Chapter 1
Saul Kreschner drove into the compound, the truck full of supplies. He’d been to Houston to pick up a couple parts that Ice needed for one of the helicopters. As he slowed to a stop and pulled off to the side, he frowned at the rushed activity going on around him. Something was up. He knew two teams headed out today, but that didn’t account for the hard looks on various faces. He opened the truck door, hopped out and walked to where Levi talked to Merk.
Levi faced Saul. “Pack up, ready to go in twenty.”
Saul nodded. “Going where?”
“West Coast. Not sure past that. Benji, a friend of ours from my old unit, his kid brother has gone missing. The team is heading out to help him.”
Saul nodded. “I’ll go pack.” He raced inside and headed to his room, not hearing anything about Benji’s brother until now. He focused on what he knew about Benji. As Levi was legendary, anyone associated with him was notorious. Benji was a little more so than most. The guy was supposedly massive, bigger than Stone. But with that huge baby face of his, he was said to have an angelic smile that could coax the clothes off any woman. Saul had never met Benji in real life; Saul just knew the man was one hell of a SEAL. That was good enough for Saul.
When one of them needed help, they all stepped up to answer.
Benji’s personal association with Levi and Ice meant everything else would get dropped to help Benji and his kid brother. Those other security jobs were business, but this was about friends and family, which were everything to SEALs. The families of the men they served with were included as well. For SEALs, brotherhood was paramount.
Saul was in the kitchen within fifteen minutes to find Alfred busy packing baskets. He dropped his duffel bag near the breakfast nook. “I guess those are for me, huh?”
Alfred pointed to the muffins and coffee. “You’ll be airborne within an hour, so you can grab a snack if you need to, but these are for the other guys.”
Saul nodded. “Don’t know how you do it, Alfred. Isn’t it time you got yourself some full-time help here?”
“Maybe,” Alfred said with a half smile. “I have a niece I was thinking of. Maybe I’ll talk to Levi about it.”
“If she’s anything like her uncle Alfred, sounds like she could be a good fit.”
“Yes,” Alfred said with one bob of his head. “But I’m not sure it’d be fair to her. A lot of unattached males are around here. And, at the rate they are pairing up, she might be seen as available, yet she’s not. Not yet.”
“Are you afraid she might get in a relationship with one or us or that she might be too late to snatch one of us up?” Saul teased. He knew as well as Alfred did that all the men here were good solid men.
Alfred chuckled. “The lucky man would be given a treasure, as if from above, and she would be blessed to become a part of this, my extended family. But the … timing may be wrong for her.”
Though Saul liked to think any woman would be happy to be here with him, he wasn’t so arrogant as to say that. He was one of the unattached males. Dakota was another. Sierra’s brother, Jarrod, had been back and forth many times, visiting. He was still single. At the rate Levi’s company expanded its personnel roster, Saul wouldn’t be surprised if another half-dozen men joined them.
He retrieved his duffel, grabbed a cup of coffee, two muffins and headed outside. Dakota was already in the truck. Placing his bag in the back, Saul hopped in. Merk stood nearby, talking to Levi and Ice. Saul could barely hear their conversation.
“We’ll connect with the local authorities in San Diego as needed, probably set up our base at one of the usual hotels,” Merk said. “I don’t want to disturb Richard with this if we don’t need to.”
“Richard is not in town,” Ice said to Merk as Saul listened in. “He’s at a conference in Geneva. Foster said the house is yours to stay in. I’m sending four men—Saul, Dakota, you and Stone. But, in case this ends up being something minor, I have a couple other issues for you to look at when you’re over there.”
Saul frowned. Did Ice just try to make good use of their time out west? Was something else going on? They’d had several California cases lately. He’d been happy to move from California to Texas after Harrison’s case. Saul had done several runs for Levi since, and this would be Saul’s first chance to return to California since the move. He’d hoped to visit with his mother, but she was on a cruise this week. Just the two of them were left now. He hated to see her alone so much of the time, although she apparently enjoyed her lifestyle, which included a lot of traveling. They kept in touch via phone calls, so he knew she wasn’t missing him.
“What issues?”
“A look at a few new recruits.”
As one of the two newest additions to the team, that surprised Saul. But he had to admit that Levi was incredibly busy. “If you’re looking for more men, I have a couple of friends that you should consider. One took medical leave but is since on his feet again – that’s Kris. And Theo left just after Saul and I did.”
“Good to know. I’ll do some research on them both while you’re gone. We’ll talk when you get back about them.” She smiled. “Maybe you won’t have to meet the men in California then. We’ll see how the job goes.”
Merk walked over then, took one look at Dakota and said, “I’ll drive.”
Dakota nodded and hopped into the back of the double-cab truck. Saul already knew how this would work. He saw Stone approach. Saul vacated his seat and sat in the back with Dakota.
Stone raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Saul shrugged and said with a grin, “We rookies try to show a little bit of respect for our elders.”
Stone chuckled. “Glad to see you know your place.”
Once on the move, Stone handed out several sheets of paper. “This is what we know. And it’s damn little. Benji got a phone call from his brother at 11:00 p.m. two nights ago. Everything appeared normal, and they arranged for breakfast the next morning. When Benji showed up for breakfast, his brother was a no-show. He called him but got no answer. He returned to his brother’s apartment. No answer at the door there either. His brother had either skipped breakfast or just forgot about it. Benji didn’t think anything of it. He continued to call, text and stop by his brother’s apartment, yet again, at the end of the day. Finally he broke into his brother’s apartment to find it completely empty. Totally cleaned out, ready to rent to somebody else. As far as Benji understood, his brother had been there twenty-four hours earlier. Benji has seen his brother off and on in the months prior and had even been at the apartment. All had been normal. He’s called the police, reported his brother as missing and the cops brought in forensics. No word as to any evidence they may have found at this time.”
Saul stared at him. “Do we know for sure it was his brother who called him?”
Stone smiled. “Good question. Benji believes it was. Daniel’s number came up on his cell phone. But was it Daniel speaking?” Stone shrugged. “We have to figure that one out.”
“Is Benji in trouble?”
“He’s with the brass right now. He should get through this without any trouble, and he’s to ship out today for another mission. To stay in and to keep his nose clean, he needs to do that mission. So he called in the next best thing, which is us.”
“That works. So who is his brother?” Saul asked. “What does he do for a living? And why the hell would he book it and leave his brother without telling him anything about it?”
Dakota, sitting beside Saul, asked, “What’s the basics? Younger brother, older brother, how old, same parents or stepbrother? What do we know?” He looked through the pages he held in his hands. “All that’s missing on these sheets …”
Saul studied the couple pages clipped together in his hands. “He’s a programmer?”
“Yes,” Merk said. “And that always makes our job much harder.”
Saul nodded. If Daniel was a good programmer, could he hide his tracks? “So we need to determine if he left on his own, if he left because he felt it was his only option or if he was kidnapped.”
“Or murdered,” Merk said quietly. “I’ve known Benji since we were kids. That brother of his always skirted the outside fringes of the law. He seemed to straighten up but then occasionally took a dip on the wrong side again.”
“So it could be as simple as a drug deal gone wrong, should the brother be into that, or having an affair with the wrong married woman.”
“And both of those have been issues in Daniel’s past,” Stone said. “We’ve known Benji for a long time. Because of that, all Benji’s family members tend to become part of our group in some way or another.”
“Daniel used to laugh at Benji for all his patriotism. Daniel’s the opposite of Benji—the kind of guy who would’nt ha made it into the military. Daniel’s completely undisciplined, a bit of a wild card, always thumbing his nose at authority and doesn’t believe the rules apply to him,” Merk added.
“Okay, so what’s one of the good things about this guy?” Dakota asked.
“He’s a good father,” Merk admitted. “He has a four-year-old. Although Daniel’s no longer living with the mother, he pays child support and is very heavily involved in the little boy’s life. He visits on alternate weekends as well as picks up and delivers the little boy to school on the days his mother can’t. They play soccer together. He’s got him in Little League baseball.”
“Interesting. So, walking on the wild side, but, when it came down to it, he bellied up and stepped up to be a man.” Saul always found it interesting how the bad boys ended up not being so bad when it came to looking after their own. “That’s good to know.” He went through the few stats they had. “He got a DUI?”
“Yes, ten years ago. So far we have no leads on what could have happened now,” Merk added. They were almost at the airport.
Saul studied the terrain outside and murmured, “Does Benji have any idea where his brother would’ve gone to ground or why?”
“All Benji knows is, somewhere between making plans for breakfast and meeting for breakfast, his brother either bolted or was removed against his will.”
That brought up another question. “Okay, I don’t know Benji as well as you guys do. He’s got some notoriety within the military, but what I need to know is, is he blind to his brother’s faults?”
Merk shook his head. “Benji is very basic. He’s hauled his brother’s sorry ass out of the ditch more times than he cares to admit. But, when his little nephew Judson was born, he was proud to see his brother stepping up to be a good father. So Benji understands exactly who and what his brother is.”
“And does he know if his brother is hooked up in any shady drug deals or has borrowed money from the wrong person?”
“No, Benji says their relationship was getting stronger these last few months, and he thought maybe his brother was settling down. Daniel never mentioned any trouble, never showed any stress or sign he was up against something he couldn’t handle. He was always cocksure and arrogant. But lately he’d been less arrogant, yet happier.”
Saul slouched against the seat and thought about that. Often happier meant settled in a relationship. “He’s no longer with the mother of his child. Does he have a new relationship?”
“Benji thought Daniel was seeing someone after the breakup with Judson’s mom, but that didn’t last. Benji doesn’t know if there was anyone recently. If anybody has any idea what might be going on in Daniel’s life, it would be a girlfriend for sure.”
“And then potentially it’s not Daniel who did something wrong, but, just by association, this woman may have an ex in her life who won’t tolerate any competition.”
Merk made a left turn, taking them around to the long-term airport parking. “This could end up messy. Ice is already checking out all the local morgues for any John Does, just in case.”
“Such an ugly thought.” Saul said as Merk parked the car. Saul hopped from the truck, grabbed his duffel bag, threw it over his shoulder and walked around to the front of the truck where the rest of the men had converged.
An hour later they were on a plane heading west. Saul had done this trip many times. He didn’t object to any kind of traveling. He liked to use the time to sort through some hypotheses.
He leaned across the aisle. “Merk, do we know anything about Benji’s parents?”
Merk nodded. “Both retired, doing a lot of RVing right now, traveling across the country. They sold their house, gave away all their extra belongings and live in their motor home.”
“Could Daniel be staying with them?”
Merk shook his head. “No, that’s not in the cards.”
Saul straightened in his seat and reached into his bag, pulling out a notepad. He was a great list-maker. He wrote down the possibilities as they flowed through his mind, adding options and action steps they needed to take. One—find any girlfriends. Two—check with neighbors, see what activity they noticed at the apartment over the last few weeks. Three—check brother’s place of employment. When was he last at work? What was his mood and attitude? Did anybody know where he’d gone? Where else he might be living? Four—find his vehicle. Five—check the banks and credit cards. He put an asterisk beside the last one. Ice could do that; probably already had.
“How long we got allotted for this?”
“Two days to start, to see what information comes to light,” Merk said. “Longer—as long as necessary—up to a point.”
Saul nodded. Anything for friends, but still their available time had limits. If they were doing something effective, that was no problem. The minute it stopped being productive use of their time, then there was a problem.
He kept writing down his thoughts, looking at the options, at all the things that could’ve gone wrong. When his brain calmed, he set aside his pen and stared past Stone out the small window to the plane. That made him think, what about Daniel booking a flight? Saul quickly picked up his pen and wrote a note to check if Daniel’s passport had been used, just in case Daniel made a cash purchase of airline tickets. Then the transaction wouldn’t show up when Ice ran his credit cards. Maybe he’d left the country.
Merk held out a hand. “May I see that?”
Saul looked at him. “It’s just random thoughts.”
“Still I’d like to see it, please.”
Saul handed over his list.
Merk read a couple of the top items out loud.
“Don’t know how you can read my chicken scratches.”
“No problem.”
Saul shrugged and settled back. He hadn’t meant anybody to read it. They were just notes for himself.
When Merk got to the bottom and returned his notepad, he said, “Well done.”
*
Rebel Matheson slipped around the corner of the building, her breath catching in the back of her throat. Four men approached Daniel Longmire’s apartment complex. Strangers. Big tough badass-looking brutes. She had trouble maintaining 110 pounds when soaking wet. The last thing she wanted was to confront any of those men. But she’d been in tough spots before. Lots of them. It usually took luck and brains to get out of them. She had a black belt in karate, but some things even that wouldn’t solve. Still this was the first interesting thing to show up in the last couple days. Daniel’s brother, Benji, had been by a few times, but she’d avoided talking to him after the first time. Did he realize the serious trouble his brother was in right now? You could stick your head in the sand and ignore situations for only so long.
She waited until she thought it was safe, then peeked around the corner. One of the men—Icelandic, tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a T-shirt that hid none of the well-built muscle underneath—stared in her direction. She withdrew quickly, spun and bolted in the opposite direction. She raced around to the rear of the apartment building, deliberately avoiding her car, and ducked between several vehicles. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong, but she’d learned to listen to her instincts a long time ago. Something in the man’s gaze said, if he ever caught her, he wouldn’t let her go without an explanation. And she couldn’t give a good one.
Too much deceit and lies were happening right now. She didn’t know who those four guys were or who they worked for, but that one tank of a guy looked like the muscle. Yet the blond guy she had shared a quick gaze with, so far, by the intelligence she saw in his eyes, she guessed he had an analytical mind. She just wasn’t sure whether they were good guys or bad guys at this point.
She debated rolling under the truck beside her—the only way she could nearly disappear. Even then, the blond guy looked like the kind who would know to check if she were hiding there. She finally stood, after ten long minutes, and popped her head up to look cautiously around. When she saw no sign of anybody, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then turned to slip away between the two vehicles.
And came up hard against a big chest. Instantly she knew who it was. She tried to evade him, only to have hands come down around her arms. Just as she went to kick him in the shin, she was spun sideways and pinned against the vehicle. His grip made sure she couldn’t possibly get away, yet was also gentle.
“Saul? Find anything?”
“A woman, hiding around the corner, watching us from up front, but bolted when she saw me,” he told the man behind him. “Not certain who she is, but I’m pretty damn sure she’s keeping watch on the building.”
A man, almost the same size as Benji, said, “Bring her over here.”
Slowly, reluctantly, she was walked over to where the three other men stood. She frowned at them. Attitude wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was about all she had right now. She’d been known to wield it with such finesse that even her mother stopped arguing with her. “Do you always go around attacking people?” she asked them in general.
“Nobody attacked you,” one of the other men said gently. “But, if you’re involved in the disappearance of Daniel Longmire, then that’s an entirely different story. We’ll be taking you to the police station to discuss it in greater detail.”
She could feel the panic flooding her. “I had nothing to do with his disappearance.”
“Interesting. So you know Daniel then?” asked the man behind her.
She shrugged off his hold and turned to glare at him. “Yes, but not well. And I wouldn’t want to know Daniel any better. The man’s a piece of shit, and, if someone ran him over and tossed him in a ditch, I’d be okay with that.”