Some people are “called” to do things. Being a SEAL, it’s my calling. It had been since I was a kid. I’d sit on the patio of my father’s cold, austere mansion looking out over the bay at Coronado—training ground for the US Navy SEALs—and dream. They were warriors. Year after year, rotation after rotation, SEAL after SEAL, I watched. As I got older, dreams turned to plans, and plans turned to training. This was my life’s goal. My calling. And I made it.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked, knowing what…
Right on cue, Marcus Risner, the team’s number two, yelled, “That’s a round on you, newbie!”
A throat cleared, his throat. All eyes turned to him. “I’ll leave you guys to haze the new kid,” Daniel said, moving toward one door near the offices.
He disappeared through the door, my eyes locked on his retreat until the door slammed between us and blocked my view. I wanted to go after him. Not just because his comment about me being a kid rankled. I wanted to talk to him, to explain. I wasn’t a fucking kid. I didn’t know how old he was. I didn’t fucking care, but I knew how old I was, and I cared he thought I was a kid.
Parker pulled me toward the wall of offices. “These officers belong to Navy intelligence. The agency has offices in the building, too. They’re just not in this portion of the building.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” I said.
“You’re welcome. Daniel is a great guy,” Parker said.
Fear, anxiety, trepidation, whatever word I landed on, all of them failed to describe the emotion that overtook my body accurately. Skin crawled. Hair stood on end. Nerves flared to life as if singed by an inferno.
Parker slapped a hand down on my shoulder, gripping it tightly. Lifting my eyes to meet his gaze, I found him looking over me toward the room and the men behind me. When his gaze came back to mine, he dipped his chin, lowered his voice, and in a gruff whisper, said, “You’ve nothing to worry about.”
His hand left my body before the words completely died between us, and he clapped his hands as he stepped around me, “Let’s break this newbie in right, whaddya guys say?”
The reactions of the group came to me, muffled as if they had traveled over a long distance or through thick cotton batting.
Did he know? Had he guessed?
Like a teammate who scored the winning point in a buzzer-beater, the guys surrounded me, cheering and pushing me toward the exit sign of a door I’d not yet been through. Still, their words became muted. I felt stuck, paralyzed, as if the only things moving me through the world and keeping me uprightwere the guys standing to my left and right, and those standing in front of and behind me.
The room on the other side of the door held cages. They showed me this room first. The logistics officer had met me there and explained which weapons I had the option to carry. They even pointed out which cage would be mine, and as I looked in that direction, I noticed it now contained shelving, uniforms, weapons, body armor—pretty much anything a SEAL needed to get the job done.
“Get jocked up, newbie,” Dom Vinetti said, his voice drawing me out of the fog Parker had put me in. Dom was the team’s sniper and the number four guy in the squad. He was big, broad, and looked like he lived in the gym.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand landed on my back, smacking it a few times. “Yeah! We want to see if you live up to the hype.”
Hype? Shit. As if I wasn’t stressed enough.
I looked around. Chris Houser, the K9 handler, moved past me, completely kitted out and ready to go. Behind him, the guys had nearly finished suiting up. I rushed into my cage, pulling on my gear as fast as I could. When I walked out, Parker and Marcus waited for me, but the rest of the guys were gone.
“Marcus will get you straightened out. He’ll make certain you know the way we do things. My job is to watch over the team and make certain we all get home. Marcus’s job is to watch my ass and yours. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Parker shook his head. “Ditch that shit right now. We’re brothers. I’m Parker, you’re Alex. That’s Marcus. Understood?”
“Yeah, Parker.”
“Good job. Most people still say, sir,” he smacked Marcus on the back, gripped my shoulder, and gave me a shake, and then disappeared out the door we had entered earlier in the day.
“Well, let’s see how you did,” Marcus said.
I felt like a schoolboy, but bit my tongue and showed him where I kept everything. Some ways I did things he liked, some he hated. When we found a happy medium where I would keep things in my kit, on my belt, and in my ruck, he smacked me on the back and pushed me towards the door.
“Now, as Dom said, let’s see if you live up to the hype.”
I still didn’t know what hype they were talking about. It worried me, but I knew I had to get through this first training with the guys and live inside the closet I chose. My head was not how that was going to work. Everyone said a 3-foot world is where I needed to focus.
I just hope my three-foot world didn’t include the man who turned my world upside down weeks ago so much that I hadn’t been able to right it since.
CHAPTER 8
