Dominant Deception [Black Ops Brotherhood 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

“Get what you need?” Captain O’Malley asked Markie.

“Not unless you’re coming back,
Captain
.” Markie smiled as she winked at Anna.

“As for the orders, you’re all set. Just pick them up at travel,” Markie said to Anna.

Anna smiled in return, saying nothing. Captain O’Malley started to steer Anna from the office. As they were leaving he turned around.

“I’ll be back, Markie,” Captain O’Malley said over his shoulder.

Anna looked at Captain O’Malley in shock.

“Great job, Anna. You’ve been key in getting us a leg up on these guys,” Captain O’Malley complimented.

“Thank you, sir.”

“The admiral said he offered you a job here. How do you feel about that?” Captain O’Malley asked.

“I’m thinking about it, sir.”

“Really? Would you move here?”

“I’m thinking about it. I guess I need more details, Captain.”

“Okay. You’ll need to stick with me for a while in San Antonio. Until we have this one cleaned up.”

“That would be okay. It would give me some time to get some things organized.”

* * * *

Jack was surprised. He wasn’t sure how to take what she was saying. Anna seemed okay with cutting ties in San Antonio. His memory reached back to the flight when they had been talking. What
had
happened? He’d been so involved in working he hadn’t called Mac and now that call was overdue. He escorted her back to Combat Systems and told her to find out how that macro was different than the original. As soon as he was out the door, he was on a call to Mac.

“Howdy, boss, how’s Cali?”

“Talk to me about Anna Santiago. Why would she be okay with moving here?” Jack asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Give me her recent history. What’s happened over the last ten years?”

“Okay.” Mac hesitated.

Jack could hear typing in the background.

“She was married to one Marc Santiago, an attorney, who later became a state district attorney for the State of Texas. She was married for seventeen years. They had one child, a girl, Alyssa Maria. During that time Anna was the executive chef at the Rancho Viejo Resort down near Brownsville. That gig lasted for about eight years. While she was there, she invested in a catering company, which she still owns. She was on the cover of
Texas Monthly
about seven years ago. About that time her father died. She quit the resort and started working at the catering company,” Mac said.

“What happened to the husband and kid? Where are they?”

“I’m getting there, boss. Hold your horses.”

“Husband and kid were killed in a head-on collision about five years ago. She moved back to San Antonio and according to this got her a couple of computer certifications and applied for a GS-0200-07 training position and got her GS-09 last year. She’s been working civil service for about three years now. She started at Lackland and moved to Randolph last year when she got her nine. She just bought a house in April in Seguin, Texas,” Mac informed.

“Seguin? Where’s that?”

“Let’s see here. Just down the road on FM-78, about thirty miles east of here. Let me look up the address.” Mac paused. “It’s a house with a few acres and it’s out in the country. But she’s not living there right now. According to personnel she’s living in San Antonio.”

“She just bought a house she’s not living in?”

“Don’t sound right, huh?”

“Find out exactly what happened to the kid and husband. Look into this catering company, too. Take a drive out to the house. Tell me if anyone’s out there.”

“What’s the deal, Rock?”

“Call me back when you have my answers.” Jack ended the call.

Naval Special Warfare Command

Visiting Officer’s Quarters

Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, California

August
9, 2008/1358 Zulu

“That’s all?” Jack demanded.

“Yes, sir, Captain, that’s all I’ve got right now,” Mac replied

“And
you
took the drive out to that house? You didn’t send somebody else?”

“No, sir. I went myself and walked around and took a peek inside.”

“What about the catering company?”

“It’s legit. I can’t find anything dirty and the husband and kid were killed, just like I said, in a head-on collision. The drunk driver was killed as well. It was pretty bad, boss. The kid died on the operating table. She was twelve years old. The papers had a field day with it. It seems like her husband was a pretty important guy. Anna did get one hell of a settlement from the accident. The drunk driver was the mayor of Brownsville and pretty well connected from the looks of things. I can understand why she moved and why she ain’t got no problem doing it again.” Jack said nothing for a moment. “Boss?”

“I’m here, Mac. Keep digging. Make sure there’s nothing dirty there. Check her family in San Antonio and check into her late husband’s family as well. I need to cover myself on this one,” Jack said.

“Okay, Captain, but you’ll need to give me a little more time on that one. But for now, she’s clean.”

Jack ended the call with his command master chief and decided to spend some time with Anna tomorrow. He knew he needed to talk with her one-on-one to see if she would tell him anything. She had a tendency to be very reserved about herself and her life. He was thinking about how to proceed with Anna in order to glean more information when he found himself in front of her door. It suddenly occurred to him that he’d promised to spend today with JJ, his former chief. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on her door. The door swung open and Jack was speechless for a moment. She was wearing those damn jeans and T-shirt!

“Yes, Captain?” Anna asked.

“Hold on just a minute. I’ll be right back.” Jack left her standing at the door.

Jack raced downstairs to his own room. He picked up his phone charging by his bed and made a quick call.

“JJ? I can’t make it today. Something came up. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Jack said.

“Whatever, tadpole. You might not catch me tomorrow. I might be at church when you call.”

Jack snorted and laughed. “What church might that be? Saint McP’s? The altar of Irish whiskey? I’ll call you later.”

Jack hung up the phone and realized he’d left Anna standing in her doorway.
Dumbass
! She must’ve thought he’d lost his mind. He reached her room and knocked again. He waited.

“What’s up? What are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Sir?” Anna looked annoyed with the question. “I was reading a map of the base.”

“For?”

“I need to run some errands.”

Getting a straight answer from her always seemed to turn into an interrogation. He’d more success with al-Qaeda than he did when he talked to this woman.

“To do?” Jack asked.

“Uh, well I was planning on doing some laundry today and I need to find a Wal-Mart or Target,” Anna said tentatively.

“Well, I can get you there. How about we do that after the tour?”

“Tour? That wasn’t on the list
,
Captain.”

“A tour of San Diego. Surely there’re some places you’d like to see. There’s the Gaslamp Quarter, take a tour of the harbor, the fish market, La Jolla Beach, a winery, Old Town. There’s all kinds of museums in Balboa Park, if you’re into that sort of thing…” Jack trailed off.

“I appreciate the invitation, Captain. But it’s really not necessary. Just a trip to the store would be fine.”

“Okay, fine. We’ll talk about it on the way to the store.”

“Let me get my shoes on,” Anna said with resignation.

Jack stepped into her room without an invitation and watched Anna’s routine. The subtle smell of her perfume surrounded him as he watched her crisscross the room. He could get used to watching her, he thought to himself with some amusement.
Something is coming up all right
…

Jack had a lovely vision of Anna crossing the room and reaching for the jacket that hung on the back of the chair next to where he was standing. He would be blocking her reach. He visualized what he would make her do for that jacket.

Jack recalled the collision they had in the passageway back in the building they shared. How she felt, even if it was briefly, against him. He didn’t realize how curvy she was then. Ever since, there had been a very powerful attraction, although he couldn’t explain why. Jack realized with some uneasiness he felt a connection to Anna. He found himself making any excuse he could to be around her.

Jack let his eyes wander down her body and smiled to himself. Anna had been really embarrassed when she ran into him that day. He recalled how she’d blushed when he put her phone back together and handed it to her. He would love to see that blush again.
Oh yeah
,
you’d pay for that jacket
. He quickly rebuked himself, almost physically shaking his head to clear the thought. She’d never shown him the slightest interest. She’d always been professional and rather standoffish, he observed. Jack was lost in thought when Anna spoke and hadn’t heard what she said to him.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Jack asked

“Would you please give me my jacket?” Anna asked as she picked up her bag.

Baby, I’d love to give it to you.
The snake in his head hissed. Jack lifted the soft material from the chair back and handed it to her. Damn it! Everything about her was soft or smelled good. This was would be a long day and taking one for the team would be painful.

As they left the post, he pulled onto Silver Strand Boulevard, which ran the length of Coronado. Jack saw that Anna was deep in thought as they crossed the harbor bridge into San Diego. He noticed she watched as the sights went past. She seemed distracted when they stopped at a red light.

“Captain?” Anna asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Can we stop?” Anna asked, pointing at historical old Harbor Town buildings.

“Sure, where do you want to go?”

“The farmer’s market inside that old village.”

“Farmer’s market? There’s a really big one in Old Town and I believe you’re in luck. It’s on Saturdays. I also think it’s near a Target.”

“Oh, okay.” Anna shrugged.

Jack drove on to catch I-5 or
the five
toward Old Town. He smiled slightly as he watched Anna grab hold of the armrest as they went up and down the steep hills.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked as he pulled into a particularly steep parking space.

“A little hilly here, isn’t it?” Anna asked as she opened the car door.

They walked to the area sectioned off for the farmer’s market. Jack could tell immediately Anna was in her element because she transformed. There were all sorts of foods, crafts, and fresh flowers. She strolled through the market confidently, walking through the rows of vendors. She took her time in evaluating the food, explaining to him what it could be used for, how to prepare it, even in a microwave.

Anna walked the rows of plants and flowers and taught him how to find the fresh flowers that would last and the flowers that would fade by the end of the day. She was a different person than the shy computer geek she liked to play. She was alive and Jack could see her almost sparkle in the bright California sun. He genuinely liked the person he was with.
This
was the woman he wanted to get to know. After a couple of hours strolling through the market, Jack convinced Anna to eat at a local restaurant in Old Town. They were seated outside in a beautiful veranda.

“Why aren’t you a chef?” Jack asked. Anna sighed and looked away. “Anna? Don’t shut me out please. You can trust me. I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m asking because you seem so much happier. Are you really happy playing around with computers?” he asked gently.

Anna took a deep breath and looked at him.

“I had to get away. I had to do something different. My daughter was killed five years ago in an accident.” Anna hesitated for a moment, and even though he couldn’t read her expression through the large sunglasses her pain was almost tangible. “It was awful, Captain.”

“Jack, and I’m sorry,” Jack said, correcting her softly.

“Sir?”

“Call me Jack, please. Even most of my guys call me by my name.” Anna said nothing. “I think you have enough professionalism to know when addressing me by my rank is appropriate.”

They were silent for a moment. Jack gave her some time to process what he was saying. He looked away for a moment.

“Why did you move to San Antonio?” Jack asked.

“I’m from San Antonio.”

“Really? So you could show me around, take
me
to see the sights?” Jack teased.

“Cap—”

“Yes, Ms. Santiago?” Jack asked sternly.

“
Jack
, I really don’t get out much.”