SEAL Brotherhood 06 - SEAL My Destiny (25 page)

With his head resting on his forearm, his knees splayed to the sides, he looked at her and smiled. “I was saving it for you, sweetheart.”

“Oh, yes, and I thank you.”

She was following the line from his belly button up between his nipples when a buzzing sound alerted them.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“My cell.” He leapt up, standing at the lighted window, his broad shoulders and small butt just visible to her in the bright lights of the strip.

“When?” he asked. He had gone serious.

“Roger that. We’ll be right down.”

He set the phone on the bedside table and sat back down on the bed, rubbing a palm from her jawline, down over one breast and then the other. Her nipples perked under his touch, then he palmed her sex and traveled along one thigh.

“We gotta go, sweetheart,” he said. “I’m so sorry, but we have to return to base.”

She sat up, her breasts calling to him. He squeezed them and bent down for a last-minute kiss. “I’d planned on staying in this room as long as you’d have me,” he finally said.

“I thought you didn’t deploy for a few weeks.”

“That was the plan. But we have been called to duty for something special. I can’t talk about it, but it’s special.”

“Okay.”

“And sweetheart, you can’t talk about it. Not to anyone.”

“Well, Annalise will know.”

“Not the details.”

“You haven’t told me any details, Luke.”

He smiled the warm smile she craved. “Just tell her we’ve been called back to base for a meeting.”

“When will you be back, then?”

He continued stroking and squeezing her nipple, then cupped her jaw. “Just as soon as we can. We never know.” He stood and began putting his clothes back on.

“Come on, Miss Julie. I’ve got to get you downstairs so we can check out and get ourselves over to the airport.”

“Airport?”

“We’re taking a military transport which will pick us up in less than an hour. You’ll be okay?”

She stood in her nakedness. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. He was shirtless, and she loved the feel of his powerful shoulders as he tensed, squeezing her in his delicious man-scent. He ended the hug with a brief kiss signaling they were done.

A short time later they had assembled in the hotel lobby. She and Annalise were saying goodbye while the guys loaded Luke’s dark blue Hummer and headed for the airport.

“Damn,” said Annalise. “I was in love, there, for a minute.”

“Not hard to do, Annie. Not hard to do.”

They both sighed.

They walked along the strip, back to their hotel room. Despite how Annalise tried to worm the information out of her, Julie basically told her the truth. She knew nothing more than they had to go back to San Diego for a meeting. She tried her hardest not to make it sound top-secret, but in the end she wasn’t a very good liar.

Julie hoped she’d be able to wait the day or two Luke thought they’d be separated. He promised he’d call to give her an update.

But when morning dawned and there was no text message, she began to worry. She and Annalise tried to stay busy, but Julie’s mind was not there. She wanted to go back to San Diego, in case Luke had a stolen hour or two. Being four hours away was too far. Annalise resigned herself having their girl’s weekend cut short. But Julie noticed she wasn’t too disappointed. Must have had her eye on a couple of Luke’s buddies.

‡

L
uke arranged for
a new Team 3 guy to go pick up his Hummer. Sanouk and a couple others would drive the guy up to Las Vegas, where Sanouk was interested in trying his hand at some bigger stakes. He made the new guys promise Sanouk would not be allowed to touch the Hummer, no matter what the circumstances, and no matter how much money the Thai threw at him.

Kyle and Senior Chief Powers were waiting for them at the Team Briefing Room. It was a room no one other than a Team 3 SEAL or their Senior Chiefs or Commanders could enter. Pictures of past missions, maps and memorabilia of highly classified operations were pinned to the wall. Cell phones were left outside.

Luke sat down next to Tyler, who gave him a thumbs up. Which meant their relationship had completely healed.

Powers began. “The Azim Khan Primary School in the Ghorak district of Kandahar has received night letters, recently.” Night letters were what local militia leaders were using to instill fear in the local population, as well as warn them of an impending attack. It was used mainly as a way to close schools without having to fire a shot. “As you know, after the bombing last year a number of churches pooled their resources and had the school rebuilt. It was open for about a month without incident, until now.”

Members of the Team, Kyle, Cooper, Rory, Luke, Jones, Tyler, Fredo, Armando, and three others shifted and shared glances. It had been a difficult tour, mostly because the school had been targeted, and one two of the teachers, along with several children, were killed. Both teachers were women. They weren’t allowed a public burial, their village was so afraid of Taliban retaliation.

Eventually all eyes were on Luke. He was the one who had wrapped the stump of the pretty schoolteacher who had lost a hand in the explosion. He’d wrapped it with her Hijab, having to argue with her before she’d let him use it to keep her from bleeding to death. He had saved her life.

Right after the blast, they’d been pinned down by snipers, which gave the mastermind, Mohammed Hamid, time to get away. Luke had sent three of the snipers “back to the source” as their unit was fond of saying. The one he was unable to get was taken out within seconds of his Team’s arrival.

They’d nearly caught this warlord several times, and he’d been on the high-value target and shoot to kill lists since the last rotation. But word had it he was popular with the locals, which Luke doubted.

It had weighed on Luke especially, because he’d been alone with the Marine contingent sent to protect the school. He had lost the young would-be medic to the first sniper. Luke’s kill was done with easy precision.

Seeing the carnage, trying to find survivors lying amid the school’s dead and dying children and teachers, had given him nightmares, on top of what he was already having.

Senior continued. “While it isn’t our place to second-guess the judgment of the Powers That Be to rebuild a school for girls, it is our job to protect innocent lives. We have reason to believe this warning, which is tantamount to a kill order, is also the work of Mohammed Hamid. And we have pretty good intel saying he’s staying nearby. In fact, we know which three houses he is staying in.”

The warlords and other militia leaders had a habit of moving from house to house so they usually impossible to capture. Often their own lieutenants didn’t know from one night to the next where they were staying.

“What kind of intel?” Everyone looked at Luke.

“The brother of the school teacher whose life you saved, Luke. He’s a terp for us.”

Luke nodded. But then he’d had some time to get to know the family.

“They look upon it as a debt they owe in gratitude for her life.”

I saved them once. I can do it again. I knew this could happen. That’s why I’m here.

“They have temporarily closed the school. We had originally hoped this would call off their planned attack, but apparently this is not the case. And we have reason to believe the families of several teachers and children who attended the school, are next.”

Grunts and groans were abundant. Several shook their heads and swore under their breath. It was the worst thing a SEAL could hear: innocents were being targeted, just for being innocent. It was one thing for a fighting man to die because he signed up for it. But quite another to attack the families of children who just wanted an education.

“This would be volunteer only. Out of rotation. And, sorry, there will not be anything but hazard pay bonus, nothing big. We’ll fill anybody who can’t go with others from Team 3, but you’ve been requested.” Senior Chief Powers nodded to Luke. “They trust you.”

Which meant he couldn’t say no.

There were no holdouts. Everyone was in, which Luke had expected. Luke’s previous deployments with the east coast team had taken him to that village, and when he returned with Team 3 he’d been greeted with friendship. But it quickly changed. Events moved swiftly, and a series of suicide bombings scared the entire community. The invites to homes suddenly dried up. While no one showed outright hostility to them, they didn’t show any kindness, which might be detected—and misinterpreted—by a sharp lookout or spy.

Why the school had been permitted to rebuild was a mystery to most American observers. And because things seemed calm, the team had been called elsewhere, and had left Luke in charge, with the Marines to guard, and him to run a small medical and first aid clinic, due to his medic training. Coop was the senior medic, and could not be spared on their other deployments. So Luke had been chosen to stay behind.

“Our intel says Hamid is planning to blow up the school when it is chock full of students, and he’ll wait it out until they return, which is supposed to be this week. We’ve alerted them, and they refuse to stay shut down. But they have requested our assistance, and we’ve been cleared for the mission.”

They spent the next hour going over plans Kyle and the Senior Chief had roughed out. There wasn’t anything about the mission they hadn’t done before. It was about getting in, getting their guy, and getting out without alerting any of the defending militia or local authorities. Something they’d done hundreds of times. What was different was this time, if they failed, a lot of kids and teachers were going to die.

He managed to give Julie a call just before they took off. Other team members were doing the same.

“We aren’t sure how long we’ll be gone. It could be for a few months, Julie.” He wanted to overestimate the time. He suspected it would only take a week, maybe two, but couldn’t let on about this for fear of jeopardizing the mission.

In his mind, he could see her face, and heard the slight quaver in her voice, though he could tell she was trying to be brave. He was proud of her effort.

“Will I be able to call you?”

“No.”

“Will you be able to call me?”

“I’ll try, but not promising anything. You might get a funny, scrambled-looking call you normally wouldn’t pick up. You’ll want to answer those for a while, because one of them could be me.”

She laughed.

“And if it’s not, you can have a nice conversation with a telemarketer.”

“Funny. Yours is the only voice I want to hear.”

“I got you, baby. Believe me, nothing would make me happier.”

The space was awkward. This was the first time he’d needed to say goodbye to someone he cared so much about before a deployment. Now he knew what the other guys meant. And he had new respect and admiration for them, especially the married guys with kids.

“Come home to me, Luke.”

“Roger that. Get ready, because when I come home, there’s going to be fireworks.”

“I’m counting on it.”

“Love you, sweetheart.”

“Love you too Luke. Remember, you promised.”

“Yes, I did, and my promise is my bond. Soon, Julie. And then nothing will keep us apart. Nothing.”

Half a day
later and a whole world apart they touched down at the military terminal at Kandahar. After being delivered to their base, they checked with their contacts on the ground.

Luke recognized the skinny eighteen-year-old interpreter, a good-looking kid they called Jack Daniels so they could talk to or about him without giving the bad guys a clue to his identity. Luke had met him the day he tended the kid’s sister at the school. Luke didn’t even know his real name, or his sister’s.

Today the kid looked ten years older, and yet it had only been a year. He realized what a toll the war was taking on the country’s younger people, who basically didn’t have a coming-of-age anything like the Americans did. From the time they were old enough to be useful, they spent the entirety of their time trying to survive.

Working for the American forces had been this kid’s way to put food on his parents’ table. Luke went over to tell him the Marine units and the SEAL community were committed to getting his sister a mechanical hand, and arrangements were being made “Thank you. I am glad it is you who has come, Luke.”

“How
is
your sister?”

“Grateful to be alive. But she feels worthless.”

“We’ll get her a hand. She’ll enjoy doing the things she loved to do before. You’ll see. They have amazing technology.”

“Not all. There is no need for teachers now. She is collecting firewood, helping my father with the deliveries. It is dangerous for her. But now you are here. You have been sent by the Prophet.”

“Well, I’m here, true. Ask your prophet to protect me. I have a girl at home now, okay?”

“You will be favored. You’ll see. You will be favored. For the good work you do.”

“Thank you Jackie. So tell me, is this intel coming from you?”

“Yes. I am a friend of a woman, a girl, actually, who is to be his third wife. She is barely old enough, and I do not think she can bear him children yet. She does not want to do this, but you must not tell anyone,” Jack said.