Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Maddie (Kindle Worlds Novella) (An Omega Team Crossover Book 4) by Desiree Holt

wanted to tell him she didn’t think anything would ever be okay again.
    Grey cleared his throat.
    “When there was absolutely no history of your family prior to thirty years ago, it raised a red warning flag. We’ve run into this before, people changing names, identities, for a variety of reasons.”
    “But that doesn’t make sense,” she protested, her stomach knotting with tension.
    “When we checked the social security numbers for both of your parents, we discovered they were issued exactly thirty years ago, on the same day. Now, it’s possible that they both had jobs before that. So what names did they work under? What happened to those numbers?”
    “B-but what about birth certificates?” She made a desperate effort to keep herself from falling apart.
    “All in order.” Grey slid copies of them across the desk. “But they can be faked, like any other forms of identification.”
    “Bear with me.” He put the drivers’ license photos of her parents side by side. “Jacqui is really good at facial manipulation, even with photos as poor as these. She cleaned them up and then reverse aged them. With clean headshots, she ran them through every database she could get into. And, believe me, I don’t think there’s one she can be locked out of.”
    “I see.” Maddie wet her lips, grateful Hawkeye had hold of her hand.
    “Maddie, how about some coffee,” he interrupted. “Grey, can we get her a cup? She looks like she’s about to pass out.”
    “Of course. Cream or sugar?”
    She shook her head. “Neither.”
    “Okay. I’ll get it.”
    When he had left the room, Maddie looked at Hawkeye. “This is a nightmare I don’t think I’ll wake up from.”
    “I’ll be right here with you until we get this cleaned up,” he assured her.
    She was about to say something else, but Grey returned with coffee for all of them. She took a sip of the hot liquid, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and nodded.
    “So then what?” she asked. “Can we cut right to the chase? Who are these people? My parents.”
    “Thirty years ago, a young couple named Hope and Scott Bassett were getting into their car in a darkened restaurant parking lot when they witnessed Chicago crime lord Gus Scalzo murder a man. Scalzo normally didn’t get his own hands dirty, but this was a personal kill for him.
    Shock gripped her. “Oh my god!”
    “Terrified,” Grey went on, “they drove home and locked themselves in the house. They watched the late news and learned the victim was a young attorney who left a wife and child. Despite their fear, they did the right thing and contacted the police.”
    “The rest,” Hawkeye added, “as they say, is history. They were sequestered in a safe house both before and during the trial then relocated through Witness Protection. Given new identities, a new situation in a new location.”
    “So Winslow isn’t even their real name?” Maddie was still trying to take it all in.
    “No, but we’ll get to that. What triggered this situation with you, Maddie, was the news coverage of your act of bravery at your school. You look so much like your mother. Almost identical to how she looked at your age. Vincent Scalzo’s son saw it and went bananas.”
    Maddie felt sick, the hot coffee tasting sour in her mouth.
    “People have always said I look exactly like my mother.”
    Grey dipped his head in agreement. “Scalzo sent two of his thugs here to find you and try to trace your parents. He’d sworn to kill them for putting his father in prison for life.”
    Maddie looked at Hawkeye. “So, what do we do now?”
    “You need to be in a safe place until we can lay hands on these people,” Grey told her. “We have a couple of safe houses we use for our clients when needed. I suggest—”
    “My house is safer than anything you can put her in,” Hawkeye interrupted. “I’ll put my alarm system up against anyone’s, and you know I have enough arms to fight a small war.”
    Maddie dropped