Chapter 13
When he entered Commander Dennis’s office, he became even more worried when his troop commanding officer wasn’t there. It was highly unusual that they’d skipped an officer in his chain of command.
“Have a seat, Lieutenant Chaney,” the commander ordered.
Thirty minutes later, Dylan was on the way back to his platoon headquarters when he was met by Lieutenant Junior Grade Adam Kadel.
“Are we in trouble?” His assistant officer in charge asked.
“No, but from what I’ve just been told, several others are going to the brig.” Dylan looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear them. “We’ve just been assigned a top-secret mission right here.”
“Yeah, something stateside.” His friend pumped his fist.
In a quiet voice, he said, “No. I mean right here on base. We’ll talk about it when we get to my office.” Purposefully, he changed the subject. “What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?”
“Fuck, no. I was too damn tired. I think I fell asleep Friday night and didn’t wake up until noon yesterday.” The two men bumped fists.
“Right there with you.” Dylan grinned. “I swear I did five loads of laundry. I hadn’t gotten a chance to get everything cleaned from the desert before they shipped us out to play in the snow.”
“I’m still washing sand out of my hair.” He scratched under the brim of his cover. “Either somebody put itching powder in my hatband, or it’s been far too long since I’ve worn this uniform.”
“Have you worn it since BUD/S? That’s the kind of shit they pull on officers when we graduate.” Someone had thrown up in Dylan’s hat and he’d ended up buying a new one.
“I wore it last summer before we went to play in the sandbox.” Adam took off his hat the minute they stepped into the building and started examining underneath the band as he followed Dylan into his office.
“Speaking of last summer, have you called that pretty little piece you were dating back then?” Adam sat down in the chair across the desk.
“I’m certain she went back to college and found herself a sweet little boy. She was kind of young for me.” He lied. Kylie had seemed so much older than nineteen.
Sure, he was nine years older, but she hadn’t seemed impressed by his rank like most base bunnies.
Or that he was a SEAL. She was more interested in the history of the place, like him.
They had walked all over Balboa Park, relishing the Spanish Moor architecture.
For one entire day, they had eaten their way through San Diego’s Chinatown while admiring the buildings and reading historical plaques.
Dylan smiled at how much he’d enjoyed each and every time they’d been together.
He hated the way they parted, but he knew he was going to be gone for six months, and she was heading back to college.
He wanted her to have a good time and enjoy those years.
He’d loved his time at the Naval Academy.
More than once, he’d wondered if she’d take his call.
She wouldn’t recognize the phone number, though.
Just before leaving for Iraq, an old girlfriend started to call him.
Constantly. Once she’d texted him seventy-two times in one day.
When she wouldn’t take no for an answer, he changed phone numbers and carriers.
“Earth to Dylan.” Adam knocked on his desk. “She might have been young, but she certainly dug into you if you wandered off that long thinking about her.”
“She was nice. Too nice for a guy like me.” He redirected the conversation, telling Adam about their secret mission and brainstorming ideas.
“There’s no way in hell that seamen apprentice is going to talk to either of us about the deal he’s got going,” Dylan pointed out. “He approached a bunch of chiefs. Let’s get our chief petty officers in here.”
Adam opened the office door. “We need to see all the chiefs. Now.”
“Aye, sir,” several male voices answered.
While they waited for their men, Adam asked, “I take it the funeral on Thursday is mandatory?”
“For officers, it is.” Dylan squinted as something flashed to the back of his mind. He glanced at his calendar. “Fuck. I’m Officer of the Day for Team 1. I can’t go.”
“Thanks for deserting me, but I get to meet the new C.O. first,” Adam boasted. “Not that he’s going to remember me or any of us junior officers.”
“I think the Chiefs should go, especially since I’m not going be there.” Dylan added that to his list of discussion items.
“I guess they expect a packed house, not just because it was the captain’s daughter, but a lot of people around here knew her.” Adam checked the assembling chiefs in the outer office. “A few are still missing.” He picked up and continued his previous conversation. “Have you met the new captain?”
“No. I don’t think he’s been around much. He just arrived on Friday and then his daughter died that night, so we were told in this morning’s troop briefing.”
Adam leaned in conspiratorially. “Rumor has it she died in childbirth.”
“That’s horrible.” Dylan looked up from his notes and signaled for the men to come in.
“No, what’s horrible is that they’re stuck with a newborn baby.
While up at Troop Headquarters I overheard that Lieutenant Commander Jenkins and his wife went to their house Saturday night to set up the baby’s bedroom.
I also heard that the captain is divorced, and he was there being all loving every time his ex-wife cried. ”
“Who knows. Maybe they’ll get back together if they have to take care of the infant.
” Dylan wondered what it would be like to have to take care of a baby at their age.
When he turned thirty a few months ago, he looked around at the other lieutenants.
Several had been married and divorced. A few of them had kids.
With all the shit he had to do as the commanding officer of a platoon, he didn’t know how the married lieutenants got everything done and had time for a wife and kids.
“Fuck. I almost forgot about the good part.” Adam was such a gossip, but he was certainly a good source of information. He knew about everybody and everything. “The captain and his ex-wife got shared custody of the baby.”
One of the chiefs piped up, “Are you talking about the new captain? I can’t believe he’s got a newborn baby at his age. I don’t know whether to be proud of him for still being able to reproduce or sad that he has a baby to care for.”
Dylan quickly corrected the man, explaining that his daughter died in childbirth, leaving the captain and his ex-wife with a newborn.
The platoon chief, a crusty SEAL who’d seen too much by age thirty-seven offered his sage advice. “I feel sorry for the old man. My kids are five, seven, and nine. I wouldn’t want to go through bottles and diapers again for anything. When mine were that little, I was begging for deployment.”
“I didn’t know you were married,” Adam noted.
“I’m not… But I’m on the lookout for number four,” the salty SEAL laughed.
“You’re a glutton for punishment,” one of the other chiefs said.
“Nope. I like being married. I just don’t like having a wife.” The room erupted in laughter.
Once Dylan got the rowdy group calmed down, he decided to get straight to the point. “Have any of you ever attended a party at Miss Nami’s?”
Obviously, everybody recognized the name, but every man shook his head.
Dylan continued, “Do any of you know any SEAL who has someone from a foreign country living with him?”
A chorus of “No,” filled the room.
Whew. They’d dodged that bullet.
Dylan went on to explain the top-secret project. As they discussed how they were going to get an invite to Miss Nami’s parties, they all agreed that a couple of the chiefs should go to Group Headquarters and find Boudreau Fontanelle to get an invitation.
“We need to identify every SEAL involved.” Dylan then explained what was illegal about the woman’s enterprise.
“This is human trafficking. We’re not going to tolerate any SEAL being involved in anything like this.
We know right from wrong and this is just wrong.
Miss Nami is targeting sailors, especially SEALs, since we get more money for combat pay. ”
Grunts rose around the room.
Dylan continued, “How many hostage rescues have we participated in? Human trafficking is against the UCMJ. We need to help these girls by freeing them. They are basically slaves. And if the SEAL is living off base, getting a housing allowance, technically that apartment is being rented by the U.S. Navy. These men are going to be arrested. It’s our job to identify them.
Most of us gave up our apartments when we left, knowing we were going to be gone for six months. ”
Heads nodded in agreement.
Since it was almost lunchtime, they thought they might be able to catch the yeoman on his way out of the building. With their friends on Teddy’s team away on leave, their cover was perfect.
“I need two volunteers to approach the yeoman.” Dylan wasn’t surprised when every man in the room stepped forward.
“This isn’t going to be much of a hardship,” Chief Scott Ringer declared. “I haven’t been laid in ten months.”
“Don’t forget you’re going to be wearing a wire. And a camera.” Lieutenant JG Kadel reminded them.
“Nothing says I have to take my clothes off to fuck.” Chief Andrew Willis had everyone laughing again.
“How am I supposed to record the expenses for this op?” Leave it to the platoon chief to think about the paperwork. “Hand job, twenty-five dollars with five-dollar tip. Blowjob, fifty bucks. No tip. She sucked.”
Even Dylan couldn’t help but laugh at that one. He was going to have to call Commander Dennis and get the paperwork straight. Even though his men had been overseas and training where they couldn’t spend much, they shouldn’t have to use their own money.
By the end of the day, Chiefs Ringer and Willis had invitations to the party that night.