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Liam
Marco was sexy even when he was driving. But he was just sexy, no matter what. I pressed my fingers to my forehead where he’d kissed me. It had been a strangely tender gesture from a man who insisted he didn’t want any commitments.
To be fair, I thought I understood why. It was pretty obvious from the picture on Marco’s mantel that he had been deeply in love with Terrence. The man had only died three years ago. I’m sure it took a lot longer to get over the death of someone you loved so much. Hell, it took my mother eight years to finally start dating after my father died.
I shook my head. The flashback I’d had in Marco’s kitchen was a reminder that I was still in the early stages of my PTSD recovery. I needed to focus on that, not on a sexy, unavailable ex-Navy SEAL. I watched the road signs go by for a bit, noting that we were passing by King of Prussia, PA. That meant we were about an hour and a half from Harrisburg.
Marco glanced over at me and asked, “You okay?”
I nodded. “I’m good. I do have some questions though.”
I saw his body tense. I wondered if he thought I was going to ask about Terrence. “I’ll answer as best I can,” he said quietly.
“Fair enough,” I replied. “I noticed Pete, Dante, and Gabe call you Chief, but Andrea calls you Sarge.”
Marco rolled his eyes and huffed a short laugh. “Dante and Gabe were both SEALs. Gabe was in my unit. Pete was a Navy pilot. My rank before I opted out was Senior Chief Petty Officer. That’s why they call me Chief. Andrea was an Army sniper. She calls me Sarge to fuck with me.”
“Oh,” I said. “I guess that’s a thing with the different branches?”
He shrugged. “Pretty much. Everybody likes to think their branch is the best.” He smirked. “We all know the Navy is the best.”
I laughed. “Of course it is.”
The banter seemed to ease his mind. “Any more questions?”
I pursed my lips. “I guess I’m wondering why the brother, Deshawn, didn’t go to the police when his sister went missing.”
“He did,” Marco replied. He clenched his jaw. “But because she left home voluntarily, they considered her a runaway. They were…less than helpful. He even went to the police department in the town where we located her. They told him he was crazy, that Ephraim Little was a fine, upstanding citizen. Deshawn left before they could arrest him.”
I sat up straight. “Arrest him? What for?”
Marco’s nostrils flared. “Let’s just say it’s a small town in the middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania, and they’re not very…welcoming of people who don’t look like them.”
I let my head fall back against my headrest. “Ugh. Every time I think we’ve moved forward, I discover it just isn’t so.”
“It is better than it was,” he commented.
“I suppose,” I muttered. “But what do we do once we rescue these girls? We have no idea who the other two are or where they belong. What if they require hospitalization?”
Marco held up his hand. “Slow down, Liam. Remember, we’ve done this before. We have contacts that will help us get what we need when we need it. The girls, however many there are, will get the help they need, and we’ll get them home—if home is the safest place for them to be.”
I just sighed because I already knew that sometimes family members sold their young relatives to traffickers. “Okay. Different question,” I said. “Why aren’t we using your brother’s fancy black SUVs with the tinted windows?”
Marco laughed. “Could you imagine rolling up into some one-horse town with four Cadillac Escalades?”
I deflated. “Fair point.”
“But don’t be fooled by the fact that Pete’s pickup looks like it’s seen better days. Underneath the hood of that baby is a monster engine that’s as quiet as a mouse. All the cars we take on these operations are well-equipped for the job.”
“I’m guessing Michael’s Explorer has all sorts of tech that didn’t come standard in 2015.”
“You’re right about that,” Marco said.
“And that’s where I’ll be while your team enters the house?”
“That’s right. You, Michael, and Deshawn.”
I nodded. “Okay. Good.”
