CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hala nervously looked across the table at all the people staring at her, some with looks of disbelief, others with concern.
“I didn’t know. I swear to you, I didn’t know who you were or who Cole was, who his family is. But my grandfather definitely knows who you are and he wants you all dead.”
“That’s not surprising,” said Luke with a wry grin. “We’ve spoiled more than a few parties for your grandfather and we plan to spoil this one as well.”
“How? How will you do that? The region he walked toward, the mountains, is a massive, expansive area. How will you know where to look?”
“It will be emitting radiation if we can get close enough,” said Cole.
“You can’t get close enough! None of you can,” she cried. “He’ll come for all of you.”
“Hala,” said Sophia Ann reaching out to touch her shoulder.
“No. No, I have to go back. I’ll go back and-and I’ll tell him that I was kidnapped and that you’re looking for him and maybe he’ll run.”
“Hala, honey,” said Ajei. “You can’t go back. He’ll see that your scars are gone. How would you explain that?”
“I-I…” she started to cry and all Cole could think to do was wrap her in his arms and hold her. Bailey and Angus took a seat near them, feeling her fear and anxiety.
“Trust these men, Hala,” said Bailey. “Trust us. It will all work out. We will find your grandfather and his men, and we will destroy the nuclear device. I promise we will.”
“How can I ever repay you? If this actually works, if you find him and destroy him, how will I ever repay you?” she sniffed.
“Oh, that’s the easy part,” said Kennedy. “You’re going to take your boards and work for us at the clinic. I need additional support with some of our doctors starting to cut back. You, Dr. Hala Yousef, are going to be my savior.” She looked up and smiled, nodding.
“Dr. Hala Yousef for the time being,” smiled Cole. The others chuckled, nodding at Cole.
“Are we about to lose all our children to marriage?” smiled Ham.
“I think so, babe,” grinned Sadie. “And I think I’m okay with it.
Hala is smart, resilient, beautiful, and you can tell by the way she looks at Cole she’s completely gone.
And Angus? I’m not sure how that happened but there are stars in his eyes when he looks at Bailey.
I’m okay with Hala and with Angus. They’re all going to have beautiful babies. ”
The entire room laughed, nodding their heads.
“You’re all crazy,” sniffed Hala. “My grandfather is crazier, meaner than you can possibly imagine. What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to stop him,” said Bella. The once blind wife of Razor, Bella was an engineer who’d returned to college for a second PhD in nuclear engineering.
“How? I mean, I don’t know a lot about nuclear weapons. I know a lot about nuclear medicine. What I do know isn’t good. It’s highly dangerous and toxic. If you blow a weapon in that area, you could kill thousands, perhaps millions,” said Hala.
“Trust me,” said Bella. “We’re going to figure all this out.”
“Hala? My name is Sira and my husband is part of the comms, research and data team. You and I have a lot in common,” she smiled holding out her hand. “Come with me. A walk in the gardens will help.”
Cole nodded at the beautiful woman and Sira took Hala’s hand, wandering toward the gorgeous gardens.
“I’ll go with them,” said Bailey. She kissed Angus’ cheek and smiled at him, blushing. Angus turned to the others, clearing his throat.
“Well, let me get this out,” he said calmly.
“When I left here to take care of my mother, I thought I’d be back within a month or so.
Then dad became ill and they both died within days of one another.
At their funerals, an old girlfriend came up to me and, well, one thing led to another.
Quickly. I was lonely, scared, and honestly wasn’t sure what to do with my life.
We married and the Navy came knocking again saying they needed my help. ”
“You’re a stellar intelligence agent, Angus. It makes sense,” said Luke.
“Maybe, but I owed you all more. When I was deployed, my wife was throwing a fit about me being gone. I knew it was all a mistake and that was confirmed when I returned and found out she’d been having an affair with my neighbor, an Army Sergeant.”
“Sorry, brother,” frowned Eric.
“No. It was all supposed to happen. I started working out, hard. Got assigned to a SEAL team, ran reconnaissance for them, intelligence searches, even deployed with the team a few times. It reminded me of being here. When I got mixed in with the hostages, I thought to myself, ‘this is where I’m supposed to be’.
And I knew exactly who I was supposed to be doing it with.
“Walking into that hotel and seeing Bailey was amazing. It was a sign,” he said shaking his head.
“Bailey was only about five when you left us,” said Sadie. “How did you recognize her?” Angus chuckled, shaking his head as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“No offense, Sadie, but you Jordans all look exactly alike. She’s a younger version of you, a prettier version of Marc and Wes who I remembered well. I would have picked her out of a lineup anywhere. I didn’t mean for anything to happen, it just did. We just knew.”
“Angus, you don’t have to explain it to us,” said Ham. “You’re a good man and I don’t give a shit about the age difference. If you love my daughter, if she loves you, then we’re all going to be okay.”
“Thank you,” he nodded. “I sent my contract termination letter to the Navy. I’m hoping I get a better offer.” The others laughed, nodding at him.
“Don’t worry about that. You’re going to get an offer with a very large, very stubborn bonus. Bailey.”