Peace - A Navy SEALS Novel (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 3)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Sounds like you have the situation rolling towards the hoped for conclusion,” Dave said. “You didn’t buy any of this, did you?”

  Julio looked at Dave, a slow smile forming. “My friend, we all do what we must. The how and why sometimes must get answered later.”

  “Or not mentioned at all?” Septien added.

  “Exactly, Edwardo,” Julio laughed. “Why disturb such a wonderful operation with dreary details. Soon, everyone of any importance, in the North and the South, will get what they want. Why should we soldiers of fortune quibble amongst ourselves?”

  “We read the newspapers today, Cisco,” Peace nodded. “It seems you are a hero of the revolution.”

  “Yes, I have been able to bend the facts in a very obliging manner. The government gets to claim credit for ridding itself of a traitor in its midst, and I get even more credit for exposing the traitor. Of course, I am outraged publicly by the high-handed way our government dealt with the General Cortez.”

  “Of course,” Dave echoed. “Can we go home now, El Presidente?”

  “Yes, I believe it would be safe to return North now,” Julio grinned. “Thank you for all your hard work in this. I will not forget it. By the way, Peace, my contact was very appreciative his sister was left out of such a messy business. He was afraid she would be swept up in the aftermath.”

  “Senorita Matuse does not seem too happy, amigo,” Peace acknowledged. “Do we need to know where you will be taking her for the weekly chats with her Papa, just in case she disembowels you.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Julio replied confidently, hugging the cringing Senorita Matuse tightly to him as the men laughed. “Once she understands she will be first lady of Mexico, her attitude will be much improved. Ah, but we have much in the way of training before that happy day, do we not, my little dove?”

  An angry whimper, and a shake of her head, was the woman’s only answer.

  Julio clucked his disappointment, as his friends laughed. “She is just unhappy I am not able to introduce her formally to you at this time. In any case, we will be fine. Besides, I still have the chip, do I not?”

  Septien exchanged surprised looks with Dave, as Peace laughed, and Mancuso shrugged at his superior.

  “What, you think I told him? The prick’s been ragging me about it ever since we split from you guys.”

  “I guess we’ll know where to find you then,” Peace commented. “That is, unless she cuts the tracking device out of you.”

  “I am shocked, Poncho, at your distrust of my intuitive knowledge of love,” Julio replied, feigning surprise.

  “Two words, Cisco,” Peace stated firmly, glancing doubtfully at the now struggling woman, “separate rooms.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Home Again

  “Want to come in for a beer?” Peace asked, opening the door to the old Rover. “You can spend the night with us.”

  “No thanks, Peace,” Septien answered, reaching over to shake his hand. “We’ll suck down a few beers another time, I promise. Maybe I’ll show up over at your restaurant when you sing. I have to ditch this piece of shit, and pick up my ride. Ibrim’s waiting for me.”

  “Do you guys have a life outside?”

  “Of course,” Septien replied. “I even have a couple of kids.”

  “No shit?!” Peace exclaimed. “I figured you for a suave loner.”

  Septien laughed, gesturing for Peace to shut the door. “See ya’ in the funny papers, Peace.”

  “You better see me before that,” Peace called out, as Septien drove away.

  Peace watched the Rover for a few moments, and then turned to face Polasky’s house. He glanced around in the near dawn darkness, deciding whether to knock, or take the chance Ed would look first, and shoot later when Peace entered using his key. Almost in answer to his question, the front door opened. Jill stood for a moment, her hand in a fist at her mouth, unsure her husband really stood on the sidewalk.

  “Honey, I’m home,” Peace said, waving with a flourish. “What’s for dinner?”

  Jill cried out, and ran to meet him. She clung to him, sobbing out his name in a whisper, over and over as Peace held her. Peace closed his eyes, drinking in the scent of her, feeling the warmth emanating from where her body molded to his. He imagined he could hear her heartbeat throbbing in his head, and his son’s quieter one, echoing Jill’s.

  “Hey, get a room,” Polasky called out from the doorway, Nancy smacking him as she gasped in disapproval.

  Peace chuckled, and kissed Jill’s neck. “C’mon Hon, we better go inside before Ed turns the sprinkler on.”

  “I…I never thought I’d see you again,” Jill admitted, letting Peace guide her back towards the Polasky home. “Nancy told me about waiting for Ed. I felt like a wuss after hearing how long he was gone to Vietnam.”

  Peace hugged her tightly to him as they walked. “I’m sorry it happened like it did. I’ll try not to spring it on you like that ever again.”

  “Ed has been spending every day theorizing about what you’ve been doing,” Jill whispered. “He thinks he knows where you went and what you did.”

  “The bad part,” Peace sighed, whispering back, “the old man’s probably too close for comfort.”

  “I heard that,” Ed admonished, standing aside as Nancy gave Peace a hug. “Dan and Bull have been all over us since the morning you didn’t show up on base. Jessup told Dan you had an excused absence, so they immediately came over to drill the hell out of Jill and me.”

  “Sorry it went down like that,” Peace said, shaking Ed’s hand.

  “Forget it, JB,” Polasky replied. “It’s good seeing you back. Are you going on base this morning?”

  Peace nodded. “I need to report in to Jessup with what I can tell him, and then try to plead my way out of multiple horsey rides for Bull.”

  Polasky laughed, as he and Nancy sat down on their couch, opposite Jill and Peace, on the matching loveseat. “How’s the wounds?”

  “Good as new so far as I can tell,” Peace replied, letting Jill snuggle up against his chest. “My shoulder’s a little sore in the mornings; but that may be normal from now on.”

  “Jill’s been a trooper since you pulled your disappearing act,” Nancy told him. “She handled Dan, Bull, and Ed like a pro. Of course Mr. Know-it-all here thinks he has everything figured out anyway.”

  “We’ll talk in private after you get off duty,” Polasky promised.

  “You can let me know how close I am.”

  “No, I can’t,” Peace retorted, pointing a warning finger at Polasky, who waved him off.

  “By the time you get done dodging the boys on base, you’ll be too weak to put up much of a fight,” Polasky told him confidently, as Nancy and Jill laughed.

  “I think I’m closer to Daffy Duck than I am to James Bond with you shadowing my every movement,” Peace grinned. “I’ll come over to the restaurant if Jill’s working today.”

  “She’s been putting in long hours trying to keep her mind off you,” Nancy confided.

  “I love working at the restaurant,” Jill told Peace. “My Dad came down to see me while you were gone. He had a client in La Jolla he needed to talk to face to face.”

  “I take it he took your working at the restaurant in stride then?”

  “He’s excited about the baby,” Jill replied, squeezing Peace’s hand. “We all are, of course; but Dad’s really getting into it. He flipped over the baby’s room, Ed finished.”

  “Yea, Don and me chattered on like a couple of old grandpas,” Polasky added. “I gave him an open invitation to stay with us anytime before or after little Cole is born. I’m sure you’ve considered what good fortune it is to have both a lawyer, and a law firm, as relatives, especially with the troubles you get into, JB.”

  “I’ve put my checkered past behind me,” Peace straight lined. “I’ve decided to never ride the outlaw trail again.”

  “Yea, until the next time,” Polasky retorted, as Nancy an
d Jill laughed at Peace’s penitent statement. “You better go get some sleep. It’s almost four. You can still grab a couple hours sack time after you fool around for a while.”

  “Edward Polasky!” Nancy exclaimed.

  Peace stood up, and pulled a still laughing Jill to her feet. “I’m just glad it’s only Tuesday. If we were going into the water, I’d pretend I wasn’t here.”

  “I hope Dan changed the training schedule on you, you big sissy,” Polasky needled Peace. “Why, when I…”

  “Stuff it, you old bear,” Nancy cut him off. “Let’s go to bed before you say anything else.”

  “Okay,” Ed relented, standing up with a sigh, “but I reserve the right to take up where I left off tonight. I’ll see you after you get off duty, kid.”

  “C’mon, Ed, you should cut me some slack for a few days,” Peace said over his shoulder, as he walked arm in arm with Jill.

  “That’s a negative, you big whiney,” Polasky replied in a clipped tone, “and don’t go cryin’ to Nancy either.”

  “Gee,” Peace whispered to Jill, “it’s great to be home.”

  __

  Peace heard movement from where he sat alone at his locker. Dan walked into the room, and hurried over with his hand out, which Peace shook vigorously.

  “Lieutenant Dan, good to see you.”

  “Likewise, you disrespectful jerk,” Dan said, pulling Peace to his feet as he shook Peace’s hand with both of his. “In case your absence has dulled your memory, it’s Lieutenant Commander Righter to you.”

  “Sorry, Sir,” Peace smiled. “I did forget. I was hoping you’d be in early.”

  “Come into my office,” Dan said, leading the way. “Nancy made me a thermos of fresh ground stuff this morning. I’ll share it with you. I have a spare cup in my desk.”

  “Sounds good,” Peace agreed.

  Inside his office, Dan poured them both coffee, and then sat down, gesturing Peace into the seat in front of his desk. “What happened?”

  “I helped a friend out, and my endeavors were sanctioned,” Peace said formally.

  “Julio?”

  “Yes, but I can’t go any further with it than that, Dan.”

  “I understand,” Dan smiled. “Ed’s already ventured, using the news headlines filtering up from Mexico, a very plausible itinerary of what you’ve probably been up to. He shared his deductions every day with Bull and me. It helped him hide the fact he was worried sick about you. That disappearing act in the night really threw us all.”

  “It couldn’t be helped, brother; and as it turned out, I was only a playing chip in the whole thing anyway,” Peace conceded. “I’d come clean about the deal right now, but…”

  “…but you don’t want to lie to Jessup when he asks you if he was the only one you told,” Dan finished for him.

  Peace nodded. “He will too.”

  “He left standing orders for you to report to him the moment you returned,” Dan acknowledged. “He’s uneasy with this CIA liaison business. He thinks he’s out of the loop in his own command.”

  “I can understand how he feels. I’m going to end up getting the boot. I can feel it.”

  “Jessup takes orders. It will depend how much of a sales pitch your other masters give the Navy,” Dan replied. “Was it successful?”

  “Very, but the number of dangerous variables was astronomical,” Peace explained, holding his hands out in an expansive gesture. “I will tell Jessup everything if he asks me to; but for his own deniability, he would be better off not knowing all the details.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “And then some. I…”

  Both men jerked upright in their chairs at a knock on Dan’s office door, but relaxed again when they saw Bull’s smiling face. Dan waved the Chief in. Peace shook Bull’s hand, as the Chief pulled up another chair next to him. Dan pulled another cup out of his drawer, and poured Bull a cup of coffee.

  “Bull, I…” Peace began.

  “Forget it,” Bull cut him off with a quick wave of the hand. “I’m just happy as hell to see you. Holly’s been raggin’ my butt ever since you went walk-about. I don’t care where, what, or who. Just tell me they won’t be coming to take you away in irons, and that’ll be the end of my curiosity.”

  “Walk-about?” Dan asked questioningly as Peace laughed. “Oh… yeah… ah… Crocodile Dundee.”

  “C’mon over to the restaurant tonight, guys,” Peace suggested, as Bull gave Dan an exasperated look. “I’m buying, and I’ll see if Ed wants me to entertain for a couple hours. With you all there, maybe he’ll quit using me like an old rag.”

  “Ed can’t stand it unless he knows every detail,” Bull agreed. “He pestered us with every lame-brained theory he could come with. He’s relaxed with the Seal business; but this secret agent stuff has his creative juices flowing. I guess you’ll let us in on anything that’ll get our asses in a sling, won’t you, Wolvy?”

  “Count on it, Cap,” Peace promised.

  “That’s good enough for me. Count me and Holly in on tonight’s festivities. Are you sure you’ll be up to it after…”

  “Don’t say it, Bull,” Peace pleaded comically, as his friends laughed. “If you say it, you’re going to feel obligated to get the saddle out.”

  Bull leaned back, stroking his chin as if in deep thought. When he straightened back up in his chair, he nodded, albeit reluctantly.

  “Okay, my little horsey; but I’m going to have to have steak and lobster tonight, with a goodly dose of Bushmills before hand, to whet my appetite.”

  “Anything you say, Cap,” Peace agreed quickly, much to his friends’ continued amusement. “Steak and lobster for everyone. I’ll make it in tips later. We’ll make the women drive us home.”

  __

  “Well, well, well,” Jessup intoned as he looked a rigidly at attention Peace up and down. “If it isn’t Second Class Petty Officer Peacenik, the energizer bunny of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Do you have any orders for me, son, or will you be flying by the seat of your pants during your stay with us?”

  “Petty Officer Peacenik reporting as ordered, Sir,” Peace repeated his opening spiel, as it seemed to Peace nothing would ease the tension any in this meeting, and especially not a glib answer to Jessup’s rhetorical questions.

  Jessup nodded, and gestured for Peace to sit down. “Take a load off, Peace. Anything you want to tell me about your extracurricular activities? I’ve surmised a few things from the information sweeping up from Mexico about rogue generals, and heroic partisans.”

  “I will tell you anything you want to know, including a complete rundown of what happened. I would ask only that you consider the deniability factor if you don’t know about all the details,” Peace replied, hesitantly.

  “Meaning there were things done for America’s well-being, which would fit in the category of the end justifying the means?”

  “Exactly, Sir,” Peace answered honestly. “We were wrong about the Colonel being the kingpin, and he was selling us a bill of goods, which would have ended in massive casualties. An opportunity arose to remove the kingpin, and put a man in position to rule Mexico, who knows who Mexico’s enemies really are.”

  “Good enough,” Jessup said, folding his hands together in front of him on his desk pad. “Is it over, or only at the beginning?”

  “They will know shortly. The information the Colonel will now give us should lead to the real force responsible for these latest WMD threats. If he says it’s someone in Red China, we at least have a couple of their agents in custody to ascertain the plausibility of the name.”

  “I’m hoping it will be anyone but Red China,” Jessup admitted. “If we have to go there and set things right, we’ll need more than Seal Team Six to spearhead it.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Peace added. “A war, or even some drastic measure against Red China, will end in bad times for all. It does seem likely from what I’ve heard, this General had it in mind to set up Red China, so he could cause a co
nflagration between the two superpowers. They’ll be working over the Colonel to confirm it.”

  “Are you up to speed now, Peace, as far as your healing?”

  “Yes, Sir, I’m all the way back.”

  Jessup stood up, and Peace took it to mean he was being dismissed.

  He stood up at attention.

  “Welcome back, Peace, dismissed.”

  “Aye, aye, Sir. Hoo-ya!” Peace barked, turning on his heel and striding out of Jessup’s office. Peace took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he hurried back to rejoin his team.

  The team was waiting for him in the locker room.

  “You don’t look like they’re readying the firing squad,” Dan observed.

  “I’m good to go,” Peace confirmed, shaking hands with the rest of the team, whom he had not greeted yet. “Dinners and drinks on me tonight.”

  “Well, ladies,” Bull said, gesturing towards the door. “Let’s go find us one of those big old logs we used to enjoy hauling around so much when we was just boot camp Seals. I think we need some strengthening.”

  Dan smiled as the groaning team Six made for the door on the double.

  __

  “You look great, Jill,” Becky said, admiringly.

  Jill, who wore a maternity version of the Ed’s restaurant waitress uniform, of black skirt and white blouse, looked around behind her. She juggled her water pitcher she had used to fill the Seal Team Six table glasses, while pretending to search for another person. After a moment, she turned back to Becky with a puzzled look.

  “I thought there must be another Jill behind me,” Jill replied with a smile as the others laughed. “I knew you couldn’t be talking about Jill, the Moby.”

  “You should be sitting here at the table,” Bull told her, from across the table, where he sat next to Holly. “Get your shirker husband to wait on us.”

  “I know this may sound goofy, but I love working here,” Jill confided. “I’m getting my exercise, and I can see Ed and Nancy more often. Besides, it’s only part time. They need the help. Was everything okay with your dinners?”