Page 38 of Watch Over Me

"Spoken as if you'd never spent weeks falling asleep to the lulling sounds of the enemy dropping artillery basically on top of your head," Martinez told him as he topped his cup with the rest of the coffee in the pot and went on to prepare the next one.

"Or fallen unconscious in a vehicle as your teammates sang every possible Johnny Cash song out of tune," Ryan said.

"Or drifted off to the cacophony of snores in the tent," Martinez added.

"Or—"

"Fine, I see your point." James saluted them with his mug. "You people are worse than a combat tour."

Ryan and Martinez both snorted and shook their heads.

"Sure," Ryan offered dryly. "I forgot how the unlimited supply of coffee and the air-conditioned office and training spaces are the things that could break the spirit of any man."

"They could, if you come with the package."

"Man, maybe we should switch partners for a week, pair you up with Jeremy while Ryan and I take a break from all the grumbling," Martinez suggested as he measured the coffee out. "See how you like it."

James raised his eyebrows. "How would I like the calm and quiet, you mean?"

"You'd want me back in no time," Ryan told him.

They all knew it was true, of course—James was certain none of them wanted to switch partners for anything—but before he had to come up with a retort, a loud whistle sounded from the doorway.

It was Vic, holding a stack of files and a phone.

"Five minutes out," he announced. "Get your coffees ready if you haven't yet. We have a lot to go over today."

With that, he left, and the three of them followed him out, making room for others who still needed their caffeine fix.

"Where is Jeremy, by the way?" Ryan asked.

"On the phone with Eddie's brother." Martinez tilted his head towards their office. "It seems like the guy is eager to knock the assholes out, but he knows the smarter thing to do is to catch them all in the act so they can't talk their way out of it."

"You went to notify him yesterday, right? How is he?" James asked, hoping it could pass for the professional curiosity, but judging from the way Ryan snorted, he, at least, wasn't fooled.

"Pretty much as you'd expect any lieutenant colonel to belike, only with his brain still mostly intact," Martinez offered. "He heard us out and was pretty cooperative, considering everything. Obviously not happy that he came so close to trusting the wrong guys, but he wasn't in denial, either."

Good. The last thing Eddie needed was family drama on top of everything else this case represented.

"Also, he looks like Eddie, if you took Eddie's glasses off and added more muscle mass," Martinez said as they entered the auditorium and took their seats.

That mental image was not unattractive, but James preferred Eddie as he was—with his glasses, his lean frame, his long fingers…

He wasn't going to say it out loud, though, since he'd never live it down. Ever.

Todd, sitting in the front row ahead of them, turned around.

"Hey, have you seen Eddie this morning?" he asked, addressing all three of them but pausing on James.

"No," Ryan said, while James and Martinez shook their heads. "Why? Did he sleep in again?"

Todd shrugged. "No idea, but I haven't seen him yet, and I've been in the comm center since seven."

Martinez made some joke about early birds, but James's thoughts were already focused on Eddie. He knew mistakes happened, but it didn't seem likely that Eddie would sleep through his alarm clock again and not notify anybody he was going to be late.

James glanced up when the door opened, but it was the same group of guys that had been in the kitchen, followed by Kalei. Jeremy slipped in quietly a minute later and sat down next to Martinez.

There was still no trace of Eddie.

---