The SEAL's Special Mission

Otherwise the consequences could have been tragic.

To her surprise, Nash’s mother never contested Mallory’s appointment as Ben’s guardian. Nor her subsequent adoption. Mallory supposed there wasn’t much the woman could do since her son had signed over Ben’s custody to Mallory on that day at Miramar. She tried never to think about that day or the days that followed.

The way Nash attempted to control the tremor in his hand as he signed papers relinquishing his rights as a father and making way for her to adopt his and Cara’s son...

The next day news broke in grizzly detail of Nash hanging himself with bedsheets, following a family visit—a custody hearing in San Diego being the excuse for Nash’s temporary transfer to the Level II facility.

Even though none of it was real, she still found it disturbing, watching the events unfold while she sat holed up in her hotel room. Even though she’d attempted to stay below the radar, the reporters had been relentless in tracking her down, wanting to know what she might have said or done to provoke his actions.

She’d known it was coming. Yet she hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of questions. “What were Kenneth Nash’s last words to you, Ms. Ward? Did he confess? Did he leave a note? Your mother also committed suicide. Tragic coincidence? Suspicious circumstance? What’s the connection?”

She couldn’t leave the hotel room without microphones being shoved in her face. “How do you feel about the role you played in the arrest and conviction of your own brother-in-law and a decorated war hero? Are you aware your brother-in-law is being buried without ceremony in the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery? Will you be attending the funeral, Ms. Ward?”

She’d been as unprepared for those questions as she had been for the profound feeling of loss that accompanied them. Another part of her had died that day. She’d lost her sister, her mother and to some extent her father.

What more did she have to lose?

Nash had taken everything that was youthful and innocent about her and destroyed it, irrevocably changing her and the direction of her life at twenty-two.

And yet she’d still mourned the brother-in-law she’d once known.

For a long time afterward, she felt as empty as the wooden crate lowered to the ground with nothing more substantial than sandbags to weight it down—assuming they’d weighted down his casket with sand. They could have interred an unidentified body for all she knew.

Cremation might have been easier but would have gone against the traditions of his faith.

Of course, most faiths had at least a moral objection to suicide and she was sure that included faking death. In any case, she did not attend the mockery of a funeral. The commander and several of Nash’s Navy SEAL buddies were there for the show...or perhaps some other reason.

His mother had also attended the service. To this day, Mallory could barely look the woman in the eye, knowing what she knew about Nash. At the time, she didn’t know how they’d kept her from claiming the body when she had every right to do so.

Prisoners did not have to be buried inside prison walls.

Later Mal discovered they’d simply handed his grieving mother a letter stating it was his preference—since he couldn’t be buried beside his wife or near his father.

If he had even tried to use the family plot next to Cara, Mallory would have had something to say about it. She didn’t understand canon law governing Jewish burial, but suspected not being able to be buried next to his father had something to do with suicide, which used to be the case with the Catholic Church until the pope declared it otherwise.

What did it matter? He didn’t commit suicide.

And though she might wish otherwise, he wasn’t dead.

As far as she knew anyway.

It had been years since that fateful phone call.

The man was a ghost. Not just the kind that haunted her past, but the living, breathing, deep-cover-operative kind. That thought alone was enough to raise the goose bumps on her flesh. Ghosts had a way of popping up when you least expected them.

God, she hadn’t thought about any of this in so long.

A hand curled around hers with surprising strength and she jumped. “Will you come back to see me, Meg?”

Mallory didn’t bother to correct her father even though the emptiness of it all squeezed at her chest. Meg was his pet name for her mother. “Of course I will.”

* * *

NASH WAITED INSIDE the house. In a working-class neighborhood, it was just as easy to break in during the day as at night under cover of darkness. He kept quiet upstairs while the young sitter and the boy moved around downstairs. The creaky, century-old house would have given him away if he was any less cautious and if the kids were more alert.

In the hall bathroom, he tended his torn sutures as best he could without running tap water. He could hear the babysitter moving around in the kitchen. The boy had settled into the front room with a video game. Something age-appropriate, he assumed, from the lack of bloodcurdling screams.

And because he was fairly certain Mal would curb the kid’s activities away from violence.

He didn’t know why he thought that. Maybe he was confusing what Cara would have done, and what he and Cara would have wanted, with how Mal was actually raising his son.

Truth be told, he didn’t have a clue how Ben was being raised. He wanted to believe the boy was growing up in a healthy and happy environment. One that wasn’t haunted by his mother’s murder and his father’s failures.

The smell of popcorn wafted up to him. Nash hadn’t eaten anything more substantial than a protein bar all day, and his stomach churned out a reminder. While he didn’t have much of an appetite, he did need to keep up his strength. Tugging his bloodstained T-shirt back in place, he zipped the equally dark hoodie over it as he left the bathroom.

On his way into the boy’s room, he knocked a photo frame off the dresser.

It hit the carpet with a soft thud.

Nash winced and waited for any indication the kids had been alerted to his presence. After several seconds, he uncoiled his tense muscles.

It wasn’t like him to be so careless.

Endless energy drinks were making him jittery.

For good reason.

Mallory should have been home from work by now. Even a quick stop at the grocery store or for a carry-out dinner shouldn’t have taken her this long.

He picked up the frame and found Cara smiling back at him from what was probably the last photograph he’d taken of her at Mission Beach. The digital photo frame changed from one picture to the next, flooding him with memories of happier times. It had been a lifetime since he’d seen the exact shade of his wife’s strawberry blond hair and green eyes. Images of her beauty had faded to soft-focus memory.

A look. A laugh.

The punch line of a joke she could never get right.

Not a day went by that he didn’t think about how much he’d loved her. How much he still loved her. How he’d failed to protect her as a husband.

And as a Navy SEAL.

The first rule to starting a new life was that you couldn’t take the old one with you even though the personal baggage always came along for the ride. This would be his second incarnation. Kenneth Nash was dead and buried along with his wife—if not literally, then figuratively. The man standing in their son’s bedroom was nothing more than a cold, empty shell.

Here to tie up loose ends. That’s all.

Having a picture of Cara wouldn’t bring her back.

Still he hesitated before setting her photo back on the dresser. There were others, none of them framed, tucked into holders and around the dresser mirror.

There were photos of Benjamin with each of his grandparents. The one with Margaret was taken when the boy was still a newborn. The one with Charles in a wheelchair looked recent, as did the one with Nash’s mother, which appeared to have been taken in New York City outside F.A.O. Schwarz around Thanksgiving. Last year if he had to guess. Had they visited the city for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Done some Christmas shopping?

Spent Hanukkah with his mother?

Had the boy experienced both Hanukkah and Christmas last year for the first time? Or had he done so every year?

He and Cara had worked through those fundamental differences before marriage—or at least that’s what he’d thought.

Until Cara got pregnant and they found out differently.

He needed to believe they would have worked things out eventually.

They weren’t the first couple of different faiths to marry and have children. They would have found their Jewish/Catholic compromise, and their kids would have been just fine being raised with the diversity of two faiths. That’s what he believed.

But he hadn’t expected his wife’s side of the family to have anything to do with his side after his conviction. He’d asked his mother not to interfere with his unorthodox decision to allow his sister-in-law—his non-Jewish sister-in-law at that—to raise his son.

On a practical note, Mal was young. His mother was not.

He had other family, but he’d never even considered them when it came to raising Ben.

Mal would be on a constant lookout and was physically and mentally better equipped to handle trouble, which made her the best choice as Ben’s guardian.

But it had been more of an emotional decision. Mal was the closest thing he could give the boy to a mother, and she’d see to it that Ben grew up knowing Cara—even if that meant he would also grow up hating his father.

It was good to see Mal had kept in touch with his mother, but that relationship added another wrinkle to the current situation. He’d been operating under the assumption that Mal and Ben had no close ties to his family.

Yet oddly enough, there was even a picture of him in uniform in the photomontage, which included several more pictures of Ben with friends, his babysitter, his aunt Mal.

How old had she been the last time he saw her, twenty-three, twenty-four? Staring daggers at him from across that table in the interrogation room.

The clever and carefree girl from their youth—with flame-red corkscrew curls hanging down her back—was long gone. From the moment she’d stuck a gun in his face, lawyers had seen to it that they never got the chance to talk again before the trial. She wouldn’t even make eye contact with him while on the witness stand and wasn’t allowed to sit through the proceedings until after her testimony and the closing arguments.

But at one time they’d been more than family—they’d been friends.

Even after all these years, sadness still etched her smile and he bore the brunt of responsibility for putting it there. Beyond that sad smile, there were other changes to her physical appearance. For one, she’d straightened her hair, and she apparently wore dark designer suits these days, looking every bit the professional government agent.

A real G-man, government man. Or G-woman—person—as the case may be.

Kidnapping the kid would be difficult enough without dragging an armed and angry aunt along for the ride.

But he owed her that much at least.

No one else should have to die because of him. Humbled by the sacrifice Torri and Thompson had made, he knew he had to make his escape count. He had to save his family. And he had to honor the two marshals, and Cara, and countless others, by staying alive to testify.

He grabbed the boy’s backpack from the bed where Benjamin had dumped it after school. Nash stuffed a change of clothes inside, and then moved on to Mallory’s room, where he found her gym bag and then shoved some of her clothes into it.

It dawned on him that the gym bag’s presence was not a good sign. If it wasn’t a workout keeping her late, what was it?

He checked his watch again. It’d be fully dark soon. If she wasn’t here within the next twelve minutes, he’d have some tough choices to make.

Stepping into the adjoining bathroom, he grabbed her toothpaste and toothbrush. It struck him as odd that there was no sign of a man in her life. Not so much as an extra toothbrush to indicate a sleepover. But he didn’t have time to dwell on whether or not there was the complication of a boyfriend. Other than how unfortunate it would be for any guy who walked in the door with her tonight.

While he couldn’t account for every variable, he had to hope she didn’t spend Friday nights away from home—or at least not this Friday night.

Nash scowled at his reflection. While there was no love lost between him and his former sister-in-law, leaving Mal behind was not an option. If she wasn’t here by nineteen hundred hours, he’d find out from the boy where she was and they’d go get her.

Worst-case scenario, Bari or one of his henchmen had already gotten to her.

Just the thought was enough to send chills down his spine.

Ben’s safety had to come first. Not Mal, not his mother—not even Sari—came before Ben, and those were just the cold, hard facts.

But he’d have a hard time living with himself if anything happened to Mallory—or with any of the women on the periphery of his life—because of him. His conscience would demand that he go after her. His conscience was why he was here now instead of already on the road.

Back in the bedroom, he checked both nightstands looking for Mallory’s handgun.

Assuming she had more than one firearm, where would she keep them? Some place out of the kid’s reach. He scanned the room and then settled on the closet, where he found a fireproof lockbox on the shelf underneath some sweaters.

He felt along the dusty ridge of the doorframe inside the closet until he came across the key. The most logical place to look was usually the place to find what you were looking for. The lockbox contained her SIG Sauer and a box of 9 mm bullets among life’s important papers—birth certificates, death certificates, adoption papers.

Dead presidents.

Not the amount of cash needed to start a new life, but enough for a household emergency or a quick getaway. He didn’t think twice before shoving the money into his pants pocket.

Checking her unloaded gun, he grabbed the box of bullets. The 9 mm shells would fit both their weapons.

Tucking her SIG into his waistband at his back alongside his Glock, he wondered why she’d kept the weapon. There was no doubt in his mind the SIG Sauer was the same one he’d given her as a graduation present from Quantico. The one she’d pointed at him while reading him his rights.

A car door slammed. Nash drew the bedroom curtain aside to check it out. Mallory had just gotten out of her white Prius with a bag of groceries in hand and a pumpkin tucked under her arm.

The two agents parked across from the house approached her with a flash of agency badges. Nash couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Mal dropped the pumpkin and everything else she carried with a splat as she ran toward the house.

CHAPTER FOUR

MALLORY RAN UP the front steps. Fumbling for the right key, she unlocked the door and in her haste tripped over the threshold. “Ben, Benjamin!”

“Yeah?” He looked up from his video game on the big screen. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

Her heartbeat slowed to normal at the sight of him playing his favorite video game. “Is there something I should know that you’re not telling me, Ben?”

“No.” He returned to Skylander Spyro’s Adventures.

Mallory turned to the two agents who’d followed her as far as the door. “Looks like we’re fine.” She kept her voice low so Ben wouldn’t overhear.

“We’ll be right outside.” FBI Special Agent Stanley Morgan set the groceries inside the door and handed over her pumpkin-gut-splattered Kate Spade handbag. The one she’d saved for six months to buy and then ruined in six seconds with the first words out of his mouth a couple minutes ago.

“When was the last time you had contact with Kenneth Nash, Ms. Ward?”

No contact. Ever.

He’d promised—a convicted felon was as good as his word, after all.

“Would you mind telling me what’s going on?” She took a step outside, backing the agents up onto her front porch. She left the door cracked behind her and kept a watchful eye on Ben through the picture window to the front room.

Stan, with his basset hound eyes and long overdue for retirement, exchanged a look with his young bulldog of a partner, an ex-marine named Christopher Tyler. Though not well acquainted with either of them, Mallory knew both men from the downtown office. Tyler even hung out on the fringe of her social group and had asked her out once or twice. But she gave dating him or anyone from the office a wide berth.

At the very least these two men owed her the professional courtesy of a response. “Guys?”

“Nash was in the custody of two U.S. marshals found dead early this morning,” Tyler said. “He’s a person of interest.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” She crossed her arms. “Are you saying he killed two federal marshals?”

Stan shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sure that’s what the Marshal Service would like to find out.”

“There’s enough ballistics and blood evidence to suggest he was wounded at the scene,” Tyler said. “They really want to find the guy.”

“Where was this?”

“Back East, somewhere.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything, Stan. New York? D.C., Virginia...? Where back East?”

“Mallory,” Stan said, sounding rather paternal as he ignored her question—he reminded her of her father and everything about him that she would miss once he was gone. “Kenneth Nash is considered armed and dangerous. He’s been a deep-cover operative for a while now. It’s not unheard of for these guys to turn rogue. If you come up against him, do not try to take him down alone this time. He’s not the same man you knew seven years ago.”

“The man I knew seven years ago killed my sister. I wouldn’t put anything past him.” She brushed back a loose strand of hair before tucking her hand back in her crossed arms. “Why was he in custody?”

“They didn’t tell us much,” Stan admitted. “Until we got the call a few hours ago, we were under the impression the guy was dead.”

“Suicide or something, wasn’t it?” Tyler’s watchful eyes became piercing. “Of course you must have known different?”

“I don’t know anything.” She ignored his subtle probing accusations and held his gaze as she offered up that half-truth. Deep down she’d known this day would come and had prepared for it. “Good night, gentlemen.”

She turned to step back inside the house.

“Mallory.” Stan stopped her from closing the door. “We can’t protect you and the kid if you don’t tell us what you know. Where is he?”

“What I know?” she said. “What I know is that you can’t protect us from him. But if he was here, you’d already be dead.”

She closed the door and then leaned against it with a resigned sigh.

“Ben, turn off the video game.” She forced a calm she was far from feeling into her voice. “I dropped the pumpkin. We need to run to the grocery store for another one or we won’t be able to carve it tonight. If we go now we can stop by the party store and pick up that Iron Man costume you wanted. Hurry up, okay?”

“’Kay.” His response lacked enthusiasm and she knew from experience it would be several minutes before he turned off the game. She needed those minutes to compose herself anyway. If Nash was coming from the East Coast, it would take him at least a day to get here, unless he hopped a plane. Assuming he’d avoid major airports, train and bus depots, he was mostly likely traveling by car. Assuming being the operative word.

She had no idea what Nash would or wouldn’t risk to get to them.

Only that he would get to them. Unless she managed to stay one step ahead of him.

She scooped up her purse and the bag of groceries by the door. She found Jess, Ben’s babysitter, in the kitchen, eating popcorn—iPod so loud she could hear the faint strains of music without the benefit of earbuds herself. It was no wonder the girl hadn’t heard Mallory calling for Ben.

Jess removed an earbud. “He got bored with my project.” She let the handful of orange-colored popcorn fall into the bowl.

“Thanks for staying late this evening, Jess.” Mallory dug out her checkbook, scribbled out the amount for the week with a sizable bonus and then tried not to appear as if she were rushing the girl out the door.

Stay calm, Ward. This is no time to panic.

“No problem.” Jess stuffed the check into the pocket of her strategically ripped jeans without so much as a glance at the amount, and then grabbed her hoodie off the wall rack on her way out the back door. “See you next week.”

Next week was too far into the future to think about when the next few minutes were all that counted. Mallory followed the girl to her car parked in the drive at the side of the house. Jess could just as easily have crossed the alley to her own yard, but try telling that to a seventeen-year-old in her first year of unrestricted driving. With one eye on the back door and the other on the car, Mal watched headlights fade as Jess backed around the Prius and then out onto the street.

It might very well be the last time they saw the girl.

For peace of mind, Mal had to make sure she left safely.

Darting a quick glance toward the unmarked car parked across the street, Mal hurried back inside and grabbed the keys to her father’s vintage Mustang off the same rack where they hung their jackets. She seldom drove the car except to keep the battery charged for the occasional Sunday drive with her dad. It was parked in the detached garage off the alley, which meant they could get to it before anyone stationed out front even knew they were gone.

A well-tuned muscle car had the added advantage of being fast.

“Ben!” she called out as she stepped back into the kitchen. Unpacking the groceries by rote, she paused to check her cell phone to see if she had any new messages. She’d taken the afternoon off to run her father to his doctor’s appointment, but she’d had her phone with her the entire time. No calls.

Nothing from Special Agent Galena. Or Commander McCaffrey.

If something was up, wouldn’t one of them have contacted her? She dropped the phone back into her purse.

For years now Nash hadn’t even been a blip on her radar screen. About a year after he’d been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, under an assumed name known only to a select handful of important people, three prisoners escaped. A fourth was shot in the attempt. Mal knew upon hearing the reports that Nash was among the escapees.

It was all hush-hush. As far as the public was concerned, no detainee had ever escaped from Gitmo.

Shortly after that, he appeared with wild hair and a full beard on the FBI’s Most Wanted list under the alias Sayyid Naveed. If it wasn’t for his eyes, she never would have known it was Nash. He was unrecognizable to the point she would have passed him on the street. The very thought gave her chills.

Shortly afterward she learned that asking questions invited trouble.

The commander himself came to debrief her. He even threatened to have her security clearance downgraded.

That’s when she realized she might need an escape hatch someday and began systematically socking away resources in storage lockers around the state. But Nash had never appeared on her radar again, until tonight.

“Ben, now,” she said in her best mom voice. That should get him moving.

“Coming.” His answering whine meant he’d heard the seriousness in her tone and would wind down the game. These next few hours, days—maybe even weeks and months—were not going to be easy for him to understand, so she’d allowed him this small rebellion. It wouldn’t be easy leaving everything behind.

If she’d known today was going to be the last time she’d see her father, what might she have done differently?

Don’t even go there, Ward.

It was going to be hard enough walking out the door and never looking back.