Chapter Five
~Gentry~
“Ambush.” The word comes through on our communication link. It’s Slim, he’s two klicks ahead of me.
The entire unit is ahead of me. I am the tail. We are moving in to surround a compound and disengage the weapons production they had set up. It is supposed to be a quick in and out. In fact, the commander doesn’t think I will see any action at all. We are going in on a stagger for less chance of detection. Typically, the front few engage in the action and the tail is clean up if anything at all.
At two klicks up, Slim is a little over a mile, not quite a mile and half in front of me. Even on a hustle it will take me approximately eight minutes to reach him, given the terrain.
“I’m hit!” He cries out as I can hear the shots being fired in the distance.
“Engage,” I say trying to call out to the team members closer to him.
One by one, though, I listen as I try to close in, and one by one my brothers are hit.
I reach the space firing at any enemy in front of me. Pain sears my leg as I take the first bullet. We’re outnumbered.
I can hear the helicopter in the distance. The steady sound of the chopper is almost a lullaby as I take another bullet to the arm trying to get to Slim. I reach him and drag him back out of the exposed area. Then, I go back in for Shifty. One by one, I try to get my wounded teammates together for the chopper to get us the fuck out. Everything goes dark when the next burning pain cuts into my neck.
I jolt up in the darkness of my room covered in sweat. Three bullets it took before I blacked out from blood loss. When I woke up, I was in a hospital and given the news … I was the only survivor from my unit. I received a medal and commendation for getting all my brothers’ out of harms way.
They also quickly determined, I was no longer mentally fit for duty. In a flash, my career went from thriving to medical retirement. I was still alive, though. Which is more than I can say for my team.
Slim – Johnathon Daniels died before I got to him, along with Edward “Rosie” Rosenbaum, Beaux “Jangles” Fremeaux. Shifty – Andrew Moser died at the hospital as well as Collin “Madman” Kirk, and Hector “Gonzo” Gonzalez. Glen “Fingers” Snyder lasted a week before the infection, the pain, and the loss was too much and he took his own life.
There is no worse feeling than doing your best and it not being enough. The lone survivor – I would rather have died beside my brothers.
I still haven’t come to terms with it. Four years have gone by and I still can’t move beyond it. I don’t think I ever will.
Before I can shake off the bad feelings from my nightmare, my phone rings from its spot on the nightstand plugged in.
Judge calling, displays on the screen.
I answer it while looking at the clock to see it’s zero-two-ten. “What the hell, Judge?”
“Get dressed and get to Tempest’s house now!”
He clicks off and I jump into action. I’m the first to arrive and I don’t bother waiting for anyone else or to find out what’s going on.
My heart is beating wildly in my chest and I have to remember, as a SEAL, I must remain calm.
Tempest opens the door and looks up wide-eyed at me. She is shaken. She fights back tears.
“I wasn’t expecting you, Deacon.”
I can hear the other bikes in the distance. “Calvary is coming, beautiful.”
Her eyes are puffy from crying, her hair is sticking out everywhere, and she is in the romper she put on after our office rendezvous this afternoon. She hasn’t gone to bed.
“Someone hurt you, Tempest?”
She shakes her head.
“Then what’s going on?”
She doesn’t answer as Tamalyn pushes past me and rushes Tempest. “We’re gonna find her. Judge and the Devil’s Due, Tempie, we’ll find Arika and bring her home.”
“Who exactly is Arika?” I ask wondering if there is some dramatic side to Tempest that would wake everyone up in the middle of the night for a dog I didn’t know about.
Yeah, we’ve been hooking up for a while. I even call pretty regularly. In all the conversations, Tempest hasn’t mentioned a child. Surely, she would have told me by now, right?
I watch her eyes slowly meet mine.
“Arika is my daughter. My fifteen-year-old daughter who has run away.” She looks to Tamalyn and starts talking about running outside to look for her, but it’s all mumbles as my mind processes this new information.
Just like that something inside me clicks. I don’t care what she has or hasn’t told me. I don’t care what her life is like with her child’s father. All that matters, right this minute, is getting the look of fear, desperation, and heartbreak off her face.
“Where’s her room?” I ask pushing inside Tempest’s home. “We can track her between Collector and myself.”
“What set her off?” Tamalyn asks.
“She got in trouble at school. We had a fight.” Tempest chokes on her emotions. “She threw up that I’m not her mom, Tamalyn. She hates me.”
“Shhhh,” Tamalyn soothes.
She isn’t her mom? I have more questions than answers, but this isn’t the time.
Collector and I pass through the living room and into the teen’s bedroom. The purple comforter is a twisted mess with the soft glow of a lamp the only illumination to the space. The window is open and we easily climb through it since it’s a one-story house. With the dew on the grass, we easily see her footprints using the lights from our cell phones.
We walk two blocks to a local park where we find a teenage girl sitting on a swing with tears running down her face.
She gasps at our presence and I see the fear. Good. The world is a dangerous place and she needs to learn that.
“Arika,” I say her name and she looks around wildly like she might bolt.
Fight or flight, it’s the battle between instincts inside all of us. Most of us have a stronger urge to run in any situation then to face it. Arika is a runner. I see it, feel it, and I know it.
“Your mom is really worried.” I explain while Collector makes the call back to Tempest and the others.
“I don’t know you,” Arika says standing up and backing away.
Collector lifts his phone with speaker phone on. “Please come home, Arika, you’re not in trouble, but I need to know you’re safe.” Tempest’s voice cracks.
This is killing her.
“What’s the code, Mom?” Arika asks keeping her distance from us.
“Heffalump.” Tempest replies and Arika relaxes. “I’m glad you remembered that, but please come home so we can talk.”
Arika moves closer.
I don’t know what it is to be a parent, but I can imagine this is agony for her.
“We’ll walk behind you so you are safe.” I tell her but step to the side to give her space.
I don’t know this girl’s history or what makes her jumpy or soothes her soul. Letting her lead the way, we return back to their home while my mind wonders what kind of father this girl has. What kind of man leaves Tempest to deal with this? Why did she call Tamalyn and not Arika’s dad? It tells me he’s not in the picture. What did Tempest mean about not being her mom? Where is the dad? Certainly, he can’t be involved or she would have called him first.
Maybe that’s me hoping while jumping to conclusions or maybe it’s true.
As soon as we round the corner to the front of the house, Tempest rushes out and wraps her arms around Arika. Even though she is Arika’s mom, Tempest is shorter than her daughter. Arika doesn’t return the embrace.
It pisses me off.
I stand down, though.
“Thank you,” Tempest tells us all as she releases her daughter. “Arika, go on inside and go to bed, we can talk about this in the morning.”
I see her daughter hesitate before finally going inside. Tamalyn gives Tempest a hug. “You sure you don’t want us to stay?” Tamalyn asks to which Tempest shakes her head.
It takes a few minutes and some reassurance before each of my brother’s file out. I don’t.
Instead, when everyone is gone, I reach out and pull Tempest to me. She takes a moment before she relaxes against me.
“I’m sure you have a million questions.” She whispers against my chest.
“Not the time, beautiful.”
“I don’t know how much free time I’ll have this visit, Deacon.”
“Baby, it’s probably after three in the morning. Let’s not say goodbye less than twenty-four hours since my arrival. You need sleep. Go inside. I’ll take the couch. Get some sleep.”
She pulls away from me. “You can’t stay here.”
I guide her to her doorway and into her living room. “Look, Tempest, you always take care of everyone else. You got a kid that just scared the shit outta you. I can see that you need sleep. I got watch. You get some rest so you can tackle what you got to with her and do so with a clear head.”
“Deacon,” she starts to protest.
I put my finger over her lips and silence her.
“Seen shit, done shit, and there is no war zone more dangerous than navigating life with a teenager. You aren’t alone, not tonight Tempest. Let me take watch so you can sleep and know she’s not gonna take off on ya. I’m gonna rig the window from the outside not to open. I’ll take the couch. You get some sleep.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she tells me on a yawn.
I see the worry, the fatigue, and the stress in her features. It kills me. I can’t take away her pain, her fear, but I can damn sure make sure she has help with her daughter at least for tonight. “Don’t speak. Go sleep. I got this.”
Tempest hesitates so I take her by the hand and guide her to her room. “I can dig through your drawers, find your pajamas or your sex toys,” she gives me a slight smile while shaking her head. “Or you can get changed on your own while I fix the window. I’m not going anywhere no matter what you say or do. I’d rather hit the couch than find a perch on the porch.”
“I don’t know how to do this, Deacon.”
I press my lips softly to her forehead. “We’re not doing anything, beautiful, except me taking care of you like you do for everyone else. Consider me a gift from karma for the night. Now sleep so I can stop thinking about the silk and lace panties in those drawers and the things I could possibly do to your body. You are a mom and need to focus on your kid, I gotta be man enough to respect that right now. So do us both a favor and sleep, baby.”
She nods and I back away wondering so many things about the woman I’ve been sleeping with. More so, why her daughter who is clearly a child she’s raised looks absolutely nothing like her.
I have more questions than hours in a day. For now, I meant what I said, I want to take care of Tempest and that means giving her peace of mind to sleep.
I’ve been to war, but nothing is as terrifying as facing down a teenage daughter in the morning. I’m going to need to be on my game in just a matter of hours.