9. Jasmin #2
Linc was by my side in a second. Everything was going black. No, no, no, not again. Why was this happening? Why did I keep getting these headaches now? What the fuck was wrong with my head?
“You’re safe. I’ve got you, sweet Jasmin,” Linc whispered in my ear.
Why did I keep ending up in Linc’s arms and, more than that, why did I feel so safe and protected when I was?
I was not some wilting flower that needed to be taken care of.
If one of the other guys had tried to pick me up and whisper in my ear, I would have laughed in their face.
I felt Linc sit down and settle me in his lap.
I opened my eyes, dreading what I would find.
My team was looking at the president like it was taking all their control not to snap his neck and my uncle had moisture in his eyes. Talk about testosterone overload.
“Jasmin, I know you are not ready, but when you are, I have everything your parents left for you here in the house,” my uncle offered.
“Here? In this house?” I asked.
“Yes, this house belonged to your parents. It was a safe house; it is off the books, owned by a corporation that could not be tracked back to your father,” my uncle explained.
I looked around the house, admiring it in a whole new light.
I tried to picture my parents moving around this space but I could not; I have no memory of them.
I was a year old when they were killed and never even had a picture of them.
I asked Noah when I was a teenager if he had anything of my parents.
His answer was simply no. I never asked again, not wanting to seem ungrateful to the man who took in an orphaned child to raise as his own.
I allowed myself to take comfort in Linc’s arms. Just for a minute, I would allow myself this one weak moment in front of my team.
My mind was spinning at warp speed. Suddenly, I was too exhausted to even summon up the energy to be angry.
Linc tightened his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.
Shit and damn. I have turned into a pansy assed girl who needed a man to protect her.
Screw that shit. I needed to get ahold of myself.
Before I could get off Linc’s lap, Jax started speaking. “All due respect, Mr. President, but what does Jasmin’s personal life have to do with the op?” He looked pissed as shit on my behalf.
“Actually, it has everything to do with Jasmin and your entire team,” he answered. Gerard handed my uncle an 8x10 photo. He looked at it for a moment before he passed it to Z.
“That is my father. I don’t understand,” Z questioned.
“I’m sorry, Zane, I was not at liberty to tell you.
It was a matter of national security. Your father, Rick, was on our team as well.
” The president started to walk across the room to the buffet that displayed a variety of liquors.
He poured himself a glass of amber liquor before he continued.
“We were hot shit,” he said with a chuckle.
“The four of us were at the top of our game. Rick, Robert, Noah, and I took all the tier one contracts. We had some good times, brothers in every way.”
Z looked like I felt, like he just received a kick to the gut. I started to get up at the same time Linc stood. He balanced me when he placed me on my feet and walked toward his brother.
“Zane?” Linc started.
He was cut off by an explosion of activity.
In one smooth move, Z used his arm and swept all the knick knacks off the side table he was standing next to.
Well, damn, I was glad at least one of us could muster the strength to explode.
I, on the other hand, was emotionally frozen.
I could not form a single word. I had been lied to my entire life.
I was now questioning who I was. Over the years I had many names, they changed with every op I was on, but I always knew who I was deep down inside.
Now I wasn’t so sure. Zane was in the same boat; he had been lied to as well.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me, Tom? All these damn years!
Fuck it all to hell. I have trusted you with my brother’s life, my team.
FUCK! Why wouldn’t you tell me you served with my father?
Hell, why wouldn’t you just tell me about him?
” Z was clenching his fists so tight his knuckles were turning white.
His body was coiled and ready to strike.
I needed to shut this shit down and fast. Even though we were all here in this house, my house as it turned out, talking about our private lives, Tom, my uncle, was still the president.
If Z did something regrettable, it would end him.
“Why don’t we move on to what our family ties have to do with national security?
And, Gerard, I know you are my uncle’s personal protection but I swear to Christ, if you do not move your hand away from your weapon, I will shoot your ass dead before you even pull your piece.
No joke! Z is not a threat to the president, but I can promise I am a threat to you.
” I was happy to have found my voice once again.
The president motioned for Gerard to stand down with a nod of his head. Gerard placed his hands in front of his body and clasped them together.
“I know this is hard…” the president started.
“This is all sorts of fucked up is what it is,” Eric chimed in.
“Yes, Eric, I agree. Too many God damn secrets have been kept. Zane, it has killed me not to be able to tell you stories about your father. He was a good man, the best sort of man. He would be so proud of the man you have become. And, you, Jasmin, my own niece, and I have not been able to hug you in twenty-seven years. I had to watch your high school graduation from the back of the auditorium. Your basic training graduation after Noah died, it fucking gutted me to watch you all alone. All for some God forsaken promise and damn secrets.” My uncle was shaking as he spoke.
“As far as national security, my team took out Sonreír’s father.
He was a drug smuggler and human trafficker.
His girls ranged between the ages of ten to sixteen, sick mother fucker.
It was a pleasure to put him down like the dog he was. ”
“Holy shit,” Colin said. Always stating the obvious.
Holy shit was right! I was trying to connect the dots, but something was just out of reach. I needed to move around and puzzle this out.
“If Rick, Robert, Noah, and Tom killed Sonreír’s father, he would want revenge. How would he get his revenge?” I asked to no one in particular.
“He would start with the men that killed his father, then move to their families if they are not available,” Drew replied.
He was always the one that talked things out with me. When we were in the planning stages of an op, Drew and I would bounce ideas around while the others watched in amusement. It worked, we worked.
“Three out of the four men are dead. He would seek out family. How would you seek out someone with a military background and a CIA operative?” I asked.
“You hire a hacker,” Zane supplied the answer.
“Deepweb336 was looking for where CIA operatives were undercover. Neither of us were undercover at the time of the hack nor are we still in the CIA database.” I was still missing something.
“Deepweb336 was specifically looking for Ghost, however, he was told to get the entire file to throw off the investigation, sending us scrambling to protect hundreds of operatives,” the president explained.
“Lincoln, why would Sonreír want to find Lincoln?” Leo asked.
“He was the pawn,” the president answered.
“How so?” Leo continued.
“Lincoln was the easiest way to get to Zane. Zane would do anything to save his brother’s life,” I said out loud as I still was trying to puzzle together the last pieces. “Who left Lincoln and Z’s mother’s name in the file for me to find?”
“An analyst was paid off. Timothy Clark,” the president answered .
What in the fuck was going on here? Who the hell were all these fucking people?
“Before you ask, Jasmin, Clark was paid off to leave that name in hopes you would put two and two together that Zane had a brother he was lying about. If there could be a rift between you and Zane, you would be easier to get to, making you a pawn to get to me.” My uncle was matter of fact in his explanation.
“Well, fuck me, Zane and Lincoln...brothers.” Jax shook his head.
“What else don’t we know?” Colin sneered.
Yup, the team was getting pissed. They were lied to as well. Shit and Damn. This was going to get ugly fast. The whole room needed to separate.
“Can we please break for dinner or lunch or what the fuck ever as long as you all find a room that is not here to cool off? I just found out I have a kick ass house. I would prefer no one else break shit.” I tried to interject some humor in my request but the truth was I felt more like vomiting than laughing.
“Yup.” That’s all the response I got from the guys as they all walked in different directions.
“I’d like to see a picture if you don’t mind, Mr. President,” I said.
“Jasmin, please call me Tom. I am your uncle for God sakes,” he answered .
Yeah, that was not happening just yet. I just found out that not only do I have an uncle, but he was the President of the United States. And he had kept himself hidden from me for the last twenty-eight years.
“I hope you understand that it might take some time.”
“Of course, follow me upstairs.” He turned to Gerard before we walked away. “Will you please see if the staff has left food as instructed?”
“Yes, Sir.”
I followed the president, my uncle, up the staircase. “I was at your inauguration. I got called in last minute as a replacement for a secret service agent.”
“Yes, you were. I could not let that day pass without my niece at my side, even if you didn’t know,” he replied.
“Thank you for that.”
We stepped into the master suite. My eyes widened.
I looked all around the room, taking it all in.
It was lovely. Done in soft grays and pale yellows, a huge four poster bed sat in the middle of the room with floor-to-ceiling windows at the foot of the bed.
You could lie in bed and have a perfect, unobstructed view of the bay.
The bureau had framed photographs atop it.
I walked over to get a better look. My heart was pounding in my chest as I picked up a photograph of a man and a woman holding a baby girl.
Tears streamed down my face as I saw my parents for the first time.
All these years, I used all the resources I had to try and find a single image of my parents.
All the while, there was a treasure trove of memories less than fifty miles from where I lived.
I clutched the framed photograph against my chest, hugging the parents I did not remember, mourning their death for the first time.
“Thank you, for them,” I cried.