Page 41 of Secret Redemption

“Sure, let’s talk now, I can get breakfast after. I’m a man of leisure now you know,” he said, and Zack barely smothered a chuckle. Men like Frank Drake were never really out of the army, and Zack knew it.

Leading the way from the kitchen, he stopped to kiss Ava and ruffle his son’s hair. “Won’t be long baby, and then we can leave.”

“Okay, I might go check on mom before we go.”

“Sure baby, whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want,” she said, and her smile turned decidedly naughty.

“Whatever. You. Want,” Zack enunciated.

Zack strode into the office with a grin. Frank turned and looked at him, a secret look on his face that he couldn’t read.

“I know you want to talk, but before you do, I want to say something,” he demanded in a way that only a man who had commanded hundreds of men could. Zack waited and watched as Frank walked to the window, standing off to the side and out of the line of a scope. It was ingrained to such a degree in men like them that it was only when other people did it that he recognised it as the same.

“Ava is very precious to her mother and me,” he started. “Her mother and I tried for years to have her, with no success, then just when we had given up hope along she came. From the first day that I held her in my arms, I have loved her with every breath in me. I prayed for her to be happy, I prayed for her to be strong and I spent my life protecting her.” Frank turned and looked at Zack then, and the emotion in the older man’s eyes was evident.

“Most of all I prayed for a man that would love her even half as much as her mother, and I did. A man who would see the true beauty and strength of her and know every day that he had been granted the greatest gift of all.”

Zack felt his throat tighten as Frank walked towards him. “When I walked in that kitchen this morning, I knew that God had answered my prayers. Look after her Zack, when she becomes your wife, which had better be soon,” he warned in a forbidding tone. “Then I hand my daughters happiness to you. Don’t let me down son, because as God is my witness, I will shoot you if you do!” he stated, and then he pulled Zack towards him and hugged him. Just like a father would hug his son, he thought, and his happy world just got a bit happier. If only Dad was like this.

They broke away, and Frank turned to the window again, “Now, what did you want to talk about?” The bluster was back, but Zack could see the affection too, he would let Frank have that though.

Zack proceeded to tell Frank his idea for using the Cunningham Estate to keep everyone safe, almost like a posh barracks. They were just finishing up when Ava came rushing in.

“Zack, Dane and Daniel are on their way. They need to talk to you urgently.” She sat on the arm of the chair, and his arm instantly went around her.

“Okay. How is your mom?” he asked, as he ran his fingers up her spine absently.

“She doesn’t look very well, but says it’s just a headache.”

“Do you want to stay with her?”

Ava looked hopeful, and his heart melted. She had missed her family, and it had been one shit storm after another since they arrived. “Can I? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course, you can, and no, I don’t mind. You only had to ask, sweetheart.”

Ava bent and kissed him as she stood. “Okay. Well, in that case, Riley and I are going to make playdough while she sleeps.”

“Make what?”

“You know, playdough? Stuff for modelling and other cool things.”

He shook his head confused and added it to his mental list of shit he had to learn.

“Yeah well, you’ll see later,” she said as she walked out of the room with a swing in her step.

~~~

A few minutes later while he was eating his breakfast, his phone alerted him that he had visitors. He walked to the door and opened it as Dane and Daniel alighted the car.

“Morning,” they both chorused but Zack could see they were both tense. He led them to his office and poured them both coffee, which they accepted gratefully.

“What’s going on?”

“We had some very disturbing intel come in last night. One of our contacts in the SAS has heard that Sir Walter Hamilton has been asking about the Divine Watchers. This same contact says that Hamilton is up to something.

“Decisions have been made about certain deployments and missions that never should have authorised, have been. He has buried any mention of Sly’s team that went missing and told the men that anyone caught talking about it will be court-martialled.” Daniel’s voice had gotten louder and angrier as he had related the information to Zack.