Depends On Who's Asking (SWAT Generation 2.0 12)

Newsflash, the city of Kilgore did not like seeing his candy cane or his ornaments.

I’d just gotten him in the back of my cruiser, cold, saggy balls and all, when the call had come through for the SWAT team.

“Ready,” I said, huffing slightly at the hurry that they’d put on me.

Normally we weren’t quite so frantic, but I hadn’t had the chance to read the call yet. I just knew there was one.

Now I was left staring at the men of the SWAT team as they stared back at me in various shades of pity.

“What the fuck are y’all looking at me like that for?” I barked, uneasy with the attention, but also a bit unsettled when not just one, or two, but all of their eyes were on me.

I never got that much attention.

It was making me very uneasy.

Foster, who was our team leader for today, stepped forward.

That was when I also saw that Bennett was there, too.

He wasn’t on call…

Which then got me to thinking, over half of them weren’t on call. It was decided that half the team would have Christmas Eve off, and the other team, which was my team, would have Christmas off.

They shouldn’t be here…

That unsettling feeling grew until a wave of nausea took root in my belly, slowly filling me up from the throat down.

There were one of four or five people of this world that could get this reaction out of me, and of them all, only one of them did the SWAT team know about.

Carolina.

There was something wrong with Carolina.

“What happened?” I asked, feeling sick that I even had to ask.

Bennett stepped forward, too, but gestured to the rest of the crew to get into the back of the armored truck. They did, leaving Foster, Bennett, and me standing there behind the truck.

“Foster, you mind riding in the back?” Bennett asked. “I’ll drive.”

Foster got into the truck and Bennett closed the doors before gesturing for me to take the front seat.

I did, though I didn’t want to.

I had a feeling that sitting up in that seat meant that I was going to hear things that I didn’t want to hear.

I was right.

When I got in and Bennett started the truck up, he started to talk.

When he was done, I couldn’t quite believe my ears.

“I’m sorry, but can you repeat that?” I asked, even though I’d heard him correctly the first time.

Bennett looked over at me with a hardness to his face that I’d never seen before.

“Carolina is being held hostage at her house,” he repeated slower. “There was apparently a person on her house that called it in when they noticed that the lights in the house were on. I was informed that she has a detail?”

Carolina did.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“How much do you know about me?” I asked quietly, pressing the button so that the men in the back could hear us talking.

He would know eventually. I might as well give him all the information now.

“I am the son of former President Nicholson…” I started.

By the time I’d finished the entire tale, finishing up with my mother’s death and my father’s attempted murder, Bennett was looking at me like he’d never seen me before.

When we pulled up on scene, I got out and was immediately bombarded by Connor.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Connor hissed.

The anger in his tone had me reeling.

I hadn’t expected that level of anger after that breakfast we’d had with Carolina yesterday. Or was that this morning? Hell, I didn’t even know what day it was anymore.

“I’m here because I work for the SWAT team, and I’m worried about your sister,” I found myself calling back to him over the crowded space. “I’m sure for the same reason you’re here.”

He didn’t like the calm in my tone. I could tell by the look on his face.

“What the fuck are you so worried about?” Connor sneered at me when he saw me walk up to the command tent that was set up about halfway down the road from Carolina’s place.

My head whipped around, and I glared at Connor.

“I’m sorry, but what the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t leave her behind!” I said through clenched teeth, voice tight with fury.

“You’re the man that fucked over my sister, so I’m going to fuck you right back over as soon as you get her out of this mess!” he all but bellowed.

I honestly had no fucking clue what he was talking about.

What, did he think that I wasn’t still together with Carolina? Because I was. We’d spent every night together since the party. Sure, I’d had a moment of doubt a couple of nights ago, but we’d settled that this morning over donuts.

“All right, children,” Bennett said as he placed himself bodily between us. “It’s time to go to our separate rooms and think about what we’ve done.”