SEAL's Embrace - Makenna Jameison Page 0,45
know anything about his specific work.
“Not long, just a few minutes. I was planning to head out to the store soon when she called the second time, so I figured I could assure her you were okay and ask what you’d eat for dinner.”
“The chili is amazing,” she said. “I just don’t have a huge appetite with being sick and all.” She looked down at her phone, frowning as she heard Grayson in the kitchen getting his second bowl of food. She had a text message from another unknown number.
Don’t say anything.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, catching the expression on her face as he came back in. Hailey showed him her cell phone, and he took it from her, staring down at the screen. “Don’t say anything about what?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I had that other weird text earlier that said ‘be careful.’ This is from a different number though. Am I supposed to think two different people had the wrong number and happened to text me weird messages on the same day?”
“It could be the same person. Maybe they’re spoofing different numbers so you can’t see who the messages are really from,” he said.
“Maybe, but why? I don’t even know what it means.”
He frowned, handing her phone back to her. “You met with people at the Pentagon this week, right? Told them your version of what happened in the explosion?”
“Well, yeah, but I don’t really know anything. Nothing more than any of the other women housed there at least. I had to give a statement since I was injured and in the hospital. And I met with someone else in HR to close out my assignment. I never checked out when I left since I was medevac’d out of the country. It’s not like anything unusual happened when I was at the Pentagon though that would lead to the texts.”
“Huh.” He looked deep in thought for a moment, and Hailey simply looked at him, waiting for him to say whatever he was thinking.
“You think the texts are somehow related to the explosion?” she finally asked.
“You worked in the general’s office in Bagram. Do you remember when we spoke in Germany?”
“Yeah, sort of. I was a little out of it.”
He nodded. “I know. You were recovering. But they’ll probably be interviewing you soon because of the people you work with.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, crinkling her brow in confusion.
“Someone got on base and set off an explosive. You know how tight security is, how hard it should’ve been to pull something like that off.”
She nodded uncertainly. “So…you’re saying someone on base was probably involved. I mean, otherwise it would’ve been nearly impossible to do. Someone working there did it?”
He pressed his lips together.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked at him. “Look, I realize you know significantly more about this than me,” she said. “Your clearance is higher because of your job as a SEAL. I assume they’ll be interviewing everyone who was stationed there though. But like I said before, I saw people come and go in my office all the time. I helped schedule meetings and disseminated reports that I had clearance to view, but…. I primarily worked with a small group of people. Guys like you come in—other SEAL teams and such, but I don’t really have any involvement with that sort of thing.”
He looked at her intently for a moment, his hazel eyes serious. Her gaze trailed over his face, down to his beard, eventually landing on his clenched hands. It looked like he was trying to restrain himself from saying something. “Someone in the general’s office was feeding information to the enemy,” he said in a low voice.
“Like a traitor?”
He nodded. “I told you to be careful in Germany. That was just a hunch then, something my team and I were worried about. The investigation is active now. I’m telling you this because you need to let them know about the text messages you got. You just went into the Pentagon for your briefing a few days ago, you moved across the country—a lot is going on. But it can’t be a coincidence the messages suddenly started. You worked there, the office is being investigated, and now someone is threatening you.”
“By saying to be careful?”
“The second text is a warning—don’t say anything. You told me yourself that a lot of people came through there. Even if you really don’t know anything, someone thinks you do.”
“This is crazy,” she said, looking at him in