Page 81 of Brawler
Brawler ignored his comment, wishing desperately that Flash was here. He would have cut the tension in the room. So, yes, he remembered her dissertation topic. He remembered everything when it came to his pixie. Emily and her dissertation were as valid as their mission to protect the innocent. “She’s gutsy, smart as hell, and she did things I didn’t expect from a civilian.” She’d turned him upside down, and he was never going to be the same. “She handed over all her research to us withoutany coercion. Everything, ma’am, effectively hampering, if not outright destroying, her chances of receiving her doctorate.”
Tex didn’t blink, his Texas twang hardening. “Yet she was dragged off the runway like a suspect. Held in silence. Threatened. That’s not procedure. That’s a disgrace.”
Brawler’s chest heaved. The words ripped out of him, raw. “She saved my life, at considerable risk to her own. Hauled me back from a fatal drop with nothing but a root, her five-foot-three, ninety-pound body, and her ingenuity.” His voice was rough, stripped to the bone. “You need to understand that. She wasn’t some liability we carried. She was part of the team. Shechoseto be part of us.”
“She saved six Marines,” Shark said.
“She provided the data that led us to American weapons before they could vanish into the wrong hands,” Twister said.
“She stood up for us when the Ecuadorian military showed up, her explanation saving not only our asses out there, but an international incident that would have caused a political shitstorm and considerable embarrassment to our government,” Dagger said.
“When our teammate was down, she stood over him to protect him with nothing but a knife against a camp of armed men,” Bondo said.
“Without her, people would be dead. Without her, you’d be dealing with more than a SEAL Team and an ambassador and his daughter,” Brawler finished.
Eleanor’s frown deepened, the weight of his words pulling at her composure.
The temperature in the room plummeted. Kevin went sheet-white.
McPherson’s gaze landed on Kevin, cold and cutting. “So, you see, Mr. Hall. Not everything is black-and-white protocol. Not everything can be reduced to a checklist or a signed form.Sometimes, the measure of a citizen’s worth is in what she gives up for this country.” Kevin’s lips parted, but McPherson’s voice rolled over him like artillery. “Emily Shade saved Washington the embarrassment of an international incident. All she was due was a bit of respect.” His hand clenched once at his side, the only tell of the grief he still carried. His eyes bored into Kevin, unrelenting. “She’s not a liability. She’s a goddamned hero. You—” His lip curled, contempt raw. “You are a self-important idiot who couldn’t read the alphabet, let alone recognize the importance of a single American citizen willing to stand up for her country.”
Tex’s chest expanded, pride and fury still simmering. Brawler’s fists slowly uncurled, the raw edge of his rage tempered by the senator’s thunder.
Eleanor’s gaze locked onto Kevin, and her expression stripped of every trace of neutrality.
Kevin swallowed, visibly shrinking. For the first time, he realized just how deep a hole he’d dug. “I-I didn’t know.”
“You probably never thought to ask.” The silence hung like smoke after McPherson’s words.
“Get Ron Hanson in here. Now,” she said.
Kevin blinked, stammering. “Ma’am, I?—”
“Now.” Her tone cracked like a whip.
Kevin fumbled for his phone, his face ashen. When he managed a call, his voice shook, words tripping over themselves as he summoned legal counsel.
Minutes later, Ron Hanson appeared in the doorway, tall, composed, glasses perched low on his nose, a slim brief tucked under one arm. He stopped short when he saw the tableau. SEALs lined like an iron wall, Senator McPherson radiating judgment, Eleanor poised behind her desk, and Kevin sweating bullets.
“Madam Secretary?” Ron asked carefully.
Eleanor’s voice was cool, precise. “One of my aides threatened a civilian with treason after she risked her life to protect this nation. He compounded his mistake by dismissing the testimony of my operators, insulting an ambassador’s daughter, and ignoring the weight of a US Senator.” She turned her gaze back to Kevin, ice in her eyes. “We will talk later, Kevin.”
Kevin’s throat worked, but no sound came. His clipboard slipped from his fingers, papers scattering across the carpet like ash.
She inclined her head toward Ron. “In the meantime, Ron, I’ll need NDAs drafted for a grad student’s committee, Emily Shade, so she can defend her dissertation. I want it on my desk within the hour.”
Ron adjusted his glasses, already pulling out his phone. “Yes, ma’am.”
The room shifted, the weight of decision slamming down like a gavel. Brawler and his brothers didn’t move, but satisfaction rippled through them like a silent current. He finally let out a breath, his voice low but absolute. “About damn time.”
Ron was already thumbing his phone, speaking in clipped, efficient tones as he began arranging what the secretary demanded. Eleanor leaned back against her desk, satisfied, her sharp gaze lingering on the team like she’d just unleashed them in the right direction.
That was when Brawler stepped forward. His massive frame filled the space, and for the first time since entering the room, his voice cut through, rough and absolute.
“There’s one more thing.” All eyes turned to him. “I need an address.”
Silence pressed down, thick and heavy. Eleanor’s brows lifted slightly, but she didn’t ask who. She didn’t need to. Every man in the room knew exactly who Brawler meant.
