CHAPTER FOUR
ZQ and JJ trod toward Grey and Athena’s house, still discussing how ZQ would need to compartmentalize himself for the upcoming mission. JJ opened the back door and ZQ stepped inside. Both their hosts were in the kitchen, concern on their faces.
Grey’s narrowed eyes slowly registered the realization of the facts. His gaze ricocheted from the youngster next to him to ZQ and back to the boy again. “I will be damned,” he said slowly.
The dark-haired child stepped behind Grey, as if he were scared. Even so, he kept peeking with wide brown eyes around Grey’s leg to study ZQ. I’ve seen that face before in my Kindergarten picture Mom has in a frame at the ranch.
“Quinn, no need to hide.” Grey edged the boy from behind him. “Come say hello to ZQ. He’s a friend of mine.”
He stepped around Grey. He widened his little stance, crossed his arms and stared.
“Fuck me blind,” JJ whispered. “There’s no doubt in my mind. The kid’s even got your hell raising stance down. Damn, must be in your Apache DNA.”
ZQ’s chest swelled with pride. He had a son. “Go inform the others, but tell them not to overwhelm the kid and to give us some time.”
“Yes, sir.” JJ jogged down the steps.
A Native voice ZQ used to hear every night at bedtime beat through his veins. “You are my son. Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, blood of my blood. Your spirit is strong like mine. Like our people who walked Mother Earth before us. You make me proud.” His Apache father, Austin Eagle-Feather Quinlan, was the best dad a kid could ask for. ZQ realized he was trembling, humbled by this little boy, who in some ways reminded him of his father.
I’m gonna need your help here, Dad. Even if you are on the other side. Help me be half the father you were.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Quinn. You’re a strong-looking boy for a four-year-old.”
Little Quinn tugged on the hem of Grey’s shorts and whispered something to him.
“Quinn wants to know if you’ll come down to his size. Looking up at you hurts his neck.”
Shit, why hadn’t he thought of that? He had a lot to learn. “Yeah, I’m a six-foot-six mass of quivering jello right about now.”
Athena pointed a finger at ZQ. “So you’re the man who hurt—” Grey wrapped his arm around her and whispered in her ear. The woman didn’t look too happy. She jerked out of his embrace. “I helped Ivy through labor until she couldn’t take the pain anymore and had to have a c-section. I walked the floor with Quinn when he suffered with ear infections and taught him how to throw a ball. Where the hell was he?” Her accusing finger aimed at ZQ again.
“In a state of total ignorance, believe me. Or hell couldn’t have kept me away.” He dropped to his knees and smiled at his son, wearing a red t-shirt with a black Darth Vadar decal on it and khaki cargo shorts.
Quinn slowly walked to stand between ZQ’s spread knees. The child shyly studied his face and with a small index finger trailed the scar through ZQ’s thick eyebrow. “Ebwy night, I ask my mommy to tell me my daddy stowy.”
“Oh? What story does she tell you?” That I’m a no good ass who ran out on her?
“My daddy is a giant Apache with dawk hair and bwack eyes. He wouldn’t wet anyone hurt her. ՚Cause—” he swallowed in childhood excitement, “—՚cause he was weal strong. He has a scar thwough his eyebrow and a deep waugh because he’s nice.” He got quiet and stared at his sandals. “See my new shoes?” He stuck out a foot and put his hand on ZQ’s shoulder to balance himself.
The new father tried to keep up with the jump in conversation topic and nodded so the boy would keep talking. “They’re Spidewman sandals. Wook. See him shoot out his web?”
What a kid. What a sweet kid. ZQ laughed. “Yes, I see them. I like Spidey.”
“Mommy says my daddy does, too. I’ve wanted to see my daddy for a wong time.” He stared deep into ZQ’s eyes. “Mommy says it’s wong to wie.” He took a deep breath. “Aw you my daddy?”
“Yes, I am.” The kid didn’t waste any time getting to the heart of the matter. Did he feel a connection? There was so little of his mother in him. His physical features were all ZQ’s.
“Where have you been?” The child’s chin jutted as if he’d born the pain of his dad’s absence. As if he’d been rejected.
It was an honest question his son certainly deserved the answer to. One that made him feel lower than a snake’s stomach. Could he make this child understand?
He shifted, stretching out his legs. “I had to go fight the enemy. I was in a country on the other side of the world when I got part of my foot shot off. Then I was in the hospital for a long time, learning how to walk with an artificial foot.” He wasn’t so sure his boy would understand all that.
Quinn sat cross-legged between ZQ’s feet and looked at his identical boots. “Show me.”
That’s it kid; never take anyone’s word without seeing some proof. ZQ unlaced the boot over his prosthesis and pulled it off. Then he removed his sock. His son leaned forward and touched the molded plastic foot.
“I have two more, Quinn. One style for running and another for swimming.”
The child kept rubbing ZQ’s fake foot and where it attached to his leg. His gase zeroed onto ZQ’s. “Did you mean what you said? Are you weally my daddy?” He stood, his little body almost trembling with eagerness.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, son. You’re my boy.”
Quinn gasped and threw himself at ZQ. He put a chokehold of skinny arms around his neck—and his heart. “At wast I get to meet my daddy!”
ZQ wiped moisture from his cheeks. “Yes, son. And I get to meet you.” In that special moment, he learned the true meaning of love at first sight.
Quinn burrowed his face against ZQ’s neck. “Someone took my mommy. Will you get her back fow me? I miss hew.”
Grey’s cell rang and he walked into the living room to talk.
“Daddy”—and didn’t that sound hellacious strange coming from his lips?—“is here with some friends to go find her and bring her back to you. I can’t promise, but we’ll do our very best. Okay?”
Grey handed him a piece of paper on which he’d scribbled. “Quinn’s babysitter stopped by Ivy’s house to get him a toy he’s been asking for. The place was ransacked. Two pictures of Quinn were taken off shelves. Now the abductors know about him.”
Temper and fear joined hands and rippled through his system. No one. Dammit to hell, no one would touch his son. He’d do his best to keep him safe. He stood with his arms around the boy and silently paced—one boot on, one off—as he kept kissing Quinn’s hair, face and neck, trying his best to make up for all the kisses in this little boy’s life he’d missed.
Think! Think, man, think. How are you going to protect him? How? The ranch.
He could contact U.S. Marshal Clint Silver, who lived in Warrior Falls a small town near his ranch. Clint was used to taking people into the witness protection program. Although this was a different circumstance, maybe he could talk Athena into flying along with little Quinn to Texas. He nodded. Yes. Yes, that would work.
“Hey,” he whispered in Quinn’s ear. “Are you monkey enough to crawl around to my back and wrap your arms and legs around me for a while?”
Quinn giggled as he squirmed into position.
“I think that’ll be my secret nickname for you. Monkey.”
“Will you stay wif us now? Mommy said you were a special soldier.”
Grey guffawed at the soldier versus sailor insult. “Him a soldier?”
ZQ flipped the page over his friend had handed him earlier and started writing. “No, Monkey. I was a special sailor. The best kind. A SEAL.”
A small dark head leaned into ZQ’s peripheral vision. “Mommy takes me to the Aquawium sometimes to wook at the fishes. I seen seals der. You don’t wook wike dem.”
“You’re right. I don’t, but I can swim just as good. A sailor is a type of warrior who fights mostly on the water. The best sailors get to fight on the sea, in the air, and on land. That’s why we’re called SEALs, because the places we work spell out the word ‘SEAL.’ It’s like a nickname.”
“But…but will you stay wif us wike Jacob’s daddy does wif dem?”
Hell, right now his boy was no longer safe in his own house. Maybe even in all of Tampa. “Well, we’ll see. Mommy and I have a lot of talking to do.” He slapped the paper on the kitchen island in front of Athena and Grey. Their heads came together like magnets while they examined it. At one point, Athena glanced at ZQ with daggers of anger shooting from her eyes before she continued to read.
He leaned and grabbed Quinn, shifting him around before tossing him in the air. The owners of the Omega Team discussed the validity of his ideas while high-pitched, childhood giggling bounced off the walls.
Evidently the laughter cued the guys in the basement they could make an appearance now. JJ had Nance on a leash when all the men came up the steps. His team lined up, at attention. “Men, I want you to meet my son, Quinn.” Pride filled ZQ’s words, almost to the point of choking. He placed the boy on the floor in front of him and wrapped his hands across his narrow chest, pulling him back against his legs. “Monkey, can you go to each SEAL and shake his hand? All of them are Daddy’s friends.”
“Can you make dem get down lowew?”
ZQ laughed. “To your knees, men. You tall dudes make my son’s neck hurt.”
While Quinn was busy, he put his sock and boot back on before he turned his attention to Athena. She’d be the one to convince to his scheme. No doubt, she’d balk. “What do you two think?”
Her hand rose to her hip. “I think I can fly a little boy to Austin without the help of a U.S. Marshal. I’ll stay at the ranch with Quinn. Ivy would want me to do that.”
“You know Ivy. I know Rose. Same woman; different situations. I defer to your judgment. I’ll have Clint pick you two up at the airport. Can you get online and order tickets for you and Quinn so I can give Clint an arrival time when I call him?” She nodded and strode for the bank of computers in the living room. ZQ followed her and slapped his charge card next to her keyboard. “Use this as payment. Grey, do you have a burner I can use?”
First he texted Clint using his own phone. “Incoming call on burner. It’s me. Important.” He waited a minute and dialed Clint’s number on the throw-away phone.
“Hello? Son, what’s going on?” The man’s authoritative voice boomed over the wireless.
“Are you ready for this?” He glanced in the kitchen and smiled at his son rubbing his fingers through Titan’s stiff red curls. Titan discreetly gave the rest of the guys the finger when they laughed at Quinn’s reaction to his stiff hair. “Before I left for Afghanistan, the mission where I lost my foot, I was dating a very special woman.”
Clint coughed. “Uh-huh. Dating or dominating?”
Well hell, did he have “Dom” tattooed on his forehead? “She knew I was a SEAL, but not my rank. I told her my name was Quinn. She told me her name was Rose.”
“I’m gonna need a beer for this, aren’t I?”
“When my unit was called up, all I could tell her was I was leaving on a mission. Neither one of us knew she was pregnant.”
“Two beers,” Clint sighed.
“When we lost touch, she moved to Tampa, became an Assistant D. A.”
“Three beers and you better give me her name.” The marshal would evidently look the woman up. The man had a lot of information at his disposal.
“Ivy Rosemoor.” He spelled out the last name. “While you’re at it, look up the Muñoz cartel and Cartagena.”
“What does she have to do with that gang of cut-throat drug dealers? We’ve been trying to get a handle on them for the past two, three years.”
“Well, Clint, you better start working with a certain Assistant D.A. if we can find where they’ve taken her and bring her back to the States. Which is why I’m calling you. They’ve been in her house and found pictures of her son. My son. We need to get him to safety.”
“Tell me what you want me to do and it’s as good as done.”
Athena handed him the airline tickets she’d printed out and ZQ gave Clint the time of their arrival. “Now, to call Mom.”
“Well, good luck with that. You know how badly she wants a grandchild.”
ZQ sent a text to Elroy, his ranch foreman, to go in the house with his mother and to insist she answer the phone even if she didn’t recognize the caller ID. Afraid she might have a heart attack over the shock of the news, he wanted their longtime foreman with her. He checked on Quinn who giggled while Nance licked his face and hands; then ZQ grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. As he passed by, he bent and kissed his son’s head and arm.
His mom’s cell rang twice. “Whatever you’re sellin’, I’ve already got a dozen of ‘em. No, I don’t want to go on a trip or a cruise or a join a gym. This better be damn good.”
“Mom?”
“Son? Zane, are you all right?”
“Yes, I am. In fact, I’m calling with some good news. Good family news.”
“Uh-huh.” Which was her reply to every step of his explanation until she stopped him. “This woman you’ve always loved. Is she the one in the picture you keep hidden under your desk pad? She’s got a kind smile. I’ve always wondered why you kept her picture close, yet hidden.”
“How did you find that?” It was a picture he’d taken of her on a weekend get-away to the desert.
“Who do you think cleans this house? The dust fairy? Now go on with your story.”
He told her more and she gave him her typical “Uh-huh.” Until, she evidently couldn’t take the suspense any more. “Are you trying to tell me I have a grandchild?” She started breathing heavy.
“Mom, what’s wrong? You’re out of breath!” I finally give her a grandchild and she has a coronary.
“I’m…dancing…around…the kitchen,” She replied in a sing-song voice. When can I see him? And his mother has held your heart all these years? How romantic.”
“Yes, she was…still is very special. Now, if you promise to sit and calm down, you can talk to him, but he’s been through a rough time so go easy.” He called for Quinn, who ran into the room and stood in front of him. “Would you like to say ‘hello’ to your grandma?”
His eyes widened. “I have a gwandma, too?” ZQ had to listen to his mom’s reaction, so he put the phone on speaker before handing the cell to the child. “Helwo.”
“Hello, my love. I wish I could see you right now.”
“Tell Grandma you’ll be at her ranch tomorrow for lunch. You and Athena.”
“I will? I’m gonna stay wif gwandma while you go get my mommy?” He placed one Spidey sandal on top of the other and leaned against ZQ’s thigh. “I’m coming to see you tomowow. Me and Athena. She’s my mommy’s bestest fwiend.”
“Won’t that be wonderful? What do you like for lunch?”
“Peanut buttah and jelwy sammiches. Sometimes my mommy spweads peanut buttah on a banana. I like that. Gwandma, will I have to kiss you?”
“You sure will.”
The boy sighed. “Daddy’s been kissing me so much I’m getting chapped skin. Do you have Chap Dick? My mommy always uses it on me when my wips chap.”
His mother was laughing. “I’ll go to the store right away and get some.”
Oh God, this boy! ZQ never thought he wanted children. Now, in the span of an hour or two, this perfect child had burrowed his way deep into his heart. “Quinn, why don’t you say goodbye now? I need to talk to Grandma some more.”
“Bye, gwandma. I nevah had a gwandma before. I can’t wait to see what it’s wike.”
“We’ll have lots of fun together. I promise.” ZQ could almost see the tears and smile woven into his mother’s words.
Athena extended her hand and the boy joined her. “First we pack for our trip. Then we eat.”
“Mom, you finally got your wish. Walk into the living room and look at my Kindergarten picture on your antique desk. Quinn looks exactly the same. Now, before you tell me how excited you are, I have to make sure you understand our boy could be in danger. A drug cartel has his mommy. Now they have pictures of him and are on the hunt, no doubt to use him to make her talk. Tell your prayer circle and other friends to be on the lookout for strange men and unknown vehicles. If anyone comes, go to the underground bunker. Understand?”
“Don’t you worry one bit, I haven’t waited all these years for a grandchild to allow any sidewinder to so much as look at him. He’ll be safe with Grandma. I’ll put the word out. Everyone will be scrutinizing any new faces in town.”
They spoke a little more before ZQ hung up. He gave her instructions about having some legal matters taken care of and she wholeheartedly agreed. JJ glanced at him and grinned. “How’d she take the news?”
“I lay you a hundred bucks she’s on the run to her car right now, heading to Warrior Falls to stand in the town square and make a general announcement before she goes on a toy and book buying spree.” He shook his head. “That was one excited woman.”
With renewed determination, ZQ examined every word of the file Grey had put together. This time his focus was fueled by his son who needed his mommy. “How much do you know about Gilberto Muñoz, Grey?”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice since Quinn was in the next room. “His MO is murder, especially with a knife. He enjoys the hell out of watching people suffer. Last I heard he was still in the States, but chills run up and down my back at the thought of his leaving for Cartagena.”
“Then we need to take off in the morning. Damn, I want to spend more time with my son, but I promised him I’d get his momma back. I can’t renege on my promise. If only life hadn’t worked out the way it had.
“Afghanistan, hospitals, therapy centers, and a second round of BUD/S. As soon as I got back to my team, I had to put them through hellacious training in preparation for Syria. God, what a hellhole. We suffered injuries there.
“On our way back, I got word Dad had terminal cancer, so I took an early retirement to go home to help care for him. Right away, the CIA pushed me to organize Black Eagle Ops. I’ve always loved serving my country, but in the process, I lost Rose,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “Ivy. It’ll take me a while to get used to thinking of her by that name. But fuck, no matter what I call her, I’ve lost her and missed out on my son’s life. She shouldn’t have had to go through all she did alone. I should have been with her.”
“Yes, you should have.” Athena handed Grey a beer. “Now that I know what happened, I’ll let you live.”
Quinn rounded the corner, carrying a plate piled high, and taking tiny steps. “I…I made you a ‘sammich,’ Daddy. I made it with no help. Well, Titan, he pointed out some things for me to use.” Quinn set the plate down and glanced at his dad for approval.
A freckled face peeped around the corner and grinned. Who would have expected Black Eagle’s most muscular team member could relate so easily to a small child?
“Wow! Did you really make this yourself?” His son nodded, a smile of pride twinkling. His concoction had six slices of bread intermingled with bologna, ham, turkey, roast beef and salami to say nothing of four types of cheese slices, onions, and one withered lettuce leaf. “This looks so good.”
“Eat it!” His boy patted the sandwich with his little hand.
ZQ scooped it off the plate, smashed it a little, and opened wide. He took a bite and tasted half a bottle of mustard. His cheeks drew in and he grabbed for his beer. “Gee, Monkey, this is—” he choked and coughed, “something else. Thank you.” Kee-rist a-mighty! Even my asshole puckered from all that sour mustard.
Quinn took off. “I’ll make you anotheh one, Daddy!”