Choose Me (The Archer Brothers 2)

“I know but home may not be the best option. Besides, I’m staying with Carter and Lois, I don’t want to impose.”

“Are you afraid the house is bugged?” she asks, leaning forward to keep her voice down. My soon to be mother-in-law, unless Ryley decides to call off our engagement, is a conspiracy theorist. She’s always looking for the underlying message in a story. Many times I’ve joked with her that if someone is going to uncover the truth, it’s going to be her. I’m not joking anymore, though. The truth needs to come out. The only problem with getting Carole involved is that I’m afraid she’ll lose her job... or worse.

“I’m not sure. I get the feeling that Evan thinks so, but we’re not exactly on speaking terms right now. I need to find out what happened to him and why this is happening to us. Lois told me there has been only one article since they came home. One! And I don’t think for a second that it’s a coincidence that all of this happened days after we were sent out on a training exercise.”

Pulling out a folded piece of paper, I slide it across the table toward Carole and start talking. “The guy who wrote this, Art Liberty, I can’t find him. He doesn’t work for the paper, or he did and isn’t anymore. No phone, no email. It’s like he doesn’t exist. Lois told me that she called the news stations and the papers to get some coverage for Evan and no one would call her back. Four guys return from the dead and they get no air play, that right there tells me something is up.”

“I read this article, but there was never any f

ollow-up. I thought for sure this reporter would come around, but he never did - at least Ryley never said anything,” Carole tells me.

Looking around, I bring my chair closer and lean in. “Do you know where Lcdr. Dawn is?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I asked for her before calling you. She’s not stationed in Coronado, or she’s been transferred. I don’t know, but no one has heard of her.”

“I have,” Carole states, relieving some of the anxiety that’s building. “But I haven’t seen her in a few weeks now that I think about it.”

When the waitress is within eyesight I lean back in my chair, opening the menu to find something to eat. Carole orders first and I ask for a burger and fries. I’m not that hungry, but want people to think we’re just having lunch. It’s not odd for us to be out together, it’s just never happened until now.

“I called the Military News to talk to Candy. She says she doesn’t remember talking to this Liberty reporter.”

“Do you think Liberty is a pseudonym for someone in the Navy?”

Shrugging and now wishing we were someplace more private, I lean in. “I don’t know what to think except my brother is a walking, talking zombie. Someone knows something and they’re not talking and the two people that did some talking are conveniently missing. Our lives are being turned inside out. Evan hates me, Ryley is confused and EJ is trying to grasp the fact that Evan is his dad. I want to know why this happened to my family.”

“Do you think Evan witnessed something?”

“I don’t know, Nate. I’ve been asking the same thing ever since Ryley called and told us he was home. I wouldn’t have believed her had I not seen him for myself.”

Carole and I separate when our food arrives. We both pick at our food, keeping our conversation limited to things like Ryley, EJ and family picnics. Every time the door chimes, I’m watching the people entering. Each one, to me, is a suspect in this bullshit mess. I just need to figure out where to start. Calling around and looking for people who may or may not exist isn’t cutting it.

As soon as we’re finished, I pay the tab and suggest that Carole and I take a walk. She happily agrees and takes my arm, earning some very dubious looks from the other patrons. Trying not to laugh at their expressions, I wink and receive the same scrutiny… If they only knew how much I admire the woman on my arm for everything that she’s achieved in her career, not to mention that she’s been like a second mom to me.

Carole keeps my arm until we’re a block away from the café. The sun is out, warming the afternoon. I should be on base working, but finding out what’s happened in the past six years is far more important. Tomorrow, I’m going to ask for personal leave. My request is likely going to be denied since my Team is being deployed, but there’s no way I can leave right now. Whether Evan wants my help or not, I’m going to find out who did this.

As soon as we step into the park, Carole slips off her shoes. “My heels will get stuck in the grass,” she explains.

“I wasn’t judging,” I respond, trying not to laugh.

“Let’s find a bench. I want to talk freely.” It takes us a few minutes until Carole is happy with one of the benches. She chooses one out in the open when I would’ve chosen one by the trees.

“Why here?” I ask, sitting down next to her.

“You can see everything and no one is able to lurk behind trees to listen to us speak.”

Looking around I see that she’s right.

“When the guys landed, they did so at an abandoned airfield and taxis were waiting for them. That’s all public knowledge. What’s not public is that their CO hasn’t been seen or heard from since that day. He never returned to base. His phone is off and his credit cards haven’t been used. A body was found four days ago, the same day you came home. The body is badly decomposed and was sent to the county morgue for identification. I have a friend in NCIS who did some digging. The body is now missing. I don’t know if there’s a connection, but it seems that everything can be connected to a timeline.

“Senator Lawson has been on base asking questions. He’s from Florida and has been rumored to be putting his name in the mix for Presidency. He seems very interested in Team 3, but is very hush-hush when I’m around. I don’t like it and I don’t like him. He has no business here, especially in California politics. You and Evan are right to think that there’s something not right about this, but I don’t know what it is. And I want to talk to you about Rask.. He’s on base, lingering. I know his family has written him off and he needs someone to talk to.”

“He was at Evan’s party the other night and seemed fine,” I offer, but I honestly don’t know him that well. He was new to Evan’s team right before they left.

“Jensen isn’t going to be happy with me, but I’m going to do what I can to help you and Evan. My daughter and grandson are the most important people in my life and I hate seeing them hurt so if I can find out what happened, I’m going to.”

Shaking my head, I tell her, “It’s not safe.”