be removed—which was a painful experience even if the nurse had done what she could to make it more comfortable. It wasn’t my proudest moment and I was happy Evette was not present to hear me whimper. What can I say, that shit hurt like a motherfucker. But it meant I could get up and move around as long as someone was in the room.
“Have that big guy next to you,” she’d said, referring to Zane.
I gave her my promise and she left, taking Doogie Howser M.D. with her.
Now I was waiting for Zane to get back and a nurse to remove the cuff after a final reading for my chart.
The door to my room swung open and Zane strode in. Not the nurse. Not Evette. Though Zane was the third-best person, Evette being the one I wanted to see most. But before she got back I needed information from him. He was holding something back; with Joe London in the room I understood. But Joe was gone, likely using his time to convince his daughter to leave me.
The thought burned my gut. Evette didn’t need any added stress or pressure. And I was in no state to get up and physically shield her from her father’s onslaught. That did burn—it ate away at my insides.
Another way I was failing.
“Heard you got the tube out of your cock.” That was what Zane led with. Asshole.
I flipped him off and muttered, “So much for HIPAA laws.”
“Jealous much?”
“Jealous you talked to my nurse and she broke protocol and gave you sensitive information. Hardly.”
“I’ll agree your poor peepee is probably sensitive but—”
“Did you just call my cock a peepee?”
“Touchy. Touchy.” Zane rolled his eyes and smirked.
“You’re a dick, you know that?”
“A dick with dimples and blue eyes.”
“Does your wife know you flirt to get intel?”
“Of course she does. She encourages it. In her opinion, any way I can extract intel without getting blood on my clothes is a good strategy.”
I was ending this stupid conversation. Zane could spend all day talking about his wife and his dimples and his blue eyes that did indeed get him his way most of the time. God knows it wasn’t his winning personality that had hooked his wife.
“What’s going on with Myles and Kevin? Did they find Delilah?”
Zane sighed like an unhappy teenager now that the topic of cocks and peepees was off the table.
“They’re in Mexico.”
“Mexico. What the fuck? I thought Abe had a good idea where they were in California?”
“He did. They went to Dulzura, talked to a few locals, and a rancher saw a car he didn’t know pull down a lane to a house that’s used as a vacation home. He didn’t recognize the car and went to check it out. When the rancher questioned the man about what he was doing there, he had all the right information about the landowner. The rancher figured he was just renting the place and left him to it. But a few hours later the rancher didn’t like the feel of the man. Said something felt off. So he went back and when he got there the guy was gone. Not only did the rancher memorize the plate number he also has cameras set up at the end of his driveway, which you have to pass to get to the other property. We got video of Delilah and the driver. Guy’s name is Tamir Cohen.”
“Tamir Cohen? Why do I know that name?”
“Remember the girls’ school in Uganda?”
I didn’t need to pull up specifics of that mission from my memory bank. That mission was forever seared into my retinas. Fifty girls and teachers had been butchered by a terror organization. A hundred more had been taken hostage. My SEAL platoon had worked with an Israeli Defense Force Special Forces unit—Yamam. They were bad to the bone, no joke, highly trained commandos. The best CT and rescue unit the IDF had. Together we freed the hostages. Yamam lost one soldier that day. Isaac Cohen.
“Holy fuck. Isaac Cohen.”
“Isaac Cohen,” Zane confirmed. “His brother Tamir left Shayetet 13 and transferred to his brother’s unit. When Tamir was with Yamam he met his brother’s friend, Aviv Abrams. After their time in the IDF Aviv started Abrams Industries and Tamir was hired as head of security.”
“Something doesn’t sound right, Z. I went to Isaac’s service. I can’t say I knew him or his family. But the Cohens are legends in IDF and that was before Isaac died. Tamir, Isaac, and their sister