Raising a Cowgirl (3 page)

Buzzer meant that Raider was jamming any electronic communications. The
y
had called for a Blackout this morning, hoping to force the man to have to leave
and make contact with his people before the drop. Their mics were picking up the
cussing in the home, as the pissed off terrorist paced back and forth in the living
area. At least their plan was working, it sounded like the man
was
going to leav
e
soon.

The
y
sat silently waiting as they listened to the
t
arget make plans to leave and go to his storage. “Cleared Hot
,
” LC said in their ear softly which meant they were given the okay to complete the
mission.
There
was not
a
name for this mission, since it was covert. However, during the long hours of waiting,
they called it ‘Pencildick’, since they were
convinced
the man had a tiny package since his sexual
escapades
lasted about
fifteen
minutes
,
give or take a few pumps and grunts.

“Wolf, Boyscout,
s
hadow
t
arget
,
”
LC said.

“Roger that,” Wolfman answered.

“The rest,
keep a
v
isual and follow
,
” LC ordered and the men began to move to follow through with the orders that were
given.

Raider and
Master Chief
met at the base of the trail they used to
surv
e
y
the target. Together they moved to the SUV that was awaiting them. They were divided
into groups of two like alwa
ys and the teams of two had
each
sco
ped out and planned their escape if needed.
Master Chief
drove as Raider pulled up his GPS tracking on his
wristband
unit. Silently they followed as the
target moved out, and the other team
members
did the same thing they were, tracking and
strategically positioning themselves to move in on the target at a moments notice.

When the
y
arrived
at
a large
warehouse
fac
ilit
y
,
Master Chief
and Raider held back and waited. Until they
received
the orders, they were to wait.

“Is Marie excited?”
Master Chief
asked quietly
,
sweeping
his eyes around the
buildings looking for soft points as well as escape routes.

“Why would you even ask that?” Raider snorted. “She is already baby shopping online.
I figure the ole credit card is burning up the online stores even as we speak.”

“That’s awesome
,
man. I hear that sex with a pregnant chick is out of this world.”
Master Chief
laughed.

“Dude, don’t think of my wife naked. Besides, Marie wants me to ask you to be the
g
odfather
,
” Raider stated and then turned to look at his best friend. “Seriously, I was going
to ask anyway
.
I need to know someone is looking out for her if something happens.”

Master Chief
frowned and then looked at Raider. “Marie? Hell no
,
I couldn’t tap that.”

“Dumbass, the baby, I think it
’
s a girl.” Raider grinned. “I think a boy would be
too much to handle for
Marie
.”

“A girl will give her someone to bond with, shop with,
to
have tea parties
with
.”
Master Ch
ie
f
laughed as he pictured his best friend
’
s wife doing exactly that with a boy or a girl.

“I know right, that’s why it has to be a girl. I will come home to my boy being
poofified
. That would be tragic.” Raider grasped his chest and laughed when
Master Chief
solemnly
nodded.

“Round them up
,
”
LC
said
in their ears and Raider and
Master Chief
stiffened and
nodded
to the voice, even though he couldn’t see him
. Everyone
thought
LC
had
some kind of mojo going on since he knew everything.

Shit
,
if that is the worst
of
the dreams he was having about his best friend, he counted himself lucky. Since the
bombing
,
things had been stressful for each of the surviving members of the Team. Things
were back on track a little at least. Boyscout and Slone found a woman called Sable,
who was a firecracker and the sister of one of their fallen
members
. Granted, they were all seeing and hearing fucking weird ass shit, but
still
;
all
in all
,
things were
better
.

He didn’t doubt that his
friend
saw Wolfman
a couple of months ago in his dreams. They all had, but
Alex's
dreams were much
freakier
. He could see and speak to their
friends
. T
hey needed them to complete something for them, whatever the fuck that had meant.
For
Sable,
it was protecting her f
r
om a stalking bastard who almost killed her and her new friend
,
Destiny.

Gage buttoned up his new uniform; it had only taken a few weeks before he completed
the deputy’s exam.
Hell, the shooting test was simple
. David had helped him study
for the written
so he could pass.

Over the last few weeks, he discovered David and he had a lot in common, more than
the average Joe in common; it was a pleasant surprise, especially when Alex had his
meltdown. David understood, and even made sure Gage was okay after seeing it.
They all had PTSD from the bomb, and watching half of their te
a
m wiped out in the blink of an eye. They were all still trying to figure out their
triggers. Things that would take them back to the bad place they had been.

David
talked for hours
with him
, and Gage felt like he found a new person for his circle of friends.
T
oday was his first shift. David was going to be his mentor, and so for the entire
day he was shadowing the Sheriff, the other deputies were nice, but he didn’t feel
the connection
as
he did with David, it was as if they had known each other their entire lives.

“Looking good,” Sable said. She was like his sister now, checking on all of them
and making sure they were okay. It was a little funny
when
she had gone to a therapist by herself to get an idea of how to handle them. None
of the guys had wanted to go.

“I got all these fun little toys now,” Gage said and held up his walkie-talkie. Then
showed her his badge for the millionth time since he had received it. It was a new
chapter in his life, and he couldn’t wait. He loved ranching, but being a police
officer was a little like being back in the military, it filled a void.

Trusting another person with your life,
as
he was with David being his partner for the next few weeks, was something he had
not done with anyone but the men on his team. No one had risen to the level that
Gage would feel comfortable
with
: man or woman. Not
as though
he would ever let a woman have that much control over him.

He didn’t think he would ever let a woman that close, they were too much responsibility.
He knew his friends understood, even though they liked to call him a manwhore. It
was just too much to think about, he admired Slone and Alex for finding Sable and
putting themselves out there, he just didn’t think he would ever be able to do something
like that.

“What time will you be home? Do you have your cell, in case? Whose number did you
put down in case of emergency?
”
Sable rattled off her questions with her hands on her full hips so he could see the
little, tiny baby bump she was sporting.
A baby
, Gage shuttered, way too much for him.

“Mom,” Gage whined. “Fine, I will be home after five, I have my cell right here,
and the ranch number is the phone listed. David is training me, and Lou packed my
lunch already. I promise not to talk
or take candy from
strangers
.
”

Sable rolled her eyes at his smartass comment, although what he didn’t say was how
much he appreciated the fact that she cared enough to ask. It had been a long time
since someone cared that much besides his teammates.
It made him feel good
, he thought and kissed Sable on the cheek and then said, “I will be fine.”

“I know, I am just checking, but call me if you need me, I am speed dial one,” Sable
said.

“Dude, you stole my phone?
”
Gage said and pulled it out.

“Well, I figured it was safe to put myself in
,
instead of the 1-900 number you had in there. I think you need a woman.”

“Um, no, and thanks.” Gage laughed.

“Off you go.” Sable rolled her eyes, Gage left the ranch with a bounce in his step,
yep, and a new path
.

“See, wasn’t so boring.” David laughed as they filed their end of the night reports
for the next shift.

“Yeah, a whopping speeding ticket, and the jaywalker made it so worth my time today
,
” Gage drawled.

“Better than having to
whack
off in the
men’s
room for some excitement. We still have to start looking into the drugs that have
made themselves into the county. Th
e I—
25 corridor is straight up from Mexico
.
They are using that to
get to
I
-
70,
and then it is a straight shot across country. Somewhere around here they have a
storage
facility
,
” David stated.

Gage nodded and looked out the window absently.

The team moved her
e
a few months ago, when Alex’s parents bought him a ranch to start over. Their
careers
had been toast after the bombing
. T
oo much damage had been done to each of them, psychological and physical. Honorable
Disability
Discharge
is what the
y
called it
.
Cutting your dick of
f
is what it felt like.

Master
Chief
had been in the military since he was
eighteen
. A career military officer had been his goal, and he achieved it.
The loss of his friends was not something he found acceptable.
No matter how many time
s
he heard people tell him
there
were
casualties
in war. He didn’t fuckin
'
care, it was his
soldiers
who he had lost.

He thought of the last time he had seen his friends.

“Status?”
Master
Chief
said quietly and focused on the building they had watched for the last week. Their
t
arget was in there, they knew it, and he came like clockwork.

Raider
waited and listened as some of the guys began to
s
peak quietly, letting them know where everyone
was.

They called for Champagne, which was two teams in front—one behind.
Ma
s
ter Chief
was the
leader
of
the team on the roof. They were waiting for the go
signal
to move lower
,
joining the two other teams who were already
positioned
, one on the left of the building and one on the right. His would take front and
center when
it
came down. His job was to guard the front of the building until the other two teams
secured the target.

“Green,” the quiet vo
ices started announcing and Master
Chief
waited.

There was a pause, and they waited for their final okay for the mission. The man
they had been searching for had been verified as being in an apartment on the second
floor
, shit, he was staring right at the asshole
. Their mission was to grab the man; he was responsible for the death of a lot of
people, sitting in this hovel directing terrorist attacks around the world. The Intel
said he had a woman he visited in the building.

There was a little movement but not much, it was dusk and they were going into the
building at the most opportune tim
e. Master Chief watched below
at the surrounding people who seemingly were innocently strolling. They were waiting
for 1800 hours when most
p
eople were off the street.

“Irene
, I repeat, Irene," LC
said clearly, which meant they had the go to do the mission. Now it was a matter
of wai
ting for the correct time. Master Chief gave the nod and Raider, Voodoo, and Emo
moved quickly to their positions on the street. Down the stair
s
and behind the large vehicle they had parked there two days before. He
tapped on his watch and looked at the specs of the building.
Alex had given them the specs of the building
. T
he man was like a machine when it came to details. Master Chief used his hands and
signaled where they would each go when given the order. They had been briefed and
walked through many times over the last few days
on
how this was going to go.

“
Heads Up,” he heard LC
say. It was almost time, the sun was setting
, and
from now on the communication would only be
by
hand signals
. T
hey were going dark since the smallest noise could draw attention to them, and that
wasn’t what they wanted right now.

Master
Chief
watched
then
LC held up
a fist, it meant hold up. He
watched as a group of men came around the corner, they waited for them to pass and
then the first team began to walk swiftly toward the entrance of the building
. The team was halfway across the street before anyone had figured out
there
was a problem.

The lone man walked with determination, Alex tapped the
ir
ear wick three times, and all of the men fro
ze and walked to the side. Master
Chief
saw the man
,
too, coming around the edge of the corner where Alex and his team were.

The man walked to the front of the building they were breaching and stopped, he grinned
and looked around, his eyes stopping on each of his
team members. No one had
time to react as the man opened his arms wide and lifted them to the sky, that’s
when he saw the bomb strapped to the man's stomach and
Alex
stood and yelled, “Joker!”

The man pressed something on his chest and laughed—the explosion rocked the street.

Fuck, a suicide bomber tried to take them out. How had they known?

It had a
lso
been
the last time he had spoken to his best friend Raider.

“We good?” Master Chief asked
and
looked at Raider who was next to him. They had gotten into a pissing match when
Raider insisted on shoving the picture of his baby and
the
death letter in his side pocket just before the mission. Raider knew better than
to jinx
the
fuckin
'
mission.
They were currently waiting on the rooftop to receive their orders. Everyone had
to be in place, they needed eyes high up until they were. Then the two would move
to their position once the little muther fucker showed up.

“Yep, you didn’t have to pin the ears back though
,
man. I
think I
am deaf in one ear now. How am I gonna tell my baby girl that he
r
daddy is deaf because of her godfather. Man, that is totally gonna make me look
like a pussy.”
Raider
laughed.

“Fuck off.
You ready?” Master Chief asked and pointed to the small little device that was on
his arm.

“Down to the second.” Raider nodded.

“How is Marie?”
Master Chief said
,
hoping to ease some of the tension they were all feeling. They had been gone for
a long time, all of them were ready to have a little off time. Especially to meet
Raider
’
s little girl.

“Doing good, we are having a party when we get back. You have to be there and make
a speech
,
asshole
,
so don’t go disappearing to the bars and banging random chicks. Your presence is
requested by the ‘MOM’,” Raider said quietly.

“Hey
,
I only disappeared once, when that chick tied me down and held me
prisoner
as her sex slave for a few days
,
” Master Chief argued.

“Y
e
a
h
, well
,
I don’t want to have to tell Marie that excuse, so no
banging until after the party
,
” Raider said and glared at his boss and friend.

“Don’t worry
,
Raider, I will have Mama cast a special spell
,
” Voodoo said.

“Hell no, she will shrink my dick or something like that
,
”
Master Chief growled.

“Better shrunk than cut off, which is what Marie would do if you missed the shower,
or brought one of the barflies with you.” Raider chuckled.

“Green
.
”
They heard over the mics.

“To be continued
,
” Raider promised and then followed the team to the street.

That day
had
fucking sucked when he woke up on the street laying
among
the debris with burn marks and broken bones. His arm
had
hung down to his side until he made it back to the apartment they shared. That’s
where he set his own shoulder against the wall, silently taking the pain because he
wanted to
help
his men. He saw Voodoo come in carrying Raider and
he went
to his
friend’s
side.

Fuck!
Master Chief cried in his head, he knew if he
had
opened his mouth a
tortured
scream would erupt and never stop. How the hell had this happened to Raider? LC
had
came up
,
grimaced
,
and said
,
“We deal later, together. For now, we need to get the fuck out of here. I need
you
,
Master Chief.”

He had taken
a deep
breath,
stood and nodded,
then had
shut off his emotions
as
he
always
had and
took
care of the job.