Hot Extraction: SEALs, Marines, and Infantry - A Military Romance Boxed Set

by Kathryn Thomas

  Kristina jumped, almost spilling her coffee.

  “Janine, you scared me half to death,” Kristina said, as her best friend took the seat in front of her desk.

  “What has you so deep in thought?” she said, crossing her legs.

  “Cooley just gave me an assignment,” Kristina said, sipping her now warm coffee.

  “Which is?” Janine asked, when Kristina didn’t continue.

  Kristina sat her cup down and said, “He wants me to do a piece on the returning soldiers from overseas.”

  “Okay, I still have yet to see how this had your head in the clouds.”

  “He wants me to interview three soldiers, two men and one woman.” Kristina paused and took a deep breath. “He also wants one of those men to be Danny.”

  “Shut up. Danny? He can’t be serious,” Janine said, as her eyes grew large.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  “But you haven’t talked to him in a few years. How would you even get in…wait? How did he even find out about Danny?” Janine asked, looking confused.

  “It had to be Trevor. He’s the only one, besides you, who knows about him.”

  Several years ago, Kristina had developed a semi-crush on a co-worker named Trevor. They dated for a year and Danny had come up in conversation a couple of times during the course of that year. In retrospect, Kristina should have kept her thoughts about Danny to herself and she should never have become involved with someone like Trevor.

  “That man is a snake. I don’t know why you didn’t listen to me when I told you he was a creep.”

  “Well, lesson learned. The hard way might I add, too,” Kristina said.

  “I’m guessing when he heard that Cooley was going to ask me to do this story, he wanted to make things hard on me. He knows how I feel about Danny,” Kristina said, sitting back in her office chair. “It was a constant argument between us.”

  “I can beat him up in the parking garage, if you want me to,” Janine said, only half-joking.

  Laughing, Kristina replied, “That won’t be necessary. A creep like him will always get what’s coming to him.”

  “You never told me why you guys stopped talking,” Janine said.

  “You’re talking about me and Trevor? Well, he was self-centered and arrogant. Oh, he used to do this thing with his teeth that I couldn’t stand, too.”

  “Not him, Kris. Danny.”

  “Oh. Well, why you didn’t say so.” Kristina took a deep breath, as her past, once again, took over her thoughts. “Well, you know most of the story. We grew up together and he was there for me to put it simply. When we turned eighteen, I was going to move to get away from…well, let’s just say home life.” She decided to keep things vague, since she didn’t want Janine to know too much about what things were like for her growing up.

  Kristina took another breath and continued, “It was graduation night. His mom had taken us out to dinner after the ceremony to celebrate. We were sitting in the hammock in his backyard when he dropped the news on me.”

  ***

  “Kristina, are you sure you want to move to Philly? It’s so different from here.”

  “I think that’s the point, Danny. Plus, I have an aunt in Philly. She’s gonna help me when I first get there. I’ll be okay,” she said, looking at him. She noticed he was a little preoccupied. “Is there something wrong, Danny?”

  He looked over at her and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just trying to figure out how to tell you something.”

  “You know you can tell me anything. You always can.”

  He grabbed her hand and said, “I’ve decided to enlist. I leave one week after you head for Philly.”

  Shock went through her body, as she blurted out, “The military, Danny, are you serious? What happened to college? You said you were going to college.” Her voice caught on the last word. They both knew why she was upset. So many soldiers were sent overseas to fight and so many never came home. “Why, Danny?” she said, her voice shaking.

  “I feel duty bound. All the men in my family have served our country. They have given of themselves to protect our freedom. I want to be part of that.”

  “I’m scared for you. I don’t want you to go, Danny. Please. Don’t go,” she pleaded with him.

  “I’ll be ok Kristina, but this is something that I have to do,” he said, as he looked her in her eyes. “I have to, Tina.”

  ***

  “We kept in touch all through his boot camp and I even went to his graduation. We spoke often and we texted more than that. Once he went to MOS school, the calls came less often. Even when we did talk, he seemed preoccupied and he would always rush off the phone. This continued all through my time in college. He didn’t even come to my graduation like he said he would.

  “Once he was stationed, he came to see me once. I loved the time we spent together. He stayed for about a week. After that, we both kind of got busy with our careers. I had just started as an intern here when I heard he was deployed to Afghanistan, but we haven’t spoken since. I don’t even know what I would say to him.

  “Can you imagine if I just called him up and said, ‘Hey, Danny, it’s Kristina. I know you just came home and all, but can I interview you on your exploits as a solider?’ He’d probably laugh in my face.”

  “Then, don’t tell him,” Janine said.

  Kristina looked at her friend. She didn’t like the mischievous grin plastered across her face.

  “I can’t not tell him,” she said.

  “Why not? You don’t have to tell him right away. Just get to know him again. Find out who he is now. Ask him a few questions for reporting’s sake and write your story.”

  “That’s deceitful, Janine.”

  “What reporter isn’t? You do what you have to do to gather your research and get your story,” her friend said.

  “First off, I resent being called a reporter. I’m a journalist,” she said and Janine rolled her eyes. “Second, what if he finds out what I’m doing?”

  “Cross that bridge when you get to it. How long did Cooley give you for the piece?”

  “Two months, but I’m sure I can squeeze a few extra weeks out of him. I’ll probably do the two other points of views first before I head back to Humble.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Janine said, getting up. “I’ll talk to you later, chick. I have work of my own to do,” she said, as she laughed and left her friend’s office.

  Alone again, Kristina’s mind drifted to her parents. She hadn’t seen them since she left for Philly. This was going to be an interesting couple of months. She just hoped she was strong enough to step foot in Humble, Texas and step out unscathed by whatever awaited her there.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kristina leaned back against her seat and closed her eyes. She was extremely tired. Her flight had left Philadelphia at four o’clock in the morning and, of course, she had gotten little sleep last night.

  What would she do when she saw him? Would he even talk to her? She was unsure of how he would react after three years of not talking and she kept playing out different scenarios in her mind. She tried to reach out to Danny a few times over the years, but for reasons unknown to her, he never contacted her in return.

  Checking her watch, she breathed deep. Oh, well. No use stressing about it, now. She was set to land in Humble in less than two hours and then she’d find out exactly how he’d react towards her.

  ****

  Danny starred at the bottle of Kettle One on his night stand. He wanted a drink and could already taste the warm liquor on his tongue. He craved its numbing silence. It was the only thing that helped keep the memories at bay, the only thing that kept a lid on his inner madness. He reached for the bottle and took the top off. Then, he tilted it back.

  The memories always were the loudest before he took his first drink, fighting for control of his mind. He needed the drink to help him win the battle that raged in his head. The first drops hit his tongue and his hands shook, as he pou
red the liquor down his throat. One sip turned into two; but, he kept swallowing until he heard silence. He took sip after sip until he drowned out all the screams, the gunfire, the smoke, and the explosions. He drank until all he heard was peaceful silence.

  ***

  The town was exactly how she remembered it: small, quaint, and full of bad memories. Kristina drove to her hotel and checked in. She sat in her room for about an hour before she decided to visit her parents.

  Her old house looked the same from the outside, absolutely perfect. Passersby would never know the pain and dysfunction that went on inside.

  Get out the car, Kristina. Gathering her wits, she opened the car door and headed towards the house. She rang the doorbell and waited. Her mother answered not long after.

  “Kristina? Honey, what are you doing here?”

  Hugging her mother, she stepped into the house. “How are you, Mom? How’s Dad?” Kristina said, looking around.

  The house was in immaculate condition and nothing was out of place. The pristine, sterility of the house made it almost too clean. Her mother always kept it that way, but Kristina supposed it was because the rest of her life was so out of order.

  “He’s great, he’ll be back in just a minute. He went to the store.”

  Kristina knew what that meant. He needed more alcohol. She looked at her mother and said, “Mommy, why do you put up with it, still, after all these years?

  Her mother blinked briefly and chose to ignore her question. Instead, she said, “So, how was your flight honey? I wish I would have known you were coming, I would have prepared your old room.”

  Kristina fought the old frustration at her mother. She would never understand why she pretended her father wasn’t an alcoholic. That everything was perfect. “I have a hotel room in town, Mom. It’s okay,” she said.

  “Kristina, you know that wasn’t necessary. This is your home, you’re always welcome.”

  “Mom, you may be able to ignore the way Dad drinks himself into a stupor, but I can’t,” she said, losing the battle to control her frustrations.

  “It’s nice to see you, too, Kristina,” her father said from behind her. “When did you get here?” he said, moving around her to the kitchen sink.

  Kristina closed her eyes and put her head down, knowing she had just overstepped her boundaries. She hadn’t heard him come in the house and now she could cut the tension in the room with a knife. She watched, as her father grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured some whiskey into it.

  “Dad, I’m…” She searched for something to say that would take the sting out of her words. She came up empty, so she simply said, “I’m sorry.”

  Her father didn’t speak, but gave her a short nod.

  “Are you hungry, John?” her mother asked.

  “I’m fine, Irene,” he said, taking a big gulp of his drink.

  Kristina felt old demons start to surface. It was as if she had never left and everything was exactly the same. Her father was still getting drunk every night and her mother was still trying to get food in him and failing. She couldn’t do it then and she couldn’t now.

  “I can’t do this,” Kristina said. “Dad, I love you, but if you don’t stop drinking so much and get some help, you’re gonna die. Then, nobody will be here with Mom.”

  She looked at her mom.

  “Mom, if you would stop pretending Dad is fine, stop turning a blind eye to all this, then maybe you could help him. I love you guys and I don’t mean to cause trouble, but I can’t do this anymore. It’s why I left in the first place.”

  “Are you done?” her father asked. When she stayed silent, her father continued, “You can leave my home, now.”

  “John.” Her father put up his hand to stop his wife from speaking.

  “The day I let a child of mine come into my home and tell me what to do will be the day pigs fly. Goodbye, Kristina. Lock the door behind you when you leave.”

  With that her father grabbed his drink and went into the living room. He never once looked back.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Days went by with no sight of Danny. Kristina asked around and even drove by his old home hoping he would be there, but her search turned out futile. Giving up her search for the day, she went back to her hotel room. After she showered, she sat down at her laptop and began researching little details for her story. She worked on it for about an hour when her cellphone interrupted her.

  “Hello?” she said, as she answered it.

  “So, you get a big assignment and now you can’t call?”

  Kristina smiled at her friend’s tone and said, “I’m sorry, Janine. It’s been busy. How are things?”

  “Well, if you must know, I’ve been totally bored since you left me floating in the wind. I’m willing to forgive you, if you tell me what you’ve been doing the last couple days,” Janine pleaded.

  “A bunch of nothing actually,” Kristina said. “I went to see my parents. That was…let’s just say things at home are pretty much the same.”

  “You’re gonna have to tell me that story one day. So, how’s Danny?” she asked.

  “I presume, wherever he is, he’s fine,” Kristina said, her impatience showing in her voice.

  “You haven’t found him yet?”

  “Not yet. I’ve been to his old house, but he doesn’t live there anymore. I’ve asked around, but gotten nowhere. It’s like he’s a ghost. Nobody’s seen him,” Kristina said, as she saved the document she was working on and closed the lid to her laptop.

  “So what are you gonna do?” Janine asked

  “I was thinking about contacting him through the instant messenger account we used before. I don’t know. It may be a long shot, but I’ve got to find him.”

  “Yeah, I understand. I hope you find him soon, since you only have so long to write the story. Do you know who you’re doing the other two stories on?”

  “I have a few people in mind,” Kristina said, as she laid her head back against the sofa. “I could kill Trevor. If he wouldn’t have opened his mouth, I wouldn’t be here chasing a ghost.”

  “I could get revenge, if you want,” Janine said, perking up.

  “Janine, you take too much pleasure in wanting to hurt that man,” Kristina said, laughing.

  “I just can’t stand him, never could,” Janine said.

  “Anyway, what are your plans for the Fourth? I have a date, finally,” Janine said, laughing. “All I know is that it’s been too long and my bed sheets are too cold.”

  Kristina laughed and said, “You better be careful and watch yourself.”

  “He better watch himself ‘cause mama’s on the prowl.”

  “You’re sick!”

  “But you love me anyway! What are you doing, besides working?”

  “They have a little carnival here every year. It’s a small town thing. I’ll probably swing through there and see what’s going on.”

  “Hey, you never know, you might see Danny there.”

  “I might. There will be a lot of people there.”

  “Hope for the best, woman. I swear my cheerfulness will rub off on you one day. Anyway, I’ve got to go. I have to shop for my outfit for this weekend. I’m looking for something that says I’m available, but not in a slutty way. Later, chick.”

  Kristina barked out a laugh, then she and Janine disconnected. She walked back over to her laptop and signed into her instant messenger account. Then, she found Danny’s contact information and hoped he still had the same account. Here goes nothing, she thought, as she started typing her message.

  Danny,

  I know we haven’t spoke in a long time, years actually. I still care about you and would love to talk to you.

  I'm actually in Humble for a few weeks. We should get together for lunch or something. Our friendship used to be the most important thing to both of us.

  If you’re willing, I would like to attempt to get that back.

  Kristina included her phone number and the name of the hotel wher
e she was staying at the end of her message. She didn’t know if he would even receive it, but all she could do was hope for the best. If she was honest with herself, she prayed he answered her and not because of her story. She missed him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kristina walked down the boardwalk. It was crowded with families and townspeople who gathered to celebrate Independence Day. Someone had decorated the street with red, white, and blue ribbons and streamers, making the town looked festive for the holiday.