“They wouldn’t say. Our best bet is to go over there and make someone give us some answers. There are two SUVs out front to escort us to the hospital.” He turned to Olivia. “Why don’t you and Ma take one. I’ll go in the other with Miss Delano.”
I immediately tensed up and shot my eyes to Colleen, silently begging her to volunteer to ride with me. I didn’t know how far the hospital was from where we were, but the idea of being alone with a man who, just months ago, did everything he could to keep Tyler away from me made me edgy.
“I think Mackenzie may be able to help me figure out what happened to Tyler.” He turned to me, his green eyes imploring. Those green eyes that were so similar to Tyler’s. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to sit in a car with…,” he said quietly as Colleen and Olivia began heading toward the front doors.
“You’ve got that right,” I hissed, my voice barely audible.
“But I think if I tell you what I know, you may be able to fill in the blanks.”
“I don’t know anything. All I know is he was supposed to be at my baby shower today and he never showed. I assumed it was because of the fight we had yesterday, then Martin told me…” I bit my lip, trying to hide my tears from Alexander at the thought that the last words I would ever say to Tyler were during a fight.
“It’s okay. Let’s talk.” He placed his hand on my back and escorted me to an idling SUV. After helping me in, he ran around to the other side and got in beside me.
The driver pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road. I kept my eyes glued outside, watching as streetlights zoomed by. My back remained straight, my posture taut as to not show weakness.
“I guess I should start by apologizing,” Alexander finally said.
I shot my eyes to him, somewhat surprised. I didn’t know what I expected him to say to me, but it certainly wasn’t that.
“I thought I was doing what was best for Tyler by keeping him out of the country,” he continued. “You have to look at things from where I’m sitting. Tyler’s my brother and all this shit kept happening. I didn’t know what to think, and until I knew what was going on, I needed to do everything I could to make sure nothing happened to him.”
“But he’s an adult!” I shot back. “You took advantage of the way he looks up to and admires you, and used that against him! Not to mention you tried to fuck with my memory! Do you have any idea how horrible it is to wake up every morning and question your own reality? To wonder if something finally snapped in your mind and you made everything up?”
“I can only imagine…”
“And you did that to me! You! And why? To make me think I never met Tyler? What could you possibly gain from that?”
“Sometimes in the field, no matter how much training you have, you make bad tactical decisions, particularly where a loved one is concerned. I’m sorry you were the collateral damage of that. I’ll be the first to admit I never considered anything from your perspective. If I could rewind the clock, I would handle everything differently, but I don’t have that luxury. What I do have is the present, and I hope you’ll find it in your heart to give me the opportunity to start over with you. You’re one of the most important people in Tyler’s life, and that makes you one of the most important people in my life.”
“You two are pretty close, aren’t you?” I asked, shifting gears. I wasn’t sure I could forgive Alexander for everything he did to me, but I could at least try to get to know him as a person and the brother of the man with whom I was in love.
He sighed, a troubled look crossing his brow. “We were. While he was going to college, we used to get together at least once a week for a drink. Then…” He sighed. “Then it was awkward between us. He left to join the navy, and I had a family of my own, so we kind of grew apart. When he came back and started to work at the security company, things were still tense between us. It wasn’t until he came back from Sudan a few months ago that we finally started to talk again. He was absolutely livid at me over what I had done. He even got a few punches in.”
I gasped, giggling a little. “He did?”
Alexander nodded, caressing his jaw. “Yeah. So I actually have you to thank. If he never met you, I don’t know if we’d be back to having the normal relationship we did all those years ago. Granted, now he’s a few thousand miles away so that makes being able to go grab a drink together a bit cumbersome…”
I bowed my head, starting to realize why moving back to Boston was so important to Tyler. He had been away from home for so long, and not just because of this assignment. Even when he was home, it didn’t seem like home, not if his relationship with his family was strained. But now that it was back to normal, according to Alexander, I could understand his desire to return there and have that connection once more. I regretted being so selfish as to not even consider his side.
“So,” I said, clearing the air a bit. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Alexander shrugged. “Actually, that was it. I just wanted to get you alone so I could properly apologize to you.”
“So you don’t know anything about Tyler? You sounded quite upset on the phone when we landed.”
“Well, yes, but I’m not sure you have any answers that will help us.”
“Try me,” I said, leaning against the window of the car. “You never know. Maybe I know someone who can give us some insight about what happened.” I raised my eyebrows at him, hoping he’d take the bait. I was desperate to know what he knew about Tyler’s condition and would promise him anything, regardless of how empty those promises were.
“You know Tyler was looking into who could have set up your father, correct?”
I nodded. “Yeah. The last time I met with my father, I asked if he’d speak with Tyler and give him his side. Tyler hoped maybe there was something he was missing and my dad would have that missing piece.”
“He mentioned that,” Alexander said. “Tyler had some of his guys digging into your father’s past…his time in the Rangers, then Counterintelligence, all of it…hoping to see if they could uncover something that would tell us who was behind everything. Two of Tyler’s team members uncovered a classified mission your father led in Bosnia.”
An unsettled feeling formed in the pit of my stomach at his words. My father didn’t speak much of his time on deployment, but he did talk about all the places he had been. He had never mentioned Bosnia, and I knew something must have happened there that he’d rather leave forgotten and buried. I just prayed it wasn’t something that would paint him as a monster.
“There was no record of it anywhere,” he continued, “apart from your father filing a report that two of his team members had died. It could have been nothing, but they decided to check it out.”
Sighing, he ran his hand over his face, his unease returning. “Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that only two members of your father’s team are still alive. Everyone else is dead or missing. So Benson and Maxwell, two of Tyler’s team members, went to go question one of them. Tyler and Eli went to question the other. When Benson and Maxwell got to the guy’s house, it was in flames. The door was wired to trigger an explosion when it was opened. The subject in question was not in the house at the time, but his housekeeper triggered the explosion and died. Subsequently, his body was found in his car at a casino parking lot in Oklahoma, the cause of death an apparent heart attack.”
“And Tyler…?” I asked with a quiver in my voice.
“Well, Benson said he spoke with Tyler to apprise him of the situation. He and Maxwell decided to stay in Oklahoma to follow-up on any information they may find. It wasn’t until Martin touched base with them earlier today that they grew concerned something was wrong. They called around and found that Tyler and Eli were discovered unconscious on the beach below a stilt house that was engulfed in flames. As you would have guessed, the individual they were sent to question was found in the parking lot of a bar, having also died of an apparent heart attack.”