Navy Justice (Whidbey Island, Book 5) (4 page)

Brad had been back in her life for less than an hour and not only was she hoping that he reciprocated her ridiculous crush, which had gone on for far too long, she was also forgetting all her legal training.

Don’t say more than you need to. Ever
.

“You got a pretty clear look from here. Too bad these things aren’t also a camera.” Officer Dade rested the binoculars against her uniform.

“Yeah, too bad.”

Please leave
.

“That’s all you remember? You’re sure you’ve told me everything, Ms. Alexander?”

“Yes, that’s it. I’m sorry it’s not more, and that I bothered the authorities with this when you already have witnesses. I know it’s going to be a long day for you.”

“It’s fine. I mean, no one got hurt, right?”

“Did anyone? Get hurt?” Playing stupid was pushing it, but Brad needed to know what they’d found out so far.

“No, not that we’re aware of. It doesn’t make sense that there was an empty fishing boat out there, though. Especially one that caused such a huge explosion.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Her tension kicked into high gear. She was a JAG, not a SEAL, and she didn’t relish one second of her involvement in Brad’s undercover op.

Officer Dade sighed and handed the binoculars back to her.

“Thanks for your cooperation, Ms. Alexander. If you remember anything else, give us a call.”

“Will do.”

Joy walked the young woman to the front door and wanted to shout with relief once the door closed and she heard the police car drive off.

That had been too close—as well as too easy.

What did it say about her that she’d lied so effortlessly? And to a police officer, yet.

* * *

“Y
OU
DID
GREAT
, J
OY
.
” He leaned against the counter, his bulk making the kitchen seem tiny.

“
Great?
Lying to an officer, trying to manipulate her into telling me classified information about the investigation?” She poured coffee into his mug and took out the small bag of chamomile that was steeping in hers.

“Trust me.”

That was the problem. She
did
trust Brad. It was herself she was having trouble with.

“What do you need from me, Brad?”

His stare unnerved her but she’d be damned if she’d let him see it. She met his eyes and waited for him to blink. He didn’t. Instead, he glanced away and spoke as if transcribing an operational report or a court order.

“For right now, I need to stay put. I need time for things to settle. And I need to figure out why they’re after a certain high-ranking military official who lives here.”

“You know who they’re after?” As she asked, she suddenly knew who Brad was about to name.

“Is it General Grimes?”

“General Grimes.”

They said his name in unison.

General Grimes had been the Marine Corps Flag Officer in charge of the overall mission that Brad’s SEAL team had completed nearly five years ago. The same mission that had depended on Farid’s help. The same operation that had precipitated Farid’s arrest and incarceration.

Brad put his mug down on the counter. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t, but it makes sense. He’s the highest-ranking military person I know of on the island. He retired here.” They’d both relied on General Grimes’s testimony to free Farid.

“How do
you
know he’s here?”

She shrugged. “I ran into him at the commissary about two months ago. Or rather, I saw a man who looked just like him but he was in civilian clothes. I wasn’t about to go up to him and remind him that I was the one who’d forced him to testify—I pissed him off enough the first time around. I read in
Navy Times
that he’d retired to much pomp and circumstance. Go figure, he ended up here, far away from the spotlight he’d still be under if he’d stayed in DC.”

Brad must have heard the rancor in her reply. “He might have not appreciated you, Joy, but he respected you. He had to. You got the testimony you needed out of him, and Farid was released.”

“Farid’s free because he wasn’t guilty of anything. Even Grimes couldn’t scrape up a bad word about him without looking like an ass—or lying.” The memory of running into Grimes in the commissary flashed before her. “It was weird seeing the big, bad Marine Corps General put cans of baked beans in his shopping cart like a regular mortal.”

Brad snorted. “We all put our pants on the same way, Joy.”

A smile nudged her lips in spite of the serious issue.

“Why do you think they’re after him?” she asked. “There are plenty of active-duty admirals and generals who’d be easier to target, aren’t there?”

“Maybe, but three days ago one of the cell members let it slip that they were getting closer to their ‘objective.’ I didn’t know who they were after—I thought it was the base, or a Navy aircraft or even a random sailor. My team ran down every sailor who’s been over in their neck of the woods in the last decade and now lives here. They included all retirees. Grimes was the highest-ranking person to pop up.”

“You have to warn him!”

“You think?” His wit stung, and he tempered it with a quick grin. “My people have already told him. He’s had extra surveillance around his property for the past two days.”

“So why do you need me?”

“I need to find out who’s behind the SAM and who would want to harm General Grimes and why. I suspect it’s the same entity. Also, how did these local homegrown sleepers get a weapon into the country? I want to nail whoever supplied them, too. I think there’s a good chance it’s the same group of insurgents Grimes was fighting over there, but I can’t be sure. I need you to get that information. If I could call in to my team and have them do it, I wouldn’t have climbed a two-hundred-foot cliff to hide out at your place while you get the answers I need.”

He held her gaze, and she was grateful he couldn’t read her mind. Because a not-so-small part of her didn’t regret the extra time with Brad, no matter how bad the circumstances might be.

CHAPTER THREE

“I
STILL
DON
’
T
understand why you can’t just borrow
my
phone and call in to your team. Wouldn’t that make things a lot easier for you?”

He hated to crush her complete trust in the system. Joy was a rule-follower. It was her job; she was a lawyer. But he lived in a world where promises were valid only as long as it took for the people who’d made the promise to get what they wanted.

Where every communication was vulnerable to eavesdropping.

“First, all the comms in the area are under surveillance at this point, at least until the LEAs figure out what caused the explosion. They have to rule out terrorism, which in this case, they won’t be able to do. Especially when they find out the FBI has an active antiterrorist operation in place. Second, I’m not the only undercover agent working this case—I don’t know everyone from the other agencies. I can’t risk calling in and having the comms intercepted. It would put the other agents at risk.”

“You think the terrorists are intercepting communications, too, don’t you?”

“I have no doubt, not after seeing that SAM.” He couldn’t tell her the classified details of covert communications and interception, but he owed her his professional opinion.

“You see the news, Joy. Very little is safe from interception with today’s technology.”

Joy shook her head, and he liked how her hair flowed around her shoulders, how the light reflected off her copper highlights. He’d wondered how good it would look down, out of that prim French braid she’d worn while in uniform. Now he knew.

“Why the hell go undercover if you can’t communicate what you’re finding out?”

“My job is to neutralize the bad guys, Joy. I have to use my judgment to determine when to come out of my covert role. With one of the most highly decorated generals in US Military history in the sights of these bastards, calling in my status isn’t exactly a priority. My team will figure it all out. They probably already have.”

“Won’t your boss be worried that you were killed in the explosion?”

“Maybe.” Her sincerity made it too easy to spill his guts, but he’d never compromised classified information before and wasn’t about to start now.

“Sorry—I don’t need to know any of this,” she said. “Just tell me what you need from me.”

“I need you to dig up whatever you can on Grimes. There has to be a reason they’re after him. It’s not merely that he was the lead GI over there during the most successful and intense allied operations.”

“I’m not sure what I can learn that hasn’t already made it into the press, but I’ll try.”

“That’s all I’m asking, Joy. I can hold out for a day or two before I have to report in.” He wasn’t about to give her any more details. She needed to understand that she could trust him, but he couldn’t put her at risk by knowing too much, either.

She looked at her watch, and he smiled.

“You still wear a watch, even with your smartphone?”

“Some of us are old-school. Anyway, I’ve got a job to do and I’d better get moving or I’ll find myself fired on the first day. Lawyers don’t have the flexibility FBI agents do.”

The banter was reminiscent of the joking they’d done to break up tension during the trial. Always aboveboard, always professional, never with any sexual innuendo.

The way it had to stay.

* * *

“A
FTERNOON
,
MA
’
AM
.”
T
HE
base guard stood in front of the sentry post and saluted Joy as soon as he handed back her ID. Security was especially tight. They’d searched under her vehicle and had her open all her doors and back hatch. Not usual for someone with an active-duty ID.

“Have a good day.” She saluted back and drove through the gate. The Naval Air Station Whidbey Island sign seemed to mock her, as did the sign with smaller print that stated persons coming aboard the Air Station were subject to search. She’d never had reason to feel the words were directed at her until today.

She was becoming a criminal.

Not technically, not yet. She could turn her car around and go home and tell Brad to take off, give him a fair lead time before she called the police and got herself out of the entire mess.

No one would blame her for not wanting to participate in an anti-terrorist op. Most would applaud her for doing what she could to help. The press and public would never find out about Brad—undercover agents weren’t news-eligible.

She’d called the office a second time and told her boss that she had a medical appointment on base that was part of the procedure for her separation from the Navy. A bald-faced lie on her first day in the new job. It sucked lying to the person who had trusted in her enough to give her this job after her eight years as a JAG. She hoped Paul would not only understand but also support her actions.

She
was
doing the right thing, wasn’t she?

You know you are
.

Brad was the kind of patriot who’d inspired her to serve in the military in the first place. He was willing to risk everything—including his life—to keep his country safe and free. To preserve the national defense. This morning he could’ve asked her to be his lawyer, to represent him in case his fears became reality and he was charged with killing a suspected terrorist. Instead, he was seeking information to further protect General Grimes and to figure out the source of this evil.

Her tires crunched on the gravel lot in front of the base’s legal offices. It took her a while to find a parking space. She was grateful that the placard with her name on it, designating her personal spot, had been removed when she’d left almost two months ago. Better that no one would be able to readily notice her car.

She’d remained dressed in her new suit and with her hair down around her shoulders instead of fastened in a French braid, the way she’d had to wear it in uniform. She hoped no one would recognize her as the former Commander Alexander. At least not immediately.

She inhaled the familiar smell of ammonia and stale coffee as she entered the executive area. Her new office in the law firm smelled like lavender and more expensive coffee.

“Commander Alexander. Bored already?” Shelly Jenkins, the receptionist who’d seen dozens of JAG officers come and go during her tenure, smiled and stood to greet her.

She wished she could spill it all to Shelly. More than a receptionist, she’d been another woman in service and a strong ally while Joy worked here.

You can’t tell anyone. For their sake
.

“Hi, Shelly. Nope, not bored. I’m getting ready to start my new job and wanted to stop by and see Dennis. Is he in?” She knew he was; he’d just texted her. It was paramount that her presence back on base look like nothing more than a friendly drop-in.

“Sure is. Let me tell him you’re here.”

Thirty seconds later, Joy sat across from Navy Commander Dennis Leighton, the JAG who’d relieved her.

“Are you in trouble, Joy?” he asked abruptly. They’d spent too many hours working together for Dennis to believe she’d stop in for a coffee chat.

“Not exactly. But someone close to me may be. I have to tell you up front that I can’t give you any information, and that I’m taking advantage of the two days remaining before my ID has to be turned in.” Joy had resigned her commission, and since she didn’t have enough years, she wouldn’t be retiring and getting a new retiree’s ID. Once her terminal leave was over, she’d be a total civilian. No more shopping at the base commissary, no more cosmetic purchases at the Navy Exchange, no more gym workouts on base. Certainly no showing up at her former command, looking for what might be classified information that she no longer had clearance for.

“I trust you implicitly, Joy. You wouldn’t be here unless you believed in what you were doing.” Dennis leaned back in his chair, his desk filled with files and stacks of paper.

“I know you have a heavy caseload,” she said. NCIS had infiltrated a drug ring in the enlisted barracks, and the resulting arrests had given the legal department a year’s worth of defense work. Now with the offshore explosion, the JAG office could be inundated with testimony and the legalities created by a possible terrorist act.

“That’s also why I know you’re here for a very good reason. What do you need, Joy?” Dennis looked relaxed, his head tilted slightly, his hands clasped behind his head as he tipped his chair back. Joy knew his calm demeanor was deceptive. Dennis was a gifted lawyer who would go far, whether he stayed in the Navy or got out to make his mark in the civilian courts. He was observing her closely, looking for every nuance in her expression. She’d expect no less.

“I need access to the cases I worked on almost two years ago.” Three tours ago, by Navy standards. After Norfolk she’d gone on to a quick tour on the USS
Abraham Lincoln
based in Everett, Washington, and then did her last tour here on Whidbey.

Dennis blinked. He clearly hadn’t expected this. “You want me to go into the Navy JAG database and retrieve them?”

She shook her head. “No. I want the original paperwork. The archived hard copies.” She needed to see for herself whether she’d missed something important that had put Brad’s life, or that of General Grimes, at risk today.

Dennis lowered his arms onto the desk and leaned toward her.

“They’re in a basement in DC, Joy. If they haven’t been destroyed by now. Which, most likely, they have.”

“You know as well as I do that those files won’t be destroyed for another decade.” The backlog of paperwork in the legal field was staggering. Even more so when it involved something as high-profile as terrorism.

Once she’d agreed to defend Farid based on Brad’s testimony, she’d had to wrestle with the possibility that Brad had been brainwashed by the same Taliban group his SEAL team and General Grimes’s command had infiltrated and taken out. She’d had to make certain that his testimony, intended to free Farid from a possible death sentence, wasn’t based on a sense of guilt at having sold out Farid’s village leaders. It would’ve been so much easier to let Brad’s almost zealous drive to free his friend convince her that he was an unreliable witness and that she had no business trying to help Farid.

But she’d never been one for taking the easy road or the convenient one. She had to be able to look herself in the mirror every day, knowing she’d done her best. Brad wasn’t a war-damaged SEAL—he was a good man who refused to let an innocent man take the rap for something he hadn’t done. Brad’s intensity had sparked the most intense legal work of her career. He demanded nothing less than her utmost ability as an attorney and as a Naval officer.

“I have to see those files, Dennis.”

“I can request them, Joy, but I need to show cause.”

“Tell them one of the defendants in the barracks drug ring that NCIS is investigating is former special ops, that he’s claiming PTSD, and inhumane treatment during his time downrange made him snap and get involved in drugs here.”

Dennis shot her a rueful grin. “You always managed to get what we needed, Joy.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“I can try, but no promises. Even if they’ve got them, you could be talking boxes and boxes of paper. How will you know which one has what you need?”

“I’ll know. Can you have them FedEx the boxes to my house?”

“Hell, no. I can get them sent here if I’m lucky.”

“My ID runs out—”

“In two days. I remember.” His comment stoked her guilt. She’d been unable to make things work with Dennis except at work. He’d often hinted that he’d like their relationship to become more after she got out, but there’d never been any chemistry between them. Not for her, at least. She hadn’t offered him the slightest encouragement. Yet he still knew her last day of active duty.

He was handsome, excellent at his job and would never think of asking
her
to break the law.

Dennis glanced at his watch. “I’ll send a system request and follow it up with a phone call to a buddy of mine who’s working at headquarters. If we’re lucky we’ll get the boxes by tomorrow. That’ll give you a day to look at them. You’ll have to come in to base to do it. I can’t let you have access to anything after your terminal leave expires, Joy. You’ve already been read out.”

Unspoken was the fact that Dennis was breaking the law by allowing her access to classified material after she’d been read out of her clearance.

“I’ll sign a temporary clearance waiver.”

Dennis nodded. “Yes, you will. I trust you, Joy, but the system could end my career over this.”

“I understand. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Thank me when the boxes get here and you figure out who the bad guy is.”

* * *

F
RUSTRATION
SEETHED
THROUGH
B
RAD
. As powerful as Joy’s binoculars were and as advantageous as the view from her sunroom was, he couldn’t make out the US platforms—boats and aircraft—at the explosion site. Had anyone realized it was a SAM that had exploded? Did the Navy think it’d been a less hostile explosion, meant as a warning to the aircraft training from the base?

Won’t your boss be worried that you were killed in the explosion?

Unlikely, as Mike didn’t know he was anywhere near the boat that had blown up. Plus, they’d been through the same SEAL indoctrination in San Diego years ago. Mike knew his capabilities as well as he did himself.

He thanked his handy-dandy SEAL training for having a car trunk full of survival gear that had ultimately saved his life.

The scent of Joy’s laundry detergent wafted up with each step he took toward the kitchen. At least his clothes were clean, and he’d had a long, hot shower.

His stomach grumbled, and he checked the time. He’d told Joy not to call him on her house phone, not to have any communication unless they were face-to-face. She’d pick up a burner phone at Walmart sometime today, and then he could start making calls of his own.

But to whom? He didn’t want to call the Bureau until he had more answers. They’d warned General Grimes and arranged for a security detail. The general was in the loop, which was a load off Brad’s conscience.