Raising a Cowgirl (2 page)

History Repeats Itself

"I've reali
z
ed something today. No matter how hard you try to plan your life, life has a plan
for you all its own."

N
ikhil Saluja

Ted “
Raider
” Farat looked up at the sky and smiled
.
His
wife
had just told him she was pregnant before he
came
on this mission. It sucked but it was
the
military life, one he was prou
d to be a part of
.
Ted made the decision to join the military because his family came from a long line
of military men and women. He was the only one left now, he knew if his father
could
see him now, he would be proud of the fact he was part of the Navy SEAL
s
. Team TEN consisted of an amazing group of men, ones he thought of as family.

His wife, Marie
,
came into his life when he least expected it. To say he swept her off her feet was
an understatement. Both were children of fallen military fathers, and mothers who
had raised them, and subsequently passed away, leaving them alone. Marie worked on
base in Coronado, CA
,
as an administrator for the Commander. One look was all it took, Ted was gone when
she turned and smiled at him in greeting the day he walked into her office, looking
for his boss.

Three years later, blissfully happy
,
and more than ready to start their family they had spoken about getting pregnant
next year. Apparently, they only had to talk about it, because before Marie could
stop her birth control, she found
out
she was pregnant, thanks to a sinus infection she had a few months ago.

He was waiting for his team to join him in the Com’s Center and had slipped out in
order to text his wife and grab a much-needed cup of coffee. If the briefing he put
together was correct
,
they would be leaving the country.
He would certainly miss his
Venti Carmel
Frappe
he got every morning on his way into work. With one last look at the bright sun,
he walked into the meeting room once again.

The bunker was huge, helicopters, Hummers, weapons, and more were scattered across
their Team Headquarters. In the corner was where they met to get
briefings
and more. Today, they were going to be given an assignment to find and capture
,
by any means necessary
,
a terrorist. Raider was the Com’s Specialist/Intel Officer. His job was Logistics
of missions. Today he was responsible for the briefing since he found the terrorist
in Istanbul, Turkey
,
late last night by tracking a cellular phone he tapped into.

As he
walked
to the
corner
,
he was thinking and didn’t notice what was taped all over the board he was going
to be using.
When
he approached Ted’s eyes narrowed,
Fuckin
'
A
, taped over the dry erase board was about a hundred open condoms hanging across the
board.

“I thought you were old enough to know what happens when the sperm
and egg do
the nasty
,
”
“Master Chief” Gage Loman said as
he
and the others stepped in the briefing area grinning.
Gage was the team manwhore
. L
ast week they had to rescue him from the backyard of a rather irate barfly
,
who assumed
, M
aster
C
hief
,
was going to profess his undying affection for her, and when he didn’t
—
she used a
box cutter on his clothes
,
then proceeded to chase the naked leader around the backyard with a cattle prod.
No one knew where the hell he found these women.

“Shit, who did she call?” Ted groaned. Marie had not told anyone until she told him
so this morning she had called a girlfriend since he was the only married member of
the team
.

Jessie “Ice” James
,
the other COM specialist laughed, “Blake.”

Jessie’s mother loved old movies and named him after the legend Jessie James, but
he earned his nickname
,
Ice
,
for being cool under pressure. They all thought he looked like the famous cowboy,
he had the rounder face, and brown hair that he slicked back, his dark brown eyes
were compared to chocolate by women, and he was soft spoken, and more often than not,
a chick magnet like
Master Chief
. Blake was his sister, and Marie’s closest friend.

“Hens on the line
,
” Lobo called out with his hands cupped around his mouth, he was the comedian of the
group. He earned his nickname by howling after every mission
.
Lobo sported almost white hair and gray eyes and looked a little like the dude from
the show on cable about sexy hot vampires. He was reed thin, and hid his muscles
well. “The
phone
lines will be on fire for the rest of the day. Hell, we should call the Commander
and let him know the cell
towers
will be overloaded.”

Raider rolled his eyes and waved to the board. “Who is cleaning up this shit, I have
to get the briefing started
,
assholes. Pull them down.”

“Oh hell no
,
man
.
I don’t touch limp
plastic
like that, it could be cursed, and my dick is sensitive.” Mason “Voodoo” Patrick
was from Louisiana, and carried a small voodoo doll in his waistband. No one messed
with his superstition. His mother gave him the doll before he came into the military,
telling him she placed a spell of protection on it. The damn thing went everywhere
with him, and no one said a word—the man was huge. His long jet-black hair and blue
eyes added to his mystery. More than one woman had been drawn to the mysterious look
he had going on. Men
though,
seemed to give him a wide berth when they were in public because of his size.

“Man
,
you heard him, they could be cursed.” John “Dagwood” Marse opened the refrigerator
and pulled out a huge sub sandwich, they always had one on hand for him, and he didn't
share—it was the only thing he ate. Dagwood was so thin and wiry though, no one would
guess he ate the huge sandwiches every day. His dark brown hair and pale blue eyes
reminded them all of the cartoon, he just refused to wear the same high-water pants,
though much to their chagrin.

“Really, you bastards put them up there
,
” Raider grumbled and pulled a
long metal pointer out and begu
n brushing the condoms off on the floor. “There had better not be any used ones on
here, or I am gonna kick
someone’s
ass.”

“Congratulations
,
Raider,”
t
he team leader Lt Thane “LC” Crete said as he walked into the room with his normal
pad of paper and pen in his hand. He was the serious type. His brown hair matched
the goatee he sported along with what most would call silver-gray eyes, which seemed
to pierce through you when he stared. He was intense
.
LC didn’t have much of a sense of humor, when the guys played jokes like this
;
someone
usually
was threatened bodily harm for not
being
serious.

“I am not sure
,
LC, if it is a boy we can recruit him, but a girl
—
not something I would wish on any of us. Man, the guys who come knocking on the door
would
meet twelve badass SEAL
s
cleaning their weapons.” Brian “Frogman” Lipit was called Frogman because the man
could swim like a fucking fish and he could jump out of the water and land on his
feet, ready for action. He was the QRF, his mind worked a little differently than
most, when they were doing Recon, he could tell you who and what was needed to take
the target
out
with one look. They would plan their strategy around it.
He was t
he stand out in the group
with his
copper hair and green eyes, which worked if they were in Ireland, but here he stood
out like a sore thumb, his hair was bleach blonde and cut short, he also sported some
glasses. Giving him the effect of looking intelligent.

“Fuck you
,
Frog,” Raider muttered and swept the last of the
prophylactics
on the
ground
and kicked them to the side.

“Hell no, don’t
say that, it’s
Frog’s fertile time. We could have female hormones flying all around.” Mark “Emo”
Plater the other Intel officer laughed.
He got his name Emo, because one night when they were drinking, the man started crying
in his beer about a chick. After that, they teased him about being all touchy-feely.
The guy was like a big ass teddy bear, but deadly at the same time. His brown hair
hung around his ears and was curly, the hazel eyes made him almost forgettable, he
blended in well anywhere they went.

Sam “Clipper” Roge groaned
,
“TMI
,
man, there is way
too
much information shared at these meetings
.
”
His call sign came from their first day of training. Clipper walked into the
b
arbershop
with long hair, and came out bald—holding his golden locks. The men laughed and
told him to suck it up, and gave him the call sign Clipper. His bright green eyes
were warm and inviting and attracted the younger crowd.

“Deal with it, we are all on the same cycle now, I should be getting mine soon. I
feel the cramps coming.
”
Frank “Wolfman” Smithe laughed
.
Frank was called Wolfman because he had the most hellaciously hairy back. His non-regulation
longer dark hair and green eyes was a serious draw to most women. Some would call
him ruggedly handsome, but his teammates called him obnoxious.

“Enough, we need the briefing
,
” LC said and sat down. The others moaned and groaned but began to
take their seats
.

Raider finished and pulled out a marker and said
,
“Javor Dragomir is a known arms dealer who we
've
been chasing for a long time. His is currently providing weapons to a certain Middle
Eastern country
that
we would prefer not have them.”

LC nodded and piped up
,
“H
e
is elusive and smart. I have sat in on three briefing
s
in the last few years, each time they had credible chatter about his whereabouts.
None of them panned out. Until now, we have never even heard the man speak.”

“I was monitoring sites and heard this
,
” Raider said and pushed his computer buttons
,
playing a recording.
The voice that came over the speakers was deep and raspy, a Middle Eastern Dialect
,
and
he was
arranging a drop
-
of
f
destination for
his current shipment.

“He is holed up in a villa in
Istanbul
. We leave in
thirty
. W
e need to be in
country
ASAP before he jets. We will continue the briefing in transport
,
” Raider said
as
he threw the marker and grabbed his computer and bag and walked toward the hanger
door. Outside was their transp
ort, a C130
.
He texted Marie a smiley face
, then
boarded the plane. He needed to be prepared for the major
briefing
.

“I love it when we are going in BLIND
,
”
M
aster Chief
laughed from his spot where he was watching the villa their
t
arget was supposed to be at
currently
.

Since they arrived it had been waiting and watching. The villa showed little movement,
but there was some. Clipper had
spotted
their
t
arget yesterday in a window
, which
confirmed the
y
had the right place. The only picture they had of the man had been altered so they
could see what he would look like if he had gain
ed
or lost weight, changed hair color, facial hair, and much more.
The
picture of the man as
blonde
haired
with
bulky mass
was what
ID him.

Now they were
waiting
for the drop
-
off
,
which was set to go
down
tonight. They hoped to grab the man, and the shipment all in one. So far, they
had not found the shipment or where it was stored.

“Shit, BUZZER!” Raider said quietly over the link. Their COM link
s were
placed in
their
ear, and they only had to whisper to notify members of their intentions.