Page 64 of Her Honorable Hero

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“Miranda!”Griff shouted into the phone. It was no use, she wasn’t answering. This was un-fucking-acceptable.

“Kane, get her back on the line!” Griff shouted above the pounding of the surf. He was on the beach in Coronado near the BUD/S Grinder.

“Porter, the line’s still open. She’s just not talking.”

“Griff.” He shrugged off the hand on his shoulder.

“Griff, listen to me.” He twisted and shoved Dex’s hand away.

“What?” he roared. He wanted to yell loud enough for heaven to hear. Hell, it sounded like there was a roaring in his head right now. It was as if an ordinance had gone off beside his ear, and he was dealing with the percussion.

Livvie.

He scrolled through the numbers listed in his phone. Then realized it wasn’t his phone, it was Dex’s. Dammit, he needed the number to the Little Handprints Daycare. God, that log must have landed on him harder than he’d realized. Goddamn tadpoles! Not only had the log they’d been supposed to be carrying landed on him, it had busted his phone. Dex had been steering him toward the base medic because his friend thought he might have a busted rib.

How long since Miranda stopped talking?

“Not even three minutes,” Dex said. Griff must have asked the question aloud.

“What’s your passcode?” he demanded of Dex now that the screen was locked.

“What do you need?” Dex asked.

“Little Handprints Daycare,” Griff answered.

In a minute, Dex was shoving the phone at him and then he left him.

“Home of Little Handprints,” a too-sweet voice answered.

“Is my wife there?” he demanded. “I need to speak to her. I’m looking for Miranda Porter.”

“I need to put you on a brief hold, is that all right?”

“No, it’s not. Answer my question.”

“But I asked you to hold, you were supposed to say yes,” the young woman said.

“I said no. Find Miranda.”

“Oh. Okay.” The receiver clattered and he imagined a startled fairy princess and it pissed him off.

A different voice spoke next. “Who is this?”

Finally, an adult. “This is Griffin Porter. Put my wife on the line. I need to speak to her immediately.”

“Griff, this is April Marsh. Miranda just left with Livvie, but I made her show her I.D. as requested. She assured me that the two of you had everything under control.”

Griff looked up and saw Dex running back to him. He’d been talking to one of the Instructors who’d been leading the tadpoles on their run. Dex came back with a phone to his ear.

He made a motion with his arm for Griff to follow him.

“April, how long ago did Miranda leave? Was she under any duress?” Griff asked as he started a slow run after Dex. He would have run faster but he wouldn’t have been able to hear April.

“Absolutely not. I asked her almost that exact question. It concerned me that she had made the request. And in answer to your other question, she left, at the very most, five minutes ago. She was moving fast.” He heard April chuckle. “But Miranda’s been telling me for weeks about that deadline of hers. So I know time is of the essence.”

“It sure is. Thanks, April.”