Page 45 of Trapped (Sheppard & Sons Investigations #6)
Nathan
“ H ow’d they find Ashley if you didn’t have a tail?” Kroup asked. He wasn’t the first person to ask, and I still didn’t know the answer.
“I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is they bugged my truck, but we searched it.”
“What about your phone?” he asked.
“It’s clean,” Doug answered. “Ashley’s too.”
“He could’ve hacked it, which wouldn’t leave a physical trace,” Kroup suggested.
“Fuck! Why didn’t I think of that?” I ran my hand down my face. “Sharpe?”
“I can try, but it’d take more time than we have. Let’s assume he did,” Doug answered.
“Then we leave all cell phones here and use comms from now on.” I asked, “John, will you collect them?”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and asked Meg for a bag. After collecting the phones, he put them in his office.
“I don’t want Meg staying here alone. If he tracks the phones, it’ll lead him to her.”
“She and Violet can stay with Mary. I’ll call from the office phone and have Mary pick them up before we leave,” John answered.
“Thanks. And tell Ma I said thanks too.”
“Kroup, you need to call the missus before handing it over?”
“No, she’s made of granite. Kissed me goodbye and told me not to call until we’d saved your girl.”
She was a seasoned SEAL wife and knew the drill. Don’t give your man more to worry about before a mission.
“Then gear up.”
We put on black clothes, applied greasepaint to our faces, tossed on our body armor, and loaded our gear.
“You look like you’re going to war,” Mary said as she hugged John goodbye.
“Nah, just a little manhunt. I’ll be home before you know it.”
“You were supposed to be done with this shit when you retired from the police force.” Mary buried her face in his plate-covered chest. “You lied.”
“Mary, look at me.” She lifted her head, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry I lied, but it wasn’t intentional. How could I know we’d see so much action?”
Jamie walked up beside them. Jack and Jay followed. “We won’t let anything happen to him, Ma,” Jamie promised.
“You see, your sons have my back. There’s nothing to worry about,” John said while rubbing her back.
“But who’ll make sure nothing happens to you?” She asked, turning to each of her sons.
“We’ve got their backs, Mrs. Sheppard,” I answered.
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “It’s Mary.” She straightened her shoulders and pinned me with a look. “Don’t make me tell you again. Now, get your asses out of here and bring Ashley home.”
My jaw hit the floor. She’d flipped a switch and turned badass in the space of a heartbeat.
“What, you’ve never seen a wife or mother have a moment of weakness seeing her family geared up like warriors?”
“Yes, ma’am, I mean Mary.” I’d just never seen them turn it off so quickly.
“Something about this mission feels different from the others.” She looked around the room. “You will all come home safely. Do you understand?”
Being my first mission with SSI, I couldn’t speak to it, but the looks shared between everyone else told me it wasn’t different. Mary just didn’t know it.
“Yes, ma’am.” The room answered as one.
“Meg, let’s get Violet and go home. We’ll plan a feast for when they return.”
Meg hugged Jack. “Come home to me, Charming; our little one needs a dad.” She addressed the rest of the team. “That goes for the rest of you, too. Don’t you dare get hurt.”
Another round of, yes ma’am, filled the room, making Meg laugh. “I kind of like it when they do that.”
“Want to know a secret?” Mary asked before saying, “So do I.”
John and his boys escorted them to the car. At the door, Mary turned and said, “Be safe.”
When the Sheppards returned, I said, “Let’s go earn our feast.”