by Jillian Neal
“Oh no.” Hannah looked horrified.
“No, no, don’t keep calling Search and Rescue. If they’re that busy, it’s not worth it. Besides, something far better than SAR is currently sitting in our home. I’ll have to get them some equipment, but we’ll be there as soon as we can. I love you, Sarah.”
As soon as he ended the call, Hannah leapt. “Is she okay? Did she fall? Is she trapped? Oh my gosh. I should never have encouraged her to do this.”
“Your mother is fine. She’s an army wife. She knows what she’s doing. Apparently, some kids decided to do some video stunt out on Devil’s Head. Something for that ridiculous Facetube thing. They fell more than a hundred feet. One of them is unresponsive. The other can talk but isn’t of much help. Your mother found them about an hour ago, but she doesn’t know how long they’ve been down there. She tried to lower down some water and provisions, but apparently they didn’t understand how the pulley worked and dropped the supplies. With all of the rain and mudslides, Denver SAR is swamped on the more dangerous trails. Sergeant Haywood, do you feel like rappelling down a mountain? As I recall you and Smith were Team Seven’s most skilled mountaineers.”
As soon as he said Facetube, that idiot’s words rushed back into my mind. After that, Wigs and me are going to Denver for a mountain trick shoot that should bring killer views. Jizz Stain you fuckface what have you done? “Truthfully, it’s not really on my list of top ten things to do today, but why the hell not?”
57
Hannah
I watched Griff slide back into soldier mode with a mission at hand. He led me out of my father’s office. Smith was pacing in the living room. Putting myself between my boyfriend and my brother, I narrowed my eyes. “I really want you to be okay with this. I love you so much, but I love him, too. He makes me happy. He keeps me safe. He’s pretty much the best thing in the whole world. Can you please just be happy for us, too?”
He grunted which wasn’t exactly a yes, but I’d keep working on him.
“After all of the hatred you’ve seen in this world…” Maddie stepped in, “…try not to hate love, Smith. Besides, she’s been in love with him for a long time.”
“You knew?” I was shocked at that.
“Well, nobody else’s little sister came up with very creative excuses to come hang out with The Sevens at my house regularly.” She winked at me.
My father cleared his throat. “For right now, I need you to put your irritation aside. Your mother has located two injured hikers out on Devil’s Head. SAR is swamped with a mudslide. Would Tier Seven mind filling in? There are injuries. Time is definitely of the essence.” Everyone understood, “yes, sir” was the only right answer. Once a general always a general.
“We can do that, sir, but I don’t have any equipment. Can you get us a few AMKs?” T requested.
“That I can do.”
“I forget what an AMK is,” Maddie whispered to me.
Smiling at that, I squeezed her hand. “Army Mountaineering Kit.” It was probably good she was letting a few things go.
She nodded. “That’s right. I think I still have Chris’s in the garage somewhere.”
“If there are injuries, sir, I’m going to need saline IV bags and flush syringes. I’ve got my kit, but they’re likely dehydrated,” Voodoo reminded my dad.
“I’ll see what I can do. Give me twenty minutes to call in a few favors then we’re heading out.”
“Come on, Smith. Would you rather her be with some douche instead of a guy you know and love?” T asked as soon as my father left the room. “He really didn’t do anything to you.”
Rage seated itself in my brother’s eyes again. “He lied to me for years. He took advantage of my sister when she was only a kid. And I’m quite certain he did a lot of other things I don’t want to think about.”
Griff shook his head, but I wasn’t letting this go. “No one took advantage of me. I asked him out that night Mom and Dad invited Team Seven over for the first time. Everything we have done has always been me asking him. Never him pushing anything on me because that’s the kind of man he is. In fact, it was my scheming that got him to Vegas where he caught a bunch of old ladies who were trying to steal my identity.”
“What?” T, Voodoo, and Smith all asked.
I rolled my eyes. “The point is he always takes care of me. He always has. He always will.”
“I swear to you I will,” Griff tried.
“Oh, you swear to me, well that’s something,” Smith huffed.
“Stop being an ass,” I spat.
Smith’s eyes narrowed. He shook his head at Griff. “The only thing I can promise you is that from the very pit of my heart I hate you so fucking much right now.”
“Smith, please,” I urged.
He shook his head. Disbelief was still predominant in his glares. “In theory, I will get over this…eventually. But so help me, motherfucker, you ever hurt her, I will end you.”
“If I ever hurt her, you wouldn’t have to. I’d do it myself.”
“I don’t like it when you fight.” Olivia stared up at my brother with her little finger in the air. She looked remarkably like her father. Everyone grinned including Smith.
“Sorry about that, sweet girl.” Smith scooped her up. “Someday you’ll understand.”
“No, I won’t,” she argued.
“She’s stubborn like her mama.” T laughed. Maddie shook her head at him. A coy grin played on her features as she elbowed T and then quickly looked away. And T’s gaze lingered on her for two seconds too long. Wasn’t that interesting? I glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed their slight flirtation. It seemed the mighty Green Berets were oblivious. Men.
“We better get ready for the hike.” Voodoo sighed. “I’d just like to say this morning I was promised Vegas. Now, I’m climbing something called Devil’s Head which clearly has hellish connotations. I deserve a raise.”
“Can I climb the mountain with you?” Olivia asked Smith.
“I…don’t know baby girl.” He glanced Maddie’s way.
“It’s pretty steep,” I explained. “There are rest stops with benches, but it’s not an easy hike.”
“I think we better stay here. Maybe we can get supper for everyone. You can help me,” Maddie offered.
Olivia shrugged. “Do you promise not to hit anyone? Hitting isn’t nice.” She turned those huge doe eyes on my big brother.
“I promise.” He set Olivia down on her feet.
“Just to clarify…” T stepped in, “…to her, not hitting includes not throwing him off the side of a mountain or doing anything at all that might require Voodoo to have to repair more than just the hikers. Got that?”
“Yeah. Whatever.” He turned back to Griff and spoke through his teeth even though Maddie had sufficiently distracted Olivia with a game on her phone. “Another thing, you are not fucking my baby sister in my house so figure that shit out before you come back to Lincoln.”
“I’m not coming back to Lincoln,” Griff countered.
“What?” T looked like Griff had just announced his intentions to become a Dodgers fan.
“Her business is here, man.”
“My business is anywhere I want to be. We are moving to Lincoln. Don’t listen to him,” I corrected. “Rachel and Liam can handle things here. I can fly in once a month or so, but I design all over the Midwest. I don’t have to be here.”
Relief washed over T’s features. “If I let you two stay at my house until you figure out your own place, will you come back to work? I kind of forgot how much we had to do while I was helping her get you to Vegas. We’re swamped.”
“We do still have a nice little suite and a week’s vacation in Vegas,” I reminded everyone.
Griff wrapped his arm around me. “Let’s see here, the rest of the week with her in a suite pretty much made for fu…”
My brother made an odd gagging hiss noise.
“Uh, relaxing. Made for relaxing,” Griff corrected, “or a week of work while sta
ying at your house. Think I’ll go with Vegas.” He laughed. “But I do have you a new recruit. He can probably take some of the strain off.”
“Oh yeah? Is he a tier one?”
“No, he was a Ranger, but he picks things up quickly.”
“Also, still pissed with you about this whole Vegas thing.” Smith drove his finger into T’s chest as he continued to simper.
“Her picture was in his SAPI pocket, man. You don’t just keep anyone there. You know that,” T vowed.
58
Griff
Two hours and a brutal hike later, I was tying myself a seat rappel. Hannah handed me the second locking carabiner. “Have you done this since…?” She gestured to my bad hip.
“Every few months to stay on top of my game, sweetness. I’ll be fine. You just be standing right here when I get finished rescuing Jizz Stain.”
“Who?”
“Oh, yeah, I met this guy on the plane to Vegas. Famous YouTuber or something. I don’t know. He’s a douche but he needs help, and according to your old man I don’t get to ask questions of the universe.”
She grinned up at me. “I’ll be right here, and he didn’t say you couldn’t ask them just that you might not get an answer.”
“I got you. He was right. You are the answer to every question, even the ones I haven’t thought to ask yet. But I do have one more question I have to ask before we jump into this with both feet.” I cinched my ropes making the ones outlining my package pull tighter.
She laughed. “What’s that, you impressive thing you?”
“That? Between the ropes? Pretty sure you know what that is, baby. You seem to enjoy him,” I teased.
Smith made another one of those odd gagging sounds.
“Sorry, man.” I called over my shoulder.
“I do know what that is.” Hannah giggled. “I meant what was your question.”
“What if I can’t give you everything you want? Specifically…kids.” I spoke so low I wasn’t certain even she’d heard me.
She gripped both sides of my face. “You know, life is a whole lot like shooting. Listen to your heart. Let it guide you. Look at what is clear right in front of you.” She took another step closer so she filled my vision. “Aim at the blurry target, and let the shot surprise you. I want us to let life surprise us, Griff. If I have you by my side that is the only fixed point, the only constant, I will ever need. Everything else is a shot in the dark.”
“I love you.” I brushed a kiss on her forehead.
“I love you, too. Now go rescue those people so we can go crash at my apartment and then get on with our vacation.”
I moved my kisses to her lips. I’d rappelled several of the most dangerous cliffs in Afghanistan so this wasn’t particularly worrisome, but I’d never gotten to kiss her before I dropped myself straight down a mountain so I was taking the opportunity.
I finished my descender complete with a decent friction knot and watched T and Voodoo secure the fixed ropes.
“Is that my Leatherman?” The general gasped in horror as he stared down at his wife’s rather odd trail hiking pack.
“I didn’t think you’d need it this week,” she explained.
“It has my name and rank engraved on it,” General Hagen huffed.
“Yes, I know, dear. I had that done for you.” She shook her head. “All right, I’ve spoken with the ranger’s station. They’re going to meet you at the lookout. When you get them to the bottom, there’s a set of stairs due west about two miles that leads to the lookout. And Griff, honey, I’m so thrilled you and Hannah found your way back together. I meant to say that earlier, but you know the idiots at the bottom of that cliff have distracted me. Really, who drops the supply line?”
“It’s fine, Mrs. Hagen. Thanks for saying that.” I made my way over to be roped into the secure lines and to pull on a pair of gloves.
“All right, boys, don’t fuck this up,” T instructed. Smith and I got into position.
“I still hate you,” Smith stated as if I might’ve forgotten in the last few hours.
“Totally deserved but I am still in love with her.”
“Yeah, I know so don’t die because if you make her cry, I’ll shoot your dead body twice.”
“Noted.” I kicked off.
He followed suit. We made it down quickly only braking a few times to slow our descent.
Jizz and his woman were slumped over, pale and weak. “All right, stay with me, we’re going to get you down,” I instructed.
“Dude, thank God you’re here. Seriously, I could kiss you. Actually, no,” he allowed Smith to secure him over his back in a fireman’s hold to carry him to the bottom of the mountain. “You pick a base and I’m there loving it with both hands. You’re like a real hero.”
“If you touch any of my bases, I will throw you down this mountain,” Smith warned.
“Seems fair,” I chuckled as I eased the woman over my shoulders and secured a rope around her and back to my own ropes. She was in and out of consciousness. I hoped Voodoo could work his magic.
“Climbing is like way harder than it was on my Wii Outdoor game,” Jizz continued to explain to Smith as he lowered them down much slower this time. “I even dropped my camera with all of my footage of us standing on the rails leaning out over the edge. This day blows.”
“You don’t have to talk to me. It’s a complete misconception that we need to talk just because I’m saving your ass,” Smith ordered.
“Hey, are you two brothers? You talk the same.” Jizz pointed to me tugging on the ropes Smith had tied around him.
“Stop moving,” he commanded, “and yeah…we’re brothers.”
When we hit solid ground and untied our passengers, we managed to get several sips of water down them from a camel pack I’d carried on my chest. They rallied some.
It took us another hour to get them to the lookout station. The rangers let Voodoo hook up IVs and bandage their wounds before they carried them up on stretchers.
“Hey, man”—I slapped Smith’s shoulder as the rest of our crew walked ahead of us up the steep staircase—“I am truly sorry for whatever this is doing to you. I’m most sorry about not telling you. I’ll answer anything you want to know. I’m doubting you’re up for details though. But I’m not sorry I fell in love with her. I never will be.”
“I know.” He eyed me like he wasn’t quite certain what to say to all of that. “She keeps looking at you like you put the stars in the fucking sky. She talks about you that way, too. Guess that’s something. Just give me some time to wrap my head around this. Thinking about you…doing night things…hand things…under skirt things…making her happy makes me a little queasy. Don’t be waltzing into the office in the mornings grinning and shit like that.”
“I will definitely keep my waltzing and grinning to a minimum at all times when you’re around.”
“Good. Hey, is your hip okay? That was a long fucking hike and a rope seat is a bitch.”
“It’ll hurt like a mother tomorrow, but it’s just a thing.”
“Isn’t it always. Hey, I don’t want you to move and I wouldn’t mind having her in Lincoln close by. So, don’t push for coming down here too hard.”
“I don’t think she’s going to let me. I can’t stand for her to give up her business for me.” I’d always talked with Smith about the hard things. He’d never let me down. It was just the most difficult, most important thing in my world that I hadn’t been able to share with him. As fucked up as it was, it felt good not to keep this from him anymore.
“She wouldn’t be giving anything up, Griff. She’s right. Her business is her. We all gave up a lot of our life doing what we did. Maybe let her give you this. It’d kill her if she thought she’d broken up The Sevens. You know, Triple A brings his wife to our third Thursday thing. You could bring her sometimes.”
The Sevens had a standing dinner the third Thursday of every month at the Hi-Way diner. I’d never missed one. I couldn’t believe I was going to g
et to keep them and her. After the life I’d lived, maybe things were really looking up.
59
Hannah
The moonlight glinted off of the carabiner still hanging from the belt loop of Griff’s jeans as he made his way up the steps to my apartment that night. I knew he had to be hurting. Rappelling down a mountain with ropes secured around his hips and then carrying a woman several miles to a lookout had taken its toll, but he didn’t want to take the elevator.
Mrs. Lipscomb was in one of her favorite places, outside her apartment staring up at the moonlight through the atrium windows. This time her husband was in his wheelchair beside her. When we made it to the landing, she grinned. “I see you were successful in distracting the MPs.” She winked at me.
Griff’s brow furrowed. “Feel like I missed something.” He offered Mr. Lipscomb his hand. “Sir.”
“The Sergeant returns,” Mr. Lipscomb laughed.
“When did you two meet?” I asked.
“Last time I headed out of here on a Monday morning, we ran into each other,” Griff explained.
“And I told you then you’d be back. I could see it in your eyes.” Mr. Lipscomb’s kind grin eased a little of the strain of our day.
“We were very successful. I made it up the gang plank.” I grinned at my neighbors. That fact lit a sparkler under my skin that bloomed into a broad grin across my face. If I leaned closer to Griff, I could even smell the gunpowder scent of fireworks on the Fourth of July.
“Well, we’re very happy for you, Hannah. The power’s out again, but I’ll just bet your Beret can find some way to help you see in the dark.”
I sighed. “I’m sure he can, but for the record this is the first time there’s ever been a blackout in our building that it actually worked out for me.”
The Lipscombs laughed. “If you need some candles or flashlights, just knock.”
“I will. Thanks.” I unlocked the door by the light of the moon. When I turned back, Mr. Lipscomb was pulling his wife into his lap. The wheelchair had never slowed them down.
