Code Name: Luminous (29 page)

“Gone to meet his Allah and hopefully his wife and son,”
Mace said, stepping through the broken patio door to join them.

Fox and Ed had Dafoe’s security men under guard. “I’m taking
Lumin back to San Diego,” Tony said, keeping her tucked safely next to him.

“Are you disobeying a direct order?” Lewis growled.

“I would be if you were my lieutenant.”

“Did you just receive a promotion in the last few minutes
that I’m not aware of?” Lewis asked, his eyes revealing his dislike and the
chance to form that complaint he’d threatened before.

“Up to you, Lewis.
You can live up
to your rank, make amends with the Admiral and say you led this op and accept
the ‘
atta
boys,’ or you can keep fucking around
worrying about who does or doesn’t respect the gold on your sleeve and climbing
a ladder. At some time in the past you earned your Budweiser, but it doesn’t
stop with a handshake and the pin.”

Lewis took a short step toward him. “Are you trying to teach
me
what it means to be a SEAL?”

Lewis glared at him, but his stare was only half-filled with
certainty. Being a warrior left no room for doubt. “I am. You lucked out,
Lieutenant. You’ve joined Alpha Squad, a team of men who will have your back,
if you have theirs. This isn’t a pissing contest to see who makes the highest
mark on the tree. We’re judged as one unit and we’ve got a track record of
success, but no man in this squad has ever stopped training or learning or
carrying each other when things get fucked up. Two men taught us that, the man
you’re replacing, Captain Cobbs, the other you still have an opportunity to
know, Admiral Austen.”

Lewis blinked at him.
The rankle
in
his expression had melted. “You’re talking like you’re not part of the team.”

Mace’s brow quirked and he glanced at Lumin and back at him.
Tony didn’t answer his question. “I’ll see
ya
back at
the base.”

Mace followed them out the front door,
then
stepped in front of them to stop their progress. “What are you doing?” he said
with concern.

Lumin stared up at him with a questioning expression as
well.

“Making a decision about my future,” he answered. Mace’s
head jerked back, hearing but not believing. “I’ve done my time. Cobbs told me
something before he died and a few minutes ago I wrapped my head around it.”
Mace waited with his arms crossed, but looked like he already knew what he was
going to say. “He missed all the growing years with
Rayanne
and Cindy. Marg had to live with the fear he wouldn’t come home for twenty
years.” He shook his head. “I’m not doing that to Lumin. I’m going to be there
when she graduates law school. I’m going to be there when she wins her first
case.” He slid his hand to her stomach and looked into her big blue eyes
staring at him with surprise. “I’m going to be there to watch our baby grow,
every one of them.” He put his attention back on Mace. “While my paperwork goes
through for officer training, I’m going to take that position in the BUD/S
training department. I might even stay, but I’ve done all the active duty out
in the theatre I’m ever
gonna
do. My family was as
dysfunctional as it can get. I’m not repeating that when I have a choice, and I
choose Lumin.”

“Tony,” Lumin squeaked, and threw her arms around his neck,
squeezing the life out of him. He curled a satisfied smile at Mace, and Mace’s
shoulders lifted with a chuckle.

“Don’t think there’s a better reason on the planet than what
you just said, T-man.” Mace gripped them both in a hug. “I’ll go get the car
and drive you guys back to the base. Besides,” he cocked his brow. “I need to
see my wife and tell her something important.”

“What?” Tony sputtered.

They began to walk toward Cliff Avenue. “
There’s
plenty of good men out there. They won’t miss us.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Tony asked,
stopping at the end of the walkway.

“I almost lost her,” Mace muttered.

“It’s because you’re a SEAL that you saved her.”

“Yeah, and I know Nina’s accepted that being away from home
is part of our profession, but Alpha Squad hasn’t been the same since Ghost and
Cobbs left us. There are two holes and nobody will fill them like they did.”
Mace surveyed the neighborhood and they all watched a high-end Mercedes park across
the street in front of a luxurious home. “We’re never
gonna
live at an address like this one. But guys like us make it possible for these
people to have it all. We’ve earned our stripes in the dirt. It’s time to pass
on the torch. I heard there were two spots available in the training
department.”

“Let’s do it.” Tony extended his arm and Mace gripped it.
“Think the only thing I’ll miss is blowing things up.”

Lumin laughed.
“Men and their big guns.”

“Hey, you said you like my big guns,” he teased, giving her
a cocky smile.

“I said you have nice buns, Tony. I think you should wear
better hearing protection.”

Throwing his arms around his beautiful nymph, he gazed into
his fiancée’s eyes.
“Yes, dear.”

Tony couldn’t stop the grin from stretching his jaw taut. Neither
he nor Mace would leave the Navy. Like Ghost and Cobbs they would go the
distance. They’d find and train the men who had the right stuff to be a SEAL,
and if he went through with the officer’s training, there would be plenty of
opportunities but he would make sure it meant coming home every night.

He looked down into Lumin’s brilliant smile, and knew he’d
made the right choice. “Let’s go home, my lady.”

Date: 08.06.2014

Time: 0300UTC 1900PST

Case: Closed. Threat neutralized

Mission: Code Name Luminous
deacitivated

Epilogue

Friends, family, and warriors surrounded Captain Patrick
Edward Cobbs’ casket. Lumin stood shoulder to shoulder with Nina on one side
and Kayla on the other. The August sun mingled with the breeze of the ocean as
they stood on the green grass at the grave site. It had only taken a few
minutes to drive from the Catholic
church
that had
overflowed out the enormous doors, down the stairs and filled the parking lot
with people who wanted to be present when the priest performed the service.
Tony had sat beside her, but now he stood with the squad across from her and to
the right of Marg, Kelsey,
Rayanne
, and Cindy. Cobb’s
mother sat in the chairs provided for family and Marg’s parents stood behind
them. She’d seen the same soul wrenching scene in movies, but the depth of
sadness never connected the dots in her heart until today.

Admiral Austen’s expression remained emotionless; an
enormous warrior standing regally in his officer’s uniform watching his best
friend being interred. Lumin couldn’t imagine the willpower it took to do that
without shedding a tear. Some people had suggested he not do the honorary
presentation of the flag to Cobbs’ widow, but he refused. Lumin clutched Nina
and Kayla’s hands tightly, and fought back the tears, but they surfaced anyway,
and she wasn’t alone as she glimpsed at Nina, but Kayla remained as stoic as
her husband. Stitch and Fox stepped forward and folded the draped flag from
Captain Cobbs’ casket, their faces sheer rock, set in impassive reserve. Fox
took the triangle into his hands, placed himself in front of Admiral Austen,
saluted, released it, and stepped back.

The Admiral glanced into the heavens for a moment and his
lips parted, taking a breath, then he took the few steps to stand before Marg.
She sat noble and beautiful, looking straight ahead. The Admiral kneeled before
her and they stared into each other’s eyes for the longest moment. Before the
Admiral said a word, Marg’s strength broke and tears slipped over her lashes
and down her cheeks. She rested a hand over his as if seeking courage and
giving it.

“
On behalf of the
President of the United States and the Chief of Naval Operations, please accept
this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s service to this
Country and a grateful Navy,” the Admiral said. His eyes snapped shut and his
jaw went rigid.

“Uncle Thane?”
Kelsey slipped off her chair and the Admiral’s brow wrinkled tight.

“Yes, Kelsey,” he
uttered, resting his gaze on her concerned six-year-old expression.

“Daddy still loves
us, right?”

She placed her
little hand on his cheek and a deep breath escaped him. The innocent touch of
her hand depleted his reserve and a ragged cry escaped his throat. “Yes, baby
girl, he does.”

He swept her into
his arms and a harsh sob escaped him. The powerful legend known as Ghost, who
led men into battle, broke with a little girl’s words. Lumin’s heart pained for
Kelsey who would have to walk through the milestones of her life without her
father beside her. Ceremony, pomp, expectations of what a military service meant,
didn’t mean a thing to a little girl who needed reassurance from the man she’d
known as her uncle. Ghost buried his face in her hair and reached his muscled
arm to encompass Marg in a moment of grief and loss so strong no man or
woman present
that day would ever forget. No one breathed or
uttered a word to break the moment, until the moment had had its say.

The Admiral gently
put Kelsey back in her chair. The priest gave his final words to bless Patrick
Cobbs’ body and affirm his soul to heaven. There was silence, then the priest
moved back and Lumin waited. She expected the crowd around her to fall out, but
they didn’t. In unison, Alpha Squad reached to their pockets and unhooked
something. She watched with rapt attention and her insides froze as Master
Chief Mason Briggs stepped up to the coffin and pounded the pin he’d taken from
his uniform into the glossy wood of the casket. Mace, Ditz, Ed, Stitch, and
Nathan each did the same. With each pin hammered into the wood, Lumin jumped.
They all watched as Tony stepped up. He stared down at the line of pins, his
brow furrowed. “You are my mentor.
My Captain.
It will
always be that way,” He paused as his eyes filled with tears and he bit down
hard to hold them back. His powerful hand came down and sunk the pin to the
hilt,
then
he joined his squad who lined the foot of
the casket.

Admiral Austen was
the last in line. He palmed the beautiful wood, deep in reflection. “I will
take care of them as long I have breath. I vow to you, my best friend, they are
my family as are you.
Till we meet again, brother.”
The last pin dug into the wood and the Admiral took his position at the far
left of the line. The squad, in unison, saluted as Admiral Austen gave the
command to the honor guard, who stood fifty feet away, to fire. Three rounds
broke the silence.
A final salute for a warrior who protected
his nation, and his team, to the end.

* * * *

Lumin sat under the sun. The brisk wind filled with the
scent of the sea lifted her hair. She wiggled her toes in the warm sand. The
wake for Captain Cobbs wasn’t what she expected. They gathered on the shore in
front of the Hotel Del Coronado, hundreds of people, all from the base.
Accompanied by their families, the children played with each other in the surf.
The gathering looked more like a beach party. Kayla and Nina’s words sprang to
mind. ‘Life goes on’.

Moira and Steven Porter had come and brought the twins.
“Lumin, will you help us build a sand castle?” they
asked,
a plastic shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other.

“Take your pails down to the water. I want to talk with
Lumin for a moment,” Moira said, and watched them run toward the wet sand.
“Steven spoke to your mom and dad last night.”

“I did too,” Lumin said, tucking her knees to her chest and
watching Tony talk with Steven a little ways down the beach. “I told them
everything.”

Moira’s concern was evident. “Are you sure, Lumin? You’re
only twenty-four. There’s a lot of life you could live before all the
responsibilities of marriage.”

Lumin wasn’t bothered by Moira’s comment because it came
from the heart. “And I will live it.” She turned a smile on Moira.
“With Tony.”

The man she knew more and more as the days passed convinced
her he was the man she would live her life with. She watched as Tony’s strong,
muscled legs striding toward her sparked lustful thoughts in her mind. The
white shirt he wore open billowed out around him. Steven walked beside him and
she and Moira looked up when they stopped in front of them. Steven knelt on one
knee.

“Tony asked me, since your parents can’t be here, for your
hand in marriage.” He grinned. “He’s a good man, Lumin, and I gave him our
blessing, but I’m concerned, as your father is, about your future.”

She
peeked
a look at Tony, and he
winked at her. His tanned skin accentuated his hazel eyes and she had begun to
learn to read them, but the easiest to see was how much he loved her. Doubt had
nowhere to settle in her thoughts. She reached out a hand and Tony pulled her
to her feet. “My future isn’t set in stone, but I know it’s with Tony.”

Tony’s cheek brushed against hers, and he whispered. “I love
you, my lady.”

“Lumin’s parents will arrange to return in seven months for
the wedding,” Moira said, pushing herself to her feet and giving her husband a
sign they should give Lumin some space.

Lumin sighed. “I wish you didn’t have to do this last
deployment,” she said.

“I offered him a job any time he wants one,” Steven said, as
his youngsters tackled him from behind. A huge laugh broke from the man, and he
swept one under each arm and stood up.

“Maybe you should consider it, Tony?” Moira suggested.

“Thank you,” Tony said as he wrapped his arms around Lumin,
“But I’m not leaving the Navy. I have a position in the training department
waiting for me, and I’m going to finish this part of my combat service as
promised.” He tilted his head and his gaze fluttered across her face. “I’m
coming home, Lumin. I promise that too.”

Moira and Steven took their little ones down to the water to
give them some privacy and Tony urged her to sit down in the sand beside him.
“You okay?” he asked with concern.

She held her hair out of her face and smiled at him. “I’ve
never seen such a big family,” she remarked, looking at all the people
scattered about them.

He nodded. “I guess we are a family,” he said, gazing over
the hundreds of people on the beach and in the water.

“How is Marg?”

Tony turned and put a finger to her chin, raising it so
she’d look at him. “Kayla and the Admiral are with her and she has all of us.”
He pulled a strand from her mouth. “You have them too. If anything ever happens
to me, they’ll stand beside you.”

She flung her arms around Tony’s neck and squeezed him tight.
“I’m scared.”

“I know you are, but I’m coming home, Lumin. Nothing will
stop me from coming home to you.”

He kissed her sweetly, and she burned the moment into her
mind. Tomorrow he would be gone, and she would remind herself every time fear
threatened her that the grace of God would protect him. Tony was strong. Smart
and courageous enough, he would look death in the eye and order it to go
elsewhere. He told her every day, she was his center. Her light would always
show him the way home—and she believed him.

*The End*