Chapter Seventeen #2
“Yes, ma’am.” Grant gave her his best salute, then nudged Rayne toward the couch since Riley had set herself up in the recliner across the room. Andre wasn’t far from her.
Rayne grabbed her laptop and powered it up. “With this many names to research, I think we should divide our list and see how far we get before our teammates arrive.”
“Good idea. Otherwise, we’ll both be reading the same thing and slowing our clearance rate.”
They divided the list of names and went to work. Grant settled deeper into the cushion and began digging into Beau Reed and the people in his life. By the time he finished reading the report, his brows knitted and the corners of his mouth turned down.
Rayne rested her hand on his forearm. “What’s wrong?”
“Eileen, Beau’s widow, married another man a few days after his death.”
“Fast work. I can’t say that I blame her. Raising children alone must be hard.”
“I’m not denying that. It’s the identity of the man she married.”
“Who is it?”
“Rex Lawson.”
Now it was her turn to frown. “Wait. Isn’t that one of the men assigned to Red Dawn?”
He nodded. “Rex and Beau were good friends. It’s a speed-of-light courtship.”
“And Rex is one of the men still alive, isn’t he?”
“He’s on our list,” Andre said from across the room.
“If you haven’t started on Lawson, we’ll take him and give you Joe Moreno.”
“No problem.”
“I need a pen and paper.” Rayne set aside her computer and randomly opened cabinet drawers in the side tables. She scored pen and paper and returned to the couch. “With this many people interconnecting, I need to see the connections on paper. I’m afraid I’ll miss something if I only make a list.”
“While you start on that, I’ll report to Maddox and Seth.” Knowing his team leader, Seth’s group was close.
After updating Maddox and promising another update in six hours, Grant ended the call to his boss and immediately called Seth.
“Sit rep,” was his greeting.
Grant recapped what they’d learned and the plan to run down information on military members assigned to Red Dawn and anyone connected to them.
“It’s a good plan,” Seth admitted. “Lot of people to investigate.”
“That’s why we split them up into four groups. You and Teagan have one group and Iona and Elias have another one. The four of us are already researching the other groups. Any chance you’re closer to Duncan than you planned to be right now?”
His friend laughed. “You know me too well, Grant. We should be at the hotel in an hour.”
“You aren’t staying in Ardmore?” Seth’s family lived near there.
“Nope. I already know my family won’t change their minds and accept Fortress’s protection. We’re not coming to babysit my family, Bowen. We’re coming to help you and Rayne.”
His throat tightened. This was exactly the reason he had loved working with Echo unit all these years.
Not only were they teammates, but they were close friends.
The men in his unit had gone to the wall for him more than once over the years.
Many times, they’d taken a bullet or blade to protect him.
He’d done the same for them. In his book, that made the members of Echo unit his family. “Thanks.”
“Yep. See you soon.” Seth ended the call.
The operatives returned to their work. For long minutes, the only sounds in the suite were fingers flying over computer keyboards.
An hour later, a knock sounded on the suite door. Grant rose, palmed his weapon and peered through the peephole. Seth stared back at him. He slid his weapon into the holster and opened the door.
Seth and the rest of their teammates strode into the suite.
“Thanks for coming.”
Elias clapped him on the shoulder. “You’d do the same for us if our families were in jeopardy. It just so happens that my family is a bunch of black sheep MC members who dare anyone to come after them, and Seth’s crew is full of cops who take it personally when they’re threatened.”
Teagan didn’t really have a family anymore except for Seth and his family. She’d had no contact with her parents for years since they were deeply embedded with a cult in Mexico. “What about your family, Iona?”
“They’re covered. No worries there.”
That’s it? No explanations? Yet again, Grant wondered about her background. Iona wasn’t one to talk about herself or her past. Maybe she would trust them enough to spill more information later.
Once everyone sat around the living room, Seth said, “Bring us up to speed. Let’s find out what you discovered. Andre, you’re up first.”
“Riley and I teamed up to investigate Julian Baird, Rob Gaines, Victor Lowe, and Jim Franco plus their friends and families. So far, we’ve only made it through Baird’s file. Nothing unusual to see. He was single, so no wife and no children. His parents passed away a year after Julian.”
“What about siblings or cousins?” Iona asked.
“Nothing. Julian was an only child. Most of his extended family only had one child. He has a couple of cousins, but they live in Alaska and have no contact with the elderly aunts and uncles still around. Basically, the Baird name died with Julian.”
“That’s sad,” Teagan murmured. “I hate to hear that.”
Seth wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “So Baird is a dead end.”
“Yes, sir.” Andre glanced up. “We just started working through Rob Gaines’s file.”
“Hold off on reporting until you and Riley finish digging through the files. We’ll have enough to remember as it is.”
“Riley is putting together a document with a summarization of what we find.”
“Good. We should all do that.” Seth turned to Grant. “You’re next, Grant. What do you have?”
“About the same as Andre and Riley. We worked through only one file.”
“Which one?” Elias asked.
“Beau Reed.”
His teammates straightened. “Anything there?” Seth demanded.
“Maybe.”
Teagan narrowed her eyes. “Don’t keep us in suspense, buddy. I’m hungry and cranky.”
He flashed her a grin. “Yes, ma’am. Eileen, Beau’s widow, married a few days after her first husband’s death.”
Silence greeted his statement.
Iona frowned. “Did she know the guy before Beau died?”
“Oh, yeah. She married Rex Lawson, Beau’s best friend and teammate.”
More silence.
Seth and Elias exchanged grim glances.
“You think something is off,” Elias said. “Do you have any reason to be suspicious?”
“Just my gut and the suspicious timing.”
“I need more before you sell me on that.”
Seth sighed. “I don’t want to think that of either Rex or Eileen.”
Teagan scowled, looking from her husband to Grant and back. “I’m obviously missing something here. Give me a hint at least.”
He motioned for Grant to explain.
“I always thought Beau and Eileen were the perfect couple. They seemed to be so deeply in love that I can’t imagine Eileen falling in love with Rex and getting married days after Beau’s death. The timing makes me wonder if something was going on before Beau died.”
“How?” Rayne shook her head. “From what you and your teammates have said about your time in the military, Echo unit deployed frequently. How would Rex have built a relationship with Eileen if the men had deployed together?”
“Didn’t say it wouldn’t have been hard, but it is possible.”
“I don’t know,” Elias said. “Sounds unlikely to me.”
“I hope you’re wrong,” Seth murmured. “Beau was a good man. He deserved better from his wife and his friend.”
“I hope I’m wrong, too.”
“Even if your suspicions are correct, I don’t see how the other deaths are connected to Rex and Eileen’s relationship.”
Grant held up his hands. “Might be no connection at all. We noted the difference in the mode of deaths from Beau’s. What if his death wasn’t a practice run? Is it possible Beau was a specifically chosen target?”
Elias stared. “You’re talking about a second perp for the rest of the deaths?”
“We have to at least consider it.”
“I don’t want to,” his friend muttered. “That would mean we have two potential rats to flush out among our friends.”
“Or among the crowd of their friends and families.” Seth dragged a hand down his face. “All right. Suppose we don’t find potential suspects in the crowd of friends and families of the survivors. If we determine they’re innocent, we need to warn them of danger.”
“Could tip off the killer that we’re onto him,” Elias said.
“What choice do we have?” Teagan glared at him. “We can’t let them be sitting ducks while a killer is stalking them and their loved ones.”
He held up his hands as though in surrender. “I agree. I’m just saying the killer must be watching these soldiers. He’ll notice if we visit more than one of them, especially since we’re not known for dropping in to chat with old friends.”
“So what? At least they’ll be forewarned.”
“If the killer realizes we know, he may go underground and come back to finish the job after we let down our guard.”
Grant kissed Rayne’s temple. “Teagan is right. We’ll have to take the chance that the killer will realize what we’re doing. We have enough deaths on our conscience. Let’s not add innocents to the list.”
Seth drew Teagan to her feet. “Time to get back to work. We have a suite around the corner from this one. Teagan and I plus Elias and Iona will work from there. We’ll meet here at 5:30 p.m. to drive to the Bowen home.
If you find anything significant in the meantime, send a message.
We’ll do the same. The mission clock is ticking. ”
Grant followed the four operatives to the door to see them out.
From the hallway, Seth turned back and lowered his voice. “Is Rayne ready to meet your family?”
He stilled. Did his team leader really think he’d let her go into that situation unprepared? “Not yet. She will be,” he murmured.
Seth rested a hand on Grant’s shoulder and squeezed. After a curt nod, he followed his wife and the other operatives around the corner.
Grant shut the door and turned, stopping when he saw Rayne watching him from across the room, concern filling her gaze.
Time was running out. Dread filled his gut at the conversation he’d have to have soon with Rayne.
He sighed. No time like the present. The longer he put off the task, the more difficult the discussion would become.
Grant closed the distance between them in a few strides and held out his hand to the woman who had slipped under his guard and captured his heart. Did Rayne know he loved her?
When she placed her hand in his, he drew her to his side. “We need to talk.”