Page 64 of Married to a SEAL

“Thank you, Sir,” Patrick nodded. “Good to be back”

“And congratulations again on the wedding.”

Patrick smirked.

“What’s so funny?” his CO asked.

“Just wondering if you’ll be following that path someday with my sister. Never thought I might have you as a brother-in-law.”

Ryan grumbled as Christopher chuckled beside Patrick. “Hell, they’re not even engaged. Yet. Give the CO a break.”

Ryan muttered a curse.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Mike asked, walking into the bullpen. “Hell, Ice, good to have you back.”

“Thanks to you,” Patrick said, his eyes sweeping toward Mike. As the medic on their team, Mike had applied emergency aid to Patrick while they were in the field. A couple men had dragged him out, but hell. Without Mike, he damn well might not be here today.

“Just doing my job,” Mike said good-naturedly.

“About time you did something right,” Brent scoffed, sauntering in.

“Sonofabitch,” Christopher muttered. “Cobra, I thought Ella would’ve softened you up a bit.”

Brent smirked. “Not a chance in hell. But she doesn’t seem to have a problem with my hard edges—or anything else that hardens around her.”

Mike guffawed. “That’s because you don’t act like an ass around her,” he said, crossing his arms as he watched Brent in amusement. “The rest of us are the shit out of luck ones who get to see your pissed-off personality on a daily basis.”

“Enough,” Ryan said, clearing his throat as Evan and Matthew walked in. “Now that the team’s all assembled, we can begin. As everyone is aware, Ice is back—temporarily.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows as all eyes slid to him. “Sir, I’ve been cleared to return to duty.”

“Affirmative—and I’ll get to that in a moment. The latest briefing from the Pentagon indicated that a team will be sent out in two weeks to track down a drug lord in Bogota.”

“Two weeks?” Christopher asked. “I thought we were moving in ASAP.”

“Negative. The Pentagon’s waiting on more intel—undercover DEA agents are on the ground in Columbia. We wait for their word. Some big meeting between the cartel and their rival isn’t happening for ten days. They want eyes and ears on that before a SEAL team moves in to nab the leader. There’s a possibility the two drug cartels will fight each other without our involvement. As you’re already aware, the drug traffic flowing into the U.S. had increased at a tremendous rate over the summer, and Washington is looking to staunch the flow.”

“Shit, we’ll track those bastards ourselves,” Matthew drawled. “That’s some nasty stuff that needs to be off the streets.”

“Agreed,” Ryan said, his eyes narrowing. “These guys are the real deal. It’s not fucking amateur hour here with some junkie dealer on the corner in the bad end of town. They’ll be packing firepower, and they’ll be lots of protection around the kingpin. DEA agents are on the ground. The FBI is involved. But we’ve been called on to assist.”

“We’ll smoke him out,” Patrick said, his cool blue eyes narrowing.

Ryan cleared his throat. “Ice has been cleared to return to active duty, so when we move in, Alpha will be taking the lead. Delta will likely be sent in as well.”

“Hell,” Brent muttered.

“There’s always some new asshole causing problems over there,” Mike smirked.

Patrick nodded, an unusual feeling of worry in his gut. Rebecca’s face filled his mind, and he wondered how he could leave her knowing she’d be frightened.

He’d be leaving with the knowledge that she was pregnant with his baby growing inside her. Sure he’d left plenty of times before, but that was before he’d been injured. Before they were married.

“You okay, Ice?” Mike asked, raising his eyebrows. Mike was known to have a sixth sense about things, and Patrick knew he could sense his unease.

Patrick nodded, his face hardening, his cool gaze flicking toward the CO. “What’s on the books for today?”

“Nothing for you.”

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