Chapter Seventeen
O’Connor
There comes a moment in a man’s life when he knows what path he’s meant to lead. When my parents died, I knew the military was meant for me. It would be an outlet for the damage in my heart.
When I applied to be a SEAL, I was looking for a greater purpose. As soon as I realized how good I was at killing, I knew there wouldn’t be anywhere else I could go.
There was never life after the SEAL teams. I assumed I’d operate until I died of old age or was killed.
Being forced out and then recruited for Project Obsidian seemed like the end of the road. There was nothing else for me. So why not walk through the fires that others are too afraid to?
Now I know there is something more than a life of solitude and despair, but it’s just out of reach.
My only goal now is to destroy everyone and everything that might hurt Linden, and I’ll go down in a spray of bullets if I have to.
Every hour, I stand up and take a two-minute break. Each time, I’ve walked down the hallway just to watch her and Avery sleep.
How can two people become so important to you without your say?
A photo album on the dresser catches my eye, and I take it with me back to my watch chair. The front is baby pink, and there are a few random rhinestones stuck to it like Avery got a hold of it.
The first page is a picture of Avery as a newborn, wrapped in her hospital swaddle. Grief washes over me, saddened that I didn’t get to know her then.
Or maybe because she isn’t mine.
I flip to the next page, and I stare at it for a long time.
One side of the book has two photos from Linden and Turner’s courthouse wedding.
Her round belly is obvious under her dress, and her hair is stick straight, but she looks much the same.
Incredibly beautiful, but her eyes are terrified.
I can tell even through these 4x6 photos that she’s white-knuckling the rose stem in her hand.
The other side has pictures from the hospital when Avery was born. There is one photo of Linden holding Avery in the bed, and it makes me smile. She’s putting on a brave face, but I can already see how much she loved her baby.
The last photo is a group shot. Turner is standing, holding Avery in her swaddle, with his parents on either side of him. Linden isn’t in it, as if they made her take the picture.
That doesn’t sit right with me, but Linden is a better person than I am to include it in the album anyway.
The rest of the pages are Avery’s three and a half years of life. Chubby cheeked, gummy smiles, and lots of candid photos of her playing. My fingers hover over the pictures of her and Linden together, all selfies, because no one was around to take a picture of them.
I spend the next hour memorizing all the stages of life documented in the book, and reluctantly put it back on the dresser when I take my two-minute stretch.
It’s nearly morning now, and when I go to exit the room, Avery rolls over, blinking up at me.
“Mr. Jack?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep.” I pull the door shut behind me and return to my chair, but pitter-patters follow close behind me.
“Can I sit wiff you?”
“Sure.”
She and her princess pjs crawl into my lap before resting the back of her head against my chest. “Are we having a slumber party, Mr. Jack?”
“Something like that.”
She yawns, and I tighten my arms around her so she can relax against me. I have the urge to rock her until she falls back asleep like you would an infant.
Her little delicate fingers dance over my rough knuckles, and I marvel at how fragile she is. It’s hard to believe that we all start as such helpless creatures.
It’s dawn now, and I doubt Turner will be bold enough to return in the daylight, so I let my attention drift across Avery’s face. She looks just like Linden aside from the blonde hair and green eyes. She has her mom’s petite freckle-covered nose and heart-shaped face.
Her father is an idiot for messing up his chance at a family with them, and there is no coming back from the pain he’s caused.
I would have killed him last night if it weren’t for Linden standing there. If she witnessed that side of me, she’d never forget it. I would become the monster in her eyes that I know I am.
“Hey, there you are,” Linden says sleepily from the hallway.
“Mr. Jack had a slumber party,” she tells her mom excitedly.
“Mr. Jack was here to watch over us because of the storm last night. That’s all.”
“A storm?” She asks me with a quizzical look. Thankfully, I think that means she slept through all the ruckus.
“Yeah, it was a bad one, but everything is okay now,” I assure her.
“Mommy, Mr. Jack says it’s otay now.”
“Mommy is very grateful for Mr. Jack,” she murmurs more to me than Avery.
“I hungry.” Avery hops off my lap, clearly ready to move on with her day.
“Go get something from the cabinet. I’ll make you some breakfast in just a minute.” She watches her daughter disappear into the kitchen and then watches me as I stand from my chair. “Can I offer you breakfast?”
“I need to check on things at home.”
“Things?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you ever going to tell me the truth about you?” Her voice is hopeful, but her eyes are sad. She knows the answer to her question already.
She lets me cradle her face in my hand, resting her cheek against my palm. “I hope a day comes that I can, but I’m in a little bit of quicksand right now, too.”
When my forehead touches hers, her eyes drift shut, and I know I could kiss her… God, I want to. But I don’t.
My kiss would mean so much more than the thank-you kiss she gave me last night. And having something to lose will get me killed.
* * *
“We’ve finally gotten the French translation back, and it’s given us more insight. The Scotts are harvesting vital human organs and bio matter for experimentation purposes. The parts that we intercepted on the black market were probably just the scraps.”
“They’re getting rid of the evidence by dispersing the waste?” I confirm.
“Sales likely help with funding their experiments. We still can’t account for the patients that they’re getting the organs from, though. The volume of sales suggests a lot of victims.”
This is so much more than two medical professionals defying their Hippocratic oath. “What else do I need to know?”
“They weren’t candid on their phone calls as to why they’re experimenting. We don’t know their end goal.”
“What if there isn’t one? They could be mad scientists who get off on unethical experimenting.”
“The web of players in this is too large to believe the Scotts are working solely for their own benefit. They are planning something, and someone is helping them hide this.”
“Okay. What do you need me to do?”
“Find out who the other players are, and then we will eliminate the Scotts’ part in it.”
“Could they be stealing bodies from the hospital they work in? Victims who die on the operating tables but don’t make it to the morgue?”
“Negative. There haven’t been any patient discrepancies at the hospital, and no bodies have turned up in any crime labs missing organs. Still waiting to crack the encrypted hard drives to get more info.”
“Roger that. I’ll keep digging on my end.”
“Stay safe, Eagle-One.”
The call disconnects, and I lean back in my chair to stretch my back. I only got about two hours of sleep before the call came in, and I know that’s all I’ll have for a while.
I don’t know if I’ll ever sleep again until I know Linden and Avery are safe for good. It definitely won’t happen while her ex is still harassing them.
“Jack!” Her voice gets picked up on my cameras, and any exhaustion I had in my body launches out the window as I scan my screens.
Linden is standing in her driveway with Avery in her arms, and four police cars blocking them in.
What the fuck?
I conceal my gun under my shirt and pull my hat low on my head as I exit my house.
“Jack, they’re trying to take Avery!” Linden calls to me as soon as she sees me, making the cops in front of her swing their attention to me.
When I brace my arm on the only sturdy part of the fence, swinging my legs over easily, it puts them all on edge. Two of them shift their hands to their firearms.
“Who are you?” The lead one asks, shifting his body as if to block me from getting to them. As if.
“The neighbor.”
He sniffs in annoyance when I stride past him without sparing him a glance. My eyes are on Linden.
“Then this has nothing to do with you.”
I’m glaring at him now. “The fuck it doesn’t. Four grown men are standing here intimidating a mother and her child. That is my business.”
The lead cop shuffles under my stare and jerks his head, forcing two of his officers back off. They go back to their cars on the road, but they don’t take their hands off their weapons.
“We have a court order for the child.” He points to the paper in Linden’s hand.
“Let me see it.” As soon as I’m within reach, Avery wiggles out of Linden’s arms and hugs my leg. Linden bites her lip nervously as I read the sheet of paper.
“What judge would sign a custody agreement like this without a hearing and without the mother’s say?” I snap at the officer.
“It’s at the bottom. Judge signed and notarized.”
“What does that mean?” Linden asks, and I curl my hand around the back of her neck.
“It means that it is an official document. If you don’t comply, they could arrest you.”
“What?” I feel her knees buckle, and my grip on her is the only thing that keeps her standing.
“We have orders to bring the child to the Scott residence.”
“No, she isn’t going with you.”
“Ma’am–” He starts, but I cut him off.
“She will drive her there herself. You can follow to ensure she complies.” Linden’s shocked whimper kills me. “It’s only for two hours. They have to produce her at the end of the visit, or they will be arrested.”
“Clearly they don’t follow the same laws as everyone else!” She argues with a tremble in her voice that means she’s near hysterics.
“I will not let them take her from you,” I say firmly but quietly, just to her. “We will have her back in two hours. I promise.”
She searches my eyes, demanding to see the truth, and I know she does. She’s caught me in my lies enough that she knows I’m not lying about this.
“I promise,” I whisper again for good measure.
She wipes the moisture from her cheeks and clears her throat. “Avery,” she says hoarsely. “I’m going to take you to your grandma and grandpas now. Okay?”
“I don’t wanna go.”
“I know mommy seems sad, but it’s okay. You’ll have fun.”
Her little mouth is stuck in a firm frown when she looks at me. “You come wiff me, Mr. Jack?”
“I can’t, baby. But I’ll be here when you get home. Promise.”
She nods and squeezes my legs before letting go.
Linden puts on her bravest face as she loads her daughter into her car, and I study each cop’s face, making sure I memorize the men who let this happen.
They might not have facilitated it, but they know it’s wrong.