I TOLD ANNIE I HAD to work the next day. I headed back to Kyle’s house, but this time, instead of Sara opening the door, I was greeted by Vic.

“Hey, man, come inside. I think we’ve got something.”

I followed Vic back to Kyle’s office. Kyle was in Intel and made mission plans like they were football plays—there were pictures, diagrams, timelines, and maps. Luckily, his security clearance gave him access to SEAL service records.

I sat on one of the chairs. “What do we have?”

Kyle looked up at me. “Well, I made a list of all men who left the Teams in the last five years. Then I eliminated all the men who went into non-security-related careers. I was left with one hundred and forty-three names. They were spread out among different countries, different states, and different contractors. There were only three gingers. Two of them still work at their security companies, but one of them worked for Neptune Group. He left his security detail around three years ago.”

“Six months after he found Annie.”

“Exactly. Name is Matt Houston. I asked some buddies who knew him, looks like he checked into drug rehab. And get this, he lives in Poway.”

Vic jumped in. “And we’re meeting him for lunch in an hour. I fed him some bullshit that I’m thinking about contributing to a foundation for fallen SEALs. He ate it up. Was happy to meet with some Team guys.”

Brilliant. Team guys always welcomed meetings from fellow Frogs, even if they had never met before. That was one of the benefits of being part of the best fraternity in the world.

We headed inland in Kyle’s Black Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. I texted Annie to see how she was doing. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her before I had to deploy, but I needed to find out the truth.

Matt had recommended we meet at Brothers Provisions, a sandwich shop which served craft beer on tap in Rancho Bernardo, a town next to Poway.

As we approached, I scanned the patio. I recognized him immediately. Red hair, still built, looked hardened. I didn’t care if he was a Team guy—I wanted to kill this motherfucker for fucking my girl and leaving her to die.

“Hey, Matt. I’m Pat, this is Kyle and this is Vic.” I reached out my hand, but he didn’t take it. His hands had an unsteady twitch, and he was rattling his keys.

He nodded his head, and we all went inside to order sandwiches and beers. Back out on the patio, we made small talk—Teams we’d been on, guys we both knew, and deployments.

He took a sip of his beer, and his eyes shifted back and forth. “I need to hit the head.”

He stood up and went inside the shop. Barely a few seconds had passed when an older-model black Ford truck barreled out of the parking lot. He’d been on to us.

We didn’t speak; we knew what to do. I threw down some money for a tip and we hightailed it into Kyle’s Escalade.

I could see Matt’s truck entering I-15 Freeway going south.

Kyle chased him down the freeway, dodging in and out of cars. Matt didn’t slow down. Where the fuck was he going?

I didn’t have time for this shit. He slowed to enter the 56 West and I took out my pistol, leaned out the window and shot out his back right tire.

He pulled to the shoulder of the freeway, Kyle’s Escalade right behind him.

I saw him reach toward his glove compartment. This motherfucker was going to kill himself. Or us.

We all jumped out to the car, our weapons ready.

I approached the vehicle. He had the gun aimed right at me. “You have about ten seconds to unfuck yourself, Matt. Put down the gun. We’re not here to kill you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

He kept the gun steady. “He sent you. I didn’t talk to anyone.”

“No one sent us. We’re the ones who saved Annie. We did some digging. We just want to talk to you.”

With three guns pointed at his head, he didn’t have much choice. Kyle disarmed Matt without a struggle. I slid into the passenger seat of his truck and handed Matt’s keys to Kyle. I told Vic to get Matt’s spare tire out just in case a cop drove by and thought we looked suspicious. Kyle stood guard on the side of Matt’s truck.

I needed some answers. “Start talking, asshole. Why did you leave her there?”

He blinked. The creases around his burdened eyes were so deep they looked as if they had been beveled with a blade. “First off, it’s not my fault, man. I tried to save her. You have to know that. It started out like a standard job. Missing girl, possibly trafficked. Go to the island and see if she’s alive, if you can find her.”

“Who hired you?”

“Her father. Paid three hundred thousand dollars. Taylor, another former Team guy, and I volunteered. Seemed like a piece of cake—go hang out on Aruba for a month, all expenses paid, drink, snorkel, rescue a girl, and come home. We went down there, started fishing around. Asking locals. Visiting brothels. We had a tip a girl who matched Annie’s description was at this one brothel. We cased the place. The first time we went in, our only goal was to see if we thought it was her, identify the tattoo and see what kind of shape she was in. The minute I saw her, I was positive it was Annie. Her hazel eyes, hair, tattoo, scar, and height. But we were ordered by our bosses to pick other girls that first night and not her.”

His eyes focused ahead on some red lights from a construction truck. I tapped him over the head to get him to keep talking.

“I was so fucking stoked that day . . . to think I’d found this kidnapped girl and we’d be bringing her home in a week or so. The girl she was with, Nicole, we didn’t even know she was there. That was a stroke of luck finding her. Of course, we’d read about her disappearance in Aruba, and we knew about her. I thought I’d be a fucking hero—saving two Americans. Collect her reward, too.”

Cars whizzed by on the freeway. I looked in the rear view mirror, and Vic had the car jack out. “So what the fuck happened? Why did you leave her there?”

“I didn’t have a fucking choice. We did some more searching, about the brothel, the pimp, and the dancer who took her. Surveillance on Annie. At night, after all the clients left, she had a baby with her. Cute little boy, around six months old or so. We checked in with our bosses, after we found her in the brothel and they reported back to her father about Annie and the baby. We had a conference call with the motherfucker. He asked me how certain I was it was her, if she looked high, her demeanor, what she was wearing. I told him I’d bet my Trident it was his daughter. She was definitely a heroin user. I saw tracks on her arms when the pimp let me check her out. Then he asked me about the baby. If I was certain he was her son. I told him I couldn’t be one hundred percent, but she saw him every night and I thought he was hers.”

He turned to me, his eyes almost tearful. “As long as I live, I will never forget the next words out of his mouth. ‘Leave her there. Forget you ever saw her. With any luck, she’ll overdose soon.’”

My pulse quickened, and I wanted to shoot this motherfucker and save a bullet for Annie’s dad. Gabriel was in danger. I was a professional warrior; I knew how to control my emotions. But this was unbelievable. What if her father had a plot to get rid of him, destroy any proof of Annie’s past? I had to get Annie and Gabriel away from her family.

“Believe me, man. I begged him to reconsider. I told him we could detox her, and she’d be hailed as a survivor. And with therapy she could integrate back into society. He wouldn’t consider it. He firmly reminded me of the one million dollar non-disclosure agreement I’d signed. I didn’t have a fucking choice. I haven’t ever told anyone, until today. You can’t tell anyone—we have an unbreakable code.”

“I won’t.” He was right. We would never repeat what he was telling us to anyone. Especially since he knew we’d been the ones to rescue Annie. He could ruin our careers. If I hadn’t told him, he would’ve never talked to me. I needed to know the truth about Annie’s dad.

“I racked my brain, thinking of anything I could do to save her. Go rogue; convince my partner to back me. But he wouldn’t even discuss it, and I couldn’t do it myself. We were ordered to go back a final time to verify with one hundred percent certainty that it was Annie. Which we did.”

He paused and I wondered if he was reminiscing about fucking Annie, remembering her and Nicole going to town on each other. His own personal porno. I watched Matt’s thin lips and I pictured them all over Annie’s body. Her stroking his limp dick. My hand was on the trigger of my gun.

Give me an excuse to kill you motherfucker.

“Leaving them in that room was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Knowing I’d found them, but was abandoning them to die. I told the girls I was sorry, and walked out the door. When I returned to the States, I finished my remaining contracts and quit. I couldn’t work with people with no integrity. Private contract work is nothing like being in the Teams. There’s no morals, no law.”

I sat there in silence. Completely blown away. I couldn’t even process all the emotions I was feeling.

Finally, I broke the silence. “Nicole died. She overdosed six months later. She’d be alive today if you hadn’t been such a pussy.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I figured she did. I fucking hate myself, man. I drank myself into oblivion, started doing coke. Ended up in rehab. Don’t have a girl, or a job, living off the disability I get from the VA. I mean, being on the Teams was my life. I was a great SEAL. I’m sure you guys know that, if you did your research on me. Nothing was more important to me than being the best warrior I could be. I pushed away my girlfriend, my family, and my friends. Always used the excuse she couldn’t be faithful when I was away, or I would be a horrible husband because of my job. I stalked my ex on Facebook recently. She’s a great woman, married to a Marine, and has two beautiful boys. I fucking loved her, but I completely fucked that relationship up. Cheated on her, lied to her. Thought everyone should kiss the ground I walked on and take my bullshit because I was a SEAL. I used to be just like you guys, and now I’m the old Team guy in the bar, reliving my glory days when I play So Com in my apartment.”

I’d had enough. I didn’t want to listen to his sob story anymore. But every word he said resonated with me. “You could’ve saved her. Despite her dad. At least fucking told someone, anyone, she was alive. You condemned her to three more years of hell. And Nicole’s death is on you. There is no excuse for that. ‘I serve with honor on and off the battlefield.’ Remember our code?”

He squinted his eyes. “Don’t fucking judge me. You’re just like me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“No, Matt. I’m nothing like you. I met Annie in a brothel. Hired her. But unlike you, I came back. I saved her. I risked my job, my life, for her. That’s what we do. That’s our oath.”

I needed to get the fuck out of his truck. Imagining his hands all over my Annie made me want to pop him in the head. “I won’t tell anyone. Not for your sake, but for Annie’s. You better continue to keep your mouth shut.”

We exited the vehicle, and Matt began to change his tire. Vic, Kyle and I bailed shortly after. I’d given my word to Matt that I wouldn’t tell Annie I met him. And I never lied to SEALs, even former ones. I had to come up with another route. I needed to protect Annie and Gabriel from her father.