I slide my credit card across the pub table. "Work up a charge, but don't bankrupt me."
"How shitfaced should we be?" Lovell asks.
"Three hundred should do it," I inform my battalion brother.
Cameron Lovell spins the plastic card on the sticky tabletop. The gold band on his left hand catches the light, and a wave of pity hits my gut. He still hasn't taken it off. Since his honorable discharge, he's grown a thick beard and put on weight, most of it muscle. The muscle will be from his job as a firefighter, but I believe the weight is likely due to a drinking problem. His eyes are bloodshot, made more obvious by the light blue tint to his irises. He's already put back three beers, and I've only been sitting here for ten minutes.
"How's Harper?" I ask.
Lovell shrugs, though I see the tension in his broad shoulders. "Fine. Still hasn't said a word."
I nod, and the pity solidifies in my stomach. "Where is she tonight?"
"Hannah's sister is watching her. I was supposed to be on shift, but my schedule got rearranged." Lovell holds two fingers up, and the bartender nods, letting us know he'll be at our table soon. "Harper is starting a special needs preschool program in a couple weeks, so Chief has given me the weekends off to be with her."
"That's good."
Functioning alcoholic, I conclude. Lovell is a good man—a workhorse, and a dedicated father. He'll fight the addiction, keep it from affecting those areas of his life. He won't let his three-year-old see the inferno of grief residing in his heart. He won't let the darkness bleed into his job. But he can't hold it at bay forever. There are two ends to addiction—quit, or drown.
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"Everything's in the truck," Lovell explains, passing me a key ring. I set my cell phone and the keys to my rental on the table, as that's what Lovell will be driving home. I pray he doesn't crash it. He points to an old brass composite key. "This will get you off the grid. Keller has given you permission to use his cabin until midday tomorrow, but it needs to be clean when you're done."
"Understood."
"I'm trusting you, Commander Haas." Lovell chew on his bottom lip, his expression hardening. "I know you can do this without leaving a trace, and I fully support your motive, but this needs to be said. I can't be connected to your actions tonight. I have a kid relying on me. Harper's mother is in a grave. She doesn't need her dad in a federal prison."
I've had help to prepare for this. Five former members of Force Recon will have played a hand in the murder of Senator Albert Wolfe, but Cameron Lovell has been more involved than anyone. He's also the only man who knows my reason for wanting Wolfe dead. Given Lovell has a young daughter, he volunteered to assist.
He has provided most of my supplies. What he didn't have in storage, he purchased with cash from remote retailers. What he couldn't purchase, he pilfered from his job, then forged the inventories. He's even provided a transport vehicle, although the truck is registered to his sister-in-law's ex-boyfriend, who has been missing for years.
