12
Soleil spotted Hank sitting at the bar, staring at his phone. He had earbuds in and his eyes had been locked on the screen for some time. He looked intense. Focused. Something was up, she was sure of it.
Caroline whooped and tucked a dollar into a strap on the stripper’s thigh. He sidestepped over to Soleil, tossed his long hair and undulated, thrusting his hips forward. She threw a dollar onto the stage and got up.
She approached Hank and sat next to him. Startled, he removed an earbud. “Good thing I haven’t needed you,” she said. “You’ve had eyes on nothing but your phone all night.” She ordered a glass of Merlot.
“Sorry,” Hank said.
“What’s so interesting?”
“Football game. USC has a Friday night game.”
Soleil nodded and smiled. She didn’t have much interest in sports.
“Looks like they’re enjoying themselves.” His gaze took in where Caroline and her girlfriends sat, enjoying the show.
Soleil glanced at Caroline and Luna. “Yes,” she said, then took a long sip of her wine. “Is it too soon to leave?”
He hesitated before he spoke, heightening her suspicions.
“That’s your call.”
She put a ten on the bar. “I’ll tell Caroline and Luna I have a headache.”
“I’ll get the car,” Hank said.
When they were on the road, Soleil turned to Hank and said, “Tell me now.”
Hank glanced over at her. “Tell you what?”
“What has Jake done, and how much danger is he in?”
* * *
Jake untied his jon boat from the dock, got in, and fired up the trolling motor. He grasped the handle and steered it out into the lagoon, heading straight for the location where the men had been seen the night before he was shot. Putting on a bullet-proof vest had been hell on his shoulder, and he’d ditched the sling so he’d have both hands free and because it wouldn’t fit over the thing. If he got shot again and didn’t die, he was certain Soleil and Caroline would finish the job.
“Any movement?” he asked in a low voice just loud enough to be heard through his communications unit. Noise traveled so easily over flat water.
“Affirmative,” A.J said into his earpiece. “Standby.”
Jake angled the boat toward the shore, intending to stay close to where Nate and his men were staked out. A bullet screamed past his ear. Jake fired off three shots as he ducked and dove into the water as all hell broke loose around him. He wasn’t far from shore, so he kicked hard, going down as far as he could before he swam forward as he’d been taught in covert diving school. The pressure on his broken collarbone was intense, but he ignored it. When he made it to the bank, Nate met him there while two other men shielded him as they ran for cover.
“We captured two shooters,” Nate said, “and we’re pursuing two more.” He touched his earpiece, listening, and said, “Three more gunmen spotted, check that, five tangoes, near the hot spot.”
“They’re guarding the stash,” Jake said. He touched his ear. “I lost my earpiece in the lagoon.”
“We got this, man. Relax,” Crowder said.
“Put a gun in my hand. Mine got wet and I’m not sitting here and watching,” Jake insisted.
Nate shook his head, but gave Jake his Glock 37. “Do not engage unless you’re forced to defend yourself.”
Jake nodded, enough adrenaline pumping through him that his shoulder had stopped hurting.
A few minutes later, Nate said, “Subjects in custody. Stand down. Repeat. Stand down. All subjects in custody.” He pumped his first in the air. “Good work, men. All available agents sweep the area, then return to base for transport.” He looked at the taller of the two men who had helped get Jake from the water. “Stone, take someone and retrieve Jake’s jon boat.”
“Roger that,” and the man moved toward the shore.
“He’s safe here with me,” Nate said into his microphone, looking at Jake.
“You’re bleeding dude.” The guy next to Jake said, pointing at his neck.
Jake touched the area and belatedly felt the sting. His fingers came back red. “I’m not shot,” he said, confused.
“Looks like maybe a bullet grazed your neck,” Nate said. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Hurts like hell,” he confirmed. He touched the place on his neck again. Shit. Soleil was going to be pissed. What the fuck, she’d be pissed anyway. No doubt, she and his daughter would be angry initially, but they’d be glad when he told them it was over.
“Let’s get you to a hospital. You’re gonna need to have that looked at.”
“It’s just a scratch. I’ll bandage it later.” Jake gave Nate his handgun. “I want to be there when you take these guys in.”
“I can give you a full report,” Nate countered.
Jake got frustrated. He wasn’t used to having his choices questioned. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to come along.”
“Suit yourself,” Nate said. “The local P.D. has transport just up the road to take the prisoners in, just up the road. I’m headed that way.”
Jake walked with Crowder. When they reached the van, the local P.D. had several men sitting on the ground, their hands secured behind their backs with zip cuffs. Crowder approached the head of the S.W.A.T. team. “Good work.” The two men shook hands. “This is Jake Stanton, the homeowner who was shot on the lagoon last week.”
“Ken Lawson.” The man shook Jake’s hand. “Thank you for helping us tonight. We’ve been after this ring for some time.”
“Who are they? What were they doing here?” Jake asked.
“Drug cartel. They’ve been smuggling in product from Central America and stashing it in an underground cavern near here.”
“A cavern? Here?” Jake said surprised.
“Yeah. It’s only accessible from under water.”
“That’s why Hank couldn’t see where they were going,” Nate explained.
“We’ve called our divers to go in and see what’s stashed there, but we’re sure it’s product,” Lawson said.
Jake nodded. “As a courtesy, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep me posted.”
“Of course,” Lawson agreed. “I understand you’re retired from the Army Special Forces, and that you trained soldiers as well.”
“That’s right.”
“We could use someone like you.”
Jake chuckled. “I’m trying to be retired.”
“Understood,” Lawson said. “But we regularly hire consultants. It would be an honor to work with you, sir.”
“I’ll give it some thought,” Jake said.
The man shook Jake’s hand. “Call anytime.”
After the commander walked away, Jake turned to Nate. “I’m going to walk home.”
“You sure? I can give you a ride.”
“I could use the exercise to release some of this adrenaline,” he said, but what he meant was he needed the time to figure out how he would explain this to Soleil.
Nate shook Jake’s hand. “Thank you for your help.”
“Hey!” One of the guys sitting on the ground called out. “You.”
Jake turned.
“That sweet piece of ass you got up at your place is hot.”
Jake didn’t move, but as a precaution, Nate grabbed his good arm and Lawson stepped between them.
“We were having us a good time watching her hanging around that camper, naked. And then you had to come along and spoil our fun.”
“You son of a bitch,” Jake went after the guy then, but the piece of shit wouldn’t shut up.
“Is she a good fuck? I bet her pussy tastes like—”
Jake struggled to get to the greasy perv, but Lawson yanked the man to his feet and shoved him into the transport van.
“Easy,” Nate said to Jake.
“I guess that explains why they didn’t bother the woman when she was on your property alone,” Lawson said. “The fuckers were spying on her.”
Another one of the men sitting on the ground said, “Aw, no, man. We were just keeping an eye on her, that’s all. A real close eye.”
Lawson stood that man up, too, and said to a couple of the S.W.A.T. team members, “Get these assholes out of here.”
Jake got control of his anger and walked away. At least they were all in custody now, and Soleil was safe. Everyone he loved would be safe. He didn’t expect Soleil to thank him, but he hoped she’d at least understand why he’d done it.
* * *
Soleil opened the door, stepped outside, and grabbed Jake’s vest, looking him over. He was bleeding from a cut on his neck, but it didn’t look serious, so she let her fury loose.
“I can’t believe what you did. Have you lost your damn mind?”
He grasped her arms, smiling. “We got them. It’s over.”
“What I know—what matters to me—is that you put yourself on the lagoon so crazy people with guns could use you for target practice.” Her whole body shook.
“It wasn’t like that. It was a controlled situation.”
“The hell it was,” she shouted.
He tapped his vest. “This isn’t a life jacket. I took precautions. There were more than fifty armed and highly-trained agents out there who had my back.”
Soleil poked the vest he’d just proclaimed had kept him safe. Jake winced. “What happens if they had shot you in the head?”
“Soleil, this is what I’m trained for,” he began. “Look, can we talk about this inside? I need to change. My shoulder is killing me.”
“Serves you right,” she snapped back, but his left arm hanging limply at his side worried her. “Where’s your immobilizer?”
“It didn’t work with the vest.”
Soleil spun and walked into the house, through the living room, past Hank, and into the bedroom. She slung her suitcase onto the bed, opened drawers, and grabbed her things, throwing them into it.
“What are you doing?” Jake asked from behind her.
“I would think that’s obvious.” She got another handful of clothes and tossed them toward the open bag on the bed. “You planned this and didn’t tell me, or your family, because you knew what we’d say.”
“Right,” he admitted.
He grasped her arm, but she wrenched it out of his hand. “Don’t touch me.”
“You’re angry. I get that.” He followed her around the room. “But I did this so you and Caroline wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She can have her wedding now without this hanging over her, and you can finally relax. Things can be normal again.”
Soleil stopped and glared at him. “It would have been hard for Caroline to celebrate her wedding if she’d had to begin the day identifying her father’s body at the morgue.”
“Now you’re being overly dramatic. I had hoped you’d think the end justified the means. Maybe after you’ve had time to calm down—”
“Really?” Her anger was escalating. “That’s what you think of me? That I just need to calm down so I can think logically? You think that’s going to excuse your stupid behavior?” she backed away, stunned.
“I think we both need to pause, take a breath, and look at this logically.”
His even tone pissed her off even more.
“And by ‘both’ you mean me because I’m an overly emotional female.” She shook her head. “This just keeps getting better.” She zipped her suitcase.
“This is exactly why I couldn’t tell you.” Jake threw his hands in the air. “I knew you’d react this way.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” She put her suitcase on the floor and rolled it to the door, but couldn’t leave because Jake got in her way.
“I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.” She shook her head. “I don’t suppose it really matters. The bottom line is you decided you couldn’t confide in me—”
“Soleil—”
“Because I’m not someone you can share difficult things with, and why should I be? I’m just someone you fucked. You don’t know me at all,” she finished. Her heart felt heavy inside her chest. Tears stung her eyes and her throat burned, but she refused to let him see her cry. “Give anything I left to Hank,” she said and pushed past him.
“Soleil, wait!”
“Hank, could you please take me to a hotel?”
Hank shot a look from her to Jake and then to her again. “Sure.”
She didn’t stop but continued outside to Hank’s SUV. He lifted her suitcase up into the car while she opened the door to get in, but Jake was there, blocking her from shutting it. “You can’t believe that’s what I think of you.”
“Hank?” Soleil called out.
Jake’s friend got between him and Soleil. “Let her go,” he said quietly. It took a minute, but when Jake finally stepped out of the way, Hank shut the door. The two men spoke while Soleil looked straight ahead—she had to because she couldn’t trust herself to look at him. The pain was too raw.
When Hank got in the car, he asked, “Where to?”
“Anywhere,” Soleil said.