Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14) (6 page)

Pulling the activation handle on his pullout pilot
chute to deploy the parachute, Joshua coasted in the air for forty seconds
before he made a running landing onto the grassy ground below. 

Team Fourteen had spent the earlier part of the
day running through demolition exercises and hostage rescue courses.  The Team
had been in Germany for four weeks since their rescue of former Congressman
Richard Henning.  Per their usual practices, they would maintain a continual
schedule of practicing both plane jumps and rescue tactics until their CO gave
them the order to move out.  They started every day out with a run and they
ended the day in the same way.  In addition, throughout the day they did
various weight-training exercises.

“Pope!”

Joshua looked up from unhooking the parachute from
its harness, to see Luke heading toward him at a fast clip.  Luke broke away
from the rest of the soldiers who had already finished their jumps and were
patiently waiting by their vehicles.  Per usual, Luke’s unruly hair was
standing on ends as if he had had an electrostatic shock.  Someone should
really bless him with the gift of a hair comb.   

 “Hey man, what’s up?” Joshua asked.  Joshua and
his team had had an extremely long day of carrying out hostage rescue and
demolition exercises.  Joshua wanted to do nothing more than to go home and
crash—hop into a nice cold shower and hit the sheets for ten straight hours. 
However, they were in Germany, which was a real treat considering that many of
their assignments were to exotic desert locales ending in “Stan.”  Most of the
guys wanted to hit the town hard tonight. 

Luke liked to party with the best of them, and
that gleam in his eye told Joshua that he was going to see if Joshua wanted to
go out with the crew. 

“We were all talking while you were up, and we
think that we’re going to head over to O’Malley’s later.”

O’Malley’s was, ironically, a local Irish pub. 
The team had been there on several occasions since their deviation in Germany. 
It was located less than five miles from their housing at the Ramstein Air
Base. 

“Sure, man.  I’m game,” Joshua replied, mentally
kicking himself as he did so.  They were all going to pay for it tomorrow. 
They were scheduled for an early morning jump exercise.  Joshua turned his head
toward the parked jeeps, and saw his best friend standing in the middle of the
group of the soldiers.  Will’s hands were gesticulating wildly.  No doubt, he
was telling one of his epic stories.  Will always had a way of drawing in the
people that were around him.  Where Joshua was more of a listener than a
talker, Will typically was much more garrulous.

 Finishing his story, Will walked over to where
Joshua and Luke were standing. 

“Yo!  You all ready see what fine ladies are out
this Saturday night, here in this wonderful hinterland?” Will yelled. 

This part of Germany wasn’t exactly the
backcountry, but it wasn’t exactly New York City either.  Will had grown up in
Texas (he even had the cowboy boots and line dancing skills to prove it), so he
wasn’t exactly a stranger to rural-living.  However, after almost a decade of
living in sunny Southern California he preferred big cities to small towns.

“Yeah.  You can count me in,” Joshua said with as
much enthusiasm as he could muster.  To tell the truth, Joshua wasn’t all that
up to drinking and carousing around tonight.  Tonight, was the first year since
he and Victoria Sanchez had officially called it quits.  He shouldn’t have even
been thinking about her.  He sure as hell didn’t have a reason to.  He hadn’t
spoken to her since she’d burned half his wardrobe—she did at least spare his
military uniforms. 

“Excellent.  By the way, what’s the problem with
your doctor friend?”  Will asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been running into her almost every day now
for the past couple of weeks.  You know that jogging route by our housing
complex that goes by the hospital and ends up at the river?” Will paused just
long enough to register Joshua’s nod in the affirmative.  “Well, I’ve been running
that route in the morning.  You know, I always run a few miles when I wake up. 
Well, apparently
Doctor
Lewis also runs that route.  A few times now
she’s almost run smack dab into me, and I swear that chick hasn’t even said as
much as a hello or a get the hell out of my way.  Wait, I take that back.  She
did flip me off onetime, but I do admit I definitely deserved it.”

The very fact that Will was even asking about
Olivia was telling.  “Yeah man.  That sounds like Olivia.  She can take a while
to warm up to people.”

“Yeah, well Miss.
Priss
seems pretty ice
cold.”

Josh laughed at his friend’s exasperation.  He had
an idea about how to make this evening out on the town a little more
interesting.  He picked up his phone and dialed.

****

Olivia Lewis was in a dark mood.  She hardly ever
drank, but here she was, well on her way to tipsy in a dim, rinky dinky little
pub in Germany.

At first, she’d tried to back out of hanging out
with Josh and his military friends.  It really wasn’t her scene, but he’d
insisted and after two weeks of cajoling, and a text that she received from him
tonight begging her to come out, she’d relented.

She decided to let her hair down for the occasion,
after the day she’d had, she’d needed to unwind.  First, her twin sister,
Sienna, had emailed her to ask for a loan to bail her ne’er do well fiancée,
Frank, out of jail.  Sienna and she had always bumped heads together, even when
they were younger. 

Though they’d both had a history of having poor
choices in men, Sienna hadn’t learned from her past mistakes, and was stuck in
a train wreck of a relationship.  As the older sibling, by a whole two minutes,
Olivia felt that she was her sister’s keeper.  Therefore, she usually ended up
acquiescing to Sienna’s requests. 

Second, she’d had an unbelievably busy day in the
operating room.  As much as she loved operating and “cut, close, suture” was
very much her creed, thirty-six hours straight in the Emergency Department
would exhaust anyone.  Why she decided to come out after only seven hours of
sleep, she had no idea—well maybe she did.  Two words: Will Castle.

Her attitude soured even further when she looked
over at Will Castle.  She watched him grind on the bevy of nurses from the
medical center that had inexplicably gravitated toward him, and were now
eagerly waiting in turn to snag a dance with him.  It was nausea inducing.

But seriously, why did she care?  She hardly knew
the man and he was clearly an egotistical prick.  So what if he had dimples and
eyelashes to die for?  Or incredible pectoral muscles?  Or a ridiculously tight
butt?  She’d met his type a million times before and so she shouldn’t have been
impressed.  But she was.

Since first meeting him, she’d literally run into
him a half a dozen times.  She had tried her best to ignore him on these
occasions.  She was a runner and so was he.  Not that she was a very good
runner, of course.  She was a physician though, and she knew that exercise
would help to keep her out of an early grave.  So she ran a few miles every
week, even though she didn’t have the form of a marathon runner. 

Will Castle, on the other hand, was 100% pure
ripped muscle and toned athleticism.  He could run rings around her.  He had
tried to get her attention and yelled “Yo Doc!” too many times to count when he
saw her.  She would never tell him this of course, but she had almost tripped
over her own tongue when she saw him running shirtless on an
uncharacteristically warm day.  Really, it just wasn’t fair.  The muscles on
that man should have been outlawed.  He also had a tattoo sleeve on his left
arm.  She had only seen it that one time because he usually wore long shirts,
but Olivia had a real thing for men with tattoos.

She’d dated a man like Will for a year in
college—well at least Greg had been devastatingly handsome like Will. 
Unfortunately, Greg had also had the disgusting habit of belittling her.  She
was never quite able to be perfect enough for him.  He was her first “love” and
it had been hard for her to let him go.  However, eventually she had. 

So far, she’d only allowed Will to crawl under her
skin on one occasion.  He had definitely pissed her off with his insult, but she
was even more disappointed that she’d lost her decorum and professionalism
around him.  She was still medical officer and an active Second Lieutenant in
the U.S. Air Force.  Therefore, she should have just let his statements roll
right off her without a passing thought. 

Pulling herself away from her annoying thoughts,
she got up from her seat at the bar beside Josh and she walked over to the
deejay table.  The deejay had stopped the music for a moment to turn over the
set.  The deejay was a tall, thin woman who appeared to be in her early
twenties. 

She was seated on a small bench behind the deejay
stand, flipping through CDs.  Her name was “Gigi” if the name scrawled in
different brightly colored pen marks on her shoulder bag was accurate.

“Hey, do you mind if I play the piano?” Olivia
leaned down and asked.

“What?” Gigi asked her in a thick German accent. 
Well, since they were actually in Germany, it would be more correct to say that
Olivia was the one that had the accent.  Gigi had an assortment of piercings on
her face and arms, and her hair was dyed an interesting shade of purple. 

“I noticed the piano in the corner.  I would like
to play while you turn over the set, if you don’t mind?”

Gigi looked up at Olivia as if she had just
sprouted two heads, before replying, “Sure.  I was about to take a five minute
break anyway.  Knock yourself out.  But if the crowd rebels, that’s on you.”

Olivia walked over and sat down at the piano that
was standing in a corner of the bar—a gem hiding in plain sight.  The keys were
dusty from non-use.  She ran her hand lightly over the keys.  She could imagine
that sometime in the not so distant past, bar patrons had circled around this
very piano and listened to piano players of varying skill levels entertain
them. 

She turned on an overhead light so that she could
see the sheet music.  Amazingly, there were classical pieces among the
compositions. 

Olivia had been playing the piano since she was
five years old.  Her mother had been a classical musician and had taught both
of her daughters how to play the piano and sing.  Sienna had gravitated toward
singing, and she really had a very powerful, soulful voice.  Olivia’s love had
been the piano.  Learning how to play the piano had probably been one of the
best gifts that her mother had ever given to her. 

From the very first moment that Olivia’s fingers
touched the keys to play her very first song, she had been hooked.  She had had
an undeniable talent for hearing and
feeling
the music.  It was hard to
explain to non-musicians how it was possible to “feel” the music.  To
understand how the notes fit together in your head as you played. 

For years, she had practiced for at least three
hours each day.  Eventually, she could play dozens of pieces by heart.  She had
even started to create original compositions herself.  However, after her
mother abandoned the family when Olivia was just ten years old, she had lost
part of the passion that she once had for the instrument.  Really, it had just
hurt her too much to continue to play.

 Their mother’s desertion had been an unbelievable
blow to both her and Sienna—not to mention to the father that they both
adored.  Olivia’s father had expectantly waited for the return of Olivia’s
mother for years, as if she was just a lost lamb who would eventually find her
way back to flock. 

After the passing of too many years, however, he
had mourned for her as if she had died.  And in a way, she had.  It had been
painful to watch.  It
still
was painful to watch.   

Flipping over the sheet music, Olivia’s slender
fingers paused over the keys . . . and then she began to play.  She let herself
get lost in the moment, completely and truly lost in the moment.  All she cared
about was the music.  The beauty of the notes sounding out in perfect harmony. 
She loved all of Beethoven’s compositions, but his Sonata Pathetique was one of
her favorites.  This time it was effortless; playing the piano always used to
be so delightfully easy for her.  And she missed it. 

****

Will looked up from the stacked brunette he was
cozying up with just in time to see Olivia Lewis walking over to the young,
purple-haired deejay. 

Damn
, Olivia was a gorgeous woman.  Her
caramel colored skin was flawless, and her incredible blue eyes were entrancing. 
Her long, light brown hair fell in waves down to her waist.  She had a small mole
right above her top lip that was a lot sexier than it should have been.  He
couldn’t help but notice her ass, which was so tight he could probably eat a
meal off of it—and
would
if he ever got the chance. 

Tonight, she was wearing a black
spaghetti-strapped tank top and blue Levis and stilettos.  On any other woman,
the outfit wouldn’t have stood out in any remarkable way.  On Olivia, however,
she looked like she was about to walk down the runway. 

He watched her as the music changed over with an
abrupt scratching sound, and Olivia sat down at an old piano that was in the
corner of the room.  Now
this
was an interesting turn of events.  Will
watched Olivia turn the sheet music over until she found the piece that she was
looking for.  Her long, slender fingers poised for a pregnant moment over the
keys. 

Will excused himself from the brunette that he’d
been dancing with (which may or may not have been his attempt to make Olivia
jealous) and walked over to the bar where his friends were ordering up some
more shots.  His eyes never left Olivia as she played what had to have been a
perfect rendition of a classical piece.