Chapter 5 #2
Though Moe continued working his way through his fish, he wasn’t hungry. His lusty thoughts consumed him, worrying him. How was he supposed to get any sleep in the same room with the fiery redhead who enjoyed her food as much as he enjoyed sex?
Breely’s eyes narrowed, and she sat forward. “You know my boring life story. I know next to nothing about you other than you’re prior military and work for the Brotherhood.”
“Brotherhood Protectors,” he corrected. “What do you want to know?”
She tipped her head to one side. “Which branch of service?”
He set his fork down. “Air Force.”
Her eyebrows formed a V. “I’ve read a lot about special forces. However, I don’t recall the Air Force having them.”
Moe nodded. “We don’t, per se. I was a Pararescue specialist or PJ.”
“I’m not familiar with PJs.”
He downed the last swallow of his beer. “We’re highly trained in personnel recovery.
We do whatever it takes to rescue American or Allied forces trapped behind enemy lines, surrounded, captured or injured, and bring them home.
Quite often, we work alongside other special forces units to achieve our objectives. ”
She pushed her bowl aside and propped her elbows on the table. “Sounds dangerous.”
“It was.” He didn’t feel the need to elaborate. Many of his missions had been top secret and often bloody and intense.
“Did you learn to fly planes in the military?” she asked.
Moe grinned. “I learned to fly planes on the farm in South Dakota. I had my pilot’s license before I got my driver’s license and joined the Air Force when I graduated from high school.”
“If you like flying so much, why didn’t you fly planes for the Air Force?”
His smile faded. “The man who taught me to fly was a member of the Air Force Reserves. He was called to active duty for the war in Iraq. His plane went down in Taliban-controlled territory. They found his plane and his parachute. It took them three days for our Intelligence guys to locate him and another day to send a team in. They were one day too late. The Taliban killed him.”
Breely reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. “I’m sorry.”
He stared at her small hand on his, the memory of Colin Henderson’s homecoming playing in his mind. Of standing with his mother and father at the airport with Captain Henderson’s family as the casket was brought off the plane and loaded into a hearse.
Up until that point, Moe had wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force.
Seeing the Henderson family standing on the airport tarmac had touched him in a way he hadn’t been able to deny.
From that moment, he’d wanted to be one of the elite force that went in to rescue fellow soldiers, sailors, Marines or Air Force personnel from dangerous situations.
“I joined the Air Force to become a Pararescue specialist to bring out people like Captain Henderson. Alive.”
Her hand remained on his. “And you did.”
He nodded. “I did.”
“And now, you’re out of the military. You’re not old enough to be retired, are you?”
He shook his head. “I left the Air Force after thirteen years.”
“Why?” she asked. “Or is it too personal?”
He gave her a tight smile. “I left, hoping to save my marriage.”
Breely jerked her hand back and settled it in her lap with the other. “I didn’t even think to ask. Are you married?”
He shook his head. “Not anymore. I married my high school sweetheart straight out of school, joined the Air Force and thought we would live happily ever after.” He shook his head.
“We were dumb kids with no clue how hard it would be away from the only home we’d ever known.
I was happy doing what I loved. She enrolled in a local community college.
We moved four times in the first two years.
She had to drop her classes mid-semester.
She eventually signed up for online classes.
Money was tight, so she took a part-time job at the base exchange.
“After I completed pararescue training, I was assigned to a team, which meant another move.
I went ahead to my new duty assignment, was immediately deployed, and she was left to manage the move on her own.
She had to quit her job and arrange the packing and moving of our possessions to our new location.
“Meanwhile, I was on the other side of the world, charging into danger. I was shot at, had grenades launched in my direction, and nearly died in an IED explosion. I didn’t have access to call often. We’d go weeks between communication with our families back home.
“This went on for several years. I’d be home for a couple of months, we’d have to get used to being a couple all over again, and then I’d be deployed.
“When I returned from deployment, I could tell my wife wasn’t happy. She’d bounced around from one low-paying job to another, and she’d given up on college. The family we’d always wanted didn’t happen, and she was terribly homesick for family back in South Dakota.”
“Did she not know what she was getting into?” Breely asked. “I’ve read enough stories about military families and the hardships they face when their loved ones are gone for long periods of time.”
Moe nodded. “I warned her about being gone, but the reality was harder than she’d expected.”
“I guess no one really knows what it’s like until they’ve lived it,” Breely said.
He nodded. “That was our case. We were young when we married. My training and the missions we performed changed me.”
“And you weren’t home often enough for her to get to know you all over again.”
“Something like that. When I came home from my last deployment, she was gone, along with everything in our quarters except my clothes. She’d arranged to have our household goods moved back to South Dakota.”