Chapter 10
Jason was currently sitting in Clay's living room. He refused to think of it as his living room. He wasn't ready for that reality yet. The deed to the house still sat unsigned even though it had been a couple of days since he had read Clay's will. He understood why Clay left the house to him. There were two reasons, one he wanted it to stay in the family, so eventually Emma or Mickey could live here and raise their family. For it to them be given to one of their children to continue on within the family. It meant a lot to Clay for it to stay a Hayes' house. That passion was something Jason was going to ensure continued to live on. It was the least he could do for Clay. The second reason why Clay left it to him was because he knew how much good it would do for him. He knew how much Jason loved to hear the sounds of the waves crashing against the ocean. He knew how hard it was for him to sleep in total silence. Clay had left this house to him to help him heal from the loss of his son. Jason loved him for that, but at the same time it hurt. It hurt being here and seeing all of the good times they had in this house.
Jason could still remember sitting here with Mickey as Emma and Clay walked out dressed in high heel boots and make up. Clay had tight black leather pants on and glitter on the side of his face. Jason couldn't help but laugh when he saw him, not because of what he looked like, but because of that huge stupid smile on his face. Clay was the definition of confident and he had no problem dressing in drag and going to a drag show. Him and Emma looked so much like siblings that night, both of them were laughing and helping the other one get ready. They had allowed Jason to take pictures before they headed out. From what he had heard, it was a great night, one Emma would cherish for the rest of her life.
Jason could remember all of the times they hung out on the couch watching movies. All the times he was watching football while Clay read a book, pretending to be paying attention to the game. The runs they had taken on the beach in the morning before breakfast. All of the dinners they had cooked. Jason had his own apartment, but it seemed like he spent more time over here then he did at his own place. Jason couldn't help but feel guilt at the fact that he wasn't here the night Clay had been drugged and raped. If he was here, they never would have been able to rape him. He would have been drugged, but he would have been safe here with him. He would have called Trent to look him over and make sure he would be alright. They would never have been able to rape and record it if he hadn't been alone. It was a guilt that Jason would carry around with him for the rest of his life.
Today the guys and Yoder were going to be coming over so they could look through Clay's things and see if there was anything personal they wanted to keep for themselves. Jason had sent Emma and Mickey back to school, something Emma wasn't happy about. She wanted to stay longer, but she had exams and Clay wouldn't have wanted her to lose this semester. Mickey was happy to get back, but mostly so he wouldn't have to be staying where Clay had been living. They had both been given one of Clay's new dog tags to carry around with them. Emma had already put her's around her neck as a way to stay close with Clay. Jason had Clay's old tags around his own neck. They had both said they didn't want anything right now, but Jason knew that could change. He was going to let the guys look around, but he wasn't going to be donating anything.
He wanted to keep everything still in its place for a bit longer. When the kids were older they might want one of his books or a memento he had from one of his trips. It was better to keep everything here so if they wanted it, it would be here for them. Jason knew he was just holding on to stuff just to hold onto some of Clay, but he didn't care. His son was dead, he had every right to mourn and grieve however he wanted to. Even if that meant he refused to wash Clay's used coffee cup from that morning. It was his right. There was a knock at the door and Jason didn't even bother with getting up, the guys would let themselves in.
The guys all came around the corner and saw Jason sitting in the living room. They could see he had barely slept, but they didn't think he would. It took a long time before Jason was able to move on from the death of Alana; they all knew the death of Clay was going to take even longer.
"Hey Boss." Sonny said, sadly.
It was hard for all of them to be in Clay's house right now. All of them were painfully aware that Clay had been violated in his home. It was too fresh and it was making this harder, a lot harder.
"Hey." Jason simply said.
"How are we going to do this?" Vic asked, gently.
The guys all knew he had never gone through the death of a teammate before and it was natural for him to have some confusion and questions. What the guys didn't know was how much Vic didn't care to be here. He just wanted to get this done and over with so the guys could all move on. He wanted to go back on operations and show the guys just how much of an asset he would be.
"We can go through his things and if there is anything you'd like to keep as a memory of him, you can." Ray explained.
"Yoder should be here soon. If you guys are fine with it, he should get first pick." Jason said.
Yoder had been the one that knew Clay since he was nineteen years old. He had watched Clay grow up and become the man that he was. They were brothers for a lot longer than Clay was their brother. It only seemed right he would get to look through it first.
"He's known Clay for almost a decade, he deserves to have first look through." Trent said.
"Ya." Sonny agreed.
There was a knock at the door before it opened and they guys all knew it was Yoder. Cerberus went over to the front door and Yoder gave him a pet as he walked in. Cerberus followed Yoder into the living room.
"Thank-you for including me in this." Yoder said, as he walked into the living room to see all of the guys there.
"You were a brother to Clay, that makes you family. Transfer form went in yesterday, you are being moved over to Bravo. You'll start right away." Jason said.
"What?" Yoder asked, softly.
He never expected to be picked up by Bravo, especially so soon after Clay's death. He didn't think the guys would want a reminder of Clay everyday.
"Part of Clay's will was asking us to have you on Bravo. He said you would make a great number one for when the time comes. Clay's always had good instincts, I trust him. Starting tomorrow you will be Bravo Seven." Jason explained.
"Thank-you, I'll do everything I can to not let you down." Yoder said, with a thick voice.
"It's going to be weird being called Bravo Six." Vic said, sadly. However, on the inside he was loving this. He would finally get to be Bravo Six and he could now start to erase Clay from the team.
"You won't be." Jason said, with an edge to his voice.
"I don't understand." Vic said back.
"You will be Bravo Eight. The Bravo Six patch will be retired." Jason said.
He wasn't ever going to have another Bravo Six. That was Clay's and it would always be his for as long as he was in control.
"As it should be." Full Metal said, throwing his support behind Jason's decision.
Normally a number doesn't get retired, you just accept that someone else would be holding it. But in this situation it was different. Clay wasn't just their brother or Jason's son, he was the heart of Bravo. Something Full Metal saw in each and every single one of them. They were a team, but Clay made them a family. Clay brought not only Bravo together, but Alpha too. It was why when Clay was hurt in Manilla that Full Metal wanted to be a part of Bravo. He wanted to help bring these bastards down, but he stayed because Clay just had that effect on people. He made you want to be better, a better person, a better operative, a better brother. He was the heart of Bravo and with his death, his number should always stay with him.
"Ya, it should." Sonny sadly agreed.
"I get it, and I completely agree." Vic said with understanding to his voice.
Internally though he was pissed that Clay had screwed him out of his rightful number. Still, everyone would know he was really Bravo Six and not Eight. Something else that pissed him off, Yoder was the new guy and yet he was getting ranked higher than him. It was bullshit, and something Vic was planning on correcting eventually.
"Yoder, you can go and look through Clay's things for anything personal you'd like to keep." Jason said, looking to get this over and done with. He wanted to just get drunk and forget about this whole situation.
Yoder gave a nod and headed towards the stairs. Cerberus followed behind him as Yoder made his way to Clay's bedroom. Clay's bedroom door was open already and Yoder had to take a few shaky deep breaths before he could walk into the bedroom, into the room where Clay had been raped. Cerberus whined next to him and Yoder couldn't help but think that Cerberus could still feel Clay's pain radiating from this room. Yoder started to pet Cerberus' head as he spoke.
"I know boy. I miss him too."
Yoder knew he couldn't stand here all day, it wasn't going to make it easier. He had to go in and get this done, or the wound would never be able to start to heal. With a final breath Yoder headed inside the room. Cerberus followed him and was instantly up on the bed and grabbed Clay's pillow and placed it down on the end of the bed. Yoder then watched Cerberus get off the bed and grab one of Clay's dirty t-shirts and brought it up to the bed and placed it down on the pillow before he laid down and placed his head on it. Yoder couldn't help but think that Cerberus had picked the items he wanted from Clay. They would smell like him and with his k9 sense of smell, he would be able to smell Clay's scent on them a lot longer than any of them would be able to.
Yoder started to look through Clay's things, but he didn't see anything that he would wish to keep. He was never a sentimental type, he kept all of his memories in his mind, he didn't need trinkets to get him through. Yoder turned to Clay's side tables and started to look through them. He found some photos of him, Clay and Brian back in Team Three. He collected the photos that he found, as well as Brian's dog tags. Yoder then went over to Clay's dresser and looked through his drawers. Clay was always keeping things in them, little tokens that he cherished over the years. He found little mementos that Clay had picked up from each tour he went on. He left them in case one of the guys wanted them. In the third drawer Yoder discovered something he didn't expect to find. A note addressed to him. Yoder picked it up and dread was instantly flooding his whole body. They never found a suicide note, not in Clay's truck or in his house. Officially it was ruled an accidental drowning, unofficially though they knew it was suicide. However, without a suicide note the guys had all tried to trick their minds into thinking Clay could have fallen in. Or maybe he didn't think he was going to kill himself, but reacted without thinking. They had been making excuses as to what could have happened that day, because it was easier than knowing your brother had chosen to kill himself instead of fighting.
Yoder went and sat down on the chair in the bedroom and with a slow deep breath he opened the letter. The first thing he noticed was how shaky the writing was, there were also tear stains on the paper. Clay had been crying while he wrote this.
D,
If you are reading this then I'm dead. I don't know how it happened or the situation surrounding my death, but whatever it is, don't believe it. I've been keeping things from the guys, from all of you, things that had been happening to me. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't have any proof, solid or otherwise, about who was behind it. But in my gut I know, I know who has been behind everything. The social media page, the General changing his mind, the so-called prank on base, the poisoning, and last night. Oh my god last night. He gave me a drink, he was the only one to make me a drink and he gave me two of them. Someone was with him, I don't know who, but he had red shoes and I remember a neck tattoo of a bird or something. It was Vic, he gave me the drinks, he took me out the back door and told me he was gonna take me home. I don't remember anything after that.
I got cameras all over the outside of my house, I checked the footage, they were turned off. My security system was disabled and I know I armed it that night, I always do. Somehow they were both turned off. I told the guys I got the security system because it was an expensive house and right on the beach, but that was a lie so they wouldn't worry. My truck had all of my tires slashed, there was a brick through my window and I've been getting endless calls from a blocked number. Sometimes they hang up but other times they use a computerized voice to tell me what they are gonna do to me. I recorded them all, it's all in my safe in my closet, you know the code. You need to get it and keep looking into it. Don't tell anyone though, especially Jason, he'll go off the deep end. He'll become obsessed and that's not fair to him. He won't be able to handle it and it will consume him. I need you to keep it from him until you have solid proof of who it was. I'm telling you though it was Vic. All of this has been Vic.
I'm dead, I guarantee you he had something to do with it. If my death is ruled an accident, I am telling you it wasn't. I'll keep adding to this letter, with new information as I find it. When something new happens. You'll know everything that I do so you can find the proof that you need to stop Vic and make sure he pays. Please be careful and keep an eye on the guys. My death will hit them hard, but with Vic still on the team there is no telling who could be next. That includes yourself. You have to be careful, don't let him get close to you and don't go anywhere with him. If you are a threat to him, he'll take you out.
I love you. Please be careful brother. I don't want to meet you up here too.
Love Firecracker.
Yoder's hand was over his mouth as he read the letter. He was expecting a suicide note addressed to him, he was not expecting this. Clay had clearly written this the day after his rape, that morning when he woke up and discovered what happened to him. He wrote this out then, so he clearly expected something could potentially happen to him. He wasn't expecting it that soon though or he wouldn't have gone anywhere. He would have told someone. There had been more instances happening with Clay then he had shared with them. Yoder knew the guys would be pissed, but they would also understand because they would have done the same thing. Clay was leaving this for him, because he wasn't in Bravo right now and he would be able to remain objective in this situation. This letter though proved one thing, Clay didn't kill himself and there was a very real possibility that he was murdered on that bridge.
Yoder got up and quickly went into Clay's closet and over to his hidden safe. He entered Brian's military ID and saw within the safe a single flash drive. He grabbed it and put it into his pocket before he closed the safe and made his way out of the room with his items. Yoder tucked away the letter into his back pocket so the guys wouldn't see it. He didn't know what to do, but he did know he had to tell someone. He couldn't keep this to himself, it would be too dangerous. If something happened to him and he was killed, no one would know to investigate Vic. Yoder walked down the stairs and headed into the living room.
"I took Brian's dog tags and photos of the three of us. I hope that's ok."
"Of course." Jason said.
"Cerb?" Brock asked.
"He's on Clay's bed. He grabbed his pillow and a dirty t-shirt of his and laid down on them."
"I guess Cerb picked what he wanted." Sonny said.
"He's unsettled. He won't eat and he just lays down on his bed all day and night. He won't play with my other dogs anymore. Clay was his person, the one he picked, he might never recover from losing him." Brock explained sadly.
The guys all knew how close Cerberus was with Clay and just like them Cerberus was grieving. He would need time to overcome the loss just like them.
"Son, why don't you go next." Ray suggested.
"I'll go with you." Brock said. He wanted to see Cerberus and he knew Sonny was going to need support for this.
Sonny gave a nod and headed up the stairs with Brock. Yoder took this time to try and figure out who he should be telling about the letter. He would normally tell Jason, but Clay had said not to and he would have to trust Clay on that. He knew he couldn't tell Sonny, he was too much of a hot head he wouldn't be able to keep his cool around Vic. Ray was out because he was close to Vic. Vic was out for obvious reasons. That left Brock and Trent, but Yoder didn't know them. He couldn't say how they would react and that was too much of a risk. That only left Full Metal, he wasn't really a hot head, more like the guy you call to get rid of a body. He was a Master Chief though and he would have a better idea of how they should proceed. Yoder looked over at Full Metal and saw that he was looking out the window. Yoder headed over to him and as he walked by he nudged Full Metal just slightly, just enough for him to look at him. Yoder pointed his eyes outside as he headed that way, he knew Full Metal would silently follow him.
Once outside Yoder continued to walk until he was down by the water. He looked back slightly and saw Full Metal following him. Full Metal spoke as he stood next to Yoder.
"What?"
"I found this in Clay's drawer. It's addressed to me. I don't know what to do." Yoder said, as he pulled the letter out and handed it to Full Metal.
Full Metal took the letter and was expecting to be reading a suicide note. He was shocked at what he did read. Instantly he was pissed. This letter was proof that Clay didn't kill himself and he suspected Vic having a hand in his death. In all of it, including his rape. This was huge, and they had to be extremely careful on how they proceeded with this. They didn't have proof that Vic had anything to do with everything that happened to Clay. This wasn't something small, it was criminal. Vic could be sent away to a high security military prison for the rest of his life. This prison wouldn't be your traditional prison, it would be one of the black sites that the military had in a third world country. He would be spending the rest of his life in a hole. This was serious, too serious to overreact and screw up.
Full Metal let out a sigh before he spoke in his Alpha One voice. "Go back in there, act normal, get Jason to come out here. Only him."
"Clay said not to include him. That he would obsess over it." Yoder immediately argued.
"I know, and he will. But Vic is on his team and he needs to know he has someone he can't trust. If Vic did go after Clay, if he was stupid enough to go after Jason's kid, there's no telling what he could do to anyone else. He'll be able to keep a level head if that means getting justice for his son. Just do it quietly, we don't need Vic or Ray finding all of us out here. Lie if you have to."
"Got it."
Yoder turned and headed back inside. The trick was going to be getting Jason out of the house without the others thinking anything suspicious was going on. Yoder headed inside and grabbed three beers. He went back into the living room and handed one to Jason as he spoke.
"Full Metal said you needed this and that you should come out and enjoy the sun. Said you can't sit inside all day."
Jason looked at Yoder and was about to argue about being inside when the look on Yoder's face told Jason something else was going on. Yoder moved his eyes to outside, as he handed Jason his beer. Jason took it as he spoke.
"Fine, but just one."
Jason got up and Yoder headed outside with the two beers in his hands and Jason behind him. Once back over to Full Metal he handed him a beer as he opened the one left in his hand. Full Metal took the beer with a questioning look.
"I needed to give a reasonable excuse for him to be out here." Yoder answered the unspoken question.
"What is going on?" Jason demanded, but there was no fire to his voice.
"Drink the beer and act like we are talking about the sand." Full Metal said, as he discreetly handed Jason the letter. "Yoder found it in Clay's drawer, it was addressed to him. You cannot react, they could be watching."
Jason took the letter, but he had no interest in reading a suicide note. He understood why Clay took his own life. That was made very clear by the tens of thousands of text messages and emails of pure hate on his phone. It was too much for Clay and in a moment of weakness he took his own life. Jason didn't need a letter to know how sorry Clay was for his actions. He knew he was. He didn't blame Clay, he blamed the assholes that raped him and put it on the internet. He blamed the thousands of people that sent him messages of hate to push him over the edge.
"I don't need to read a suicide note. I know he's sorry and I know why he did it." Jason said, as he held the note out for Full Metal to take it back.
"It's not a suicide note. Read it Jason." Full Metal said, not budging from this.
Jason let out a huff and opened the note. Full Metal knew once Jason read it that his attitude would change. Jason could feel himself shaking at what he was reading. He was caught between being pissed off at Clay for not saying anything and being pissed off at Vic for potentially being the one behind all of this. He knew Clay keeping quiet was only because of the team and he didn't want to cause any problems that could get someone killed. He understood that as a team leader, but as a father, it pissed him off that Clay would keep this from him. That Clay felt like he had to keep this a secret, that he couldn't even tell his dad what had been happening in his life. It never should have gotten this far. Jason let out a shaky breath as he put the note into his back pocket.
"We need to be very careful." Full Metal said.
"If Vic had anything to do with this, I swear I will kill him." Jason said, with venom dripping from his voice.
"I'll help you bury the body. That's not the issue, we have to prove it first. You know how serious these charges are, we need to prove it was him. And there was no way in hell he didn't have help." Full Metal said.
"Clay's security system was turned off so no footage would be recorded, that had to happen somehow from outside of his house. No one had the code except you, I didn't even have it. I didn't understand it at first, because we've always had each other's codes, but I think he did it this way on purpose. I think he wanted to make sure no one could try and pin it on me. Vic had already tried to make me the escapegoat with the social media page, it would be easy for him to point the finger at me again." Yoder supplied.
"We need to know who he is working with. It could be the man that raped Clay. " Full Metal said.
"Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go back in there and act like you didn't find this note. Once everyone is gone we are going to head to the base and inform Eric of this. I'll give him a call and ask him to pull Clay's autopsy. We never got to see the official report."
"If the kid was pushed into that river, there would be handprint bruising on his back. It might not show up right away, we might need to exhume him to do a proper autopsy." Full Metal said, gently.
"I know, and I'll sign off on it if that is what we need to get whoever is responsible for his death. I am not going to have my son in the ground and the person responsible for his death walking around. Especially if that person is on this team. We do this quietly and we keep it away from them. We get the answers ourselves and once we have solid proof, we let them know." Jason said.
"Agreed." Full Metal said.
Yoder gave a nod in agreement. He didn't want to keep this from everyone, especially with him being new to the team, but he wasn't going to risk finding Clay's killer for anything. They didn't have solid proof, but Yoder knew in his gut that Clay didn't drown by accident. Someone killed him and he was going to find out who it was if it was the last thing he did. They all made their way back inside and acted like they had not just discovered this huge piece of information. It wasn't easy, but they stayed quiet as each team member went through Clay's things and kept one or two things for themselves. When Cerb came down he had both Clay's pillow and t-shirt in his mouth. Brock picked them up for him, but Cerb only allowed him to take Clay's pillow, he refused to give up the shirt. Vic went over to pet Cerberus as he spoke.
"You really miss him eh boy?"
When Vic went to reach out to pet Cerberus, Cerberus did something none of them expected. He snarled and attacked out at Vic's hand. Vic snapped it back just in time to avoid getting Cerb's mouth locked around it.
"Cerb, bad." Brock instantly said. He knew Cerberus had been acting differently since Clay's death, but he didn't think he would be dangerous to the guys.
Yoder, Full Metal and Jason's eyes were instantly on Cerberus and Vic. Cerberus attacking Vic signalled a lot to them and they couldn't help but wonder if he smelled Vic in Clay's bedroom.
"I'm sorry he must have thought you were trying to take Clay's shirt from him. Are you ok? He didn't get you right?" Brock asked Vic.
"Naw I moved away. And don't worry about it. He's a dog, he can't exactly express his feelings with words. I know Clay meant a lot to him." Vic said, with complete understanding to his voice. Even though on the inside he would have loved to kick the shit out of Cerberus for even trying to attack him.
"I need to get back to Naima and the kids. They're taking this really hard." Ray said.
"Ya of course. Give them my love." Jason said.
One by one the guys started to head out, leaving only Jason, Yoder and Full Metal. Jason pulled out his phone and called Blackburn, after three rings he answered.
"Blackburn."
"I'm on my way to the base, I need you to pull Clay's official autopsy please."
"Alright, why though?" Blackburn asked, uncertain by this.
"I'll explain when I get there. Just trust me and pull it."
"Alright, I'll meet you in the war room with it."
"Thanks Eric."
Jason ended the call and stood up. The others following his lead as they all headed out of the house and got into their own vehicles. They headed off for the base where they could hopefully get more information on Clay's death. The tension in the cars was thick. They all wanted to know what the truth was and they wanted to get to the bottom of everything. They now had a suspect and they needed to find some proof to make it all stick. Once they arrived on base they immediately headed inside and to Bravo's war room. They walked in to see Blackburn there already and he didn't look impressed.
"What's going on?" Blackburn asked, not even giving them a chance to say anything.
Yoder locked the door as Jason spoke, handing the letter to Blackburn as he did. "Yoder found a letter addressed to him in Clay's dresser."
Blackburn started to read the letter and instantly he knew why Jason had all but demanded to meet him and Clay's autopsy report. This letter changed everything. After reading it, Blackburn addressed them.
"I went to access Clay's autopsy report, but it was restricted access only. I made a few calls and not even Lindell or Admiral Andersom could access it."
"What does that mean? Why would it be so highly secured?" Yoder asked.
"They're hiding something." Full Metal answered.
"If this is Vic, he has someone higher up helping him." Jason instantly said.
"My money is on General White. He was an exile and then after we got back from tour he was back on base here. Vic could be working with him, it would explain how General White knew that Clay would be the one to take the beating over him." Blackburn said, before he turned to look at Jason. "You think there was foul play with his death."
"I think suicide didn't make sense for Clay. Not for him. I can understand being in the moment and emotions and with his level of autism it would be harder. But Swaneys' death hit him hard. He told me he couldn't imagine doing that to someone, despite the level of pain you were in. It didn't make sense that he wouldn't have left a note for us, for me. That he didn't reach out to me or to Emma. Clay was more stubborn than all of us, I can't see him just giving up and letting these people win." Jason answered.
"One night when Clay was twenty, we had some beers and we were talking about growing up. He had questions about what it was like to grow up gay. Clay told me that while his grandparents were alive Ash would show up once a year to see him. It was to make him look good and not for Clay, but that didn't stop Clay from being happy about seeing him. He was ten when it was the last time his grandparents ever let Ash come down to see him. Ash had taken him to the beach, he had tried to kill him." Yoder started.
"He what?" Jason, snapped.
"He tried to drown him, almost succeeded but people walked by and Ash had to make it look good. Clay woke up on the beach to Ash giving him mouth to mouth. Clay told his grandparents and they made sure Ash never came back while they were alive. I always suspected he came back after their death and was abusive to him. I tried to press over the years, but Clay always shuts down on it. The point though, ever since that day Clay's biggest fear is drowning. Me and Brian are the only ones that know that. If Clay was going to kill himself, he would have taken pills and gone to sleep. He would have left a note and made sure there wasn't a mess. The very last thing he would have done is drown." Yoder finished.
"He's right." Full Metal said. "That kid is organized. His cage is always clean, his house is always clean. He doesn't like messes, we all know that, but Vic wouldn't have. He doesn't pay that close attention to Clay. If he was going to kill himself, his house would have been clean. The sheets would have been washed, his dishes would have been done and put away. He wouldn't have left dishes in the sink, the bloody sheets for his bed. The dirty laundry in his basket. Everything would have been cleaned, and he would have had all of his paperwork sitting out for us with a note. Even his death, he would have made it clean, like taking pills. Something that wouldn't have a mess. His actions aren't reflecting who Clay is at his core. I don't even think he could go to bed with a dish in his sink."
"He can't. I've seen it, he does the same thing every night before bed. He makes sure the dishes are done, put away, every window and door is locked, twice, he double checks his truck is locked. Then he gets changed, reads for an hour, and then goes to sleep. Even when he stayed at my place for the two weeks he was sick, after he felt better he would make sure the place was clean before he could settle down to sleep. I figured it had to be connected to his autism and that need for a routine. Clay's compulsion wouldn't have allowed him to kill himself knowing his house was in that state." Jason said.
Now that he was calmer and not weighed down by Clay's apparent suicide, he could think clearly. Clay's actions weren't lining up with who Clay was. Yes in a heightened emotional state parts would be different, but not to this level.
"When we got the call that Clay's body was found in the river, I went back to the scene. The bridge he apparently jumped from was ten feet in the air, the river was only five feet deep." Blackburn started.
"It's not that easy to drown in water shorter than you. He would have had to sit down or lay down and fight every instinct in his body to not stand up. Even if he was going to kill himself by drowning, he lives on the beach. He could have just walked out and started swimming until he ran out of energy. It would have been easier." Full Metal said.
"You can't get his autopsy report at all?" Yoder asked.
"I can't even get Clay's military file. The whole thing has been classified as a high valued military asset. It's all redacted and restricted. I can't even get into it anymore." Blackburn answered.
"Someone is going through a lot of trouble to make sure Clay's death stays as an accidental drowning." Full Metal said, not liking the level of security that has been placed around Clay's death.
"We don't have a choice, we need to exhume him. If he jumped from that height into water that shallow, he'll have injuries to his legs. If he was pushed, he'd have bruising on his back and an injury to his head." Jason said.
"If he was pushed, which I think he was, a head injury would explain how he drowned. He could have been unconscious." Full Metal said.
"I understand why you need to know the truth, I'm not trying to stop you, but I do have to be realistic. In order to exhume the body of a Seal, it takes about a week to get the paperwork approved. However, with Clay being classified as a military asset we are looking at months up to a year to get it approved. It could be years to get it approved if we continue to be blocked. We would also need a valid reason to search and a letter written by Clay won't be enough. The writing is messy, the military could argue Clay didn't write it. Not to mention whoever is helping to cover this up and helping Vic, they could come after Bravo. They could call the team unstable, call you Jason unstable and have you removed. We have to assume the person that is helping Vic has to hate you just as much as Clay." Blackburn said.
"So getting Clay exhumed is impossible basically." Yoder said, not happy about this.
"There has to be a common denominator though in the Upper Brass that hates Jason and Clay. We saw how many political figures and Upper Brass were at Clay's funeral. How many of them were genuinely upset by his death. There has to be a small amount of Upper Brass that hates Clay." Full Metal said.
"Or someone that hates Ash so much they targeted Clay as payback." Yoder said.
"What about Ash? He runs a security firm with different hackers working for him. He could have easily by-passed Clay's security system." Jason said.
"We never did figure out who had called Ash when the kid was in the hospital. It could have been Vic." Full Metal suggested.
"It's possible. If you want we can look into it, I would suggest we bring Mandy up to speed on everything. She'll be able to look into this more without causing any waves. This needs to be done completely under the radar." Blackburn said.
"What about Admiral Anderson, can we get him to approve a discrete wire?" Jason asked.
"I could probably get that granted. It would need to be fully redacted and classified to make sure no one can view it. But we would probably be able to get mics within Ash's, and Vic's home. We could even get a mic in General White's home and office. We would have to place them very well hidden and when no one was around." Blackburn answered.
"We can be stealthy." Full Metal said.
"You do know though Jason, we would need to keep this completely hidden from the team. You will have to lie to them until we know for certain what truly happened and who is behind it. Can you be around Vic and treat him just like another member of the team, knowing he might be the reason Clay is not only dead, but had been raped?" Blackburn said, as he looked right at Jason.
"If it gets me the truth about his death. If it gets me the ones responsibile for my son's death and rape. I'll be his best friend and when it's time I'll stab him right in the back." Jason said with a deadly calm to his voice.
All he cared about was getting justice for Clay. he didn't care what he had to do to get it, he would. If that meant he had to act like nothing was different. If he had to lie to his brothers and pretend like Vic was one of the guys, he would do it in a heartbeat. All he cared about was getting justice for his son.
"Alright, I'll speak with Mandy and Admiral Anderson and get the process started. For now, act like everything is normal." Blackburn said.
The guys all gave a nod and headed out. Once they were outside, Full Metal nodded his head to his truck and the guys all got into it.
"We're gonna have a problem with not having proof of it being murder. People will still argue that Clay either slipped and drowned or killed himself. We need the proof not just to get who is responsible, but as his brothers, we need to know." Full Metal started.
"I agree, but we can't exhume him. It's not possible." Jason said.
"Not legally." Full Metal argued back.
"What are you talking about?" Yoder asked, not liking the sound of that.
"You have to ask yourself how far are you willing to go to get the truth. How far are you willing to go to get justice for Clay? For your son?" Full Metal said to Jason, before he turned to look at Yoder. "For your brother?"
"There isn't anything I wouldn't do." Jason immediately said.
"Same." Yoder agreed.
"If we can't legally exhume him, there's only one real option left. We do it ourselves." Full Metal stated.
"You want to dig him up?" Yoder asked, shocked and uncomfortable with the idea of being the one to do it.
"We need to know about injuries, about any bruising that could be there that wasn't reported. He was dead and buried within forty-eight hours, that's pretty fucking fast. I know war heroes that died in an explosion overseas take two weeks to get buried from all of the paperwork. Yet the kid can be buried at Presidential speed? Bruising can take time to form after death, it's like they were trying to get the autopsy done as fast as possible so no one would see the bruising." Full Metal said.
"And they place him as a military asset so it becomes harder for anyone to ever read his autopsy report or to exhume him later on. Something is being hidden and we need to know what. If having to exhume him ourselves is the only option we have, then I'll do it." Jason said.
This was not what any of them wanted to be doing, but if it meant getting the answers they needed, they would do it. They would do it for Clay to ensure whoever was responsible paid the price.
"When?" Yoder asked.
"Tonight. I got shovels, the dirt is still fresh. It will be easier to do it tonight before they lay sod down." Full Metal answered.
"We meet tonight at his grave at ten o'clock. We'll get some answers tonight and then we can proceed from there." Jason said.
Both Yoder and Full Metal gave a nod. This was not going to be easy, but it was something they had to do. They would do anything for Clay, even dig him up.
XXX
It was just before ten that night when Yoder, Full Metal and Jason were walking towards Clay's grave. They each had a shovel and a flashlight with them and they were prepared to get this done tonight. They arrived at Clay's grave and immediately noticed they weren't alone.
"I had a feeling you were going to do this." Blackburn said.
"You here to stop us?" Jason asked.
"Wouldn't have brought a shovel if I was." Blackburn said, as he picked up a shovel that was leaning against the tree.
"You could have gotten started." Full Metal pointed out.
"I'm old, I'm not digging up a body alone. Mandy and Admiral Anderson have been briefed and both are pissed. Anderson gave us a green light for mics and hidden cameras in Vic's home and car. White's home, car and office. Ash's home, car and office. He said be careful doing it and make sure they were well hidden so they cannot be detected by a scanner. Mandy is going to start working her magic and see if she can find out who is in the rape video. She is going to use some CIA contacts that are not connected to the military to try and eliminate the electronic overlay on their voices. She is also going to look into everything Clay said had been happening, including the phone calls. She'll let us know when she gets something."
"Good, now all that is left is to find out the real cause of death." Jason said, as he looked down at the grave of where his son was resting.
"You sure?" Full Metal asked.
"We have to know." Was all Jason said, before he went over and put the shovel into the dirt.
Together the four of them worked on removing the dirt covering Clay's casket. It was a long process that had them all exhausted by the end of it, but after three hours they had finally hit the top of the casket. With the dirt removed the guys all stood there looking down at the brown top of Clay's casket. He hadn't been dead long enough to decompose, so they wouldn't have to worry about that. However, they hadn't been able to see him after his death. It was a closed casket for the funeral like all traditional military funerals were. He was also removed from the morgue within hours, not giving Jason the time to go down there to see him. Now that he was here, Jason wasn't sure he could do this. He wasn't sure he could look down and see his son dead, laying in a casket. He knew he had to do this, but he didn't think he could stomach it. He didn't think he could handle having this image forever seared into his brain.
"I'll go." Full Metal said, knowing that his friend wouldn't be able to tolerate this.
Full Metal stuck his shovel in the pile of dirt before he jumped down. He went over to the head of the casket and grabbed the edge of the opening. He let out a slow breath, giving himself a moment to prepare, before he pulled the opening up. It was only part way open when Full Metal stopped.
"For fuck sakes."
"What?" Jason asked.
"You are not going to believe this." Full Metal said.
He pulled the top half of the casket open and he stepped back, allowing the others to see. Right where Clay's head should have been was empty. There was no body.
"Where is he?" Yoder asked, shocked.
Full Metal moved so he could open the bottom half, only to discover heavy rocks instead of a body. The casket was empty, Clay had never been in it.
"This doesn't make any sense. Why bury an empty casket? Where would they put his body?" Yoder asked, completely confused.
"There is no body." Full Metal said.
"What?" Yoder asked.
"He's not dead." Jason said, as the wheels in his head started to turn.
There was no reason to hide a body, especially when everyone believed Clay committed suicide. There was no reason to have a whole fake funeral only to remove the body afterwards. The only reason you go through with a funeral and classify his military file was if you had something to hide. Whatever happened to Clay on that bridge did not result in his death. Clay was alive, his son was alive and out there in the world somewhere.
"But why?" Yoder asked.
"Because there are worse things in this life then death. If they wanted Clay to suffer, killing him wouldn't do that. Keeping him alive somewhere all alone being hurt, knowing that no one would be there to rescue him, that is suffering." Full Metal said.
"And they get the added pleasure of watching Bravo suffer. You all would have continued to believe Clay killed himself. Whoever they are, would get to watch as Bravo slowly drifted apart. You remove the heart of a team, the team dies slowly and painfully. This goes up higher than we thought. To be able to fake an autopsy, a funeral, everything, it takes someone with very high connections and deep pockets." Blackburn said.
"We will figure it out. Clay is alive, and we will find him." Jason said with pure determination in his voice.
Gone was the grieving father and in its place was Bravo One. He had a man out there and he was going to find Clay and bring him home. They were going to bring Clay home safe and alive and they were going to get every single person responsible for his kidnapping. Jason didn't care how long it took. This was not a mission he was going to fail. Clay was going to be coming home, no matter what.
XXX
Slowly, bit by bit Clay felt himself starting to wake up. His head felt very weird, like there was this fog flooding his head. He couldn't think properly. He couldn't even find the strength to open his eyes. The circuit within his mind that told his eyes to open wasn't working. Clay tried to hear what was going on around him, but he couldn't hear anything at all. His ears felt like he was under water, everything was muffled and sounded like he was a thousand miles away from them. Clay tried to focus his mind on the last thing he remembered, but it hurt a lot to try and think. Still, Clay pushed through the pain and tried to recall the last thing he remembered. There was a house party, he was there to see Yoder, but he got spun up. Vic had given him two drinks. He then remembered feeling horrible and then nothing. He woke up in his bed with blood on him. Clay remembered he had been drugged, he suspected by Vic, and then raped by someone. Someone else had recorded it and put it all over the internet. Clay could still clearly remember some of the emails and text messages that he had received about it. They were all vial and abusive, telling him how much he must have loved it.
The pain from the memories hit Clay full force and it took every ounce of strength that he had to push the pain away. He needed to focus on his memories of what was going on, not on the pain that was flooding his heart. There was a drive, he went for a drive to the bridge. He liked to go there to think, it was quiet and peaceful. It helped to calm his mind down when everything in the world was so loud. It was the one place where he could go to shut his mind off and just be at peace. Clay had driven there and he left his phone so he wouldn't have to deal with the messages and emails. Bravo was away for an operation, but even if they were Stateside he didn't want to talk to them. He couldn't handle that part yet. Clay remembered thinking he would stay with Jason for a bit. He remembered sitting on the bridge's railing and then something was over his mouth before it all went dark.
That was it, that was all Clay could remember. The fact that something was put over his mouth and knocked him out meant he had to have been kidnapped. Someone grabbed him. Clay couldn't help but wonder how long he had been out for. If it was long enough then Bravo would be Stateside and they would go looking for him once they touched down. There was no way they weren't going to know about the video. Something that was mortifying to him, but at this point it was a good thing, because they would be going to his place and looking for him. They would see his cell phone was there, but his truck wasn't. They would find him. All he had to do was hold on long enough for them to find him. Part of that though, was opening his eyes.
Clay used every ounce of strength that he had and forced his mind to function long enough for him to open his eyes and see where the hell he was. He could tell he was laying on something lumpy and hard. It didn't feel like the ground, more like padding. The place he was in felt cold and it smelt damp and musty. Clay figured it must be a basement. Clay could feel something on his face, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Clay forced his eyes open and slowly he was able to blink them open enough for him to start to make out the room. His vision was blurry so Clay blinked a bunch of times before his eyes seemed to clear up. He went to rub them, but he quickly discovered that both of his wrists were restrained. Clay followed his arm up to his hand and saw that his wrist was restrained by a rusty old metal shackle to the wall. Both of his arms were spread as far apart as they could go with them restrained to a wall. Clay also noticed he was laying on his stomach and he could feel both of his legs spread wide and his ankles had their own shackles attached to them that went into the floor. Most disturbingly, Clay realised he was naked laying on an old and disgustingly dirty thin mattress on the floor. The thing on his mouth was strapped around his head and there was a thick circle part in his mouth, it was keeping it open. Clay tried to get it off, but the jiggling on the back told him it was locked and needed a key to be removed.
Clay could feel his body starting to tremble, he knew none of this was good. There was only one reason why he would be kept like this and it wasn't anything good. Fear was flooding into his body, Clay couldn't help it. He had just woken up after being date raped, he couldn't go through this again. He couldn't be awake while it was happening to him. To feel it in real time, to be able to remember it for the rest of his life. Clay couldn't do this, he couldn't. Clay started to pull on the restraints, he didn't care if he broke his wrist or ankle, he had to get out of this position he had to give himself a chance to fight his way out of here. Clay continued to pull on the restraints for a good thirty minutes. The longer it was taking the harder he was pulling, he had blood going down both wrists and his ankles from his struggles. Clay didn't care though, he wasn't going to stop until he was free.
"That's not going to work." A male voice said, coming out of nowhere.
Clay stopped what he was doing and looked around. The problem was the area he was in was small, about the size of a jail cell, there was no one in here with him. Even if the only light in the place was from a very dim lightbulb in the ceiling. Clay couldn't even call out because of the gag in his mouth.
"They'll know you're awake now, they'll send someone in there soon. The best thing you can do is not fight, fighting makes it worse. And when they take that gag out, don't speak. They don't like it when you speak english."
Clay was beyond confused now. The man's voice was exhausted and weak, it was also slightly muffled from the wall between them, but he could have sworn he had an accent. It sounded almost African, but that only confused Clay more. He wished he could have asked questions, he wished he could have talked back to try and figure out what the hell was going on, because right now none of this made any sense. Before Clay could even contemplate more, the lock on his door was being thrown back and the door was opening. Clay turned his head as best as he could to see who had kidnapped him. Only it was two black men that walked in and their clothes were not american. Both men walked over to him and the one closest to him punched him hard across the head as he spoke.
"ዘቤት እንስሳ." The man said.
Clay tried to clear his head from the blow. He tried to process the words that the man had said, but his head was ringing and the world would not stop spinning. Clay vaguely heard more words being spoken before the door was closing once again. Clay managed to open his eyes only to see the second man was still in the room, and this time he was naked.
"ጽብቕ ኢኺ. እዚ I'm happy እዩ." The man said.
It was in this moment when Clay's mind was able to pick up on two vital pieces of information. The first, he wasn't in the United States anymore. The second, and possibly the more terrifying piece of information he had learnt in the past ten minutes. He had no idea what language they were talking. If he didn't know what language it was, he not only wouldn't know what they were saying to him, what they wanted him to do. Plus, he couldn't tell you where in the world he was. He had been kidnapped back in Virginia Beach, he had been kept drugged long enough to get him to wherever he was in the world. All of this happened and Bravo wasn't here to kick in the door. They didn't know where he was, and it could take years before they found him. They might never find him in time. Clay was going to be trapped in this hole all alone with no idea of how long he would have to survive. He knew his brothers would come. He knew his dad would come for him, but the odds were they would find him dead. For the first time since his grandparents had been killed, Clay had never felt so alone in his life. As the man got closer and grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled his head back. Clay closed his eyes and did the only thing he could think of that would help him escape from his new hell. He started to recite The Hobbit and he was hoping by the end of the book his family would be storming in here and freeing him.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
The End.
A/N: Yup that is it for this book in the series. Next book will time jump to six months later and we will see just what it takes for our guys to actually discover Clay is not dead, but rather being tortured and raped this whole time. Make sure you check back for the new book to be released. I am going to write a companion piece as well that will showcase Yoder and Ali. As well make sure you follow my other Seal Team stories as I work on getting them all wrapped up for you!