Page 42 of Cade

“He’s not. Not really,” said Bodhi. “He’s got a desk job in Washington, but he often commands from the field. He got a huge chunk of shrapnel in his thigh about fifteen years ago, and it’s pretty nasty.”

“So, he’s in D.C.?” asked Doc. Bodhi nodded. “What about the other guy? Do we know who he is yet?”

“I do,” said the voice in everyone’s ear. They all jumped, and Julia giggled, gripping Joseph’s arm.

“Hi, Hiro,” she laughed.

“Hi, Julia. I never can fool you, can I?”

“Well, I suppose I should tell you that we’ve gained an additional elder at Belle Fleur, and he’s quite adept at following me long distances,” she smiled. They all looked at her, shaking their heads. “Hiro’s grandfather. Yoriko Tanaka. Although, he says I can call him Yori.”

“My grandfather?” whispered Hiro. “He’s here?”

“He’s always been with you, Hiro,” she smiled. “Now, he works with the others to keep things peaceful, shall we say. He and Nathan get along surprisingly well.”

“My great-grandfather is an exceptional man,” smiled Joseph.

“Can we get back to business?” asked Trevor, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” smiled Julia.

“As I was saying,” said Hiro, “Pitre is in Washington right now. Yesterday, a man was seen going into the Pentagon and visiting Pitre’s office. Records show that he’s been in and out of there at least three dozen times in the last six months. Dr. Jon Hausman is currently a Major in the Marine Corps. He was a classmate of Pitre’s son, Corey. Corey died in Mogadishu during a firefight with rebels.”

“Damn,” muttered Doc. “A dead son and his old classmate. That does not spell warm and fuzzy.”

“Nor should it,” said Hiro. “Hausman was brought up on charges for working privately with a pharmaceutical company. Pitre came to his defense, and the charges were dropped.”

“Is that illegal?” asked Cass.

“It is if he’s developing something to be used on the military,” said Hiro. “He was working on something that would create a hypnotic-like state, allowing the deliverer to give orders, and the receiver was inexplicably forced to follow those orders, regardless of threat.”

“Shit, he was working on a drug and realized it wouldn’t work,” said Cade. “But he must have discovered something that kept him moving on the project.”

“What happened to Pitre’s son?” asked Cass. Everyone looked her way.

“I’m not sure that matters,” said Joseph.

“It does,” nodded Cass. “It matters a great deal. What happened?”

“Give one to the non-military member,” smirked Hiro. “Corey Pitre was trapped in a building with two other Marines. They’d called for help several times, but the three remaining teammates wouldn’t respond or couldn’t. They claimed that their equipment failed, but nothing could be found wrong with it. Pitre claimed they were derelict in duty. Others claimed that it would have ended in their death as well.”

“He wants them to go in whether it means death or not,” said Cass. “That’s why he’s doing this. He wants to create Marines that will do whatever they’re told, regardless of the consequences.”

“Jesus, I think she’s right,” said Cade. “Hausman must have realized that if the devices didn’t work, he wouldn’t be given another chance to remove them. There must be something in them that sends the signals, but if they don’t follow orders, he can make it miserable for them.”

“Every last one of them wanted to kill themselves because the pain was so bad. Hell, three did,” said Doc. “It’s unacceptable. Fucking disgraceful that these men are doing this to our Marines.”

“Well, we know that they’re not in Washington state now,” said Bree. “We could probably head back to Belle Fleur as well and figure out our next move. If they’re both in D.C., we make a plan to head there.”

“We won’t make any plans,” said Doc, kissing his wife. “I love you, baby, but your part in this ends here and now.” She frowned, looking at Ashley.

“You knew he was going to say that,” laughed her friend.

“I knew. I don’t like it, but I knew.”

“We’ll get our luggage and meet you guys downstairs,” said Trevor. Cade nodded, locking the door behind them.

“You did so fucking good, Cass. So amazing, baby,” he said, holding her securely in his arms. “I want so desperately to make love to you right now, but we don’t have time, and I damn sure want to take my time.”

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