by J. M. Madden
Text copyright ©2015 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Cat Johnson. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Hot SEALs remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Cat Johnson, or their affiliates or licensors.
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Reclaiming the SEAL
By
J.M. Madden
Julie had wanted to return to Little Creek for months, but definitely not to attend the funeral of a fallen SEAL and former friend.
No, she’d wanted to return to rekindle the love she’d shared with Gabriel Carter.
Now she has to support him through the loss of his best friend. But maybe, if she returns, they’ll be able to clear up what happened years ago and reclaim the love they’ve lost.
Prologue
MAX LOOKED DOWN at the text message he’d just received on his phone.
You were always a great friend.
Alarm coursed through him at the ominous words and he looked at the info bar. No contact name but he recognized the seven five seven Little Creek, Virginia area code. Swiping back, he hit the green call button and put the phone to his ear. As it rang, he made a motion to Lacey. They’d been on their way out to dinner but that would have to wait.
The phone rang several times, then went to a recorded message. The mechanical voice said there was “no voicemail set up for this number.”
Fuck!
Max paged through his contacts. He called Travis first, his old platoon leader.
“Maxwell, my man, what the hell are you up to? I haven’t talked to you for ages. Last I heard you were working at that detective agency.”
Max grinned, a little uncomfortable. Travis was absolutely right, it had been a long time, and honestly, if he hadn’t just gotten that cryptic message, Max may not have even called him today. That made him feel like shit.
As he listened to his buddy on the other end of the line though, a sense of nostalgia overcame him. “You’re right and I’m sorry about that. I need to hook up with you guys and catch up. I don’t think we have time to talk right now. I just got this message…”
Max related what the text said and Travis whistled. “Damn, that sounds like an S.O.S. What’s the number? I’ll see if it matches up to anyone in my phone.”
Max read off the digits.
“Nope, not one of my contacts. I suggest you call Jon Rudnick. He’s the lead for Team 6. Maybe he has more contacts you can tap. That dude seems to know everyone in the Little Creek and Dam Neck Naval area. Let me know what you find out.”
“I will.”
Max dialed Jon’s number. Voice mail. Figured. Max left a message about what was going on, but didn’t expect to hear back. There were five million things that could keep a SEAL from a phone.
But the phone rang in his hand less than a minute later.
“Tate,” Max answered.
“Rudnick. You just called me?”
Max introduced himself and recapped the situation. Rudnick hummed on the other end of the line. “Let me take it up the line and see what I can find out. I don’t recognize the number but somebody down here has to.”
Max hung up, worried that they wouldn’t be in time.
“Nobody knows it?”
Lacey leaned against his side, her blue eyes concerned.
Max shook his head, that hollow feeling in his stomach like something bad was going down and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“Text it to me and I’ll contact some of the girls back there. We’ll find out who it is.”
But would they find out in time?
In the end, two elite SEAL teams, a cadre of nurses and a large part of the naval population surrounding Norfolk were not enough to save one man.
Chapter One
IT WAS ONLY appropriate that the sky cried today—at the funeral of a fallen hero.
Julie knew that it was going to be an ordeal when everything that could go wrong on her trip down did, keeping her from the graveside funeral until the very end. She had arrived just in time for the three gun volley to swell her heart with emotion. Then a lone bugler began to play ‘Taps’. Her heart ached with the sorrow she could feel drifting through the air. Gwen, Butter’s mother, burst into sobs as the folded casket flag was presented to her. Julie was too far away to hear what the man was saying but Gwen cradled the bundle to her chest protectively. As a final act of respect, the Navy SEALs present walked by the casket and pounded their trident pins into the wood. The lid of the casket gleamed with gold by the time the men had all trooped by.
The service concluded and people began to wander away, murmuring to themselves and stopping to whisper words of condolence to Gwen. They grieved today, but they would go on with their lives in a short amount of time. Another serviceman taking his life was now a horrifyingly normal occurrence, especially in a naval area as large as Norfolk.
Her eyes drifted over the people walking away. There were several that she knew and nodded to, both in uniform and not. As a nurse at Walter Reed she’d had constant military contact, but when she’d taken that private practice job a few years ago she’d kind of fallen out of touch.
Gwen caught her eye and stepped over to give her a brief hug, before Franklin, her second husband, escorted her away. Butter had never had anything nice to say about Franklin, other than that he appeared to love his mother, which was enough for him. Butter’s own father had died years ago in a car crash.
Julie spotted Lacey Adams, her former supervisor at Walter Reed, nudging the dark-haired man standing beside her in his Navy service dress uniform and motioning toward Julie. The man took her arm to walk her over, umbrella held protectively above her head.
Lacey had been an incredible, intuitive nurse. It had been a pleasure work with her at Walter Reed, caring for many of the injured servicemen returning from war. It had felt like a true calling with a true friend. It had been hard when Lacey had left, but Julie could not begrudge her the life she’d built in Colorado. As Julie looked at the man beside her, she could totally understand why she’d completely rearranged her life to be with him. Maxwell Tate looked like a former SEAL. It was stamped all over his somber, determined, clean-shaven face. Only when he looked at Lacey did his expression soften.
As soon as she was within range, Julie pulled Lacey into a hug, umbrellas bumping above them. Now the tears came to her eyes, when she was with a friend who would understand.
Wrapping her up tight and swaying slightly, Julie held onto Lacey for several long moments, then pulled back. They both had to wipe their cheeks.
Julie held her hand out to Max. “I’ve heard so much about you that I feel like I know you.”
Max shook her hand firmly. “Same here. Lacey loves talking about you girls. She misses you a lot.”
Julie grinned. “It’s mutual, believe me.” They had been quite a crew; that was for sure. Nurses were known for being a little wild, but some of the things they’d done while working at Walter Reed probably could have gotten them fired.
Lacey’s blue eyes were shining, as if she knew what Julie were thinking. She probably did, the woman had always been uncanny that way. “If you ever feel like a change, we need nurses at the VA where I work. You would fit in perfectly there.”
Julie gave her a surprised, considering smile. “I’ll think about that. A change of pace might be nice.”
Then they both sobered, the reason for their reunion coming back to them.
Julie rested her hand on Max’s arm. The jacket sleeve was thick, but she could feel the tensile strength beneath her fingers.
It was obvious he kept himself in shape, though he’d left the SEALs a couple years ago. “I’m sorry for your loss, Max, more than I can tell you.”
Max’s face closed down a little and he gave her a nod. “I appreciate that Julie, though it had been a while since I’d seen Butter. I’ve been gone a while now and I hadn’t kept up with them the way I should have. That was why I didn’t even recognize his number.”
Julie knew that it was hard sometimes, keeping ties to former teammates. Even Gabe, Butter’s swim buddy, hadn’t kept up with him as much as he could have after he’d been transferred to another squad.
Her eyes drifted across the expanse of grass between them. Gabriel stood looking at the Trident pin-laden coffin, as if he just couldn’t believe that his best friend in the world was about to be put in the ground. His hands hung loosely to his sides and his head was down, which was not normal. Gabe was one of those SEALs that was always ready for a fight or a fuck, as they liked to say. But today—today, he looked beaten down by the world. And the rain, it was coming down steadily enough that you needed an umbrella, which he didn’t have. He was in his service dress uniform and now it was beyond sodden.
Julie shifted her umbrella, debating whether or not to go over to him. But it was not a true debate; she knew she would. She just had to prepare herself.
Lacey reached out and squeezed her on the arm. “Gabe will be fine. You know he will. He’s too strong not to survive this.”
Her eyes filled with tears because she knew he was strong, stronger than any other man she knew, in body and mind. And in heart. “I know, but I worry. He’s had other traumas and he gets more reclusive every time.”
His dad had died a few years ago from a heart attack, then a cousin in a car crash. His mother was alive but they weren’t close. Gabe’s family, which he had considered Butter to be, was dwindling.
Her friend of many years smiled at her, so sadly. “They do that. You just have to be there when they try to come back.”
Julie sighed. Yes, she could see that. Even after being apart for so long Lacey was dropping her pearls of wisdom.
Jon Rudnick from DEVGRU, the Naval Special Warfare Developmental Group, otherwise known as SEAL Team 6, stepped up to Max and shook his hand. “Pleasure to meet you in person. Just sorry we had to do it this way. This is Ali, my girlfriend.”
The curvy brunette stood beside him, her hazel eyes warm with understanding as she shook his hand as well.
Max nodded. “Pleasure to meet you, Ali. This is my fiancée Lacey. And this is Julie Ritter. She’s the one that narrowed down that it was Butter’s number.”
Julie shook Jon’s hand, then Ali’s. Julie had seen his face before but never been introduced. “Pleasure to meet you both.”
Ali seemed to sense that Julie needed it and reached out to give her a hug. Julie was a little surprised, but appreciative. She didn’t know if she wanted to be known as the one that had figured out where the missing SEAL was. And technically, Gabe had actually been the one to do that.
“There have been too many of these happening,” Max murmured.
It was an incontrovertible fact. More active duty servicemen were dying every year from suicide than attacks overseas.
The dark haired man nodded. “I know. Too many deployments and not enough downtime is really hurting us all.”
His arm curled tighter around Ali and she looked up at him compassionately as she leaned closer to him in support.
“There were a lot of guys here I didn’t know,” Jon told him, trying to change the subject.
Max nodded again. “Yeah. I recognized Cramden and Potts from Coronado, but didn’t know any of the others. Bunch of young bloods.”
Jon smiled with him in agreement.
There were two men standing at the back of the crowd, both in uniform, although one held the leash of a service dog. They seemed to be waiting for Max and Lacey. Max followed the direction of their gazes. “Those are two of my buddies that I work with now at Lost and Found in Denver. The big guy is Harper Preston and the leaner guy is Joe Flynn, both former SEALs.”
“Did they know Butter, too?”
Max shook his head. “Nah. They’re just here for support.”
Julie was always amazed at the solidarity and support in the teams. Butter probably didn’t know any more than a hundred other SEALs, but men had come from all over the country to pay their respects. There were only about twenty-four hundred active duty SEALs so she was impressed with the turnout.
Butter would have been amazed at all of the heavy hitters that had shown up. He’d have wanted to throw together a party.
Julie wanted to walk over and check on Gabe. Lacey caught her looking and gave her an understanding nudge. “Go talk to him. We need to go anyway. Our flight back to Colorado leaves at seven in the morning. By the time we say goodbye to a few more people it’ll be time for us to go back to the hotel for the night.”
“We need to go as well,” Jon told them. “I’m sorry we had to meet under such sad circumstances.”
Ali gave her a little wave and walked away wither boyfriend.
“They seem really nice,” she murmured, turning back to her friend.
With a sad lurch to her stomach, Julie gave Lacey a final hug. “Stay safe out there in the wilds of Colorado. I’ll call you tomorrow or the day after once you’ve had a chance to recover.”
Lacey nodded and pulled away. Max gave her a stoic nod and cupped his arm around Lacey as they walked away. It was so sweet to see how he centered the umbrella to cover every bit of her, but his own broad shoulder was being rained upon. Max clearly doted on her.
Once they left, Julie allowed her attention to return to Gabe. He hadn’t moved from his position by the grave. One of the last stragglers pounded him on the back, but he didn’t budge or even look up to see who it had been. The complete desolation she could see in every inch of him made her heart ache.
Julie walked across the closely shorn grass, her pumps sinking into the rain-laden ground. When she reached his side, she stretched her right hand up to hold the umbrella over top of them both, then took the lax fingers of his right hand into her left.
Gabe jerked as if just realizing she was standing beside him and gave her a quick glance. There was no recognition in his gaze, though. His normally sharp, intelligent brown eyes were hazed over with anguish.
Julie’s throat tightened with fresh tears, but she forced them back. Gabe had not shed a tear through the entire graveside gathering. When she’d heard the news that Butter had died, it had taken her several hours to absorb the information before the tears had come. She had cried for the rest of the day, incredibly saddened that one of her best friends in the world had died.
Butter had been one of those guys that just lit up a room. Men and women were both drawn to his outgoing personality. He’d gotten his name years ago because he was so smooth with the ladies. Smooth as butter… It hadn’t been your typical, kick-ass SEAL nickname, but it just fit him so well.
In her mind’s eye she could see him sliding up to a woman at a bar and delivering his line. At an even six feet tall, cut with muscle, he had bright blue eyes, blond hair and a charming grin; women usually fell for his line, happily and completely. He’d even tried to use it on her once, but she’d lifted an eyebrow in disbelief and laughed. Butter had been offended for about three seconds, then laughed with her because he knew there was no way he could replace the man already in her heart.
Julie leaned into Gabe just enough to remind him that she was there. He’d turned back to the coffin again. “I want you to know that I’m here for you, Gabe. We can stay here as long as you want.”
Okay, that could be a lie. There were men waiting to put the plot to rights, but they knew a military goodbye took time. And if they prodded, she would argue for more time.
She knew he’d heard her, though he’d given no visible reaction. Gabriel Carter was one of the most self-contained men she’d ever known and even now, at what she knew had to
be one of the most traumatic incidents of his career, his face seemed cut from granite. Only his dark eyes gave him away, burning with devastation, and she only saw it because she’d known him for so long. There would be no tears here, not from him, and she felt like she’d cried enough for both of them.
They stood there for the better part of fifteen minutes. Her arm began to tire so she leaned into him a little closer and brought her umbrella down a bit, resting her elbow. Without a word, Gabe reached out and took the umbrella from her. Then, miracle of miracles, he opened up his other arm and drew her in against his uniformed chest.
Julie knew that if she tried to fill the silence with empty words he wouldn’t appreciate it, though her nervousness urged her to do something. Eventually he drew in a deep breath, then another. The Virginia night was steamy, the summer heat unrelenting and the blasted rain had been coming down for days.
Gabe was soaked and even through the steaminess she could tell there was a slight trembling moving through his body. Was he actually chilled or was it emotion? Both probably.
The men waiting to finish the burial moved forward a bit, but Gabe still didn’t move. Julie knew she would stay with him as long as he needed her to. Gabe and Butter both deserved that.
It wasn’t until as the storm intensified and lightning began to crack that he seemed to finally realize that there were other people with him, waiting for him. He looked down at Julie and she tried to give him a supportive smile, but it felt more like a grimace. Gabe leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her damp forehead, then pulled away enough to move. He gave the men waiting a sheepish wave and began to walk away from the gravesite.
They’d only gone about fifty feet when he turned to watch them clear away the remnants of Butter’s funeral. Julie didn’t say anything as she stood plastered against him. The rain was coming down in sheets now, plastering her dress to her and chilling her thoroughly. She tried to control it, but subtle shudders started to wrack her body, too.
Gabe needed to see this though, he needed to know that Butter was well and truly gone.