Chapter 18

Lucia checked her phone first thing Wednesday morning. Rory was supposed to have met her at a pizza joint on Monday, but Lucia hadn’t seen her. Then, on Tuesday, Rory didn’t call or text. They didn’t do this to each other now. Sure, back when they’d been in high school and then after, when she’d gone straight to the Navy, and Rory had been in college, they’d lost touch for a while. But now, they were solid and had been for years. For Rory to have blown her off like this was troublesome.

She knew Rory had something she was investigating, but she wasn’t sure what had really happened. The fear Rory felt had driven her to buy a burner cell to carry when she didn’t want her cell phone tracking her movements.

Lucia knew cell phones tracked locations, but so did cars. However, Rory’s car was old and probably lacked GPS tracking capabilities. Tonight, she would have to put in an effort to find Rory.

Once she arrived at the base, she began reading travel warnings the State Department released and then looked into problems other governments highlighted. It helped to understand where local unrest was. Sure, a computer could sift through this stuff, and they had programs that highlighted reports she needed to look at first, but no computer could understand the complexities of running multiple SEAL teams across the globe. The guys could handle themselves, but they needed to understand threat levels in the areas they were traveling through.

Today, she kept getting distracted by thoughts of Rory. At lunch, she found her phone and looked through it, finally calling Rory on both numbers to see if she could get hold of her. It didn’t sit right with her that Rory wasn’t answering.

“Fuck,” she said under her breath.

She heard a shoe scuff behind her and realized she wasn’t alone. “Everything okay, Petty Officer Ochoa?” Wild asked.

Lucia knew Wild and his team well. She also knew none of them scuffed their shoes when they walked unless they wanted to be heard. Wild outranked her, not only because he was a SEAL but because he was damn good at his job.

“Yes, sir.”

Wild held her gaze as he walked past, then paused and turned to face her. His team members were a few paces behind Wild, and they all stopped when he did.

“Ochoa, you don’t look like everything is okay. What’s going on?” Wild asked.

She didn’t want to bother them with her family drama. She was about to tell them she really was fine when Bear stepped closer.

“Listen, we respect you, Lucia. You’re damn good on overwatch. You keep us safe. We know you are here to do your job. Something seems to be off. What is it? We may be able to help.”

She shook her head. “It’s just family drama.”

“Has that Marine you’re dating done something?” Bear asked.

Lucia rolled her eyes. “I haven’t been with her for a while. And no, it’s not about a person I’m dating. It’s my sister. I haven’t heard from her, and we were supposed to get together on Monday, but she’s not answering her phone. I think I just need to go see her.”

“Fuck,” Harry said.

“Yeah, fuck,” Wild added. “This sounds eerily familiar.”

“Familiar, why?” Lucia asked.

“My, um, girlfriend stopped texting me and won’t pick up her phone. I haven’t heard from her since Sunday,” Harry said.

Lucia narrowed her gaze. “It’s probably not my sister. She isn’t dating anyone. She is having an issue, though.”

“Issue?” Wild asked.

“She didn’t tell me what it was,” Lucia said. “But it sounds like she found something she wasn’t supposed to know about.”

“What is her name?” Harry asked.

“Rory.”

“Rory is your sister?” Harry looked at her like she was crazy.

“We were in foster care together. She’s not my biological sister, and we were never adopted. But we lived together through high school and became best friends.”

“Shit,” Wild said. “That’s who Harry is friends with.”

Lucia stepped closer to Harry and grabbed his arm. “Have you heard from her? ”

He shook his head. “She left my place on Sunday, and I haven’t heard from her since.”

Panic flared, and Lucia let out a strangled sob. Something was wrong with Rory, and now she knew it was bad. Rory wasn’t just ignoring her. She was ignoring everyone. This couldn’t be good. She didn’t want to think about what could have happened but feared for Rory’s life.