Page 8 of Hayes
“Does that include me?” said the big, deep voice at the door. They all turned, smiling and shaking their heads at Hayes.
“I’ll be damned,” laughed Eric. “What the hell has the Navy done to you?” They all hugged him, welcoming him home.
“To answer your question, it’s not just the Navy. I’m a SEAL now,” he grinned.
“Are you fucking kidding?” smirked Luke. “Why wouldn’t you tell us that? Why didn’t you call us and ask for help?”
“No, sir. I wanted to do this on my own. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Your training when I was here got me there. I’m still part of intelligence but through the SEAL teams.”
“Why are you home?” asked Hex.
“I had leave coming, and I wanted to see Victoria. I know she’s been nervous about me not communicating with her. I’ll be home for a few weeks, then gone again for a while.”
“Well, as long as you’re here, any thoughts on why someone would want to kill Stephanie?” asked Brax.
“She’s the girl who was the clone, right? Victoria told me. I never met her, but I can only imagine that it has everything to do with the fact that she is a clone. I mean, that alone makes her more unique than the rest of us. We’re all geniuses, but she’s a genius clone. Can you imagine if someone figured that out and wanted to make dozens like her?”
“Fuck me,” muttered Luke. Luke tapped a message to Riley and Suzette, asking them to come to the offices. It was only Riley who was able to come down.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.
“Thank you for coming, Riley. Can you explain the cloning process to us?” She stared at them, then burst into laughter.
“On that note,” smirked Hayes, “I’ll go see the love of my life.”
Hayes found Victoria in the little workspace where she was able to hide from the world whenever she wanted. She was so incredibly beautiful, and yet she still looked like a child in many ways.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
“Hayes!” She jumped up, leaping into his arms. He loved the way she felt in his arms, the way their bodies connected and molded together.
“How long are you home for?” she asked.
“For the wedding at least,” he smiled. “I hope to be home for a longer period of time, but we’ll see.”
All his grand plans of convincing her to come with him were dashed over and over again. While trying to speak with her rationally once again, she began crying and pushing away from him. In the distance, he saw Stephanie and Brax walking toward them.
“Hi,” said Stephanie. “I’ve been looking for you. Will you walk with me to the cafeteria, Victoria? I need to ask you some questions.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure. I don’t have all the translations done yet,” she said, wiping her tears. Brax waited until they walked off and then looked at Hayes.
“It’s not what you think,” said the younger man.
“What is it you think I think?”
“I wasn’t going to hit her.”
“Fucking right you weren’t, but it damn sure looked like you were angry enough to do it.”
“I wasn’t. I swear. It’s her obsession with not leaving the property. I mean, she’ll do short little trips into the city if Angel, Miller, or Trak are with her, but that’s all.”
“She’ll get there, Hayes.”
Brax was angry at the young man. He could tell that his emotions were overruling his common sense and worried that he might lash out at Victoria in an act he would regret.
“I want to get married and have her living with me off-base,” he frowned.
“Why?”
