Hudson: SEALs of Honor Book 27 Read online

  “Well, nobody’ll be dealing with the people now,” he said quietly. He got her to the main floor and brought her slowly out to the front steps. The fire department and cops were everywhere at this point. As soon as they were seen, they were quickly rushed outside and told to stay out. He just nodded, waved the older woman to one of the EMTs, and Hudson searched the shadows for Avery. He found her standing off to the side, looking for him. He walked over and grabbed her in his arms again.

  She threw her arms around his neck and just held him close. “My God,” she said, “that was so scary.”

  He looked up at the building, noting it wasn’t quite as bad as he had thought. It looked like several floors on the right-hand side had taken a blast of some kind.

  “Do you know what happened?” she asked in a low whisper.

  He shook his head. “I have no clue.” But inside he did. That was far too much like a bomb blast, and he wouldn’t be at all surprised if this had been some sort of terrorist attack. “Some convention is scheduled for this afternoon too,” he said. “There could be a lot of people looking for new housing.”

  “Oh my,” she said. “Well, nothing we can do here. Let’s go.”

  Instinctively he wanted to stay and help, but he didn’t know anybody here in local law enforcement, and nobody knew him. He hadn’t been called in to help, and, at the moment, he would just be in the way. With a last look to make sure the older woman he had helped out would be okay, he quickly retreated with Avery at his side, with his duffel over one shoulder, and they walked down the street.

  With so many cops and fire engines, Hudson knew it would just be chaos for the next several hours. They would probably put the call out for anybody who had seen or heard anything. He just didn’t know if he’d seen or heard anything important.

  Immediately the two men came to mind.

  *

  Avery was still shaking inside, more because of the shock of watching Hudson race back into the building that was obviously in deep structural chaos. She didn’t know if it was really his bag he was after or if he was trying to help someone. But, typical of him, he’d gone in without a thought. She shook her head. “You know that you could have been hurt going back in there.”

  “I could have,” he said, “but I didn’t want … I wanted to make sure that nobody else was hurt on the one side that was accessible.”

  “I know the firemen were telling everybody to get out, so they could do a head count.”

  “Right,” he said. “I’ll have to contact them and let them know I’m safe.”

  “Maybe we should have done that first.”

  “They probably weren’t set up for anybody to even check in yet,” he murmured. “It was the opposite side of the hotel that was damaged, and I don’t know exactly how many people might have been over there.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, as she looked back. “I think part of that area had some of the big conference rooms. But likely on the lower floors.”

  “True,” he said. “But still there’s a lot of damage. It won’t be an easy thing to solve.”

  “No,” she said sadly. “It’s an iconic landmark.”

  He looked back at it. “I don’t think so,” he said. “It wasn’t there when I was here before.”

  She laughed at that. “Okay, so it’s more nouveau than legacy, but it’s a beautiful building.”

  “No argument there,” he said, but she could tell, as he was looking back, that he was distracted. “What do you really think happened?”

  He leaned down and whispered, “Bomb.” She gasped and stopped in her tracks. He nudged her forward and said, “Keep walking.”

  “Why would you think that?” she asked.

  “Because of the way the blast came down,” he said.

  “Do you think you have anything to offer the officials for skills?”

  “No, I wouldn’t be called in for something like this,” he said. “We’re almost never called in on local soil anyway.”

  “Great,” she said. “Why wouldn’t your SAR skills be utilized in an area like this?”

  “Mostly because we’re so busy doing out-of-country stuff,” he said.

  “Ah.” She nodded. “I guess, but still it seems wrong.”

  “If they need me, I’m there. Believe me,” he said. At that, his phone rang, and he quickly answered.

  “Jesus! Wasn’t that the hotel you were booked at?”

  “News travels fast,” he said to Mason, putting it on Speakerphone.

  Avery appreciated that. She wanted to be kept in the loop here. From what she’d heard about Mason, he always had his finger on the pulse of chaos.

  “Only bad news,” he said, his tone grim. “Are you okay?”

  “I am, mostly because I had just met Avery in the lobby, and we were on the way out the front when it blew.”

  “Good Lord, it was that close?”

  “It was. We were across the road when the side of the hotel came down.”

  “Did you see anything?”

  “Not really,” he said. He hesitated and then added, “I did see some guys who seemed out of place when I arrived, which makes me wonder.” He quickly told Mason about the two men.

  “Nothing else?”

  “No, just that impression,” he said, “and it was a bizarre one at that. Just, you know, when you catch something that looks like it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “We see that all the time, don’t we?”

  “Yeah. Not sure what to think about it.”

  “I’ll touch base with a couple people and let them know.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Right now it’s absolute chaos here.”

  “Of course it is,” he said, “but stay handy.”

  “Yeah, I need to reach out to tell the hotel that I’m alive and well too.”

  “Yeah, I can take care of that,” he said. “What I don’t want is for them to assume you were part of this.”

  “Good Lord,” he said. “Why would I be part of it?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said, “but, if you think about it, it’s quite possible that somebody recognized you, just like we keep tabs on our known enemies.”

  “Sure,” he said, “but I literally just walked into the hotel—and out again.”

  “We all have enemies,” Mason said. “It’s just a matter of how badly they want us.”

  “But I’ve not had conflict with anybody recently. And I didn’t recognize the two military-looking men.”

  “Just because they aren’t on our list yet doesn’t mean they aren’t our enemies. I don’t believe in coincidences. I also don’t think we should disregard your gut instinct that these guys stuck out to you. Hell, just look back at that last job—when you guys rescued Gizella.”

  “Of course. An American governor’s family missing from a yacht that somehow crashed into a Russian container ship in the ocean? That wasn’t a coincidence either. Enemies can come from anywhere. Not to mention the fact that Baylor’s been grinning like a fool ever since meeting Gizella. What else is there to know about it?”

  “A terrorist was picked up a few months back now, I guess. He was released at the time but then was picked up again for some other crime yesterday. Now he’s trying to bargain his way out, saying he has information on an attack against the Americans.”

  “Sure, but this is pretty flimsy,” he said. “It’s just me here.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Mason said. “The conference there—a convention happening in Vail—is with law enforcement.”

  At that, Hudson stopped and frowned. “Like standard law enforcement?”

  “Yeah. It’s all about computers and security updates,” he said.

  “Well, if that’s the case, they failed to keep abreast of intel on the ground,” he said, feeling a little stressed now, wondering what the hell was going on.

  “Yep, you and I both know that,” he said, “but I don’t know who else might have considered that angle.”

&nbsp
; “So, these aren’t the field guys? These are more the brainiacs?”

  “That would be my assumption, but I don’t know that for sure,” he said. “A lot of people are moving up the ranks and changing what they’re doing these days. We can’t stay in our positions forever.”

  “No, I know that,” he said. “I was thinking of it myself earlier.” As Hudson and Avery approached the restaurant, he said, “we’re here now, at a little pizza place, Enzo’s.”

  “I’ve been to Enzo’s,” Mason said. “Good pizza.”

  “And great coffee,” he said, “so I’ll hang up. If you have any more information, call me back.” And, with that, he pocketed his phone, turned to Avery. “Hey, sorry about that, but this has kind of shaken everybody.”

  “Including me,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t thinking that anything like this would happen when I woke up today.” As a matter of fact, she hadn’t been at all sure of what would happen. She had gotten his text out of the blue and then was completely over the moon to think that he was coming. This man had always been very special to her. “It’s such a weird thing to have happen.”

  “Well, we don’t think of things like that here in a place like Vail,” he said, now inside Enzo’s and looking out the window toward the hotel. Sirens were still screaming outside. “We think of this being a ski town, a ski resort, where everybody just comes to have fun.”

  “Are you saying it isn’t?” she asked.

  “Well, it is,” he said, with a big smile. “But obviously something is majorly wrong.” And he cast back another look. He shook his head. “Just so much chaos.”

  “I know,” she said, as she too stared out the window.

  “Have you had anything to do with that hotel?” he asked her.

  “No,” she said. “I finally quit hopping around in rentals, condos, and things. I have my own apartment now.”

  “Right. Did you ever buy that?”

  “I did,” she said, with a bright smile in return.

  “Wow.”

  “I know,” she said, “but I have to admit that lately I haven’t really enjoyed living here as much.”

  “How come?”

  “I don’t know. I just think the whole ski-resort appeal is starting to wear off.”

  “Hey, I hear you there,” he said, still staring out in the street.

  Finally they were seated, and a waitress quickly joined them and asked what they wanted. Without even discussing it with him, Avery ordered their normal pizza and coffees for both of them. The woman just nodded and took off. Avery watched as Hudson continued to stare out the window the entire time. “You want to go back and check it out?”

  He shrugged and said, “You know they won’t let me anywhere close now.”

  “Only because they don’t know you.”

  “That’s right, and they don’t know anything about what I do. I’m just another tourist to them.”

  “Well, you are, but I’m not,” she said, with a smirk.

  “Trust me. Nobody’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

  “Unless it’s pertinent to the case,” a man said beside them.

  Hudson looked over to see an old friend. “Dennis!” he said, jumping up and giving the other man a great big hug. “Good Lord, it’s good to see you.”

  “Likewise. I didn’t expect to see you here though.”

  “Well, I, for one, am still trying to get a cup of coffee and get over the shakes,” Avery said, as she jumped up to give Dennis a hug too. “We were both in that hotel when, … when the blast went through it.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I’d just met Hudson in the lobby, and we were heading out the front door when the blast hit.”

  “Any idea what it was?”

  Hudson gave a one-arm shrug. “Seemed more like a bomb than anything.”

  “They’ll say it was a gas leak,” Dennis said, with a twist of his lips.

  Hudson nodded. “Wouldn’t that be typical.” He looked at Dennis. “What are you doing these days?”

  “I’m a detective,” he said, “and I have to admit our days will get very difficult over this explosion now. I’m worried about deaths,” he said. “The good news was the timing. Checkout had already happened, and check-in for tonight hadn’t really started. Plus, given the season, the occupancy was really low. But they’re trying to do a head count to make sure everyone got out okay.”

  “Well, I haven’t called in on the head count,” he said. “I need to, although my boss was just saying that he would.”

  “Mason?”

  “Yeah, Mason,” he said. “Do you know him?”

  “Yeah, I remember him from the last time you were here.”

  “Oh, right,” Hudson said, with a smile. “I forgot about that. A group of us came that time, didn’t we?”

  “Absolutely, and you guys skied the crap out of that mountain.”

  “We did. It was great fun. We shredded for days.”

  “It looked like you were having a blast,” he said. “Anyway, if Mason will call and check you in, we’re probably fine, but I’ll make sure that everybody knows you’re okay.”

  “Thank you,” Hudson said. They watched as Dennis left, the detective’s gaze on the scene in front of him, as he headed to the hotel. “I kind of feel bad, leaving him like that.”

  “And again, is there anything you can do about it? No,” she said. “If people knew who you were and what you did for a living, then maybe. But you know perfectly well that they don’t.”

  He laughed. “Still doesn’t stop me from worrying about it though.”

  “Of course not,” she said.

  He grabbed her hands and said, “How come you’re so understanding?”

  “Hey,” she said, “life is a journey, remember?”

  “It certainly is. Whether we like it or not, it keeps changing what we do and how we think, doesn’t it?”

  “Every damn day,” she said, with a laugh.

  He shook his head. “And how come you haven’t got a new boyfriend?”

  “I did,” she said in a lazy tone. “And then I ditched him. And then I got another and ditched him too.”

  “Wow, what’s wrong with them?”

  They weren’t you. She bit back that thought. She didn’t know why he was here and what he was up to, and she didn’t want to ruin their time together. She would give anything to have more than their best-friend scenario, but it wasn’t in the cards. “Hey,” she said, “what about you? I keep expecting to hear that you’ve married.”

  “Naw,” he said. “Not ready.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked in a teasing voice.

  “Well, you’re not the first person to bring it up,” he said. “Seems like other people are noticing that it’s been a long time, and I should have recovered but haven’t.”

  “You’ve probably recovered,” she said, “keeping that grief out of habit.”

  He looked at her in surprise and then slowly nodded. “And, believe it or not,” he said, “I had considered that.”

  “I’m not trying to push. But you know that life is for living.”

  “I know,” he said, with a nod. “And you’re right. It is. I need to get back to living for more than just work.” He stared out the window, while she studied his face.

  “And you’re not getting any younger.”

  He looked at her in mock horror. “Hey, hey, hey, no old jokes, please.”

  “Never,” she said, with a smirk.

  He rolled his eyes at her. “You always were pretty wicked that way,” he said comfortably.

  “Hey, we’re both getting older,” she said.

  “Which is why I’m surprised you haven’t found a serious relationship. You always wanted a family.”

  “I did,” she said quietly. “And, yes, the biological clock is ticking away. I’m thirty-one after all.”

  “Then it’s not ticking that bad,” he said.

  “Well, that may b
e a difference of opinion. But we’ll see. I don’t want to rush into anything just because I’m getting older if it’s not with the right person.”

  “I get it.” As they sat here enjoying their coffee, another emergency vehicle went by, lights on and sirens wailing.

  She winced. “That was an ambulance.”

  He nodded, his face grim. “I saw that.”

  Chapter 2

  “I was really hoping there weren’t any casualties,” Avery said.

  “It would be pretty hard for there not to be,” he said. “A lot of rooms were affected, even if it was right between check-out and check-in time. Anybody here for longer than a day may have been in their room. Plus the housekeeping staff and all of that.”

  “It’s noon, so we can only hope that on a weekday in the down season the least number of people hurt are possible.”

  He looked at her sharply. “You know something? That could be important here.”

  She stared at him. “What could be?”

  “The fact that it appears to be when there would be the least number of people. Think about it. Off-season, middle of the day, weekday.”

  “And yet the convention people were coming.”

  “Yeah, and yet the convention,” he said and then shrugged. “You’re right. That makes no sense.”

  “Hey, you put that massive brain of yours to work, and we’ll get somebody to listen,” she said. “Like Dennis.”

  Hudson smiled at her. “Only you would say that I have a massive brain. I don’t exactly advertise my brainpower.”

  “Of course not,” she said, “but maybe you should. Just think if people had any idea that you were a Mensa member.”

  He shook his head. “That’s definitely something I don’t let people know about.”

  “What about Mason?”

  “I haven’t said anything to him about it, but it’s possible he knows.”

  “It’s probably in your file, isn’t it?”

  “Well, if it is, it’s not from my doing,” he said, with a chuckle.

  “Ah! So as long as nobody brings it up, you’re happy.”

  “Exactly.” But he turned and twisted and frowned.

  “Do you want to go back?” she asked.

  “It won’t be calm enough yet,” he said.