Carol Ericson - Point Blank Seal

“Well, these are the terrible toddler years.” She pointed to her soapy head. “I’ll be done in a few minutes.” She grinned at Miguel’s panicked expression. “Welcome to fatherhood. You’ll think of something.”

She whipped the shower curtain back in place and stuck her head under the water to rinse. When she finished her shower, she dropped the towel on the floor and slipped into some clean underwear.

She opened the bathroom door a crack and put her eye to the space. Two lumps, one large and one small, moved beneath the covers of the bed.

She swung open the door. “Everything okay?”

Miguel lifted one edge of the blanket. “We’re under the ocean waves here, swimming.”

Mikey’s muffled voice echoed Miguel’s. “Swimming.”

“In your diaper?”

Mikey wriggled from beneath the covers. “Swimming.”

“I see that, but now you have to get dressed so Mommy can drop you off at Ms. Lori’s room.”

“Does he need breakfast?”

“They feed him there.”

“What about you?”

“If I get moving and leave a little early, I can pick up something on the way.”

“We.” Miguel shrugged off the blanket and held Mikey’s arm as he clambered off the bed. “I’m taking you to school, and I’m picking you both up.”

She nodded, a pinprick of fear needling the back of her neck. “What are you going to do all day or at least until noon? We get out early today since the kids just have graduation practice.”

“I’m going to do some research.”

“On?”

“Moles.”

* * *

AFTER THEY DROPPED off Mikey and picked up some breakfast burritos, Miguel parked around the corner from the school.

Jennifer peeled back the yellow paper from her burrito and pointed to the bag. “Any hot sauce in there?”

“Thought I saw some.” Miguel plunged his hand into the bag and pulled out two packets of hot sauce. He ripped one open with his teeth and handed it to her.

“Who do you think broke into my house and firebombed it? Same group for both actions?” She squeezed the red sauce onto the end of her burrito and took a bite.

“Not sure.” He raised his hand and ticked off the recent events on his fingers. “You think someone’s been following you. Someone broke into your place and planted those bugs. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into your house, but it wasn’t a big one.”

“Yeah, I feel so much better that someone threw a fiery rag in a glass bottle into my son’s bedroom, but it was just a little, bitty one.”

Miguel dabbed at a spot of hot sauce on his chin. “What I meant was that act could’ve been more of an attempt to warn and not kill.”

“It could’ve killed.” The hot sauce burned in her belly. “It could’ve killed Mikey.”

“I know.” He grabbed her hand. “I’m just trying to figure out motivation here. Is it the CIA trying to scare me back to Maryland or is it some terrorist cell trying to kill me?”

“And us.”

Miguel’s jaw tightened. “Maybe I never should’ve come back to you.”

“We’ve been through this already. Before you even got to Austin, someone was following me and bugging my house.”

“Probably just because they knew I’d return here. If I’d never come back, they probably would’ve lost interest in you and continued their search for me.”

She dropped her burrito and dug her fingers into the denim covering his thigh. “Do you think you could’ve kept your return from me? I’m sure I would’ve found out somehow, and then nothing would’ve kept me from your side.”

Drawing her toward him, he kissed her with his spicy lips. “I love you, Jen, more than anything, but that means keeping you safe.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that line before.” She cupped his jaw flicking her fingers through his longish hair. “This is no military cut, sailor.”

“They weren’t offering and I wasn’t asking. Had more important issues on my mind.”

She glanced at her cell phone. “I have one more question before I head off to class. How could one mole in the intel community get to you?”

He jerked his thumb at the laptop stashed in the backseat. “That’s what I’m going to try to find out.”

“Can Josh Elliott help you?” She crumpled up the waxy paper around the rest of her burrito and tossed it into the bag at Miguel’s feet.

“No. He’s headed out for another deployment. He had a little time off after his last assignment. Guess he met a woman.”

“Josh?” Miguel’s sniper teammate was more intense than Miguel. “I hope she’s tough as nails.”

“She’s...” Miguel shrugged. “I hope so, too. I’m going to be waiting right here for you at noon, and then we’ll pick up Mikey.”

“And then?”

“We should find another house. Mikey can’t stay in a motel forever.”

“Tomorrow is the last day of school. Let’s deal with it then.”

A bell rang in the distance, and Miguel raised his eyebrows. “Are you late, teacher?”

“That’s the first bell. I’m not late until the second bell.” She kissed him again just because she could and he was inches away from her. “Noon.”

Before she turned the corner, she glanced back at the car and waved. She still felt like she was moving through some crazy dream. Miguel alive, back home—and their lives in danger. When would they catch a break?

She had no time to pop into the teachers’ lounge like she usually did, so she headed straight for her classroom.

The first bell had called the kids to class, and they jostled and nudged each other as they lined up in the hallway outside the door.

“You’re almost in middle school. Behave yourselves.” She jingled her key chain at them and then opened the door.

“What’re we doing today, Ms. Lynch?”

“I must’ve told you a hundred times, Chase.” She dropped her bag on the floor and nudged it under her desk with her toe. “Cleaning up the room. You guys are going to take all your stuff home, projects, papers, supplies, and then we’re going to walk to the high school to run through the promotion ceremony.”

The morning passed quickly, and at ten thirty Jennifer got her class ready for the walk to the high school. As she gathered the kids in the hallway, Olivia sidled up next to her.

“What happened at your house last night? I heard there was a fire.”

“That news spread quickly.” Jennifer snapped her fingers. “Girls, stop talking. There are classes in session across the hall.”

“Are you and Mikey okay?”

“We’re fine. M-my friend discovered it quickly, got us out of the house and called 9-1-1.”

“Thank goodness. When you didn’t make it to the teachers’ lounge this morning, I got worried. Do you have a place to stay?”

“Motel for now. I’ll start looking for a new place soon. I was done with that place anyway.”

“It’s a good thing it’s the end of the school year.” Olivia took Jennifer’s arm. “One more day until freedom.”

Freedom? Jennifer had been feeling a noose tightening around her neck ever since Miguel appeared—no, that wasn’t fair. She’d been feeling that noose even before. She just hadn’t understood its significance.

Just like they had the day before, the fifth-grade teachers herded their students through the park and across the street to the high school. The school had reserved its auditorium for their practice.

Once inside, the students were assigned a place in line alphabetically. The teachers gathered in the back while the principal and vice principal ran the kids through their paces.

Olivia took a sip from her coffee cup. “Are you and Mikey still going to visit your sister in San Francisco this summer?”

“Maybe.” Olivia knew all about her dead navy SEAL fiancé. When would she be able to tell everyone the good news about Miguel? She was pretty tired of being the poor, young fiancée, left to raise a child by herself.