Page 70 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

“Do you want to come in and let me explain?” he says, gesturing toward the house.

“There’s nothing you can say to me that’s going to help me understand but, yeah, we’ll come in.”

I step aside and motion Raine ahead of me. I take a quick look around before I follow them into the very small, two-room house.

“So what? You’ve been living in this shack for the past nine years?”

“Yeah.”

“How, Mack?” I say as I looks around at the sparse accommodations.

“You know it doesn’t take much to make me comfortable.” Mack pulls out a chair from the table for Raine to sit down. Raine smiles at him.

“My name is Raine. Millie is a close friend of mine. She’s told me all about you.”

Mack looks at her without blinking. “She talks about me?”

“Nonstop,” Raine says, declining the chair and moving back toward the door. “Although everything Chase said is true—Millie still loves you so much. You’re the only reason she did any of this over the past year. I’m going to give you two a chance to catch up. I’ll be outside.”

Mack looks back at me. “What did Millie do over the past year?”

“It’s too long of a story and we don’t have time right now. We have a SEAL team incoming. You need to get ready to move,” I say.

“What? What’s happening? How did you even know I was alive?”

“Millie found you. She’s in Islamabad right now looking for her aunt Azayiz, who I believe helped you escape.”

“How did Millie find out about Azayiz?” Mack asks, confused.

“It’s a long story, Mack. Really. It’s too much for right now. Do you have anything you need to pack or whatever?”

“I can’t leave, Chase. I’m not allowed back in the U.S.”

“Yeah. I know about all the conditions you agreed to, but you’re coming back. I don’t care if I have to knock you out and carry you. You go to jail if you have to, but you’re coming back with us. At least Millie can visit you in jail.”

Mack takes a deep breath, his eyes shifting back and forth across the room. “Is Millie with them? The team that’s coming in?”

“I don’t know. The last real satellite reception we got was in Gabhirat. Raine found Azayiz’s family home and told Culver that’s where we were headed. He’s sending some helos in to grab us.”

“Culver? Harry Culver?”

I laugh. “Yeah. He’s a captain now—in charge of all the teams in Virginia Beach.”

“That seriously might be the most shocking thing you’ve said yet,” Mack says, shaking his head.

Raine walks back in. “Chase,” she says, holding up her binoculars, “I think we have incoming to the north.”

I grab my pistol out of my waistband. Mack grabs my arm and opens a closet door. It’s full of weapons and ammunition.

“What’s this?” I ask him, admiring the small arsenal.

He hands me an old-body AK. “That’s too long of a story, too. Let’s just say, I haven’t been sitting on my ass these last nine years,” he says, smiling. “I’ve got kind of a ham radio setup here too, if you think you can use it to get to Culver.”

“Do you know how to do that?” I say, looking at Raine.

“Yeah, I can figure it out,” she says, grabbing the radio out of the closet.

I take her binoculars and look out the window. I see the movement to the north. It looks like team movement. “I think it’s our guys, but just to be sure,” I say, lining up my rifle on the window sill.

Mack settles in at the only other window. We wait for a few minutes until we can see the movement more clearly. The leader holds up his hand to stop the approach.

“Chase!” I hear Mason yell.

“Yeah, man. We’ve got you covered the rest of the way. Door is on the south side,” I say as I go outside to greet them.

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