Chapter 5
FIVE
PALLAS
Sunday turned his whole week around. He'd barely gotten up and dressed for a run before reporting to his team's training room when his phone lit up on the dresser. There wasn't a song or a ring tone that reached his ears. Just a single word. WOLF.
Pallas picked up the phone and answered it.
"Pallas?"
"Yes, sir."
He could hear Wolf's laughter in his voice. "When are you heading in?"
"I was headed out for a run, but I can come straight in instead."
"Good."
Pallas waited for Wolf to hang up, but he didn't. At least not right away.
"I just want to talk to you about something. Not an emergency if you still want to run."
"No, I'll be right in. I can run later."
"Okay. I'll meet you there."
Then, he hung up.
Pallas wasn't sure what was on Wolf's mind, but he wasn't used to that strange hesitation in his tone.
Knowing that there was no use in worrying over it, Pallas changed his clothes to his woodlands uniform and headed out to his Bronco.
The parking lot was half filled being that it was Sunday.
There were still men at church and others enjoying their day.
Climbing up into the Bronco, he saw something flash on the screen of his phone.
KAWEHI: Aloha Kakahiaka
KAWEHI: Morning
Hesitating for a moment, he picked up his phone and sent her a return message.
PALLAS: Morning, beautiful
He picked up his phone, dropped it in the chest pocket of his uniform and got back out of the Bronco.
If he made his way across the green spaces on base, he could get to the building just as quickly as driving.
And Kawehi's morning message had given him a boost of energy.
Clipping his keys to a beltloop, he started running.
The team's meeting room was a cinder block square along a parking lot near a wooded area on base. There wasn't a lot of road traffic in the area and there were two other square cinder block meeting rooms on other edges of the parking lot.
It looked boring from the outside. Painted in a basic neutral color that looked like every other utility building in the area.
If the aim was to make their meeting room look like some kind of storage facility, they had been successful.
Pallas knew what was inside the building.
A lot of computer equipment, practice gear, and well.
.. things he couldn't really tell anyone about.
Or he'd have to kill them.
Smiling at the stupid, overused idiom, he used his key to open the door and stepped in. The air conditioning chilled his skin right away.
"You ran over."
Pallas looked up and saw Wolf sitting at the desk along the wall, his feet up.
"I got my run in and saved on gas."
"Saving on gas, my ass."
Pallas shrugged. "I needed the run."
Wolf nodded. "Still made good time." He gestured at the desk closest to him. "Want a seat?"
Pallas tipped his head to the side. "Do I need to?"
Shaking his head, Wolf dropped his booted feet to the utility carpeted floor and stood up. "You're one suspicious man, Pallas."
"That's one way to look at it." Pallas almost smiled then and that must have caught Wolf's attention.
"What's that smile about?"
"What? What smile?"
"You're not hiding it well, if that's what you were trying to do." Wolf sighed. "Someone in your life?"
Pallas didn't need to hide it. "I met someone."
"Does she work on base?"
He shook his head. "Lanikai Lanes. She works there with her family. It's a nice place."
Wolf's brows raised a little. "I've heard good things about it. You serious about her?"
There was something about Wolf's question that put him a little on edge. "I think so. It feels that way."
"That's good, man. Really good."
Pallas narrowed his eyes on Wolf's face. "Why do I feel like you're not fully behind this?"
Wolf folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. "If it works for you, Pallas, I'm glad. I've been in the Marines for over a decade now and I haven't managed to find a woman willing to put up with me and the life."
"She actually needs a bit of help."
"From you? Or the Marines?"
Wolf's tone at the end said he was joking.
"Well, the Marines."
Wolf's eyes widened at that answer and Pallas explained what Kawehi was going through. What she'd been going through for years.
Pallas sighed. "I've gone down to talk to a few people and see if they can get her some help or even some advice on how to find him, but-"
"Hitting a few walls?"
Pallas nodded.
Wolf reached out his arm and gave the thick cinder block walls a few hearty pats.
"Nothing worth having comes easy. You might have to break down a few walls to help her. If you’d like, I can contact a few folks that I know.
They might be able to help. One works in an office that handles family services. "
"As far as we can tell, he never informed the military that he was married." Pallas felt his own frustrations building up again.
"That's a problem of its own. I think we can work with that." Wolf pulled out his phone and made a few notes. "Is he on a mortgage with her?"
Pallas felt a muscle tick in his jaw. "No. He didn't have good credit, so their house is on her credit."
Wolf shook his head and a blood vessel swelled in his forehead. "We know not every man or woman in the military is a good person, but this guy..."
Pallas agreed. "I want him out of her life just because it will make things better for her."
"But you also want to be in her life, too." Wolf gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Then we should talk about the reason I asked you to come in early."
Pallas nodded. "Okay."
"You've been on my team for the better part of a year, and I know some people would expect Chicago or Buck to take over for me-"
Pallas felt his chest tighten.
"In case something happens."
"I don't think I'm comfortable discussing this with you, Wolf. We don't have to worry about this right now."
"It's always time to talk about things like this, Pallas. You know this as well as I do."
"Yes, I know what could happen. I just don't want to think about it. I don't want people to think..."
"I've already talked to Buck and Chicago. They were in full agreement before I even mentioned your name."
Pallas looked at him with open surprise. "They did?"
"They know your worth to the team. They also agree that you're a natural leader. Most of the men look to you first when things happen and I'm not in the room. It makes sense to have you take over when the need arises."
"If," Pallas knew his voice was louder than it should be, but he didn't like the idea of taking over for Wolf. No matter what the reason.
Wolf nodded. "We don't always know what our future has in store for us, Pallas. We're thrown into situations, and we don't know the outcomes."
Pallas shrugged. "That's why we train as much as we do. Some of the men say we're over trained."
Wolf shook his head. "Twinkie and POS?"
Nodding, Pallas agreed. "Maybe."
Wolf smiled. "You know them as well as I do, Pallas. You were born to be a leader. And I'm glad I have the chance to work with you and train you for when that time comes."
"In ten years or so, maybe."
Wolf let out a breath. "We'll never know until it happens, won't we?"
The door to the training room opened and almost half of the team rushed in. Twinkie stopped short and groaned. "I thought we beat Pallas for once."
Chicago shook his head. "I told you that you were dreaming. You have to get an early start to beat Pallas anywhere."
Twinkie looked downright affronted. "It'll happen someday."
Jester laughed and almost covered it as a cough. "Dream on, Twinkie. Dream on."
Wolf gave them all a make-shift glare. "Take a seat while we're waiting for the others."
Hoss pointed at the door. "They're outside getting out of their cars."
Axl sank down into his chair and looked over at Pallas. "How are things with your girl?"
Jammer grinned at him as well. "When do we get to meet her, Pallas?"
Axl reached out and shoved Jammer, tipping his chair to the side. "Like he'd introduce you to his girl."
"She's a woman," Pallas interjected and shrugged. "I'm taking her to Bellows Beach on Monday."
"Smart man," Riptide gave him a shaka sign as he sat down. "Bathing suits are always good."
Axl shook his head. "I don't think Pallas cares what she looks like in her suit."
Riptide grinned. "I was saying Pallas probably wants to impress her with how he looks in a suit."
The rest of the team filed in, taking the leftover seats in the training room.
Wolf stood up and moved to the center of the room to point at the Smart Wall screen. "Okay, we have some dates to discuss and some training to schedule in."
Twinkie groaned softly, but everyone knew that it was his pitiful whine that they heard.
"There's also a festival coming up in a few months.
It's a big carnival celebration with music and concerts here on the base.
The public will be allowed in to attend.
The event will create lots of local interest and give the military a chance to impress the locals with what we do.
Static displays of military vehicles will be set up on one of the airstrips and base command will be looking for a bunch of eager volunteers-"
A few of the men groaned only to have Wolf nail them all with a look before he repeated.
"A bunch of eager volunteers." He leaned closer to the team and cupped a hand behind his ear.
"Yes, sir." Came the rousing chorus from the team.
"Glad that we cleared that up." Wolf smiled. "I don't want to hear that any of you can't show up because you have dates. The event will be Friday and Saturday on that weekend. There will be musical groups on both nights and a beer tent."
"Yes!"
Wolf turned to look at Kid. "Son?"
Kid crossed his arms across his chest and looked at the room. "I'm twenty-three."
Jammer laughed out loud. "You still look like you're in high school, Kid."
POS predictably joined in the razzing. "Bring your ID. You know you're gonna get challenged, baby face."