“This is awesome that you guys are here. You’re gonna like the classes. It’s badass, man. Lou runs it like you’re still in the fucking service,” Cord said, and Colt looked at Jordo and Simo, who glanced at the Mustang as the loud sound of the souped-up engine and muffler echoed as she pulled out of the parking lot.
They headed inside, and Colt was shocked at his reaction to just laying eyes on some hot woman. If Lou ran the classes military style, then did that mean the woman was military? He couldn’t think any more about it as Lou greeted them and they saw a bunch of other guys they knew. Maybe this wouldn’t be bad after all.
“How was the weekend?” Shannon Fogerty asked Lilly.
She took a sip from the cup of coffee she just poured. She hadn’t been getting a good night’s sleep lately, and she knew why. Mary’s phone call and her upcoming visit to Benter next week.
“I was here for a while on Saturday after I took Melanie to the job interview in Langcaster.”
“I heard that they loved her and offered her the job.”
“They sure did. Melanie is thrilled. It’s not that long of a ride, the bus can take her to and from, and with the daycare facility offering a discounted rate she won’t need to worry about the kids and soon enough will be on her own.”
Shannon smiled wide. “You were amazing with her, Lilly. The other therapists couldn’t seem to get through to her. You have a way about you, a connection they draw to you. It’s amazing,” Shannon said to her, and then the phone on the desk rang.
Lilly walked out of the room so Shannon could take her phone call. She was only working here today until noon and then heading to the dojo for an afternoon class.
The doors to the main entrance opened and in walked Shelly Farley, a full-time social worker at the shelter.
“Did you hear about the accident on Highway 7 off of Hemmingway? My God, it’s a mess and loads of police, fire trucks, and paramedics,” Shelly said, and she looked upset.
“Really? Was anyone hurt?”
“I heard people died. I stopped in town at Barney’s for coffee and a Danish, and they said at least three people died.”
“Oh my God, that’s terrible,” Shannon said, joining them.
“That is unusual for around here. Do the police know what caused it?” Lilly asked.
“I haven’t heard anything yet. I suppose by tonight it will be all over the evening news,” Shelly said and headed to her office.
“We heard it was a pretty terrible scene. Tatum said Caden mentioned Federal agents,” Jordo said to Brian after he got home from work.
“Yeah, well, a van filled with dead women who were definitely abducted is cause for alarm across the board. Shit like this doesn’t happen around these parts,” Brian said to them.
“Anything they need, we’ll assist. Anything on the drivers of the van?” Simo asked. Brian shook his head. Simo placed his hand on Brian’s shoulder and Brian tightened up, glanced at Jordo, then Colt, who had been completely quiet and yet to say anything. “You okay seeing that scene? It’s been years, but our experiences brought us into some serious shit.”
“I’m fine, and we’ve seen worse than that. It’s just unexpected to see it here, on American soil, never mind in our town,” Brian admitted. He wouldn’t tell them how he had flashbacks here and there throughout the day, remembering the many missions where they saw such violence and gruesome remains, or the one where they found all those women, their bodies covering the door to the location where the bombs and ammunition were hidden.
“I bet the investigators, Caden, and the state police, too, will take this over?” Jordo asked.
“We’ll all be working together on this. I want to be there when this woman wakes up. She’s the one survivor. She could be the one to help find those responsible.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice. Whatever is needed, you know we are all here.”
“Not me. I’m doing electrical work at Warrior’s Way all week. Jordo is supposed to be working, too,” Colt said to them.
“They more than likely won’t need us. Not with the Texas Rangers and even state police involved. Let’s hope the woman can talk and makes it. Her head injury is still being evaluated. She might not remember much, or depending on the trauma, you all could be facing various issues,” Simo said, and Brian nodded before he walked over to the sink to help prepare dinner.
“Grab your cocks and your gear, we’re going in hot!” Commander Ferlo yelled out over the hum of the airplane engine. They were approaching the target location and getting ready to parachute into the darkness of the night. Night vision gear in place, parachutes checked, the two small teams of soldiers—Simo and his team, Jordo, Brian, and Colt, and Randal and his team, Elf, Seco, and Drummer—prepared to jump.
“Don’t get dead!” Simo called out and then started the line of jumpers. A quick glance at the commander and one by one they jumped into the ink of darkness. A cloudy, shitty night, no sign of the moon. Brian was long past getting scared. His fear turned into an adrenaline rush of kill or be killed the second he was plunging toward the unknown.
As he got closer and closer to earth, noticing the buildings to the right and nothing but desert to the left, he knew that they were nearly over the target. Coming in fast and hard and alerting the enemy to their presence by pounding on the shitty made rooftop wouldn’t be smart. With a tailwind causing him to wander further than he wanted, he drew the grenade from his hip. It was do or die, and the decision was made for him as gunfire erupted toward them.
His commander followed on his tail, tossing more grenades and shooting on sight.
He didn’t know how he wasn’t hit, or any of the others, too, as he tossed the grenade and then landed right past the men with weapons and onto the roof. The explosion erupted, causing them to lose their lives, but now the risk was greater that Brian, Simo and the others could die here. The clay structures weren’t exactly made from the best building materials, and as his team and the other team began landing all around him, in front of the building and right after it, he knew they needed to move swiftly.
More gunfire erupted and his men countered back. Smoke, explosions, rapid gunfire. They were fighting for their lives and coming in to take out three small groups of men who were delivering landmines and other explosives across the region to blow up U.S. military troops. Recently, intel had monitored sightings and some chatter about a big shot from one of the terrorist cells visiting the warehouse and sight.
Simo lowered down to one knee, gun cocked and ready with his team behind him. Brian to the right took a strategic position to cover anyone who came in from the side entrance of the room. They were making their way through the building now as Team Two was pushing through toward the other small building and warehouse. As they were fired upon, they fired back, clearing the way. They weren’t seeing the weapons, the artillery, and the explosives intel had video of being placed in this particular building.
Simo kicked open the set of doors, and to their shock it was occupied by women. A lot of them. Brian took in their sight quickly. Beaten, tied up, others motionless and on the dirt floor bleeding and naked. It was a mess. The stench was horrific, the sobs and fear immense as they filtered into the room yelling for them to lay flat on the dirt and not to move. He and the team assessed the situation quickly, seeing the chains, the blood, the naked bodies and various cots along the walls, as well as the bodies that weren’t moving.
“What the fuck?” Jordo said, but the others stood in shock, realizing this was some sort of prison where women were held against their will. Randal spoke the language better than most, and he began to demand answers, keeping in control and not letting the images get to him.
Simo spoke into the radio with command center in the Huey’s above.
“We got a mess down here. A shit load of women, prisoners or whatever, and no guns, explosives or ammo. “
“They’re there, Simo. They have to be there.”
“Commander, look,” Brian said, and he bent
down next to several of the cots with dead bodies on them. Brian absorbed their faces, the wide eyes, slit throats. He pulled the metal frame away from the wall cringing from the sight and having to do so. Simo saw how cold as ice Brian’s face was as he had to push aside the cots, the bodies, and then a rug that hung as a decoration on the wall. As he pulled it back bodies, loads of them fell against him, and Brian yelled out in terror.
Brian awoke in a cold sweat, literally jumping out of bed and unable to catch his breath. He was gasping for air as the door pushed open. He turned in a defensive stance, ready to fight, to kill, when his brain caught up with his eyes and locked onto Simo.
Simo’s dark eyes narrowed, his expression fierce. “You okay?” he asked.
“Fine,” Brian tried to bark out, but it came out sort of distorted. Brian sat on the edge of the bed and focused on breathing.
“Here.” Simo pulled the water bottle off of the dresser and handed it to Brian. He went to take a sip, eyes closed, and he saw the dead women from the accident today. In his dream, the mission they did ended differently. Instead of seeing the room filled with artillery and bombs behind the decorative rug, there were dozens of women’s dead bodies, and the face and eyes of the young woman who was barely alive.
He took another sip, then waited as his breathing calmed.
“Better?” Simo asked, and Brian nodded. “It was bound to happen.”
“What?” Brian asked, eyes scrunched up.
“Tatum gave me deeper details about how bad it was. I knew immediately that you would think of the mission we were on and all those poor women.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect it. I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting the nightmare I just had.”
“It’s natural to relate other events and violence to the past situations,” Simo told him.
“Not for me. I don’t ponder over the past. I don’t get flashbacks.”
“Brian, it’s natural to get them from a scene like that. It shouldn’t be happening here. It was out of place, out of the realm of the job, of why you chose to continue to serve the public in this fashion. Doing easy things, maybe chasing a suspect here and there or dealing with drunk and disorderly people, you knew that would happen. But not coming along an accident like that and seeing a van filled with abducted women in some sex trafficking case. Not here.”
Brian clenched his teeth and held Simo’s gaze. “Some of those women were barely sixteen. We don’t even know how old the survivor is.”
“You’ll find out, and you will all do your best to find the bastards responsible.”
“You know as well as I do that finding the ones responsible is practically impossible.”
Simo took a deep breath and exhaled. He wasn’t going to sugar coat everything, and Brian wasn’t asking him to. They both knew the reality of this, but also to not give up hope to find those responsible.
“Forget about it. Sorry I woke you.”
“I’m here for you, for Jordo and Colt. We’re a team, remember that.”
Brian nodded and Simo walked out of the room. Brian rubbed the back of his neck. What a fucked-up dream he had. He hoped the woman gained consciousness and could give them the information they needed to catch the ones responsible, no matter how impossible that felt.
Chapter 2
“Toby and Randall heard from their friends. Looks like this cottage will be occupied in a week,” Faith said to Leeann. They were helping with doing some painting at the new cottages on the property of Warrior’s Way, which were constructed by Faith’s brother, Tony, and cousin, Randall.
“That was fast. I thought he said those guys he mentioned were still recovering from injuries,” Leeann said to her.
“They are still recovering, but since we’ve been getting so many calls from friends and other teams wanting to move out here and take advantage of the retreat and the therapy procedures, it’s become a matter of whomever gets here first. The guys are looking to hire more soldiers to do the construction, and now Toby and Randal are purchasing the additional land just in case we need more spots for construction.”
“It’s crazy how word has spread.”
“Well, you’ve helped with that,” Faith said to Leeann, who smiled.
“This place is so special. I never thought I would have the things I do, and even four men I love and adore. I want that for other soldiers, for other women, too.”
“Crazy how it just happens.”
“You ladies need anything? I’m heading over to check on Colt and Jordo and the guys,” Hunt, one of Faith’s men, said, and Faith looked toward the window and saw Colt carrying some heavy buckets.
“Colt’s outside now. I think we’re good. One more coat and this should be complete,” Faith told him.
“Okay, sweetie, see ya in a little bit,” he said and walked out.
Faith kept her eyes on Colt as Hunt took one of the buckets from him and started talking. Colt look very serious all the time. He and his team were friends with the sheriff of Warriorville. One of the team members, Brian, was a deputy in town, Simo was their commander, and he supposedly did some side work for the government, while Colt and Jordo worked construction here with Faith and Leeann’s men. There were three other teams currently working for Warrior’s Way, and they were going to need more help as the place continued to expand.
“I wonder if Colt or Jordo told Hunt any more about that accident two days ago and the woman that was found. His brother was the first one to respond,” Faith said to Leeann.
“There hasn’t been much talk about it except the fact that the sheriff is working with state police and Texas Rangers.”
“More than likely they would send in a counselor for when the woman regains consciousness. She’ll probably be so scared,” Faith said.
“They’ll do whatever they need to help her get the help she needs and to get back to her family. It must be something crazy that happened, because people are only getting some details,” Leeann replied.
“Have you had any success talking to Colt or Jordo about counseling and doing another retreat?”
“Sort of. They’re being tough right now. I think the retreat they did helped, but they can’t handle the vulnerability aspect. Since they’re working here, too, I figured they’ll get over that with time. They definitely feel safe and are easing up on the tough attitudes.”
“Well, I can tell you this much, the new crew coming in are dealing with a lot of issues. Two are amputees, and Charlie would like to have someone who has more experience working with those types of injures and counseling on hand to assist.”
“Of course. Does she have someone in mind?”
“She said a friend of a friend who was in the Marines was a physician’s assistant and on-scene trauma medic for injured soldiers in the field.”
“That sounds dangerous and pretty intense.”
“Oh, she is tough from what Charlie told me about her. She’s been training therapists in various locations throughout the United States for the last year. Charlie said she’s looking to settle down a bit now, set some roots. She worked with her a bit when Charlie was overseas,” Faith explained.
“Well, any advice she can give would be beneficial to all of us. I would love to be able to do more for these men and women and help to see that they do have control of their lives and their futures, despite these terrible injuries and handicaps.”
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