Page 55 of Her Loving Hero

12

Rush hourinto San Bernardino was at a crawl so Wyatt was relieved to see Dex’s number pop up.

“Got some info,” Dex said without any sort of preamble.

“Please don’t say the kids are getting involved with information gathering again,” Wyatt begged.

“Are you talking about Oman?” Dex asked. “I’m talking about your brothers in South Bend. Luke filed a complaint about your stepdad last year a month after Ben left. I didn’t realize their old man was a corrections officer.”

“Former,” Wyatt said. “He went out on some phony disability years ago.”

“Yeah, but he has friends. No wonder he was able to pull the shit he has. No wonder you didn’t go in guns blazing,” Dex said.

Wyatt thought back to the month after he had finished BUD/S and had returned to South Bend. He’d shown up at the house when the boys were at school to finally have it out with Leonard, and that’s when he’d found out just how badly Leonard had him over a barrel.

He’d come to the door without a shirt on, his skinny, hairy body smelled sour. “You,” he’d spit out. “Thought you might have done the world a favor and died by now,” he’d belched.

“I’ve come to collect the boys. You don’t want them. Let them live with me.”

“They’re my meal ticket, especially Kyle, he’s money.” Leonard’s smile gleamed yellow.

“I’ll pay you. Just let them come with me.”

“Nope.” Leonard flexed his arm to slam the door shut, but Wyatt easily stopped him and shoved his way into his old house.

Leonard had been dumb enough to take a swing at Wyatt, but he’d side-stepped him, not wanting any kind of physical altercation being laid at his feet. “Leonard, just let me take them.”

“Get the fuck out of here. They’re my sons. My property.”

Wyatt had looked at him incredulously. “They’re boys.”

“They’re cash. Now get the fuck out of here, or I’ll call the police like I did before. Your ass will be in jail so fast your head will spin.”

Wyatt left him leaning against the kitchen wall. “I’ll be back tonight to talk to them.”

That had been the stupidest phrase he’d ever uttered. Five hours later he’d been scooped up by the EMT’s out of a ravine. The only reason he’d been left alive is because Leonard and his buddies had realized killing a SEAL would have generated an inquiry.

Leonard’s last words as he’d kicked him in the balls had been, “forget you ever had a mother and brothers. You can try saying I had something to do with this, but me and my friends here are at our old Captain’s retirement party right now. So good luck with that,” Leonard laughed.

He tapped the toe of his boot into his kidney, and Wyatt rolled down the side of the hill until he ended up face down in muddy water. He had just enough strength to turn to his side and gasp for air before passing out.

“What was the complaint that Luke filed?” Wyatt asked Dex as he took the exit for the hospital.

“I just show a record of one having been submitted, no details because it was deleted,” Dex said disgustedly. “That’s what I mean about this asshole having friends.”

“Luke would have known about Leonard’s cronies, so it had to have been bad for him to go to the authorities. I’m almost to the hospital, so I’ll ask Ben when I see him. Any other word from Oman?”

“It’s still early stages, but travel warnings are already being prepared, and some people are already looking to send their families back to the states.”

“Good.” Wyatt thought for a brief second that the Ambassador might send his wife and daughters home, but then he remembered Lilliana Hoag. She was embedded into that life, it would require a chisel and hammer to get her ass out of the Ambassador’s residence.

He pulled up to the entrance of the hospital and took a parking ticket out of the machine. “I’ve got to go Dex. Would it be okay later if I brought Emily by to meet Kenna and the baby?”

“I would love to see Emily again,” Dex said warmly. “I’ve been hoping you would bring her around to one of the barbeques, or something.”

“She wasn’t ready,” Wyatt admitted. “But when I mentioned Cora, I could tell she was feeling left out.”

“Bring her on by anytime.”