SEALs of Honor: Cooper (11 page)

“His was a paid position I think. But not much. He always made a few extra bucks giving rides in the camp. He wasn’t supposed to, and he’d been told off a few times but…” She shrugged. “Commerce in a place like that happened.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it or condone it.”

“No, but it would be almost impossible to stop.”

He nodded but stayed quiet. What could he say? Just then a soldier arrived to lead them out of the room, out of the building and toward the waiting plane.

Soon Sasha would be safe at home.

Then she could put this behind her and move on.

Now he had to find a way to stay in touch with her.

Before she got so deep back in her life, she forgot he existed.

H
ow life had
changed. And not necessarily in a good way.

What she needed was something to do. A way to move forward.

But now, seven days after returning home, she still felt paralyzed. Incapable of doing anything. She hadn’t returned to her clinic – technically she had another week off. She’d told her story to so many people she was starting to hate the sound of her voice. At least Ron was alive and slowly healing, but she hadn’t been allowed in to see him yet.

What did she want to do from here? She stared out the window of her mother’s kitchen. It was nice to visit family now. Something she treasured after her kidnapping.

“You could just have a vacation you know?”

Sasha turned to look at her mother. “I am,” she said with a smile. “I’m here with you.”

“And planning to leave the minute you got here.” Her mother’s tone was rueful. “You can’t seem to settle down.”

Sasha winced. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m still not sleeping at night and although I’ve recovered physically, it doesn’t feel like I’ve made any great strides emotionally.”

“Do you have to go back to the base?”

Sasha nodded. “I still have to do one more QA session and have a mental health checkup then I should be done with it all.” She also wanted to go back to the base – maybe she could reconnect with Cooper. She hadn’t seen him since she’d gotten home. It never occurred to her that she wouldn’t. Why hadn’t he called?

“I don’t think you’ll ever be done with it,” her mother said. The words were delivered in an even tone, but there was something odd tucked inside. Sasha had heard something similar from her earlier but now wondered if what she was hearing was correct.

“I’m fine, Mom.”

Her mother lifted her head from the pattern on the table and studied her features carefully. “Are you?” she asked. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing and send you off to the other end of the world again, but you’ve been off since…” Her voice faltered.

“Since Greg?” She groaned. “I know. But can anyone go through that experience and not be affected?” She lifted her shoulders. “I think that’s partly why I’m having trouble settling now. Last homecoming It had been to find Greg and Maureen together.”

“And now without a husband to come home to and no longer having the same best friend who you did everything with, trying to fill your days…”

“And nights…” Sasha filled in wryly. “Yeah, it’s like my life is empty.”

“And yet it’s not.”

“No, it’s not, but it feels like a void has been created and I have done nothing to fill it.”

“And do you still feel like someone is watching you?” her mother asked abruptly, her worried gaze studying Sasha.

“I forgot I said that to you.” Sasha smiled at her mother and lied easily. “It was only in the first day or so. I think it was the fear that I’d be kidnapped again.”

“With good reason.” Her mother took a deep breath and words poured out. “I know you feel you need to help others and that’s very admirable, but could you please stay on US soil? I don’t think I could handle it if you went overseas again.” Tears shone in the corner of her mother’s eyes.

Sasha reached out to hold her mother’s hands. “I’m so sorry. It was never you I was trying to get away from.”

“I know, sweetheart, but as a mother we want to heal all our children’s hurts. And when we can’t, we sit by and watch helplessly as you make decisions that have a huge impact on us too.”

While she was trying to figure out how to answer her mother, a text came in. She read it and frowned. “Theresa wants to move the meeting off base. She’s still having a hard time and doesn’t like the military aspect of the location.”

Her mother frowned. “That makes no sense. It’s not like you were kidnapped from the base or by the military. You were rescued by SEALs so that should make her feel better?”

There often wasn’t much in the way of rhyme or reason for feelings. Sometimes one had to just go with their gut. “I’m okay with it either way,” she said. She quickly texted Theresa back. After several more rounds of messages, they set it up for noon the next day.

“Good,” she said, putting her phone away. “That’s done. It should be the last step then I can forget about this mess too.”

“Is the media calling you?”

“All the time,” Sasha said cheerfully. “And I’m ignoring them all.”

“Greg called while you were overseas, did I tell you that?” she asked abruptly.

“No you didn’t,” Sasha said. Outside of an inner disquiet she was happy to note that the news didn’t cause her any distress. Greg was over and done with. She didn’t want anything more to do with him.

“And he called the day after you returned,” her mother added quietly.

Sasha took a deep breath. Typical that her mother hadn’t told her right away. Always waiting for the right time to slip those little zingers in. Then again, until Sasha had a new partner, her mother would consider the old one better than none. Unlike Sasha. Greg was no longer a part of her life and never would be again. “Odd, I wonder why?”

“He wanted to see you,” her mother said. “He was really distraught to hear about the kidnapping.”

“I wasn’t impressed myself,” Sasha said with a smile. “Just glad it’s over with. If he calls again, just tell him I’m fine.”

“Tell him yourself,” Mom said. “You need to face him.”

“Maybe, but I don’t have to do it while I’m facing other stuff,” Sasha said firmly but gently. “He had lots of time to see me before I left.”

“Did he or did you push him off every time?”

“What would you have me do, Mom? Forgive him?”

“That would be a start. You loved him deeply.”

“I did.” Sasha stared at her hands, surprised to find that the phone was back out of her pocket and being turned over and over again in her fingers. “That was before he betrayed my trust.”

“We all make mistakes.”

Sasha smiled. “Forgetting your homework on the desk is a mistake. Calling a friend a bitch when you’re upset with her is a mistake. What he did was make a decision.”

*

Cooper walked the
fitness room, swinging his arms back and forth to loosen them up. Since returning from Turkey he’d been keyed up. As if waiting for the other shoe to drop, which was stupid. He was always going out on missions and never had this feeling. He didn’t know what was wrong this time, but the more he looked at Dr. Sasha’s kidnapping he had to wonder what the terrorists planned to do with her and her colleagues? Kill them as an example to the rest of the world? Sell them to the highest bidder? Or use their skills for their own people?

And why this group. There were a lot of volunteers at the refugee camp. Interesting that they kidnapped only the US medical staff. Maybe they thought by taking out key personnel their actions would have more impact.

His movements slowed as his mind twisted and turned on the problem.

“Now what’s on your mind,” Evan asked as he adjusted the weight on the barbell he was working with. “You look like you’re trying to solve the problems of the world.”

“Why only medical personnel?”

Markus sat up as he recovered from doing his crunches and said, “Good question.”

“Maybe that was random chance, and they were just taken because they were American?” Evan said as he turned to look at Cooper. “Although to randomly grab four doctors seems not random at all.”

He studied his two friends. “And they were snatched from different parts of the camp…”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Markus hopped to his feet and grabbed his towel to wipe his face.

“Sasha… Dr. Childs said she’d been working in the one area but on the opposite side of where David and Theresa had been working. They did have a schedule at the clinic but her day was shot to shit as she was basically kidnapped and forced to go see a young pregnant woman who was too scared to go to the clinic.”

Markus frowned as Levi, who’d been pumping iron on the far side, walked closer. “Yalta?” Markus asked.

“Yes,” Cooper answered. “Jamel obviously had something to do with it. But why these four?”

“I heard your question.” Levi wiped his face with the towel in his hands then threw it around his neck. “The only reason to steal medical personnel is if you need their skills. If they just wanted to make an example of these people, any American volunteers would do.”

“Or because you want the refugee camp to suffer as well,” Markus suggested.

“Which if they’d taken
all
the personnel it would have, but they only took, what, a third of them?” Cooper stood with his hands on his hips. “But losing that many doctors was obviously hard on those left behind, and how hard would it be to attract more if they can’t keep the ones they have safe?”

“None of this answers the question as to why these medical personnel were snatched versus others.”

“Someone knew who they were, where they’d be working and determined they’d be the easiest to grab,” Levi said. “Jamel was paid to keep his clients informed of the doctors’ whereabouts, but they did the choosing. In order to choose, they had to know what the choices were. That Jamel couldn’t help with.”

In a grim voice, Cooper said, “So in other words, someone knew who was at the camp – and he chose the ones he wanted.”

T
he next day
was bright and sunny. Then she lived in California where it was either sunny or sunny smog. Today there were blue skies and that was a blessing. It also did a lot to lighten her mood. Her mother’s words about Greg calling had drifted into her dreams making her toss and turn all night. She’d woken in a sweat.

Stupid. She pulled into the coffee shop that had a back room to rent for meetings and parked. This location was much nicer than the base where she’d be looking over her shoulder, afraid Greg had somehow found her. It’s not that she was afraid of him but neither did that mean she was looking forward to seeing him again.

And the last thing she wanted was a confrontation.

She locked her car and walked into the front of the restaurant. A hostess greeted her.

“I’m having a meeting here today. Not sure if the back room is booked or not.”

The hostess said, “I’ll go check.” And she hurried away.

Sasha surveyed the patrons wondering if Theresa was sitting at a table waiting for her. She hadn’t recognized any military vehicles outside. Then again, they should be only meeting one person after all the rounds she’d done so far. She was surprised she needed to see anyone anymore. Surely she’d answered every damn question imaginable already.