Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
The team consisted of Coffey, Simi’s husband, Autry, me, and two of Autry’s old SEAL team, Callister Green and Duke Miller.
And as the SEALs from Autry’s former team retired, more and more of them were showing interest in joining the cause.
I wouldn’t be surprised to have the majority of his old team after a few more years. There were a few Navy lifers on his old team who might never leave.
But most of them were getting older, and there would be a point where they’d be forced to find a different job in the Navy, and the men didn’t strike me as ones who would be okay with being forced to sit at a desk for the rest of their life.
“When do you leave?” Zip asked from the table where she was sitting breast feeding her baby.
I looked at my watch. “Now.”
“What are y’all doing this time?” Tony asked.
“Golfing,” I lied.
But that would explain the big ass bag I was leaving with. Maybe they’d think it was golf clubs instead of tactical gear.
“Boring,” Val grumbled.
Linny, her daughter, popped her head around her mother’s chair and ran at me like a linebacker.
For being the child of two doctors, she acted like she was the child of two mercenaries set on ruling the world.
I picked her up, smothered her in kisses, and then tossed her to Felix, who caught her easily, very much used to our game.
“Where’d you come from?” Val asked in surprise.
Felix, who I’d heard arrive though none of the others had, tossed his daughter over his shoulder and said, “I’m the ride to the airport.”
He was.
But only because I wanted to ask him a few questions about things related to supplies.
I could’ve asked Val, but she would’ve gotten suspicious.
Felix might be suspicious after I ask him for more supplies for the team, but he wasn’t going to press.
I tried not to put the husbands of my sisters in positions where they had to lie to their spouses, so it was just easier to keep them as much in the dark as possible, too.
“I want to go with you, Daddy!” Linny cried.
“Nope,” Felix placed her on the ground. “I have to go to work. I only volunteered to take Uncle Keene because it’s on my way.”
That was true.
I’d been talking about needing a ride—because I refused to spend two hundred bucks on airport parking—and he’d volunteered. Though, I was killing two birds with one stone with taking him up on the offer and not someone else.
“Bummer,” Linny grumbled.
She looked so much like Val in that moment that I had to smother a laugh.
“Ready?” I asked Felix.
Felix walked over to his wife, pulled her by the ponytail until her mouth was pointed where he needed it, and kissed her.
I looked away, because even though they were all adults now, they were still my baby sisters. And that was gross.
“Ready.” Felix winked at his wife. “Goodbye, ladies.”
After a chorus of goodbyes, Felix walked with me out of the apartment and to his fancy new truck.
It had more bells and whistles than any vehicle I’d ever seen in my life.
I opened the door and got in, tossing my stuff over the seat into the back.
Felix waited until we were on our way before saying, “What do you need?”
“We’re running low on everything. We’ll need more IV bags, all accessories to start an IV, antibiotics. Anything and everything that one would need for emergency situations,” I answered.
“Got it.” He nodded, his eyes considering. “I can have that delivered up there to you, or I can get it brought to your apartment here.”
I was already shaking my head. “I don’t plan on being there much longer than a few days. Just go ahead and have it delivered to the apartment.”
Felix nodded, and the rest of the trip was spent in relative silence until we arrived at the drop off point.
“You need to tell them what’s going on,” he said. “If they find out that you’re out there putting your life in danger, they’ll be mad.”
I was already shaking my head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked, sounding worried.
I looked through the windshield at the quickly darkening sky. “I have a lot of sins to atone for. Once I do… I’ll quit.”
Felix snorted. “You have no sins to atone for. The sins of your father are not your own. And you won’t be quitting unless someone forces you to.”
That was true.
I liked what I did.
I liked the feeling of peace it sent through me knowing that a child I rescued wasn’t going through absolute hell.
“That’s why my sisters won’t ever know.”
Felix looked at me with a grin. “I wasn’t talking about your sisters.”
CHAPTER 2
Babies born on March 31st are the easiest to fool on April first. They were literally just born yesterday.
-Ande to Addison
ANDE
“I think I’ve had just as much fun as I can here, so I’m going to go home.”