“Roger. We see them.”
Chas frowned. “What’s happening?”
Gunner couldn’t help grinning as he answered, “Tanaka’s guys got here, and they appear to have come in from one side of the valley, and Charles Favian called a bunch of retired SEALs who live in the area. They came in hot from the other end of the valley. Between the two, they appear to have wiped out the Oshiro boys.”
Sonofabitch. Tanaka coming for his own kid was not a surprise. But the SEAL brotherhood coming to the rescue like that for him and Spencer? That was a surprise of the best kind. This was why he loved his brothers-in-arms so damned much. When the chips were down, a bunch of crusty old ex-SEALs had answered the call. He and Spencer were still part of that brotherhood. They would be until they died. Leaving his active-duty SEAL team didn’t make him any less of a SEAL. He would always belong to this very special family.
Something proud unfurled in his chest, and it felt as if he’d drawn his first real, deep breath in weeks.
It took a bit to sort out who all was who on the hillside. A few hostiles were found hiding and taken prisoner if they surrendered or eliminated if they tried to fight. But eventually a great bearded bear of a man emerged at the top of the trail, his assault rifle pointed at the sky.
“Ooh-rah,” he said by way of greeting.
“Is the hill clear?” Spencer asked cautiously.
“Clean as a virgin’s—” He broke off. “Sorry. Forgot about the kid. Yeah. Hill’s clean. Y’all can come down now.”
Gunner stepped out from behind the rock. “Man, am I glad to see you.” He couldn’t resist thumping the big ex-SEAL on the back.
“C’mon. I imagine the boys are gonna want to meet y’all. It’s not often we get an excuse to come out and run a little target practice.” He added, “Oh, and there’s a bunch of Japanese fellas down in the valley who are all kinds of worked up to see the kid y’all have up here.”
Gunner snorted. He would bet.
The hike down to the valley floor didn’t take long. The SEALs had obviously cleared out the logs, vines, and other traps on their way up. They stepped out of the jungle, and several dozen men milled around, armed to the teeth, chatting and laughing as if they were holding a team reunion. A group of similarly armed Japanese men stood apart, speaking quietly among themselves.
A big cheer went up when they stepped out of the woods.
Poppy must have sensed she was safe at last, for on cue, she popped her thumb out of her mouth and let out a wail fit to raise the dead. That made everybody laugh, and Chas hugged and joggled her until she calmed down.
The next few hours passed in a blur. The contingent of Tanaka’s men made a discreet departure before law enforcement arrived, and not long after, police showed up to take control of the scene. The retired SEALs pitched in, fetching bodies and laying them out for identification. All in all, some forty Oshiro gang members died in the valley.
As far as Gunner, Spencer, and Drago could tell, both factions of the Oshiro gang had taken heavy losses out here tonight. If nothing else, the entire Oshiro gang had been taught a painful lesson on how seriously the Tanaka family—and the SEALs—took her safety. Gunner doubted they would ever try to mess with her again.
A few SEALs had taken incoming fire and had minor injuries, but nothing life-threatening.
At about dawn, Spencer took a phone call and then strolled over to have a conversation with the ex-SEALs who’d stuck around. As one, they all piled expectantly into their vehicles.
“C’mon,” Spencer said to Gunner. “Get Chas and Poppy and load them up.”
Gunner frowned. Spencer wasn’t usually the cryptic type. It was part of why he’d been a good team leader. He shared all he knew with his guys.
Spencer drove, and Drago rode shotgun in the front seat. Gunner and Chas flanked Poppy in the back seat.
“Where are we going, Spence?” Gunner asked when they reached the outskirts of Honolulu.
“Kenji Tanaka texted me an address. He said to bring reinforcements.”
“Does he know that means a whole platoon of SEALs?”
Spencer shrugged. “I’m just doing what the man said.”
Gunner got the distinct feeling Spencer knew something he wasn’t sharing. They pulled into a massive estate that sprawled beside the ocean, with several acres of manicured lawn stretching around a magnificent Asian-inspired home.
A half-dozen silent Asian men in dark suits watched while all the SEALs piled out of their vehicles and surrounded Gunner, Chas, and Poppy in a tight phalanx. They made their way into the house, and Gunner was aware that for so many men, they moved exceptionally quietly into a huge living room.
Six gray-haired Japanese men sat around a table in what looked like some sort of formal meeting. One man stood stiffly at the foot of the table, with no chair for him.
A younger Japanese man, perhaps in his thirties, rushed forward when they came in, and Poppy caught sight of him and squealed.
“I’m Kenji Tanaka. And that’s my daughter.”
Poppy waxed more cautious when Kenji approached, eyeing him carefully. It took him a couple of minutes of speaking to her in Japanese for her to be absolutely sure he was her father. But she eventually held out her arms to him, and Gunner’s heart shattered as she threw herself into her father’s arms.
Tears ran down the man’s face as he held his daughter tight. If he’d needed any more proof that this was Poppy’s father, the tears did it. Only a parent could react that way to the return of their missing child.
Chas made a tiny sound beside him, a barely audible keen of grief and loss. Gunner looped an arm over Chas’s shoulders, pulling him close to his side. Only the two of them would understand the agony the other one was feeling in this moment of what should be a joyful reunion of father and daughter.
One of the gray-haired men, the one sitting at the head of the table, spoke formally in English to the man standing at the foot of the table. “Sora Oshiro. Your grandson’s American gang of thugs stands accused of kidnapping my granddaughter. While I do not blame you for the sins of your descendent, you would do well to pass along this message to him and his people. Any further attempts to strongarm my business operations will not be tolerated. And any action that in any way endangers any member of my family will be met with swift and deadly force.”
The man at the foot of the table bowed his head in a pose of humility.
The speaker swept a hand toward the tight cluster SEALs still hovering close to Poppy and her father.
“Not only has your grandson angered my family, but he has also angered this family. I assure you, Sora-san, the family of Navy SEALs is perhaps the only one more formidable than my own. And your grandson and his gang are now their enemy.”
Gunner noted the SEALs around him going out of their way to scowl at the man being berated at the foot of the table. And if he knew them, the retired SEALs were memorizing the man’s face carefully.
“My granddaughter not only has the full protection of the Tanaka Clan, but she also has the full protection of the United States Navy SEALs. The next time the Oshiro gang would target me or mine, tell your grandson to remember that and weigh how many more of his people he wishes to lose.”
The man at the foot of the table bowed deeply and left the room without ever speaking a word. In a few moments, the sound of a motorboat speeding away broke the silence.