Talia sighed.“Does Darwin know?”
“That my father might be a criminal on the side?No.”Katrina gave her a sheepish look.“I was so surprised he agreed to come to the wedding, I forgot to mention that particular detail.Not that I would have told him anyway.”
“Yeah, I guess I see your point.I’m not surprised he agreed to go with you, though.Iamkind of surprised he was able to take so much time off work on such short notice, however.Lennox said he and Darwin are involved in some kind of training this week.”
Lennox Thompson was Talia’s Navy SEAL boyfriend and Teammates with Darwin in the same platoon.
“Darwin mentioned that, but he got approval to take leave as long as it didn’t conflict with work.He’s pretty sure he’ll only have to miss a few hours here and there during the week.”
At least, she hoped so.But that was part of what came with dating a SEAL.
“When are you heading up to Escondido?”Talia asked.
“Tomorrow sometime.”Katrina watched as Beverly and Maria swung back and forth in time with each other, giggling the whole time.They were adorable.“It depends on when Darwin gets back from wherever he and the other guys are, doing whatever they’re doing.He couldn’t tell me very much about it.”
That secrecy was the other part that came with dating a SEAL.She still wasn’t sure how Talia had gotten used to that.
“Before you ask, I don’t know anything more about it than you do,” Talia said.“Unfortunately, that’s how these things go.They get a phone call and have to leave.You won’t know where he’s going, when he’ll get back, or what he’s doing.If you want to be with Darwin, that’s something you’re going to have to get used to.”
Katrina watched the girls play on the swings as she considered Talia’s words.If she wanted to be with Darwin?That was kind of putting the cart before the horse, wasn’t it?She was definitely attracted to him, but they hadn’t even gone on a date yet.How was she supposed to know if it was something worth getting used to?For all she knew, the two of them might have absolutely zero chemistry together.
But then a soft voice in the back of her head told her to stop being so silly.There was a reason she’d been attracted to him in the first place, and there was a reason she’d asked him to be her plus-one at the wedding.There was something special about Darwin.She simply had to trust her instincts until she discovered exactly how special.
And as Talia had pointed out, she had been the one who suggested her friend go for what she wanted.Maybe it was time she took her own suggestion.
Chapter two
“Whatkindofweddingtakes a week to pull off?”Darwin’s friend and fellow SEAL, Simon McGrath, asked from the far side of the dimly lit clearing.“I mean, I went to one that lasted for four hours, and it felt like a lifetime.”
Trace Powers, another Teammate, let out a soft snort of amusement from where he leaned against a tree about ten feet away.“I’m pretty sure the actual ceremony is at the end of the week.The rest of the time will be social stuff, like parties and games.It’s about making the wedding as fun for the guests as it is for the bride and groom.”
Lennox Thompson, Dean Hanley, and Colt Hughes, all of them in full tactical gear with night vision goggles and their weapons, looked at Trace in shock.Darwin was right there with them.
“Why does it seem like you know more about this wedding I’m going to than I do?”Darwin asked.“Katrina said the same thing when she explained why I needed to bring a whole suitcase full of clothes.”
“My sister is a wedding planner, so she’s always telling me about the new trends.”Trace shrugged.“These destination weddings are supposedly all the rage right now with the rich, jet-set crowd.”
Darwin frowned as he considered that.“I don’t know if Katrina would be working as a nanny if she came from a wealthy family.”
“You sure about that?”Lennox asked.“Didn’t you say they’re hosting this wedding at their vineyard in Escondido?If there were ever two words that go hand-in-hand with rich, it’s vineyard and Escondido.”
Darwin cringed as he had a vision of meeting Katrina’s very well-off family dressed in his off-the-rack suit, which most definitely wasn’t silk, and dress shoes, which most definitely weren’t Italian leather.That probably wasn’t going to earn him any points with them.
“How much longer do you think we’ll need to sit around here in the dark before this test kicks off?”Dean asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Darwin said.“They’ll call us over the radio as soon as they’re ready for us to start.”
“But what exactly are we supposed to do?”Dean asked, confusion and frustration clear in his voice as they sat there together in the dark.“I don’t have a lot of experience with Special Access Programs like this, but I’m surprised they didn’t provide any details on what they expect from us.”
Unlike Darwin and the other guys, who were Petty Officers First Class, Dean was a Lieutenant, so he didn’t get to go on missions as much as they did.That didn’t mean the question wasn’t legit, because it was.
“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” Lennox said with a laugh.“I’ve been read into a dozen programs, and none of them have left me as confused as this Project Genesis thing.Those non-disclosure forms we signed earlier might lock us into never revealing a word about it, but I’m not even sure what I shouldn’t talk about since I have no idea what’s going on.”
Darwin and his buddies had gotten to San Nicolas Island and the Point Mugu Sea Range, then been shuffled straight from the airfield to a secure facility where they’d been ordered to lock up their cell phones, GPS watches, and anything else that could transmit or store digital data.An hour later, a security officer had come in and read them into a Special Access Program code named Project Genesis.Unfortunately, as Lennox mentioned, there’d been very little information provided in the briefing package.Based on the few parts Darwin understood, he was fairly confident Project Genesis was some combination of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system.Other than some vague reference to their SEAL Team being used to test Genesis, Darwin wasn’t sure what they wanted from them.Fortunately, as a SEAL, he was used to functioning off little to no information.It was just the way need-to-know worked sometimes.
“Do you think Kirk and the other guys are involved in something like this?”Simon asked.“Something so classified they wouldn’t tell anyone else about it, I mean?”
No one said anything.Darwin wasn’t sure if it was because the question was so surprising, or because most of them thought the answer was almost certainlyno.
