The Navy SEAL's Rescue

by Jo Leigh

  The thought of leaving Chopper’s extraction in anyone else’s hands made him nervous, sure, but more nervous than taking the lead? He wasn’t a lieutenant anymore. Or a team leader. He was a bartender who occasionally flew a chopper. A babysitter, a friend and a man who finally understood that for the first time in his life, he’d fallen in love.

  * * *

  CRICKET HAD BEEN sitting on the boulder that had been hers since she was eleven, although it wasn’t so private anymore. If she turned her head to the right, she’d see a tour group walking toward the Treasure Cave, and to the left, there was a big family getting ready for a picnic. Straight ahead was her ocean, though. Crashing against a group of rocks that were as old as the Atlantic, that held its secrets close and tight.

  She’d been on the boulder for an hour already, just thinking. Worrying about Wyatt’s meeting, about her relationship with her mother. When Ronny had called her this morning, she’d told him she’d speak to him, but she wasn’t quite ready for Victoria, which was true. She was, however, not as mad as she had been. Mostly thanks to Wyatt. He’d made some great points. Then he’d made love to her so slow and tender it made her cry. He didn’t even say hush. Just held her close.

  Ronny would be meeting her at any minute, though, and she wanted to be open to what he had to say. He’d defend her mother, of course, but who knew? Maybe he’d have some great points, too.

  “Permission to come aboard?”

  He was right behind her and it made her smile that he always asked if he could sit with her. Back in the day, she had turned him away, but more often, she’d loved his company.

  He perched in his regular spot...not quite as roomy as it had been when she was a kid, but they were both comfortable. “How you doing, Baby Girl?”

  “Better.”

  “Good. It’s hard to listen well when anger’s coursing through your veins.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m more disappointed than angry. All she had to do was ask me first. I don’t understand why she needed to go behind my back.”

  “Well,” he said, pushing back his hair. He’d worn his crazy blue sunglasses that made him look like a ’70s version of an alien. “I figured it was time you knew a few things about your mother. First off, the only reason I was able to have primary custody of you is because Vic stood up to her parents. That wasn’t easy for her to do back then. Hell, it’s not easy to do now because those two are real tight-ass rich WASPs.”

  Cricket laughed. Ronny was irreverent, absolutely, but she’d never heard him talk about his ex-in-laws in such vivid terms.

  “She’d already disappointed them by marrying me, and getting knocked up before she went to college. If they’d had their way, you would have been swept up into their Connecticut lives and I wouldn’t have seen you again until you hit eighteen.”

  “Are you serious? Tell me, Ronny, because if this is just you speculating so Mom and I will patch things up—”

  “I give you my word, Baby Girl. I only speak the absolute truth when we’re on this boulder.”

  “I believe you. Just the thought of not being with you all those years makes me sick. It would have been unbearable.”

  “You’d have come out fine,” he said. “Different on the outside maybe, but honey, you were you from the day you were born. No one could take that from you, I don’t care who.”

  She wanted to hug him until the sun set, but she just moved her hand over his.

  “Sending you to prep school was a concession, but an easy one because your mom and I always wanted you to have the best education in the world, and I never could have paid for that. And when you spent those summers and holidays with her or your grandparents, Vic had drummed it into their heads that if they said one word against me, she’d leave with you, and they’d never see either of you again. It meant she didn’t get to see you as often as she’d wanted to. But she made that tough call, because she wanted you to stay with me. And for you to enjoy the freedom of living in Temptation Bay. But it wasn’t easy for her. There were lots of times she felt like a terrible mother, but all she knew for sure was that she wanted you to chart your own course, and not become conditioned to the kind of life she had.”

  The tears had started the moment Cricket learned about the life with Ronny she’d almost lost. She’d like to say it was the ocean spray wetting her face, but nope. She was bawling like a baby. “What I said to her was awful.” Her voice was all wobbly and broken, but Ronny had heard that all before. “I owe her so much.”

  “I know, sweetheart. We both do. You want to hear the rest, or you want to take a break?”

  “You know what? I want to hear everything, but let’s walk on the beach for a bit, okay? At least until I’m not sobbing all over myself.”

  He helped her down, and she let him. When they finally made it to the shore, he took her hand again, as they walked slowly, going around whatever was in their path, paying no one any mind.

  “That struggle Vic had over being a bad mother? When she saw she had an opportunity to help you get a great job straight out of law school, she jumped on it. Even I knew the judge thought you were very bright and you worked hard. He was genuinely proud of you, as was your mother. And it had very little to do with you going to his alma mater. But he warned Vic that just going to Yale wasn’t a ticket to a big firm. Even if you’d been his own flesh and blood, he only could have done so much.”

  “Oh, God,” she said, sniffing hard, trying not to start the waterworks again. “I had no idea.”

  “’Course you didn’t. Vic didn’t want you to. She asked the judge to make it happen. Call in a favor, whatever he had to do.”

  “It would have been so different if I’d known all this before I went to Chicago.”

  “That would have meant your mother would’ve had to admit a lot of uncomfortable things to you. And much as she disagreed with your grandparents, she didn’t want you hating them.” He pulled Cricket back, when a rogue wave almost hit them. “Damn, I miss being in the water,” he muttered.

  Cricket smiled. “I know.” Then she noticed someone waving from the sea wall.

  It was Queenie’s sister. “Thanks for what you’re doing for us, Cricket,” she called out. “Queenie’s feeling better than she has in ages.”

  Sighing, Cricket smiled, waved and said, “You’re welcome,” then kept on walking.

  Ronny grinned at her.

  “I haven’t done anything, not really.” After another big sniff, she said, “It’s a long story.”

  “So I’ve heard. I don’t think it matters to them how you help. That you went to talk to Penny was a nice thing.”

  Cricket leaned over and kissed him on his weathered cheek. “I had good influences.”

  “You sure did. At least one. Now, let me finish up before you ask which one of us I meant.”

  “You know that I’m happier than I have any right to be because of both of you, don’t you?”

  “You have all the right in the world, Baby Girl,” he said, stopping to pick up a pretty shell and handing it to her. “Shall I continue?”

  “Please.”

  “So, Vic asked her husband to call in a marker. He agreed, but at the time the marriage was a little rocky. The man, whatever else you think of him, is a smart guy, and he knew about Vic’s track record. But they’d gotten hitched after a short, impetuous romance. Meaning, it was just your mom being her wonderful self, but he neglected to get a prenup.”

  “Oh. That’s interesting.”

  “His family didn’t think so. Anyway, he told Vic he’d call in the favor but she had to promise to stick with him for five years, and work on the marriage. And to sign that key piece of paper.” Ronny smiled, but he looked a little sad, too. “The judge is worth a lot, but your mom didn’t blink. Didn’t hesitate for a second. She wanted to give you a solid start. She has her faults, just like the rest of us, but wh
en it comes to you, never question her intentions. She’s never failed to do what she thought was best for you.”

  Cricket stopped walking just as a wave hit almost to her knees. She didn’t care. It could have swallowed her whole and taken her out to sea, and she’d still be speechless and bewildered and embarrassed, not necessarily in that order.

  She’d told Becky the same thing about Wyatt just yesterday. Talk about swift retribution. “I think it’s time I go talk to Mom.”

  “I knew you’d see it my way.”

  “No one sees anything your way, Ronny. You are one of a kind.”

  “Ah, you know exactly how to butter me up. I’m gonna go check on the boat. You take your time. Maybe give me a ring when it’s the right time to come home.”

  * * *

  AFTER ONE OF the most emotional days of her life, Cricket hoped things weren’t about to get even worse as she walked to the bar. Wyatt had called her half an hour ago to come meet him. As she got to the door, she saw Becky standing all the way at the corner of the deck. She looked nervous, too, which didn’t help Cricket relax. Becky joined her. “I was supposed to arrive in fifteen minutes, but I couldn’t stand the waiting. I’m dying of curiosity about the commander. Wyatt wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “Me, neither,” Cricket said, wishing Becky had waited. After her conversation with her mother, she’d spent the last hour wandering the beach, thinking. She’d actually come to a decision about what she was going to do, but now, that would have to wait until Wyatt told them his news. She opened the door, letting Becky walk in first.

  Wyatt seemed to take Becky’s early arrival in stride. In fact, he barely smiled at either of them, and that made her stomach roil.

  Wyatt fixed another drink, Cricket didn’t see what it was, and brought two drinks to the table, handing something blue to Becky, while she got a cold beer. Wyatt had nothing in front of him. He sat down and looked at both of them in such a way that if he waited another second to spit it out, Cricket was going to scream.

  “One of my men survived. Chopper’s been held by the Taliban all this time. The commander’s asked me to go in country and lead the extraction team.”

  Cricket wanted to throw up.

  Becky didn’t look any better. “You said no, right? I mean, how dare he ask you to go back into that nightmare after so long? It’s unthinkable.”

  “I wouldn’t be going as a SEAL or an officer. I’d be away for approximately ten days, and I’m sorry, I can’t tell you any more than that.”

  Cricket had no words at all.

  Becky seemed to turn to stone in that moment. “Is that why you’ve stayed in shape? All those morning exercises, all the running. Were you just biding your time until you heard they needed you?”

  “No,” he said. “I don’t want to go. I have to. You should understand that better than most people. I left a man behind, and now I have a chance to make things...better.”

  Cricket hadn’t really believed things could get this much worse. Not knowing what to say was probably a good thing, because Becky was going at Wyatt like a wildcat.

  “You promised. You gave me your word you’d be safe. You promised my children you’d be careful. I thought you were supposed to be honorable. Steadfast. What am I supposed to tell Josh and Rose? That the man they adore and talk about every single day is willing to risk his life? Just like their daddy?”

  “Hopefully, you won’t tell them anything, Maybe that I had to go out of town on business.”

  “Hopefully,” she said, the sarcasm burning. “I trusted you.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Becky stood up, sending her chair crashing into the table behind them. “How many times have I heard that one? Every damn mission. Every one. And every single time I lived in terror of what would happen. Of what did happen.”

  Wyatt looked eerily calm, but Cricket knew he had to be as crushed as Becky. The two of them were different portraits of the same anguish. As for herself? She was pretty numb at the moment, except for the gurgling in her stomach and the lump she could barely swallow past.

  She’d known since the night of the storm that she’d fallen in love with Wyatt. The real deal, with all that came with it. The fear, the hope, the expectations... It had been swept aside for a bit by the twists of fate, but last night, she’d lain awake, watching him sleep, knowing that she wasn’t the same person anymore. In spite of everything that had happened, her heart had been reshaped by the man next to her. And now, that new heart was being ripped from her chest.

  “Look, I’m sorry, but I have to do this. And I’m sorry about the dinner,” he said, looking more at Cricket than Becky, then back again. “But I’m looking forward to getting to know Ned when I return.”

  Becky shook her head, her stare, her whole being, wounded from the inside out. “I warned you, Wyatt,” she whispered.

  For the first time since they’d come inside, she saw the crack in Wyatt. It was subtle, but obvious if you cared about the man. “Let me ask you a question,” he said, rising slowly, looking only at Becky. “What if it were Adam?”

  Becky froze again. Her chest didn’t move at all. Then her tear-streaked face got so pale, Cricket was afraid she’d crumble. Instead, she ran out of the bar as if she’d been lit on fire.

  * * *

  WYATT WATCHED THE door for a long time, although he knew Becky wouldn’t come back. What he didn’t know was if she’d ever come back again. Cricket walked up next to him, so quiet. As quiet as she’d been through this whole mess. He took her hand and pulled her close, hoping she wouldn’t push him away...unbelievably grateful she didn’t.

  “This really is messed up. I hate the timing. You’ll have left for Chicago before I get back, and that kills me.”

  “Don’t say that.” Her voice came out as no more than a croak, but that might be what it was supposed to sound like. “Of course you know how devastating this is for Becky. And what it will do to the kids if something goes wrong. You just spoke to the commander, but please, can’t you give yourself more time to think this through? You need to truly consider what this will mean, and I’m not talking about the admiral or the Navy or your old commander. Those kids love you. Becky loves you.”

  He pulled back enough to look into her eyes. Waiting, praying, for her to add her own name to the list.

  “I understand you feel you have a duty,” she said, “and that most of your life, duty has been the most important thing. Far above anything else. I don’t understand the kind of agony you went through at losing your men, and the burden of what to do now. You’re torn between honor and responsibility to the people who care most about you. You can’t guarantee a safe return.” Tears welled in her eyes. “For Becky’s sake and your own, I hope when you do come home, that you’ll have those same people welcome you back.”

  His chest constricted. He didn’t have a clue what to tell her, how to explain that it was the cruelest choice he’d ever had to make.

  She dashed away the tears that had spilled down her cheek. “What time are you supposed to leave?”

  “Little less than an hour.”

  “Then you’d better hurry up and kiss me.”

  He gathered her in his arms, loving her, sweeping her into a kiss he never wanted to forget. Not as long as he lived.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  THE MOMENT WYATT climbed into the E-B4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, he was bombarded with visual images from several large monitors giving live reports from DC, CIA Central Headquarters in Langley and Kabul.

  “Our situation has changed. We have new intel,” Freeman said. “The mission has been moved up forty-eight hours so forget DC, we’re headed straight to Kabul. You’ll be briefed on the way there, and hit the ground running.”

  Wyatt’s unhappiness with the update must have been obvious, because Freeman told him to go put his duffel in the last s
leep cabin on the right, hit the head, get a drink then be ready because they weren’t stopping until he knew every aspect of the plan to extract Chopper from the target, then burn that target to the ground.

  Although his wasn’t the only mission being orchestrated on this beauty, Chopper’s extraction was priority one.

  As he walked through the huge jet, the ratio of uniforms to civilians was about equal, although he was pretty damn sure the civilians were all CIA. There were brass from the Army, Navy and Marines. Wyatt was probably the only person completely out of his element.

  He took Freeman’s orders literally, and by the time he was seated in front of a computer that was so advanced it made his head spin, he was already acclimating to the world he’d known for years. Now he had to catch up quickly on the operation.

  “Earp, that you?”

  He looked up at his screen, from where he’d been studying the map of the target. “I’ll be damned,” Wyatt said. “If it isn’t Whiskey Eye himself.”

  “How you doin’, bro?”

  “Good. A little out of touch, but once you’ve been through hell—” he began.

  “You’re in hell forever,” his old friend finished. “Chopper’ll be real glad to see you.”

  “Yeah. I’m counting on it,” Wyatt said, not at all sure that would be the case. Being held by the enemy for that many years without a ransom demand or a trade offered was rare as it comes. The last man left behind, that they’d known was alive, had been out for six long days in rough territory. Sadly, a couple of SEALs had fallen during that extraction. No one who’d been a SEAL ever forgot the creed. No Man Left Behind. But it was a special kind of agony to be the only one who made it. He wished he didn’t have the experience to back that up.

  And dammit, he could afford zero time dwelling on that.