Page 103 of The Archer Brothers

That thought makes me pause. I refuse to believe Penny kidnapped Claire. I can easily admit that Penny and I hadn’t known each other long when we married, but I was in love and in the middle of a war. War makes you lonely and Penny filled that void. When Claire came along, she filled a hole in my heart that I didn’t know I had.

When I left on the snatch and grab mission, everything was fine … or so I thought. No, I believed everything was fine and that my wife would be waiting for me to come home. I told her, just as I did with all my missions, that I’d be coming home to her. I have never lied to her and I never will.

“Okay, I’ve run Claire’s name through a system I use to check every student and registered homeschool student, and have come back with nothing.”

“I know. That’s the answer I’ve been given over and over again. Claire’s not registered in school, or she’s not registered under that name.”

“Why do you think she’d be under a different name?”

“It’s a hunch. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Penny didn’t take my pension, which to me means she didn’t leave me. She also left in the middle of the night. Penny hated being out after dark, especially with Claire. The story I’ve been told doesn’t add up with the person I know Penny to be.”

Marley fingers moves along her keyboard, I assume adding notes to my file. When she’s done, she sighs and looks at me. “Mr. McCoy I think I have enough information to start, but I’m going to be honest. Penny has been gone for a long time and usually the longer they’re gone, the harder they are to find. Most people who leave their world behind are running from something, and the fact that none of your friends filed a missing persons report concerns me.”

I feel as if a ton of bricks are being pressed into my chest, while a light bulb explodes right in front of me. I never asked Ryley if a missing persons report was filed, nor did I look for one, or file one myself.

“I understand, ma’am,” I say, even though I refuse to believe they can’t be found. People don’t disappear unless they’re dead, and I know they’re not—I can feel it in my bones. “Please call me if you need anything, or have an update.”

“I will, Mr. McCoy.”

We shake hands, and I hold hers for a beat longer, hoping I can convey how important my quest is before I exit her office.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE you bought a house across from the shipyard,” I say as I peer through the high-powered binoculars that Evan Archer keeps on his upper deck. Everything on the other side of the Puget Sound looks crystal clear, as if the sailors he’s watching are standing right in front of him. The only thing lacking from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard are SEALs, and I don’t mean the kind you find loitering the shores.

Archer sets a beer down next to me and leans over the balcony, letting his own dangle from between his fingers. We’ve been friends for a long time, meeting for the first time when we were assigned to the same SEAL team. Penny and Ryley hit it off immediately and were often too chatty during the team’s gatherings, making Evan and I wonder what the women were up to. We never felt like we had to worry about our wives when we were deployed, which makes me question why a missing persons report for Penny and Claire was never filed.

“I bought for the view,” Archer replies, laughing. The view from his deck is spectacular, even if it does look directly upon a shipyard. I could spend hours out here, watching the boats as they coast up and down the Sound. The water is always calling my name, so the Navy was the only choice I had for a career. It’s what I wanted to do; becoming a SEAL was the icing on the cake for me.

“What goes on over there?” I ask. Ever since Evan’s been back he has been watching everything. He’s always searching for hidden meanings in the actions of people around him.

“Oh you know, a little bit of this and that.”

I don’t know if Archer is being coy on purpose or not. Either way, I don’t appreciate it. I don’t have time for games. Pulling the binoculars away from my eyes, I glare at him, and he picks up his beer, taking a long pull before returning his attention to the shipyard. There had to be a reason for him to buy here.

“Care to elaborate?”

Archer sighs and looks around. “Chesley’s over there. About six weeks ago he arrived in the middle of the night by helo. I had noticed a lot of activity at the yard earlier in the day. They moved a sub and a carrier, and you know how slow shipyards move. That night I was watching with my night vision goggles and caught sight of the bird. Sure enough, hopping off that helo and running into building C was none other than the Brigadier General.”

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Chesley would show up here, especially since Archer is across the Sound.

“So why did you buy here?”

Archer shrugs. “I wasn’t ready to let go, and being across from the yard gives me peace of mind. Now I’m on constant alert and have installed a state of the art alarm system with hidden cameras because I don’t trust them.” He points across the water at the same people who were once considered family. “We’re the only ones that can bring Chesley down with Ingram and he knows it. I have no doubt that the reason he’s hanging out in a Navy shipyard is because my house is in his line of sight. He’s watching me. I’m watching them. What sucks for him is that I have access to the best equipment—night vision, guns, you name it I have it. He probably thinks I’m siting here sipping coffee and enjoying retirement.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Nah. I mean I do my thing and have my jobs, but I watch them, recording the shit they do. They want us dead and I’m not going down without a fight.”

I nod in agreement before picking up the binoculars again. I watch movements—doors opening and closing, and the people who come and go—taking mental notes of what’s going on. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still an active SEAL whether the Navy wants to recognize me or not and I’m always thinking like one.

The three members of SEAL Team 3 were offered early retirement once the arrests were made. The Navy was quick to dismiss any wrong doing on their part, and mostly they were right. Between the missing documents, paper shuffling, and hidden flight manifests, most people didn’t have a clue what was going on. It also helped the Navy’s case when Captain O’Keefe went missing, only to turn up dead later. But not before letters detailing the entire mission were found in his house. Those letters now are supposedly safe in Washington, DC. From what I’ve been told those will be used as evidence in the Lawson / Ingram trials.

It was Justin Rask and I who refused retirement, but for different reasons. For Rask, he wants to feel like he still has a family and the Navy provides that. The Navy is willing to keep Rask active because he’s not missing his family. They choose to ignore him. Apparently he’s not a lawsuit threat. But for me, my reason is simple: I want them to pay.

Evan Archer took the retirement payout, but that didn’t prevent his fiancée from filing a lawsuit on their son’s behalf for emotional stress, fraud, and a slew of other reasons. Ryley wants to make sure their son is well provided for as a result of the suffering they’ve both had to endure. Who knows if that will ever see it’s day in court, but I hope to be there when it does, and pray that my family will be filing the same lawsuit once I find them. Archer is enjoying retirement as a workingman, running a security firm that works closely with the CIA on political details. His twin brother, Nate, will be running their field office in Washington, DC.

Raymond “River” Riveria was by all accounts a damn fine team leader. If he knew what was going on, he hid it well. I want to believe River was in the dark just like the rest of us, and was as surprised as we were when he came home only to find out the team had all been dead and buried for years. The whereabouts of River are unknown at this time. The day that Evan and Nate confronted River about his wife Frannie’s involvement, his house blew up seconds after the Archer brothers left. No body fragments were found in the rubble.

“How’d your meeting go today?” Archer asks, switching topics. It’s a habit with us; first we’ll discuss our theories, but only briefly because we don’t know who’s listening, and then we’ll talk about daily life with hopes to bore whoever may be lurking down the road.

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