Page 44 of Cade

CHAPTER TWENTY

Franco and the others stared at the men in the massive auditorium. Legends. Fucking legends. Rory Baine. Whiskey English. Dom Quinn. Patrick Fitch. Bron Jones. CC Neil. So many. Dozens beyond the Marines they recognized.

“I’m feeling seriously inadequate,” whispered Franco to his teammates.

“Don’t,” said Ghost. The men jumped, not having heard the older team enter behind them. “I’m Ghost. This is Ian, Nine, and Gaspar.”

“Oh, shit,” muttered one of the men. Nine frowned, staring at him.

“Something wrong, Marine?”

“N-no, sir,” he said, shaking his head. “Just, well, we all hear about you. All of you and your sons. Honestly, we thought it was just bedtime stories, but now we see that you’re all real.”

“What sort of shit are they filling your head with?” smirked Ian. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. We’re glad that you’re here, and we’re happy to keep you boys safe.”

The door opened, and five beautiful women walked in. The Marines stared at them, trying to remain respectful, but – damn! A tiny white-haired woman followed, along with two other older women.

“You wanna keep those eyes in your head, Marine. You’ll stop staring at my wife like that,” whispered Trak. The young Marine turned, knowing exactly who he was staring at.

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Boys, welcome to Belle Fleur,” said Alexandra. “I’m married to Gaspar. This is Grace, married to Ghost; Lauren, married to Trak; Erin, married to Nine; and Faith, married to Ian. This is Mama Irene, Ruby, and Mary.”

“Ma’ams,” came the chorus.

“We have you boys all set up in cottages. Food is hot in the cafeteria, so we can go over and have some dinner,” said Erin.

“Baby, we need to speak with the boys,” said Nine.

“The boys need to eat, Nine,” said Erin, her hand on her hip. “Besides, I believe our team has some information to share with you all. Come on, boys, let’s go.”

“Uh, sirs?” asked Franco.

“Go, or we won’t hear the end of it,” smirked Nine. “Thirty minutes. Eat and get back here in fucking thirty minutes.”

The men were more than happy to follow the women out of the room. When they left, Celeste, Piper, Tory, and Ani came into the room.

“What do you have?” asked Cam.

“Pitre will be on the run soon. He was filmed going into a motel and leaving two hours later. When the manager went to clean the room, he found a dead, high-priced call girl. She was whipped, raped, and beaten. He said that Pitre called for her often, and she always used the same room. She had skin and hair under her nails, and it matches his DNA.”

“Who filmed him?” asked Luke.

“Unknown,” said Piper. “It was sent to the Virginia State Police and the DOD, anonymously, of course. Someone knew he was going to be there and followed. His office is on lockdown, and they’re securing his laptop now. We probably won’t get anything off of it.”

“Our theory is that Hausman will attempt to inject a new unit,” said Ani. “We’ve sent secure messages to our boys in the Corps.”

The room silenced, suddenly realizing that there were five young men of their own out there at risk. Eagle and Tinley’s three sons, Ty, HG, and Benji. Also, Ivan and Sophia’s two sons, Benjamin and William. All five were in the Corps. All five active.

“Jesus,” muttered Skull. “Can we get them out?”

“They don’t need to get out. They need to help us,” said Piper. “Hausman doesn’t know that we’re involved, and he won’t know them. If we can get him close enough, our team out there can help us as well.” Celeste nodded at Piper.

“According to feedback from Washington, Pitre was pushing for another unit to head to Mogadishu. Considering that’s where his son died, we can only assume he was hoping for some revenge. Now that he’s on the run, that won’t happen unless someone else forces the hand.”

“No, someone probably won’t force it,” said Eric, “but a unit will be sent somewhere and probably soon. We have to find Hausman and stop him.”

“We need them both,” said Ani. “I don’t want Pitre to take the easy way out and off himself. He needs to face a military trial for what he’s done to those men. Hausman, too.”

---