Jameson (In the Company of Snipers #22) - Irish Winters Page 0,15
Mortimer, and David Tao. But of the three, Mark was the natural leader and prone to be in the office more than the other two, which made him Alex’s right-hand man.
“Hey, Boss, what’s up?”
“Please step into the hall, so the women won’t—”
“Already done. Go ahead.”
“Need you to check Navy records and verify—”
“The comment about Mel being in Mogadishu? Already pulled his USN record while the girls were chatting. Sorry, Boss, but your old man was never a SEAL, nor was he in Somalia. He was dishonorably discharged with less than two years of service. He spent most of that in the old brig at Norfolk. I’m looking at a long list of assault charges, drunk and disorderly, and petty thefts. Small time stuff. Nothing too violent. Just enough to get him kicked out of the Navy.”
“Son of a bitch,” Alex hissed, embarrassed that the secret he’d kept close to his chest for so many years was now public knowledge. He’d stopped watching the front door and had come to a full stop at the elevator that would take him back up to Maternity and Delivery. Mel’s dishonorable discharge made everything so much worse. No wonder he’d never come home. Those charges would’ve earned him total forfeiture of pay and allowances.
“No worries, Alex. My dad’s convinced farming dirt’s more important than getting to know his five granddaughters.”
“He still hasn’t come for a visit?”
“Don’t think he ever will. Libby and I call monthly, but he’s never going to change. Honestly, I’m ready to call it quits. It’s hard holding a conversation with someone who grunts and growls like you’ve offended him by calling. JayJay won’t talk with him anymore when we call. She says he always hurts her feelings.”
Alex looked at the floor, his shoulders heaving with disgust. “At least you and Libby tried.”
“Sounds like you did, too.”
“Yeah, well…” He rolled the first nine years of misplaced regret and boyish-devotion for a man who’d only cared about himself, off his shoulders. “I need you to trace his whereabouts over the last few years. He’s up to something.”
“You bet. I’ll handle it as soon as I get in the office. Today.”
“And find out who the hell volunteered my home address and whereabouts.”
“You do remember Mother’s back. All Mel had to say was that he was your dad, and she would’ve been an open book.”
“Damn.” Alex dug the heel of his free hand into his eye socket behind which a migraine was just starting. Mark was spot on. Mother liked to talk, and she’d always been nosey. He wondered what else Mel knew now, and how he’d found TEAM HQ in the first place. Alex didn’t advertise, and unless a person knew where to look, there was no street-side signage that indicated a covert business resided in Alexandria.
Mother, real name Sasha Kennedy, had become another problem all together. She’d taken a lengthy hiatus after her daughter Dempsey’s death. But when she’d come back from her South Pacific vacay, she hadn’t been the same person. Right out of the gate, she’d told Alex she’d only stay on if he made her a partner. She honestly believed her elite financial status made that promotion from office assistant to deputy director obvious. Alex disagreed. Not only had she hidden her extreme wealth from The TEAM, including her so-called best friend, Ember Dennison, Mother had also hidden the fact that she had a severely handicapped teenage daughter. While Mother had been intimately involved in every other TEAM member’s personal tragedies, successes, and lives, she’d kept hers secret.
The revelation about Dempsey had come to light recently. By then, the young woman had been dying, and The TEAM hadn’t yet recovered from the depth of Mother’s betrayal. Also, she’d never served, and that was a hard stop for Alex. Just because she was good with computers and video games did not make her a better warrior than Mark, Harley, or Ember. They knew what it meant to put their lives on the line. Mother knew how to hack encrypted codes and create successful computer games. Her genius had made her wealthy and Alex appreciated her skillset. But when it came to running The TEAM, Alex demanded loyalty, and Mother had let him down.
“Thanks, Mark. I don’t know when I’ll be in. I can’t leave Kelsey and the kids alone while Mel’s hanging around.”
“No worries. I’ll handle the office. You do what you have to. Just be careful. Libby’s got one of her feelings. There’s something not right about your old