Page 9 of Breached

“Well, I learned that her girlfriends all love Mark because he basically is a girl,” I said deadpan, and she let out a laugh that made the guys stop talking. She covered her mouth and laughed some more.

“Sorry, it’s just so true.” She wiped some tears and sniffed. “All right,” she shook off some stress, “so I don’t need to worry about her today?”

“I don’t think so.” I tucked a piece of hair behind one ear. “Besides, she and Brandon seem close. I think he’s watching over her too.”

“Those two.” She smiled and looked so much like Olivia.

“Best friends?” I asked.

“No.” She lowered her voice, and I raised a brow, not following. “I mean, yes, they’re best friends.” She took a moment. “You know when you can sense something at an early age—I’d never dare mention it, but you just know that someday, maybe it could be something?”

“Like love?”

She chuckled. “I know it’s ridiculous—they’re so young,” she waved it off, “but sometimes I catch Brandon watching her just like Cole watches me—protective. It’s like how his father watched his mother.”

“That’s actually really sweet.”

“It is, and if it was anyone else, I’d take them out.” She smiled. “They’re so young, and it’s coming from such an innocent place that it’s kind of fun to watch. The best part is I know that when they are together they both have one another’s backs.” She bit her bottom lip. “You must think I’m one of those moms.”

“No,” I shook my head, “I think you see something wonderful in Brandon, and you recognize it because you have it in Cole. You guys are molding the next generation of this life, and if you ask me, it’s pretty damn cool that you can see those qualities in the kids already. Your daughter is already a leader, and she’ll be a woman not to be messed with.” I put a hand on her arm. “Enjoy these moments, Savannah, and don’t let anyone judge you for seeing a good thing.”

She suddenly wrapped me in a hug and held me tight. “Thank you.”

“So, we’re just giving out hugs to anyone now?” Mark muttered as he came in. “I haven’t gotten any this morning. Keith won’t even come near me, and don’t get me started on your husband, Savi.” He made us laugh, and I was happy to see his spark hadn’t gone too far. Paul had shared that Mark used humor to deflect his real feelings. “What?” Mark eyed us. “I’ve had to survive on packaged Oreos for the past four days.” He made a disgusted face. “What are we, savages?”

I left Savannah to fuss over Mark and headed downstairs where I found Mia stepping out of a room.

“Hey, Nicole, the doctor is looking over Chase’s lungs. He seems to be improving nicely, so it’s just routine. He’s going to be getting some vaccinations too, just in case, so if you hear him cry, that’s all it is.”

“Oh, okay, do you think I should go in?”

“No, I think he’s fine.” She smiled. I loved that they kept me in the loop, and I knew I wasn’t his mother. I had been making an effort not to be there for him all the time so he would get used to trusting the others, but it was hard. I already loved the little guy to pieces.

“Thanks, Mia. I know Olivia said she was going to play with him, so if he needs a distraction later, she’s ready.”

Her eyes lit up. “Perfect! By the way, have you seen my husband?”

“Yes,” I laughed softly, “he’s upstairs in the kitchen with Savannah.”

“Complaining about having to eat bought cookies, I bet.” She shook her head and laughed. “I’ll go up and give him a hug.”

Feeling like I helped a few hearts today, I slipped into a conference room Cole had set up for me and turned on my laptop. I had endless hours of footage from my time in Mexico, and I was determined to find something that might help the guys.

I clicked around and opened the file on Eric Noah. He and Bruno Perez had known each other for over a decade, and now that I knew Eric Noah was very much alive and had been seen with Bruno recently, I wanted to start there.

I opened the first video I had of Eric and then opened the most recent and placed them next to each other. I studied his appearance. He hadn’t changed much as far as his face went, but his body got considerably bulkier as the years went on. Bruno, on the other hand, seemed to go in the opposite direction; he was much thinner. It made me wonder if Bruno had been messing with drugs. It would make sense, the way his temper seemed to be all over the place at times.

Once the videos ended, I opened two more random ones and watched those. I lost track of time as I became hyper-fixated on Eric Noah. The man was an enigma—he was like a ghost that popped up at the strangest of times. Suddenly, I caught something and rewound the footage. It was of the time when my team and I had been ambushed by Augustine Cruz and some of his men. We had been under heavy fire at the time, and one of the guys and I were hiding behind a bus. My camera was attached to my shoulder, as usual, recording the whole thing. I watched as I tripped into a door, and my camera was knocked around backward. I hadn’t realized it at the time, of course, but as I watched it now, I was shocked by what I saw.

Eric Noah had come up behind us just as one of Cruz’s men did. As the man raised his gun to fire on us, Eric quickly stepped up and snapped his neck then lowered him to the ground. He looked right at the camera briefly, then a second later he stepped out of view. As crazy as it was, I thought Eric Noah may have saved me that day.

I fought hard to remember the madness of that fight—the memories started to come. I remembered we had stayed behind that bus for nearly a day and a half until air support arrived to scare them off, then shortly afterward, we ran into the Canos’ soldiers, which brought a whole new level of craziness. I hadn’t reviewed this film for a long time, if ever, and I wondered what else I might have missed over the years. I couldn’t get my head around what I had just seen.

I dragged the video and saved it into a different file and shook off the strange feeling.

I had to review more. I brought up another one then reached over for a protein bar from my bag—too invested to take time for breakfast. I watched as Ben and I walked along a beach in Playa Escondida. We had received word from a source that Eric had been spotted there.

We had stopped in front of the restaurant, and I turned my back as Ben pointed the camera at me like we were filming a clip. “Can you see him?” I asked, holding the microphone in my hand.