“Nothing. Just a prank caller, I think.”
“What did they say?” Nash stepped behind her chair, picking up the phone and pressing a few buttons. She knew what he was doing, looking for the log of callers. But she’d looked before hanging up.Caller ID: Unknown.
“They just asked if they could talk to one of you guys.”
“Okay… why would that freak you out?”
“They mentioned something about friendlyfire and how you guys deserved to be six feet under instead of the SEALs who never made it back from Afghanistan.”
Nash stared at her for a minute, standing so still she wasn’t even sure he was breathing. The elevator chimed and Lily walked down the hallway a second later, Sloane hot on her heels.
“Did you guys see the article?” Lily asked as she walked into the reception area with tears in her eyes.
“Article?”
“Here,” Sloane handed Mae her cell phone.
There, at the top of the top of the Texas Truth Chronicles website was a headline that made Mae’s stomach flip.
NAVY SEALS COVER-UP DEADLY FRIENDLY FIRE INCIDENT.
“Just great.” Nash groaned as he took the phone from Mae’s hand.
“That bitch. She actually did it.” Mae forced herself to take a breath, her blood pressure rising to the point that she felt dizzy.
“What are you talking about?” Lily asked, eyes wide.
“One of my brother’s bimbo ex’s came in here while Stone was in the hospital, saying she was going to run an article on the guys. Asking if they wanted to comment.”
“Oh god, I remember. Gunner came home and told me.”
“Apparently, Sebastian’s attempt to squash the story didn’t work.” Nash grumbled as he scrolled through. “All of this is just bullshit. This never happened.”
“Why would someone want to do this to you guys?” Mae asked.
“I don’t know…”
“I’m going to take this down the hall to Gage.” Sloane rocked on her heels before she took her phone back and headed off down the long hallway.
“And I need to see Gunner.” Lily was just a step behind her.
“I’m going to go get Lacy. Mae, can you call Hawk and tell him to meet us here in an hour?”
She shook her head. “I’ll call, but he’s on the schedule for the shooting range with a group of Rangers until four-thirty.”
“I completely forgot about that group. Okay… let’s just try and reach out to him. We’ll probably need to hold off anyway until Cap can get here. There’s no way we have this meeting without him.”
“Right.” She pressed her hand against her heart. “What do we do about Stone? He’s been completely out of the loop on this. Should I… should we go home for the day?”
“It’ll be worse if he’s left in the dark and someone says something to him outside of our group now that it’s out in the world like it is.” Nash knocked twice on desk. “Send out a group message with Seb and Hawk’s expected arrival time after you talk to them.”
“Got it. Go.”
Her nerves were frayed. Mae sat at her desk, chewing on her thumbnail, which was a habit she’d been meaning to break since childhood. Stupid stress. She should have gone upstairs with Lacy, Sloane, and Lily, but something inside told her to stay. To be there in case Stone needed support.
She’d read the article over, and over, and over again until the words started to sound like a foreign language in her own mind. Four SEALs killed in a mission so classified it should never have made it into the hands of someone who couldsell the story. But they were there. Clear as day. Printed right alongside the allegations. Friendly fire, ultimately determined to be from Stone Lawson’s weapon, was the cause of death. And the report Sebastian Montgomery submitted, along with the tapes of the incident, had apparently been altered. Changed so that Stone wouldn’t face repercussions for his mistake.
Mae didn’t believe a word of it. She couldn’t. Except that… he was so on edge before the shooting. Something had been eating at him, a shadow consuming him bit by bit until the darkness won. Until he ended things with her to keep her safe. What if?—
