Page 7 of Holding His Hostage
“HERO Force?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’s that?”
“People are counting on me. There’s a reason you can’t be a Navy SEAL with one arm, Mac.”
“Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.”
“You know what I mean.” He swirled his glass, a bright green lime wedge moving in circles. “A man needs two arms and two legs to be a good soldier.”
“You’re preaching to the choir on that one, boy.”
“You barely even limp. I’m missing my whole arm.”
“I can’t run worth a damn, and we both gotta strap on a limb to make ourselves whole. What’s this about, Sloan? You feeling sorry for yourself all of a sudden?”
“Mexico.” He leaned back in his chair. He’d been on a HERO Force mission when the shit hit the fan. “My prosthetic can’t keep up with the real thing. I lost my grip on my weapon, missed a shot that nearly got Razorback killed.”
“He didn’t mention it.”
“He didn’t know.” He looked at his hands on either side of his glass, one flesh and bone, one resin and metal.
Mac sighed and leaned forward in his chair. “You’re a highly trained soldier. One of the elite.”
He blew out air. “I’m a fucking liability.”
“Bullshit. You go looking for reasons, you can find one every man on my team doesn’t belong there. But you stop looking, and all you see are good, strong, capable men.”
“Is that good enough? We’re protecting lives every day out there, shooting firearms that could blast a hole through a man in a fraction of a second, then do it again.”
“What are you saying? You want out?”
Sloan cocked his head. “Yeah, man. I am.”
“No.”
“Come on. You know I’ve got a point. You know I’m telling you the truth when I say we came this close to losing that battle down in Mexico, and it would have been my goddamn fault. Me, Razorback, Jackie, her kid… all of us would have been dead.”
“Listen to me, kid. You take what you’re given in life and you make the best of it that you can. Are you the same soldier you were when you worked for Uncle Sam? Hell no. You’re wiser. You’re smarter. You’re seasoned, for God’s sake.”
Sloan laughed without humor. “Seasoned. I’m a fucking gimp.”
“So what? You gonna lock yourself up in your mama’s house and bake for the rest of your life? You have a gift. You have a responsibility to use it for the greater good, Dvorak.”
“Yeah, well, I think the greater good would be better served if I retired.”
There was a knock at the door, and Gus launched himself toward it, barking. One of the guys must have forgotten something. The old husky never appeared younger than when he was defending his turf, his bark sounding far more fierce than he’d actually been in years.
“All right, boy, calm down.” He rounded the corner toward the front door just as Gus stopped barking, his ferocity replaced by excited dancing and an eager whine. Sloan cocked his head. The dog would never react that way for the HERO Force guys. Was his mother back early from her trip? Why hadn’t she called him for a ride home from the airport?
He approached the door, the melodic sounds of a woman’s voice audible through the thick wood panels, and froze. That wasn’t his mother’s voice, though it was one he knew well. He stared at the dog for a long beat, watching him jump and dance as he listened to the woman.
It couldn’t be.
The doorbell rang a second time and he stood rooted to the spot as the dog went crazy. “Okay, okay,” he whispered to the animal. “Calm down.” Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, and just as Gus had indicated, there stood the woman who’d broken his heart.
4
