LEIF (Blake Security Book 3) (10 page)

              He swallowed hard. “Maybe…”

              “Damn it, Leif! I thought you were going to leave that alone.”

              “It’s not what you think. This is not about my obsession with her. I’m over that…” I raised an eyebrow and he said, “Okay, not over it, but I’ve accepted the way things are. But the idea of her and that little boy being out there alone like sitting ducks when Jaime Guzman has hundreds of thugs at his disposal is eating me up, boss.”

              “Does she know you’re watching her?”

              His eyes widened. “No way! If she did, there’d probably be a restraining order in place.”

              “She doesn’t want a bodyguard, Leif. You need to leave it alone before she does file one on you.”

              “Okay, but then maybe you can tell me how I’m supposed to live with it when something happens to her?”

              I have the same kind of gut feeling about this whole thing that Leif does. I also have a personal stake in things. Frank Morrow doesn’t remember me, but when I was a junior in high school, my father was arrested for stealing money from the company he was working for. When he went in front of the judge, my dad broke down and told him his story. He had been working for a roofing company for ten years at a very low salary. He fell off of a roof, and while he was off recuperating, we lost our house because he couldn’t pay the mortgage. Mom was working at the time as a teacher’s aide, but she didn’t make anywhere near enough for us to live off of. I tried to get a job, but Dad wouldn’t let me. He thought I’d end up with a football scholarship and he wanted me to concentrate on my game. We lived without running water and electricity for several months in a house the sheriff finally came and kicked us out of. We didn’t have enough money to even get a motel room, but my dad was too proud to ask for help. We camped out near the swamps for a while, and as things got worse and worse, my dad got more and more depressed.

              When the doctor finally signed off on him going back to work, my dad showed up at the job site only to be told the company was “downsizing” and he was being laid off. He went back to the office and learned from the receptionist that they hired three new technicians while he was gone. They were all three young guys right out of college. My dad was hurt and pissed. He probably should have tried suing the company at least for his retirement wages, but hindsight and all that. Instead, he used the combination to the wall safe and stole almost ten grand in cash. That night, he packed us up and moved us to Florida. I was as confused as hell until they came knocking on our door a week later and arrested him. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He served three before my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I took care of her as well as I could, but toward the end, she wouldn’t stop asking for my dad. I made a trip to New Orleans and told the judge about the situation. Somehow he arranged not only for the old man to make the trip but to get kicked early so he could stay with her until she died. The judge may not remember me, but I’ll never forget him.

              “Sometimes part of life is making hard choices based on what someone else wants or needs, Leif. She’s a grown woman. She’s an attorney. You have to trust that she’ll call us if she needs us—and stay out of her way until that happens.”

              He nodded, but I could still see that fire in his eyes. Where Karli was concerned, this kid teetered on the edge of insanity. I just hope that one of these days his persistence doesn’t get him into real trouble. “So what would you like me to do…about your situation?”

              “I think we have it covered for now. Go home and get some sleep.” He nodded again, but I’d lay odds that he’d be headed uptown when he left here instead of down. I guess I’d have to let him follow his own instincts and just be there for him if and when it blows up in his face.

LEIF

              I left the office and circled around the block before I got on the highway so Blake didn’t see which direction I was going. I wasn’t stalking Karli. I was worried about her, but I felt a little comforted by the fact that she was inside a law office with security, or a courthouse with armed bailiffs most of her day. It was Hunter that caused me to worry the most. When I was with them at the house, I kept thinking about them killing that dog. They’d gone for the weakest, easiest mark—and also one that would hurt the judge. They didn’t want to kill him; they wanted to control him. Killing the dog was simply to show him what they could do. I spent a lot of time thinking about what my next move would be if I had no conscience and I wanted to force someone to do what I wanted them to do. What do people love most? What caused the prosecutor to recuse himself? Children, grandchildren, innocent little victims that are small, naïve, and easy to snatch. I didn’t care how secure they all insisted this school Hunter was going to was, I just couldn’t shake the bad feeling that he would be the one these guys would go after next.

              I got off the freeway and took Constance Street through the Lower Garden District until I saw the big church and the school that was attached to it. I parked my car across the street in front of a blue Victorian house, the same place I’d sat and watched from yesterday. I moved my seat back and reclined it slightly so it wasn’t obvious that a man was sitting alone in a car watching a school. I didn’t want to get pegged as a pedophile; Blake might not save my ass on that one.

              It was about half an hour after I got there when the morning rush began. Parents in designer cars and clothes came and went, dropping off their little minions dressed up in their Catholic school finery. The buses pulled in and out, and children poured off of them like little ants out of a sandy hill. I kept watch for Karli’s little smart car. It was red—so it was easy to spot. It was almost eight when I saw her drive up behind one of the buses and jump out of the car like she was in a hurry. I didn’t know anything about how long it took a little boy to get ready for school, but I didn’t like her running late. It would make her less apt to pay attention to her surroundings.

              As usual, she looked amazing. I watched her hurry around to the passenger side and help Hunter out of his seat. She was wearing a dark green pencil skirt, white heels, and a white sleeveless shirt. Her hair hung loose. It was getting really long, almost to her waist. I loved the way it smelled. Each time I got close to her, I wanted to inhale it.

              Hunter looked sharp in his blue polo shirt and khaki shorts. Karli helped him put his little backpack on and then took his hand and they hurried inside. I watched her hurry back out a few minutes later. She’d left her car unlocked, and she didn’t even glance around her as she took off toward the freeway. I shook my head and fought the temptation to follow her. I stayed put. For some reason, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that Hunter needed me more.

              I tried to keep my mind clear, as I sat there hour after hour. At nine thirty, I ate a granola bar. At ten, I had some cantaloupe I’d cut up and put in my little insulated bag. At ten thirty, I started to go for my sandwich but made myself stop. At this rate, this little stakeout was going to add ten pounds to my ass. Instead, I made myself think about Hunter. I loved how curious he was and how he listened to me when I explained things like he was absorbing every word. Those big blue eyes of his always seemed to be filled with wonder or awe, especially when he was seeing or hearing about something new. When I looked at him now, I was finally able to see him…and not the other Leif. Damn, that was exactly where I was trying so hard not to let my mind travel to…it was the last time I talked to Karli before I saw her again at her parent’s house…

Killen, Texas

2015

“Staff Sergeant Thompson!” I was walking toward the parking lot and had almost made it when I heard my name. It had been one hell of a busy week, and now that it was Friday afternoon all I wanted was to get home, put my feet up, and have a beer. I turned towards the voice…and I saw Private First Class Leap. He was assigned to command on the base and works with our sergeant major. He saluted me, and then he said, “Sergeant Major Nichols wants to see you in his office right now, sir.”

Damn. “Can you tell me what he wants to see me about?”

“No, sir. He just said that I better not come back without you, sir.”

That didn’t sound good at all. Damn. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done. Since I ran Karli off that last time, I’d gone to work and home and kept to myself. As far as I knew, no one was complaining about me at work. I realized while I was beginning to obsess that Leap was still standing at attention. “At ease soldier. Let him know that I’m on my way.” He saluted me once more and then scurried off like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Our sergeant major was not a nice guy—and that poor kid probably got his ass reamed on a daily basis. I put my hat back on my head, took a deep breath, and headed up towards the offices.

I knocked on the sergeant major’s door and at the sound of his, “Enter!” I pushed it open. I was prepared to salute…but I wasn’t prepared for the sight of the man sitting in the chair in front of the desk. I stood at attention, feeling like I was going to be sick until the sergeant major said, “At ease, soldier. Come in and close the door.” I did as I was told, trying not to stare at the man in the black beret. His eyes were on me, taking me in. I felt like my head was spinning. It was trying too hard to process what was happening here.

I stood with my back ram-rod straight and my eyes on the wall above his head until he finally stood up and said, “I hear you and I have a lot in common, soldier.” He spat out the “soldier.”

As proof that I’d grown up a lot over the years, I spat back, “It’s staff sergeant.” We were both at the same pay grade—even though he was supposed to be dead.

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his blue eyes. “Of course. Have a seat, Staff Sergeant Thompson.”

I looked at my commanding officer first, and he motioned for me to sit down. I sat and waited until the “real” Thompson began to speak again. “I joined the army in 2004. I’ve given over ten long, hard years to my country. The last three years I spent as a ghost.”

A ghost is one of those things that is somewhere between fact and legend in the military. They are men who disappear off the planet—and either never resurface, or come back with a well-practiced and prepared story. Wherever this Leif had been, it left him with a long, jagged scar that ran down one side of his face and cold, hard eyes.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something or ask a question. When I didn’t he went on, “As part of my return to life, we had to correct a few things in the system. Imagine our surprise when we found out that my personal records had been accessed back in 2012 from Helmund Province. It took some doing to track down who had accessed them; he was good, I have to give him that.”

He paused again. I was holding my breath, still not prepared to say anything. He hadn’t asked me a direct question yet, so I wasn’t about to go on the defensive. “But, the U.S. Army is better. We found your friend Sam Ricci. He retired last year and is living a pretty decent life on his pension in Florida. Just so you know, he didn’t want to give you up, but he still has two kids at home and one in college and losing that pension would hurt.”

I wasn’t upset with Sam. I always told my men if I asked them to do anything for me and it came back down on us, I’d take full responsibility.

“We took a look at your life, Leif, and when I found out that not long after you accessed my records, you took a trip to New Orleans I found it a little curious since I’d taken that same trip myself on my last R&R, but you knew that didn’t you, Leif?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did you use my records for, Leif?”

“I didn’t use them for anything, sir.”

“You didn’t pretend to be me?”

“Yes, sir, sort of.”

“Staff Sergeant! A straight answer!” My sergeant major was glaring at me.

“Yes, sir. I was actually trying to give you a straight answer. May I start at the beginning?”

“Please do,” the other Thompson said. I took a deep, shaky breath and started talking. I told them about the letters and going to New Orleans to meet Karli…I didn’t tell them about Hunter. It wasn’t my place to tell him that. I did tell them I gave her a copy of his records. That would be another crime they could charge me with, but other than Hunter, I was trying to stick to the truth as much as possible. When I finished talking, the sergeant major was now looking at the other officer with a look that I couldn’t read. I suspect he was a little pissed off that he’d wasted his time only to find out the whole thing was about him being unfaithful to his wife.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence while Thompson stared me down. At last he stood up, and after giving me a disgusted look, he looked at my sergeant major and said, “I’d just like the whole thing dropped.”

I tried to keep my face completely neutral…but I was seething on the inside. He’d come here because he wanted me to pay for my “crimes.” Now that he’d found out that revealing them would also reveal him as a liar and cheat, he wanted no part of it. I was also pissed that he hadn’t even asked about Karli. It made me even happier that I hadn’t told him about Hunter.

Sergeant Major Nichols looked at me with a different contempt than his look had shown towards the other Thompson, and then he said, “You’re dismissed for now.” I saluted them both and left. As soon as I closed the door, I heard raised voices. My career would depend on which one of them had more pull with the brass, I assume.  

When I got home, I agonized for hours over whether or not to call Karli.

I finally gave in, because even if she hung up on me, I would know that at least I tried.

              “Leif? Are you kidding? Why are you calling me?” She sounded thrilled to hear from me.

              “Karli, please don’t hang up. This is important. I’ll say what I called for and I’ll never call you again, okay?”

              “What is it?”

              “I don’t know how to say this…”

              “I’m hanging up.”

              “No wait! Karli, the other Leif, he’s not dead.”

There was a really, really long pause. When she finally spoke, it was only to say, “What?”

“I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this. It’s classified information, but I owe you, and I could care less what happens to me these days. Thompson was classified as dead because he went off the grid. He was what we call a “ghost.” That means he lived with the Afghanis or Iraqis or hell it could have even been Columbians. No one but he and his commander will ever know unless they tell them. They live as one of them, and so their real records have to be doctored or expunged. Because he had so many years of service and so his family could receive benefits, they made it seem like he was dead instead.  My guess is that he wasn’t supposed to come back, but for whatever reason, he did. He found out I accessed his records. He wanted to know why.”

“What did you tell him?” Her voice was shaky with shock—and maybe disbelief. I didn’t have a good track record with the truth where Karli was concerned so I didn’t blame her. 

“I told him the truth, except that I didn’t mention Hunter.”

“Why?”

“Because it wasn’t my place. That’s up to you. I’m not sure, but I assume he’s living back in Boston now if that’s where his family is, so if you want to get in touch with him and tell him yourself, that’s an option.”

She was quiet again—and I could hear a little boy’s voice in the background. I wished that I was there. I wished that she didn’t hate me so that I could hold her until she decided what to do. “I need to go.”

“Are you okay, Karli?”

“I’m fine.” She disconnected the call.