Wednesday
An hour later Luke went to pick up the food. Rachel and I dozed on couches in his family room. I was just drifting off when the house phone rang. I figured I’d better answer it. I went into the kitchen and picked up the extension.
“Ellie? Grizzly here.”
“Hey, Griz. What’s going on?”
“I have some information for Luke.”
“I can pass it on if you’d like.”
He paused. Then: “Sure. I guess it would be okay. Tell him I found out more about Stokes.”
I stiffened. “What about him?”
“How much do you know about his background?”
“Just that he was in the CIA.”
“That’s right. Well, he left under somewhat mysterious circumstances.”
“Yeah?”
“I made some calls and discovered he was kicked out.”
I straightened up. “For what?”
“Apparently, he was in Afghanistan and got hold of some intel about the Taliban that he passed on to the military.”
“And?”
“It was lousy intel. Half a dozen American soldiers went into a village and were slaughtered. The general in charge called the Agency and told them the army would never work with the guy again.”
“Really.”
“Yeah, but because he was with the Agency so long, they agreed to keep it under wraps.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“After what he did to you and your daughter, neither am I.”
“You think Delcroft knows about this?”
“I wouldn’t count on it. My sources are on deep background.”
“You rock, Griz.”
“I know.”
I walked the phone into the family room. Rachel was asleep. At least her eyes were closed. I went back into the kitchen. “What prompted you to find this out, Griz?”
“I told you. I nosed around.”
“Sorry. Wrong question. Why were you looking for it?”
There was a slight hesitation. “I thought you knew. Luke asked me to.”
When Luke got back, I told him about Grizzly’s call and what he’d said. He walked into the kitchen and started unpacking the cartons of food. I followed him in.
“What are you doing, Luke?”
He threw me a glance over his shoulder. “Getting dinner ready. How’s Rachel?”
I planted my hands on my hips. “Don’t try to change the subject. You know what I mean. Why are you looking into Stokes’ background?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Pretend it’s not.”
“I want to dig up as much dirt on the asshole as possible. And then make it public. Along with what he did to you and Rachel.”
“What if I don’t want that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“Um…there’s something called privacy. I know there’s not a lot of it left anymore, but I’d like to hold on to the tiny fragments we still have. And I don’t want Rachel’s situation out there. She’s still fragile. What if some idiot wants to finish what Stokes started?”
Luke turned around. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. And your names aren’t going to be public.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You’ll see.”
I took a deep breath. I loved Luke. I trusted him with my life. But this side of him, this angry, vengeful mind-set, wasn’t like him. Still, I owed it to him to respect his motives. I knew they sprang from his desire to protect us. To make sure whatever threat was out there would be neutralized. I sighed and got out plates. “Whatever you’re up to…please…be careful.”