“That’s good. I won’t have to have Hank do the talk with him again!”
The women laughed and kept on talking while they watched Emma and Ryleigh play in the living room. The women made plans for the week for their own girl’s get-together they wanted to do while the men were away, including letting little Ryleigh ride her first pony.
Chapter 5
“Congrats on the latest wee bairn!”Highlander grinned as he congratulated Hank on the birth of his son.
Hank chuckled, smiling wide. “Thanks, man. I’m glad he’s finally here. How much longer for Red to have this one?”
“Five or six months, I think.” Highlander smiled, looking towards the women in the other room.
“Are you handling this pregnancy better than the twins?” Hank chuckled, remembering how Highlander was with the last pregnancy.
“Aye! I’m not as scared as I was with the last one. I hate to admit it, but I nearly ruined our marriage with that shite. I didn’t realize what I was doing to my wife with my fears of touching her or hurting her.” Highlander sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“More like the wifey told him if he pulled the same shit this pregnancy, she’s kicking his Scottish ass outta the house and filing for divorce.” Joker smacked the table, laughing, ignoring Highlander’s glare.
“Damn, she laid out the big guns this time, huh?”
Highlander shook his head, chuckled as he scrubbed his face with his hands, before leaning onto the table. “Aye, my spitfire of a lass laid it out on the table. She was afraid to tell me about this pregnancy. Fortunately for me, she was unable to hide the morning sickness.”
“Good, good. Then I won’t have to trip you somewhere during our camping trip! We can actually enjoy it!” Hank and the men laughed after a brief mock stare down between the two men.
“You boys have any more problems with the two SEAL’s family that went missing last week?” Swede asked Highlander.
Highlander, Mac, Joker, and Snake all shared a look as they shifted in their seats. Highlander sighed heavily, leaning back into his seat, drumming his fingers against the table. Several minutes passed by before Highlander leaned forward, placing his forearms onto the table.
“The team is in agreement with me, we don’t think they are missing, as in something bad happened to them. We believe they are missing as in AWOL, we believe they staged their disappearance as if something happened to them.”
“What the hell?” Swede asked in confused shock.
“Turns out, the brother, who was on another team, was under investigation. We think the brother found out he was under investigation somehow and the rest is history.” Snake answered, leaning back in his seat, his knee bouncing, clearly agitated with the discussion.
“Investigation for what?” Hank asked, looking at the four men in his kitchen.
“Human trafficking.”
“What the fuck?” Hank and Swede both said at the same time, looking at each other before looking back at the men before them.
“I’d also like to point out, even though my last name is Jones, I amnotrelated to these posers who are a disgrace to the name.” Joker pointed out to Hank and Swede who just shook their heads and chuckled when Highlander nodded at Mac who leaned over and smacked the back of Joker’s head.
Mac leaned forward, sharing a look with Highlander who nodded after a few moments. “San Diego PD arrested a young woman for homicide and has a second charge for attempted homicide, unless the second person dies.” Mac paused, looking between Highlander, Hank, Swede and his teammates present.
“Okay, what does that have to do with human trafficking?” Swede asked, “That sounds more like murder. Did she murder one of the SEAL’s?”
“No, she murdered a man she claims was raping her while the man’s wife watched. The wife is in a coma because the girl attacked her when the woman tried to stop her from running away.”
“What the hell?!” Swede and Hank exclaimed at the same time.
“Turns out, the arresting officer was Dominick, Laura’s brother. The young girl, who is sixteen, told him that she was kidnapped recently from the mall in another state, then sold to the man she murdered. He called Laura and her team in to help with the investigation, with this boss’s permission of course. The girl identified the older Jones brother as the man who kidnapped her.”
“How did she identify the older Jones brother?” Hank questioned, confused with the whole investigation.
“That’s the billion-dollar question, Hank.” Highlander mumbled. “Laura came to me when she was confused about some things the girl said when they spoke with her. She told them something about brothers who bragged while raping their victims how they would never get caught because of who they were. How their father had come up with the brilliant plan to infiltrate the military and then the special forces to expand their business.”
“Red and her team asked the girl if she could describe the men or anything that may say what branch of the military that they were in. She told them that the guy was in dark blue camo uniform, last name ‘Jones’. She described the brother, down to the scar he has on his neck and chest, plus the tattoos. The brother wasn’t in a uniform she said, but he was in a Navy PT running gear with pants and jacket.” Mac took up the information telling from Highlander.
“Then to further seal the door on the proverbial shit pile, the brother called the one who kidnapped her Frankie. Claims the one dubbed Frankie punched his brother in the face for using names. Said they were supposed to be using call signs. He was going to be ‘Snake’, as if the mother fucker could be me. The brother was to be called DJ.” Snake finished for the group.
