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My cellphone buzzes with another call from my mother. “I think I need to take the call.”
Eric tunes out this comment. Instead, he grabs the business card the bearded man gave me and stares at the message on the back. “What if it wasn’t about a secret I’m keeping from you?” He looks at me. “What if that was my guilt driving how I saw the message?”
“What are you saying?”
“The SEALs consider ourselves brothers. What if this message was telling me that the root of our problems is my brother?”
“That feels obvious. Doesn’t it?”
“The man told you to look at what was right in front of you and this message,” he holds up the card, “ties me to Isaac. Fuck,” he says softly and then pulls his shirt off, tossing it to stare down at his arm. “Somewhere on my body is the link that ties those two messages together.”
My phone buzzes with a text message. My mother has given up on calls, apparently, and I glance down to read:Does Eric know?
My heart sinks. Oh God. His father must be dead.
Chapter ninety-three
Harper
Istare up at Eric, still standing above me, his shirt off, the ink etched on his body highlighting taut skin and well-developed muscle. Ink that tells a million stories, one of which perhaps solves our puzzle, but right now I’m looking at the jaguar covering one shoulder. The black ink, the blue eyes. The symbol of everything Eric hates about his life, perhaps even about himself. But his father is a part of him. His father has been his only parent still living for more than a decade of his life.
Eric sits down and takes the phone from me, his gaze lowering to the message. He frowns and looks at me. “Does Eric know what, Harper?”
I grab his arm. “Your father—”
“I’d know before your mother. Walker is tapped into the hospital activity and law enforcement.”
I’m afraid to let relief take over. “What else could it be?”
“Call her.”
“Call Adam. Please. Call him before I call her. I want to know what I’m getting myself into. And it’s weird that she hasn’t said anything else. No more calls. No more text messages.” My fist balls at my chest. “She might be falling apart right now. I need to go to her, Eric. I know it’s dangerous but—”
“We’ll bring her to us if necessary.” He reaches for his phone that’s sitting on the table and dials Adam on speaker.
“Yo, man, what’s up?” Adam answers.
“I’ve got you on speaker with Harper. What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Isaac is still holed up in his house. I went to check on him and he’s doing a lot of pacing and not much more. I’m watching him myself. Harper’s mother is loopy on the drugs but fine. I have Jesse, one of our best, with her.”
“She sent me a text message,” I say. “It says, ‘Does Eric know?’”
“What? That’s odd. Hold on.” The line clicks as he obviously mutes it.
“Should we call Blake?” I ask.
“That’s what Adam’s doing right now, I promise you. He’s communicating with Jesse and Blake.”
I nod and stand up. Eric pulls me back down. “Relax, baby. All is well.”
The endearment does funny things to my stomach, perhaps because it’s new. Perhaps because there is such tenderness in his face and his voice when he says it. “Baby? You never call me baby.”
“Would you prefer princess?”
Adam comes back on the line. “Your father is fine, Eric. No change. Your mother is awake for the first time in a few hours, but she’s struggling with the effects of the drug. She’s drunk on Xanax. He knew she was calling you. He has no idea what the message is about. We can take her phone.”
“No,” I say. “Not yet. Let me call her.”
