Page 14 of Building Courage

Did she view Natalie’s advice…interference…demands as similar to her parents? Possibly so. She’d go in to talk to her tomorrow and see if they could come to an understanding. And if they couldn’t…she’d have to walk away.

She had contracts with several small businesses for graphic design work on their websites, ads, and social media posts. She also did photography work for some of them. It would be financially difficult, but she’d done difficult work before.

Chapter 5

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Tucker scanned the room. Despite the early hour and the fact that it was a Sunday, most of the team was already there.

He’d spent yesterday getting ready for Brynn Barrington’s introduction to diving. He’d been looking forward to the lesson since he’d met her. It would be a disappointment if they were deployed in the next few hours. She’d been on his mind since their meeting on Monday. He kept seeing that long stride as she’d walked toward him. Had even dreamed about her wrapping those long legs around him while he thrust inside her.

Lieutenant Sam Harding sat with Arrow and Swan at the table next to him. As he conversed with the two, Harding didn’t look concerned, but then Hard Ass Harding didn’t flinch from much. Even when his father had been convicted of murder, he hadn’t had much to say. LT kept his feelings carefully controlled on the job. That’s what made him a good team leader.

Denotti slid his large frame into the folding chair beside Tucker and rested his muscular forearms on the table in front of him. “Any inkling what’s going down, Gilly?” he asked.

Tucker shook his head. “Can’t be anything good if we’re called in at zero-seven hundred on a Sunday morning.”

Denotti’s jaw tensed. “Fuckin’ eh. I don’t care what it is as long as we’re not going back to any part of the numerous sandboxes we’ve been dropped in the last few deployments. I’m sick of hot, dry sand and heat. I’ll take a shot at South American drug dealers over sand fleas.”

“Yeah, South American jungles are great,” Rosenburg aka Squirrel said from behind them. “If it wasn’t for the mosquitos big as crows, poisonous snakes, the locals who are always trying to shoot us, and the wildlife eager to invite us to dinner as the main course, they’d be great.”

Bullet and Beckham burst into laughter.

Despite the truth in his words, Tucker laughed, too, and turned to comment when he spied Lieutenant Commander Adam Yazzie entering the room. What he’d been about to say swiftly changed to “Attention!” as he surged to his feet.

“At ease,” Commander Yazzie said, striding to the head of the classroom. Despite being behind a desk much of the time, Yazzie moved with the athletic efficiency of an active team member. Tucker had heard the man did PT after lunch every day. He’d seen him running the obstacle course more than once and running the beach with some of the BUD/S classes. He was a hands-on Commander of the teams.

As he reached the front of the room, Yazzie turned to face the group. His pale gray gaze arrowed in on each member of their eight-man team with sharp interest.

“As of sixteen hundred hours yesterday a new investigation has been launched into Seaman Elijah Ashe’s parachuting accident. Three other similar tragedies have resulted in the deaths of Seaman Connor Stoddard, Seaman Ryan Singer, and Petty Officer Calvin Robinson. Four accidents of this kind didn’t raise questions, but looking more closely into the events, NCIS realized there have been several close calls. More than can be shrugged aside. Faulty equipment has been investigated and ruled out. They believe sabotage is a possibility.”

The room went pin-drop silent as though every man was holding his breath. All Tucker could think was some asshole had sabotaged Book’s chute. Jesus!

“I’m speaking to each of the teams who have lost a man in one of these incidents. To help with the investigation, I want you to think over the days before and after the jumps. Note anything unusual that happened. Anything that struck you as odd. Anyone out of place when you were being issued your equipment.”

“An investigative unit with NCIS has been assigned to look into all incidents. You’ll make yourselves available to the investigators when they contact you. It could be as early as tomorrow.” Yazzie paused half a beat. “Any questions?”

Harding raised a hand. “Have jumps been canceled until the investigation is complete?”

“Jumps will continue, but equipment will be transferred in from other installations until every chute here is unpacked, checked, and repacked. Guards will be posted at chute storage facilities until every possibility has been investigated.”

Meaning, they believed someone on post had sabotaged the chutes. But why would anyone do that?

“Anything else?” Yazzie scanned the group. When no one spoke, he nodded to Harding and strode out of the room as quickly as he’d arrived.

“What the hell?” Swan breathed his expression blank with shock. “Some motherfucker wrecked Book’s life and killed three people…for what?”

“For what he’s getting right now, Swan. Power and attention.” Harding’s face was tight with anger and concern. “Until they figure out who’s responsible for this, none of us are safe jumping.”

“Being grounded until they catch this fucker would’ve been fine by me,” Denotti commented. “They’re taking a risk continuing jumps.”

“They think it might be one of us,” Bullet muttered, his dark eyes alight with anger.

“It could be anyone, Bullet. We have a hundred and twenty-eight SEALs, plus support personnel, in each team on the post. They’ve all had access to the chutes.” Tucker was quick to point out. “They’re not just investigating us. They’ll have to investigate the entire base.”

“It wasn’t any of us,” Arrow ground out. “You’ll never convince me that anyone in this room would’ve harmed Book. We did everything we could to find him and get him medevac’d. If LT hadn’t found him as fast as he did, he wouldn’t have made it.”

“And no one had a grudge or anything against Book. Everyone liked him. There was no reason for him to be targeted,” Squirrel added.

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