Breaking Away (52 page)

“In my twenty-five years of sitting on the bench, this has been one of the most interesting and legally complicated desertion trials I have ever presided over. You’re actions in going into hiding may or may not have been the right thing to do, Lieutenant. That you were badly injured when the first call came in tilted things in your favor. Having no contact with your command when the second deployment call went through wouldn’t have carried as much weight had you not been neck-deep in feeding NCIS evidence against a terrorist. That spoke to the jury’s sense of duty and justice.”

Was the guy working his way up to telling him he should be put back in a cell?

Sheraton continued. “In the course of the trial, the diverse range of skills you brought to the FBI investigation you assisted in were mentioned time and time again. Those skills and your drive to see justice done, despite the dangers and cost to yourself, are qualities the Navy needs to retain. I noticed your enlistment is ending in four weeks. I just wondered what you planned to do now you’ve been cleared.”

Flash smiled as the last of the thousand pound weight lifted from his shoulders. “I haven’t decided yet, sir. My circumstances have changed since the last time I re-enlisted. I need to talk to my family.”

“I hope you’ll make the right decision, Lieutenant. You are free to go.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Flash pumped Luttrell’s hand and even looped an arm around him and pounded him on the back. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“You caught a break. Had the jury decided to stick to the letter of the law, you would be sitting in a jail cell right now. I’m pleased it worked out.”

“Thanks.” Flash shook his hand again.

“Stay out of trouble. And good luck with your decision,” Luttrell said, picking up his briefcase. “Keep me posted on what you decide.”

Agents Cooper and Barnett approached him as Luttrell left. “Congratulations, Lieutenant,” Barnett said and offered his hand.

“Thanks. I appreciate your help.”

“If you decide not to re-up, NCIS might be interested in you,” Barnett said. “You have a month to explore your options.”

Riding the wave of relief and victory, Flash grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He was ready to see his two girls and have some face time with them. Talking on the phone and seeing them twice in four months wasn’t nearly enough.

Cooper flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. It was longer than it had been when he’d seen her last. And she had a softer edge to her as well. What was going on there? “We’ve been designated as your official transport to Master Chief Marks’s house. Samantha and Joy are there, along with the rest of your family.”

“I’m ready. But I have to take care of some paperwork, first.” He grabbed his cover and tucked it under his arm.

Half an hour later, having signed all the forms to finalize his release, Flash climbed into the back of their nondescript sedan. He attempted to lean back and enjoy breathing the air of freedom, but he couldn’t keep still. He wanted to see Sam and Joy. Didn’t they have lights and sirens on these damn vehicles?

“Did you call ahead to let Sam know the verdict?” he asked.

“Done,” Cooper said over her shoulder. “She was…more than elated.”

“Are you done with the FBI as well?” Cooper asked.

“Yeah. I suppose it will take the Navy a few weeks to cut orders. I know I’ve lost my slot on my team. I’ll probably be training to get back up to fighting form.”

“You look pretty fit,” Cooper said.

Though he’d exercised while confined, the rigorous training he’d have to do to get back in fighting form… “Not even close. They’ll probably send me back to BUD/S and make me train with the recruits.” He was tempted to groan aloud.

“How do you think Sam will feel about you returning to your SEAL career?”

They’d have a lot to talk about. She’d never been around anyone in the military before. And the life was so different than anything she’d experienced. Concern cut its way into his bubble of happiness. This four-month separation had been tougher for him than he’d ever dreamed it could be. He’d missed her and Joy so much. If she asked him to give up his career—“I don’t know.”

He was almost grateful when Barnett said, “Gilbert was really working his way to becoming a terrorist. Murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, smuggling, and finally terrorism. What was driving him?”

Flash had thought about this more than he ever wanted to again. “I think he did a few smuggling deals on his own, mixed in with the ones he was doing for the FBI. Maybe he was dumb enough to use the same contacts. Someone in their organization found out about it. Once they got their claws into him, he had no choice. When you have someone on your ass who’ll behead you and go after your family—what choice
would
you have? That last day I checked the cameras and saw Caesar Vargas sitting in his living room like he’d come over for a beer, I knew I had him, and I called you. But of course the FBI already knew and had stepped in.”

Cooper turned to look over her shoulder at him. “How the hell did you even know who Vargas was? It isn’t as though they put their picture up on social media sites.”

“I can’t tell you the particulars, but we’ve done work against the cartels in South America and Africa. They’re all attached to terrorist organizations one way or another. There’s too much money involved for them not to be. I almost felt sorry for Gilbert when I saw him sitting there. He wasn’t smart enough to be involved with them. But he did do me a favor. He was afraid they’d find out he’d screwed up and kill him. He never told them about me. Otherwise, I’d probably be dead.” And Sam and Joy, Travis and ‘Nita, Josh and Javier…everyone he was attached to.
Jesus!

To have come out of all this and still have his freedom, his life, and his family—
he was the luckiest man alive.
But what would happen to him and Sam if he went back to the teams?

They’d both broken away from things holding them back, standing in their way. Sam had stood up to a man twice her size. She was strong. They could make this work. He hoped.

James stretched his legs out before him and pretended to be paying attention to the conversation bouncing back and forth among the team members. His gaze strayed to Marsha as she pushed Alex around in the pool in a donut-shaped floatation device. From this angle he could see Alex’s legs beneath the water stuck through the support on the bottom of the float, pumping away as if he was walking through the water. He was growing stronger and just plain growing. He laughed out loud at everything.

He studied the contrast of Marsha’s lightly tanned skin to her hair and smiled. She had come so far. They had come so far—together. Now they were in the new house, she swam a little each day. And played with Alex in the pool to help him build his muscle coordination. Marsha was toned, fit and gorgeous. Just looking at her—

“Can I get you a beer, Captain?” Trish Marks asked.

James switched his attention to Trish. Saved from getting a boner right in the midst of a group of guys. He had it bad. “Point the way and I’ll get it myself, Trish,” he said, rising.

She turned and gestured toward the deck. “They’re on the right side in the red cooler up against the house in the shade.”

“Thanks.”

He took his time getting the beer, allowing the residual effects of ogling his wife to subside. He wandered over to join Langley Marks. Langley fancied himself a master at grilling, but Trish wandered by quite often to check on the meat’s progress. Langley pointed the tongs he held at her. “Begone, woman! I’m not burning anything.”

“You burn those burgers and you’ll be making a run through a drive-through to get more,” she warned, only half teasing. “Keep an eye on him, Captain.”

“I’ve only burnt a few the last couple of times,” Langley called after her. James laughed aloud.

They were discussing some of the marksman training he hoped to put into place in the next month, to train the team with some new night scopes they’d just requisitioned, when Marsha wandered up. The mesh cover up she’d thrown on over her bathing suit masked part of her figure but emphasized the curve of her waist and hip. She pressed in close against his side and he looped his arm around her.

“Five minutes out, guys. Agent Cooper just called,” she said. Excitement had added a hint of color across her cheekbones.

He brushed her forehead with his lips. She smiled up at him, her expression relaxed, happy.
Love you,
she mouthed. He gave her waist a squeeze.

A grin spread across Langley’s lantern-jawed face. “Burgers are almost done, and we have smoked pork and barbecue sauce. Everything will be finished before Flash walks through the gate. Hooyah!”

Had forty-five minutes ever seemed so long? Surely it had been two hours since agent Cooper had called. Camp Pendleton wasn’t that far away, was it?

The wives and girlfriends of the SEALs had been trying to distract her and help pass the time, while they all kept watch over the kids in the pool.

Sam scanned the circle. Zoe Weaver held her three-month old baby boy against her shoulder. His head, covered with a dark cap of hair, bobbed as she rubbed his back. She lowered him to her lap and propped him against her.

Hawk, her tall Native American husband of only a month, had been Tim’s team leader when all this had started. He had a calm presence about him and piercing gray eyes that lived up to his call sign. Their baby looked so much like him Zoe joked, had she not gone through such terrifying labor, she’d say Adam Joseph was cloned.

Captain Jackson’s wife, Marsha, held their son’s fingers as he placed one foot in front of the other, walking, but not yet brave enough to turn loose of his mamma. The baby had strangely wide-spaced eyes, and someone had said he had a heart issue. He had personality plus, though, and even the other children loved playing with him.

Tess Kelly, Brett Weaver’s girlfriend, stretched her hands out to Alex and encouraged him to come to her. Her copper-colored hair hung like silk against her shoulder. She was so beautiful with her chocolate brown eyes and pale skin, she could have been a model. But instead she was a journalist at a major paper. She and Brett looked like a power couple, him with his blond hair and blue-eyed good looks, and her with her gorgeous coloring.

Then there was Juanita Gallagher, Tim’s unofficial foster mother. She had showered genuine affection on both her and Joy, and she’d helped Sam keep it together when she’d been hit so hard by Tim’s absence. ‘Nita was funny and cheerful, and she had all her boys, wrapped around her little finger, including her gruff, tough-talking ex-SEAL husband, Travis. Javier was holding down the fort for the business in Henderson and living in the apartment. Josh was doing duty as a police officer in Baja and watching over the house until Travis and ‘Nita returned.

Trish Marks had offered to open her home to her and Joy at any time. The amazing woman juggled three kids, a husband who adored her, and a social worker’s job. She was blonde with a redhead’s freckles, and a girl-next-door kind of beauty. All the other women gravitated toward her as their undeclared leader. Sam felt better, calmer when she was with Trish. The woman just seemed to naturally know what to do to lend support.

These women were each remarkable. They’d taken her under their wing in the last forty-eight hours, offered her comfort and encouragement. Warned her about what she was taking on being the girlfriend of a Navy SEAL. But they also made sure she fully understood the rewards. Their men loved as fiercely as they fought. Were as loyal and generous with themselves when they were home as they were with their jobs. She had seen that in Tim. Fallen in love with him because of it. But could she bear the long separations? This last four months, only seeing him briefly twice, had seemed an eternity.

But her feelings for him hadn’t wavered. She still loved him, deeply. She’d survived Will Cross. Stayed with him out of fear. How much easier would it be to stay with Tim out of love?

And now she couldn’t bear having to wait a single moment longer to see him.

The group had congregated to lend support, to each other and to her, should the verdict be less than they hoped. With good news, the gathering had quickly morphed into a party.