* * *

“Don’t forget the Macs.” The Macmillan one eighty eight is a long range lethal weapon that can take out anything in its path no matter how big or small.

“And the M14 battle rifles.” I called out to Ty and Zak as we entered the weapons room we’d set up in the basement of the mansion.

“What do we look like, new fools or some fuck? Get the hell outta here.” Zak checked the glock he held in his hand before placing it in the cache with the other weapons he’d already loaded.

It was almost disheartening to see that shit on our homeland. Never thought anyone would bring the fight to us. But we’re navy, we’re always prepared for whatever.

“If it isn’t bitch made number four.” I guess he was taking himself out of the equation.

“I’ll take that Ty. If this is what it means to be bitch made then I’m all in.”

“I’m happy for you brother. She looks solid.” Zak bumped my fist and went back to what he was doing.

“Yeah, but in the stakes of in laws you’re fucked.” Ty was right, their women had just as little to do with their families as we did ours, but there was no mistaking the fact that Kelly and her dad were close.

“Fuck, I’m trying not to think about that.”

“He’s a SEAL he’ll be fine.” Dev said as he walked over to help Ty and we switched gears from talk of women to what the hell we were gonna do about the shit that was going on.

* * *

Her dad the admiral showed up an hour later with his wife in tow. She made a beeline for her daughter as soon as we opened the gate to let them in, while her husband stood back and watched the two of them.

He barely spared a glance for the rest of us and I had no doubt he knew all our faces, at least the teams’ anyway.

I kept my eyes on Kelly the whole time and felt the second she broke. I’d felt the warning just before they appeared at the gate but hadn’t had time to investigate, but already I knew it had something to do with her.

Since she was safe behind these walls and I knew there was no force on earth that could get to her with me there, I knew it wasn’t physical danger.

I paid attention to the signs now that I knew what her signature was. There are different levels to this shit, kind of like a rating system of sorts.

It had only activated during combat in the past, but hers was off the fucking charts. I really needed to remember that legend and all that I had in store.

There was no one to call so I’ll have to wing it on my own. Hopefully there won’t be anymore nasty surprises.

This latest one manifested itself as a slight tingling under my skin and I braced myself until I saw her fall into her dad’s arms.

As soon as they went around her she burst into tears. I made an involuntary step towards them and he raised his brow at me over her shoulder before turning his attention back to her.

I gritted my teeth and held my ground even though the sound of her tears tore a hole in my gut. Lo gave me a look, like, stand down, and Dev put his hand on my shoulder. Fuck me what is this?

“It’s okay pumpkin, you’re safe now.” He held her until she calmed down and I had to stand there and watch while she fell apart.

I was as surprised as everyone else when she left him and came to me after they exchanged a few whispered words.

There was no mistaking the feeling of pride that swelled my chest, or the way I felt when she took my hand in hers.

I half expected the admiral to object but instead he just shared a look with his wife before turning to the others.

“Right, where you keeping these dead men walking assholes?” Lo took point and showed him the way while the rest of us fell in behind them.

I released her to go to her mother who still needed reassurance that her kid was okay. They looked alike, Kelly and her mom.

And her mom at least looked a little less frightening than her husband, when she looked back at me with a smile.

The admiral made the mistake of telling his wife he thought she should join the other women, but there was no mistaking the look she threw him.

This man of whom I’d heard so many stories of valor just shook his head, sighed and gave up.

Shots fired and she didn’t even have to open her mouth.

Damn, I was beginning to understand what my brothers have been dealing with all these months and weeks.

That thought was followed by the sobering realization that this was going to be my life from now on.

We had a little meet while we sent the women ahead of us to wait at the cottage door. We filled the admiral in with a quick summary of what we had so far.

“I know exactly what I’m gonna do with them. I got a few calls before I left the house. Seems that at least one of the daughters of each of the men from my old team were taken. I know you have to have something on this by now, but we’ll deal with that later. Take me to them.”

“Wait you said you knew what to do with them?” He wasn’t planning on killing them was he? It takes time to bury bodies so that even sonar can’t find them, and time we do not have.

“I came down The Ditch by boat, they’ll be leaving with me. The others are going to meet me and we’ll take it from there.” By others I took it to mean the other dads, men from the CO’s team.

“Lieutenant, you said the girls should go into hiding, you have a place in mind?” I told him about Thorpe and he looked towards Mancini for some reason.

“You I know but who are you?” He looked at Lyon who was reading something on his phone.

“Who me? I’m not that well known. I do all my fighting on domestic soil, never signed up.”

He went back to messing with his phone and it was Mancini’s turn to ask a question.

“How do you know me?” Mancini asked. It was obvious that the admiral would know Law and Creed, they were military, but I too was interested in how he knew the elusive Mancini.

He just smirked at Mancini who wasn’t looking too pleased. “I know your boss.”

That seemed to settle Mancini’s ruffled feathers not to mention from the look Lo passed the rest of us, sent Mancini up another notch in the trustworthy stacks.

We’d accepted him from what we’d learned so far, but the admiral had all but given him a ringing endorsement with just those few words.

I acknowledged Lo’s unspoken statement and we got back on track. “We have to move admiral, time is of the essence.” Plus the women looked like they’d had enough of standing around waiting.

It was a different man who followed us into the cottage. Gone was the easy-going father and in his place was pure warrior.

I’d expected him to be older because of his rank and his years in service, but he couldn’t be more than early fifties.

He looked much younger, and so did his wife who was her daughter’s mirror image. And seeing him here only brought back memories of the CO.

He stood in front of the four men who were still standing against the wall under guard, his stance like that of a shipmaster. It was obvious he’d spent some time at sea.

He studied the men wordlessly for the longest while until he turned to look at his daughter.

“Which one?” Did he always speak in half sentences?

It didn’t matter; she knew exactly what he was asking as was made obvious when she pointed out the kid who’d manhandled her on the beach. He stepped in closer until their noses nearly touched.

“You drug my kid?” The guy looked pitiful enough that I almost felt sorry for him.

“I…no, it was…” He looked to the guy next to him.

“You were drugged? You didn’t tell me that.”

I glared at her and she shrugged. I looked from her to the asshole wishing now that I had done more than rough him up a little.

“How did you know she was drugged sir?”

“Because there’s no way any of these punk assholes could’ve taken her otherwise.” He answered me before turning his attention back to his prey.

“I hear you have temporary amnesia. I’m gonna give you five seconds to get that shit gone or I’m gonna pull your lungs through your fucking navel.” He cracked his knuckles and started the countdown and no one in the room doubted that he was gonna do exactly what he said.

I guess the kid saw that too because his eyes went wide and he swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat. McCullum made a move towards his throat and he started talking fast.

“Okay-okay, look. I have a cousin in the Midwest.” He named the town and my team and all the men who’d been at Law’s went on alert. We’d come full circle again.

“He called and asked for a favor.” He had to stop before he choked on his own spit and it was becoming more and more clear that this kid was no mastermind.

“Go on.” The admiral encouraged him when it looked like he couldn’t go any farther.

“He asked me to help this other guy take the girl but I wasn’t in charge.”

“Who is?” He shifted his eyes to the side and the Admiral moved two men down to the man he’d indicated.

“So, who’re you working for?” He looked like he could be trouble but I guess a room full of men who looked like they’d eat his guts for dinner changed his mind.

“I don’t know the head guy in charge and that’s the truth. I get my orders by phone. They tell me who and where, send me a picture and that’s it. We work as a team.”

“Keep talking tell me about this team.”

“It’s usually a two man team. We coordinate with the other teams in different areas and then all the girls are taken to a secure location where another team drives them to the safe house until it’s time for them to…”

So that’s how they do it. Now it was my turn to do some questioning of my own. “What was the final destination? And don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“Um, I heard some talk. They go all over the place but this last bunch was special, they were going to the Middle-East somewhere and that’s all I know I swear.”

I looked at my brothers. That was all the confirmation we needed. If there’d been any doubt that Khalil was behind this it was long gone now.

“This bunch? How many of these runs have you made?” Now he was looking real nervous as if he’d had a hope in hell of getting out of this mess.

“A few but we didn’t know…”

“If you’re about to lie to me don’t.” Asshole was lucky that we had women and children here and we were strapped for time.

As it stood, we’d already decided to lock their asses away somewhere until this thing was done. There was no doubt that the alarm had been rung by now unless they were complete incompetents.