Way of the Warrior

by Suzanne Brockmann

  “That would be my preference, too.” They both looked up to see Jay. He was wearing his beige chief’s working uniform and his usual air of cool, calm confidence and authority.

  Eden knew that Jay Lopez hadn’t been thrilled when Izzy married her, and she still thought that he didn’t like her very much. Whenever he showed up to a party or dinner out with the gang, her heart always sank, just a little, and she tried not to sit too close to him. But right now, she’d never been more glad to see anyone in her entire life. “Thank God you’re here!” she said.

  “Before we get Jenn to the helo,” Jay said, “let’s see what’s going on in the baby zone.”

  “Oh, this isn’t awkward at all.” Jenn laughed, her sense of humor still intact despite everything. “When we’re telling this story to Danny, let’s skip this part, okay? We can focus on the helo rescue, and then just have the baby magically appear in my arms.”

  “You want me to look? Would that be less awkward?”

  Eden realized that Adam Wyndham, partner to Navy SEAL Tony Vlachic, had gotten off the helo with Jay. He was, oddly enough, dressed only in a bathing suit and flip-flops.

  There was a woman behind him—the pilot, come to help carry Jenn since Jay was on crutches.

  “She’s only dilated a little bit,” Eden told them all. “The only way the baby’s falling out is if she has some massive contraction while she’s walking to the helo. That’s why I thought we should carry her. I’d like to get her to the hospital, ASAP.”

  Jay glanced up at Eden as he caught sight of the blood on Jenni’s skirt, and she nodded.

  “Let’s do this,” he said, and Eden thrust both hers and Jenn’s handbags into Jay’s arms before helping Jenn up and out of the car.

  But before they could create a six-armed, three-person sling, a car pulled up and then a truck and another car.

  It was the cavalry, so to speak—friends, coworkers, and family of Izzy’s SEAL teammates, all of whom had apparently leaped into action and raced to Eden’s and Jenn’s rescue when they’d received the senior chief’s long-distance distress call.

  Kelly Paoletti—a pediatrician, thank God—came racing out of the first car, followed more slowly by Lindsey, Navy SEAL Mark Jenkins’s also-pregnant wife, who’d been driving.

  Lindsey had to lean against the car for a moment. She didn’t so much as have morning sickness as every-moment-of-the-day-and-night sickness, but despite that, Eden wasn’t surprised that she’d volunteered to come.

  “You okay?” Kelly’s husband Tom, who was the former CO of SEAL Team Sixteen and the current head of the private security firm, Troubleshooters Inc., had been right behind them in that truck. He stopped to make sure Lindsey, who was one of his top operatives, wasn’t going to faint.

  “I’m great,” Lindsey lied. “It’s Jenn who needs help.”

  But Tom stayed close until Eden’s friend Tracy, looking pale from last night’s run-in with food poisoning, emerged from the third vehicle along with Eden’s brother Ben. Tracy was still moving slowly, so she hung back to make sure Lindsey really was okay while Tom and Ben both ran over to assist Kelly.

  But Kelly had already taken command. “Hi, Jenni! Hey, Eden!” Kelly said with her usual good cheer, “Oh, good, Jay, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get you into the helo, Jenn, get you to the hospital as quickly as possible, okay?”

  Everyone rushed to carry Jenn, and it was easy with so much help.

  “Ben, why don’t you take my seat on the helo,” Adam offered. “I’ll stay with Eden’s car and wait for the tow truck.”

  “Thank you so much,” Eden told him and all of their friends, as both she and Ben climbed into the helo behind Jenn and Kelly and Jay.

  The pilot got in, the others backed off, the doors slid shut, and just like that they were in the air.

  Ben’s eyes were wide, his teenage ennui on a temporary hold. “Is Jenni gonna be okay?” he whispered to Eden.

  She hugged her brother as they belted themselves in. “Yes,” she answered, and for the first time in hours, she truly believed it. “And the baby, too. They both, absolutely, will be okay.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Izzy

  Izzy was sitting next to Dan when the call came in.

  He was watching for it—hoping hard it would come soon and be good news. So he caught the sudden movement when Senior Chief Wolchonok straightened up, then looked at his phone and brought it to his ear.

  The senior was not prone to dramatics. Dude was steadfast, particularly in the face of tragedy—at least when he was on duty. And he was one of those stoically manly men, some years older than Izzy, who considered himself on duty the moment he stepped away from his family and out of his house.

  His wife, a former Coast Guard pilot named Teri, had had more than her share of miscarriages as they’d attempted to start a family. She’d nearly died while giving birth, and they’d adopted their second and third kids.

  But if Senior was feeling any sort of flashback to the night he’d nearly lost his wife and eldest child, he didn’t let it show.

  At least not until after that phone call. As Izzy watched, Wolchonok went limp with what could only be relief—just for a fraction of a nanosecond—before he clenched his fist and made the international gesture for yes, complete with three implied exclamation points. Both his relief and that yes happened so quickly that if Izzy had blinked, he wouldn’t’ve seen it.

  “Petty Officer Gillman,” Wolchonok intoned as he strode across the waiting area toward Danny.

  Dan stood up, because you always stood when the senior came at you like that. Izzy and Jenk stood, too, on either side of him. It was clear Dan was clueless, because he shot both of them an Uh-oh, what did we do now look.

  But Senior held out his hand and said “Congratulations, son,” and Dan automatically took it and shook, still confused until Wolchonok added, “You’re a father, Dan. Jennilyn and the baby are both healthy and doing fine.”

  Dan laughed his surprise. “Wait. What?”

  Lieutenant Commander Jacquette, the team’s CO, was right behind the senior chief, and he, too, shook Dan’s hand, delivering his congrats in his basso profundo. Then the rest of the team surrounded them.

  “Jenn had the baby,” Dan realized, and he turned to hug Izzy and then Jenkins.

  Izzy took the opportunity to sit down. Thank God thank God thank God.

  But Danny was not an idiot, and he soon realized… “You knew! She went into labor and everyone knew?” He aimed his accusation at the entire team—officer and enlisted alike. Although—again, because he was not an idiot—he waited until both the CO and the senior were well out of range.

  Dan turned and punched Izzy in the shoulder.

  “Ow! Why do I get punched?” Izzy asked.

  But Dan was already extracting the details from Jenk, who’d admitted, without any punching, that Jenn had gone into labor while on an impromptu road trip with Eden, because apparently Tracy got food poisoning…?

  That didn’t make sense, because the whole purpose of the trip was to check out some potential wedding reception site, so why go without the bride-to-be?

  Izzy felt his phone rattle in his pants, and he pulled it out to see that Eden had sent him several photos via email. The subject header was “Stealth Penis.”

  That was…interesting.

  “Callista,” Izzy heard Dan say, as he opened the email and the photo slowly uploaded. “Callie, for short. Yeah, no, we picked out that name as soon as we found out we were having a daughter. Holy shit, you guys, I have a daughter.”

  Izzy looked at the first picture—it was a selfie of Eden smiling, her head next to Jenn’s. Jenn was in a hospital bed, looking exhausted but happy, with an equally exhausted tiny baby in her arms. The baby was wrapped in a white blanket, with a little blue hat on its head and…

  Wait a minute… Ste
alth penis…?

  Izzy scrolled to the next shot, which was of Dr. Kelly Paoletti, holding a naked and yowling baby, a big smile on her face. And sure enough…

  “Whoa, check out these pictures, Danny,” Izzy said. “Eden sent them. Dude! Congratulations! Your daughter has a penis!”

  Danny grabbed Izzy’s phone, and as he looked for himself he started to laugh. “Holy shit, it’s a boy. I have a son—with a million pink toys.”

  “He’s a baby, what does he care?” Izzy said.

  But Dan stopped on the photo of Jenn in that bed with their baby in her arms, and the expression of gratefulness and love on his face was so private that Izzy turned away.

  And found the senior chief heading toward him, on yet another mission. At their eye contact, Senior motioned for Izzy to step away from the crowd.

  “’Sup, S?” Izzy asked, quickly adding, “and that S stands for Senior not Stan because even though I know that’s your name, I’d never call you Stan, Senior.”

  The senior spoke over him as he handed Izzy a piece of paper. It looked like a short list of airlines, flight numbers, departure times, and gates. The first was a nonstop to Los Angeles. The second went to San Diego, with a stop in Tokyo. The third did the same.

  “I just received our stand-down order,” Senior told Izzy quietly, “but we won’t get a military transport flight out of here until Thursday at the earliest.” He pointed to the list. “All of these flights are filled, but these airlines are willing to rebook passengers onto later flights—if you can get anyone to volunteer to give up their seat for Dan.”

  “Whoa, this first one’s boarding in ten minutes,” Izzy realized. It was two gates down. He’d made note of the fact, during one of their walks through the airport, that most of the passengers there were American.

  This could work.

  “I thought maybe you could go over there and quietly see what you could do,” the senior said.

  “Thank you, Senior Chief.”

  Senior caught Izzy’s arm before he could go. “See if you can’t get yourself a seat, too,” he said. “Your wife and Jennilyn went up to the morgue in Obsidian Springs to ID the body of her—Eden’s—stepfather.”

  “Oh, God,” Izzy said.

  “I know you’ve had trouble with him in the past,” the senior continued, “but that couldn’t’ve been easy for her.”

  Izzy had to agree. “Still, let me get Danny home, first.”

  Senior smacked him on the same shoulder that Dan had punched, but this time Izzy didn’t say ow. Especially when the senior said, “You’re a good man, Zanella. Get it done.”

  Izzy went to the gate, and yes, he was right. The passengers here were mostly Americans. He went right to the counter at the front, near the boarding door, and climbed up to stand on top of it.

  “May I have your attention please?” he said, using his outdoor voice. “My fellow Americans, my name is Irving Zanella, and I’m a member of your military fighting force. I’m here with about a dozen of my Navy SEAL brothers-in-arms, and one of us, my dear friend Danny, just found that his son—his first child—was born about an hour ago, in a hospital not that far from San Diego. So if anyone here is not in a screaming rush to get back to the States, this very generous airline will put you on a later flight, and let Danny use your seat so he can go home and meet his beautiful, beautiful newborn son.”

  A young woman in the back had stood up when Izzy said the word born, and she and what looked like two friends made their way toward him. “We’re on vacation,” she said. “We’ll give you our seats, but we’re traveling together, and there’re three of us.”

  Izzy jumped down. “Thank you so much. Three seats would be incredible. Wait here, I’m gonna get my senior chief.” He dashed back to where the team was hunkered down.

  The senior was shaking his head. “That was you being quiet?” he asked rhetorically as he went to handle the details with both the volunteers and the airline. Dan went with him, still holding Izzy’s phone, no doubt eager to start showing off pictures of his shiny new baby.

  Izzy sat down next to Mark Jenkins. “Hey, I know you’re in a hurry to get home, too, but would you mind very much if I gave the third seat to Hobe?”

  “HoboMofo?” Mark asked, as if there was more than one Hobe in the team.

  “Yeah,” Izzy said. “We accidentally introduced Lopez to his daughter’s fifth-grade teacher. His daughter’s single fifth-grade teacher, that ’Fo was hoping to get to know a little better…?”

  “Aw, shit!” Mark said. “Yeah, give him the seat, and tell him I’m sorry. Damn it.”

  “Thanks, bro,” Izzy said, and went to gather up the ’Fo, who was happy to go home early.

  And after they joined Dan at the gate, Izzy took his phone back and emailed his wife.

  I love you, he wrote in response to her “Stealth Penis” email. I’ll see you soon. Keep those home fires burning.

  CHAPTER 12

  Lopez

  Jay was at the hospital when Dan, Izzy, and HoboMofo—the SEAL whose real name was Hugh Bickles—arrived.

  They must’ve rented a car at LAX and driven directly here, after their fourteen-hour flight.

  Dan came into Jenn’s hospital room like a man on fire, and Eden shooed Jay and Ben out into the hallway lobby area, so the two of them—three Gillmans, now—had privacy.

  “We have a son,” Jay heard Jenn tell Dan. “Are you disappointed? I know you wanted a girl.”

  “I only wanted a healthy baby,” Dan said. “And for you to be okay, too. God, Jenni, I love you so much—”

  The door closed on them as Izzy, meanwhile, didn’t feel the need for any privacy to soul-kiss his wife. “You okay?” he asked Eden, his hands around her face, their foreheads together.

  Eden’s eyes welled with tears—it was the first time Jay had seen her come anywhere close to crying. She’d been Jennilyn Gillman’s staunchest ally and greatest friend—holding her hand and breathing with her—essentially cheerleading the way throughout what had been an arduous and frightening delivery.

  But even now, Eden nodded, yes. She was okay, and clearly very glad Izzy was safely home.

  “Daddy!” Jay turned to see Brianna Bickles fling herself into Hobo’s—Hugh’s—giant arms. The big SEAL lifted up his daughter as if she weighed next to nothing, as he grinned his ass off with a smile that was a lot like his daughter’s. It transformed him from angry ogre to… Wow, kinda ruggedly handsome, enormously jacked guy.

  Where had Brianna come from? Jay leaned forward in his chair to look down the hall, and sure enough the door opened and there she was.

  Carol Redmond.

  She’d come out to the hospital, apparently giving a ride to Hugh’s mom and Bree.

  Jay waved to her, but she didn’t see him, her smile was aimed at…

  Hobo…Mofo.

  Really?

  Really?

  Now Hobe was smiling at Carol—and damned if that didn’t make him look freaking adorable.

  What was it that Carol had told him in the car? That she had a kind of a major crush on a Navy SEAL chief…?

  Hubert Bickles, a.k.a. HoboMofo, was a Navy SEAL chief.

  Wow, that would’ve been really not okay—Jay’s hitting on a woman that one of his SEAL brothers liked, or, God, maybe even loved.

  What was there not to love about Carol Redmond?

  Jay felt a pang of regret—a brief little burst of sorrow for what was not-to-be. But it faded quickly as he watched Carol smile up at Hobe—Hugh—her pleasure at seeing him evident in her body language.

  “I really wanted to come talk to the class,” Hugh was saying, as Brianna danced off to join her grandmother. “I’m sorry I had to send a substitute.”

  “Oh, Chief Lopez was very good,” Carol told him earnestly. “The kids loved him, he was so sweet with Bree, and then he
led me on quite the adventure.” She laughed. “It was…educational.”

  As Jay watched, Hugh winced. “Well, great. That’s…great. He’s, um, here if you, you know, want to say hi.”

  He pointed over at Jay.

  “Oh, hi, Jay,” Carol said as she looked over at him with so much nothing in her eyes, that he almost laughed aloud. She returned her attention to Hubert, even as she moved toward Jay.

  He didn’t know how she did it, but she managed, without taking Hugh’s hand, to pull him with her as she told Jay, “Congratulations. I assume you had something to do with Jenn’s and the baby’s good health.” He was about to stand, but she stopped him. “Oh, no, don’t get up.”

  “I got lucky,” Jay admitted. “We have another friend, Dr. Kelly Paoletti—she managed to drive out to where Jenn and Eden were stuck. She took over, so I just assisted, which was fine with me.”

  “It was the most amazing thing,” Carol told Hugh. “After Jay got into the chopper, I decided to keep going. I thought I could help by staying with Eden’s car or…I don’t know. But when I got there, there were all these people who’d already come to the rescue. Tom and Adam and Lindsey and Tracy. They just dropped everything, because Dan—and you—were overseas.”

  “That’s how it works,” Hugh said. “Kinda like Jay filling in for me in a pinch.”

  “It’s so impressive,” Carol said. “And you know, if I’ve seemed at all hesitant, it’s because it scared me. The idea of a relationship with someone who’s not only got a dangerous job, but who’s also always…kind of…gone. But it was great to see how it works. Starting with Jay’s amazing generosity and ending with a random group of people all coming to Jenn’s rescue—except they weren’t random. They’re family. They’re more than family.”

  Jay could see that Hugh was struggling to understand, and he knew all the big SEAL had heard was “Jay’s amazing.”

  “It really was nice to see that,” Carol said again.

  “I have an idea,” Jay said, because it was so obvious that Hugh was stuck in some terrible parallel universe where he’d returned from the mission to find Jay and Carol already engaged to be married. And unlike that brief pang of regret that Jay had felt when he’d seen Carol smile at Hugh, Hugh’s suffering was deep and intense. Someone had to put the man out of his misery. “Why don’t we go out sometime, like on a double date.” He looked at Carol. “You and Hugh, and me and…” He cleared his throat and lied. “Well, there’s a woman I’ve been dying to ask out, and… This’ll give me a reason to. Ask her.”