Page 63 of Clear Blue Sky

She glanced up. “Thanks to Ethan, I already am.”

15

Nelson reeled up his line for the third time in the last ten minutes. He leaned over the side of the boat. The minnow was still attached to the hook. Releasing the tension, he dropped it back into the water.

“Relax, son.” His father sat in the bow of the boat with his legs stretched out on the rail and his hat pulled down so it appeared he was half-asleep.

There were so many things Nelson wanted to say to his old man. Too many questions filled his brain and not enough answers. But every time he opened his mouth, his dad shut him down. Either it was because Brandi was in the room or he’d been told he’d have all the information he’d need in good time.

Nelson respected his father both as a parent and as a general in the Army.

Talk about infuriating.

“This is the first time since we opened that none of us is at Blue Moon.” While he and his brothers had been concerned about leaving the restaurant for the first time with their management team, that was only part of his stress.

The other part was that Brandi wasn’t at his side, and he didn’t like it when he wasn’t in control. Her safety was his responsibility. If anything happened to her, he’d never be able to forgive himself.

“Your mother is with her. They have backup. It’s fine,” his dad said.

Nelson glanced over his shoulder. Maverick and Phoenix sat in the stern seats, looking equally as miserable as Nelson felt. It had always been difficult to be the children of the great Louis Snow. They could never quite live up to his impeccable reputation at West Point, or anywhere they went in the military.

His dad always told him that he never expected his boys to follow in his footsteps, but if they made that choice, it was their responsibility to strive to be the best of the best.

The pressure had been ingrained in Nelson’s brain from birth.

“It’s about time you boys took a day off.” His dad tipped his hat and smiled.

“That’s rich,” Maverick said. “Because doing a stakeout isn’t work.”

“We’re fishing.” His father yanked his sunglasses off and lowered his chin, giving them that fatherly stare that used to—and still did—scare the crap out of all of them. It wasn’t just the glare from a father, but from a five-star general. “We’re having father-son bonding time. It’s fun.”

Nelson did his best to shake off the feeling that he was eighteen again and had just received his first demerit at West Point. That had been a painful phone call to make to his old man.

“You can dress this up any way you like, but we’re on a mission, Dad.” Phoenix had always been the kid who pushed the limits, hard. He struggled with authority and it showed on his written evaluations. But in the field, Nelson would rather have either one of his brothers than anyone else. Phoenix might be a bit of a hothead, but he had a big heart and was all business where it mattered.

“Maybe so, but spending time with my boys is still nice.” His dad nodded. “I haven’t been up here since the grand opening of Blue Moon and we stayed at The Heritage Inn. I love that place. It’s so pretty from the water, isn’t it, boys?”

“You are so weird, Dad,” Maverick said.

“This reminds me of Nelson’s fourteenth birthday and we all went camping.” Phoenix chuckled. “Dad made us fish every morning before he’d take us waterskiing.”

“If I hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have caught our dinner every night.” His father jiggled the pole as if he had a bite, but it turned out to be nothing since he dropped the line further down to the bottom and relaxed back into his seat.

“We did eat a lot of fish on that trip,” Maverick said. “All fried in bacon fat. I’m shocked we’re all not dead from a heart attack.”

Nelson couldn’t bring himself to make the trip down memory lane. His mind was split between the fact his girlfriend was hanging out with his mother and the idea that his mom used her contacts to bring in her own resources. He twisted his body and reached for a soda from the cooler. He cracked it open and chugged half of it down before lifting his cell from the console.

No messages from Brandi.

He had no idea if that was good or bad. God only knew what childhood stories his mother was telling.

But also, there was nothing from Reese, Jared, or any other trooper under Jared’s charge. And nothing from the private investigator still spending time at The Heritage Inn.

Hensley hadn’t been able to find anything useful in her trips into Marcus’ and his buddies’ rooms. All their electronics were locked up in safes and she’d been unable to access them.

Although, now that Dina Snow and the power she brought from the Department of Defense had arrived, things had changed and Reese had been given the go-ahead from the United States Government to open those safes and hack into any computers or other devices they might find.

“Could at least look like you’re enjoying yourself.” His father stood and yanked at his pole. He cranked the reel. “Damn. He took a tug and swam away.” He finished pulling in the line and rested the pole in the holder. Making his way to the stern, he squeezed Nelson’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried about Brandi and her family, but we’re going to put an end to this before anything bad can happen.”

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