Page 39 of The Archer Brothers

I shrug. “They’re all right I guess, considering the situation. Nate hasn’t come back yet, and I’m not sure if he’s staying away because he knows I’m going to beat his ass or what.”

“Man our lives are so fucked right now.” River tips back his beer and takes a long pull. We stand, facing the ocean with our feet buried in the sand. This is the perfect place to talk because the waves drown out our voices. If anyone is lurking, we’ll be hard to hear.

“I talked to Ryley’s mom today,” River starts and immediately has my attention. “She’s been digging and it’s not pretty, but she’s afraid to cause waves at the moment. She wants more evidence.”

“What has she found?”

River looks around and over his shoulder. “Our files were pulled months before we left, each one flagged. The initial mission was never logged. There’s no evidence that we went to Cuba. Everything about us being there…” he shakes his head. “Nothing. There’s nothing until they notified the families that we were dead. Our files were then transferred and that’s it.”

I look at him dumbfounded. How are all the logs not there? The extractions? “What about the kids we put back on those Hercules’?”

River shakes his head. “There’s no record. Clarke even searched for the kidnapped child and found nothing. There never was a police, FBI or CIA report. You’d think if a child of a U.S. Senator is kidnapped the damn media would be all over it, but there’s nothing. And all those children we rescued, no records.”

“Where the hell did they go?”

He shrugs and empties his beer. “I don’t know, Archer, but I don’t like it. Whatever we were told to do, we contributed to a crime.”

I stand there in disbelief, questioning my commitment to the Navy. Maybe it’s not the Navy I should be questioning, but our CO. Where the hell is he? I turn and look over my shoulder at Ryley; she’s sitting in a chair talking to Frannie.

“How’s that going?” River tips his head toward Ry.

“It’s… difficult. I have fucking blue balls as in I really think they’re starting to turn fucking blue. I feel like I’m looking at a damn skin mag every time she walks in a room and we just had a serious make-out session in the car. It’s fucking high school all over again.”

River laughs, earning a stink-eye look from me. “Is she shutting you down?”

I nod and tip back my bottle. “It’s that damn ring. If it wasn’t there I wouldn’t hesitate, but I know if she goes that far she’ll have regrets and that’ll be bad for me. I’ve already pushed my luck with her, and she’s cheated on him. At least in my eyes she has.”

“Do you think Nate’s not coming home because he’s waiting for her to screw up? That would give him an easy out.”

I tip my bottle back and empty its contents. “He’s going to come home acting like he had no idea I was alive and be hurt. Shit thing is, my mom is on his side and kept reminding me that Ryley’s his. I beg to differ. That woman up there with your wife was made for me. It’s just a matter of time before I have her again.”

“Frannie likes her. She was there for her and EJ. She said it helped her cope with my death.”

“Man, this shit is so fucked up,” I say as I slam my empty beer bottle into the sand. “We’ve missed so much and for what? Nothing, that’s what, and no one is going to pay for the shit we’ve missed.”

River pats me on the shoulder. “Rask and McCoy are here. Let’s head back up there and start the bonfire.”

We walk back up the beach and as soon as Ryley sees me, her eyes light up. I don’t care what people think of me right now, this girl is mine. I either need to be patient or take that damn ring off her finger myself.

I sit down next to her and place my arm around her. She leans into me, warming me instantly. I kiss the top of her head, letting my lips linger there for longer than necessary but not long enough to satisfy me.

WATCHING THE SUNSET OVERthe Pacific Ocean can only be summed up with one word: breathtaking. It could be the company I’m in, or simply the view. Either way, the pure beauty that is enveloping my friends and me tonight gives me peace and a lot to think about. The more time I spend with Evan, the more I know I’m meant to be with him. He’s been home for almost two weeks, and it seems like it was just yesterday. We have so much to re-learn about each other, and he about EJ, but each day is like Christmas and we’re unwrapping presents one at a time.

The fire crackles in front of me as the guys and Frannie sit around and tell stories from years that have gone by. We don’t talk about the past six years. Most of us are trying to pretend they don’t exist. We all want answers but none of us have them. Evan told me earlier that my mom has been looking into why this happened, but is afraid of snooping too deep without proper evidence. I don’t blame her. I have a feeling this is bigger than any of us combined and if someone can make four men from a SEAL commando disappear, they can do anything to the rest of us.

“What if they come after us?” I blurt out before I realize what I’m saying. All eyes are on me instantly, and even though it’s dark I can see almost everyone’s eyes piercing through me. I swallow hard and look at Evan who’s staring at the fire with a scowl on his face.

“Don’t think like that, Ry,” Evan says firmly, and I know I’ve hit a nerve. McCoy opens a new beer and downs it without stopping. Frannie is looking at me, and River is staring at the fire. Rask is rubbing his head, and Evan’s leg is bouncing.

“I can’t help it and by the looks on everyone’s faces, you’ve all thought it too. Someone made you guys disappear for six years. You just don’t come back from the dead without there being repercussions.” I angrily wipe away a tear that’s falling down my cheek. I’m trying to be strong here, not weak and emotional. I’ve never feared for my life, but this situation is giving me a lot of concern. If my mom is investigating, someone is going to find out. That someone could want to remain anonymous and the easiest way to keep a secret is to eliminate the person or people who know. They’d have a lot of blood on their hands, but their secret would be kept.

“I think about it,” Frannie says. “I see lights shining through our bedroom window at night and wonder if someone is going to knock on the door.” River reaches for her hand to comfort her. “During the day, I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and brushing off people who ask questions about your return. I don’t trust them.”

“Neither do my parents,” Rask adds.

“How’d your meeting go?” Evan asks him, reminding me that Rask met with his parents while Evan and I were at his mom’s. I should’ve waited to take Evan home so we could stay and support Rask. That was a very selfish move on my part.

Rask shrugs and kicks some sand around. “My mom…” he shakes his head before covering his face. “She doesn’t believe. Says I’m an imposter, a clone. She’s convinced that I’m not her son and that hers was buried a long time ago. It didn’t matter what I said to her, or how many memories I recounted, she wouldn’t budge. I tried to hug her, but she recoiled and hid behind my dad.

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