Save Me (The Archer Brothers 3)

“Who the hell did we piss off?” Nate asks while all of us shake our heads.

“Wrong CO in O’Keefe? I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t us and someone else,” Rask remarks, throwing out another theory.

“I can’t think of anyone I’ve pissed off,” I add.

“It wasn’t us,” Evan states. “It was River. We’ve never had a dirty mission until he married Frannie, or whatever her real name is, and all of a sudden we’re being sent out to rescue the daughter of the vice president because she was kidnapped by the senator she was having an affair with?”

“Plus, the vice president dies weeks before you guys return, and I’m sent out on a bogus training mission before you come home,” Nate says, adding to the conspiracy.

“Holy shit, this is worse than one of those books my mother used to read,” Rask says, with a shrug.

Evan opens a notebook and pulls out a stack of papers, handing each of us one.

“Here’s what we know. When we left, River had just married Frannie, who happens to be Ingram’s daughter and Lawson’s sister. As far as I can tell, Lawson and Frannie have different mothers, neither of which are or were married to Ingram. River hadn’t known her long from what I remember, and days after they married we’re sent to Cuba on what O’Keefe called a snatch and grab. River tells us a few days, tops. We find the Chesley girl and kill Renato, setting off a chain reaction.

“At this point, O’Keefe should’ve brought another team in to assist, but doesn’t. We stay and uncover a child sex ring funded by a US man, who we can assume is Lawson since he’s currently in jail for raping Abigail Chesley. And again O’Keefe needed to bring in another team, but doesn’t, telling me now that there was a reason for us to stay.”

“Because Lawson was trying to rape or kidnap my daughter,” I continue, as I put in my two cents. “We know he kidnapped Abigail from the emails NCIS found, and my PI was able to locate the police report. By this time, we should’ve been home, but my wife files a police report and now we’re dead.”

“His surprise visits with our mail should’ve been our first clue that something was wrong, but we were warriors and there were children involved,” Rask adds.

He’s right. None of us would’ve left those children behind and we couldn’t really turn them over to the government in Cuba because we weren’t supposed to be there.

“You’re right, Rask. We also should’ve paid attention to our ammo, we always had supplies so O’Keefe or someone was cooking the books and not keeping an inventory. Someone had to track O’Keefe every time he took out a helo or a C-130. Everything is logged—how come no one was watching for all these trips to Cuba?”

We all shake our heads because no one knows the answer.

“O’Keefe ended up dead after we came back,” I remind Evan, who takes a note.

“What else?” Nate asks.

“Let’s see … the police report McCoy’s PI saw says that Penny was threatened by Lawson that if she told anyone her worst nightmare would come true. I’m guessing McCoy dying is her worst nightmare?”

“It’s not,” I say, shaking my head. “Losing Claire or not being able to protect her would be. That’s why I think she ran. She knew death was a part of my job, but if she lost me and Claire, she’d have nothing to live for.”

“So we think Penny is on the run?” Nate asks.

“I think so, or she’s living somewhere under a different name. I don’t know, but it makes sense.” At least it makes sense to me because I’m not willing to believe she left me.

“What else?” Nate asks again.

“The file Cara took back to DC went missing almost immediately, but she has multiple copies so they can still prosecute. Ingram is out on bail but under house arrest. And then there’s Chesley. I can’t figure him out yet. I don’t know what he’s doing over there, but we need to find out. At best he should be thanking us, but he’s not and I have a feeling he’s waiting for something big to happen. He’s part of this cover-up somehow, and not just the Brigadier General and grandfather. He has to know what was going on there and he’s protecting someone.”

“But who? Every time I enter a room on base, it goes quiet. I haven’t deployed with my team since you guys have been back. Honestly, I’m biding my time until reenlistment. I ask questions no one will answer, and Carole has to tread lightly so she doesn’t lose her job and pension.”

“Nate’s right, our hands are tied there,” I add.

Evan nods, but doesn’t say anything.

“We need someone on the inside,” Rask says.

“But who?” I question. “We can’t trust anyone.”

“Does anyone know you’re dating that Feds chick?” Rask asks Nate, who blanches at the way Rask refers to Cara.

“Her name is Cara and no. We’ve kept it pretty low-key. It’s another reason we don’t travel together.”

“Maybe she can help,” Rask suggests.