Page 92 of Over the Top

Chas set Poppy down and she took off like a shot with Gunner right behind her, heading for the elaborate planters filled with tropical foliage and flowers that lined the arrival walkway at Honolulu International Airport.

Chas watched listlessly as Gunner scooped up Poppy and blew raspberries on her tummy until she squealed with laughter. God, they were good together. He would have loved to raise a family with Gunner. The two of them were just different enough that between them, they would have made an excellent set of parents.

Chas turned to Drago. “And you’re sure the DNA match was positive? Kenji Tanaka is definitely her father?”

“One hundred percent positive.” Drago added low, “Sorry, dude. I know how close you and Gun have gotten to her.”

“I’m sure Tanaka will let you visit her from time to time, if you’d like to,” Spencer said from Drago’s other side. “After all, he owes her life to you, Chas. You saved her from the Oshiros that night in Misty Falls.”

If he was a hero, he didn’t feel much like one. He felt as if the past few weeks had ripped his guts out, thrown them on the ground, and stomped around on them until they were bloody mush.

They climbed into the big SUV Spencer had rented, and Chas put a deeply—and loudly—annoyed Poppy into her car seat one more time while the guys loaded bag after bag of military gear into the back of the vehicle. He crawled in beside the screaming toddler and pulled out her blue stuffed elephant to waggle it in front of her.

“Mr. Elephant is sad when Poppy screams like a baby. She’s a big girl now. Can she tell me how old she is?”

Gradually, he calmed the tantrum with his one-man puppet show. They drove for a while, heading inland on narrow winding roads through lush tropical jungle. They pulled into a gated drive, and Drago, who was driving, punched in a code on the security pad. Then they wound a long way back through more jungle.

Eventually a clearing came into sight, with a wooden chalet-style house surrounded by huge covered porches in the middle of it.

“Home sweet home,” Spencer announced.

“How’d you know about this place?” Gunner asked from Poppy’s other side.

“Borrowed it from a friend a few years back for R and R after a long deployment,” Spencer answered. “I called and asked him if he’d mind if we shacked up here for a few days while the handoff gets made.”

“How’s this handoff going to work?” Chas asked without any enthusiasm.

“Tanaka’s flying to Hawaii, and his security team is going to make sure the Oshiros haven’t followed him. When he knows he’s in the clear, he’s going to come here, collect Poppy, and then go home to Japan. Pretty straightforward, actually.”

Chas closed his eyes for a moment. He was not going to indulge in some huge drama fit in front of these hard, controlled men who wouldn’t know a real emotion if it bit them in the ass.

They unloaded the car and left him to explore the house with Poppy, and predictably, they disappeared into the woods to reconnoiter and do their whole SEAL paranoia thing. The house was authentically decorated with lots of rustic wood furniture, high ceilings, rattan ceiling fans, and glass doors everywhere that opened up to let the warm breezes flow through. It would have been insanely relaxing were it not for the fact that in the next few days, he would lose Poppy forever.

He knew she’d never been his, but dang, he’d come to love the little squirt. Even now, when she was exhausted and fussy, her natural cheer and good nature shone through.

He plopped her into the bathtub for a nice warm bath and then stretched out on a bed with her for a nap. Predictably, she crashed immediately. He, however, was not so lucky.

This whole bizarre adventure was almost over. In a few days he would fly back to Misty Falls, resume teaching, start repairing his shot-up house, and pretend to put his life back together. Thing was, he was never going to get it back together, not really. Not after Gunner.

GUNNER FOLLOWEDDrago into the house. Spencer had volunteered to take the first watch outside. He went hunting and found Chas and Poppy curled up together on a bed, so cozy it hurt to look at them. He made a memory of this moment to hold in his heart for all time, but it tasted bitter knowing that memories were all he would ever have.

How had it gone so bad, so damned fast?

Drago poked his head in the door. “Get some sleep, dude. You’ve got the late shift tonight, and with jet lag, it’s gonna be a bitch.”

At least traveling west meant his body clock thought it was five hours earlier than local time. But he knew from long experience that any major time shift took a toll. Gunner backed out of the room, leaving Chas and Poppy to sleep undisturbed, and went into another room down the hall to nap alone. It sucked, pure and simple.

Welcome to your future, man. Sleeping alone with buckets full of regrets.

His dreams were of Chas.

He woke up feeling worse than before he’d gone to sleep.

At midnight, he geared up and headed outside to relieve Drago. “How’s it looking?” he asked the former CIA man.

“All quiet. I went exploring outside the fence, and just over that ridge”—he pointed at the big one south of the lawn—“there’s a dirt road. Could pose a bit of a security problem.”

“How thick is the jungle up that way?” Gunner asked quickly.

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