Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) Read online

  “Char, tend to her. I’m going to get little man settled down with his iPad. Then the three of us are going to have a family conference.”

  Georgie’s shrieks continued as Sawyer took him out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom. They stopped abruptly.

  “He must have put on the Ferris wheel page, it always settles him,” Charlotte remarked as she gently placed a bag of frozen peas against Rylie’s cheek.

  “Georgie loves the Ferris wheel,” Rylie agreed. “I can’t wait for the carnival to come back to town so we can take him on one.”

  “If you’re actually home, you mean,” Sawyer’s tone sounded bitter as he sat down at the kitchen table.

  “My sales job,” Rylie began. Then her voice trailed off as she began to tremble.

  “Dammit, Rylie, when was the last time you ate?” Sawyer turned to Charlotte. “Do we still have some of the fixins’ left over from last night’s supper, sis?”

  “Yep, I’ll make her a plate. I swear, Rylie, you don’t have the sense God gave a turnip.” Charlotte turned to the refrigerator and started to pull out containers of food. As soon as she saw one, her stomach turned. Rylie couldn’t look at a container without thinking of those poor women in shipping containers being transported by Albert Liu. She clutched her stomach.

  “Are you sick?” Sawyer asked.

  “I’m just tired.”

  “You work too hard. You need to stay home and rest. Can’t you find a way to go back to working from home like you did last year? I know you need to travel to make ends meet, but still it’s been such a strain on you.” Charlotte started to fry some ham in the skillet. Sawyer and Rylie looked at one another. They knew how much Georgie’s ADHD medicine cost. Even with the new insurance plan, there was still an awful lot out of pocket that needed to be covered.

  “I’ve decided not to go to college,” Sawyer said baldly.

  “Well, I sure as hell didn’t see that coming,” Rylie said sarcastically. This was all her fault. She was spread too thin. She had actually stolen money from a drug dealer six months ago, but she’d used it to fund the Rochester House in Fallon Springs. She was still doing the computer programming that had always paid the bills, but now was living a double life as Sylvia Hessman because she found out about the human trafficking scheme when she had helped take down the drug dealer. She was barely keeping her head above water. Shit, she needed to get her priorities straight.

  Charity begins at home, Jones!

  “Don’t you dare!” Sawyer pointed at her, his eyes blazing.

  “What shouldn’t she dare?” Charlotte asked as she slid three plates onto the table. The smell of the food made her tummy growl. At the same time, the sound of Dare’s name, made her stomach clench, and she grabbed it, pushing her plate away.

  “If you don’t start eating, I’ll spoon feed you,” Sawyer threatened.

  “Sawyer, we really need to work on getting you to come out of your shell. I mean you never say what you mean, you’re so shy.” The teen had the good grace to look a little abashed.

  “Well if he didn’t I would,” shy Charlotte spoke up as she sat down and grabbed their hands to say grace. They bent their heads as Charlotte blessed the food.

  “Rylie, you can’t keep up this pace. Your job is killing you. I know selling this new software is important, and it’s what’s keeping us afloat, but the travelling isn’t good for you. You need to stay home more.” Rylie avoided Sawyer’s raised eyebrow and instead concentrated on her ham and eggs.

  “Char, this tastes wonderful.” The fifteen-year-old girl beamed.

  “Please don’t avoid my concerns, Rylie. I’m not as young as I used to be. I’m going to be a junior this coming year. Soon I’ll be graduating. You can’t treat me like a child anymore.”

  Rylie supposed she couldn’t. She looked at the pretty blonde girl. It was lucky she, Sawyer, and Charlotte all shared the same coloring. Of course, Georgie looked like Charlotte since he was her biological brother. Because all four of the ‘Jones’ family looked alike, the social workers had bought the fact they were all brothers and sisters, and that Rylie had concocted a foolproof online background showing their history. That was the reason Rylie had been allowed to obtain guardianship of her ‘family.'

  “This last sale should keep us afloat, Char. After that, I can work from home again, I promise.”

  “And, I’ll make sure she keeps her promise,” Sawyer said menacingly.

  “Sawyer, you can’t make sure she keeps her promise, sales can fall through. She’s a good sales rep, we both know that, but they might not buy this latest product.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’ll buy it, but no matter what, this is the last time she hits the road, now isn’t it, sis?”

  Her head jerked as she stared at Sawyer, he couldn’t possibly know anything, could he?

  “Rylie, did you hear what I said?” Charlotte asked.

  “What honey?”

  “Do you want me to scramble you some more eggs? I forgot and made yours with cheese. I know sometimes the dairy bothers you when your tummy is upset.”

  “Charlotte Jones, the eggs are perfect!” Rylie took a big bite, and immediately regretted it. She smiled and swallowed.

  “Oh good.”

  “So tell me how this week has been treating you all? I know Mrs. Whitehawk has taken Georgie in the mornings and early afternoons. What have y’all been up to during that time? Are you bored waiting until school starts again?”

  Charlotte giggled. “Sawyer is working all the time at the gas station. He doesn’t have time to be bored. He’s saving up for his car.”

  “Okay, that takes care of Sawyer, how are you spending your days, besides cleaning? The house is spotless. And don’t think I haven’t noticed your new dress, and the new curtains. You sure have put the sewing machine to good use. Boy, Charlotte, I don’t know how you do it, I would be all thumbs.”

  “I’ve also been teaching myself some web design. I can’t quite understand the Java Script, though. I was hoping when you came home, you could teach me. I really like building the graphic front end of the web pages, it’s the back end that’s giving me fits.”

  “I don’t know if we could be more opposite.” Rylie laughed. “I couldn’t make something look pretty if my life depended on it.”

  “Char, you need to get out of the house more,” Sawyer admonished. “Go out with Ashley. She’s been calling you, and you keep turning her down. What’s the deal?”

  “They’re all into boys.” Charlotte touched the napkin to her lips. “I’m fine if they want to date boys, but they’re sleeping with them. We’re only fifteen, for goodness sake.”

  Rylie shuddered. Really, she never thought to have ‘the talk’ with either Sawyer or Charlotte. She had so fucked up.

  “Do you two know about birth control?” Rylie asked tentatively.

  “Do you?” Sawyer shot back.

  “Sure she does. Don’t you remember her with Roger? She dated him for almost a year, and she didn’t get pregnant,” Charlotte said. Rylie stared at her aghast.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Sawyer countered.

  “You know they slept together, she tried to hide it, but she spent the night over at his house, so I’m sure they were having sex,” Char explained to Sawyer patiently. “Therefore, she was using birth control effectively.” Rylie pushed her plate aside and hit her head against the table.

  “You didn’t see the pregnancy test she threw away in the bathroom trash,” Sawyer disagreed. “Obviously, Rylie had some issues with her birth control.” Rylie hit her head against the table again and moaned.

  “I’m sure she would do better now,” Char said soothingly as she patted Rylie’s back.

  “Maybe.” Sawyer tapped Rylie on her head. “So are you on the pill?”

  “You mean you haven’t checked the bathroom shelves?” Rylie asked.

  “I don’t think there’s been anyone since Roger,” Charlotte said. “Which is good, he was way too old
and a little creepy.”

  “She was looking for a father figure,” Sawyer said as he went back to shoveling food into his mouth.

  “Enough!” Rylie stood up. “Condoms. You need to use condoms. We don’t need any babies. The house is too small. Yes, Roger was way too old.”

  She stalked down the hallway to Georgie’s room.

  “Rylie, look, Ferris wheels,” he said pointing to his iPad. She sat down on the bed beside the little boy, who meant the world to her, and looked at the Ferris wheel on the screen. She waited to see if he was in the mood to be touched again, or if he wasn’t. Georgie might be only seven years old, but it was important to respect his boundaries, and even though she so wanted to hold him in her lap, she needed to see if it was what he wanted.

  He snuggled up to her side, still enthralled with the video. Score one for Team Rylie. She picked him up and settled him in her arms. It took another twenty minutes before the video she had created came to an end.

  “Do you want to watch it again, Georgie, or do you want to play Jenga?” She loved it when she could get him to interact. He shook his head.

  “Words, Georgie.” He shook his head again. She didn’t say anything. He knew the rules. She waited.

  Finally, he said, “Jenga.”

  “That sounds like fun.” She set him on the floor, and got down with him. She pulled the game out from under his bed. Rylie let him open the box and watched as he put everything together just to his liking.

  “Who starts?”

  “Me,” he said barely looking into her eyes, but he did look up. She grinned.

  “Did you miss me, Georgie?”

  “You should stay. I want you to stay with me forever. Like the stars stay in the sky, except for the falling ones.” He pulled out the first piece. “I don’t like things that fall. I don’t want you to fall. You do scary things, Rylie.” It always amazed her when he spoke in full sentences. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was often profound. Like now.

  She looked at him. Georgie once again saw things he shouldn’t be able to, it was like he was on a different plane with his autism that made him a little more sensitive, more in-tune with other things.

  “I’m safe, Georgie, you don’t have to worry about me.” This time, he did look at her directly.

  “Don’t lie. Lying is bad.”

  Fuck. Were all of the kids going to call her on her shit today? Was it ‘Pick on Rylie Day’ and she just hadn’t been told? Her stomach grumbled, and she felt the effect of the cheese on the eggs. Yep, it was definitely ‘Pick on Rylie Day.’

  ***

  Darius got to his apartment in San Diego. He’d just left the hospital where Tate Llewellyn had gotten out of ICU. He knew the man was in for a rough haul. He’d lost part of his left lung, but it wasn’t the physical issues he was worried about, it was the bullshit he was dealing with from the brass at the CIA. Seriously, in Darius’ eyes, and the rest of the Midnight Delta SEAL team, Tate was a hero. He had literally saved the three man and woman single handedly from a suicide bomber.

  Tate said he had told them help was on the way, but it was just seconds before the bomber had infiltrated the compound. The scientists hadn’t been apprised of the rescue, so of course they would have taken off on their own instead of waiting around for the next attempt on their lives. The problem was nobody knew if they were now working with ISIS or not. They had been working on the nuclear weapons program for their country.

  Tate had been in contact with the head scientist, Fatima, for months. He was positive she would never work with a terrorist organization, but he couldn’t get his superiors to believe him. Now instead of trying to rescue them, there was a bounty on their heads, despite the fact Tate had recorded his Skype conversations with Fatima, but Tate’s computer had blown up in the explosion, and the paranoid bastard hadn’t saved any of the data with the CIA system.

  Currently, Clint Archer, the head of communications for Midnight Delta, was working to get his hands on the recordings for the Navy. If anyone could find them, it would be Clint. Darius was pretty sure Tate’s field instincts were right, and Fatima and her team were on the side of the angels. He hoped Clint and the Navy could help them. Fuck, Langley needed to pull their heads out of their asses, like a woman scientist was going to go sign up to work with ISIS, yeah, that was going to happen.

  Despite the fact he was exhausted, Darius knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without going for either a run or a swim. After the time in the desert, he opted for a swim. It was one of the benefits of living two blocks from the beach. His apartment might be tiny, but by God, the location was perfect.

  He threw on his trunks and tennis shoes, went out on his second floor deck, climbed over, and dropped down on the little grass spot. He grinned and waved at Marci, who was sipping something with an umbrella.

  “Hey handsome, off for a swim?”

  “Yep.”

  “We’re having a party tomorrow night. You’re invited. Bring the boys.” He looked over her pretty tanned curves and come hither smile.

  “Any boy in particular?”

  “You. It’s always you, Dare. But my friends like it when the others come, it ups my reputation when I can get you sexy single SEALs to show up.”

  He grinned at her fun flirting. She never pouted when he turned her down, and she was never clingy the few times he hadn’t. Yep, Marci had been perfect. Too bad his focus had been on one slippery blonde for the last six months.

  “Oh no, you’ve got that look in your eye again. You know, if I can’t talk you into a date, you might want to come over for a couple of drinks and a long venting session. Sometimes talking to another woman about your woman problems can help.”

  “I think a long swim in a big ocean is the answer Marci, but thanks.”

  “Suit yourself. But come to the party. It’s going to be rocking.”

  “I’ll think about it.” He looked at her again in her bikini on the deck chair and paused. “You are wearing sun screen, aren’t you?”

  “Ah shit. Dare, if seeing me in this little bit of nothing has you only worried about my health, then I know you have it bad. Yes, Daddy, I’m wearing sun screen. Now go swim.” She gave him a wide smile and saluted him with her drink.

  He trotted down the street and realized how bad he had it. Rylie Jones, aka Sylvia Hessman, had been on his mind constantly, and he had only seen her in person once. Since the operation in Veracruz, he knew she was embroiled in the human trafficking operation up to her delicate little neck, and it scared the piss out of him.

  He arrived at the beach and got to the water’s edge. He toed off his sneakers and waded into the water. Finally, at the right depth, he dove in. Cold. Perfect. He started swimming straight out from shore, maybe twenty-five meters then rotated ninety degrees and swam parallel to the beach. Kicking, and pulling himself through the water, kicking and pulling, he swam hard, loving the burn. Occasionally the water splashed into his mouth as he turned for air, but he relished the taste of the salt water. It tasted of home.

  Just before he hit the wall, he turned and started back, knowing he would be physically and mentally burnt out by the time he reached his shoes. It would be perfect as he dragged his sad, sorry ass back to his apartment. He would be able to sleep. He’d dream. It would be of Rylie. He still remembered her in the stunning suit with the short skirt, her eyes made up to look all exotic and smoky. Her baby fine blonde hair pinned up, and her tiny little feet encased in those high heels.

  Chapter Three

  She looked like crap. She had a plane to catch, and she’d been up all night, sick in the bathroom. Thank you, lactose intolerance. Rylie finished brushing her teeth. She didn’t need to pack her toothbrush, she had an entire ‘Sylvia Hessman’ suitcase in a storage facility close to the Dallas Fort/Worth International Airport. Apparently, she had been right in her paranoia since Sawyer was already on to her antics.

  The boy was way too smart. Hell, both of her boys were. Scratch that, Sawyer wa
s damn near a man. Rylie gulped another big mouthful of air, frowned at herself in the mirror and went to the fridge to grab some Sprite. Four o’clock in the morning was not her favorite time of day.

  “Hey,” Sawyer said. Well, at least he had waited until she had finished swallowing.

  “Hey, back,” Rylie responded.

  Sawyer was seated backwards in the chair, his arms hanging over the back. “Are you off to save the world?”

  “I’m not going to talk about your deluded fantasies, Sawyer.”

  “I had Trey hack into your computer.”

  The green bottle stopped midway to her lips. “Impossible.”

  “He said he’d never seen anyone as good as you...except for him.”

  Rylie thought of the little boy who had been Sawyer’s friend forever. He’d hovered since he was a geeky adolescent, asking her questions, always wanting to learn from her. He had been such an eager computer student. She had been happy to help teach him. He’d stopped asking her questions six months ago. It should have been a big red flag. But no, she’d had her head up her ass. There was only one way he could have bypassed her security protocols. “You let him into our house, and let him touch my computers.”

  “You bet your ass I did.”

  Yep, with direct access to her computers he could have hacked her, and she hadn’t set up very strong security against hackers here at home, because Char, Sawyer, and Mrs. Whitehawk sucked at computers.

  “But why? Why would you do that, Sawyer?” She had to use two hands to put down the soda bottle. There were videos of beheadings and torture on her computer. She’d tracked down drug lords in Veracruz to help stop their reign of terror just months ago.

  “Because the woman I consider my sister, hell the woman who raised me, is up to her neck in something that scares the hell out of me. Do you know how much I hate to have you out of my sight? The reason Georgie cries when you leave is because he picks up on my terror. He’s a smart boy. Charlotte prays for you, she believes God will keep you safe, I want more than that.” A slow smile spread across his face.