Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
E verything had changed in a moment.
Warrick couldn’t believe how fast his world had changed when he woke up with Cassidy snuggled against him. She was so small that when he spooned her, her entire body was hidden by his. Protective love filled him as he placed a kiss on her temple.
He didn’t want to move, except there was a knock at the door. They’d been up late last night and Cassidy grumbled at the knock. Knowing her from missions, he knew she could wake up in a snap when necessary, so this must mean she felt safe enough to sleep.
Warrick slowly maneuvered his arm out from under Cassidy’s head and slipped on a pair of athletic shorts before closing the bedroom door.
“I’ve been called back to D.C.,” Greer said the second Warrick opened the door. She walked inside and took a seat on the couch.
“Why?” Warrick asked, taking the seat opposite her.
“I don’t know. Humphrey didn’t say,” she said of Humphrey Orville, the president’s chief of staff.
“Is that usual?”
“No,” Greer said with a frown. “Look, I’m keeping your confidence. I won’t tell Birch, but I don’t like it.”
Warrick leaned back in the chair and stared her down. Greer stared back. There was no intimidating the women of Keeneston. “From everything I have heard and learned about Birch Stratton, he’s a trustworthy president, which says a lot. But, can you say every single person around him is trustworthy? Would you bet your life on it?
Would you bet your baby’s life on it?”
Greer’s lips flatted. “No. I wouldn’t. What if I can get Birch and Humphrey completely alone? Or what if I can talk to the original team members, the ones who were responsible for taking down Mollia Domini?”
That got Warrick’s attention. “Aren’t they retired?”
“Eh,” Greer said in an offhand way that told Warrick enough. They were mostly retired, but were still active when necessary.
“Okay, how about this—do you trust them to keep this quiet? To not tell the president or anyone outside of themselves?”
“I do. They won’t like it, but I trust them,” Greer answered instantly.
Warrick took a deep breath. “Look, Greer. I appreciate everything you all are doing for me. I’ve been going at this alone for so long that it’s hard to accept help. And it’s not even accepting help, it’s trusting other people that is my issue. Someone close to my parents turned on them and set them up to be murdered. Someone in the government, our government, did that. I trusted Cassidy when she said I could trust Keeneston, but now you’re asking me to trust people I can’t look in the eye. People who didn’t barge in to protect Cassidy when we were being attacked. You’re asking me to have faith and trust in a broken system.”
Greer leaned forward, glancing at the closed door, and then looking back at him. “I understand. More than you know. It’s the whole reason I’m in charge of the President’s Guard. Cassidy is my cousin and I love her and my family more than any job or any law. I will go to the ends of the earth for those I love, just ask Sebastian. I would never, ever put my family in jeopardy.”
“But I’m not your family,” Warrick reminded her.
“Aren’t you though? You’ve watched Cassidy’s back for years. You love her, she loves you, you’re living together, and you’re coming to family dinner on Saturday. You’re as good as married. Trust me on that. I’ve seen it happen twenty-three times as all of us cousins and friends fell in love and got married. You are family now, Warrick, whether you want us or not. We’ve got you here and we aren’t letting you go back. Jeez, Aunt Tammy is already needlepointing you a Christmas stocking. So, let me be very clear. You are my family now and I would never put my family in jeopardy. Now, will you let me do what I do best and get information on your past so we can find out who this current threat to the country and to Cassidy is?”
Warrick couldn’t talk. He could barely breathe. Family? He not only had a girlfriend, but apparently a family, and a town all at the same time. There was only one thing he could do. He nodded. “Thank you, Greer. Let me know what I can do. I don’t like just sitting here.”
Greer chuckled. “If I were you, I’d brush up on your shooting, hand-to-hand, and knife throwing skills for family dinner. Also, I’m hearing rumors of a showdown between you and Ahmed for biggest badass of Keeneston.” She shook her head at him as she stood up. “It would be a real shame to lose you right after you joined the fam.”
“Why would I need hand-to-hand for family dinner? Is there not enough food or something? I could cook something. And I’m not fighting Ahmed. He’s a grandfather and I’d probably break his hip or something.”
Greer burst out laughing. “One, family dinner always has enough food. It’s the ‘chat’ the guys are going to have with you that you need to be ready for. They’re very much looking forward to said chat because it’s been since I married Sebastian that they had their male bonding time with a new boyfriend. Second, you’ve never seen a grandpa like Ahmed. Do not underestimate him or he’ll break your hip.” She grinned again as if something was funny. “I must admit, I can’t wait to watch. But, if you can’t beat every single Davies at family dinner, I’d renege really quick on any fight with Ahmed.”
Warrick walked her to the door. “I’m not going to fight Ahmed. Thanks for the warning about family dinner. Will you let me know about D.C.?”
“I’ll call you as soon as I have something.”
“Don’t you need my number?”
Greer laughed again and walked to her car.
“What did my cousin need?” Cassidy asked, looking all cute and satisfied at the bedroom door.
“She’s going to D.C. She asked permission to talk to some people she knows there.”
“I hope you gave it to her,” Cassidy said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“I did. Now, how about breakfast? I’m starving.”
“I can make some eggs,” Cassidy told him.
“Oh, sweetheart, that’s not what I’m starving for.”
Cassidy’s Uncle Cy had stopped by after they finally got around to eating breakfast, well . . . brunch , really. He’d whisked Cassidy off for some spy stuff. That’s what he told Warrick when Warrick had tried to go with them. He didn’t like Cassidy being unprotected, which had caused Cassidy to pat his arm and tell him he was so cute while Cy had laughed his ass off.
Warrick didn’t like sitting still, which was how he ended up at the security center. Nabi was in the middle of security planning for some trip when Warrick walked in.
“I heard you’re going to family dinner at Marcy and Jake’s,” Nabi said, not looking up from where he was working. “Kori and Nash are in the gym. You might want to get some combat work in if you want to stand a chance. I heard Dylan is gunning for you.”
Warrick shook his head and headed down to the gym. Nash and Kori were there, leaning against the boxing ring.
“What took you so long?” Nash asked.
“Yeah, we expected you here an hour ago,” Kori told him.
“Why would you be expecting me?”
“Family dinner, of course,” Nash told him. “We have a lot of work to do to get you ready.”
The door to the locker room opened and Walker and Aiden strode out.
“We’re the in-laws,” Nash told Warrick as a matter of explanation why they were all there. “Well, not Kori, but he’s damn good with a knife and you need knife work if you’re going against Jace. He might be a doctor, but he’s a genius with a knife.”
“I feel as if I’m in an alternate reality,” Warrick said, not understanding what was going on.
“We know,” Aiden said, clasping Warrick’s shoulder in brotherly support. “We’ve been there. That’s why we in-laws team up to help the newbies.”
“Family dinner,” Walker began to explain, “is a way to cull the unworthy suitors. Davies men are fiercely protective of the women in their family. No man who runs from a little family bonding is good enough for their women.”
Warrick snorted. “Have they met their women? Cassidy doesn’t need me to protect her. And I’m pretty sure it was Greer who protected Sebastian, right?”
Nash nodded. “However, could you say that Cassidy didn’t need you in the alley in Crusina? If you were any other man, would you have been able to have her back? Davies women are strong, fierce, and independent. That doesn’t mean they don’t need someone there helping them, supporting them, and occasionally getting them out of a little scrap or two. Because goodness knows, they’ll have your back too.”
“Layne saved me after my DEVGRU team was killed and I was shot. She helped me recover, mentally and physically, and then helped me hunt down the traitor,” Walker told him matter-of-factly.
“I was Piper’s bodyguard. She’s so freaking brilliant. We went across the world to protect her work and make sure it was used for good and not for bad. People were after her left and right, yet we fell in love. When push came to shove, it was Piper standing by my side,” Aiden said of how he met his wife, Cassidy’s older sister, Piper.
“What about you?” Warrick asked Nash.
“Trust me when I tell you a Davies woman can hold a grudge. Sophie and I were moving toward a relationship when I was sent undercover for two years. I thought I completed my mission when I slit Poseidon’s neck,” Nash said.
“The criminal gang leader? The old-school guy known for trafficking?” Warrick asked.
“That’s the one. With his last breath, he told me Ares, his high-tech rival, was after Sophie. Sophie almost shot off my balls when I told her she was in danger. She had some great weapons that Ares wanted. Blah blah gunfire, blah blah attacks, and we’ve been together ever since.”
“And here I thought my courtship with Cassidy was unique,” Warrick muttered.
“Well, it is in the sense that no one knew it was you. Including Cass,” Walker told him to make him feel better. “But now, we need to get you ready for family dinner.”
Warrick had loved being in the military. He’d loved combat. He’d loved training with a unit. He’d been a scrawny, spoiled, rich kid, barely out of his teens when his parents were killed. His time in Norway had started his transformation. His time with the U.S. military completed it. From there he’d only grown stronger, smarter, and faster.
Warrick faced off with Walker in the ring and felt the adrenaline race through him. This he knew. Not what he said to grandmas, not trying to comprehend and explain his feelings, not thinking of what he was missing in solving his parents’ case—just primal fighting for your life. He was good at it. It was a rush because that fight didn’t only depend on the strength of your punch. It was mental, too. You had to see the weaknesses, take in and use your surroundings, and then that moment they realized they were going to lose.
“Shit,” Walker cursed, shaking his head as he struggled to sit up from the mat. “I thought I punched hard. You’re freakishly fast. Has anyone told you that?”
“I don’t give them time to tell me that,” Warrick told him, holding out his hand for Walker and helping him up.
Aiden was the next to go down. It was a change in fighting styles from Walker’s DEVGRU training to fighting with his British SAS moves, but it didn’t matter. Warrick knew them all, then it was time to go face-to-face with Nash. Nash was quick on his feet and probably as smart as Warrick. Nash fell back on Rahmi training—as Warrick guessed. What Nash wasn’t expecting were some Norwegian moves. Very little was known about the FSK. Norway hadn’t mentioned their existence until the 90s. However, they did train with DEVGRU, Delta Force, and SAS, which was how Warrick had known their fighting style. As for Rahmi special forces, he’d actually picked that up by watching Cassidy fight. She had a mix of styles. American and somewhere else. He’d guessed Rahmi after seeing the large presence of Rahmi soldiers in her orbit.
Nash was harder to take down. It wasn’t as fast as Walker or Aiden had been. Warrick even had to endure a couple of hits before he figured out the flow of the fight. Then it was over. Nash sat on the ground with his head in a headlock. He tapped Warrick’s arm signally the fight over.
They were both breathing hard, but the laughter from Nash was unexpected. “Family dinner is going to be so much fun.”
A knife flew by Warrick’s nose and landed in the bullseye of a throwing board. “Let’s see how golden boy is with a knife.” Kori handed him three blades for throwing and Warrick smiled. Today was fun. Like, the most fun he’d had in forever. He had a team around him, challenging him, working with him, giving him pointers, and laughing as they began to compete in who could make the craziest bullseye shots.
Two hours later, they were all sitting around the cafeteria at the security center telling stories and laughing together. Warrick looked around, feeling something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. He was part of a group. He belonged here.
“What’s the newest with Cassidy and your parents?” Nash asked. “Nabi is working with Kale on it.”
That’s what Nabi was working on? He never said when Warrick entered the center this morning. “Greer is in D.C.. She’s going to talk to the original group who handled Mollia Domini.”
“If I learned anything from what happened with Soph,” Nash said, “it’s you never know what rivals are waiting to fill the power vacuum when a big fish gets reeled in.”
Warrick frowned. “It could be a rival. Or it could be that Mollia Domini hadn’t been entirely wiped out. Either way, I can’t help but think the missing link—whoever turned on my family—is involved with either Mollia Domini or this new group. Unless that person is dead, they have to be considered a threat.”
Aiden sat back and crossed his arms. “So, your boss, Beaumont. Are you looking into him since he’s the one connection Cassidy has for sure that Naylor also had?”
“He’s shockingly clean for a CIA director. Cassidy got Deming to cover for us. She asked Deming to ask Beaumont if we could stay for a couple of weeks. He’s called once to check in, but otherwise has been quiet,” Warrick told him.
The door opened and in walked Kale with his laptop and a frown. “Thought you might be here getting ready for the fight for your life.”
“I’m ready for whoever is coming after Cassidy and who killed my parents,” Warrick said seriously.
Kale looked at him as if he were crazy. “No, dumbass. I’m talking about the Davies family dinner. Anyway, after Greer was allowed to read in the originals, I got some help going through everything.”
“Explain,” Warrick ordered. Who was this helper?
“My tech partner and his wife were part of the group that brought down Mollia Domini. Not physically, but with their computers. Here’s what we were able to figure out from the files and evidence you’ve gotten over the years.” Kale turned his laptop. There was a clearly listed chain of events.
“First,” Kale said, pointing to a date, “this is where the attack on your family friend happened. Greer will tell you more about that. Here’s the date your father started getting orders from Thurmond Culpepper that he clearly disagreed with. Look at the timing. It was a year before President Mitchell died, leading up to the final orders that led to your family friend being shot about a month before Mitchell died. So, we went back further. Your father was asked to do things the moment Mitchell arranged the posting to Crusina. They seemed small and always came from the Secretary of State’s office. Nothing that would be a red flag,” Kale told him, pulling up old emails that he had unearthed somehow. “But see? They escalated slowly. Then a year before Mitchell’s death, they started to become bolder. Your father started trying to get around them or half-assed them.”
Warrick looked over the orders. Some were from Cummings, some were from Culpepper, and some were even from CIA Director Milward. “We know for sure it was Mollia Domini that ordered the hit on my parents,” Warrick said, stating what he already had guessed.
“Yes. However, there are quite a few emails from this man,” Kale said, pulling up an email. “He’s the head of DS for that region. Notice anything funny about them?”
Warrick read over the emails and tried to think back to that time. “There’s a lot of DS turnover. I just thought that was normal.”
“It’s not. Notice when that turnover started,” Kale said, pointing to the date on the email and then the timeline.
“When my father started to balk at his orders. Holy crap. Who is Nicholas Houser?” Warrick asked.
“He was the youngest DS leader for the region. Only thirty years old at the time. That would make him close to forty now. I thought we might want to ask Jameson if he knows anything about him because from my records, he died two weeks after your parents’ murder, and there was very little in his file.”
“You mean, it’s been scrubbed,” Warrick said, his heart pounding as he realized they had a clue.
“That’s exactly what I mean. My team is working on it. We might be able to recover it, but we don’t know. Looking at what was in his file, it appeared he was completely made up. A false name, a false address, a false background.”
“That’s interesting,” Nash said, frowning. “He’s important somehow.”
“We need to find out why he was obviously planted there, who he really is, and where he’s been since then.” Warrick stood up and looked around the table. “Let’s go meet with Jameson.”