Love makes way, p.1
Love Makes Way, page 1
“Hallee writes with such authentic detail that I felt the sweat drip off my brow, heard the buzz of the African jungle, and ran for dear life with Cynthia and Rick. A rich story of courage and seeing the world with new eyes. Riveting, this book will get under your skin and into your heart. Absolutely fantastic.”
Susan May Warren, USA Today bestselling author, on Honor Bound
“Hallee Bridgeman weaves a military suspense with romance for a fast-paced adventure. Word of Honor kept me turning pages all night long.”
DiAnn Mills, author of Concrete Evidence, on Word of Honor
“What a fabulous story with perfectly crafted characters who grab your heart from the opening page. I loved everything about it—from the witty dialogue to the breath-stopping suspense to the tender romance. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next one.”
Lynette Eason, award-winning, bestselling author of the Extreme Measures series, on Honor Bound
“This book has something for everyone—action, adventure, romance, and true-to-life sadness and grief. Hallee crafts a complex story infused with spiritual truth, wrapped around intriguing lead characters with complicated personalities and backgrounds. Phil and Melissa will have you rooting for them the whole way through.”
Janice Cantore, retired police officer and author of Breach of Honor, on Honor’s Refuge
Prequel novella
Love in Any Language
Novels by Revell
Honor Bound
Word of Honor
Honor’s Refuge
More Love & Honor
Love Makes Way
The Seven Year Glitch
Chasing Pearl
Learn more online:
www.halleebridgeman.com/series/love-and-honor-series/
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Published By
Copyright Notice
Love Makes Way
A Love and Honor Series Novel
© 2025 by Hallee Bridgeman
Published by Olivia Kimbrell Press™
P.O. Box 4452, Winchester, KY 40392-4452
www.oliviakimbrellpress.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bridgeman, Hallee, author.
Title: Love Makes Way / Hallee Bridgeman
Description: digital eBook edition | Print on Demand edition | Trade paperback edition | Hardcover Case Laminate edition | Kentucky: Olivia Kimbrell Press™, 2025.
Summary: On a sun-drenched cruise, Jerry offers Olive a ring and a future—until smuggling plots and brutal siege cast long shadows over their forever.
Identifiers: ISBN-13: 978-1-68190-252-4 (ebk.) | 978-1-68190-293-7 (POD) | 978-1-68190-290-6 (trade) | 978-1-68190-292-0 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Special forces (Military science)—Fiction. | Rescues—Fiction. | Sea warfare —Caribbean—Fiction. | LCGFT: Thrillers (Fiction) | Romance fiction. | Christian fiction.
Scripture quotations, whether quoted or paraphrased by the characters, are from either the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, or from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® All quotations are used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
*Olivia Kimbrell Press™ is a publisher offering true to life, meaningful fiction from a Christian worldview intended to uplift the heart and engage the mind.
This book is dedicated to Brandon and Joy, our real-life Army nurse and Special Forces soldier love story.
I would have made my main character a spunky brunette if I didn’t already have a cover when I started writing.
Thank you for your friendship,
even in the darkest of times.
And thank you for your love that inspired a story.
For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
People
18 series: a US Army soldier who is Special Forces qualified or, in the case of 18X, a candidate for the same.
DOD: US Department of Defense/The War Department
DV: Distinguished Visitor. A VIP.
HVT: a high-value target, usually an individual
LT: Either a first or second Lieutenant.
NCO: a Non-Commissioned Officer. In the US Army, an enlisted soldier ranked corporal or higher.
ODA: Operational Detachment Alpha (typically refers to an SFODA)
POTUS: The President of the United States
SFODA: Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (an A-Team)
VIP: Very Important Person. A DV.
VPOTUS: The Vice President of the United States
Nautical Terms
Bow: the front of a vessel
Port: the left side of a vessel
Starboard: the right side of a vessel
Stern: the rear of a vessel
Clothing and Gear
CAC: Common Access Card/Military ID Card
ACUs: the standard US Army Combat Uniform, formerly BDUs or the Battle Dress Uniform. ACUs have been through numerous redesigns, with the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) camouflage pattern replacing the ineffective Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) in 2015.
Five eleven tactical: Registered trademark (rightly 5.11 Tactical®) of a civilian brand of clothing designed for tactical use, often khaki in color
NODs: nighttime optical devices. The generic acronym encompasses the GPNVG-18 (Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggle), which are also called quads by the tier 1 units who use them, the AN/PVS-14 monocular device, the AN/PVS-15 binocular device, and the BNVD (Binocular Night Vision Device). Some Special Operations Forces may also employ thermal/image-intensifier fused devices like the AN/PSQ-20 for increased detection capabilities.
Places
AO: area of operations
CASH: Combat Support Hospital (CSH)
CHU: Containerized housing unit (a small, climate-controlled shipping container)
CONUS: The Continental United States, aka the lower 48
DFAC: Dining Facility
Fort Breckinridge, KY: a fictional US Army base hypothetically located in Central Kentucky, loosely based on a combination of Forts Campbell, Bragg, and Benning.
HQ: headquarters
Karpovia: a fictitious former Soviet Eastern Bloc non-NATO affiliated nation hypothetically located in Eastern Europe.
Katangela: a fictitious African nation hypothetically near the Congo
SCIF: sensitive compartmented information facility (a secure location where classified information can be reviewed)
Terms, Jargon, Slang, Acronyms:
exfil: exfiltrate (withdraw)
Bird: Among paratroopers, a bird is any aircraft, such as a fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft. A rotary wing aircraft (helicopter) is also rarely referred to as a chopper.
Brown shirt: nickname (often derogatory) used by Special Forces to describe personnel in other government agencies (OGA) who often wear khaki tactical civilian clothing when in the field. The "brown shirts" were also the paramilitary forces used by the German Chancellor to eliminate his enemies in the 1930s.
Fast rope: Fast rope rappelling, or fast-roping, is a military technique for rapid deployment from a helicopter into an area where landing isn't possible, using a thick, gloved rope that personnel slide down with their hands and feet to control their descent and speed.
HALO: High Altitude/Low Opening. An airborne operation in which paratroopers exit the aircraft at very high altitudes (15,000–35,000 feet) and activate their parachutes at a much lower altitude (2,000–4,000 feet), usually near their objective or target.
IED: Improvised Explosive Device, a homemade bomb.
infil: infiltrate (move in)
JP-8: JP-8 is a kerosene-based, multi-purpose fuel used by the U.S. military and NATO for aircraft, ground vehicles, and support equipment, similar to commercial Jet A-1 but with added corrosion inhibitors, anti-icing agents, and anti-static additives.
klick: one kilometer, or a distance of 3280.84 feet.
medevac: a medical evacuation of wounded personnel to treatment areas such as a CASH, MASH, or hospital.
mike: one minute or 60 seconds of time.
MRE: meal ready to eat, the primary field rations of the US military
NATO Phonetic Alphabet: NATO nations agreed upon designations and pronunciations for letters and numbers (e.g., A is Alpha, B is Bravo, 1 is wun, 3 is tree) to allow all NATO nations to communicate more effectively across language barriers.
OD/OD green: OD green, which stands for "olive drab/green," is a dull, greenish-brown color that was historically used for US military uniforms and equipment, particularly during World War II, Korean conflict, and the Vietnam War.
OGA: other government agencies, used in place of the actual desi gnations such as DIA, CIA, NSA, FBI, DHS, and more, which occasionally conduct joint operations with US Department of Defense personnel.
PCS: In the U.S. Army, a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) is a transfer of a service member to a new permanent duty location, typically involving a move to a new base or installation.
PT: Physical training, usually organized morning exercises consisting of calisthenics and a two-mile run.
Ricky-tick: quickly and efficiently
Roger: understood and acknowledged
Roger, Wilco: understood, acknowledged, and will comply
ROTC: The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based program for students to earn a degree while also training to become an officer in the US military.
SIPRNET: secret internet protocol router network (a network the Department of Defense uses to transfer classified information), aka "the high side."
SITREP: situational report
TDY: Temporary duty travel (TDY), also known as temporary additional duty (TAD), is a designation reflecting a US Armed Forces Service member's travel or other assignment at a location other than his or her permanent duty station.
Wilco: Will comply
Undisclosed Location in Northern Africa
August
Gerald “Jerry Maguire” McBride could smell cinnamon. Which didn’t make sense because—strapped to the hanger seats in the MH-47 Chinook flying over the dunes of the Sahara Desert—he should smell JP-8 exhaust, hydraulic fluid, gunpowder, sweaty men in 115 degrees close-quarters with no air conditioning. He closed his eyes, wondering about the smell and trying to place it, and suddenly found himself in his parents’ living room, with the Christmas tree in the corner where a chess table usually sat. Wind beat snow against the windows in the way only a South Dakota storm could.
He heard his mother’s voice, and it drew him to the kitchen. There, at the sink, her gingerbread apron covering her too-thin body and the silly snowman handkerchief covering her bald head.
“Mom?” he whispered.
She turned, hazel eyes lighting up. “Jerry! We didn’t expect you home!”
He shook his head. “But I didn’t make it home in time.”
She held her arms out. “Oh, it’s okay, son. I understood.”
He opened his mouth to tell her how much he missed her, how much he wished he’d made it home before she died, but a slap on his shoulder whisked away the cinnamon, bringing the sharp bite of JP-8 exhaust back into his olfactory processes.
Captain Rick “Daddy” Norton stood in front of him, hanging onto the strap above his head. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” he said. “Six minutes!”
Everyone in the helicopter then yelled, “Six minutes!”
Jerry nodded and unbuckled, joining his team in the center aisle of the helicopter. They would fast-rope out of the bird from each side of the rear ramp.
As he flexed his knees to the motion of the bird, he tried to reclaim the dream, the look on his mother’s face, the joy he felt at being in her presence again, but it eluded him. He shook his head to clear it and focused on the mission.
Jerry stood at the rear of the starboard stick behind Lieutenant Phil “Ozzy” Osbourne, a 180 Alpha who had trained as a Delta and served as the team’s medic and Jerry’s backup spotter. Sergeant Calvin “Hobbes” Brock, one of the team’s 18 Bravos or weapons specialists, loomed in front of Osbourne, his helmet nearly touching the top deck of the Chinook. Second from the front of their stick stood Master Sergeant Wade “Commando” Chandler, the team’s newly frocked first sergeant and a former 18 Charlie combat engineer now 18 Zulu. Lieutenant Jorge “Piña Colada” Peña, a recent 18 Alpha or team commander, led their stick. For the time being, Peña—who had trained as a Foxtrot or intelligence specialist—served as the team’s second in command and occasional detachment commander.
“One minute!” Norton yelled while holding up his index finger.
“One minute!” Everyone in each stick yelled back.
On the port side stick, Captain Rick “Daddy” Norton, the team commander, would grab the fast rope first upon arrival at the landing zone, or LZ. Behind him and nearly attached to Norton’s hip stood Staff Sergeant Travis “Trout” Fisher, the team’s 18 Echo, their signal NCO. Behind him stood Staff Sergeant Eric “Gilligan” Gill, an 18 Charlie, followed by Sergeant Daniel “Pot Pie” Swanson, an 18 Bravo, carrying a whole lot of ammunition and the team’s only M249 machine gun. Behind Swanson and beside Jerry at the end of the other stick stood Sergeant Bill “Drumstick” Sanders with an MOS of 18 Foxtrot. Sanders had an uncanny ability to read people. He could have conned hundreds performing as a carnival psychic.
The crew chief shouted something none of them could hear as the nose of the 160th SOAR MH-47 rose to a nearly 40-degree angle and the stern dipped toward the earth. He then simultaneously activated the rear ramp and manned the port side mini-gun. The Army had equipped the MH-47 Chinook with twin miniguns, one near the ramp and one forward in the aircraft, as well as a 20mm cannon in the nose. All of them now actively scanned for any kind of enemy presence on their LZ.
“Thirty seconds!” Norton yelled while holding up his finger and thumb in a pinching gesture.
“Thirty seconds!” Everyone in each stick yelled back.
The ramp fully lowered, filling the compartment with heat, JP-8 exhaust, noise, and a whole lot of rotor wash. Peña and Norton kicked the coiled and very heavy fast ropes down the ramp until they hung free like poles in a fire station, only made of OD green nylon instead of brass. The ten men would slide down these ropes exactly the same way firemen of old would slide down a brass pole. The aircraft beneath their feet never budged despite the change to the center of gravity. Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) pilots were the best of the best in the US Army, if not the world.
Norton made his hand signal and hypothetically yelled, “Go!” though no one could hear it. Then he and Peña departed at nearly the same time. One long second later, the second man in each stick followed, and so on, until Jerry grabbed the rope and slid down to the desert floor. The first eight men out of the bird had already formed a circular perimeter around the LZ and had their weapons up and ready for use.
The Chinook departed rapidly and without ceremony. Each man in the team held up two fingers as they cleared their lanes of fire, assuring that they could not detect any enemy combatant activity. Over their team’s comms, Norton used NATO-designated number call signs and phonetic pronunciation to announce, “Objective is wun klick to my tree o’clock. Bounding overwatch. Move out.”
A chorus of clicks acknowledged his orders, and they moved out tactically toward the objective. Five men would set overwatch while the other five men moved out forward past them toward the objective. Then they would hold in place, weapons ready, covering the movement of the five men behind them, who then overtook them as they bounded forward.
Twenty minutes later, the tang of burned cordite burned Jerry’s nose as he pressed his back against the sun-scorched mud wall. The heat from the sun bounced off the dirt to burn his neck and the underside of his jaw. Sweat soaked his jacket and headband. A heartbeat later, a bullet chipped the edge of the wall above his head, showering him with grit.
Jerry ducked and moved—surprisingly fast considering his bulky gear and the long rifle he carried—and crouched behind the front tire of a rusting Land Rover Defender, a relic left over from when Algeria had provided them to Sahrawi Polisario Front insurgents during the Western Sahara conflict. He kept the engine block between himself and the shooter.
Carefully, he shifted the strap of his M110A1 Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System, or CSASS, which he had affectionately named “Cassie,” and examined the area around him. He needed to make that umbrella thorn tree ten yards to his left.
“Bravo Four? Status? Over.” Captain Norton’s voice crackled through comms, calm but with a nearly undetectable edge.
Jerry keyed his mic, voice low. “Six, this is Bravo Four. Pinned by the wall behind the Land Rover. One hostile, three-zero meters north. Need covering fire to make the tree to my 10 o’clock. Over.”
