The House At Sunset: SEALed At Sunset - The Beach Renovation (Sunset SEALs Book 5)

by Sharon Hamilton

  “But you have to want to get better,” Aimee said. “And maybe you can’t. But I’m going to help you this one time, and then I’m done. You stay here until you get better and stronger. Not perfect. But you don’t run away this time. You stay as long as you like, and I’ll pay for it, Logan. But if you leave, I won’t be there a second time. Those are my rules. But you have to agree to those rules.”

  At the end of their conversation, Logan consented to being voluntarily remanded to the clinic for four months, minimum, which Dr. Denby said could keep him out of jail, unless he escaped. He’d be locked in his room at night but given relative freedom in a secured location during the day. He’d submit to blood and urine testing and attend classes. They’d do a full medical diagnosis and try to adjust what they could. He was told it might not work, but if he wanted it to, there was no limit to what he could achieve.

  Just before Aimee left, he called out to her.

  “Will you come visit me?”

  “I will, if you ask me to. I won’t come unless you ask, Logan. But I’ll come as much as I can, if you ask.”

  Aimee left the clinic, collecting Sandy on the way, and felt settled for the first time in months. She’d been lucky enough to play by her heart and have the chance to do something good with her money. Now the next battle was going to be settling with Andy. Having some honest conversations.

  She still had hope. Of all people, today Logan gave her that hope.

  Chapter 24

  Andy was silent on their way back to camp. Sven and Peterson were cracking jokes, off-color jokes, and Kelly was lowering the boom on them right and left. Sven seemed to enjoy getting her angry.

  Andy wasn’t in the mood.

  “So, what’s going on with you, Dr. Carr?” Sven asked.

  “Oh, you know. Got five minutes to talk to my new bride, and we sort of have a fight. I think that’s what it was.”

  “She’ll get over it,” Peterson said, slapping Andy’s knee.

  “No, I think I’m the one who has to get over it. I reacted to something she said, and damned if I’m being stubborn, but I think I was right.”

  Kelly turned around in the front seat. “Really? A man who thinks he’s right. I’ve never heard that before. Why, don’t you know, all men are right?”

  She turned her back on the second seat, with the three Amigos sitting side by side. They’d just gotten their fanny slapped and nobody appreciated it.

  “Maybe we better cool it for a bit. I think tensions are building, and we got to have all out wits about us tonight,” offered Peterson. “But I’ll tell you, that’s happened to me a time or two. It takes a little adjustment sometimes for the wives.”

  “We’ve lived together for a year. I’ve been on one deployment before.”

  “Oh well, then, my gosh, a whole year? Why you should have everything figured out by now.” Kelly was downright nasty tonight.

  Andy was starting to hate her. He’d never liked women who were sporting attitude with him because there was no real sport in it. He wasn’t allowed to really fight back. It was an old wound.

  For the rest of the five minutes it took to return to base, no one said a word. Andy wondered what Adaze was thinking. He was a man still feeling the pain of losing his wife. It was like all of them were on different pages in different books in different libraries.

  Peterson retreated to make his phone call. Andy sullenly ambled over to his cot.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Drama wasn’t one of my better subjects in high school. I don’t get this guy, Sabi. I’m standing there, listening to him cajole, and talk. I’m wondering to myself, what the hell are we doing here?”

  “Whoa! Where’d that come from?”

  “I’m a little short on patience today. I think I’m just probably tired. Mind if I catch some shuteye for a bit?”

  “No, I’ll leave you alone. You want some lunch?”

  “Not really hungry. I’d rather sleep.”

  “Okay, I’ll wake you if there’s something else going on.” Dallas left their room.

  The other cot was for Sven, and Andy knew there was a fifty-percent chance he wouldn’t be needing it tonight. It took mere seconds before he was in the pits of a deep, dark sleep.

  When Andy awoke, Tucker was seated next to the cot with a plate of food.

  “Come on, sport. You gotta eat something.”

  “I think I caught a bug.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I heard. Well this stuff is damned tasty. You should try some. One of the Africorps wives makes it. Pretty good for you too. Try it.”

  Andy knew he was sulking. He accepted the plate and knew Tucker was sent when he started eating and the old guy didn’t leave.

  “I got in a huge argument with Brandy before I left. I’m going to have to fix that first thing when I get back.”

  “Pretty remarkable you volunteered for this, with a new baby in the house. I can only imagine. You’ll probably get all the midnight feedings and diaper changes for a year, and even then, it won’t be enough.”

  “Some guys during my first ten all re-upped at the same time so they could get their bonus and buy a fishing boat together. Not only did it not go over with the wives they forgot to consult, two of them actually got divorces and wound up having to spend the boat money for attorney’s fees and child support.”

  “That’s a cluster fuck if I’ve heard one.” Andy finished his meal. “You wouldn’t be trying to make me feel better, now would you?”

  “Oh, it kinda crossed my mind. You’ve done a great job with these new buds, and they like you, Andy. I think you’ve made a real contribution. I’m gonna have to get even for the suggestion I come over to do this little TDI. But besides that, we’re friends, and it warms my heart to see you’ve found a place here. You know how Kyle likes to keep things tight. I can see Peterson has a ways to go, but he’s alright. He’s learning. He listens, and that’s the most important part. Nothing worse than someone being stupid and putting everyone’s lives at risk.”

  “He’s pretty good, I agree with you there.”

  “So, since Kyle’s not your LPO yet, and I’m kind of senior here as far as years in, I thought, if you needed to, we could have a talk.”

  Andy didn’t want to offend the big man, but he really didn’t want to talk about the conversation he had with Aimee. But he decided to make a stab at it.

  “Let me ask you this, Tucker. Did you ever find Brandy, when you guys were first getting together, like overly enthusiastic about really dumb shit?”

  “You had an argument about that?”

  Andy knew it was a feeble attempt. He shouldn’t have tried, he knew better.

  “Let me see, Brandy, yes, she can get worked up about stuff about the house, wanting to make it perfect. She went and had some plans drawn for a deck upstairs, the fencing for the rear yard, and heck, we didn’t have more than two extra nickels at the end of the month. But damn it, somehow, she managed to get it done. Her dad was a big help. She found these three guys who love to build shit. They drew up the plans, got it through the city, and bingo, we had a beautiful deck, rear fencing, and a partial remodel. All I had to do was pay for materials. They do this pay-it-forward type of thing.”

  “So, she solves problems.”

  “No, I’d say she always looks for the opportunities. She sees the good in everyone. I used to see her try to be nice to those bitches who were her best friend’s girlfriends. She never fit in. She’s a big girl, as you know. Those ladies would dis her in ways she never figured out, but it didn’t matter. She was always cool about it. Didn’t whine and complain.” Tucker erupted in a belly laugh.

  “What is it?”

  “Well, she likes to get even. She has fun with that. People are always underestimating her, too, and it doesn’t matter. She’s naturally happy. I have to have someone like that by my side. I don’t like having to eke out my itty-bitty emotions and proper thinking for approval. She loves me. She always will. And man, the more we
’re together the more I love her right back.”

  Now Andy felt really bad. He’d been a total dick. It didn’t matter if he was a poor SEAL or a rich SEAL. Being rich was going to be a whole lot better. Why the hell had he gotten so worked up?

  “Thanks, man.”

  “For what? I didn’t do anything.”

  Sven poked his head into the room. “We got a briefing starting now, Carr. We need all hands on.”

  The intel received during the last twenty-four hours confirmed that the film crew and the girls were being held at the abandoned school site. The whole team breathed a sigh of relief since the longer they were present in Benin, the more likely they’d run into someone who would want to pick a fight. But they had strength in numbers. Andy felt confident they had everything they needed.

  Part of the team was to pack up and get ready to leave once they either did or did not get the hostages. Gunnar was not happy he was going to lose three trucks, but Kelly made sure he was properly compensated. Adaze was happy to be one of the drivers delivering them across the border, since he’d get another bonus. He offered to bring back one of the trucks along with a couple of corpsmen.

  Peterson let Tucker and Sven set up the mission, and gave some good suggestions, based on what he’d been told of the school. Diku had once had a child who attended the school, so he gave them good information on the most likely areas to search first. What was most concerting was that there were at least twenty armed guards, and Peterson had been told more were on the way. It was do it tonight, or go away with nothing, possibly with injuries.

  Tucker had Danny Begay and Armando positioned to pick off some of the guards with their long guns. Fredo was to blow up one of the guard huts where the drone had picked up the most bodies, but not in the heavy concentration like the other building, a former cafeteria, where they assumed the hostages were being held. It all had to be coordinated at the same split second. Then Tucker and his team would breach the building and start extracting hostages.

  They were hoping everyone was healthy enough to walk. Diku, Adaze and another brother were to bring the vehicles closer, all loaded up, so they could bypass the UNESCO camp and just make a line for the border. If they had to, they could stop in Kandi for supplies or to treat the injured.

  Danny and Armando found rooftops with perfect line of sight to the yard outside the hut and the hostage area. They divided up the guards they could see, using their Invisios. Fredo and Dallas set charges all over the place. They wired an ammunition storage locker that had been left open, all around the old office building housing the guards, and a diesel storage tank used for fuel. Archie located the generator and, on the mark, would cut the power, leaving most of the camp in pure darkness. With their NV goggles, the SEALs would have a huge advantage.

  Sven gave the signal. In rapid succession, six shots, sounding like three, took out six outside guards, and then the two or three who ran outside afterwards. The charge was a little late and went off about a minute after the power was cut and the diesel tank exploded. But by that time, there was so much confusion that the element of surprise was no longer a factor.

  Andy helped Tucker move out the girls, who were screaming and had to be calmed down. This was the part of the mission Andy wished they’d had the nurses. But as soon as the trucks arrived, they all climbed inside, helped by two of Diku’s men. The five Dutch and American journalists were very weak and barely able to walk, but with help they were loaded into the two remainder trucks, and when all three vehicles left the camp, less than five minutes had gone by.

  Not one guard at the school was left alive.

  Peterson got word that a force was coming up from the South. It was decided that they bypass the UNESCO site, where they’d planned on dropping off the girls, and to head to Kandi and return them to the two nurses, who could treat them.

  The Africacorp drivers were phenomenal, and Andy wanted to make sure when he got stateside that the Navy knew how well they worked. They dodged obstacles, occasionally a cow or goat in the road, avoided potholes, and kept a speed of nearly fifty miles an hour all through the bush, cutting across two grassy savannahs without the benefit of a road beneath them.

  Armando and Danny were riding in the rear of the last truck to watch for followers or choppers, but luck was on their side and they made the rendezvous to the Kandi camp in record time.

  All the guards had held, and several additional ones showed up. Kelly applied Uncle Sam’s cash liberally, and when Sven hugged Flora and they all said good-bye to the schoolgirls, the whole place was erupting into a celebratory party. Diku said that word went out to several parents in Benot that their daughters were safe and were coming to pick them up.

  Andy thanked the tall Africacorp leader, the one he wasn’t sure he could trust.

  “You come back, I be your driver again,” he said in broken English.

  “That’s a promise, Diku. You did good. Uncle Sam thanks you. Stay out of trouble.”

  “Trouble? No, this is fun!” He laughed and ran to his crowd.

  It took them another two hours to hit the Niger border. The border patrol was not out in full force, but there was a long line of lorries and commercial vehicles waiting to get through. The bottleneck was going to take an hour, which was way too long.

  Kelly demanded they cut in line and when deposited at the barricaded gate, several truckers behind them started honking.

  Sven turned to Andy. “Amazing what that woman can do with a badge and some cash. Just watch her work,” he whispered.

  Seconds later, guards were removing the big barriers and the two trucks were allowed to pass. At the Niger border, the State Department had already given them clearance and they were waved through without even stopping them.

  Peterson turned to Adaze. “You make sure all these guys get back over the border together, or my ass will be on the line. We don’t want any international incidents here.”

  Adaze grinned and gave Peterson the Peace sign. “No problem. We were on a special mission saving baboons for UNESCO!”

  For some reason, everyone thought that was hilarious and nobody stopped laughing for nearly five minutes.

  A cargo plane was waiting for them at the airstrip, the huge belly opening wide to accept the men, their equipment, and the hostages onto the plane. Andy watched through the tiny porthole as the big behemoth bellied up, took off, leaving the two white trucks and their African brothers in arms behind, waving.

  It had been a week of very intense days, with little sleep and nothing in the way of luxuries. But Sven passed out some Norwegian chocolates to every member of the team.

  “Don’t believe what they tell you. The best chocolates in the world come from Norway.”

  Chapter 25

  Aimee didn’t get a call from Andy. Instead, she got a call from Peterson’s wife.

  “Hey, Aimee. You and I have got to get together and talk. My husband just loves Andy, and what he’s brought to this team.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “So, I’m calling to let you know they’ll be flying in tomorrow at three PM, and to apologize that none of them had any time to call home. They’ve been in a big ol’ bucket of bolts, and they’ll probably arrive half deaf too. Andy is staying over in Norfolk, and then driving home Saturday.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “I’m sure he’ll call you when he lands.”

  “Yes, I suppose so.” But Aimee suspected that the reason Andy didn’t call was for something entirely different.

  “We just wanted you to know how much we appreciate you and Andy. And I’m going to have to make sure you get invited to some of our wives events. I’ve been remiss, and that’s on me.”

  “Thank you. It’s been pretty busy here, with the wedding and everything. We live so far away.”

  “Well, maybe you two should consider buying a house here in Little Creek. It’s a wonderful community. Very military friendly, of course. That way, you could get involved in more of the
Team things.”

  It was the last thing Aimee wanted to do. With the additional funds, perhaps purchasing something for him to stay in when he had to go up to trainings, or a place for her to go so she could be there when he returned made sense. But all those plans seemed so far away. She wasn’t sure any of it would work out now. And she was exhausted. She just didn’t want to make any more decisions until she had to.

  She spent the rest of the day cleaning the house, changing the sheets on all three bedrooms upstairs, since Sandy usually liked to take her pick when Aimee was out shopping, and had slept on all of them. She didn’t mind the dog hair and smell everywhere, but it wasn’t what Andy would like. It could also be one more thing for him to get angry about.

  Shelley stopped by, bringing some flowers.

  “Okay, what did I do wrong?” Aimee asked, slightly wary.

  “Nonsense, silly. Why, are you in a streak of pissing people off? I hardly believe that about you.”

  If you only knew.

  “I just brought them because. You’ve had a pretty big week. And now that Andy will be coming home—”

  “How did you know?”

  “One of my friends at school has a son on Team 4 with Andy.” She walked up to Aimee and took her by the shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  She hated that Shelley had that radar that could detect when she was on inner shaky ground. Despite her self-admonition, she began to cry.

  “Oh, honey. I didn’t mean to upset you, sweetheart.”

  Shelley was a good friend, but a lousy hugger. Her skinny frame was just too bony and fragile. There was only one person in Aimee’s world who could hug a woman like she should be hugged.

  Shelley put the flowers down, took Aimee by the hand and sat her down on the yellow couch so they could watch the bay together. “Tell me. I promise to only listen this time. I know I’ve been a pain and a half, and my advice has been shoved down your throat. You tell me. What’s wrong?”

  “I had a difficult call with early this morning. And then, I went down to Sarasota to visit Logan, and—”