The Only One Who Matters by Witt L.A. & Grant Cat

Author:Witt, L.A. & Grant, Cat [Witt, L.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2014-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Jenny’s mother arrived the following afternoon. Though Flint didn’t want to be rude, he made a quick escape, promising to come back later in the day to help out with the boys. For the moment, he had somewhere he needed to be.

Hayes hadn’t been willing to part with any answers last night, but said he’d buy coffee this morning. Flint could read between the lines easily enough. He’d spent the whole goddamned night staring at the ceiling from Jenny’s couch while he went through every worst-case scenario in his mind. He tried to tell himself that Hayes was just being careful, and he’d probably have a perfectly reasonable explanation for the mission taking longer than expected. Maybe it wasn’t taking longer than expected. Truth was, all Flint knew was that it seemed like Josh should be back by now.

Except his gut said something was wrong. And the way Hayes had hesitated on the phone, that didn’t sit right either.

“I, uh…” The commander had paused. “You know the regs, Senior Chief. The team’s mission is classified.” Then came the invitation for coffee, and now David waited, sitting with an untouched coffee in a corner booth at a diner that reminded him of those sleek, chrome places where mobsters always seemed to meet up in movies when shit was going south. Good place for bad news.

At exactly 0930, right when he said he would, Commander Hayes walked in through the glass front door. He was wearing civvies—probably on his way to the golf course—but thanks to his rigid posture, was still unmistakably military.

Flint stood as his former commanding officer approached, and they shook hands. They didn’t bother with small talk. Hayes flagged down the waitress and ordered coffee, and when it came, he polluted it with half a gallon of creamer.

Flint still didn’t touch his own coffee. “So what’s going on?”

Hayes glanced around the room. Oh God. This was bad, wasn’t it?

“Just tell me,” Flint said quietly. “Whatever you can.”

“Officially, I can’t tell you anything.” Hayes raised a gray eyebrow. “I’m doing this as a personal favor to a friend, and I am putting my ass on the line. You did not hear a word of this from me. Understood?”

“Understood, sir. And thank you.”

Hayes nodded. He took a sip of coffee and rolled it around in his mouth for a moment. Flint struggled to keep his impatience under the surface—just tell me already, you son of a bitch.

Finally, Hayes set his coffee cup down. It landed on the saucer with a clink-clink, giving away the slightest tremor in the man’s hands. Flint hoped to God that was just something that had come with age and that it had nothing to do with this conversation.

“The mission was delayed right off the bat because of some bad weather.” Hayes gave a taut shrug. “Happens sometimes. You know how it is.”

Flint nodded but said nothing.

Hayes pulled in a breath. “Once the weather cleared, they went in.” He stared into his coffee cup for a moment, and then he looked Flint in the eye.

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