Chapter 19

It’s a joke, not a dick. Don’t take it so hard.

-Coffee Cup

Hancock

“You can’t do this, Hancock!” Sway screamed. “You’re not a freakin’ Special Forces guru! You’re a goddamned professional baseball player. You’ve never even been in the military! Seriously, you can’t do this! You could die!”

I looked at her, hollowness in my heart.

“You don’t understand,” I rasped. “If I don’t, how is he going to get home?”

She shook her head in defeat.

“I don’t know, but I know this isn’t the way,” she repeated. “Please don’t do this.”

I shouldered the bag on the bed.

“I love you, you know.”

Her eyes closed as a lone tear fell from her cheek.

“I know.” Her eyes flipped open. A little louder this time, she repeated it. “I know. And I love you, too. More than anything.”

I walked up to her and pulled her in close, my hand at the back of her head, fingers threaded through her long, tangled locks.

“I love you. Don’t leave my place. Stay here. Take care of my dog. Wait for me.”

Her eyes filled with more tears, and they slowly poured over.

“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

“This isn’t a mission, Sway,” My godfather butted in. “This is just him showing his face. Making people question him, and what they thought was happening.”

“There’s no way he’ll pass as his brother,” Sway replied stubbornly. “Anybody that knows who Hancock ‘Parts’ Peters is will realize this. The tattoos. There’s just no way he will pass as his brother.”

“We know this. They’ll put two and two together very easily,” Leslie agreed.

“Then what the hell is this accomplishing?” she pushed. “Why does he even need to go over there at all?”

Leslie sighed and took a seat, resigned now that he was going to have to explain it fully to her like he had to do to me last night.

I’d been in her very position before I’d come to bed last night, wondering how exactly I was supposed to help.

“The men that have Hannibal don’t watch baseball. They don’t know Hannibal has a twin, and they don’t care about anything that’s related to America. They have one purpose, and one purpose only, and that’s to lay destruction everywhere they go,” Leslie explained for the second time in twenty-four hours. “My hope is that getting him seen, out and about, flaunting the fact that he’s alive to the people who thought he was dead, it’ll draw out the people that we know are behind this. The men who have him were hired to ‘publicly take care of him’ but didn’t.” I winced at the ‘publicly take care of him’ part just as I had last night. “When they get nervous, my hope is that they’ll make the mistake of contacting whomever is behind our lines that initiated the operation in the first place, and provide us with a chance to catch whomever it is. I also hope they follow up with whomever has him now, and lead us to Hannibal’s exact location. We can’t do another goddamned mission with enemies at our six. We’re not going to survive the next time.”

“This is fantastical,” she shook her head. “And how do you plan on getting Hannibal from wherever he’s at? Do you even know where he’s at?”

I nodded as Leslie did, too.

“If our sources are correct, we know the general area. We just can’t run with it until we know for sure,” he paused. “We’ve been contacted a few times by an informant, and we’re investigating those leads. Which has led us to where we’re going with Hancock.”

“And where is this?” she asked carefully.

Leslie looked over to me, and I looked over to him.

“A weapon’s manufacturer for the US.”

She rubbed her eyes with clenched fists.

“This is a fucking mess, and I know it’s not going to play out like you’re hoping it will,” she murmured softly.

“Nothing in this business ever does,” Leslie gritted out. “You gotta go with the flow, and go where the wind takes you.”

Sway sighed.

“If you die,” she turned to me. “I’ll never forgive you. Never.”

My lips kicked up.

“How are you explaining this to your team?” she pushed.

“I have a month of emergency leave I’m taking,” I answered. “As far as anyone but you and Coach Siggy knows, I have a pulled groin, and you’ve ordered me out of the lineup for the next month.”

She dropped her head back to rest on my shoulder.

“This is going to get me fired,” she told him. “Or worse.”

“What could be worse?” I teased.

“I could be working under Sinclair.”

My chest started to vibrate as I tried in vain to keep my laughter inside.

“If Sinclair tries anything, I’ll get him fired before he can even laugh about it,” I promised her, wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her soft body into my chest.

Once she was where I wanted her, I pushed my bearded chin into the crook of her neck and rubbed.

She giggled and twisted, pulling out of my arms.

“Do you and Hannibal even look like each other?” she narrowed her eyes at me.

I grinned.

“We’re twins, baby.”

Sway stared at me.

“You have a beard,” she glared. “Is his beard as big as your beard?”

My lips twitched.

“Beards grow,” I told her. “And no, his beard is longer than my beard.”

She moved until she was pressed fully against me.

Once she was in my arms again, she lifted her hand until she cupped my face.

“I didn’t think I’d ever hear you admit that somebody else’s beard was bigger than yours.” She tugged lightly on my beard.

I snorted.

“It’s not like I’m admitting his dick is bigger than mine,” I pointed out.

Her eyes twinkled. “Maybe I like guys with bigger…beards.”

I yanked her in close, then dropped my mouth to hers.

“Be good, girl.”

Her eyes sobered, and she leaned forward to place her lips gently against mine.

“I will.”

“Love you, Half-Pint.”

Her eyes warmed.

“I love you, too, Parts.”