Page 10 of A SEAL's Heart
My mind plays over the last few moments of our last mission. We were deep in Colombia on a top secret mission to capture a drug lord. The government had a tip-off he was coming out of hiding for a meet-up, and the Columbian government asked for our help. Off the record of course. Like a lot of the work we do.
Out intel had two tangos in the house, but when I staked out the back, I saw another three and a cache of weapons.
They knew we were coming, and one tango was holding a grenade. I called it over the headset, but I was too late. Jake went in. He went in on his own.
I rushed after him, and the rest is a blur. The explosion threw me. I broke my jaw, injured my knee, and blacked out. I came to with Marcus dragging me through the jungle, leaving a trail of blood from the bullet he caught in the thigh.
We got out but not all in one piece.
Jake took the drug lord out with him. But if I’d gotten the intel in time, he wouldn’t have gone in. He’d be here now, and his sister wouldn’t have sadness behind her pretty green eyes.
I slam my fist on the wooden table pushed against one wall of the shack. It comes down hard on the worn wood, and the table cracks in two.
Splinters fly across the room, and one implants in my fist.
Fuck.
This place is shitty enough as it is, and now I’m destroying it.
I tug out the splinter and chuck it in the trash. Under the table is a plastic storage box, and I check it for damage. There’s none. The VHS tapes inside seem to be all in good order, as good as they can for being thirty something years old.
It’s a miracle I’ve kept hold of them through five different foster homes and several deployments. I won’t let the racoons and rotting wood get them now.
I tuck the tapes into a corner and haul the broken table outside. Grabbing my axe, I get to work chopping the table into firewood sized pieces.
By the time I’m done, I’m ready to face Avery again.
Jake’s will reading is this afternoon, and I’ll have to face his entire damn family. I heard Amos is back on leave for it.
They’ll wonder why the hell I’m there. Hopefully I can get his military gear or whatever shit he left me and fuck off back here to be alone.
6
AVERY
The lawyer’s office sits behind the town hall, matching the grand style of the surrounding hall and municipal buildings.
I take the stairs two at a time and push through the heavy wooden door that leads into the foyer. My mind is stuck on Ed and our disastrous session today. My initial enthusiasm has waned, and I wonder if I should speak to Maria. She told me to speak up if there were any concerns. But the stubborn part of me doesn’t want to hand over my first solo patient.
I can help Ed. I feel it in my bones. If only he’ll let me.
Mom sits on a leather armchair in the foyer and Dad stands beside her. Mom has dark smudges under her eyes, and there’s more silver in her hair than there was six months ago, before Jake.
She gives me a smile, as stoic as ever. Mom knew what marrying into a military family meant. She never let her anxiousness show when Dad was away. But when both her sons enlisted, I noticed things I hadn’t when I was a kid. Like how she kept herself busy while they were deployed. She joined every committee at her church, volunteered at the local VA center, and became militant about her rose garden.
But all the distraction couldn’t save her from the loss of Jake.
“There’s my girl.” Dad’s voice booms across the foyer. He was a rear admiral before he retired from the navy, and now he stands beside Mom with his hands behind his back in military posture.
I give him a kiss on the cheek.
“How was work today?”
I think about Ed in my office. The awkwardness of being close to him and his refusal to do the exercises. I don’t want to tell my parents about any of that. Besides patient confidentiality, Ed was Jake’s best friend. They have a soft spot for him.
“It was okay,” I say brightly.
Mom turns a critical eye on me. She can spot when I’m lying, but she says nothing.
