Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5), Caitlyn O'Leary [uplifting book club books TXT] 📗

“I’m still debriefing Ms. Squires.”

“Do you think you’re going to find anything else that will help us?”

Leo thought about it. “I might.” Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Give me twenty. If I don’t get any more answers, then I’m on my way.”

“Fifteen,” Kane gave him.

“Fifteen,” Leo agreed.

4

Daisy watched Leo sit down and look forlornly at the empty dish of ice cream in front of her.

“It was melting. Don’t worry, I ordered another dish for you.”

“Did you eat that other thing too? The Oh-My-Gosh?” he asked.

She laughed. “I had them put the Gosh-e fil in a to-go box to take to my room for later.” The waiter placed another dish of ice cream in front of Leo.

When the waiter left, he smiled at Daisy. “Thank you. I would hate to miss out on orchid ice cream.” She watched his face as he took the first bite. He grinned.

“This is great. It isn’t something I’m going to order at Baskin-Robbins, because nothing beats Rocky Road, but this is pretty damn good for flowery ice cream.”

“You make me laugh a lot. Which is pretty amazing considering the circumstances.”

Leo gave her a quick glance before concentrating on his dessert. Daisy took another sip of her mineral water and waited for Leo to finish his ice cream. She had a gut feeling that whatever his call had been about, she wasn’t going to like it.

“What?”

“Just wondering who that was and what you talked about.”

Leo scooped up the last spoonful and savored it. “Thanks for talking me into this.” He sat back in his seat. “Yeah, we have some suppositions about your father, but nothing that’s been confirmed so I can’t share it.”

She took a deep breath, trying to brace herself. “Is it because it’s unconfirmed, or is it because it’s bad?”

“Both. I’m going to leave in ten minutes, but I need to ask you a few more questions.”

“Can I ask you one more?”

Leo nodded.

“Do you think there is even a little shot at rescuing my father?”

“There’s always a chance. I wouldn’t still be here asking questions if I didn’t think we had a chance.”

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the pristine white tablecloth. “Okay, ask whatever you want, I’ll answer anything. I’ve promised my siblings to do whatever I can to bring him home.”

“Has your father ever consorted with terrorists to get sick people the care they needed?”

Daisy bit her lip. That was a tough one. How often had money that her charity had given women ended up in the hands of their husbands who were terrorists? How many times had a bride price been paid so that a young girl could be rescued from marrying some man at the age of twelve? If W.A.N.T. was doing that sort of thing, could her father be walking the same kind of thin edge to get kids the care they needed?

“You’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Leo said softly. He’d pushed his dish away and was watching her carefully.

“Is it always black and white in your world? It sure as hell isn’t in mine. Trying to get the women the help they need in third-world countries has had some of my people making bad decisions instead of terrible decisions. But in the end, it has kept women and children alive, so ultimately my folks can look themselves in the mirror the next day. Do you know what I mean?”

Leo nodded solemnly.

It made her feel better.

“I don’t know what my father has done. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he has worked with terrorist organizations in the past.”

“Do you think he might have this time?”

“I really don’t know. I’d have to talk to Dr. Williams over in Pakistan to find out. However, from what I’ve heard it doesn’t seem likely. This time he seems to have been intent on pissing off all and sundry just to get everyone inoculated. Why, what have you heard?”

“I really can’t tell you, Daisy. Like I said, at this point, it’s all hearsay.”

She looked him dead in the eye. “So it’s really bad shit.”

He gave a short nod.

“Fuck.” She knew what that meant. There wasn’t going to be a ransom. Diplomatic channels wouldn’t work. He’d done something that made the terrorists want to kill him.

She thought about her brother Jim. He was going to be devastated. Karen and Brian would mourn the loss of their dad, but Jim? Jim would spiral for sure. He’d gone into medicine, following in Ethan Squires’ footsteps. Granted, he didn’t tour the world; instead, he worked in the lab, developing cures. But in his mind, he and his dad were working in tandem.

“Daisy?”

She shook her head, trying to get back to Leo and the conversation at hand. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I said I had to go, but I’ll be in touch.”

“Okay,” she breathed out slowly. She was still trying to take in all that Leo hadn’t said, but really had said.

“Don’t give up hope,” he gave her a tight smile.

“Hope is practically my middle name,” she quipped. “But I’m also a hardcore realist. I know what’s going on. I’m going to the embassy again tomorrow. They need to lean on the Afghan government, who then needs to lean on the Taliban.”

“Daisy—” Leo started.

She held up her hand. “I know that it is a Hail Mary play, but I’ve got to take it. You do what you do, and I’ll play the only hand I’m left with. All right?”

He nodded.

“Don’t you have to leave?”

He got up from the table and threw down enough Afghani bills to cover the meal and the tip.