He’s laughing heartily at my rendition of the football game that June day, and how French was out to get me, but as I come to the part where Jake had showed up and everything had fallen to shit, I can feel the smile fading from my lips and my voice just trails off. His chuckle is still light when he asks, “Well? What happened next?”
Can I tell him about Ellie’s asshole of an ex? Should I tell him about the abuse? “Why did you and Ellie fall out of communication, anyway?” I ask, leaving it open to end the conversation here if he doesn’t answer.
“Oh, hell,” he says, rubbing his hand back over his dark hair. “I dunno. I called and wrote after our momma died, but she never responded so I guessed she had gone on with her life and was just leavin’ me be.”
I nod my head, still weighing my options of whether to tell him or not in my head. “You remember her husband, Jake?”
“That fucker?” he snorts, standing and pacing a few steps in front of me before leaning against the wall. “Did she divorce that asshole like I told her to the day she married him?” He kind of laughs, and I can’t help but smile. Oh hell, he’s not ready for this.
“Um, yeah, well,” I start, but pause, waiting for something-anything to save me from having to tell him. Taking a deep breath, I say it’s now or never and he needs to know this. She’s his little sister for fucks sake. “Jake beat Ellie….bad. A lot. She went to the local police back in West Virginia, but you know he had connections and they just swept it under the rug each time.” I see the flare in his eyes and his fists clench at his sides as he pushes away from the wall. “She tried to run away after finding out she was pregnant and she came to Waverly hoping to find Rhea or any family member in Wakefield.”
I stop there, not wanting to tell him anything else. It’s pulling too hard on my own heart, I don’t want to relive this. I close my eyes for a second and Ellie’s face flashes before me, smiling and so full of life. I feel as if I can reach out and touch her soft cheek. Then her smile is gone and her face is swollen in spots and bruising fast, just like it was when I had found her in her trailer. She’s crying and my chest tightens at the sight. I want so bad to reach out and pull her into me, making all the hurt go away instead of running like I did, but I can’t.
“Well?” Jack grinds out, snapping my attention back to him and I know he can see the hurt in my eyes the minute I look at him.
“Jake came back after Ellie and me had gotten together. It was at the football game and he had been stalking her for months. She took off, there was a fight between my guys and his. I beat the living shit out of his partner.” I can’t help but kind of laugh, the adrenaline seeming to course through my veins again as I can feel myself hitting that prick Walden as he lay struggling on the pavement.
“And that asshole, Heart? Betcha kicked his ass, right?” Jack laughs, shaking his head and smiling to himself. He probably thinks this story has a happy ending.
“Well, actually he got shot,” I say, shrugging my shoulders as he looks at me with surprise. “Ellie shot him in the leg…trying to protect herself from another beating.” The confusion and hurt returns to his expression and I’m kicking myself. Why did I have to open my big mouth? “Ellie ran when Jake came to the game, and he followed her to her trailer. My old spotter went with me, but we weren’t there in time, and….”
Fuck! I don’t want to tell him she tried to kill herself right in front of me. I can feel the tension rolling off of him and I know he feels like killing someone just to relieve it. I’ve been there plenty of times.
“Your sister, Ellie, was so…broken that she tried to kill herself. She pressed the barrel of the same gun she had shot Jake with to her temple and pulled the trigger as I tried to stop her. Thankfully, the gun jammed.” I can hear the release of breath, but Hatter still looks raging mad. I’m definitely not going to tell him the shit Jake had spilled about Ellie stripping and having an abortion, which would just add fuel to the fire.
“So if you were so happy like you say, why the hell are you here and not there, taking care of my baby sister?” He basically growls at me, stalking forward with a murderous look in his eyes. He gets to within an inch from me, his fists still balled at his sides, but I don’t flinch. He can’t beat me down any more than I’ve already done to myself and if he wants to go a few rounds, hell, I’m up to it.
“Because I’m a fuckin’ coward, that’s why. When shit got tough, and secrets came out, I ran instead of facing my shit like a man. Ellie and I had demons, which if we stayed together, would have broken us apart. We needed time to work our own shit out, but I know I ran out like a bitch.” I don’t have time to catch myself as he shoves me back, his hands twisting into my flak and pulling me back with our faces only a whisper apart. I’m a little taller than him and smirking down at him, I shove my hand in his face, pushing on the pressure point below the nose and forcing him to release me. No way is he going to put his hands on me in my own room without a fight.
He’s back a few feet, squaring up when a shouted “Hey!” echoes through my room. Donnie is standing in the doorway, looking mad as hell. “Get your fuckin’ asses out to the compound and start your rounds. I ain’t gonna deal with your shit tonight, Hatter!” Then he casts his eyes on me, reminding me so much of the powerful wave that Chad could hold over all of us in SEAL Team 10. “And you… I don’t give a shit what you’ve got goin’ on that has crawled up Hatter’s ass, but keep it to yourself or put in for a transfer.”
He waits, his stare burning a hole in my head until I give him a sharp nod, as does Jack, then he stomps off mumbling to himself that we are a bunch of assholes. He’s not far off on that one. Looking over to Jack, I can see the anger still boiling inside of him. Hell, it’s raging inside of me at bringing all those memories up and the picture of Ellie’s bruised and battered body still lingers in my mind.
I shove the clips for my M-16 into my vest, swing the gun over my shoulder while holstering my SIG, and head for the door. Hitting the open doorway, I never see it coming, but hell, do I feel it as Jack’s fist connects with my jaw; sending me back against the wall. Holding my jaw as I work it and see that it’s not broken, even though it might hurt less if it was, Jack stands in front of me.
He doesn’t say anything, just smirks and walks off. Okay, I might have deserved that for leaving Ellie like I did. Nope, I definitely deserved that and a lot more. But just like in the Teams, I shake it off, straighten my vest, and jog out the door heading for the compound that leads into the oil refinery facility.
Everyone’s quiet inside, probably sensing the tension still brewing but I throw it aside. “Anything?” I ask Chomper, one of the older guys who has no real teeth left in his mouth, as he is logging off the computer and leaving it for Rory as per our usual changing of the guard routine.
“Nada, boy,” he says, slapping me on the back and turning to leave. “But as always…”
“Keep your eyes and ears open. Those damn bastards will know when you’re not lookin’,” we all repeat in chorus. It’s the same warning advice he has issued since only God knows when and he issues us a chew stained, denture smile before he disappears into the fading sunset.
The room gets quiet again as Rory logs in, checking the coms to see if we have any messages as I flip through the security cameras lining the perimeter. Nothing but blank, black desert lit up with night vision. Good.
“Alright fuckers,” Donnie chimes in, shifting his bulky figure inside his vest, “let’s get to it. The desert awaits us.”
The resident computer whiz, Patch, will stay in the command room and man the cameras while Jack and I take the South side and Donnie and Rory take the North. I don’t say anything to him as we make our way down the iron steps and to the sand. The night is cold and there is little sound beside that of the factory itself, and it feels a little too quiet. Normally we can hear the nearby village, or dogs fighting, but right now there is nothing. I flip my night vision down from my helmet and take a scan of the surrounding area, seeing
nothing but bugs and a few feral dogs in the distance beyond the fence line.
I turn and see that Jack has his down as well, scanning to his left with his M-16 at the ready. “Do you see somethin’?” I ask, moving to his right and pulling my weapon to my hip just in case. I’ve never had to fire it except in range practice. My .50 cal is sitting up in our usual tower, locked in a foot locker since last night when we had done a little impromptu target practice with some cans and bottles Donnie had set up outside the gate during the day.
“No, nothin’ out there. But it’s too quiet for my likin’.” Jack turns back to me, throwing his straightened fingers up and signaling for us to get to the tower. I pick it up into a jog in front of him and take the steps three at a time, unlocking the door with one of my thirty keys.
As soon as we’re in, Jack grabs the high powered binoculars and peers out into the night as I unlock the foot locker. Pulling out the barrel and trigger stock, I could assemble them with my eyes closed if I had to and it feels good to have my sniper rifle back in my hands. I set it up, facing the opposite direction in which Jack is looking and I adjust the scope, the green of the night vision lighting up the dark.
“Fuck, I think it’s just the tension fuckin’ with my senses,” he says and I see him give me a look from the corner of my eye, but I ignore him. He can’t beat me down about the situation with Ellie any more than I already have.
“Yeah, you’re prolly right,” I agree, leaning back and stretching my arms up over my head. He kind of laughs, leaning over the table with his palms down and shaking his head. The silence stretches on as Donnie and Rory talk back and forth over the radio as they do their sweep and I can tell Jack wants to say something. “Alright! Spill it!” I say, standing quickly and facing him from my side of the table. His eyes only leave mine for a split second when my left leg bumps the table and the metal of my prosthetic clinks against it. It’ll be a reaction I’ll always get and as his eyes move back up to mine, a smirk crosses his lips.
“Alright, fucker.” He laughs, rubbing his hand over his face and stalking toward me with his ever present cocky attitude in full blown Hatter mode. He stops right next to me, facing the opposite direction with his back against the table. He just stares out the tower’s glass window, crossing his arms over his chest, not saying anything for a handful of minutes. I see it when the cocky Hatter leaves Jack behind, and his face becomes serious.
“Do you really love her?” is all he says, locking me under that grey stare.
“Yes,” I say without a second’s hesitation, shifting around to look out into the dark night. “I love Ellie with everything I have…everything I am. I know what I did was wrong, I could have gone about it better, but our demons would have torn us apart. She needed time and I needed time. I’m jus’ hoping whenever I get home, that she’ll forgive me and that maybe we can try and rebuild somethin’.” I spill every thought that I’ve had about my hopes for the outcome of the situation in one breath and wait for his response.
“Good,” is all I get before Patch comes over the radio, breaking the deafening silence.
“I’m having some interference here, boys. Might wanna do a scan of your perimeters again.” Taking the position at my rifle again, nothing pops up on the scope and I pick up the binoculars at my side, widening my search perimeters. I look to Jack and he just shakes his head.
“Nothin’ here, Patch. What about you, Ror?” The other end of our com is just high pitched crackles until Rory’s voice breaks through, saying it is all clear on their end. “We’ll patrol the fence line on our end to make sure.”
“Sounds good, Timmons,” Patch answers, and I’m automatically in combat mode. Pulling my M-16 from my back, I flip my night vision goggles down once more as Jack leads the way down onto the sand. We split up, one East and one West, the fence line only being about a mile and a half long.
I’m looking and listening for anything unusual. Any broken fence or bent fence, indicating a failed breech. When I reach the end, I climb the ladder into the small tower and scan the Eastern most corner, spotting the village in the distance and their fading night fires and smoke trails. I see the pack of dogs is making their way to the village, probably looking for scraps and I head back down the ladder.
“Notta here, Hatter. You got anythin’?” Hearing the crackle at the end of my transmission spikes my nerves. Never have we ever had this much interference, our coms usually being crystal clear. I pick up my pace to a quick jog, that inkling feeling in the back of head of something being off growing bigger by the second.
“I think I might have somethin’ here, boys,” Jack says just as I get to our main tower. My feet barely even touch the steps as I get up inside, taking the binoculars once more and looking down the fence line to see Jack leaving his small Western tower. “Does anyone else see what I just saw?” he yells and I see him running back toward me. Peering past the tower, I see at least thirty bright green dots, indicating body heat, heading toward the fence. Fuck, yes I see it.
When Jack reaches the tower a huge explosion lights up my sight to the left and Patch is yelling in my ear. “Shit! They just rammed the gate,” the communication ends in an ear piercing crackle and I’m already at my rifle, lining it up with the burning fence.
“Where is everyone?” Rory yells as the gunshots start to fill the air and I see the white streaks from the automatic rifles filling the blackness. We aren’t supposed to fire our weapons unless in eminent danger and watching the trail of the bullets, it looks like whoever these assholes are, are just firing randomly.
“We’re comin’, we’re comin’,” Chomper replies as another explosion goes off closer to our tower and Jack opens fire.
“Cover them!” he yells and I don’t hesitate any longer, seeing the illuminated person closest to Rory and Donnie’s tower start to aim up. Firing a weapon in order to take someone’s life is like no other feeling in the world. It’s my job and as I see the green forms dropping one by one, the shell casings tinging and pinging on the metal floor beneath me, I’m not Bobby. I’m Timmons, the former Frogman and SEAL.
I see the tight formation of my fellow guards leaving our living compound and I provide cover fire, picking off advancing figures that I know they can’t see. A cloud of dust is kicking up out of the corner of my eye and pulls my attention. The familiar thrum of helicopter blades echoes over the gunshots and taking my eyes off the fight for only a second, I see three MH-60’s hovering close overhead and ropes dropping from them.
Breaking glass and the familiar clinking sound of metal on metal and I look down, cursing myself when I see that round little orb laying there. “GRENADE!” I shout, grabbing Jack by the back of the collar as I lunge for the door. Hitting the cool night air just as the explosion rocks my hearing, I let go of my rifle and hope I don’t break anything on landing. Fucking grenades.
Hitting the sand, my ears are ringing like a bitch and my helmet is fuck knows where. I feel a hand on my shoulder, shaking me, and I just assume it’s Jack and keep my eyes closed to stay off the nausea that I know will be rolling through me when I open them. The shaking gets harder and the grip on my shoulder tightens so I open my eyes, not believing the sight at first.
“Well let’s go, Timmons,” Chief says with a little smirk, and I shake my head to try and clear my vision. He’s in tactical gear, looking like the Chief I used to know, except for the huge NCIS stamped on his vest and as I get to my feet, I grab my helmet and gun, falling into formation behind him, Jack and others.
“Chief? How the fuck?” I start to ask when I see more people join us. Looking around me as we take cover, I recognize the faces. “Well hell, isn’t it jus’ a regular family reunion?” I’m surrounded by my old SEAL Team.
“Hell yeah, boy!” French yells, flipping me the bird and I return it with a grin.
“We can do the pissin’ contest later, kids,” Chief laughs, returning fire from our position. “Let’s get these assholes.”
“Shit yeah!” Jack a
nd I echo, following the formation as they move in. I wouldn’t want anyone else saving my ass except for these boys. But how the hell did they know we needed them?
~~~~
Chad
It’s strange, the nostalgia I feel being up in this chopper, but as I sit strapped in next to Reno and French I feel as if I had never gotten out. We’d all been briefed at the small base in Afghanistan where we met up with a General. Now, flying low over the pitch black desert my nerves are on end.
I check my M4 one more time, knowing I’ve already done it thirty times and I notice Reno shaking his head at me. “It’s still there, Chief. Jus’ like it was two minutes ago, and two minutes before that.” He slaps me on the back and I flip him off as our former team members laugh at my expense.
“You know the Chief,” Uclid yells, “always makin’ sure everythin’s perfect.” He makes a motion like he’s folding something and everyone laughs again. Yeah, yeah, laugh at me because I have a family and I like my shit neat, but I know they all want what I got so I just smile and laugh.
“Ropes down in ten!” French says, motioning around to have us at the ready. I sure as hell hope Carter and Smith are listening to Benson in the helicopter next to us because I know they can be two headstrong assholes. I just want to get there and make sure that no one else has been hurt because of the greedy owners of Savage Security.
I see a village pass by below us and French says, “Down in two!” and the familiar tingle finds my skin. The hair stands up on the back of my neck and I’m ready to do this. You may leave the Teams, but you never really leave the Teams. I will always be a sailor. I will always be a SEAL. It’s who I am and it’s the code I’ll live by.
Take Me Home: Book 4 The Wakefield Romance Series Page 6
