Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Diesel, Raso, Pratt, and York watched as Hank and Highlander surrounded Warcloud, showing unity for a fellow SEAL. They knew that Jace seeing that these men had Warcloud’s back would speak volumes to the young man.
“Aye. When my team pulled the old fool out of the hellhole he was held prisoner in, when his unit was captured in Afghanistan, all he could talk about was ye mum.” Highlander backed Hank up on his stories.
“Had you known about us?” Jace asked, biting his lower lip as he looked at the man, he now knew to be his father.
“I would have fought for you. I would have fought for all of you. I would have gone to your grandfather’s and requested that he allow us to be together. I would have done anything to be a family with you, your mom and sisters.”
“Then fight for us now. Protect my mother. Iyei has nothing to lose now that the truth is out about you being our father. I think that’s what he was holding over my mother’s head. I’m afraid he’s going to truly hurt her now. She never knew I knew the truth about the beatings. I just was never strong enough to stop them. Even when I took an oath to wear the badge.” Jace admitted, shame showing in his face.
“Jace, I’m going to say something that you may not realize right now. But you not stepping in has saved your mom’s life more than you realize. If your grandfather married her off to Iyei, and is planning on doing so with your sisters, you’ve protected her and them more by pretending you didn’t know and just being there. In a way, you have more knowledge of how to handle your grandfather than you realize. It may be the thing to get your mom out of the marriage with Iyei,” Diesel pointed out to Jace.
Jace nodded his head as he pulled out his phone. He exchanged a few texts with someone before he looked up to the group.
“Mom says now would be the time to come by the house to see Enola and Aiyannei’s room. They shared one so everything is pretty much the same.” Jace advised the four women.
“Did they have electronics, besides the phone you got for Enola?” Diesel asked, as she nodded towards the phone in Jace’s hand.
“I gave them both a tablet last year for Christmas. They are both huge readers and our library, while big, doesn’t have much in the form of books that they would like to read. Iyei was angry that I gave them something like that. Saying women didn’t need to read. It gave them ideas, which they didn’t.” Jace shook his head at the memory.
“No offense but sounds like this Iyei guy is a complete fucktard.” Diesel huffed as she growled the name.
“You have no idea how much of one. I think he’s lucky you weren’t here earlier when we had the pleasure of dealing with his drunk ass,” Pratt muttered as she moved to stand near her husband.
“Oh goody. I missed all the fun. Ok, let’s go see the girl’s room. I want to check out the area around the house as well. Do we have an idea of friends or any boys she may have been talking to?” Diesel asked, and then quirked an eyebrow when Jace growled at Diesel’s question about boys.
“She had one friend, Noreen Adakai. Her father is also on the police force. Your partners spoke with them earlier. They were thick as thieves but never the kind that would sneak around their parents backs for boys!” Jace sternly said, glaring at Diesel.
“Dude! I hate to break it to you, but yeah, brothers and parents are the last ones to know about boys they are interested in. Especially those that wear a badge.”
“My sister isn’t a whore!” Jace yelled at Diesel.
“Buddy, yell at my wife again and I’ll forget you have a badge and beat your ass. She isn’t calling your sister a whore. Your sister is a freshman in high school. Just because they like or talk to a boy doesn’t make them a whore. Do you consider the women you talk to a whore just because they like you or talk to you?” Viper stepped into Jace’s space, staring him down.
“N-no. I’m sorry. My sisters mean everything to me.” Jace admitted, sighing heavily as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Look, we get it. In this job, we’ve seen all kinds of things out there. We know you love your sisters and are protective of them. Instead of hindering us, help us find them.” Diesel advised him, moving Viper out of the way.
“This is what a man does for his wife, lad. Not what ye stepfather has done. Give Warcloud a chance. Ye will find that he is honorable and will treat not only ye sisters but ye mum just like we treat our lasses.” Highlander patted Jace on the shoulder.
“Can we focus on my sisters right now? No office, boss, but I need to find them. I need to make sure they are safe!” Jace pleaded with Warcloud.
“Jace, when and if we find them, they are going to need a lot of help. One we need to make sure your reservation is going to be able to handle.” Pratt softly said standing beside Diesel now.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jace asked, his anger rising.
“Jace, what do you know about human trafficking? Besides the girls being kidnapped and sold around?” York asked further, standing on the other side of Diesel, looking over towards Warcloud whose features turned sad at the mention of what could be going on with the girls.
“I know they are scared right now. Probably made to work and do things against their will. Held in a cage.” Jace stuttered looking around the group.
“Jace, I wish that was all that they were going through. Truth is, from my experience in the SEALs, these girls are going through much worse. They are right. Once we do find these girls, and your sisters, we need to make sure every available resource is available to them. They will need drug rehabilitation, counseling and much more. We will need to show them that no matter what happened to them, they are still our family. They are now safe. It will be a hard, long road for them.” Warcloud advised Jace softly as he stared his son in the eyes.