“We suspected that much,” I said, earning a sharp glare from the admiral, like I wasn’t permitted to speak or be a part of this conversation any more than being the “teammate.”
“How do you know?” Quincy asked.
“I looked into Ford Ledger’s dismissal. Pulled his file. Asked to see the evidence of his failed drug test.” He frowned. “There wasn’t any.”
“I told you th–”
The admiral held up a hand to cut Quincy off, and I narrowed my eyes. Total dick move.
“A few days later, I get a call.” He paused, I presumed for dramatic effect. Yeah, he was leading this show.
“And?” Quincy prodded.
He looked to her. “It came from Admiral Williams.”
Ice cold washed over my arms at the name. Williams had given the orders for a number of our missions in Afghanistan. He’d been our commanding admiral. Lincoln, our buddy on the inside of the SEAL teams here in San Diego and was a mere captain in comparison, answered to him then. Still did.
I ground my molars waiting for the rest of the story because this was bad fucking news.
“Williams asked what my interest in Ford’s case was. I explained that my daughter was working for him now, so I wanted to make sure the guy was safe.”
“And?” Quincy prompted him again.
The admiral set his forearms on the desk and folded his hands together. “And he painted a picture of an officer who had long-term, ongoing drug problems. One who would lie and cheat and break rules. Williams said they’d thought Ford Ledger was involved with the drug trafficking incident with Buck, but now it appears he was working with this guy Tully, who he conveniently pushed off a cliff in Montana.”
A murderous rage simmered in my blood as I realized the implications of the admiral’s words. Admiral Williams and Lincoln had been supporters of Ford, even after his discharge. Or so we’d thought. So if Williams fed Quincy’s dad this story, that meant…
He was at the top of the corrupt chain. It didn’t go any higher up than him. But did it trickle down to Lincoln?
“Interesting that a man who thought so little of him would’ve thrown his security company so many jobs after he left, don’t you think?” I asked tightly. Lincoln, presumably under the agreement of Williams, had consistently sent work our way since Ford formed Alpha Mountain Security. Was he doing it to hide his involvement? Or to absolve his guilt?
I didn’t know Williams. Hadn’t even met the man. Lincoln, though, was the leader we looked up to. Reported to. He was on our side. Our rep when it came to dealing with shit like this.
But was he?
Holy fuck. Had we been looking so far away that we never even noticed the corruption right in front of us?
The admiral arched a brow at me. “I found it suspicious, to say the least.” He dropped his hands onto the desk with a heavy thud. “I don’t like it, Melissa. Now that I rattled this cage, it can’t be unrattled. Ford and the rest of you” –he looked between the two of us– “just became untidy loose ends. Whatever goodwill that kept your boss from getting killed along with Buck probably just expired.” He directed his gaze at Melissa. “I want you out of that outfit, right now.”
“No.” She bit out the word before I even had a chance to take a breath. “I stand with my team. We intend to clear Ford’s name. That’s been our main mission all along. We knew sometime, somewhere, things would get stirred up. Sounds like you did it. We’ll take it from here, even if it means bringing down your buddy.”
His buddy, an admiral, who might be the head of this whole fucking mess? How had we not seen any involvement from him before? Oh yeah, because his details and actions were highly classified, or he had some underling working for him who ensured he stayed squeaky clean. Probably both.
But was it Lincoln? The idea of such a backstabbing made my gut churn.
“My buddy?” he sputtered. “Melissa, that’s not what this is about! This is about your goddamn safety. Your life is in danger right now! All I did was toss out a scrap about Ford Ledger to make sure I knew you were safe, and now you’re not.”
Even though I knew the admiral was right and even though Quincy’s safety was of the utmost importance to me, too, I couldn’t take his side. Sure, I wanted to tie her to my bed back at the compound, so she couldn’t go on any missions and get even the slightest hangnail. But I couldn’t do that. I’d be just like her dad, and I wasn’t that. Not when I knew how much being sidelined meant to Quincy.
“And my safety will be ensured by us taking down the entire corrupt network.” Quincy sat back, slapping her palms on her thighs. “Did you have any other intel for us?”
The admiral pushed back his chair and stood. The action was intentional and probably ingrained from decades in the service. “I mean it, Melissa, I want you out–”
“Thank you for your help.” She stood, and I followed suit, not letting him have the least bit of advantage.
“I forbid you to–”
“You’re not in charge of me, Admiral,” Quincy snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you want me safe, keep rattling cages on your end until we have the proof we need to put an end to this. A good man was murdered and framed. Another good man had his career destroyed over this. Good soldiers. We owe it to them to make it right. And we owe it to the fuckers who are doing this to put them down. I’m part of a team that’s going to do this. I’m good at what I do, Dad. I’ll get these SEALs in and out safely. They do the hard work.”