Chapter Three Reed
Chapter Three
Reed
Charleston, South Carolina
Yesterday, I was in Panama, securing the canal after terrorists tried to wreak havoc there. And this morning? In my kitchen doing a crossword puzzle.
The whiplash between adrenaline-fueled missions and domestic downtime never got easier. One day, I was getting shot at. The next, I was wondering if seven down was gallant or valiant.
I scratched my jaw with the capped pen and hung my head as I reminded myself why I was doing this.
I was all for the daily workouts when I wasn’t operating, but sweating my balls off in a sauna, followed by brain exercises? That was taking some getting used to.
After listening to countless podcasts and reading a dozen books on my father’s condition in the last four months, I’d resigned myself to trying to help him, even if my old man didn’t deserve it.
I also decided to make a few changes in my life to hopefully prevent the same outcome from happening to me.
Would I give up bourbon and beer like some medical sites said I should? Probably not.
Or stop putting my head in positions where it might get knocked around or even blown off? Not anytime soon.
But the other stuff? I supposed I could do.
As long as my head stayed attached to my body, I’d like to remember who I was. Though I wouldn’t mind selectively Control-Alt-Deleting a few memories. Like my entire childhood. Next, I’d eliminate the other dark and painful years from my past that were of my own making.
I lifted my head, tossed the pen, and stood. “How about we see if Chase is home?”
Ranger’s ears perked up. That was a yes.
“Get your leash.”
He eyed my chest, wise beyond his puppy years, signaling to me that I was shirtless.
“Right, right.” I smirked. “You. Leash.” I patted my chest. “Me. Shirt.” Great. Now I was grunting like a caveman, like he’d answer the same way.
I went into my bedroom in search of a clean shirt since I’d only put on new workout shorts after my post-sauna shower. When I returned to the living room in a white tee with my sunglasses hooked to the front, Ranger was sitting there waiting for me, his leash on the floor in front of him.
“Good boy.” I clipped it to his harness and shoved one of those doggy-shit bags into my pocket, and we went outside and walked to Alex and Audrey’s home.
Every house in our community was either a brick ranch or a two-story with a wraparound front porch sitting on at least a half acre of property.
Oak trees, southern magnolias, and crepe myrtles made up the landscape. Kids were already outside, laughing and playing in front yard sprinklers to escape the early-morning heat. This was a sharp contrast to the environment I’d grown up in, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.
Ranger took a piss on the neighbor’s mailbox next door to Alex’s house just as Chase came running down his front porch steps.
“Ranger!” Chase called out, acting as though he hadn’t just dog sat the last two days while I was in Panama.
“Feel like going to the park with us?” I asked Chase as he scratched Ranger behind the ears before he flopped over to get his belly rubbed.
“Of course.” Chase patted the side of his leg, and Ranger switched to all fours at the order.
“Where are your parents?”
“Doing something in their bedroom. I don’t know. Hanging a picture, maybe? Heard some banging.”
I about choked on my own saliva, knowing exactly what the newlyweds were doing. “Let me text them that you’re coming with me.”
I handed him the leash, but before I had a chance to send a message, both Alex and Audrey came outside and started our way.
“We’re going to the park,” Chase told them, and I subtly signaled to Alex that his fly was down.
“Get that picture hung?” I removed my shades from my shirt and hid my eyes.
Alex zipped up his cargo shorts and cleared his throat. “We did.”
“Nailed really good?” Chase turned to his stepdad, and Audrey patted her chest as if she needed to restart her heart at her son’s question.
Yeah, I didn’t envy being a parent. I’d also probably never find out what it was like to be one.
“Picture is up. Yup.” Alex held Audrey’s hand. “We’ll join you.”
“How’s the morning sickness?” I deflected instead of making a joke since Chase was there.
“Gone, thank goodness,” she answered as we headed for the park, which was just outside the neighborhood. “And before you ask, like you normally do every week . . .” She chuckled. “No, we haven’t changed our minds about knowing if we’re having a boy or a girl.”
I shot Alex a look before facing forward, knowing that we was more of an I.
No Tier One operator wanted to go into any situation without every detail mapped out. Being prepared for everything was an understatement when it came to us.
Though I doubted Alex had ever prepared himself for marrying our team leader’s sister—a sister Ryder had only found out existed this past Christmas.
“Anyway.” Audrey glanced at me once we’d entered the park and winked, letting me know to change the subject. “How’s your dad?”
I immediately turned to face Alex, because there was only one way his wife knew my dad wasn’t doing well. “I told you about his condition in passing, not wanting anyone to know.”
“In passing?” Alex’s brow furrowed. “You can’t be serious.”
“This is why I never talk about myself.” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but it was the truth.
It was my life. My past, full of ugliness and regret. No one else’s.
“She’s my wife. I didn’t think—”
“I’ll remember to keep my mouth shut.” My bitterness and anger had nothing to do with him, but I needed a target for my frustrations, and he was right in front of me.
“Let’s talk about something else, okay?” Audrey placed her hand on Alex’s forearm, a quiet directive to back down.
I looked around them, realizing we had company. All the more reason to do what Audrey had suggested and drop it. “Trevor’s here with Eden.” I folded my arms over my chest as I watched Chase with his father. He was showing off Ranger as if Trevor hadn’t met my dog a dozen times before.
Trevor and Chase’s aunt, Eden, lived in our neighborhood as well.
She was pregnant, so she was bunking with her brother for now.
The father of her baby was rotting in a CIA black site half a world away, which meant she’d be raising her daughter with the support of her brother and the rest of us.
We were basically the tactical version of a modern-day Brady Bunch.
Thankfully, my team had been lucky enough to snatch up new-construction homes in the neighborhood around the same time. It definitely made things easier when it was time to spin up.
With Trevor still having that operator itch after retiring from twenty years in the navy, we gave him room to scratch it.
He worked with Delta Shield as part of what would eventually be a three-man attachment unit once we recruited two more veterans to replace the new hires who had barely lasted three weeks.
Truth was, we probably didn’t need to hire anyone else.
Trevor more than pulled his weight, and despite the fact he outranked us all when he retired, he never minded deferring to Delta One.
Trevor stopped petting my dog and removed a ball from his pocket as if somehow knowing this meet and greet was bound to happen. He offered it to Chase to throw.
Seeing the two of them together had me wondering what it would’ve been like to have a normal childhood.
You know, with a dad who pitched a baseball instead of threatening to break a bat across your back for spilling milk.
Maybe if I’d had a dad like Trevor, or a stepfather like Alex, I wouldn’t have—
“How are you feeling after Panama?” Alex asked Trevor as he joined us, effectively drawing my head from my dark past.
“Ready to spin up again if the opportunity presents itself.” Trevor scratched the side of his neck where he had three crosses tattooed.
“Maybe if you had someone to come home to, then you wouldn’t be so eager to spin up all the time.” Audrey nudged her ex-husband in the side, and Trevor glared at her. “That goes for you too,” she added, eyes sharp on me now.
“I have Ranger. He has his sister,” I shot back defensively. “We do have someone to come home to.”
Audrey waved the back of her hand my way without making contact. “Not what I meant and you know it.”
“You gotta tell your wife to knock it off with the dating stuff,” Trevor grumbled, a laugh catching in his throat.
Somehow, Alex managed to get along with Audrey’s ex, which I supposed was for the best since Trevor was very much in his son’s life. It was almost inspiring to see how they all co-parented.
Alex faked zipping his lips and shook his head.
“Yeah, I know where your loyalty lies.” Trevor smirked. “As it should.” He looked over at his sister standing off to the side of us, a phone to her ear.
“She okay?” Audrey asked.
“Talking to our mom. She calls every five minutes to check on her. Surprised she hasn’t tried to move in with me, too.”
“Give it time, she just . . .” Audrey let her words trail off at the steady whup-whup-whup of rotors breaking through the late-summer air.
Wrong airspace, and the wrong altitude.
Ranger stopped running after the ball Chase had tossed, ears alert. He let out a howl, eyes fixed on the sky.
The all-black unmarked chopper came in fast. Muscle memory took over, and I started to go for my Glock, forgetting I didn’t have it on me.
Thankfully, it wasn’t needed anyway. A group text arrived from Secretary of Defense Chandler letting us know we had incoming. A friendly. A.k.a. don’t shoot.
“Maybe it’s your best friend making a grand entrance like she’s been known to do, and she gave Chandler a heads-up about it,” I remarked as the helo hovered outside the park boundary, searching for a clear spot to land.
Audrey gestured for Chase to come over to us. “It shouldn’t be Hollis.” Friendly or not, she quietly pulled Chase between her and Alex, and Ranger parked himself in front of Chase. “She’s with a guy in Italy, or so she said.”