Page 89 of Breached

Mia spoke up. “I have a question.” I noticed she had spent most of the talk with her head down. “Since you mentioned the gray area, I’m going to step into it, for a moment. What’s going to happen to my father?”

I went still, as General Bruce looked at her then at me in confusion. “I don’t understand.” He glanced at me again. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Nicole?” Mia questioned, her face concerned. “Do you know something about my father?”

“Well, I—" I looked at the general, and he smiled.

“Miss Winter called me and asked that Frank be released. She wanted all the charges dropped. I did as she asked, but I can’t stop the military from taking their own actions. As of now, he has been honorably discharged with a partial pension. If they decide not to move forward with charges, he’ll be free to live out the rest of his life without any repercussions for his actions.”

“What?” Mia’s voice nearly brought me to tears. She was so thankful. I knew she had been scared for his mental health. “You did that for my father, Nicole? After he tried to kill you?”

I pressed my lips together, gathering my own emotions. It had definitely been terrifying for me, but I loved these people like family, and Frank was their family. “I believe people deserve second chances. I think Frank wasn’t in his right mind when that all happened. He was confused and made a mistake. I know he doesn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life behind bars. I just hope the military can see that too.”

“I think the letter you wrote will have an impact,” General Bruce said quietly, but Mia still caught it.

As I struggled with my own emotions, I saw the tears stream down Mia’s face.

“Thank you, for that—I’m so sorry—but thank you, Nicole.”

“You’ve never had anything to be sorry for, Mia. You’ve been nothing but a friend.” She flung herself in Mark’s arms, and he nodded at me with glossy eyes as he hugged his wife.

“Well, now,” General Bruce exclaimed, “I’m certainly getting some good insight into all of you. Let’s lighten the conversation and enjoy this lovely meal.”

We fell into a lighter conversation after that. The general had a lot of questions about the decoy safehouse the teams had used on Bruno and his men. He was extremely impressed with the location of it and how it was so similar to Shadows.

Cole explained how Daniel and his grandfather had envisioned the day that someone might come and try to shut it down. They came up with a plan to build a decoy house and made sure it was on the other side of the mountain range from the real one. That way, explosives wouldn’t damage Shadows, its power grid, or waterlines. He also talked about the weaknesses the battle had shown Blackstone and the upgrades they’d need to do to improve things for the next generation in case something like that ever happened again.

I leaned into Paul. “Savannah mentioned that Shadows is privately funded,” I said mischievously. “So, are you going to tell me who funds all this?” He grinned and mimed zipping his lips. “So, you’re not going to answer me?”

“No.”

“Do you even know who funds it?”

“I do.”

“But you won’t share.”

He shook his head. “NDA.”

“Fair.” I laughed and let it go.

After dinner, everyone got up and began to socialize. Savi, Sloane, and Cat all gathered around Mia, and Mike and John went over to Paul and started a conversation. I slipped out to the kitchen. I wasn’t quite ready to talk to everyone yet. I got a coffee and decided to go outside for a breather. General Bruce must have seen me leave and joined me.

“Miss Winter, may I have a word with you?”

“Of course.” I sipped my coffee and welcomed the warmth of it, as spring in Montana was still chilly.

He crossed his arms and leaned into the railing. Even without his uniform, he screamed military, or maybe police. He was in his late fifties with a crew cut and a strong jaw line. “That was impressive, you trying to take the heat off the teams like that.” I looked away, not willing to get into it again. “It’s okay. I admire what you did, and truthfully, looking back, I really didn’t give you a fair exit when I let you go.”

“When you fired me,” I corrected him.

“Yes.” He smiled at my sass. “Bottom line, you’ve been compromised, but given the effect that all this will have on the Cartel families, I think it’s probably an acceptable risk to put you back in the field.”

“Actually, I don’t want back in the field. I want to be here.” I still couldn’t believe what I was saying, but I knew it was what I wanted. My life was here, but more importantly, my heart was here. “I’d like to be able to travel to Mexico for assignments one day, maybe with the guys, but not full-time. I love my life here, and honestly, I need my life here, but I also need a purpose.”

“I understand that.” He nodded in agreement as if he felt the same way.

“It felt good when I talked with the reporters and the Post about what was in the wind about the attacks on the cartels and tunnels. I felt useful. I loved that we helped the locals get out before anything went down. That’s what I want to be a part of. All these things need to be documented properly. It’s why I love the job. Can you give me that?”