Tex, p.5
Tex, page 5
A soft breeze ruffled his salt and pepper hair, the air smelling of the ocean and the night. It was beautifully pleasant, the sound of gently rolling waves the only sound to break the hum of insects. “The SEAL commander I spoke with wouldn’t give me any details. He said I had to go up the food chain.”
“His name.”
“Senator—”
“His name, Miss Wilson.”
Feeling like she was throwing him to another set of wolves, separate from the pack he ran with, she said, “Lieutenant Michael Penn.”
He frowned as if he recognized the name and Nora had to wonder why. “Do you know him?”
“I know of his…service. It’s impressive. What else?”
That seemed like a cagey answer. There was something he wasn’t telling Nora, but since it wasn’t her business, she held her tongue. “Not much. I have requested information from JSOC and am still waiting, along with an appointment with Commander Dade. So far, he’s unavailable.”
“We’ll see about that.” He leaned on the railing, his face going haggard. “And my son-in-law’s body? I promised his parents information.”
“There’s to be an autopsy. Standard procedure for death in the field. As soon as I can connect to the Navy’s ME, I will have more information.”
“Very well.” She followed him inside as the conversation was apparently over. She wished she had more to offer. Mary was already tucked into bed, very soundly asleep, a pill bottle on the nightstand. Her hands were tucked under her face.
The senator’s expression was fixed as he watched her sleep. Far too thin, Mary barely made a lump in the big queen bed, but what bothered Nora the most was her special effervescence was gone—that rare kind of energy that could light up the whole world. It was as if her bright spirit had been extinguished, and she just looked so fragile.
“I will do anything in my power to get my daughter her answers. Nobody will stand in my way.”
On that ominous note, Nora let herself out. Inside the elevator, she set the flat of her palm against her belly, her heartbeat going back to a more regular rhythm.
Senator McPherson’s words had been as much a promise as Nora’s. Only, he had the power to back them up. It didn’t bode well for Tex’s team or special operations in general. It wasn’t about politics. It was nothing more than a father trying to help his daughter.
Nora didn’t make her promises lightly, and she understood the Navy’s rules and regulations, especially about top-secret dark ops, and the need for covert missions, but what she would have given to have known how her father had died. For her, there was nothing but a beautiful headstone and an empty grave at Arlington Cemetery with a weekly change of gorgeous flowers, and a star on the wall just inside the main entrance of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Nora might not have gotten her answers, but she was determined to get Mary hers.
4
“Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out?” Bondo asked.
“You’ll make someone a nice wife and mother one day,” Tex drawled, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “I don’t need to be babied.”
They were currently on Little Creek’s base in the SEAL gearing room getting ready for a nighttime training exercise where they were going to use a prototype submersible in the deep ocean, then swim to shore, because that happened more often than expected. A Somalian warlord Cumar Nuur was making noises about taking the United Nations’ humanitarian supplies and keeping them hostage. If they went after him, it could be at a moment’s notice. It was important they stayed ready.
“Just a little scratch?” Bondo’s brows rose, his mouth kicking up as the guys chuckled.
It wasn’t a scratch—it hurt like hell, and Bondo knew it. Twister scanned Tex’s midriff and frowned. Twister was aware of how much pain Tex was in, because he was the one who had patched him up. He gave the medic a hard scowl, and Twister retreated into his cage to grab his dry suit. Tex would be damned if some damn tango was going to cut him, then not do his job.
“I bet he told his mommy that the first time he got his ass bucked off a horse,” Shark said with an exaggerated drawl and a smart-ass grin. “Aw, Momma. I’m not a baby. I’m a cowboy.”
“Yee haw,” Dagger said, stripping down to nothing and donning his suit, his muscled ass, and thighs visible for a moment.
Tex laughed softly. “You all having a good time? Here I am thinking up ways to build more character.”
“Bring it on, LT. We’re not babies,” Brawler said.
That got another round of chuckles, including Tex. “No, that’s for sure. Saddle the hell up and stop fucking around.”
Quiet descended in the room and while working at keeping his face straight and pain-free, Tex slipped into his specialized amphibious suit that would keep him dry and warm. When they were all geared up, they caught their ride to the docks where the specialized submarine held their Dry Combat Submersible. The DCS deployed from a full-sized sub and provided a closed environment to transport SEAL teams to and from their objectives without being exposed to cold and fatigue. This submersible was one of three prototypes, and they were still working the kinks out of them. He and his guys had trained with the new system a few times and his team had taken to them as easily as breathing.
Phew. He was aware, but never got used to the smells aboard a sub—a mixture of sweat, food, diesel, and amine, a catalyst for the ship’s atmospheric scrubbers. SEALs weren’t usually on-board subs for long periods of time, which suited Tex just fine. He was used to wide open spaces as a cowboy and as a SEAL had spent most of his time outside.
Talk of his momma made him think about being born and raised in Tyler, Texas, the largest city in northeast Texas. Named for the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler, it was just under two hours southeast of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Tyler was known as the “Rose Capital of the World” due to its lengthy history of rose production, cultivation, and processing.
He came from a strong, well-adjusted family. His mom and dad ran a profitable ranch, subsidized by acres of roses that his mom had cultivated and had become a good source of income. Tex was one of seven brothers. His oldest brother had taken over a lot of the everyday activity of the ranch, leaving Tex free to follow his dreams. His other brothers had scattered as well, except for the two youngest who had wanted to be part of the family business.
His dad was firm but fair. He believed in discipline and structure and taught all his sons that hard work built strong character. His mom supported her husband in all things, but had a mind and opinion of her own, along with a soft spot for all her boys. She taught him compassion, tenderness, and the importance of love. His dad respected her, and Tex had never heard him raise his voice to her in all his life.
His dad’s treatment of his mom instilled a deep respect for women, along with a strong case of protection in him. In addition, his parents taught him to treat people with respect and dignity, and never prejudge anyone. One of his father’s favorite sayings was that he should judge people by their actions and character.
Tex had known it was time to leave his wife Debbie when things got heated between them. He had been raised a certain way, and Debbie really hated it that he wouldn’t fight dirty with her.
He ignored the twinges in his side as he ducked under hatchways. He guessed the hard work gave him a high tolerance for pain.
He’d played baseball, football, and considered dating a contact sport. He’d had one serious relationship, but that had ended when he’d wanted to join the Navy. She had been his one and only love up until then, and it was a bitter pill to swallow that she hadn’t wanted to sacrifice a thing for him. It was two years later that he’d married Debbie, probably on the rebound.
Somewhere along the line, the bitterness had turned into an emotional detachment. He had a team to run, training to oversee, and missions to lead. He lived a full, full life without complications.
Especially blonde, beautiful, and opinionated ones. Yet he could see her face, smell her, and wanted nothing more than to feel every inch of her with his hands, tongue, and dick. Saying nothing of having her hot and naked beneath him.
He stood there, his jaw clenched as he tried to stop thinking about her, tried to stop the heavy throbbing between his thighs to no avail. Soon he would be distracted by the requirements of the mission.
As soon as his team was aboard, the sub got underway, the metal hull of the vehicle slipping beneath the dark waves of an almost moonless night. Just the way his team liked to hunt.
Long past the time she should have gone to bed, Nora stood staring out the window over the kitchen sink, her arms folded against the turmoil. Now that her father’s unknown death, nothing but a black hole of nonanswers, and her subsequent inability to find out any information about him had been dredged up, she couldn’t sleep.
All of Mary’s pain seemed to settle inside Nora. She knew what it felt like when things out of your control turned your whole world upside down. Six years ago, she was a Navy pilot who made landing an F-18 on a three-hundred-foot runway in the middle of the ocean seem like child’s play. She had even considered applying to NASA. Then one day she thought she’d pulled a muscle in her left calf on her morning run. A few days later when the pain didn’t go away, she’d gone to medical sick call for some ibuprofen.
That was just the beginning of the spiral. Before she could even wrap her mind around what was happening, she had been diagnosed with a blood clot in her leg. She was grounded indefinitely when they identified an inherited blood condition that caused her blood to clot more than it should.
The g-forces made her condition worse. No, the g-forces made flying life-threatening for her. Once again, just like when her dad was taken away, she lost something that meant everything to her through no fault of her own. Her Navy career was over.
She took the medical discharge, moved home to help her mom care for her grandfather, and attended law school on her GI Bill. Three years later, she applied to have her Naval officer commission reinstated. With the support of her former commanding officer and letters from her doctors that said her condition was controlled with medication, she was cleared for military service—service that didn’t include being a pilot and was commissioned into the Navy JAG corp.
Nora could have made more money in the civilian world, but she was Navy to the core. Like both her parents, she was a servant to her country. Besides, it was a way to take back the career that was stolen from her. It was a way to regain some control.
Walking down memory lane wasn’t going to get her anywhere, not the regret, the sorrow, the anger, or the pain. She thought about all those emotions trapped in Mary’s chest, the way Nora’s mind clamored for answers. God, she knew how that felt. It was too much.
She broke away from the window and went into the small bedroom. Stripping down, she slipped on a one-piece hot pink bathing suit. After inserting her phone, she strapped on her waterproof phone sleeve around her waist, grabbed a towel, and pushed her feet into her flip-flops.
She was a very competent swimmer, and she needed the exercise to get these thoughts to rest and retreat. She had a lot to deal with tomorrow and doing it on limited sleep wasn’t a good idea. She felt she needed the edge to deal with the Navy red tape and Tex. She breathed out a sigh. Especially Tex. She walked out of the hotel and onto the sand, heading for the ocean in the distance.
The waves rolled to shore, just a bit choppy, but small. Nora sighed and lifted her head, watching the waves crash closer in the deep black, her thoughts circling endlessly around Mary and Tex. She kept her gaze on that far distant horizon until it vanished, leaving only the billowing night and the onrushing tide. She dropped the towel in the sand and toed off her flip-flops. Walking toward the surf, the ocean a blue-gray smudge in the dark night. The stars were bright, but the moon was almost nonexistent. The water was warm against her toes as she navigated the waves to get to calmer, rolling water.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she totally immersed herself in the ocean, buoyant and supported by her gentle movements.
Life was actually very simple, wasn’t it? If cold, the body sought heat. If hungry, food. There were just basic needs that everyone craved—survival, love.
If you were lucky.
She thought also of cowardice and fear, about the balance of pain and joy. Without one you couldn’t experience the other.
She couldn’t remember one single time in her life when she’d ever flung caution to the winds. Not even the night Billy Martin enticed her with his bad boy grin and his revving muscle car convertible outside her house. She’d desperately wanted to go with him, take on the wind in her face and her hair. Would it feel like freedom?
But she’d declined with a shake of her head, her need for order and calm overtaking that fleeting taste of freedom, her view of life more of a mental challenge.
Then there was Tex, another enticing rogue, but he was everything Billy had only pretended to be, and even with her confidence, he rattled her.
She dove down and came up into an overhead crawl and with her body falling into her natural rhythm, she took on the stars and the vastness of the ocean in smooth, sleek strokes.
Tex and his team moved like dark shadows in a dark liquid landscape sixty feet below the surface. The underwater world was their playground. Coming from a landlocked home, Tex had fallen in love with the ocean the moment he saw it.
He reflected on his awe of not only getting to the academy, but to BUD/S. Like his Navy-enlisted counterparts, becoming part of the SEALS, of the best of the best was almost overwhelming. Their current training and the details of their current mission were what warfighting was all about and it was serious business to them. Of course, no one wanted war, but in the world right now—and, he feared, into the future—it was necessary. Regardless, battles had to be fought with professionalism. The teams had to be constantly on guard against overconfidence and alert to the mistakes that become teaching moments, sometimes vital lessons taught with blood.
Their last mission was a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.
The waves were choppier here farther from the beach where a storm had churned up the water and was making good-sized rollers inland. Not anything his seasoned guys couldn’t handle. All eight of them, in perfect formation, swam toward their destination until Bondo touched his mike and said, “LT, we’re off course.”
“How far?”
“Quite a bit. We’re farther south than we should be. Good probability to encounter civilians on the beach. Proceed?”
Tex thought about it. It was just after midnight, the darkest part of the night, and they were just going to hit the sand to be extracted by helo. He had to wonder how close they were to one of the resorts. Well, they were about to get a SEAL experience. He saw no alternative. They couldn’t go back. The DCS was long gone, and they were almost to the beach.
“Yes, press forward. We’ll land and call for the helo just like we planned. We’ll make a report on the navigation issue. We don’t want this to happen in Somalia.” It was most likely a malfunction. These submersibles were still in the preliminary stages of being tested.
“Give the tourists a thrill?” Shark said, a grin in his voice.
“Yeah, maybe Flash can get himself a date. You’re too much of a monk,” Dagger said.
“Naw, he’s just a shy guy,” Twister said.
“I’m looking for quality, not quantity,” Flash grumbled.
“Shut it,” Tex said. “Focus up.”
They swam some more, nothing but the green dark below them.
“Surfers,” Brawler said.
Tex looked up and saw a surfboard pass over his head. Of course, they would have heard the news that there was a storm out to sea and that would give them the waves these guys craved. “Watch it when we surface,” Tex said.
Lost in the smooth glide of her body through the water, Nora was in her good place where the stress seemed to melt away. The swim was a great idea, but she was beginning to tire. It was time to turn around and head back to the inn and to her bed. She felt like she could sleep now.
She stopped moving, treading water to get her bearings. Even without lap markers in a calm and ordered pool, the wild ocean lifting and dropping her in its warm swells, she had taken a nice straight path, still aligned with the beach. It surprised her that she was enjoying this incursion, a far cry from the sedate chlorine waters she was accustomed to.
The gentle wind blew against her face, the smell of the water tangy, tasting salty on her tongue as she licked her lips. She took a moment to absorb the beauty of the water and sky when, suddenly, dark forms rose as one to the surface, matte black suits, weapons bristling. She caught her breath at the precision, the single file formation, the strong, focused lines of each man. It took her a moment to realize they were SEALs. Night training? Here?
It was clear this was a formidable fighting force where tough was a way of life and fully established. They radiated an aura of don’t-mess-with-us attitude. The moment she saw them, she trusted them immediately, that seemed to be ingrained.
Of course, seeing them brought back everything she had been hoping to escape with this exercise. Now, she was thinking about Tex again…his aching blue eyes, that shaggy hair, his handsome face, and honed body. And those expressive lips that were a fantasy all their own. She’d thought this assignment was going to test her, knew that Mary’s pain and Jerry’s unknown death would trigger her. She’d been prepared for it, so she had thought, but she hadn’t been prepared for that sexy, downright dangerous man. Dangerous to her senses and her control.
Whatever reason they were out here wasn’t any of her business. She had enough to deal with. Just as she was going to twist her body around and head back the way she had come, she heard a shout.
“Watch out!”
She snapped her head around to find out what was going on when she saw a surfboard heading right for her. She tried to duck out of the way, but the rider was moving much too fast. The board hit her with a glancing blow to her temple.
