Love, Tussles, and Takedowns (Cactus Creek #3)(38)

Now possibly found.

But he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t acknowledge that his heart was in his throat. Because now he was possibly going to lose everything, have everything he was starting to be unable to live without, get ripped from him in the process.

A win-lose situation.

Damn, the universe had a sick and twisted sense of entertainment.

“Reyes. You hearing me, man?”

He blinked and shook himself back to the phone conversation. “Sorry, sir. Negative. Please repeat.”

Distance. That’s what he needed. The soldier in him stepped up to claim that distance when the man in him faltered as he looked down and saw Lia’s hand gripping his.

Clint’s voice faded for a bit just as all the busy noise coming through with radio echo on the sat-phone muted away. “That better? Can you hear me now?”

Hudson reached for her with the hand that could feel. “Affirmative, sir. What did you find?”

“The intel your informant provided led us to triangulate our search down to four possible mountainous locations in the western region of Ghazni. He was right. The searches done for Private Lawson and the other four MIA soldiers and servicemen were nowhere near these sites.”

“Lieutenant,” interrupted Hudson, clearing his throat with loaded meaning, “I’m here with Lia, Private Lawson’s wife. If anything you’re about to tell me is classified, please advise.”

There was a brief pause on the other end. “Understood. Back to the intel. This kid you got in contact with us, Drew Lawson, what he managed to cull from his years of data finding is nothing short of amazing. He has records of local hospital reports, analyzed photos of the area, underground reportings, coded messages from local informants, and translated correspondences between individuals in the area that I don’t even want to know how he obtained.”

Hudson quietly repeated the highlights for Lia when Clint muffled out for a moment to talk to another officer. Lia whispered back the first thought in her mind.

“Lieutenant? Lia would like to know if you’ve contacted Private Lawson’s brother, Drew, about all this yet. She wants to be sure that after all his hard work, he’s also notified of these developments asap.”

At that, Clint barked out a laugh.

The absolute rarity of the sound made Hudson glance down at his phone to check the number one more time.

“No, please inform Lia that I did not contact the kid because he contacted me. These hackers on their computers nowadays, I tell you. My cell phone number is pretty brand new, too.”

Lia clearly overheard at least part of that through the receiver as she rolled her eyes immediately after and mouthed, “I’m sorry!”

Hudson smiled and summarized more of what Clint was relaying. “The guys are pretty sure that Drew has hacked into the JPAC—Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command—recovery team’s correspondence somehow. But apparently, he played the whole thing smart. Gave them intel that he obtained legally first. When they started finding evidence, they offered him immunity for the rest, which they do for their anonymous informants.” Hudson listened some more and shook his head in admiration. “Smart kid. Apparently, there were a few things Drew has done that they weren’t able to turn a blind eye to but he was already lawyered up with a ball-busting attorney who has—and I quote—’made their own lawyer her bitch’. End quote.”

His smile faded to seriousness when he listened to the rest of the findings. “The recovery team was granted entrance for a full sweep of the area and Clint took a few of his men to accompany the team as a part of the agreement,” Hudson paraphrased quickly. “Bad news is that each of the locations were hundreds of miles apart from each other.”

At her questioning look, he explained, “They’re worried that the scope of their search isn’t big enough given what they’ve already found. A recovery site of this magnitude increases not just the possibility of more scattered remains but also more possible scenarios involving any survivors.”

Lia paled slightly, but nodded in understanding.

“Reyes? I think you should hear the rest of this first and then tell Lia what she needs to know afterward.”

“Understood.” He gestured to Lia that he needed a pen and paper to jot notes down. “Go ahead. She’s out of earshot.” His inner soldier faded back. It was just him at the helm again, the man who would do anything to protect Lia. “Tell me everything.”

“As I mentioned earlier, remains were found in four sites. Two bodies were found at the northern most point, and according to initial assessment of the forensic anthropologist with the JPAC team, those deaths appear to a direct or eventual result of the crash itself. There were dog tags with those two, and though they need to do DNA testing to confirm, the current status is that Private Lawson was not among those identified at that site. Next, the body found on the southernmost site was actually found with no tags or clothing. The team determined that the body was a Caucasian male in the right age range for one of our soldiers, but definitely older than Private Lawson. He had at minimum, three GSWs and additional indications of an intense struggle. Those remains need to go to a base lab for more analysis.”

Hudson didn’t really need the pen and paper Lia returned with to remember the details but he jotted notes down anyway, being careful not to be too graphic about the third body found. Lia was sitting across from him, seemingly lost in thought and it tore at him to know what must be going on in her head.