Loved by a SEAL (14 page)

“So my team will have to clear a path for Bravo unit.”

“Yes.” Jon nodded in response to Brody. “But that’s not your only purpose. We have bigger plans for you than mine sweeping. We know from satellite images the target travels in and out of the forest fairly often by truck. Your goal will be to liberate one of those trucks for our use.”

Brody laughed, since he’d liberated a truck or two during the mission to rescue Missy Greenwood from that same forest. “One of my favorite things to do.”

Jon smiled. “Yes, I remember. Once we have possession of the vehicle, we’ll move quickly into a three-pronged attack. Bravo unit will move in from the north, while at the same time Alpha unit will make their move from the south.”

Chris continued where Jon left off, “And by then the camp will be so crazy, who’s going to pay any attention to one of their own trucks driving in? That is, until Charlie unit pops out of the back and rains hellfire on them.”

Brody nodded. “So we’d be driving a Trojan Horse right into the middle of their camp.”

“Yup.” Chris looked very pleased with the plan, leading Brody to believe his brother had some hand in coming up with it.

 
Brody glanced from one man to another. “It’s crazy enough, it might just work.”

“That, my brother, was my thought exactly.” Chris grinned.

CHAPTER 15

The evening game show on television wasn’t holding Ashley’s attention. She couldn’t muster the energy to care if the family guessed the most popular answer to the survey question or not. How could she care when she was creeping up on forty-eight hours with no contact from Brody?

Yes, she’d been angry when he’d said they’d talk after she’d calmed down, or felt better, or whatever his ridiculous words had been. But that was back when she believed they actually would talk again.

Now, a full two days later, she was beginning to wonder.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out louder than she intended.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?”

“Nothing, Nana.” Ashley didn’t even have to look directly at her grandmother. In her peripheral vision Ashley saw the movement clearly as the woman’s dark brows shot high.
 

“Child, I raised you from the moment you came out of your momma. Don’t you think you can lie to me.” The tone was one Nana had used on Ashley as a child.

That only made Ashley scowl and probably look like a child as she said, “I’m not lying. There’s nothing wrong.”

At least nothing that Nana could fix. Ashley had made her bed—and laid in it with Brody—and now she’d have to deal with the aftermath.

That
she certainly couldn’t tell her God-fearing, switch-raised, Southern Baptist grandmother.

With a huff, Nana hoisted her large frame forward and snatched the remote control from the coffee table. Ashley watched as she smashed the buttons with her thumb until there was no more sound on the television. Only silent moving pictures.
 

Ashley sighed, defeated. “I’m upset that Brody said he’d call and he hasn’t.”

“Girl, he’s a little busy, don’t you think?” Nana asked.

“But it’s like his job is always more important than his family and his friends.”

“Maybe it is.”

“To him, maybe, in his own self-centered little world.”

“It’s more than just
to him
.” With the remote still clutched in her hand, Nana tipped her chin toward the television while at the same time pushing the button on the remote to change the channel. When a news station showed on screen, she slowly raised the volume.
 

The announcer’s voice rose until Ashley could hear it clearly as it accompanied horrifying images. Bodies of Syrian refugees—some of them young children—washing up on the public beaches in Turkey. People who had risked and lost their lives to flee the horrendous conditions in their own country.

The story ended and the images changed, switching to Nigeria. There the newly elected president was promising he’d work to defeat the Islamic militant organization who’d kidnapped all those schoolgirls over a year ago. He vowed to do so by the time he took office at the end of the month, a promise the expert interviewed next declared completely unrealistic.

The images switched one more time to a reporter in the United States speaking about an American arrested after a failed bomb attack. One he’d planned after pledging loyalty to ISIS on Facebook.

Throughout the news broadcast, which delivered all the horrors happening in the world into their living room with succinct rapid-fire precision, Ashley didn’t know what to say.

Nana was silent as well, but it was clear she was waiting for Ashley to acknowledge the point—that Brody’s job was important.

He was responsible to more people than just her and his family. He had to worry about life and death worldwide, not just that his old girlfriend—and current hook-up—was waiting for his call so she could cry some more over him leaving.

She drew in a breath. “Okay, Nana. I get it. You can change the channel now.”

“In a minute.” Her eyes stayed glued to the screen as she shook her head and let out a small tsk-tsk sound over the last story about the homegrown terrorist.

Ashley didn’t understand it either but she wasn’t as surprised as Nana. After working in the hospital ER, Ashley had witnessed all sorts of crazy.
 

Nana didn’t make a move for the remote control again through the next commercial break and Ashley feared she’d be subjected to cable news for the rest of the night.

Over the depressing news being reported, she’d take watching a silly game show any day.

Finally the coverage moved on to the current presidential election. One look at Donald Trump on the screen had Nana scowling and fumbling to change the channel.

Ashley smiled at the speed with which Nana had changed her mind about what they’d been watching. She knew if Obama had come on screen instead, they’d have been glued to the station for the duration.

She realized she did feel better. It hadn’t been a soul bearing confession to Nana, but just talking about Brody with her grandmother had helped her reason away the anger.

Nana had lived a long hard life. She’d seen a lot of things. Overcome more than any woman should have to, from losing her husband young to having to raise Ashley when her flighty daughter had taken off and left her with her unplanned granddaughter. Through it all, she’d come out the other side.

If Ashley had the nerve to confess all that had happened with Brody, she was sure Nana would have a world of wisdom.

She weighed the ramifications versus the benefits of talking openly with her grandmother. Good girls didn’t do what she’d done with Brody unless they were married. Not as teenagers and, adult or not, not even in their late twenties.

Surely Ashley was too old now for Nana to take a switch to her bare bottom, right?

Glancing at the woman, still big and strong at near eighty, Ashley decided she wasn’t willing to test the theory and find out.

She’d reconcile herself to Brody’s life and career on her own and when he called—God, how she hoped he called—she’d tell him she understood how important it was. Then, together, maybe they could figure out how to make it work.

Whatever
it
was. Maybe if she knew
that
—what they were to each other—she’d know how to deal with it.

They definitely should have spent more time talking and less time doing what they’d done.

Maybe she deserved that beating after all.

CHAPTER 16

“Questions?” The team CO asked while glancing around the meeting room.

Rocky raised his hand. “So we’re telling the joint forces’ troops we’re on a training exercise?”

“Yup.” The CO glanced at Grant, who nodded in agreement.

“But in reality we’re inserting into the forest just a couple of klicks from where we think the target’s leaders are holed up?” Rocky followed up on his first question.

“That about covers it.” Zane, standing next to Grant for this meeting, nodded.
 

Brody was happy to see Zane was finally off the phone with the senator so he could attend this meeting.

“That’s nuts.” Dawson, one of the newer guys on the team, shook his head.

Chris blew out a breath. “I’ll tell you what’s nuts. It’s that the Nigerians announced their last attempt against Boko Haram ten days in advance, which gave the target plenty of time to move their leaders out.”

Rocky’s eyes popped wide. “Holy shit. So when you gonna tell them the truth?”

“When we get where we’re going. Maybe.” Jon shrugged.

Next to Rocky, Thom shook his head. “It’s bad enough we have to fight the bad guys. Now we have to deceive the good guys too.”

“But are they going to believe what we tell them?” Rocky glanced back to Grant as he asked the question.

Grant answered, “Sure. Because we’ve convinced them we believe their theory that taking Boko Haram in the forest is too difficult. We’re letting the local forces continue their operation to retake control of the towns previously lost, one at a time.”

Jon nodded. “Boko Haram abandoned Gwoza and a couple of other small villages rather than fight, but the reality is until we defeat them they’ll just move right back in again after the ground forces leave.”

Zane took over explaining the situation. “The target’s changed goals and tactics. It seems they’ve abandoned the hope of controlling the region and running their own state. They’re being forced underground but they’re not gone. They’ll be using guerilla tactics. I think we can expect small, more frequent, targeted attacks. But not all of the attacks will be smaller. They’ve lost ground but they’re more closely allied with ISIS. I think their main goal will be to prove to the world they’re still valid with a large show of force.”

In a tag team exchange, Grant nodded and continued where Zane had left off. “Boko Haram has proven over and over that they can adapt and overcome, and fast. Being quick to change tactics and direction to elude us is what makes them hard to defeat. With funding and support from ISIS, they’ll be able to set up in neighboring countries. We want to get them now while they’re mainly contained in the forest. Our goal for this mission is to capture and kill the group’s leader, Shekau. It will take more to completely defeat them, but this will be a damn good start.”

“You have a preference on that? Capture or kill?” Brody asked.

The team CO laughed. “You get as far as even laying eyes on Shekau and I’ll owe you all a beer. I’ll take him any way I can get him. Dead or alive. Use your judgment.”

That’s the way Brody liked it.

Grant glanced around the room. “We start moving Alpha unit out immediately. Bravo and Charlie will follow tomorrow in the helos just before sunrise. We want the cover of darkness but not to make them suspicious we’re planning a full out assault.”

Which was exactly what they were doing.

“I suggest everyone get some sleep now while you can,” the CO added.

He was right. Once they hit the ground tomorrow, Brody’s team would have to move by foot through not only dense, but possibly booby-trapped and mined forest.

Likely they’d have to cool their heels waiting until a truck left camp, in which case they could take turns resting once they were set up.