Chapter 7
Lowering the barbell to his chest, Ike strained to complete the last rep, pushing with all the force he could give.
The weight was pitiful. A fraction of what he’d been used to lifting before he crashed landed back in St. Felipe three months ago.
But he couldn’t be upset with his progress.
The cracked ribs healed nicely, freeing him to strengthen his healed broken leg with daily runs through the Cabrito Mountains.
The dislocated shoulder was the only lingering weakness, still not back to full strength.
He winced with pain as he extended his shaking arms to press the bar upward.
Wracking the bar, he leaned forward and listened.
Silence greeted him, and it was the most beautiful sound.
Dr. Rocco Forrester had finally caved and let him dismiss his round-the-clock nurse a couple of weeks ago.
Ike had welcomed the solitude. He had the place all to himself to dig deeper into the investigation of his parents’ plane crash.
Sorting through the scant information he’d pulled together and, despite his best efforts, hoping for an unexpected visit from Ava. But she never came.
The doorbell rang, jolting him from his thoughts.
Grabbing a towel, he wiped the sweat from his body as he walked from the weight room, down the hall to the front door. He pulled the door open, not bothering to look through the peephole. Only six people knew where he was and that he was still alive.
“Hi, Ike … you look so dreamy.”
Well, six and a half, if you counted Paloma, Lachlan’s little girl.
“Hey, dove, you’re looking beautiful as usual,” Ike said, smiling. Paloma posed several times, showing off her Carebear t-shirt over hot pink leggings.
Ike said, “I’d hug you, but I’m stinky.”
She wrinkled her nose and seemed pleased with his decision.
“Not pushing yourself too hard?” Lachlan asked.
“Of course not,” Ike responded. Hard was relative. Nothing he was doing to recover from his injuries came close to the pure hell he went through in STORM.
“Liar,” Sebastian said, leveling him with a frown.
“She can come in,” Ike said, motioning for Paloma to enter. “Not sure about the two of you.”
Lachlan and Sebastian laughed as they pushed their way into the house.
“What do I owe this surprise visit?” Ike asked, shutting the door behind them.
Paloma let out a deep sigh. “Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. What do you want to hear first?”
“Bad, always,” Ike said.
Her shoulders slumped, and the cutest pout formed on her face. “That’s not the right answer.”
“It is for me, and you gave me the choice,” Ike reminded her.
“I won’t do that again,” Paloma said, shaking her head.
“Go ahead, hen, tell him,” Lachlan encouraged her.
“I won’t be able to hang out with you this summer after all,” Paloma said, a slight quiver in her voice.
Now it was Ike’s turn to frown. He looked at Lachlan, then Sebastian, but got nothing but blank stares. Paloma’s visits, even the short ones, always lifted his spirits. He looked forward to having her around more now that school was out.
“And why not?”
Paloma broke into a huge grin. “Because Daddy is letting me go to Goat Scout Summer Camp!” She lifted her hands triumphantly, then ran around the living room dancing.
“That’s wonderful, dove,” Ike said, unable to hide his surprise. Lachlan had always limited Paloma’s activities due to the constant threat hanging over the little girl’s life. If he was letting up, something significant must have changed.
“The first day is tomorrow. I’m so excited,” Paloma beamed.
“How about you go into the kitchen and raid Ike’s candy jar to celebrate,” Lachlan said with a warm smile.
Paloma’s eyes grew wide. Then she took off toward the kitchen.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Ike beckoned the guys to join him on the couch. “So, what’s changed?”
“Titus Freeman is dead,” Sebastian said. “Confirmed by the FBI and PIIB.”
“No shit? Who’s behind it?”
“No one is claiming responsibility,” Lachlan said, leaning back on the cushions with a satisfied smirk.
“I honestly don’t give a fuck. All that matters is Paloma can have a normal life now.
I can say yes to everything she’s begged me to do.
It’s the least I can give her since I’m the reason her mother is dead. ”
“You’re also the reason she exists. Don’t forget you and Britt falling in love is why you have that amazing little girl,” Ike reminded Lachlan, rejecting the man’s guilt-laden memories of the past. Lachlan shouldn’t blame himself for Britt’s death.
The car bomb wasn’t the first time her life had been in danger, and it wouldn’t have been the last. “How’d they get rid of him? ”
“White phosphorus,” Sebastian said.
“That’s creative,” Ike said, impressed. “And severely limits the suspect list.”
“The island feds have been asked to help the FBI investigate,” Sebastian said, tugging at his t-shirt collar. “We had lunch with Micah and Wesley yesterday and got this intel. Looks like Wesley is leading the PISCO team working with the island feds.”
Ike bristled at the mention of Wesley Thomas, the bane of his existence from his years as a PISCO.
The elite group of special operatives likely never saw and would never see again the level of competition that festered between Ike and the man—all fueled and instigated by PISCO Commander Franklin Galloway.
“He asked about you,” Sebastian said, then studied Ike’s face for a reaction.
Ike had learned a long time ago not to give one. “What exactly did he want to know?”
Lachlan said, “Surprisingly, he seemed to know quite a lot about Stingray Security and how we’re ramping up to start providing services soon.”
“He also knew that Gabrielle hired us to find you,” Sebastian said, with a hint of strain in his voice.
Ike knew Sebastian hated lying to his sister, especially since they were in love now.
A fact that still sat like a boulder in Ike’s gut, but it couldn’t be helped.
Ike wasn’t ready to reenter the world. Not until he’d figured out why his parents’ plane had gone down.
“And he wanted to know if we’d made any progress. If we had any intel that you were alive,” Lachlan said.
“Wesley made it clear he wasn’t asking because he missed you,” Sebastian said with a sarcastic laugh. “The inquiry was directly from Galloway.”
Ike leaned forward. “He said that?”
Lachlan nodded. “Galloway wants you found, which doesn’t sit well with us.”
“Fuck, it doesn’t sit well with me either,” Ike said.
The last thing he needed was his old boss putting a team in place to find him.
It would be entirely against PISCO protocol to search for a civilian not considered a threat to the Palmchat Islands.
But Galloway wasn’t above using the PISCOs for his whims and desires.
And he was too powerful to be stopped or questioned by anyone.
Ike had learned that the hard way at the end of his first week of STORM, the Strategic Training for Ocean Region Missions used to select PISCOs.
Dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, he’d been forced to dress in a wetsuit, then blindfolded as he was taken to an unknown location.
His body was dumped on a concrete floor next to four others, who Ike suspected were also recruits.
They were given an assignment that could only be described as treasonous.
Although he was confused by the request, he was determined to prove he had what it took to join the highly selective elite special ops team. When they dove into the sea to complete the mission, Ike refused to fail.
And he didn’t, making the grueling trek back to the abandoned warehouse only to find he wasn’t the first to arrive.
“What’s your name, son?” Galloway had demanded.
Ike hesitated as he looked past the Commanding officer to the other recruit who’d completed the mission faster than him. He’d watched as the recruit peeled the head mask of the wetsuit away, revealing wet strands of long black hair.
“Ike da Costa,” he’d responded, but his eyes never left her. She glanced over her shoulder and looked back at him. A challenge in her gaze.
“You did good. I won’t forget your efforts,” Galloway said.
“But I wasn’t first,” Ike said.
Galloway chuckled. “No one beats her. Don’t even try. You were the only one from your cohort to complete this mission. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”
Ike gritted his jaw, willing the memory of the woman to come into focus.
And when it did, he inhaled a sharp breath.
Ava.
She was there when he went through STORM. He’d asked her if she was a PISCO, which she denied.
Another memory floated to his mind.
“We’re not strangers, Ike.” She leaned closer to him, head tilted, revealing a long, graceful neck. The urge to trail kisses along her skin rose within him.
“You may know me, but I can guarantee I would never forget meeting you. If our paths had crossed before, I would remember it.”
“Maybe,” she teased, a sexy smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “If you weren’t distracted.”
So, if she hadn’t been there to train as a PISCO, why was she?
And why the fuck hadn’t he remembered her until now?
“Hey, you alright?” Sebastian asked, disrupting his thoughts.
“I will be once you make sure Galloway doesn’t have a team of PISCOs looking for me.”