Page 5 of Torn in Half

“What’s the matter?” Shelby asked from across the room.

Gaping at the screen, Kristen couldn’t answer right away, too shocked by what she was reading. Rhonda had been right. All this so-called author had done was replace the main characters’ names, Keith and Shannon, with Kevin and Sharon. She hadn’t even been original about it! The fictional town had also been changed from Pine Creek to Aspen Creek.

“What’s wrong, Kristen?”

Shelby was now standing directly behind her. Kristen gestured to the screen. “She . . . she stole my book! I’ve been plagiarized! I can’t believe this! Let me bring up Hearts Ablaze.” Opening another browser window, she went back to the same site and located the first book she’d ever published—the one that’d propelled her into the indie author world before she’d been discovered by Red Rose. She clicked on the sample and lined up the two windows side by side. “Look. Word for freaking word except the names, and even those are similar.”

It didn’t take long for Shelby to blurt out, “Oh my God! I don’t believe it! Who is this person?”

“January Moore—although I doubt that’s her real name.” Fury was overtaking her shock as she clicked on the thief’s name to go to the author page for more information. “I’ve never heard of her, and look, she only has three books, and they were all published in the past ten days. Yeah, some legit authors do rapid releases all the time, but it’s also common with book thieves. Rhonda from my reader group was the one who noticed it. She looked at these other two and said they weren’t mine, but she thinks she read one of them before and is trying to figure out what book it might’ve been.

“You know, every time someone posted about being plagiarized in the author groups I’m in, I was so happy it wasn’t me. Now, I know how they felt—like my heart has been ripped from my chest. And it’s not even one of my books with Red Rose, so I have to hire a lawyer if the site won’t take them down.”

“Um, free lawyer standing right behind you, sweetie,” Harper said.

Kristen glanced over her shoulder to see Harper and Angie had joined them and were studying the split screen on the computer monitor. “Lawyer, yes. Free, no. I won’t let you work for nothing, Harper—it’s not like I can’t afford it—but I’ll be hiring you if I need to.”

It wouldn’t be the first time the woman had been Kristen’s legal counsel. She’d been a tremendous help when Kristen’s first husband had tried to claim he was entitled to half the royalties from her “little books,” as he’d called them, despite their divorce. The case had been dropped after Tom had been arrested for embezzling money from his brokerage firm. Kristen still had a hard time wrapping her brain around the fact a man she’d loved and married was now in federal prison serving a four-year sentence.

“Let me . . . shoot, let me download her book, so I have the proof before I email the site to try to get it taken down. I don’t know what to do after that. Do I sue her for the money she earned from sales of the book? Is it worth the time and effort to do that? I mean it’s only been up a few days—they wait sixty days before paying out royalties, so she’ll never see the money if they take the book down. I-I . . . damn it. How could someone do this? I mean, I put my blood, sweat, and tears into—” Her voice caught in her throat, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Of all days, she did not need this happening today.

Shelby squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t worry. Between us, we’ll take this bee-otch down. I’m going to go download the other two books and get online with Rhonda to try and figure out who the other books were stolen from. If she stole yours, most likely she stole the others too. Those authors need to be told, whoever they are.”

Kirsten wasn’t looking forward to letting the other authors know they’d been plagiarized too, if that was the case, but in the indie community, authors, readers, and everyone else watched out for each other, for the most part. “Damn it!”

“Bam it! Bam it, An-ten.”

Kristen hadn’t realized Mara had wandered over to them. “An-ten” was baby speak for Aunt Kristen. She rolled her eyes and glanced at Harper. “Sorry.”

The other woman shrugged and waved her hand. “It’s not as bad as what Uncle Ian says. Don’t worry about it—I’m loose-lipped too when I’m in a bad mood. I’ve just been able to get away with it so far.”

“Bam it! Bam it! Bam it!”

Great, just what they needed today.

Chapter Five

As Nick stood from his front row seat next to him, Jake opened his eyes. Like almost everyone else aboard the jet, they’d been trying to get some sleep, even though worry had made it difficult to shut down their minds. While, over the years, they’d all trained themselves to take advantage of downtime in order to revitalize their bodies, despite everything going on around them, it was difficult to do when the mission was personal. Marie might not have given birth to all the operatives currently flying over the Pacific Ocean on their way to rescue her, but she was a mother to them all the same. Hell, if it hadn’t been for Marie kicking Jake’s ass, figuratively, he might’ve lost the best thing that’d ever happened to him—her youngest son, Nick.

“Where are you going?” Jake asked in a low voice so as to not wake anyone else passed out in the luxurious seats around them. The private jet was one of the many things Ian and Devon had splurged on upon starting Trident Security. It sure as hell beat flying in the cargo transport planes Jake and the other retired SEALs on board had spent countless hours in traveling around the world from one tour or mission to another.

“The head.”

Jake closed his eyes again as Nick quietly made his way toward the back of the aircraft. This was the first time both teams had flown for a mission at the same time. While there were enough seats for everyone, the cabin was a little cramped with all those bodies. Ian, Devon, Brody, and Kip “Skipper” Morrison had spent the first few hours contacting operatives who could help and gathering intel. The rest of them had double checked their gear, stowed the weapons in the jet’s hidden compartments, and done everything else they could to prepare for the rescue. And, yes, it was still classified as a rescue operation and not a recovery one.

Thanks to a Christmas present Ian had given his mother years ago, they’d been able to zero in on where the two women had been taken to. The watch had a tracking device in it, not that Marie was aware of it. She probably would’ve thought her son was being paranoid and not worn the thing while traveling to some of the poorest areas around the globe to help children in need. Chuck had known, of course, and had also been gifted a similar watch. Even though the man always accompanied his wife abroad, he wasn’t oblivious to the fact that due to his wealth, either one of them could become a target for ransom. For over thirty years, he’d been at the helm of his real estate conglomerate, but over the past few years, he’d come to rely on his staff and executive board more and more. He didn’t want to be one of those people who continually chased the almighty dollar without taking time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He could fully retire tomorrow and still never have to worry about finances for the rest of his life. Hell, his grandchildren wouldn’t have to worry about them for the rest of their lives either.

Not long after takeoff, Brody had gotten on the phone with Jones over in Scotland. He’d needed the other geek to hack into a satellite for him, in case he lost track of the signal during their flight. They now had it pointed at the location where Marie Sawyer and, hopefully, the other woman were being held. According to the topographical images, they were in a gated residential compound with a large house and several smaller buildings. Cook and Jones were in their respective war-rooms on either side of the pond, currently gathering all the intel they could about who owned the place. When the Steel team landed, they’d start reconnaissance and maintain a covert perimeter. Ian didn’t want them going in without the Alpha and Omega teams unless it was absolutely necessary. While they all trusted Mic’s operatives, it was best to have all available boots on the ground to make sure they rescued the women unharmed. Chuck and the people at the clinic still hadn’t received a ransom demand, which wouldn’t have been a surprise given the area and that Marie was an American physician. They had no idea why the two were taken and by whom, and there were too many variables to go rushing in without intel. Hopefully, by the time the TS jet landed, they would learn a lot more than they already knew.

About fifteen minutes had passed before Jake realized Nick hadn’t returned from the bathroom. Getting to his feet, he stretched and glanced toward the back of the cabin, catching just a glimpse of his husband standing off to the side in the small galley. Striding down the aisle, Jake passed the curtain that would afford them a little privacy and pulled it across the entryway. Nick was leaning against a counter, staring down at his iPad. Jake put his back to a cabinet across from him—there were mere inches separating them. “What’re you doing, babe?”

He tilted the screen so Jake could see it too. “Flipping through our wedding photos. Mom looked so—” He gulped. “So happy in every single one. It just hit me how much I’ve taken her for granted all these years. I thought she’d always be there for us, you know? To see Little Bit born, to see him or her and JD grow up . . . to see us have a kid someday.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up. That last part had been said in barely a whisper, choked with emotion. Taking the iPad from Nick, he set it on the counter behind him before closing the distance between them. Cupping Nick’s jaw, Jake leaned down and kissed him. Neither of them had shaved since yesterday morning, so their whiskers rasped together, sensuously. Not wanting to start something they couldn’t finish, and knowing he had to respond to Nick’s last statement, Jake pulled back a little and stared down at his husband. “She’ll be there, Nick, for all those things. We’ll get her back. She’s not leaving us yet.” He paused. “How long have you been thinking about having kids?”

Staring at Jake’s chest, Nick shrugged. “A while now, I guess. You never brought the subject up, so I was sort of waiting for the right time. I mean, it’s a huge step, one I never thought I’d take, but with JD and Mara around all the time, and Angie about to give birth, I don’t know, it’s been on my mind a lot lately.

Jake smiled. “Yeah, well you’re not the only one. I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t have a good role model for a father—I’m not sure I’d be a good one. The thought of raising a kid kind of scares me a little.” That was an understatement. Throughout most of his childhood, Jake hadn’t realized what an ass his father had been to him and his older brother, Mike. The man had erected a wall between the two boys by favoring his younger son who’d been a standout in many sports, but none more than football, which had earned him a full ride to Rutgers University. But that’d all changed when the bigoted Sean Donovan had found out Jake was homosexual during his senior year in high school. After trying to “beat the gay” out of his son, to the point he needed two weeks to recover, the older man had lost him. Hours after graduating, Jake had enlisted in the Navy, throwing away his scholarship and any love or respect he’d ever had for his father. The two had barely said more than a dozen words to each other before Sean had passed away years later. The only reason Jake had seen the man during that time was because of his mother and brother. It wasn’t until recently that Jake and Mike had buried the hatchet and been able to repair the damage their father had done to their relationship. Since joining SEAL Team Four and becoming close friends with Devon, Ian, and the rest of the Alpha team members, Jake felt Chuck Sawyer was more of a dad to him than his own father had ever been. Jake would lay down his life for his in-laws . . . and their sons.

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