Page 26 of Cole
“Hala? My name is Sira and my husband is part of the comms, research and data team. You and I have a lot in common,” she smiled holding out her hand. “Come with me. A walk in the gardens will help.”
Cole nodded at the beautiful woman and Sira took Hala’s hand, wandering toward the gorgeous gardens.
“I’ll go with them,” said Bailey. She kissed Angus’ cheek and smiled at him, blushing. Angus turned to the others, clearing his throat.
“Well, let me get this out,” he said calmly. “When I left here to take care of my mother, I thought I’d be back within a month or so. Then dad became ill and they both died within days of one another. At their funerals, an old girlfriend came up to me and, well, one thing led to another. Quickly. I was lonely, scared, and honestly wasn’t sure what to do with my life. We married and the Navy came knocking again saying they needed my help.”
“You’re a stellar intelligence agent, Angus. It makes sense,” said Luke.
“Maybe, but I owed you all more. When I was deployed, my wife was throwing a fit about me being gone. I knew it was all a mistake and that was confirmed when I returned and found out she’d been having an affair with my neighbor, an Army Sergeant.”
“Sorry, brother,” frowned Eric.
“No. It was all supposed to happen. I started working out, hard. Got assigned to a SEAL team, ran reconnaissance for them, intelligence searches, even deployed with the team a few times. It reminded me of being here. When I got mixed in with the hostages, I thought to myself, ‘this is where I’m supposed to be’. And I knew exactly who I was supposed to be doing it with.
“Walking into that hotel and seeing Bailey was amazing. It was a sign,” he said shaking his head.
“Bailey was only about five when you left us,” said Sadie. “How did you recognize her?” Angus chuckled, shaking his head as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“No offense, Sadie, but you Jordans all look exactly alike. She’s a younger version of you, a prettier version of Marc and Wes who I remembered well. I would have picked her out of a lineup anywhere. I didn’t mean for anything to happen, it just did. We just knew.”
“Angus, you don’t have to explain it to us,” said Ham. “You’re a good man and I don’t give a shit about the age difference. If you love my daughter, if she loves you, then we’re all going to be okay.”
“Thank you,” he nodded. “I sent my contract termination letter to the Navy. I’m hoping I get a better offer.” The others laughed, nodding at him.
“Don’t worry about that. You’re going to get an offer with a very large, very stubborn bonus. Bailey.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Sira, you have to make them understand what these men are like. What they’ll do!” said Hala in a panicked voice.
“They understand better than anyone in the world,” she said quietly, guiding her to the stone bench. She said nothing for a few moments, allowing the sounds of the garden to wash over Hala. The trickle of the fountain heard just above the rustling of the fallen leaves. The breeze whispering through the hanging moss. Hala took a deep breath, closing her eyes and then opening them.
“Better?” asked Sira.
“Yes. Thank you. I don’t usually panic but I’ve never attempted an escape from my grandfather before.”
“Not attempted. Succeeded in an escape. Listen, Hala. When Wes found me, I was trying to send him coded messages leading him to what my uncle was doing. I was in Istanbul when he saw me in a café. Eventually, I was back in D.C., finishing my law degree but my uncle was demanding my return.”
“Why? Was he going to marry you off?” she asked.
“No, honey.Hewas going to force me to marry him and then he was going to kill me.”
“Oh, no,” whispered Hala. “Sira, I’m so sorry.”
“I agreed to meet with Wes, alone. Of course, he didn’t listen to me,” she smirked. “He showed up with the entire team at his back. When they heard my story, Wes simply said there was only one way to go around the problem. He would marry me. One hour and eleven minutes into meeting me, he proposed.”
“Holy cow!” she said staring at her. “And you’ve been married, what, twenty years?”
“No, honey. We’ve been married more than forty years.”
“Wh-what? That’s not possible. It can’t be possible.”
“The same magic that helped your scars, helps all of us to stay young. A magic that no one can know about, Hala.”
“Of course. Obviously. I mean, who would believe me anyway,” she frowned. “But it is fascinating to me as a physician.”
“Well, Gabi, Gray, and Riley can explain more to you but it’s an amazing gift we’ve been given. In the end, they ended my uncle and his terror. I was a princess of my region and I returned power to those that could help to make things right.”
