Page 49 of Clear Blue Sky

Brandi doubted that.

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Nelson opened the office door and was greeted by Phoenix. “Thanks for coming up to the office.” Nelson had texted both his brothers, asking for one of them to take over listening in on Marcus. He hadn’t explained anything about Roxy, but she wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. His siblings all knew who she was, and he was sure they were concerned about why she’d joined her brother.

“It might be a good idea for you to stay here with me,” Phoenix said. “You’re a hothead when it comes to Roxy. Besides, I want the details on what you heard. I only got bits and pieces and most of it didn’t make sense.”

“I need to get downstairs.” Nelson cocked his head and gave his brother that look that said,get the fuck out of my way, or I’ll move you.He adjusted his cell and the recording app so they could hear the conversation Marcus and Roxy were having, but so far, it was all benign. It was almost as if they knew someone was listening. Or at least suspected and were being careful.

That’s what Nelson would have done.

Phoenix held up his hands. “All right. But before you go down there, do you even have a plan? Or are you going to go right to attack mode and give them the advantage, because I bet she’s only here to rattle your cage.”

“No, actually, she works for the company that does all the PR and publicity for Brandi’s mom.” Nelson wiggled his fingers and relaxed his shoulders. He took in a slow, calculated breath. Everything about Marcus’ and Roxy’s presence was to upset Nelson. What he didn’t know was what they expected him to do. Or what they were going to do as an endgame.

That was still a huge issue and he hadn’t learned anything from Marcus’ meeting with Brandi and Lake, other than Marcus’ demeanor had changed when the truth about what his sister had done had been tossed in his face.

That was proof enough to Nelson that Marcus knew all about Roxy’s plan to get pregnant, even if it was something he learned afterward. Nelson still didn’t understand why she’d chosen him when having a one-night stand would have been easier.

There was something they were missing. Something that tied this all up nice and neat. He’d always suspected Marcus and his team had been up to something illegal out in the field, but he had no idea what, or if it included Seth and his SEAL team.

Nelson upped the volume, lifting it to his ear. Roxy mentioned something about her boyfriend. His name was Ken Vander and he was a plastic surgeon in Manhattan and he was going to some convention for the weekend.

“That’s an interesting and potentially dangerous twist.” Phoenix glanced down the steps. “When your mission went in front of the review board, Dad always said that Marcus was gunning for you. He had it on good authority that some of the things Marcus, Chuck, Josh, and Tyler testified to didn’t ring true. That the investigator found discrepancies in their stories.”

“Joe and Tony told mostly the same story, but at the time of the ambush, they’d been separated from their team. It wasn’t until Marcus found me that they had been able to find their way back,” Nelson said.

“You’ve always thought there was something bigger at play during that mission.”

“The entire thing was a clusterfuck from beginning to end.” Nelson kept the cell between him and his brother. “The intel I had gotten was shit. I was ambushed two miles from where the SEAL team had been held. Marcus’ team was ambushed and they came from the other direction.”

“That’s not unheard of if the enemy intercepted your call,” Phoenix said. “Seth’s team had been killed between fifteen minutes to an hour before your arrival based on the after-action report and what was gathered from enemy information.”

“That’s the belief.” Nelson rubbed his side. The sound of gunfire filled his brain. The memory of his men shouting, then screaming, and finally, the sound of silence. Nelson had no idea if the quiet had been because he’d lost consciousness, or because of the death that had surrounded him, but it didn’t matter.

The enemy had destroyed them because they knew they were coming.

The question had always been, how had that been possible?

“The enemy knew we were coming. The timing was too perfect, but it took so long for my memories to go from hazy to somewhat clear.”

“But the review board didn’t find you at fault, even though Marcus testified that he didn’t get your distress call. That it came from the nearby civilian town.”

“That’s bullshit. But I can’t prove it because my Satcoms were damaged and I couldn’t connect to even terrestrial communications. All I had was short-term radio frequency and a prayer.” Nelson had gone over this a dozen times with his brothers. He didn’t have a problem doing it all again. He had a tickle in the back of his mind. There was a missing link and he needed to find it, fast.

“When you were cleared and given a medal, there was nothing else for the military to investigate. It was case closed. At least to the public,” Phoenix said. “Only Dad keeps telling us that he believes there is an active investigation regarding both the deaths of the SEAL team and the ambush of yours.”

“I put a call into Dad. I’m hoping he can return it sometime today,” Nelson said.

“I’m surprised the only Snow we’ve seen so far is Maverick,” Roxy said.

“Nelson’s here. I’m sure of it,” Marcus said. “He’ll show his face soon enough. Patience. You need to learn to have some. We might not be in this situation if you exercised it a couple of years ago.”

“Don’t put this on me,” Roxy said. “My actions have nothing to do with the way things went down. Besides, I told you what my plan was, and you only told me to make sure Seth didn’t find out until after he was deployed. I made sure of that.”

“You have a selective memory because I also told you that you were playing with fire and to just let me handle your husband. But no, you had to go pull fucking Nelson into this.”

“The military did that when they sent him to save Seth.”

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