Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (3 page)

THE DAY AFTER HER GRANDMOTHER TOLD HER
that Nick Kelly was coming home, Hanna went for a long early morning ride on
her bike.

It was a beautiful day. In this tucked
away corner of the Pacific Northwest, the forest met the ocean, with sandy
beaches covered in long wind-swept grasses curling close to the water’s edge. From
the road, Hanna could see the rise of the mountains, lifting the land to
gorgeous heights just a few miles east and south, forming the interior of the
Olympic Peninsula.

The whole region was a great place to
enjoy the outdoors. It was a paradise for hikers, campers, and bikers, not to
mention boaters, fishermen, and divers. Hanna was an outdoor person. She loved
doing all those things. But she loved sailing the most. Today, though, she
needed to think, and sailing required too much attention to task.

The past month had been a living
nightmare. She felt like she was floundering in a turbulent sea of grief and
helpless frustration. Her work schedule had been terrible. Other than a quick
dive where Lance had disappeared, she’d had no time to investigate his
disappearance or her brother’s murder. There were virtually no clues anywhere.

The only thing similar about the two
incidents was that they had both occurred in Discovery Bay, and the sheriff and
the police chief were calling both water accidents. They still refused to
entertain any other possibility. A few of Dylan’s friends in the sheriff’s
department were quietly looking into the matter, but they hadn’t uncovered
anything yet.

Guilt hung over Hanna like a
persistent storm cloud. She blamed herself every day for letting Lance dive
alone. When he dove in deeper waters, he never dove alone. All of them knew
better than to do that. But less than a mile out, it really should have been
safe.

His poor mother was frantic with
worry. His son was agitated and anxious, even at school. And Hanna’s
grandmother and sister-in-law had an extra burden to carry. It had been a
horrendous time for both the families!

Then three nights ago, she’d nearly
been run off the road on her way home from work. Only quick thinking and quicker
maneuvering had kept her from crashing through the guardrail and plummeting off
the bluff into the ocean below. The very next night, on the way home from the
hospital, she’d had a flat tire. She’d just bought four new ones, too. It had
been late and dark, and she had been on the same road again, at almost the same
spot as the night before. The stranger who had stopped to help her on the
isolated stretch of road that wound around McHenry Point had been much more
frightening than the blowout. Luckily. a co-worker had come along not long
afterwards.

Since then, she could have sworn that she
had been followed home from work each night. Since he grandmother’s house sat
at the end of McHenry Point Road, it was pretty easy to spot unusual traffic.
Not many people used the road; only those who lived along it or those who were
sightseeing. However, who went sightseeing at midnight? She wasn’t a woman
given to a fearful imagination, but she’d been spooked the last few nights. She
couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

She’d been checking over her shoulder
since she’d left the house this morning. It was too early for there to be much
traffic on the coastal highway. So far, she had not noticed anyone trailing
behind her today.

She’d pedaled about half way around
the ten-mile circular bike path when she found her thoughts turning to Nick
Kelly. On duty in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, he was in command of
several special-operation teams. What exactly he and his fireteams were up to
was classified, of course.

He had risen to the rank of Major in the
United States Marine Corps and was involved in some very secretive, dangerous missions.
He’d been a Force Recon Marine for most of his career. Several years ago, he’d
been incorporated into the newly created special operations component of the
Corps called MARSOC.

Ever since she had known him, Nick had
wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Nick Kelly Sr. had died in Vietnam
saving his Marine recon unit and a Navy SEAL team from a North Vietnamese Army
ambush. Posthumously, he had been awarded the Medal of Honor. Jessie and her
two young sons had gone to the ceremony in Washington D.C to receive Nick Sr.’s
medal from the President. Then they had buried him at Arlington Cemetery.

Nick had been old enough to remember
his father well, and to understand the extent of his heroic self-sacrifice. He
had told Hanna once how deeply his father’s death had affected him. After
Jessie had married Sean Price, who’d been a close friend and a member of Nick Sr.’s
squadron, the boys heard even more tales about their father’s bravery and
conduct as a Recon Marine.

Nick had done an admirable job
following his father’s example, and he now had put enough years in the Corps to
retire, but Hanna knew he wouldn’t. With his new promotion to Lieutenant
Colonel, he would no doubt remain a Marine for years to come. And why not? He
was only thirty-eight. With his connections and outstanding service record, it
seemed highly likely that he’d make general someday.

Hanna was as proud of him as his
brother and mother were. Everyone who knew him was proud of the service he had
given his country. But deep in her selfish heart, she had secretly hoped he
might retire and come home to help his brother run the family boat and salvage
business. There had been years and years of letters and brief visits home, but
nothing to satisfy her longing for more.

Once Hanna reached the southern tip of
her route, she stopped at a roadside picnic area. Setting her bike against a
tree, she chained it, then grabbed her knapsack and headed for a grassy hill.
On the downside, she sank onto the grass, took a long drink of water, and
pulled out an energy bar. The waves from the bay lapped against the rocks below
her with a soft clapping sound.

Tourists had started to arrive on the
peninsula, but it wasn’t over-crowded yet. There were just a few boats out on
the water; a couple of motor boats, a fishing boat, and half a dozen sailboats.
Driven by the gentle, salt-scented breeze, the sailboats glided over the azure
blue water like butterflies floating on air currents.

Hanna half wished she was out there
with them. She loved sailing. She loved the water. She often imagined she must
have been a fish in another life. The water had always beckoned her. It was
cold most of the year this far north, but in the summer, she put on her wet
suit to dive and swim from her boat.

As a child she’d learned to sail and
dive alongside her brother and the Kelly boys. Her grandfather had frequently
taken all of them out on his fishing boat. As teenagers, they had earned money
by helping him bring in the catch.

While they had learned to crew a
fishing troller from Ben McHenry, Sean Price had taught them to dive and sail.
In addition to the boat shop Jessie and Sean Price had operated, they’d
conducted underwater salvage operations. Dylan and Hanna had regularly joined
the Price family on their salvage dives in and around Puget Sound. Except for
Jessie, they were all avid divers.

Life with her maternal grandparents
had been good. Colleen and Ben McHenry lived on the west side of Quimper
Peninsula, fifteen miles or so from the little coastal community of Port George,
Washington. The original hundred acres settled by the McHenry ancestors was
situated on a headland that was landmarked with their name.

Their neighbors, the Prices, lived on
land adjacent to the McHenrys. When Sean Price had come back from Vietnam, he sought
out his commanding officer’s young wife to personally tell her about his
friend’s heroism. A year later, he and Jessie Kelly married one another, and
when he got out of the Marine Corps, he took his new family home with him to
the Pacific Northwest.

Hanna had been five when she had first
met Lance and Nick Kelly. Despite their initial reluctance to let a girl tag
along, they had eventually let Hanna join them on all of their adventures. It
had been a happy carefree childhood, full of many wonderful memories.

Born with an extremely high IQ, Hanna
had moved rapidly through school. At fifteen, she had graduated from high
school with Nick, though she was nearly four years younger than him.

High school had been difficult.
Besides the social impediment of being pathetically shy, she’d been too young,
too smart, and too geeky-looking in her thick-lensed, dark-rimmed glasses.
Trendy eyeglasses and clothes were beyond her grandparents’ financial capability.
She couldn’t compete with the popular girls in looks or social maturity. As a
result, she’d been the target of frequent, often malicious teasing.

She’d tried to avoid the kids who had bullied
her, but nothing had really worked―except Nick Kelly. He was a popular,
good-looking athlete who had excelled at several sports. Whenever he caught
someone teasing her, he put a stop to it. He’d always been her defender and her
champion. His support had made high school bearable.

Maybe if she’d gotten a few social
genes along with all her smart ones, she would have been less alone all through
school. By her senior year, she was more than ready to see high school come to
an end. She’d always known what she was going to do with her life. Her parents’
altruistic lifestyle and self-sacrifice had inspired Hanna to become a doctor.
Being inspired by the deeds of their parents was something she and Nick had in
common.

Her senior year, she applied for and
won an academic scholarship to the University of Washington, in Seattle. The
only thing she’d wanted more, at that point, was to attend her senior prom with
Nick Kelly.

It was kind of like wishing for the
moon. He was simply too popular with the girls. He’d always had lots of dates
and lots of girlfriends; one right after the other. Hanna had sadly watched the
endless parade of them. It wasn’t any surprise that he had a date for the prom
months in advance. In fact by that point, he had been exclusively dating one of
the cheerleaders. But two weeks before the end-of-school-year event, the stupid
girl broke up with him.

At barely fifteen, no one had asked
Hanna to go to her senior prom. She hadn’t expected anyone to. Who wanted to go
with an underage, brainy, tongue-tied, skinny geek? She had thought about
asking Lance, who was only a junior, but she really couldn’t generate any
interest in going and watching Nick spend all evening dancing with the most
popular girl in school.

But a week before the big event, he
had shown up on her doorstep and shocked her speechless when he’d asked her to
go to the prom with him! Dumbfounded, she’d wondered what had happened to his
date. He’d told her he and his cheerleading hottie had gotten into an argument.
The girl had cancelled their date to the prom. Secretly, Hanna thought the girl
must have had rocks for brains!

Angry over the whole arrangement for
some reason, Lance later told her that his mother had asked Nick to ask Hanna.
Luckily, the revelation had come after the big event, and while it hurt, it
didn’t diminish her memories of her big date with Nick.

To her delight, Jessie took her
shopping and bought her a beautiful full-length gown that was stylish enough to
compare favorably with all the other girls’ formal dresses. Jessie had also taken
her to get her hair trimmed and fashionably styled. Then she’d gotten her ears
pierced, something she had wanted to do forever!

By the time Nick had picked her up,
she hadn’t recognized herself in the mirror. Nick’s reaction had mirrored her
own. He’d been so stunned by her altered appearance, he’d been tongue-tied.

In the week prior, Hanna had watched
him get repeatedly teased for taking her to the prom. She’d been sure that he’d
renege, or at the very least, ditch her once he got to the dance. But he had done
neither. The entire evening, he had been completely attentive, never once
leaving her side.

He’d even refrained from complaining
when she’d stepped on his toes while dancing because she’d refused to wear her
eyeglasses. Except at very close range, she was virtually blind without the
thick lenses, but vanity had won out over common sense for that one special
night. Of course, Nick had had to lead her everywhere, but it had suited her
just fine to cling to his arm all night.

After the dance, she had expected him
to take her straight home. Instead, he’d taken her to the post prom parties
with him. Nick’s feather-brained ex-girlfriend had tried hard all night to get
his attention, but he’d never once bothered with her.

Then, miracle of miracles, at the end
of Hanna’s magical Cinderella night, he had given her her first kiss. She’d
fantasized about him being the first one to kiss her for so long that she was over
the moon when it actually happened. And oh, it had been everything she’d
dreamed of! Not a quick polite kiss, either. Even in her inexperience, she had
known immediately that it had been full of restrained passion. And she’d seen
how it had surprised him. After twenty years, that kiss was still imprinted on
her memory as if it had happened yesterday.

The summer after graduation had been a
special one. She and Nick had been particularly close for two and a half
months. It had been an unexpected moment out of time. Then they had gone their
separate ways. Nick had gone off to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland,
and she had moved into a dorm room at the University of Washington on a full
scholarship. Across the country from one another, they wrote often, and that
first year, she had helped him long distance with his academic assignments. As
a first string linebacker for Navy’s football team, he’d had trouble adjusting
to the rigorous schedule of a student athlete.