Chapter 24 #2
“I have prayed every day that I would be found.” Dad fell into another coughing fit that had the rattle of pneumonia to it.
Swallowing around a thick throat, Dillon wrapped his arms around his dad’s rail-thin shoulders. Frail. Anger and distress coiled around his heart and mind, made it impossible to say anything more than “I’m here.”
Dad collapsed against him, sobs wracking his body as he clung to Dillon.
It broke him, hearing his dad—the strongest, most capable man he had ever known—sobbing like a baby.
All his questions, all his plans took a back seat as his own tears coursed down his cheeks and a rising fury promised violence of action against those responsible for what they had done to this onetime Navy SEAL. To his dad. Max Jacobs.
No idea how long they sat like that, and he didn’t care. This formidable, fierce man never cried in front of him, so whatever he’d been through…he needed time to haul himself out of it.
“Sorry,” Dad muttered, pushing himself free and upright, coughing more.
Even in that simple motion, Dillon felt the tremor of weakness in Dad’s arms. “What have they done to you?” he growled before he could think better of it.
Dad scoffed. “Don’t worry about it. The real question is how you’re here.”
“I’ve been looking for you.” Dillon thought that would’ve been obvious.
“With Omen?”
In the blackness, Dillon could tell his dad was looking at him. “No, though not for want of Pike trying. After they”—before the words left his mouth this time, he reconsidered mentioning the funeral or how Mom had fallen apart and changed course—“declared you dead.”
“Not surprised,” Dad said, his voice hoarse from the seizing coughs. “What I was working to prove and stop could get the government in a lot of trouble.”
“But you found them,” Dillon said. “The—”
“Don’t say it.”
Faltering, he wondered at the adamancy. That sounded like Dad, the ever-confident one who never missed a step, was afraid. “Understood.”
Dad sniffed. “You really found me. On your own…?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. You taught me well.” Dillon huffed a laugh. “I’ve spent more than two years running around the globe looking for clues. And while I want to take credit, I’ve recently learned it was a group effort.”
“Usually is. There are no one-man shows.”
“You used to tell me that all the time.”
Dad patted his hand in the darkness. “How’s your mom?”
Looking down, he knew to be careful with that intel. “Your death hit her hard, but…she’s Mom.”
There was a long pause in the darkness. “I miss her… The thought of her and you kids kept me going.”
“We’re going to get you out of here.”
Silence gaped back at him for a long second. “I would love nothing more, but…I’m in bad shape.”
“Leave it to me.”
More silence settled between them. “No matter what happens…I am proud of you, Dillon.”
“No, don’t do that. No sappy talk. You’re not dying. Not while I’m around.”
Dad huffed a laugh, and by the sound of it, narrowly staved off another cough. “So…we have the time. Tell me the whole story. And don’t filter to spare my feelings. I survived BUD/S and your childhood.”
“Fair,” Dillon said with his own laugh that felt hollow in his throat.
“Where’d you start looking for me?”
“Where you were last seen.”
“How’d you find that?”
“I thought Helios and I unearthed that, but turns out Pike sent me the image. Took me an insane amount of time to figure out you were with Massimo Galtieri.”
Dad grunted.
“Followed him to Armenia, where I got to see Mickey—oh, speaking of, she’s engaged to Dante.”
Dad barked a laugh and coughed through it. “Did not see that coming.”
“Well, hang tight because it gets better. I was tracking Galtieri”—he needed to ask Dad about the billionaire, but it just seemed owed to Dad to give him good news first—“and ended up in Paris for an event he was hosting, when my paths crossed with Apollo.”
“But he’s like fifteen.”
“Twenty-two now, and engaged to a secret Saudi princess.”
“Go big or go home,” Dad teased with a rattle of a cough barking through him.
Dillon waited for it to subside before continuing. Avoiding mention of Cove, he shared about Paris and Italy.
“What are you leaving out?”
Should’ve figured… “Always could read me.”
“Because you’re so much like your old man. So—for lack of better words—cough it up.”
Dillon groaned at the bad joke. “I…Galtieri’s daughter…”
“Cove.”
He looked at his dad, though he could not see him, surprised to her hear name on his lips. “You met her?”
“No,” Dad conceded, “but dads talk… So you and her…?”
Feeling like he was twelve years old, he shared about Galtieri’s kidnapping, the tunnels, Greece. Naturally left out the kiss. “We ended up in Yemen, so she could try to prove her dad was innocent of corruption charges, and so I could find you.”
“Impressive.” Exhaustion dripped from Dad’s reply. “You in love with her?”
“I’ve only known her—”
“Not what I asked.”
Still staring at the dark void where Dad sat, Dillon tightened his jaw. “I…don’t know.”
Dad huffed, coughing a few times.
“Pretty sure she hates me now—I left her with Omen to come find you.”
“Bad move.”
“No,” Dillon said firmly. “She got shot, and I…watching her nearly die in my arms…no way I could do that again.”
“Because you love her.”
He could argue till his last breath, but it wouldn’t change the truth. “Maybe.” He scratched his head, really needing to change the topic. “Do you know where Galtieri is?”
“Here,” Dad breathed, the sound labored.
Habit had Dillon looking around the darkness. This hole wasn’t big enough to hide a man. “They have more cages?”
“He’s not in one.”
Gaze drifting back in Dad’s direction, Dillon felt his gut tighten. “Where is he then?”
“With them, with Rasulov.”
No. Oh man. This could not… “You mean he really is corrupt?”