Page 86 of Protecting Maggie
Kevlar frowned. “I’m not so sure about this. I don’t trust the man as far as I can throw him.”
“Me either,” Maggie told him. “But I also don’t want tospend my life looking over my shoulder, wondering when he’ll strike. He could put drugs in any ofyourcars next. ‘Forget’ to order bullets to be packed on your next mission. Or worse, leak your location to the bad guys. I admit that being bait was pretty horrible back in Ukraine, but the end justified the means. I’m here, MacGyver’s here, and so is Shawn. I’ve felt helpless against him for so long. Please let me help take him down.”
“Fuck,” Blink muttered. “How can we argue against that?”
“If we do this,” Preacher said forcefully, “we need the agreement and assistance of NCIS. There’s no way we’re going to do anything that might end up not being admissible in court.”
“Agreed,” Kevlar said. “I’ll talk to the commander. He was going to contact NCIS anyway, so he can arrange for them to be part of the operation.”
“Thank you,” Maggie said softly to the group. “I can’t stand the thought of anyone else being caught up in his lies and accused of something they didn’t do.”
Preacher didn’t like this. Not at all. But he couldn’t think of anything else they could do to keep her safe, other than fleeing the country, which in the end would get her inmoretrouble, not less. But honestly, this was no longer just about her. Robertson was abusing his power and there was no telling what he’d do to other Navy personnel in the future. He needed to be stopped for the good of the institution, the country, and every man and woman who could be affected by his orders.
Never had Preacher heard of someone abusing their power as badly as Robertson was doing now. He knew exactly what he was doing when he’d sent their SEAL team to deliver those crates. They’d questioned the mission even before they’d discovered Maggie in one of the boxes. The man was unhinged, and clearly feeling utterly invincible if he thought he could get away with smuggling a person out of the country and leaving her to die in a war zone.
The group broke up not too long after the decision to let Maggie meet with Roman face-to-face. Preacher wanted to take her home, to hide her away, but she insisted on stopping at My Sister’s Closet to talk to Julie. That, in turn, led to Aces Bar and Grill for a late lunch. Jessyka, Caroline, and Alabama happened to be there, and somehow they ended up commandeering Maggie and telling Preacher to shoo, that they had women stuff to talk about.
Since Maggie seemed happy to talk to the women, he backed off. He kept her in his line of sight at all times, but slowly as the afternoon went on, he relaxed a little. No one would touch one hair on her head as long as he was there. She was…
Preacher couldn’t think of the best word to describe the woman he’d fallen head over heels for. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a partner. And he’d be damned if he’d lose her to some asshole who got off on wielding power over others.
It was around three-thirty when Maggie’s phone rang. Preacher had been staring at her, attempting to gauge where she was at mentally, when he saw her pull out herphone, the one Kevlar had brought over that morning with a change of clothes for her.
And he saw the instant all the blood drained from her face as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.
Adrenaline spiked within Preacher and he stood up so fast, his chair teetered on its back legs. He rushed over to the table, and he noticed that the other women were looking just as concerned. But all his attention was on Maggie.
“Yes, sir. I understand. I can explain everything. Uh-huh. Okay. Now? All right.” She looked at her watch. “I can be there in twenty minutes? Yes, sir. Bye.”
“What? Who was that? Where can you be in twenty minutes?” Preacher asked.
Maggie’s hands shook as she put her phone back into her purse. “That was someone from my PO’s office. They heard I took a trip out of the country, which is against the terms of my probation. He said I needed to come in immediately so she could assess what happened…and whether I would be going back to prison.”
“That’s bullshit!”
“No, that’s not fair! You didn’twantto leave the country!”
“I’m calling Tex. He’ll straighten this out.”
Preacher blocked out the other women. It wasn’t as if he didn’t share their outrage. He did. But he was more concerned about the freaked-out expression on Maggie’s face. He pulled a chair over from a nearby table and sat,then took Maggie’s face in his hands. “Look at me,” he ordered.
Her gaze immediately found his.
“We’re going to straighten this out.”
“I can’t go back there,” she whispered in anguish. “I just can’t!”
“You won’t.”
“Damn straight she won’t,” Caroline said as she scrolled on her phone. “Tex will make sure of it.” She hit a button, brought the phone to her ear, then pushed her chair back and stood, stalking over to a quieter corner of the bar.
Tears fell from Maggie’s eyes, and each one tore at Preacher’s heart. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
“Do?” she questioned with a frown.
“Do we head to Mexico? Wait and meet with your PO tomorrow, after we make arrangements to bring the commander and a lawyer with us? Or the pilot of the chopper who was there when that damn crate you were in burst open after landing on the ground? Whatever you want to do, I’ll make happen.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “You’d go to Mexico with me?” she asked softly.
