Page 28 of Lethal Deceit (Hightower Security #2)
Mick
Alone in the small back garden—if you could call it that—I stole the opportunity not to take a breath, but to call my CO back. The space is more novelty than nature: artificial turf curling at the edges, a few cracked stepping stones, and a cluster of garden gnomes with peeling paint and crooked hats standing like weary sentries beneath a faded umbrella.
Now I’m wishing I hadn’t made the call.
Commander Farrell didn’t bother with hello. He came in hard, voice sharp, clipped, escalating with every word.
By the time he was done, my ear was ringing and I was seriously regretting not taking Brooke’s advice.
“You compromised your credibility, you embarrassed the service, and you may have triggered an internal investigation,”
Farrell snapped.
“We’ve got Public Affairs scrambling to contain this mess. Your face is everywhere.”
I tried to explain—briefly, carefully—that I was trying to protect civilians, that this wasn’t some attention grab. But Farrell didn’t want to hear it.
“The chain of command exists for a reason,”
he’d said, quieter, which was worse.
“You don’t get to freelance with national security, Weston. The next call might come from Homeland.”
Now I’m standing in the middle of a fake yard with a phone hot in my pocket, and a dangerous woman inside who has been placed into my care.
A woman I just kissed.
Luke joins me outside, and he sits on a lawn chair and stretches out his legs.
“Gave you a chewing out? Not surprising. I would have too.”
I hide my scowl.
“Can I get away to the base?”
Luke hitches a single eyebrow.
“That’s exactly where they’ll start looking for you.”
“They aren’t stupid enough to attack a base filled with Coast Guardsmen.”
“Why not? That’s exactly the target they’re looking for. The bigger the better.”
“So, that’s a negative?”
He nods.
“We’re still in the dark on way too many things. The biggest one is why you were chosen to get on that plane in the first place.”
This time I don’t bother to hide my emotions.
“Samantha?—”
“Was paid to seduce you.”
I flinch.
“She told you?”
“I didn’t believe her.”
A beat of silence stretches between us, heavy and pulsing with things neither of us wants to say.
“How much did Caleb and Jake tell you about her childhood?”
“Enough to know it was rough.”
“More than rough. She shouldn’t have been born.”
“That’s a little harsh.”
“It’s not a judgment. It’s a fact. Delilah has her medical records.”
My stomach twists. Birth records? How could they have gotten access to something like that?
“I thought her mom and dad didn’t want her when she was seven.”
“They didn’t want her, period. They were teenagers who tried to leave her at the hospital. And their parents weren’t much better. They were the leaders in a pseudo-Christian cult.”
That explains her reaction to the Bible. The tension in her spine every time Scripture comes up.
“Some people don’t deserve kids,”
I growl, heat rising in my throat.
He nods once.
“What about the woman who took her under her wing? Has she mentioned her?”
“Don’t think so.”
He lifts the lid of the grill and flips it back.
“Delilah managed to locate the adoption records and found an alias. Leslie Duke. She matches the description of a woman who stole over a quarter of a million from a dying widower three decades ago. She passed herself off as a caregiver from a Catholic charity then drained his bank account. She was gone before anyone realized.”
This is who was supposed to be taking care of Samantha.
“She was a fraudster?”
He sips his coffee and nods.
“The charity didn’t exist, and neither did Leslie Duke.”
“Where is she now?”
He shrugs lightly.
“Jake and Delilah are following a few trails. Miami is her favorite haunt. Lots of rich elderly men.”
I run my hand over my face.
“This isn’t easy to navigate. She’s infuriating and manipulative, but she’s also…”
I grope around for the right word.
“Helpless.”
Luke graces me with a clipped nod.
“So stop reacting to emotions and your mood. Think about her future.”
“What future? She should be in jail for what she’s done.”
“And we’ll have to deal with that, but right now, Hightower’s concern is for her immediate well-being.”
“Even though she’s not a member of Hightower?”
He scratches behind his ear.
“With the right training she could be a force for good.”
My jaw slackens.
“That’s why you got involved? You want to recruit her? She’s wanted by the FBI, right? How is that going to work out for you?”
He laughs quietly.
“Our involvement was as much a surprise to us as it was to you. But the more we learn about Samantha Duke, the more intriguing she is.”
On that, I have to agree wholeheartedly.
It’s whether she can get out of this mess without permanently losing her freedom that I’m not sure of.