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tell me who this third party was?” Garrett asked.
    “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t give you any more information than that due to privacy laws.”
    Garrett sighed in exasperation.
    “Milo Roberts is deceased.  Isn’t there some sort of statute of limitation on the whole privacy thing once someone is dead?” Garrett asked.
    “Unfortunately, no.  Unless you can send us proof that you have the power of attorney for Mr. Roberts, I can’t give you any more information.”
    “Can you at least tell me why this bill is just coming now, when it was from four months ago?”
    A few more seconds of typing and the operator spoke again.
    “It looks like those bills are normally sent elsewhere, but there was a glitch in the system, and Mr. Roberts received that month’s bill by mistake.”
    Garrett had thanked the man for his help and hung up the phone more confused than ever.
    He still couldn't figure out why Milo would have needed a separate phone.  And more importantly, who the hell had bought and paid for it if it wasn’t the U.S. Government?
    Garrett would go to the Dominican and do what he did best.  He would dig and he would question and he would use every skill he had ever learned in the Navy to get answers.
    When Milo and Garrett first began the Naval Academy, Garrett had no plans to be career military.  He would put in his time, keep an eye on Milo, and then get out.  After graduation and their first few months in California, Garrett often wondered why he was doing this.  In the words of his late friend, “Do you have any idea how much pussy you’ll get as a Navy SEAL?  You have to do it so I can live vicariously through you.”
    The thirty months of Seal training were the most grueling, mind-fuck of a situation he had ever been in.  But he made it and was surprised to realize he liked it. He had been on a handful of extractions with his SEAL team, and though he got a rush and a sense of accomplishment with each one, he knew this wasn't what he wanted to do forever.  He preferred sitting behind a computer, analyzing reports, finding backdoor ways into secure websites and developing military code for top secret government programs.
    Garrett earned his master’s degree six months before his completion of Seal training, and due to his nature of study, he was assigned as a Technical Surveillance Analyst.  He could still be called out on extraction missions, but more often than not, his expertise was better served on the home front. While Garrett sat behind a desk all day, Milo went all over the world on Special Operations.
    Garrett was a nerd and he wasn't ashamed to admit it.  He would use his geekiness to figure out what really happened on Milo's mission, and if all hell broke loose, at least he had his SEAL training to keep him alive.
    Garrett had lived through boot camp, Hell Week, SEAL training, and suffered through extreme conditions in several third world countries during special reconnaissance missions.  He had prided himself on being strong, not letting his emotions show, and not breaking when his will was tested to the limit.  He had held firm when he got the call that his best friend had been killed in action and had been the rock that Parker needed these past six months.
    But now, standing there watching his best friend's eyes fill with tears, would be the one thing that broke him.
     

Chapter Three
     
    "I'm going to the Dominican Republic.  I leave tomorrow at oh-eight-hundred."
    Parker fought down the wave of nausea threatening to empty her stomach of the evening's dinner.
    "Why the hell would you ever go there?" Parker asked angrily.
    Garrett sighed and looked down at his shoes. It was bad if he wouldn't look her in the eyes.  Garrett knew she could read him like a book and that she would see everything he was feeling.
    "It wasn't an accident," Garrett said quietly, his eyes suddenly fascinated by a rock on the ground.
    Parker knew exactly what Garrett was talking about; there was no