SEALs of Honor: Cooper (18 page)

Cooper heard the
pain in her voice. Understood what was behind it. There was nothing he could do but hope she wasn’t still in love with the guy. Because Cooper knew he was half in love with her himself. Always had been. She was…well he had no words to describe her. He admired her energy and compassion. He already knew she was dedicated and hardworking and caring. He’d thought she was a sexy bomb back when she was doing surgery on him. They’d connected – he knew they had but she’d been married. Which explained that although there’d been a connection between them, she’d always been proper. There’d been no other option. Not for her or for him.

And he admired her all the more for that.

She’d never made him question her motives or integrity and always made him stop and wonder at the person she was. Especially when she’d done that C-section at the refugee camp. He’d watched from the doorway. She hadn’t hesitated. He’d seen the disbelief on Markus’s face when she’d held up the scalpel – and her giving him that moment to turn away before she took that first incision.

Just as he knew his abilities and his strengths, so too did she.

He was damn proud of her.

And he was such an idiot.

“Cooper?”

He turned to look at Markus and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Thoughts?”

He shrugged. “I’m just wondering what lengths Theresa’s husband would go to to punish his wife and her lover.”

Sasha grasped softly as he reached out to her. “Not saying that it’s related in any way, or that you’d be involved somehow, but we’ve all seen how love brings out the best and the worst in people.”

A rather grim heaviness settled in the air.

“What nationality is he? And would he have any connections to pull off that original kidnapping or only possibly this second one?”

“She mentioned something about having connections, if she was married that could explain it,” Sasha said. “But she was always vague and refused to give details.” She frowned at Mason. “She was moody and often depressed, so I didn’t get into too many discussions with her.”

“Not to mention if she was having an affair that might have contributed to her depression. Sounds like we should be putting these questions to David.”

“Sure,” she said candidly. “It would affect anyone. And if her husband was there or came and went it would add to the stress. Maybe he found out about it or maybe he broke it off, and she just pretended to still be married.” She shrugged as if she’d seen too many strange circumstances for it to be anything of interest. And given her profession he could imagine. “That’s Simone’s department. Give me broken bones and sliced tissue any day over broken hearts and shattered egos.”

The others laughed. “Good enough.”

Shadow said without lifting his head from his cellphone, “He’s Turkish. They were married eight years ago in Turkey. Now to find out where he’s been these last couple of days.” He frowned, clicking away. “He works for the Turkish military.”

“That doesn’t explain how I’d be taken at the same time. It’s not as if my kidnapping was random,” she exclaimed.

“No, there will be a reason. We haven’t found it yet, that’s all.”

“Neither does it have anything to do with the break-in at my house,” she cried. “Why would it? It wasn’t Theresa staying there with me.” And she gasped, the color fading from her skin.

“What?” Cooper asked.

“We had to give our contact information when we returned,” Sasha said. “So we gave our cell numbers and in my case my house. I gave her my address if she ever needed a place. She’d planned to stay at a hotel but wasn’t looking forward to it.”

“But she could have just as easily given a hotel and a room number.”

Sasha shook her head. “They wanted next of kin, permanent address, and family member contact information. Things like that.”

“It will be easy to find,” Cooper said. “All that information will be on file.”

“It is,” Swede announced holding up his cellphone. “She gave 430 Cypress Lane.”

Sasha cried out, “That’s my address.”

S
asha shook her
head. “Is it that simple?” No, it couldn’t be. “That doesn’t make sense. What about the picture of me and Greg cut in half? The intruder would know that image had nothing to do with her.”

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s exactly what it was all about. The fact remains that your house was given as a permanent address for someone else, and that person has gone missing. Your house was broken into and vandalized. They have to be connected.”

“And David?” she asked in a small voice. “He’s a good man.”

“He’s a good doctor,” Mason corrected. “You don’t know the man himself.”

She blinked. “Maybe I don’t, but I can tell a lot about people by working with them. David was a dedicated vagabond. He loved women and he loved life and for him they didn’t go together. His mistress was his work. The rest were and always would be playthings. And while he was there with a woman it would be a hell of a ride. Only Ferris Wheels are a treat and the view is special when you get to the top but like all these kinds of relationships, the wheel always comes down.”

“Wow.”

She smiled at Hawk who studied her intently like he hadn’t quite seen her species before.

“It’s not that difficult. You work with someone for a long time and you get to know who and what they are. Look at you guys. Although there are going to be some in this group you are closer to than others, you wouldn’t have a problem turning your back on any of them because they’d guard it for you, not stab into it. It’s the same in the trenches of an overcrowded refugee camp. He had my back and I never doubted that he’d be there when I needed him. The same in reverse.” She took a deep breath and added in a lower tone, “I didn’t have that same feeling with Theresa.”

“What was she like?”

“Besides despondent, depressed, and then switching to deliriously happy? It’s as if she were two people. Very high energy then dragging her ass. No one knew which way she’d be on any given day. She worked hard and put in a solid day, but we all know the type that watch the clock to leave the minute the work day is done. But at the camp, the day was never done.”

“So how did she de-stress in order to go from deep depression to deliriously happy?”

She stared at him. “Likely in bursts with David.”

Silence.

That was something they could all understand. There was nothing like an affair to remove the drudgery of the day and give you something special to look forward to.

“Where is her husband now?” She studied their faces. “Can’t you find out?”

“According to his commanding officers he’s taken a week’s leave.”

She shook her head then said, “So he
could
be behind all this?”

“In theory, but that still doesn’t connect him to you or to Ron. Neither does it connect to the driver.”

“Maybe someone should be asking that weasel those questions.”

Cooper glanced at his watch. “We’ll have to contact the Turkish military. We don’t know if they’re holding the driver in custody.”

“I can’t say I’d want to go back and face him, but I would if need be.”

“Face who? The driver?” Cooper asked. “He’s a nobody. Just a scam artist looking to make a living off the blood and sweat and tears of others.”

“The husband.”

They stopped and stared at her. “Why would he be interested in talking with you?” Mason asked.

“If he’s got David and Theresa then he might be interested. I don’t know,” she cried. “I’m grasping at straws here.”

Cooper walked over and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Time for a meal and maybe an evening jog. Let some of this tension out.”

“We should go back to Ron – ask him about David and Theresa. Ask him about her husband.”

“We will. You don’t need to get involved.”

She wasn’t sure who said that but it didn’t matter, the answer was the same. “I might not need to,” she said. “But I am just as involved as anyone. More so as I was kidnapped and had my house vandalized. Thank you.”

She studied the men who had done so much for her and her country and softened her tone slightly. “I know that’s your job, just like I don’t like anyone interfering in my job. But if there is anything I can do to help, I’d like to.”

*

Cooper took her
home after the meeting. A restless energy simmered inside. He wanted to do something constructive and couldn’t see any way to move forward. “How about barbecue steak and Greek salad for dinner.”

She froze. “You cook?”

“As often as possible.” He laughed at the interested look on her face. “You don’t?”

“I do,” she said, her smile flashing. “But my ex didn’t.”

“Ah.” He hopped out of the vehicle and walked to the front door of his house. “Good thing I’m not your ex. And more things for you to change next time around.”

“What next time?” she asked. “I’m not sure I’ll go there again.”

“You will,” he said, a serious tone in his voice. “You’re the kind of woman who likes to know she has her life in order so you can work on the areas you love.”

“I had that, remember. It didn’t turn out so well for me.”

He unlocked his front door. “And that just means it’s time for a progress check. In the years you were married, you made huge strides. You finished med school. Completed your specialty. Worked in your field. If your marriage didn’t quite work out the way you expected then analyze why, tweak, and move on.”

“Marriage is hardly a strategy.”

“No, but life is. You can go through it and make decisions on the fly or you can look a few steps ahead and work toward them. You already did that by picking a profession and back tracking to see what you needed to do to achieve it – and you did that and so much more.”

“It doesn’t feel like an achievement. It feels like…” She frowned as if uncertain how to answer.

He waited, interested to see how she’d respond.

Only she didn’t answer as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out. “It’s David.”

She read the text. “He wants to meet.” She looked at Cooper. “He says come alone. He’s in trouble. No explanation.”

“I
’m glad he
contacted me,” Sasha cried out. “I was so worried.”

“I’m still worried,” Cooper said carefully. “Think about the message, come alone? He’s in trouble. We can’t confirm it’s even from him. We’d thought he’d left the country.”

She froze. “I forgot about that.”

“We will go but we’re taking precautions.” He turned around in the hallway as if trying to pull his thoughts together.

“It’s a public place,” she protested. “What could possibly happen?”

He shook his head. “That’s true as far as that goes, but we need to have backup just in case.”

She glanced down at the text. “I could change the location and make it one closer.”

“No, let’s not do anything suspicious.” He pulled out his phone. “Mason, we’ve had a development.”

She listened while Cooper explained. Her stomach growled reminding her food had been a long time ago. Walking over to the sink she got a glass of water. All the information they’d gone over this morning roiled around inside her head. Nothing made any sense.