Rocco and Mandy: A Red Team Wedding Novella (Book #6.5) by Elaine Levine Page A

soldier movements.  
    But this convo had been about Kadisha’s pregnancy. They wondered if she were farther along than she thought. One woman said perhaps she was having twins, but the other shot that down, as twins didn’t run in the Halim family.
    Rocco leaned forward and put his face in his hands as he tried to remember everything about that conversation. Energy zinged through him as the implications of that woman’s offhand comment hit home. Rocco had been away with Kadisha’s dad for three months prior to the homecoming reunion when he and Kadisha had had sex. If she were farther along than two months, then he wasn’t the father of their child.  
    He shot to his feet and started walking in a circle around the fountain. He’d asked Kadisha about how far along she was that night after overhearing the women. She laughed it off, telling him again that they’d conceived that night he returned and asking if he didn’t remember how large a baby Zavi was. Still Rocco had been concerned. Their village was a long way from any western medical facility; if she had problems with her pregnancy, they might lose the baby. He’d made arrangements for one of her aunt and uncles to take her to visit the camp of some Doctors Without Borders a day’s drive away.  
    She seemed so happy when she returned, saying the doctors had confirmed her expected due date. He hadn’t thought anything more about it. Until now.  
    Had the doctor actually confirmed her due date?
    Or had she let Ehsan seduce her? Had she blown herself up to hide the results of her infidelity to him?
    Rocco jogged over to his truck, then drove over to Blade’s and went straight up the access tunnel leading directly to the bunker. He pressed his palm to the security panel, unlocking the big steel doors. Max was already coming into the short hallway from the ops room.
    Rocco looked at him, catching his wary gaze. “I need your help.”
    “Name it,” Max said without hesitation.
    Rocco told him about Kadisha visiting the doctor. “I don’t know where the medical camp was located, but it was a day’s ride from the village. Just about a week before the explosion.”
    “Fuck. Me.” Max turned and headed back into ops. “Those camps were mobile, Rocco. Sometimes they had to bug out fast. Doctors came and went. Who knows if they kept a record of her visit? And even if they did, those records might not have survived the war.”
    “I need to know, Max.”
    “Rocco, the docs saw countless—faceless—villagers…”
    “Kadisha wasn’t a faceless villager. She was the daughter of the infamous warlord Ghalib Halim. She would have been treated with deference. Her visit would have been recorded.”
    Max set a hand on Rocco’s shoulder. “I’ll do what I can.”
    Rocco nodded. “Thank you.”

Chapter   Eleven

    Rocco was sitting on the patio the next afternoon when Max came to see him.  
    “Hey, bro,” Max said.
    Rocco read the tension on his friend’s face. “You have news?” Rocco stood up. Max handed him a printout of a fax. It was the log of Kadisha’s visit. Rocco grinned and looked up at Max. “You got it.”
    Max nodded. “What does it mean to you?”
    Rocco read the doctor’s notes. It said Kadisha was four months pregnant when she went to see him. Not the two she’d told Rocco. “Everything.” He looked at Max. “Where’s Mandy?”
    Max checked the locator on his phone. “At the stables.”
    “Thanks.” Rocco hurried across the patio.  
    “Should I call Kit?” Max asked.
    Rocco walked backward as he answered. “No need. I’ll explain this later.” He jogged down to the portico leading to the gym building, then along the walkway around the gym and over to the stables.  
    “Mandy!” he shouted. “Mandy!”
    She stepped out of one of the stalls and looked at him, then hurried toward him. “Rocco—what is it?”
    “I need to talk to you.” He pulled her into a hug, squeezing her as tightly as he did his eyes. He’d almost