And despite her promise, she wasn’t convinced she had Tara’s strength to return the favor. Oh God, what if her cancer came back? If anything ever happened to her best friend, Gray wouldn’t survive it. She wasn’t brave like Tara. She didn’t even share her faith in a fair and righteous God.
What if—
“Hey, crazy lady. No bad thoughts.” Pulling up to a red light, Tara grabbed Gray’s hand and entwined their fingers. “Remember what Nalini said?”
Dr. Nalini Christina was Tara’s kick-ass psychologist. Gray had joined in a couple of therapy sessions after her mother had died. It had helped. “There’s only today,” Gray replied automatically.
“And?”
“And we’re gonna make her our bitch.”
“Damn straight we are.” With a smile that lit her up from the inside, Tara let go and pinched her nostrils. “But first, you really need to shower. My God, girl. How did they even let you on the plane? You smell like dirt and rotten garbage had a baby and called it stinky.”
CHAPTERTWO
Out of respectfor the chain of command, Chase knocked on the open office door. “Do you have a minute, sir?”
Colonel Grayson looked up from his laptop screen. “What can I do you for, Mackenzie?”
He entered and closed the door behind him. “With your permission, I was hoping to stop in Seattle on my way back from my assignment.”
“Trouble with your family?”
“No, sir. There’s just something I have to do. Something I should have done a while ago, but with the mission taking priority, I’ve been putting it off. Won’t take more than a couple of hours.”
“Unless all hell breaks loose, I don’t see any issues with a short layover. Permission granted. You need anything else?”
“No, sir.”
The colonel nodded sharply. Once. “Excellent work today, Sergeant.”
“Thank you, sir. Any word from Tak?” Earlier in the week, the colonel had dispatched Takoda Keenan to Washington to conduct surveillance on a high-ranking government official. Chase didn’t know the details or who the official was, and he hadn’t heard from his best friend since.
Not unusual on a covert operation and not a cause for concern. If Tak needed an assist, he’d call for it, and the JTT would respond. No questions asked.
“He made contact earlier as scheduled. He’ll be back on Monday. Same as you.”
“Good to hear it, sir.”
“What time is your departure?”
“Zero six hundred.”
“Make sure to grab some bug repellent. The mosquitos are as big as your head north of the border.”
“Already packed, sir.” Chase grinned. Before joining the marines, he and Tak had spent their summers hiking and camping in the Rocky Mountains’ backcountry. He’d crossed the Canadian border undetected enough times this trip would be like going home for him.
“Well then, I’ll leave you to your final preparations. Good luck, Sergeant.”
Dismissed, he made his way to the kitchen and found Cody peering into the jar of peanut butter Chase had hoped to snag for himself.
“Fucking empty,” Cody grumbled, screwing the lid back on before tossing the container into the recycle bin. “You know Hoyt puts the empties back on purpose, right?”
“Yep.” Chase nodded. Just another way the disgruntled corporal liked to stick it to the rest of them. The members of the JTT had given up trying to figure out what Peter Hoyt’s deal was a long time ago. And frankly, they had enough to worry about without adding his petty problems to the list. “You ready to roll?”
“Locked and loaded,” Cody replied, shoving off the counter and falling into step as they left the kitchen together. “You?”
“Same.” When they reached the screen door, Chase pushed it open on hinges that begged for oil, and they stepped out onto the porch into the fading light of day.
