Chapter 4
Jace looked out over the far stretch of crystal blue water, the sun glistening off the distant surface bright enough to make him squint. But here in the alcove of falling water and rock walls, it was shaded from the sun. It reminded him of the dark discovery he’d made the night before: Amy Nelson had appeared on that foul site on the dark web. Her TV name,Average Amy, scattered amply through its pages, along with pictures of her filming her news segment. He shook his head. Six months and one sting operation later, Jace was ready for his second assignment in the trafficking field. Who knew it would involve a woman who’d stolen a sliver of his heart back in high school?
He peered down at the guys bobbing yards from the roaring falls. Creed, Baron, Maddox, and Blaine. Not only had the crew served with him on SEAL Team 2, they were also part of Sutton’s private protection agency. It was obvious by the cupped hands at either side of their mouths that they were shouting something, but the rushing wall of water was deafening from where he stood.
“Dude.” Logan smacked Jace’s back. “Maybe we should rethink this one. This jump’s a death wish.”
Jace disagreed. He’d done his usual amount of calculating and concluded that the risks were minimal. He’d jumped enough times from the lower ledges to know how the air pressure would affect his fall as long as he landed in the darker circle of blue, just off the right side of the falls. It was deeper in that spot, and the pull wouldn’t be as strong, meaning he’d be less likely to get sucked too far under or slammed against the rocks. Which meant there was just one last thing to do.
“Chances of success—99.8 percent. Watch and learn, big guy. Watch and learn.” Jace turned to face Logan, gave him a short salute, and jumped. As he plummeted headfirst toward the crashing water, his arms arched over his head, cool drops splashed his skin. He bent in half as he neared, touched the tip of his toes before straightening once more with his head toward the sky now. At last, he heard the cheers of his former team members, their exuberant applause growing before silencing the moment he plunged into the frigid depths of the ocean blue.
Pressure came at every angle, the disrupted body of water cradling him with its suction-like pull. Jace went with it, waiting until the force would shift, encouraging him upward instead. He kicked his legs as it came, the lifting rush toward the surface. At last he broke through with a grin, loving the thrill of a successful dive.
“Dang, Burns,” blurted Maddox as Jace met up with the crew. “Now we’re gonna have to rescue Iron Man if he screws this up.”
“Yeah,” razzed Blaine, “his mom forgot to give him thatif your friend jumped off a clifflecture.”
Jace shook his head as the group laughed, turning his gaze to where Logan stood. His long-time friend had been a Navy SEAL just like the rest of them; it didn’t get much riskier than that.
Another one of Logan’s accomplishments shot to Jace’s mind. “The guy’s climbed Everest, man. He’ll be fine,” Jace assured. “Anything I can do, he can do better. Or at least that’s whathethinks.”
Logan shuffled his weight from one foot to the next, lifted his arms over his head, and jumped. The guys broke into loud cheers as Logan hit the water, but Jace waited until he saw reason to celebrate—Logan breaking through the surface with a flourish. “Woo…hooo…!” he wailed. “What a rush.”
In a flurry of spinning arms and kicking feet, the team made their way out of the coved area and toward brighter waters and the white, sandy beach. Once they were sprawled across the hot, dry sand, the dilemma that had been bothering Jace stabbed into his mind like a swordfish. One whose spear was jam-packed with disturbing images he’d discovered about his upcoming assignment. Talking to Logan had offered a mild amount of relief, and Jace could only hope that talking it out with the rest of the guys would do the same.
“So you know how Sutton has me working to break that trafficking site?” Jace started.
“Yeah,” Baron said. “I’ve been meaning to ask how that’s going.”
“It’s going pretty dang good from what I saw on the news,” Creed blurted. “Did you see the Tammy Brinkman story? That swimmer — the Olympic hopeful from Oregon?”
“That wasyourdeal?” Baron sounded surprised. “Man, Ihavebeen out of the loop.”
“Dang straight that was him,” Logan answered proudly. Jace cracked open an eye and looked across the group of muscle-bound sun-soakers. “They got enough intel from that bust to take out what they suspect to be a third of the traffic ring running the site.”
“There goes Jace, trying to outshine us all,” Blaine razzed.
Maddox spoke over a yawn. “Naw, he’s still just trying to make up for the stunt he pulled.”
“Which one?” Baron asked through a laugh.
“The one where he made it snow white cheddar popcorn back in the dayroom in Kuwait?” Creed asked.
“Or when he put moonshine in our canteens?” Logan offered.
“Actually,” Maddox countered, “I was referring to the time he said he’d written a Dear-Jane letter to his girlfriend when she’d already Dear-Johnedhim!”
“Ooooh…” the group bellowed a combination of disapproval and amusement at the low blow.
Jace might have expected most of the guys to grow up since so many had gotten married or engaged, and in some ways they had, but being around their band of brothers brought out the youth in them— Jace included. He was glad they still had it in them to give him a good roasting, even if itwasabout the embarrassing truth surrounding his ex-girlfriend. An incident he had—in his defense—fessed up about when the time was right. Besides, Jace had enough dirt on the rest of his team to give it back as good as he got.
“You guys are just jealous,” Jace said, dropping back into the sand.
More laughs came. “You wish,” Creed mumbled.
“So what was it you were going to say?” Maddox asked. “About the job?”
The images came back like crashing waves against the jagged rocks. Jace sat up once more, shielding his eyes as he looked over the shimmering surface. “Someone I know, a woman Logan and I went to high school with, actually, came up on the site.”
