Carter’s Battle (Team KOA Bravo #1)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"Castle called," Carter said as he turned onto the ranch road. "Tell the other two and meet me at my cabin. I'm just pulling in now."

Bowie grunted, "On it," and then hung up.

Carter parked the Jeep and climbed out, grabbing the bag of groceries from the back seat. He'd left Mia's when Castle called and stopped for a few supplies on the way back.

Ten minutes later, the sound of boots on the outside steps announced the arrival of his team. Bowie pulled open the screen door. "Yo, you got any beer?"

Carter, who had just finished putting everything away, opened the fridge again and handed Bowie a beer. "You two want one?" he asked.

Flint and Quinn nodded as they crashed down on the chairs around the dining table that overlooked the ranch. The view was excellent, with the rolling hills and the ocean in the distance, but it was the last thing on anyone's mind.

"Don’t keep us in suspense, brother. What did Castle say?" Quinn asked.

Carter opened his beer and sat down. "He’s found a lead that could connect McCarthy, Hendrick, Jones, and Ferrero to dirty money. Castle visited the widows of the previous team members. He asked them if anything was out of the ordinary or stood out to them. One of them, not sure who, handed him a file that her husband had collected on McCarthy and the others. It turns out her husband had been suspicious for a while. He told her they had too much money and were flashing it around. He knew for a fact they had a lake house somewhere that was much more expensive than any of them could afford, even if they all went in together. He saw pictures of it in Henrick's cage."

"So we're right. Those boys are on the take." Flint’s grunt sounded a lot like disgust.

A sentiment Carter agreed with.

"Yeah, and they killed their team members," Bowie pointed out.

Quinn slammed his bottle on the table. "These guys need to go down. Hard."

"Agreed," Carter said and then continued. "Castle said that he found a company named Cerberus in the file the woman gave him and he's trying to track it down. He thinks it's important."

"Why is that familiar?" Bowie asked.

Quinn cocked his head. "Yeah, it's ringing faint bells. Why do we know it?"

Flint snapped his fingers. "It's McCarthy’s favorite dog's name."

"Shit," Carter growled, "that's right." He grabbed his phone and sent a text to his CO. "Castle said this is a shell company, but he's tracing it, and he's pretty sure this will lead directly back to them. The big question is; are they the only ones involved?"

Flint stared. "You think there are more teams involved in this shit?"

Carter shook his head. "Not teams. I think someone higher up the chain of command must be involved. Otherwise, how do they get to these locations? They don't get to pick their targets. Orders come from higher up the chain of command, so it's got to be someone with power enough to send them where they need to be to steal the money and drugs."

"You're back to thinking it's Castle's boss, Fuller," Quinn stated.

Carter nodded.

"Makes sense," Bowie acknowledged. "What does Castle say?"

"Not much just yet, but I think he's thinking the same thing. He knows it has to be someone at his level or above to wield that kind of power. Since he knows he's not involved, it limits who it could be." Carter leaned back in his chair. "He told us to hang tight. Continue doing testing, and then if he can't get it sorted quickly, he'll find somewhere else to send us. He also promised not to send us overseas with McCarthy and the rest again until he figured this out."

"So we're here for the foreseeable future," Bowie said. "I like the sound of that. I love Hawai'i."

"You're loving the good-lookin' women and good food," Quinn commented.

"And like you're not?" Bowie countered.

Quinn grinned. "I didn't say that."

Flint finished his beer. "It's definitely a step up from the last place we were stationed. I could get used to this, no question."

Carter took a sip of his beer and thought of Mia. He could get used to things here, too, but maybe that wasn't a good thing. "So, what do we do?" he asked.

"Just what the man says," Quinn replied. "We continue the testing and enjoy Hawai'i. God only knows where we'll get sent after this. We might as well enjoy being here while we can."

"I'll drink to that," Flint agreed. "Carter, get me another beer."

Later that evening, after a rousing game of poker, his teammates left, and Carter couldn’t sleep. His mind kept circling around over what Castle had said. He was making progress but would it be enough? And if he didn’t find something to connect Fuller, then what would happen? Edward Fuller III had never been one of his favorite people, but before this Carter never would have thought the man could be crooked.

Suppose Castle could only bring down McCarthy, Hendrick, Jones, and Ferrero but couldn’t connect the dots to Fuller? Then what would happen to them? Would Fuller still send them overseas and get them killed somehow? Were there any scenarios where they could get McCarthy and his boys to flip on Fuller, or whoever pulled their strings? Fuller had a hell of a lot of power in the Navy. Be hard to take that on. He worried for his CO. Castle was risking his career to save Carter and the team. In the end, would it be enough? Would Castle be found out and would Fuller try to have the others kill him?

Carter scrubbed a fist over his chest. This wasn’t helping him. He needed to let it go. At the moment, he was powerless. The helpless feeling roused memories of his dad’s death. There was nothing he could do to save his father as the man died right in front of him. He’d had a widow-maker heart attack and even though Carter had done CPR, there was no way he could bring his father back. Feeling helpless always brought back that memory and it haunted him. He needed to find something here in Hawai’i to amuse him. Something to keep him busy and stop the constant cycle of futile thinking.

He deliberately turned his thoughts away from his father and turned them to Mia. That was a situation he might be able to sink his teeth into. He’d like to sink his teeth into Mia but thinking like that wasn’t helpful either. He’d just end up with blue balls. The stunning woman was in trouble and it had something to do with gambling, which was illegal in Hawai’i. If only she’d open up to him. He might be able to help or at least protect her. That guy Bobby was bad news, and he didn’t need any kind of background intel to know it.

He thought about the license plate on the van. Maybe he’d ask Hawk tomorrow to run it. Also, he would pick the guy’s brain about Bobby whatever his name was and illegal gambling here on the Big Island. If Mia refused to trust him, he could come at the problem from the other direction. If he could figure out Bobby, then maybe he could stop him before Mia got involved more deeply.

With that decided, Carter rolled over and started the breathing exercise the military had taught him to get to sleep in less-than-ideal conditions. He might not be able to do anything about the situation with McCarthy and his boys but maybe, just maybe, he could help Mia. And that would make all the difference in the world to him.