Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (13 page)

The computer sitting
on the side table beeped with a Skype request. “Right on time,” Nina said,
glancing at the clock.

“Who?”

“Gabbs.
She calls every day, and she misses
you. I was running out of excuses as to why Auntie Ka
yla
didn’t want to talk to her.”

Kayla’s chin dropped,
and she looked
more sorry
in that second than any other time that
day. “I’ve missed her too.”

Nina plopped down in
the chair and accepted the call.
“Hey,
sweetie.”

“Mom, I need to talk
to Mace.”

Nina n
odded.
“Yeah,
hello to you too, darling.”

“Hi,
Mom
.
N
ow
can I talk to Mace?”

“What
for?
He’s at work.”

Gabbs threw on a good
pout. “It’s secret.”

“Uh,” she drawled,
playing it up. “I see. He’ll call you later, but maybe there’s someone else
you’d like to
say hello to.”

“Who?”
Gabbs asked, fiddling with the mouse by
her hand.

“Hey, little girl,”
Kayla said, stepping into the camera’s radius.

“Auntie Kayla!” Gabbs
screeched. “Where have you been?”

“Huh, everyone seems
to be asking that today.”

“Auntie Kayla,
you got fat.”

They both chuckled.
“Honey, Auntie Kayla is going to have a baby.”

“Really?
Can I come and live with you, Kayla?
Mommy’s too busy kissing Mace all the time, and I can help you with the baby.”

Kayla grinned at her.
“It won’t be long I’m sure,
and I can’t wait to see
you.”

The door blew open and
Mace and Ghost sauntered in.

“Back so soon?” Kayla
said, startled.

“Is that Mace?” Gabbs
yelled.

“Just a second,
Gabriella,” Nina said, raising a finger to her daughter.

Mace leaned over her
shoulder. “
What’s up, Little Red?”

“Mace, they want
everyone to bring their dad to school. I always bring Grampy, but I want you to
come this time. You’re supposed to tell everyone what you do.”

“When is this
happening, Gabbs?” Mace knelt down beside Nina and forked
his fingers through hers.

“Next Friday.”

“Ah, Gabbs, I don’t
think…”

“Go,” Ghost said from
behind them. They both turned. He stood behind Kayla, his massive arms wrapped
around her stomach. “I’ll sign off on your leave.”

“Who’s that?” Gabbs,
always
inquisitive, asked, leaning forward as if she
could see around the corner of the monitor.

“It’s Mace’s boss,
Captain Austen. Sometimes they call him Ghost,” she told her daughter.

“Mr. Austen, sir, can
he really come?” she asked, practically bouncing in he
r
chair. Kayla pushed Ghost toward the monitor and he took a few tentative steps,
kneeling on the other side of Nina.

Gabbs eyes grew as big
as Ferris wheels. “Wooo,” she breathed.

“Sorry,” Nina
apologized, stifling a laugh.

Ghost plastered an
enormous gri
n on his face. “Hello, Gabriella, it’s
nice to meet you.”

“You’re,” she paused
and blinked, “big.”

Ghost nodded with a
smile sharpening his jaw line. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

The little lights came
on pretty quick. “Are you gonna be my uncle? Auntie Kayla’s g
onna have a baby, ya know?”

“I know,” he said, the
smile broadening. “He’s my son. We’re going to call him Adam.”

“I like that name. I
have an Adam in my class. I think he likes me.”

Ghost’s grin deepened.
“You make sure to tell all your classmates Mace is
coming, okay?”

“’Kay,
bye, Mr. Ghost.”

Nina wrapped an arm
around Mace’s shoulders. “Mace, I can’t get any time off work.”

“
It’s
okay, Mom, I just need Mace.”

“Oh,” she said
feigning a little hurt, but found it too adorable that Gabbs loved Mace so
much.
She wanted him to be her dad in the worst way.
Nina was trying to take it slow. Although her relationship with Mace was
intense, there were holes that only time could fill. They’d just begun to know
each other.

“I’ll be there
Thursday night, Gabbs.
You goi
ng to stay up and wait for me?”

“Yes. Can we play
hockey?”

Mace laughed and
glanced at the others. “It’s a date.”

Gabbs head swiveled,
and she nodded. “Mommy, Grandma wants to talk to you.” Nina’s mom and Gabbs
traded places, but Gabbs stayed close by with
an arm
draped across her shoulder. “Darling, your father and I were talking. He’s got
a convention in a couple weeks and it’s in San Diego. We thought we’d bring
Gabbs and all come.”

“No,” everyone barked
at the same time.

Her mother’s eyes
widened with t
he chorus.

“I mean.” Nina
chuckled tightly. “We—”

Her mother raised a
hand, her eyes hardening. “Don’t you dare lie to
me.
What’s going on?”

“Tonya.” Mace rubbed
his chin, and cleared his throat. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Gabbs, I’d like to
talk to your m
other alone.”

Gabbs looked worried.
“Is Mommy in trouble?”

“No, no, sweetheart.
Not at all.
I just want to speak to her alone.”

“Okay, bye Mommy, bye
Mace.”

Nina shot a look at
Mace. She’d kept the whole Shark matter under wraps, until now. She knew what
her parents would say.

They heard a door
close, and her mother dropped a look that could kill, and she dropped it from
forty thousand feet.
“Truth.
Now.”

Nina nibbled on the
edge of her fingernail. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

“Does this have
anythin
g to do with the serial killer we’ve been
hearing about on the news?”

Bloody Canada, they
always scooped stories from the U.S. “Yes, Mom, but there’s no need to be
concerned.”

“Mace, are you
protecting my daughter?”

He eyed the monitor.
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”

Kayla slid into the
camera’s view, and she nudged Nina over on the chair.

“Kayla!
My, my.
It looks like
there’s
a lot of things we haven’t been told about.”

“Tonya, you’re
familiar with the Navy’s policy: need-to-know basis only, but in this case it
was t
o save you from worrying. I don’t think it would
be safe for you to come for a visit right now.”

Her mother
contemplated Kayla’s words. Thane hovered behind them, and Tonya’s brows
popped.
“Ma’am, I’m Captain Thane
Austen, in charge of the West Coast Navy
SEALs.
I strongly suggest you remain in
Canada.”

“Do I want to know the
rest of this story?”

“No,” they said in
unison.

Her mother’s lips
pressed together. “Is my daughter safe, Captain?”

“She’s protected by
SEALs twenty-four hours a day.”

“And she needs t
o be protected because of a direct threat. Is that right?”

“Mom, please don’t
worry. They’re going to catch this guy. Kayla and I are safe as we can be.”

“You’d be safer at
home.”

“Actually
,
that might not be the case,” Ghost said.

Her mother nodded
hesitantly. “Mace, we’ll send our driver to pick you up at
the airport on Thursday night.” She paused. “And we will talk.”

Mace nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good,” she said
tightly. “Kayla.”

“Yes, Tonya.”

“Is the father of your
baby going to do the honorable thi
ng?”

“I’m trying, ma’am,”
Ghost spoke up. Nina’s mom didn’t seem shocked that it was him. “She’s a little
hard-headed.”

“Yes, she is that, but
she’s like a daughter to me. If the American Navy put you in charge of the
strongest fighting force in the world,
I would assume
you might have just enough determination to deal with Kayla.”

Ghost burned a grin.
“Barely,” he said, and that brought a smile to her mother’s face.

“Fine, I’ll let you
kids go. And Nina, I won’t be sharing this with your father or he’d be
on a plane tonight.”

“Thanks, Mom. Bye.”

“I love you.”

Nina disconnected and
her head dropped to the tabletop. “Kids?” she mumbled into it.

Everyone chuckled.

“They always see us as
children, Nina. Don’t worry about it,” Ghost said. “My mom pulls out naked
pictures of me in the bathtub when I was two any chance
she gets.”

“Oh, I wanna see
those. In fact, I want copies,” Kayla teased.

“No
way.”

“You’re the one who
was talking about photo albums, remember? We’ll put them next to Adam’s. Like
father, like son.
”

Nina glanced at Mace,
and then back at Ghost and Kayla. Had they just teased each other? Man, maybe
the demons had been put to rest. At least they’d taken a holiday, and that
meant a whole lotta room for hope.

A huge grin sloshed
onto Ghost’s face, and h
e swept the mother of his
child out of her seat. Kayla was tiny in comparison to the monster of a man who
loved her. He coveted her now, and it radiated from him. Nina turned away when
Kayla got lost in his arms and his kiss.

Now, all they had to
do was fi
nd a serial killer. Was there a break in the
overcast skies covering their future? The weather could change rapidly around
this part of the world. A thought crash landed in her head. “Wait a minute. You
can’t go to Victoria without me.”

“Why?” Mace asked,
not following.

“My sister will be
there.”

Mace laughed out loud.
“Seriously, she’s not that much of a threat.”

“Yeah, you say that
now, but what are you going to do when she slips in
to
bed with you while you’re sleeping?”

“What?” He sat back on
his
haunches. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, that’s what she
did to my boyfriend when I was sixteen.”

“Is that why you guys
are at odds?
From a guy in your
teens?”

“You don’t fuck with
family, Mace. She’s never apologized, and I’ve never forgiven her.”

“What di
d the guy do?”

Nina’s guts turned to
hot coals, and she felt her cheeks redden with heat.

“Oh, sorry I asked.”
He leaned forward and put a finger under her chin. “I’m not sixteen, babe, and
I got
all the
woman I need right here.”