Dangerous Pursuit (OSI Dark Ops #3)

EPILOGUE

Lucas sat on the front porch of Calliope’s childhood home, his head back against the headrest of the rocking chair. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds coming from the swamp. Her granddad called it nature’s symphony, and he’d been right.

After the mess with Triano was taken care of, he’d let Calliope know she was it for him and that he had already accepted Jonathan and Beck’s offer to work with the Dark Ops team. She’d been shocked but fortunately was thrilled about the idea of them being closer to each other and working together. Her excitement was aided by the fact she knew he trusted her implicitly.

They’d returned to Palomino together, and she’d helped him close up his business, pack his belongings, and get everything shipped to Virginia. Burke used his influence to have his helo shipped to Marine Corps Air Station Quantico via military air transport. It was now safely locked away in a hangar at the Dark Ops facility .

They’d said their goodbyes to Felix, and as they flew away from Palomino, Calliope held Lucas’s hand tight, understanding how bittersweet the moment was.

More sweet than bitter.

Lucas considered himself to be a very lucky guy. After all, how many men were gifted with such an incredibly deep love twice in their life?

“Hey, you.” Calliope pushed the screen door open with a loud screech. It slapped shut as she walked over to him, and she settled her sweet ass on his lap. “What ya doin’ out here?”

She snuggled against his chest, her head beneath his chin.

God, he loved this mighty little woman.

“Just enjoying the evening.” Laughter from inside spilled out onto the porch.

“Nancy is kicking their butts at Monopoly.” She giggled. “She owns half of the hotels and is taking all of their money.”

“I know you’re happy she and your dad are figuring things out.” He lifted her ponytail and slid his hand down the smooth strands.

“Heck, yeah.” She levered herself up and looked at him. “Took ’em long enough.” She settled back against him. “I love them together.”

Nancy and Doc had treated Gabriel’s wound and stitched him back up. After that, Nancy was out at their place pretty much every day, making sure he behaved and took it easy.

“I love you.” He kissed the top of her head.

“I love you, too.” Her voice vibrated against him, and she yawned. “I’m so glad we could squeeze out some time to come down here.”

“Me, too.” He started gently rocking the chair.

Dark Ops had been working pretty much nonstop the past four months. Unfortunately, the human trafficking industry continued to grow at a rapid rate, so the team never ran out of scumbags to deal with.

Hawk and Remy had been very busy, tracking down electronic storage devises and putting bad guys behind bars. He had taken a keen interest in a possible case involving Charlotte Cavanaugh, the victim advocate who often worked with OSI.

Scuttlebutt was, Charlotte came across some extremely damning information about some very powerful people. Which people and what damning information, they had no idea. She was too terrified to come forward. Hawk believed someone had gotten to her and threatened her.

An interesting thing happened to her normally quiet, introspective teammate, who wasn’t big on showing much emotion. He’d been visibly pissed at the thought of someone targeting Charlotte and had made it his personal mission to watch over her … from afar .

“Callie Girl, you got a phone call.” Her granddad stepped out onto the porch and handed her the cordless house phone. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks, Granddad.” Calliope put the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Hi, is this Calliope Daniels?” The caller had a deep male voice she didn’t recognize.

“It is. Who’s this?” She pressed her lips to Lucas’s warm forehead.

“I’m Boone Langston.” There was a beat of silence. “Your brother.”

Calliope slowly lifted her lips from Lucas’s skin.

“Excuse me, what did you say?” She levered away from Lucas and sat up.

Lucas went on alert and watched her with a look of concern mixed with suspicion.

“I’m your brother.”

She heard the words, but her brain sort of misfired.

“But …” Her mouth opened and closed, and she couldn’t seem to form a rational thought.

His next statement didn’t lessen her state of shock .

“Claire Johnson Daniels was my biological mother.” His tone was apologetic. “I’m sorry. I know this is totally out of left field.”

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did you say your name is Boone Langston, and that you’re my brother?” She wedged the phone between her shoulder and ear, looked at Lucas, and made a typing motion with her fingers.

“Yeah,” he said. “Please feel free to run a background check on me.”

Count on it.

Lucas stood, set her on her feet, and rushed into the house to grab his cell phone from the charger.

“How old are you, Boone?” Had her mom been cheating on her dad?

“I’ll be twenty-seven in two months,” he said.

Two years younger than Calliope. At least she didn’t have to burden her dad with the knowledge that his wife not only ran out on him and his young child but that she’d been sleeping around, too. That was something, anyway.

“Claire was working as a cocktail waitress at a place in Vegas when she got pregnant with me.” His voice became more confident as he launched into his story. “She gave me up for adoption when I was born, then took off. I don’t even think she told the guy who got her pregnant.” His voice held no animosity. “Anyway, my adoptive parents were amazing, and I never had much interest in tracking her down. But then, thirteen months ago, they were killed by a drunk driver, and, I don’t know, something compelled me to find out about my birth parents. That’s when I discovered I have an older sister—you.”

“Holy crap.” She rubbed her forehead.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” he said.

Understatement much?

“Look, I don’t know how you feel about it, but I was hoping we could meet in person.” He quickly added, “We can do it however you want, and you can bring as many people as you want. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

Lucas came back out, his phone to his ear, and looked at her.

“Boone, can you hang on for just a sec?”

“Sure.”

There was an audible beep when she pressed the mute button.

“Sammy did a quick, cursory check on him. He’s Air Force Special Reconnaissance. I transported a few of those guys, and they’re a solid bunch, total badasses.” He held up one finger and listened to something Sammy was telling him. “Thanks, Sammy.” He ended the call and pocketed his cell phone. “Langston is currently on leave after being in Syria for eight months.”

“He wants to meet with me.” Calliope’s curiosity was powerful, but she wanted his opinion. “What do you think? ”

“Do you want to meet him?” he asked.

“I think I do.” She bit her bottom lip.

“Then go for it.” He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. “But I’m going with you.”

“Of course, I want you to.” She took the phone off mute. “Boone, sorry for making you wait. Yes, I’d like to meet with you, too.”

“That’s great.” He sounded genuinely happy.

“So, um, do you know anything about Claire?” Calliope wasn’t interested in having a relationship with the woman, but she’d always secretly wondered what happened to her after she ditched them.

“I hired a private detective to track her down. From what he was able to piece together, it looks like she left Florida and took a bus to Vegas. She worked at a couple different casinos as a cocktail waitress, which is where she met the loser who would be my biological father. They were together about six months before he ended up in prison for knifing a guy.” That certainly didn’t sound like a better life than what Claire could’ve had with her dad. “She found out she was pregnant, stuck around Vegas until I was born, handed me over to the couple who adopted me, then took off for Atlantic City with some other guy.” Taking off seemed to be Claire’s specialty. “She broke things off with him—apparently, Claire got bored easily—then she went back to Florida, where she worked at a casino in Miami. ”

As he told her about Claire’s life, Calliope tried to figure out how she felt.

“So, she’s in Miami now?” That was only a couple of hours from their house. Not that Calliope had any interest in seeing her.

“No, she died of melanoma three years ago.” His tone softened, likely unsure how she would take that news.

How did she feel?

Calliope rolled his words and their meaning around in her head, but it was as if she was watching television or reading about a stranger’s death in the newspaper. It was unfortunate that someone died, but it didn’t seem to touch her heart the way a mother’s death should affect her daughter.

“Are you okay, Calliope?” Boone asked.

She thought about it for a moment.

“Yeah, actually, I am.” Because Claire was a stranger.

They spent a few more minutes talking, sharing little details about themselves. They discovered that neither one of them could stand cilantro.

“It tastes like soap!” she declared.

Calliope told him about where and how she was raised and that she lived in Virginia now. She told him she was in a serious relationship; he shared that he’d just gone through a breakup but didn’t share any details. The disgust in his tone implied it hadn’t been pretty .

“I was born in Vegas, but I grew up in a small town in northwestern Indiana.”

He was an only child—just like her—and he was six-three. Totally unlike her.

He’d gotten his height from the bouncer who got their mom pregnant. She’d gotten her lack of height from their petite mom.

No, Claire was not their mom—she was their birth mother . Huge difference.

“How did your PI figure out who your birth father is?” Calliope asked.

“It wasn’t that difficult. He was a convicted felon, so his DNA was on file.” He seemed pretty easygoing talking about it, but you could never really tell over the phone. “I’m going to be in DC in about three weeks. Maybe we can meet then.”

“I’ll have to get back to you, if that’s all right.” She gave him her cell number. “Why don’t you text me the dates you’ll be in DC, and we’ll figure out a date and time.”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with, Calliope.” She appreciated that he wasn’t pushing her, that he was letting her take the lead. “I spent my entire childhood wishing for a brother or sister. Now that I have one, I can wait a little bit longer.”

A rush of feelings flooded Calliope because she’d often prayed for a sibling. Someone to play with, to confide in, and to share her hopes and dreams with. She wasn’t sure what kind of relationship she would or could have with Boone— my brother —but she was excited to find out.

“It was awesome chatting with you, Calliope,” Boone said. “And I look forward to meeting you in person.”

“You, too. Bye.” She ended the call and blew out a long breath.

Lucas scooped her up and sat back down in the chair with Calliope in his lap.

“You okay?” He smoothed his hand up and down her thigh.

“Yeah, I guess.” She draped her arm over his shoulder.

Man, her life had just gotten so much weirder.

“I’m happy for you, Sunshine, but you know Sammy needs to do a deep dive into him, right?” Lucas bringing the reality check.

“Yeah, I know.” She had a gut feeling the guy was legit, but she understood the need to make sure.

“We’re about to make some margaritas.” Her dad spoke through the screen. “You two want to join us?”

“Sounds great,” Lucas said.

“I’ll never turn down one of Nancy’s amazing margaritas.” Calliope scrambled off Lucas’s lap. “We’ll be in in a minute.”

“Great, I’ll have Nancy whip up a double batch.” He turned and disappeared into the house .

“I don’t want to tell my dad or granddad about Boone just yet.” She set her hand on Lucas’s chest. “Maybe after I meet him and check him out.”

“I’ll support you in whatever you decide, Sunshine.” He looped his arms loosely around her and cupped a butt cheek in each of his big hands.

“I’m so glad you’re in my life.” She stood on her tiptoes and circled her arms around his neck. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Sunshine.” He kissed her, tightened his hold on her butt, and picked her up.

Calliope wrapped her legs around the man she loved and kissed him back as he walked her inside where her amazing family waited for them.

Killer margaritas, an amazing family, a man she loved and who loved her back, and now, a brother she never knew she had.

Life didn’t get much better than that.

Thank you for reading Dangerous Pursuit!