AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s Harkness,” he corrected her.
“Oh, sorry. Slip of the tongue.” She looked everything but sorry. “But I am Dean’s right-hand woman right now, so you can speak freely. Unless you want to get one of your muscled bodyguards to forcefully remove me from the room.” She took a sip of her coffee and settled back in the chair.
Dean bit his lip, hard, laughter tickling his throat. From the look on the general’s face, he was sure no one talked to him like that. He was a military man, a man who expected his troops to salute and follow his orders. But he had come up against an immovable force. Granny wasn’t intimidated by either the general, the import of his government contact or the sheer charisma of the man.
The woman piped up, “Be careful, Mike. I think she can take both of them.”
There was a strained silence, then the general threw back his head and laughed heartily. “I suspect you’re right.”
It seemed the ice queen had a sense of humor. Maybe she wasn’t so chilly after all.
“I’ll take that as a no, then. You can be assured that whatever is said here will stay here. Granny stays.” Dean said.
Granny Steele was wholly on his side, but that wasn’t a surprise. She’d practically raised Neo, and she was a steadfast and loyal person. Not to mention, they were related by marriage, and she would be great-grandmother to any children Chry and Neo would have. But he suspected it was more than that. Granny championed the downtrodden and the vulnerable.
It made Dean wonder if she considered him vulnerable here. Did she notice that he wasn’t exactly thrilled to have been kicked out of the Navy? That losing his team—the brotherhood—had been the worst thing he could have endured…other than his brother’s death at the hands of those fucking rebels, traitors, and thugs? Then the CIA had given him the boot, too.
Sure, he knew the consequences of ignoring orders and getting involved in Neo and Chry’s rescue. But there had been no other alternative for him. He was going to lose something important to him either way it went, and Neo and Chry’s lives were worth those consequences. He would do it all over again, knowing how he would feel, knowing what would happen, knowing the price he’d have to pay.
“All right, sweet—Ms. Steele. Chief Teller. I’ll take you at your word.” He turned toward Dean. “This is Dr. Jessica Scott,” the general said, then rose and drained his cup. “We’re here to offer you the chance to head up an undercover black op straight out of your motorcycle shop. And your first mission is to stop the massacre of thousands of people in this City of Angels you call home.”
CHAPTERFIVE
Someone might as well have throwna flashbang into the room. Dazed, Dean’s gaze swung to Granny Steele. She was shocked at first, then protective, and he frowned, his features tightening. He eased back into his chair and sipped his coffee, closing his eyes for a moment and wondering if he could get this suffocating weight off him.
He’d just been discharged from the SEALs—the reality of that thought brought the pain lurking in the back of his mind to the fore and the CIA had also kicked him to the curb. The general was offering him a black ops job? No, the leader of a black ops team, his choice of recruitment. He was offering him a way back into service…only this time it was even more secretive than being in DEVGRU, with more freedom, no rank, and a license to kill.
When he joined in the post-9/11 era, he was more than aware of what he wanted to do. Serve his country. But recently he’d come to realize that maybe he had been running away from…here. LA. Pierce Teller and his constant pressure. The humiliation of having O turn away from him and disappear to a private school without a backward glance or a goodbye.
A memory of O’s mother took shape in his mind, and Dean clenched his teeth, an old anger rising up inside him. Anger over that last meeting with the snooty bitch. Anger over the lack of support O had lived with. Anger over what she had tossed out the window seventeen years ago.
But that wasn’t the only thing eating a hole in his gut.
He’d been so busy trying to suppress all the feelings of disappointment, anger, and some resentment toward his brother and sister-in-law, he’d never given himself a moment to really think about how much he had really lost and the sickening dread that had dogged him since he’d been let go. Irrational and a waste of his time. Neo and Chry hadn’t purposely gotten themselves into that terrible bind. Dean’s resentment was hollow, and it shamed him.
Now this was another chance. Did he want to take it?
“I need an answer, man, and I need it now.”
“Don’t order me around, General. I’m not in the military anymore, and as a free citizen, a freedom I fought for, I get to make a decision without pressure from you or anyone else in your chain of command.”
The general stiffened, then relaxed. “I see. I thought you were a SEAL through and through.”
“I am a warrior, General. Make no mistake about that. But the Navy retired me.” His desire to serve was almost as strong as his dislike of the government.
“Bunch of slack-jawed squids if you ask me. I read your jacket and you have what I’m looking for. Regardless of what those hard asses did to you, I think you’ve got what it takes to do the job that needs to be done. As for the CIA. Fuck them. They are also stupid and blind. Besides, if you were with the Company, you’d never be able to work in the US.”
Dean hardened his jaw and stared into space.
“Look. LA needs you now. How about you take on this assignment on a temporary basis? Just send out feelers and try and get me some intel on these missiles, weapons, and C4. LAPD SWAT alerted us to a warehouse—”
“What did you say? A warehouse. Was an officer shot?”
“I believe so. The assailant was part of some motorcycle group—”
“The Black Hearts?”
“What does that have to do—”
