Chapter 2
“It’s your turn to cook the food,” Knight argued as Patch brought in the groceries.
“I cooked last week, and all of you bellyached about what I made. Come on, take one for Team Hawk,” Patch coaxed. “I’ll do clean up. The new guy’s coming today. Do you really want to give him a bad impression?”
“Listen, it’s not my fault you overslept. If I didn’t bang on your door, both of us might’ve been late,” Patch disagreed.
“Don’t go there with me,” Knight said, shaking his head. “Most people use the front door, not my bedroom door. You know, Marcus wakes up around two for cuddles with us.”
“Ask me how I know? You bring him outside and sing,” Patch accused. “We’re neighbors. Do you think I want to hear that shit at freaking 0200? You sound like a bullfrog.”
“He has croup. The night air helps him breathe better,” Knight explained. “He’s miserable.”
“Because he has to listen to you sing. Run the shower and sit in the bathroom with him,” Patch suggested.
“Wait until you have kids,” Knight threatened. “It’s easy for you to sit there and point fingers until you have one of your own. I hope you have one and it turns out like you.”
“Claire can only be so lucky,” he boasted. “Come on, I’ll come over and rock the kid myself.”
“Settle down, boys,” Leo said as he entered the room.
“You two fight like kids. Patch, you’ve convinced everyone to trade cooking duties with you for the last six weeks.
You’re taking the hit on this one. Cole Martin will arrive any minute.
I want those burgers done when we finish the meeting.
Then, we’ll invite him for lunch and have a more casual conversation with him.
No more getting out of kitchen duty, or I’ll stick your ass on latrine duty for the next month. ”
Patch sighed, reluctantly.
Knight punched him in the arm. “Suck it up, buttercup. Maybe tonight, I’ll do my rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.”
“Shoot me now,” Patch muttered as he put the rest of the items away and patted out the burger patties.
Leo’s phone rang and he picked it up. “The new guy’s here. Let’s try to give him a good impression.”
“How can we when you go around calling us Team Asshole?” Patch asked. “By the way, you owe Melody another twenty bucks. Don’t think I didn’t hear you tell her you ran out of money and you need what you have in your wallet to buy a birthday present for her.”
“I’m in the mind to give you latrine duty anyway. Make it two months,” Leo said as he strode toward the hallway to greet Cole.
Leo opened the door, shook Cole’s hand, and greeted Brody.
“It’s nice to meet you in person. We’ll start the interview process once all the team members arrive.
You won’t meet Doc today. He’s on duty at the hospital and coordinating how to pick up the tiny circus he keeps adding to, called children. ”
Cole chuckled. “He’s the one with twins, right?”
“Chase and Kassie have five kids at the moment. They’re watching Sara while José completes basic training,” Leo informed him as they walked toward the kitchen together. As they entered, he motioned toward the table. “Have a seat. Everyone will join us in a minute. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water will be fine, sir. May I get some for Brody, too?” Cole asked, taking out his traveling bowl for the dog.
“Sure. How does your dog get along with others? Whiskey has a service dog named Hope. Sparky has a dog named Ice. Will it be a problem?” Leo asked.
“No, sir. Brody’s well-behaved and won’t move until I give a command,” Cole said, hoping his friend didn’t let him down.
As if he knew they were speaking about him, Brody sat taller and stared at Cole, waiting for another directive.
“Does he use hand signals?” Patch asked as he put the meat in the fridge.
“Yes, he’s one of the best,” Cole boasted.
Brody gave a broad smile as if proud of his own abilities. To the rest of the men, the dog appeared well-trained. Yet Cole knew when Brody used that expression, he plotted something. Silently signaling the dog to lie down, Cole sighed in relief as the four-legged mischief maker obeyed.
The men from the team filed in one by one. Whiskey, whom Cole met during the interview process, appeared harassed as he sat at the table.
“What’s the matter?” Leo asked, noticing the team member’s distress.
“We have another problem with the shipments. I must’ve put the wrong number down when I placed the order,” Whiskey said, scratching his head in confusion and pulling out a small laptop from his bag.
Leo glanced up at the ceiling, murmuring a prayer. “What did we purchase in bulk this time? Please tell me you didn’t order more baby stuff.”
“No. Remember when you placed the order for the community center sponsorship?” Whiskey asked as he scanned the records.
“Yeah,” Leo said, sipping his coffee.
“You got distracted when Derrick grabbed something from your desk. If I recall, you and Kassie were discussing how much you planned to give to the community center’s sponsorship. You told her to put you down for five thousand dollars.”
“I know what I sponsored. What’s the problem?” he asked.
“You must’ve started working on the inventory, and you placed an order for socks,” Whiskey said slowly. “Five thousand pairs, in fact.”
Leo groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. If I don’t find a supply clerk soon, I’ll beat on Patch for a good two hours to knock the whining out of his ass. He’s gotten worse than the kids when they’re tired.”
“I can hear you, ya know. Subtle much? What happened to making a good impression? Did your order only apply to me?” Patch needled him.
Cole chuckled behind his hand. Despite the arguing, he saw the connection between the men and realized what he lost along the way… camaraderie and brothers-in-arms.
He worked with a team, yet they worked separately or in pairs.
In the last few months before his departure, it seemed the unit became a revolving door of strangers who kept to themselves and did their jobs.
As an extrovert, Cole didn’t appreciate the atmosphere.
Sensing Cole lacked something, Brody became his new companion.
When they brought the dog in after his handler got injured and later died, he became Brody’s supporter.
He stayed an extra six months and cared for the dog until they allowed him to take Brody home.
Brody, for his part, coped with his loss by randomly acting out and stealing things.
Cole found it funny until he found Sergeant Ford’s love letters to his girlfriend amongst the pile.
Those never reappeared, but he carefully returned the missing items to their rightful owners.
His respect for his boss turned sour after learning the man was married with three kids.
Loyalty always remained at the top of his list when it came to picking girlfriends.
The military’s divorce statistics only cemented his view.
“No, asshole. Why didn’t you tell me this at the morning meeting?” Leo snapped at Whiskey.
“The shipment didn’t arrive until later and you placed the order. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to see if we can return some of them,” Whiskey explained. “Apparently, you ordered them on sale and they don’t want to take them back.”
“Shit,” Leo uttered, wiping his forehead. “How much did it set me back?”
“Yeah, tell him, Whiskey. Catherine will have him on latrine duty for a couple of months. We’ll see who suddenly wants to trade jobs then. Didn’t she tell you to stop doing the inventory after the last batch of diapers showed up?”
Leo sighed heavily. “Patch, do you need a session with your fiancée? You seem to forget where you are and when to control your mouth.”
“Nope, boss. I’m only stating facts,” Patch said, sitting down.
Leo wiped his hand down his face, staring at his corpsman.
“As you can see, we’re a fine oiled machine,” Leo said, turning his attention to Cole. “I encourage my men to speak out when we have an issue. It keeps harmony among us, except for Patch. He has a big pie hole and never learns when to shut up.”
“Hey. You can’t say that to me. I’m the best corpsman you got,” Patch stood up for himself.
“You’re the only one,” Leo reminded him. “If only Doc didn’t have a circus and a hospital to run,” he whispered to the ceiling.
Cole smothered the laughter as he watched the men pass along the cream and sugar for the coffee.
One man left something at the counter and without getting asked, another brought it over.
The team appeared amused by the banter and not in the least disjointed by it, sending the message Leo ran a tight ship.
The men respected him and he listened to them.
“From your left, we have Candi’s new husband, Archer, Whiskey, Ragu, Shadow, Taco, Sparky, Bear, Saint, and Michael.
He’s a pediatrician by day and moonlights with us when needed.
Sparky recently joined the team and can answer any questions you have about joining us. She can provide an unbiased view.”
“They’re all assholes,” Sparky spoke up, making Leo stare once more at the ceiling.
“Everyone, meet Cole and Brody. He’s interviewing for the K-9 training position.
As we discussed, I have some new contracts coming in, and the dogs might come in handy.
We checked his references and all but one came back with glowing remarks.
The last one returned with a list of grievances toward him.
Do you have a problem following orders?”
Cole froze on the spot. “No, sir,” he replied, recalling the names he listed as references.
“It seems your Sergeant felt differently.” Leo pulled out a file in front of him and opened the folder.
“It appears he didn’t like how you agreed to extend your tour by six months.
He found you lacking as a team player and said you didn’t meet his expectations over the last few months in particular. ”
Cole’s mouth shot open in surprise. He did everything to the letter and never uttered a single word about the extramarital affair of Sergeant Ford.
Why did the man give him such a deplorable review when Cole never said anything to anyone about the things he knew?
He disagreed with the man’s actions, but confronting him might have destroyed his chances to bring Brody home with him. He refused to leave his buddy behind.
“I…uh…don’t know why he’d say such a thing,” Cole stuttered, at a loss over the betrayal.
Leo slid another folder toward him. In it, he found pictures of Sergeant Ford with another airman.
Then, he flipped to photos of his family playing in their yard.
“We take accusations seriously around here. Something seemed off about his review, seeing as all the others came back with glowing recommendations. You’ll find Bear loves a good needle in the haystack.
He discovered this. Did you report him?”
Cole shook his head, already feeling defeated.
“No. He had the final say on whether I could bring Brody back with me because he reported to Colonel Rutherford. It’s challenging to bring these dogs home.
The cost alone can be significant. If you’ve done your homework, then I suspect you already know I’m not his original handler.
John and I worked with Brody together before they got assigned to one another.
When he died, I nursed Brody back to health.
He missed John and suffered from traumatic injuries. I refused to leave him there.”
Leo nodded. “Above all, we stay loyal to one another and to our families. We respect your decision. However, we disagreed with your sergeant’s handling of the matter.
Since you didn’t go through the proper channels, we sent the information to his colonel, and he’ll be dealt with.
As of yesterday, his wife caught wind of his affair through another military wife.
She has currently packed up the kids and left for her mother’s. ”
Cole sat back, shocked and in disbelief. These men didn’t play around when it came to the job yet seemed to still hold themselves to a higher standard than what he witnessed during his tour.
“I don’t know what to say. I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Cole said, glancing around at the table. His eyes widened when his gaze fell on Scarlett. She stared right through him as if she were blind.
“Tell me, did he spot the blind one yet?” she loudly whispered. “Please tell me he stopped at Taco. With the way he’s always dazed and confused when you say the word taco, I gotta sporting chance.”
“Heeeey,” Taco whined. “It’s not my fault Tess ran out of breakfast burritos this morning before you placed your order. Don’t take out your hangry on me.”
“All right, Sparky,” Leo rolled his eyes. “She recently joined the team and it appears Team Asshole has already corrupted her. As you can see, she’s a ginger on top of it. We’re all doomed.”
“Team Asshole?” Cole asked.
“Team Hawk officially. We want to welcome you to join us if what you witnessed here today feels comfortable. The team voted to give you a shot,” Leo announced.
“From what the guards told me, you already came prepared with boxes loaded in your truck. By the way, the tin of cookies you left in your front seat disappeared when the Russians searched your vehicle. I’m sorry.
We don’t take chances on the mountain after some recent activity.
They have searched through your belongings. ”
Cole let out a laugh. The Russians? Did they have the mafia working for them, too? It didn’t matter. The drive up the mountain sang to his soul and the familiar banter reminded him of his own family. Even Sparky reminded him of Annie with her cheeky smile and penchant for causing trouble.
“Thank you. I’m honored to join the team,” he replied.
“We’ll go over the specifics before you say yes. Why don’t we take you for a tour? We’ll eat lunch and then go to my office to discuss the details,” Leo said, already getting up.
Cole rose with the men. He signaled for Brody to stay in the corner while Scarlett and her dog walked past.
“Why don’t you leave him here? We’ll get a taste of your expertise,” Leo suggested.
Cole felt his stomach plummet as the dog’s mouth opened in an incorrigible smile, as if laughing at him. He signaled for him to stay as he left with the team and silently prayed Brody managed to behave himself until they returned.