Accidental SEAL (SEAL Brotherhood #1) (30 page)

Fredo’s apartment was in a low-rent district down the strand, under the freeway. They sat out on his veranda amid the deafening sound of cars while they ate pizza Fredo had ordered. Kyle looked up and noticed the full moon in the cloudless sky. He couldn’t help but think of her. And wondered what she was doing right now.

“I guess Mia’s going to be okay,” Fredo started in.

“Yeah? How’d you find that out?” Cooper said.

“Stopped by today. She looks good, man.”

Kyle smiled. He was sure Fredo was recalling what Mia had looked like naked, even though she’d been suffering from the burns of the explosion. Fredo was smitten. No doubt about it.

“I’m sure she appreciated the company. How was Mama?” Kyle said to Fredo’s smirk.

“They were arguing something fierce when I walked in. Cops were interested in her, too, until she told them I was her cousin.”

“Kissing cousins, I’d say,” Cooper continued.

Fredo threw his wadded napkin in Cooper’s face.

“Gunny, you want some pizza? Better hurry up, or it’ll all be gone,” Kyle shouted over the traffic din through the opened sliding glass door. The older man had locked himself in the bathroom and was coughing.

Gunny’s hacking and coughing continued, accelerating.

“He’s not too well,” Fredo announced.

“I think we should take him home. I don’t want him to drive,” Kyle said.

“I heard that,” Gunny said as he approached. “You boys are going to nursemaid me to death. I’m fine. I think we need to start focusing on Armando.”

Kyle told them about the conversation he had with Timmons after Detective Mayfield’s meeting. “They think he’s still alive, but the gang will step up the play. They haven’t gotten what they want yet.”

“What does Timmons think they want?” Fredo asked Kyle.

“Not what. Who. He thinks they want me.”

“That explains why Carlisle is so interested,” Coop added.

“You think they trashed Armando’s house for the guns?” Gunny asked.

“Absolutely. And I think they want more. Think I’ll trade them guns for Armando.”

“He’d never let that happen,” said Fredo.

“And that’s why we have to get to him first.”

Kyle’s cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

“Kyle Lansdowne?”

“Yes.”

“This is Detective Mayfield of the San Diego Police Department. I’ve spent most the morning working on a case I think you’re involved in. There’s been a murder in the gym at the Infinity Building.”

Kyle’s stomach churned. He stood quickly. “Who?” He didn’t want to know, but he had to find out. He noticed Cooper and Fredo had locked eyes with him.

“Not her,” Mayfield said. “The deceased is a trainer, name’s Marla. You know her?”

“No.”

“I think she was a friend of Ms. Christy Nelson. I’m sure you know her.”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Look, Mr. Lansdowne, I’ve spoken to Timmons. We’re all on the same team here, but I got people all over my ass. This is the fourth body to show up, and you are the prime suspect.”

Kyle took a big breath and then exhaled. He didn’t know what to say. Cooper and Fredo were still on alert.

“But I’m not buying it, son.” Mayfield continued.

Kyle was relieved. “Thank you, sir. So what’s your theory?”

“Rather feels like flushing a rabbit out of a briar patch. They’re trying to scare her, make her do something stupid. I think they’re hoping she’ll go find you.”

“Ain’t going to happen,” Kyle said.

“Come again?”

Kyle looked at his buds and then answered Mayfield. “They won’t find me through her. We broke it off.”

“You know that, Timmons knows that and told me the same. But they don’t.”

“I thought her condo at the Infinity was the safest place for her.”

“I’d normally agree. But these guys aren’t amateurs. And they don’t care how much publicity they stir up or who they hurt.”

“Why are you calling me?” Kyle wasn’t sure he could do anything to help. “You know I shouldn’t go near her. Even with the murder, I still think that building is the safest place for her.”

“Yeah. Except she isn’t here.”

Kyle swore under his breath. No one else said a word or made a sound.

“Where is she?”

“I’m not going to say. Not sure it’s safe. Besides, you just said you shouldn’t be anywhere near her. Let’s just keep it that way.”

“So what are you proposing?”

“You need to get yourself caught. You gotta be the bait.”

“No way.”

“They’re going to find you, Kyle.”

“Not unless I find them first.”

“Son, you are thinking with the wrong part of your anatomy. If they don’t find you, they’ll get her, and if that fails, they’ll kill her, and your buddy, too. She’s safe right now, but I’d say you’ve got about twenty-four hours. That’s it.”

“Where is she?”

“Not telling.”

“She in San Diego?”

“She’s not at her condo, if that’s what you mean. Someone has been, though. The place is a mess.”

Kyle looked at Fredo and Cooper. Both SEALs were watching his face. Ready for anything.

“Look, Kyle. You’ve got to stop thinking about rescue here. Leave that to us. That’s why I’m not telling you. You need to get yourself caught so we can track you. Can you do that, son?

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, get sure. Find a way. I got no other way to do it.”

Kyle knew he needed to find Christy. If they couldn’t find him, they’d go after Christy. Mayfield was wrong. Christy was the bait. And he wasn’t anywhere around her now.

That was going to have to change. Nothing he could do tonight. He’d go see Simms in the morning. If he couldn’t get Christy’s location from Mayfield, Christy might have told her employer.

Gunny’s lumpy couch was going to be home tonight. As he stretched out, he stood up and looked at the almost full moon, bathing everything in a chalky highlight that glowed. Blue-white flashes from the television inside Gunny’s added strobes of light to the outside porch. He knew she must have gone to San Francisco.

But where?

In the morning, Kyle woke up with a sore back. Gunny was sawing logs and had fallen asleep in the recliner with all his clothes on. They had stayed up to watch some wrestling show on late night TV since Kyle couldn’t sleep.

He left a note for Gunny and took the beater off the island into San Diego, pulling up to the Patterson Realty office at eight-thirty. In the parking lot across the street he sat and watched, noting Simms was the first to arrive and was checking his watch. Kyle slipped in behind the man, causing Simms to jump as Kyle addressed him.

“Hello, Mr. Simms. I’m looking for Christy.”

Simms scurried backward until he slammed himself up against the reception countertop.

“Look, I won’t tell a soul you were here. Please, I have a family…”

Kyle swore. “I’m not here to cause any problems for you. I want to protect Christy. She’s in danger.”

“That’s because of you.”

“No, that’s because some people are trying to mess with me. But I think they’ll go after her next.”

“Look, I don’t know anything.”

Kyle stepped closer to the man, who looked like he was going to pee in his pants. “I think you do. I think you know exactly where she is. She has no idea she’s in danger.”

“Well, why don’t you call her then, if…if she’ll take your call?”

“I’d like to do that from your phone, if I may.” He directed Mr. Simms to go down the hallway, following behind.

“My phone? Here?” Simms asked at the entrance to his office.

“Yes.”

“So she’ll think it’s me?”

“Yes.”

“She said you two had broken up. She wouldn’t be seeing you anymore.”

“That’s true.”

“You’d better leave all this to the police. They’re after you, you know. Came in here with questions.”

“I’ll bet.”

They could hear one of the secretaries arriving. She busied herself, humming a tune, and began brewing coffee and turning on lights. She stopped short when she saw Kyle’s hulking frame leaning against the doorway of the manager’s office.

“Morning, ma’am.”

She blushed, flustered and muttering something to herself, then headed in the opposite direction.

“I’m not here to hurt anybody,” Kyle repeated.

Simms pushed his phone across the desk so that the keypad faced Kyle. He had her cell number memorized. He dialed, heard the familiar ring. When he heard the recording of her voice, his throat became parched. He hung up right after the beep, not leaving a message.

“She’ll call you back. Ask her where she’s staying. I’m going to call you later and you’re going to give me that address, Simms.”

Simms frowned.

“For her own safety, you’ll give me her address. I swear to you I would never hurt her.”

Simms fell back into his chair, resigned. “Give me your number. I’ll call you the instant I hear from her.”

“Thank you.” Kyle wrote his published cell number on a slip of memo paper. “I don’t usually answer this, so leave me a message. If you get a call from me, it won’t look like any number you’re used to.”

“Got it.”

If he couldn’t get it from Simms, he’d have to try to convince Sergeant Mayfield. But he wanted to stay clear of the locals. Now the hard part was starting. The waiting.

Chapter 31

Simms was relieved the SEAL was out of his office. He waited until he saw the soldier exit the parking lot in an old green truck with red Forest Service logos. He locked the front door.

“Stacey, I’m calling the police. Let in only people you know.”

“And the police,” she quipped.

He didn’t have time for her backhanded challenge today, but made a note to talk to her about her attitude. He went straight to his office and picked up the phone. He fumbled a card from his middle desk drawer and dialed.

“Yeah?”

“This Deputy Hilber?”

“Who’s this?” The deputy said without confirming.

“This is Carl Simms. I’m manager at the Patterson Realty office in San Diego. You asked me to call you if I heard from Kyle Lansdowne.”

“Yes. So I take it you have?”

“He was just here.”

“Where’s that exactly?”

“Here. In my office. I’m the
manager
at Patterson…”

“Yes, yes,” Hilber interrupted. “I
got
it now. Okay, what did he want?”

“He wanted to know where Christy was.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Simms heard a woman’s voice in the background and the sound of what could be rustling sheets. He continued. “I’m sorry if I woke you up, sir. I get into the office early and…”

A hand muffled the phone, but Simms could hear the deputy swearing at someone, and a woman giggling in response.

Probably caught him having sex with his wife.

“No problem, Simms. I’m all ears now. So, he asked about…Ouch! God dammit. Fucking stop that.” Hilber lowered his voice and said, “Excuse me,” to Simms. “Having a little problem here on the home front, if you catch my drift.”

Simms got quiet. Maybe he shouldn’t have called. He’d never spoken to his wife like that. Ever.

“Officer Hilber, Lansdowne doesn’t know where Christy is. Neither do I, but I can find out, and he wants me to. Didn’t want to call from his own phone. Used mine here at the office. That sound fishy to you?”

“Absolutely. Do you have the number he called?”

Simms pushed down on the silver button at the middle of the headset. A phone number displayed in red digital numbers. He recognized it as Christy’s cell. He gave it to the deputy.

“Good. This helps. When you find out her location, let us know first, okay? We need to give her some protection before he gets to her. It also would be a great way to catch him.”

“You think he would harm her?”

“Look Simms, he’s already killed four. He has the taste of blood in his mouth. He’ll do it again.”

“But I think he cares about this woman.”

“I’d say more like he’s obsessed. And maybe he’s trying to cover his tracks. God only knows what info she has on him. Look, Simms, I don’t think I have to tell you that these men are trained dogs. They are trained not to care about anything or anyone in order to do their jobs. But this isn’t fucking Afghanistan.”

It was partially true, Simms thought. But he’d never seen a SEAL member hurt a civilian. There were some stories about it, though, especially among the haters in the San Diego community. There were always a few of those.

“Anything else?” Hilber sounded impatient.

“No, sir. Just trying to be a good citizen,” Simms answered. “What do I tell him when he calls?”

“Don’t give the address to him when you get it. Don’t call him back. Just call me.”

“Oh. What happens if he comes back over here?”

“Call the locals. Geez, Simms, use your fuckin’ head. Look, I gotta go. You got more questions than a schoolgirl on her first date.”

“Just trying to cooperate fully, as you asked.”

“Well, we thank you for that. Talk to you soon, then—oh, say, did you happen to notice what car he was driving?”

“Truck. Green truck with a red official logo on the door. Never seen it before today.”

Simms glanced over contracts he was supposed to review this morning. He couldn’t concentrate and had to read over everything twice. He’d wasted five minutes. He was seeing letters and numbers, but none of it was making any sense. Like this situation with Christy.

The secretary appeared at his doorway.

“There’s a crowd outside the front door. They’re wondering if we’re going out of business.”

“I told you to let in people you knew. Christ, I don’t want to lock out my own agents.”

Simms was irritated. He needed this little wrinkle like he needed the mumps. He made a mental note to fire Stacy at his first opportunity. After all this crap with Christy was over.

Stacey was still looking down at her shoes.

“Well, go ahead and let them in, or is there something else?”

“I want a word with you later, Mr. Simms.”

Fine. Leave me alone.
He grinned. “I’d be happy to speak with you after I return a few phone calls and review these contracts.” He pointed to a stack about a foot high, all files he was supposed to review and sign off on.