Code of Silence: A Novella Based on Characters from Next to Die (Navy SEAL Team 12) by Melton Marliss

Author:Melton, Marliss [Melton, Marliss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Military, Suspense, SEALs
ISBN: 9781938732126
Publisher: James-York Press
Published: 2014-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

‡

At the sound of Vinny’s cell phone ringing, the kitchen fell quiet. The eyes of the three Navy SEALs who’d just entered Vinny’s mother’s kitchen focused on Vinny as he glanced at his phone and took the call. “Hello?”

“Mr. DeInnocentis?”

“Yes.”

“This is Sergeant Presti with the Philadelphia Police Force.”

“Yes, sir.” Vinny held his breath, praying for good news.

“Uh, unfortunately, there’ve been no reported sightings of your wife’s vehicle. We can’t treat this as a missing persons case until forty-eight hours have passed.”

They didn’t have forty-eight hours, but Vinny couldn’t assert that without bringing up Rawlings’ name. Thanking the officer for the call, he shooed his mother and sisters out of the kitchen and gestured for his teammates to sit. “You want any leftovers?” he offered belatedly, and they all shook their heads. He sent his commander an imploring look as they sat. “There’s gotta be something we can do.”

“There is,” Joe Montgomery assured him. Lacing his big-knuckled hands on the table in front of him, he leaned in and pitched his voice lower. The SEALs had rallied around Vinny within hours of Ophelia’s disappearance. A ray of late afternoon sunlight sliced through the window over the kitchen sink and emphasizes the disfiguring scar on Monty’s otherwise handsome face. “Rawlings wants John’s manuscript badly enough to trade Ophelia for it,” he conveyed, causing Vinny to cover his eyes briefly to conceal his relief.

“Can we trust him to keep his end of the agreement?” he asked hoarsely.

Senior Chief gave a snort of derision.

“We don’t have much choice,” Joe replied, darting his senior chief a quelling look. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to sit here with our thumbs up our asses. I’ve got a friend in the FBI—you know Hannah Lindstrom. She’s monitoring Rawlings’ phone calls as we speak. He’s been talking to his assistant, David Collum, every few hours. Hannah suggested the three of us take off to Harrisburg tonight to keep tabs on both men. If they do anything suspicious, then we film them. It’ll take convincing evidence to put a powerful man like Rawlings behind bars.”

Vinny’s temples throbbed. “I’m coming, too,” he insisted.

“Negative.” Joe fixed him with a stern look. “You’re going to stay right here and protect your sister. Think about it: Rawlings has a motive for wanting her out of the picture, too. If he had Ophelia and Bella followed this morning, then he knows where Bella lives. You need to stay here to protect her.”

Joe’s observation pushed Vinny’s concern to new heights. His commander was right. He had to think about his sister’s and mother’s safety, too. “You’ll keep me updated,” he pleaded.

“Absolutely,” Joe assured him.

Vinny nodded. “Does Penny know what happened yet?”

“Not yet.” Joe regarded him steadily. “You want me to tell her?”

Vinny pictured Lia’s sister’s reaction to the news. “No,” he decided. The fewer people who felt as miserable as he did, the better. “We’ll tell her tomorrow, when it’s over.” That was assuming everything went as planned—which it would, Vinny assured himself.

Joe sent him a sympathetic grimace.

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