AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My wife likely disagrees,” he answered, his dry wit more parched than normal. Not that the guy looked open to making the current sharing-fest a two-way deal. Tag canted forward, elbows on his knees. “While I’m on a roll, here’s some hard-earned wisdom you can take or leave. So you had a thing going once? But you were too young to hang on to it. Makes sense. That Mars and Venus stuff is hard for an old guy like me to figure out. It can be all but impossible when you’re younger.”
Daniel shook his head, half believing, yet knowing he couldn’t let himself off the hook that easily. “Where were you eleven years ago when I wanted to hear something like this?”
“Making my own mistakes,” Tag answered with fatherly wisdom, even though his forty-one years made any true parental connection impossible.
“Mary Elise and I are history.”
Tag stayed silent.
Daniel sighed. Did parents go to a school to develop that knowing look?
He followed Tag’s gaze. Straight down to Daniel’s hand that had somehow found its way back into Mary Elise’s hair.
He untwisted his finger from the strands, not a speedy proposition. The hair unwrapped and unwrapped in a long unraveling stretch.
“History,” Daniel repeated as if he could will it so.
“Sure. You can take that route. Let go, quick and easy like. Or you can use the second chance to get your head on straight about this woman. Your choice. Don’t screw it up—” he grinned, standing “—sir.I’ll be back in a half hour.”
Tag swept aside the curtain and ducked out of the small quarters, his hard-earned wisdom lingering long after the curtain stopped rippling.
Daniel watched the pendulum swish of Mary Elise’s hair and thought of that wary flash in her eyes at the mention of her ex. More cause to be careful around her, and it wasn’t as if the woman wanted a commitment from him anymore.
He did “no commitment” well.
Tag’s talk of second chances had merit. Now was Daniel’s chance to right the past. He may have taken the easy route and let her send him packing eleven years ago. But he wasn’t running away from her now.
With a cool determination that had carried him through countless secret test missions, Daniel fixed his mind on a dual goal. Nothing would happen to his brothers on his watch. And no one, most especially himself, would ever hurt Mary Elise again.
* * *
Kent McRae gripped his steering wheel until it hurt. From the comfort of his Mercedes, he watched the C-17 circle above the thick band of evergreens. Night sounds and darkness wrapped around him while he waited, tucked just outside the main gate of Charleston Air Force Base.
The drive up from Savannah after the call from the economic attaché in Rubistan had given him time to think, to strategize. He didn’t like it when plans went off-kilter.
And Mary Elise had skewed his life once too often.
He forced his hold on the steering wheel to relax. No losing control. Stay steady and focused. If only she’d been inside that rigged car with Ambassador Baker as he’d been led to expect. That she’d survived, then turned to another man to help with the boys, stirred a cold wrath.
One explosion and his life could have been back on track, the past cleared away so he could start his future with a new wife. However, the week’s events would only prove a minor setback for a persistent man.
Kent raised binoculars for a better view of the circling plane. Persistence paid off, after all. If only Mary Elise could have believed him about that. But her defective body housed a defective mind. She simply didn’t comprehend, no matter how often he’d told her to keep trying and eventually they would have their perfect family.
He’d loved her. So much. And she’d left him. He’d thought he could win her back. Finally accepted otherwise. And if he couldn’t have her, at least he would have a clean slate to begin a new life with a more malleable woman.
And Baker? Every crime needed a fall guy. The appearance of a murder/suicide between old lovers should satisfy authorities.
The oversize cargo plane straightened out of the turn, lining up with the runway, lower, closer, roaring overhead. Kent watched and waited. Patient.
Persistent.
CHAPTERFOUR
Her patience had worn thin.
Mary Elise wanted to call this day over. Now. The cargo plane had finally landed in Charleston, and they were seconds away from exiting the metal cavern that had grown more claustrophobic with each minute closer to the States.
Hitching the sleeping Austin higher on her hip, Mary Elise followed the loadmaster’s lead through the belly of the plane toward the hatch. The remaining hours of the flight had dragged, drawn tight by anxiety over what awaited her once she exited the front gate. What would she do with her life and how would she deal with the possibility that Kent might find her?
