Page 88 of Inevitable
It was barely daylight.
I’d carried a sleeping Emma back to her bed a short time ago as promised and had decided to work for a while.
The majority of Nick’s enemies had been apprehended, but we both knew there was one more that needed to be caught. There was someone higher up that had to be discovered, and I’d find that bastard eventually.
“I was,” I said cautiously as my daughter flopped onto the couch in her pajamas.
I’d promised myself that I’d never lie to Wren unless absolutely necessary.
Hell, I’d probably have a difficult time lying to Wren even if I wanted to do it because she was too damn smart.
Her mind was always working and reasoning things out.
“Why?” she asked curiously. “I know it’s tempting to challenge yourself, but after I got in trouble for hacking I had to stop. It took a while to get caught, but you’ll probably get caughtif you keep doing it. Mom was really mad at me. She’d probably be mad at you, too, if she finds out.”
“I won’t get caught,” I said as I released a frustrated breath. “I’m not doing it for the challenge, Wren.”
Hell, I should have known that my kid was trying to hack into websites just because she could.
“Then why are you doing it?” she asked, pinning me with a curious gaze.
“Because it’s part of my job,” I explained in a resigned tone. “I gather intel for the government as a contractor. I can’t tell you a lot about my job because it’s classified. I’d prefer that no one else knows about it.”
“Does Mom know?” she questioned.
I nodded. “She’s the only person who knows. Now you know, too.”
“I’d never tell anyone,” she replied. “But I wish I could ask questions about it.”
I trusted my daughter. She was intelligent enough to realize why secrecy was important.
“You can’t,” I said flatly. “I just want you to know that I’m not hacking for nefarious reasons or for the challenge. Your mother was right to be mad at you. Hacking is wrong unless you have a good reason for doing it.”
“If you work for the government, you must be really good at it. Did you do it when you were a SEAL commander?” she asked as she sent me an admiring glance.
“Not very often,” I answered. “But I learned a lot when I was in the Navy. We had an intelligence department that gave us most of our data. It was my job to oversee missions.”
She sent me a probing look. “You didn’t just oversee them. You were there. That’s how you injured your leg. It happened doing a mission.”
I shot her a surprised look. Wren knew about my history, but I’d never shared many of the details because it wasn’t something a kid needed to know. “How do you know that?”
My daughter rolled her eyes adorably. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. You’re still doing some kind of hostage rescue. I heard you talking to Wyatt about one the other day. How is that possible?”
I let out an exasperated breath.
I had been talking to Wyatt two days ago about a mission he’d needed to run in my absence. The operation had gone well, but he’d briefed me on the situation and we’d discussed everything right before the mission had been completed.
While I was proud of my daughter’s inquisitive, intelligent brain, there were a few downsides to having a gifted kid.
Hell, was there anything my daughter didn’t notice and analyze?
I gave up and told her the basics about Last Hope, including the information about her mother’s kidnapping and her subsequent rescue.
It would be more confusing to Wren to not know the truth at this point.
“Seriously?” she said excitedly when I’d finished the explanation. “That’s what Brock, Nate, Gage, and Seth do when they take off without an explanation for a while? I’ve always known that they were Delta, but I never suspected that. I know Wyatt, but I don’t know the rest of your partners in San Diego.”
“You’ll meet them someday,” I promised her.
