her house was filled with the best of the best. They’d find her husband. The alternative was unthinkable.