Invincible (The Trident Code) (13 page)

I ground my teeth. This was almost unreal.

“So we went back to the room. They didn’t talk, just kind of motioned at us what they wanted us to do,” her hands made fists. “So after that, they just kind of lay there. They didn’t bolt like most guys do.” She pointed at me.

Guilty.

“So I thought they recognized us. I was so excited and still had hope back then. I opened my mouth to tell them, but Nicole tried to stop me. She didn’t want to get in trouble. But I didn’t care. So I whispered our names. Nicole had this look of sheer terror. The redhead, I remember, took this long, like, pained breath. I thought for sure he knew our stories, who we were. But the other man, he was just really cold. He stood up and they left. The redhead looked back at me when he left the room and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’ But I knew he believed me. I was so positive he was going to come back. And I guess I’d even convinced Nicole that we were going to be rescued. That at least they would share the sighting with my folks, and someone would come save us.”

My ears pounded. These motherfuckers, possible former SEALs, found these two Americans there, and just left them to die! They couldn’t be SEALs; we were bound to a higher code.

“Uncompromising integrity is my standard. My character and honor are steadfast.”

Granted, I clearly didn’t always live my life with uncompr
omising integrity. But I couldn’t fathom these men leaving these girls, knowing they were trafficked. In my defense, when I’d hired Annie to blow me, I didn’t think she was kidnapped.

Her hand was shaking now. “But after six months, nothing. I was so fucking mad at them. I mean why couldn’t they tell som
eone. This was my life that had been stolen. I was a sex slave. How could they know my identity and do nothing? And I was pissed at myself for believing that I would be saved. Nicole lost it. I mean, she went crazy. Started mouthing off to the pimps, refusing clients, begging for extra heroin. I pleaded with her to stay strong. We would find a way out. Somehow. Someday. Together. But she just wanted to die. She stole my drugs, and some from a few other girls and shot herself up. And I wanted to die too. She was all I had left. I couldn’t stop feeling sorry for myself. Why me? Of all the girls who gotten drunk on a cruise, why me? Then I remembered that before I was taken, I heard about a girl who had been kidnapped for ten years and escaped. It was possible. So why should I give up? I had to get out—for me, for Nicole. I had a life to live. I had to survive no matter what. That’s when I made the decision not to give up. That the next time that I met a man that I even thought could save me, I would take the chance. Risk it all.”

I wanted to pull over the car and hold her. We approached a stoplight, and I kissed her. “Thanks for telling me. It meant a lot to me. I’m not going to leave you, Annie. I’ll always be here for you.”

“I know. You’re my hero.”

We didn’t talk for the reminder of the drive home. But my thoughts raced. There was no more doubt. I was one hundred pe
rcent committed to Annie. Committed to making her happy. 

But I still didn’t have the entire story straight. Who were these men, who hired them, and why did they leave them behind, when according to
Dave, they were completely capable of saving them?

The only thing I was sure of is that I wouldn’t rest until I found out what the fuck was going on.

I lied to Annie again,
and told her I had to work the next day. I headed back to Kyle’s house, but this time, instead of Sara’s fine ass opening the door, I was greeted by Vic.

“Hey man, come inside. I think we’ve got something.”

I followed him back to Kyle’s office. Kyle was in intel and made mission plans like they were football plays: there were pictures, diagrams, timelines, maps. Luckily, we had access to all the SEAL alumni records.

I sat on one of the chairs. “What have we got?”

“Well, I made a list of all men who had left the Teams in the last five years. Then I eliminated all the men who went into non-security-related careers. I was left with one hundred and forty-three men. They were spread out among different countries, different States, different contractors. There were only three gingers. Two of them still work at their security companies, but one of them worked for Neptune Group. He left his security detail, around two and a half years ago.”

“Six months after he found Annie.”

“Exactly. Name is Matt Houston. I asked some buddies who knew him, looks like he checked into rehab. And get this, he lives in Poway.”

Vic jumped in. “And we’re meeting him for lunch in an hour. I fed him some bullshit that I’m thinking about contributing to a foundation for fallen SEALs. He ate it up. Was happy to meet with some Team guys.” 

Brilliant. Team guys always welcomed a meeting from a fellow Frog, even if they had never met before. That was one of the benefits of being part of the best fraternity in the world.

We headed inland in Kyle’s Black Cadillac Escalade Hybrid.
I texted Annie to see how she was doing. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her before I had to deploy, but I needed to find out the truth.

Matt had recommended that we meet at Brothers Provisions, a sandwich shop that served craft beer on tap in Rancho Bernardo.

As we approached, I scanned the patio. I recognized him immediately. Red hair, still built, looked hardened. I didn’t care if he was a Team guy—I wanted to kill this motherfucker, for fucking my girl and leaving her to die.

“Nice to meet you, Matt. I’m Pat, this is Kyle and this is Vic.” I reached out my hand, but he didn’t take it. His hands had an u
nsteady twitch, and he was rattling his keys.

He nodded his head and we all went inside to order a few sandwiches and beers. Back out on the patio, we made small talk
about different Teams we had been on, a few guys we knew in common, and different deployments.

He took a sip of his beer, and his eyes shifted back and forth. “I need to hit the head.”

He stood up and went inside the shop. Barely a few seconds had passed, and an older model black Ford truck barreled out of the parking lot. He’d been on to us.

We didn’t speak; we knew what to do. I threw down some money for a tip and we hightailed it into Kyle’s Escalade.

I could see Matt’s truck entering I-15 freeway going south.

Kyle chased him down the freeway, dodging in and out of cars. Matt didn’t slow down. Where the fuck was he going?

I didn’t have time for this shit. He slowed to enter the 56 West and I took out my pistol and shot out his back right tire.

He pulled to the shoulder of the freeway, Kyle’s Escalade right behind him.

I saw him reach toward his glove compartment. This motherfucker was going to kill himself. Or us.

We all jumped out to the car, with our weapons.

I approached the vehicle. He had the gun aimed right at me. “You have about ten seconds to unfuck yourself. Matt, put down the gun. We’re not here to kill you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

He kept the gun steady. “He sent you. I didn’t talk to anyone.”

“No one sent us. We are the ones that saved Annie. We did some digging. We just want to talk to you.”

With three guns pointed at his head, he didn’t have much choice. Kyle disarmed Matt without a struggle. I slid into the pa
ssenger seat of his truck and handed Matt’s keys to Kyle. I told Vic to get Matt’s spare tire just in case a cop drove by and thought we looked suspicious. Kyle stood guard on the side of Matt’s truck.

I needed some answers. “Start talking asshole. Why did you leave her there? She told you her name.”

He blinked. The creases around his burdened eyes were so deep they looked as if they had been beveled with a blade. “First off, it’s not my fault man. I tried to save her. You have to know that. It started out like a standard job. Missing girl, possibly trafficked. Go to the island and see if she’s alive, if you can find her.”

“Who hired you?”

“Her father. Paid three hundred thousand dollars. Taylor, another former Team guy, and I volunteered. Seemed like a piece of cake—go hang out on Curaçao for a month, all expenses paid, drink, snorkel, rescue a girl, come home. We went down there, started fishing around. Asking locals. Visiting brothels. We had a tip that a girl who matched Annie’s description was at this one brothel. We cased the plac. The first time we went in, our only goal was to see if we thought it was her, identify the tattoo and see what kind of shape she was in. The minute I saw her, I was positive it was Annie. Her hazel eyes, hair, tattoo, scar, height. But we were ordered by our bosses to pick other girls that first night and not her. I was so fucking stoked that day; to think I’d found this kidnapped girl and we’d be bringing her home in a week or so. The girl she was with, Nicole, we didn’t even know she was there. That was a stroke of luck finding her. We’d, of course, read about her disappearance in Aruba. I thought I’d be a fucking hero—saving two Americans. Collect her reward too.”

Cars whizzed by on the freeway. I looked in the rear view mi
rror, and Vic had the car jack out, pretending to get ready to change Matt’s tire. “So what the fuck happened? Why did you leave her there?”

“I didn’t have a fucking choice. We checked in with our bosses after we found her in the brothel and they reported back to her f
ather. We had a conference call with the motherfucker. He asked me how certain I was it was her, if she looked high, her demeanor, what she was wearing. I told him I’d bet my Trident it was his daughter. She was definitely a heroin user. I saw tracks on her arms when the pimp let me check her out. As long as I live, I will never forget the next words out of his mouth. ‘Leave her there. Forget you ever saw her. With any luck, she’ll overdose soon.’ He said that Annie was an embarrassment to their family. It was her fault for being kidnapped because she was drinking underage with her boyfriend on the cruise. And he didn’t want a daughter who was a heroin addict and a prostitute. No man would ever love her, and she would be a burden to him. She was better off dead.”

My pulse quickened, and I wanted to shoot this motherfucker and save a bullet for Annie’s dad. I was a professional warrior; I knew how to control my emotions. But this was unbelievable.

“Believe me. I begged him to reconsider. I told him we could detox her, and that she’d be hailed a survivor. And with therapy she could integrate back into society. But he wouldn’t consider it. He firmly reminded me of the one million dollar non-disclosure agreement I’d signed. I didn’t have a fucking choice. I haven’t ever told anyone, except you guys. You can’t tell anyone—we have an unbreakable code.”

“I won’t.” He was right. We would never repeat what he was telling us to anyone. Especially since he knew we’d been the ones to rescue Annie. He could ruin our careers. But if I hadn’t told him, he would’ve never talked to me. I needed to know the truth about Mr. Hamilton.

“I racked my brain, thinking of anything I could do to save her. Go rogue, convince my partner Taylor to back me. But he wouldn’t even discuss it, and I couldn’t do it myself. We were ordered to go back a final time to verify with one hundred percent certainty that it was Annie. Which we did.”

He paused and I wondered if he was reminiscing about fucking Annie, remembering her and Nicole going to town on each other.
His own personal porno. I watched Matt’s thin lips and I pictured them all over Annie’s body. Her stroking his limp dick. My hand was on the trigger of my gun. Give me an excuse to kill you motherfucker. “Leaving them in that room was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Knowing that I’d found them, but was abandoning them to die. I told the girls I’m sorry, and walked out the door. When I returned to the States, I finished my remaining contracts and quit. I couldn’t work with these people with no integrity. Private contract work is nothing like being in the Teams. There’s no morals, no law.”

I sat there in silence. Completely blown away. I couldn’t even process all the emotions I was feeling.

Finally, I broke the silence. “Nicole died. She overdosed six months later. She’d be alive today if you hadn’t been such a pussy.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I figured she did. I fucking hate myself, man. I drank myself into oblivion, started doing coke. Ended up in rehab. Don’t have a girl, or a job, living off the dis
ability I get from the VA. I mean, being on the Teams was my life. I was a great SEAL. I’m sure you guys know that, if you did your research on me. Nothing was more important to me than being the best warrior I could be. I pushed away my girlfriend, my family, my friends. Always used the excuse that she couldn’t be faithful when I was away, or that I would be a horrible husband because of my job. That’s my other regret, besides not saving Annie and Nicole, is not marrying my girlfriend. I stalked my ex on Facebook recently. She’s a great woman, married to a Marine, has two beautiful boys. I fucking loved her, but I completely fucked that relationship up. Cheated on her, lied to her. Thought everyone should kiss the ground I walked on and just take my bullshit, because I was a SEAL. I used to be just like you guys, and now I’m just the old Team guy in the bar, reliving my glory days when I play So Com in my studio apartment.”

I’d had enough. Didn’t want to listen to his sob story anymore, feeling sorry for himself. But every word he said resonated with me. “You could’ve saved her.
Despite her dad. At least fucking told someone, anyone she was alive. You condemned her to three more years of hell. And Nicole’s death is on you. There is no excuse for that.
‘I serve with honor on and off the battlefield.’
Remember our code?” 

He squinted his eyes. “Don’t fucking judge me. You’re just like me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“No, Matt. I’m nothing like you. I met Annie in a brothel, too. Hired her. But unlike you, I came back. I saved her. I risked my job, my life for her. That’s what we do. That’s our oath.”

“I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own.”

I needed to get the fuck out of his truck. Imagining his hands all over my Annie made me want to pop him in the head. “I won’t tell anyone. Not for your sake, for Annie’s. You better continue to keep your mouth shut.” 

We bailed shortly after. I’d given my word to Matt that I wouldn’t tell Annie that I met him. And I never lied to SEALs,
even former ones. I had to come up with another route. And I needed to deal with her father. But before I went one step further, I had to figure out how I felt about Annie. It was time for me to step up and commit. To her.