Wounded Courage (Lucky Thirteen) (11 page)

“Chris…” I covered my mouth, the idea just coming in full force, all at once, like a waterfall and not stopping.

“What? What’s wrong?”

I put my hand on his arm, fisting his sleeve. “Can you take me somewhere?”

“Where?”

“A storage unit.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you but later. It’s important.” Chris looked unconvinced, and doubtful. I wasn’t about to give up all my cards just yet. I didn’t trust the master chief, but now I had cards to bet with. And if I could get free… “Please, Chris?”

“Okay. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll put the request in. It would help if I knew what we were going for.”

I bit my lip. Could I tell him the truth? How much was good enough without giving away my hand?

“Well, I can’t explain it. Not yet. Alex and I had a storage place that we didn’t tell any of his men or his family about. It was for us, for when he was free. My stuff is all in there, and some really important things that Alex wanted hidden from everyone. And money.”

Chris stared at me, dumbfounded. Maybe he really did see me as his dumb twin sister. “Why didn’t you say anything about this earlier?”

“Because I don’t trust anyone, Chris. I thought that was fairly obvious.”

“Fuck it all, Addy. You’re putting me in one hell of a position.”

“Me?” I scoffed. “Puh-lease. You guys are the ones that won’t let me leave.”

“For your safety!”

“Bullshit. You guys are keeping me here so you can watch me. I lived with the Giroux family for over a year. I know them all… intimately. Personally. And I’m sitting here, trying to hand over information to you, and all I’m getting is suspicion.”

“Fine!” He took a breath, and in a lower voice added, “I’ll talk to Master Chief. See if we can’t get a few guys to go with you.”

“No. No guys. Just you. Or Murphy. No one else. And I need computer access.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t trust anyone else. I said this already. For all you know, there’s a leak on your team.”

Chris’s disbelief slid off his face, replaced by anger. “We’re not going to have this conversation. I would lay my life down for any of these guys. Every fucking one of them. There’s no way any of them would be a traitor.”

“I know,” I nodded. “You believe in them. You trust them. That’s awesome. I just wish that certainty would extend to me.”

Regret replaced the anger this time. “Addy, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay. I get it. We haven’t seen each other since you graduated boot camp and then you find me cavorting with your enemy. It’s understandable that you don’t trust me.”

He shook his head, but no words came out of his mouth. I knew I’d put him on the spot, and maybe I’d done it so he’d feel just a little guilty for putting his boys above his sister. That made me feel like shit, too. I was manipulating my brother to get what I wanted.

“Chris, I—”

“I said, I will talk to Master Chief. We’ll see what we can do.” Just like that, the cool, calm SEAL demeanor I’d come to expect from the guys came crashing down. He turned on his heel and left the room.

I fingered the necklace around my neck. I was sure that I’d hurt him. And even though my brother always bounced back fast, I knew things were changing, and once we opened that storage unit, his opinion of me would change forever.

~*~*~

Murphy

Hardy and I sat across from Master Chief Collins who, by the irritated look on his face, probably was wishing he was back in Coronado by now. He steepled his fingers together and sighed, low and exasperated.

“What’s in this storage unit?”

“She didn’t say much,” Hardy replied. “She doesn’t want anyone else except me or Murph to go.”

“I don’t know that this is a good plan. I think I’d rather send her back to San Diego where the professionals can talk to her.”

“Master Chief, she’s my sister, and I’d rather handle this in-house, if you know what I mean.” Hardy’s voice was even, but I knew him well enough that he was getting desperate, especially when Addison kept springing new secrets on us.

“I understand that, son. I’d feel better if I knew what was in there.”

“She just said what was in there was important, and that there was money there, for her and Alex.”

“Interesting.” Master Chief shuffled some papers around on his desk, or the steel table currently masquerading as a desk. “We got some interesting intel from Miss Long yesterday… about Addison Hardy.”

Neither Chris nor I said anything, but the mere mention of Addison’s name in the same sentence as the NSA liaison we partnered with sent chills down my spine.

“Seems… she’s a very rich woman right now. Rich enough to be a target for pretty much every criminal element in the world. And maybe some legit ones too.”

“I don’t understand.” Hardy managed out.

“The reading of Alex Giroux’s will happened this week. Seems that Addison Hardy has inherited every single penny, every business, every single little enterprise that Alex Giroux had his grubby fingers in upon his death.” He cleared his throat. “I’d lay odds this is why she’s so anxious to leave us.”

“My sister? You’re saying my sister is the heiress to the Giroux family fortune?”

“Well, a big part of it. With Marie and Rene Giroux dead, their part of the family business was split between their surviving brothers, Alex and Jean. Neither Marie or Rene had a will on file, or at least not one that could be found… and I have my theories about that one… but Alex did.”

“Shit. So the Giroux family fortune is currently split between Simon and his remaining son, Jean…” Hardy’s voice trailed off, but the blood was beginning to pound in my ears.

“And your sister,” Master Chief confirmed.

“Alex’s money went straight to Addison when he died.” I breathed. Holy shit. Did Addison know? Was that why she was so fired up to get out?

“You see why I’m not anxious to let her go?”

“Yeah,” I replied absently. “If she doesn’t know, she’s a walking target.”

“And if she does, then there must have been a reason for it… some kind of plan…” Hardy said. He didn’t look happy.

Master Chief nodded. “I’d lay good odds she knows and thinks staying here will make her a target. I don’t think she’d be wrong either. So… I’m going to have to leave this in your court. Get me answers in the next week, or I’m not going to be able to stop the lieutenant from ordering her detainment.” He paused. “I don’t mean that as a threat, boys. It’s a fact.”

“I understand, Master Chief.” I tamped down the protective urge that surged up from the depths of my gut. I could never let them take Addison away like that. From the look on Hardy’s face, he agreed with me, which meant we needed a real plan.

Our boss stood up, gathering up his files. “I’m going to go turn in for the night. See you two bright and early in the morning.”

“Master Chief, what about the storage unit?” I asked.

“Mr. Murphy, you do what you feel is necessary.”

He ushered us out of his office and shut the door behind him. With each step he took down the corridor, the dread in my belly grew. We were running out of time.

Hardy turned to me. “I don’t know about you, Murphy, but I think he just gave us the go-ahead.”

‘What? How do you figure? He didn’t say yes.”

“He didn’t say no, either.” Hardy flashed me a grin. “She’s been here for weeks fighting us and now she’s giving us answers. I think that we need to follow up on her, give her a chance to be straight with us.” He sighed and looked away. “I wish I’d kept in touch with her. I feel like I don’t even know her. And this would be easier on her then.”

“The last mission demanded radio silence. Even Battles couldn’t contact his wife.”

“I know. It still sucks.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. It was plain torture seeing her here after all that time, and knowing that I’d missed the bus, and knowing that she’d moved on with the worst scum of the world when all I would have had to do years ago was take her into my arms, kiss the daylight out of her, and she would have been mine.

“Let’s take her in the morning, after the briefing.” Hardy said. He frowned and paused. “I mean, if it’s cool.”

Like I would deny him, even if I was in positional authority. I nodded. “It’s cool, man.”

Hardy nodded. “Okay. I’m going to head back. You could come hang out with me and Addy.”

Yeah. Because that was a fantastic idea. I shook my head. “I’m good. Tired. Going to head to bed.”

“All right,” Hardy waved. “Later.”

Going to bed wasn’t exactly on my To Do list. I watched Hardy disappear down the corridor and leaned against the cool metal wall. There had to be a better way out of this than letting Collins and Nelson take Addison away. I couldn’t let that happen, no matter how well trained and disciplined I was. Addison was worth so much more than a room in a military prison.

~*~*~

Addison

I’d gotten bored of sitting in my bedroom, so I wandered out into the common room. Dylan was sitting on the couch, reading a fitness magazine. His attention riveted to me immediately. “You all right?”

I nodded. “Just bored. Not a lot to do here when I’m not a SEAL.”

He laughed and set the magazine down. Standing up, he stepped over to the cabinet and pulled out a deck of cards. He turned around and grinned. “Strip poker?”

I crooked an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, so no stripping.” He snickered and sat back down on the couch. Taking out the cards, he shuffled them absently. “That makes poker no fun, so… how about…” He paused, his dark eyes sliding to the corner as a devilish grin overtook his expression, “Fifty-two card pickup!” He tossed the cards in the air before I said a word, laughing as the cards rained down around us.

“Oh, my God. You’re like twelve.”

Dylan dissolved into a mess of laughter, falling back against the couch. “Your face was awesome!”

He stood up, still laughing, and started picking up the cards. Giggling a little, because—hey—it was kinda funny, I helped him pick the cards back up. “You really are an ass.”

“Nah. I just don’t take things seriously. You’re like Hardy, so serious.”

I blinked because no one had ever told me that before. In fact, usually they were tellig me I wasn’t serious enough because my brother was so much more successful at life than I was. Hoorah, SEALs and all that. “I’m not like my brother.”

“Okay,” he said.

“I’m not.”

“I believe you,” he replied, smiling. He set the cards down on the table, and I added the ones I’d collected too.

“Liar.”

“That makes two of us,” he said. “You’re way too serious for me, chica. No wonder Murphy’s panting like a puppy after you.”

“He’s not,” I gasped. Why would he think that?

“Seriously? You’re delusional about that too?” He shook his head. “Really, Addison. I took you for a smart girl.”

I wanted to say something, but he’d rendered me speechless. I stared, but he didn’t even spare me a glance. Then Chris came in, which effectively ended that conversation. But he didn’t come in alone. Murphy followed him in. I was torn between relief and mortification.

“Hey!” Dylan said, cheerily.

“Hey.” Chris peeled off his jacket and tossed it in the chair. He watched me for a long minute, but didn’t say anything. Finally, he cleared his throat. “We’re good to go. We’ll take you tomorrow.”

There was something else in his gaze. Murphy had a similar expression. I frowned. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Did you know about the will?” Chris asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, but paused. I didn’t know how he’d found out, but I wasn’t surprised. It had been weeks. That it hadn’t come out before now was a miracle. My secret was blown. I glanced at Murphy, who might as well have been Chris’s twin rather than me.

“Yes,” I told him. “I helped Alex draft it.”

“Then you realize you’ve inherited billions.”

“Yes, I know.”

“It’s all blood money, Addison. People have been killed for that money. Enslaved for it.”

“I had to. Everyone knows in order to take someone down, you kick them where it hurts. Money is where Simon Giroux would hurt the most.”

“Are you serious?” Hardy slammed his fists on the table. We were separated by the couch, and I was glad. Not that I thought he’d ever hurt me, but I didn’t want to close to him in that moment. Rage radiated from him. “You lied to us. To me.”

“No, I just didn’t tell you.”

“Same fucking thing.”

Dylan looked between me and Chris to Murphy and back again. “Well, I think this is my queue to take off.” He stood up, turned to me. “Nice playing with you, Addison.” He waved to Murphy and practically ran from the room.

“Nothing to say?” Chris’s voice was low, the anger like sharp spikes.

I stood up to my full height and faced him. I wasn’t going to let him bully me. I had my reasons for what I did, and he needed to understand why I hadn’t been straight with him. Because even though he was a SEAL, and he could take care of himself, he was still my brother and I wanted to protect him.

“I have very little to bargain with here, Chris. You guys are holding me prisoner, claiming safety, but we both know that’s not why. I’m here because I’m all you’ve got against that fucking family. Because they know all about you, and you don’t know shit about them.”

“I’m a little curious as to how they got that information now,” Chris spat at me.

My mouth dropped.
Oh, no, he didn’t
. Shock and rage mixed in my blood, setting it on fire. “Is that what you really think of me?”

“Why don’t you look at it from my point of view?” He snarled.

“Why, you self-righteous, fucking—”

“Hang on!” Murphy was between us before I could blink. “Let’s not get heated here.”

“I don’t know where they got the information. It wasn’t from me.”

“No one is saying—”

“He is!” I pointed at my brother, who crossed his arms. “I haven’t talked to either of you in almost three years. Where would I get what they know? I’ve never even met most of your team before I came to this shithole.”

“It’s just a coincidence,” Chris said, deadpan. “That’s all.”

“Fuck you,” I snapped. “You don’t know shit about me.”

“Well, you’ve certainly not been helpful in that department.”