The Elite: The Complete Series of Boomer and Player (With Bonus) (27 page)

The pit in my stomach sunk a little deeper, making it hard to hold on to a small sliver of hope that somehow Jack would be getting back to the computer soon and would be able to return my messages.

“Well, if I can make a suggestion,” Rachel began, setting her coffee cup back on the counter. “The time isn’t going to pass very quickly if you’re just sitting around staring at a screen all day. So, maybe to take your mind off of everything, we should find something to do.”

“Like what, Rachel? I’m not going to sit around playing board games or go out and have a manicure while the love of my life could be lying in the middle of some shithole desert, bleeding to death. How am I supposed to relax and pretend like everything is okay when all I can see is the image of him suffering and in pain somewhere or worse—” my words were swallowed up in a wave of tears that I’d thought were no longer possible.

Rachel didn’t respond, her face a mix of emotions. I swatted away the tears on my cheeks before they could run any lower. I cleared my throat and shook my head. “I’m sorry, Rach. I know you’re just trying to help.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “It’s okay, Holly. We’ll do whatever it is you want to do. I just don’t think that sitting around waiting is really gonna make you feel better.”

I nodded as I reached for my coffee mug. I gulped it down, ignoring the heat on my tongue, as I desperately tried to force down the lump that had re-formed in my throat. The idea of sitting around waiting all day for something that may or may never come was exhausting, but at the same time it was more exhausting to think about going out into the world and putting on a brave face pretending that everything was fine—because it wasn’t.

Rachel removed her hand and went back to her own cup of coffee, her eyes drifting past me. After a moment, she returned them to me and asked, “Is there anyone you could call? Maybe someone at his base?”

I sparked at her suggestion, a wide smile spreading across my face for the first time in recent memory. “Rachel, you’re a freakin’ genius!”

Before she even had a chance to ask what it was that she’d said to inspire my light bulb moment, I’d raced from the kitchen, Hunter running behind me, and threw myself onto the couch. I pulled up my email inbox and searched back, trying to find the number to the only person I knew that also knew Jack.

Aaron Rosen. The so-called Player. He’d know what to do.

“Here it is! Here it is,” I shouted, scooping up the laptop. I took it into the kitchen to show Rachel the message on the screen. “This is the guy that Jack was staying with when he was in Holiday Cove. His name is Aaron and they served together. Princess, Jack’s dog, is staying with him while Jack’s gone. If anyone can help, he can.”

Rachel smiled. “Now you’re talking. Let’s give him a call.”

I ran back to my room and grabbed the phone, dialing Aaron’s number. After a few rings, the machine for the Rosen Air Museum clicked on and after relaying the business hours prompted me to leave a message. When the tone played, I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find the right words, and after a long pause, hung up.

“No answer,” I explained, rejoining Rachel in the kitchen.

She frowned. “Well, we’ll try again in a few minutes then.”

“Why don’t we just drive up there?” I asked, the idea sparking in my mind and growing hotter with each passing second.

“All the way to Holiday Cove?” Rachel raised an eyebrow at me.

I nodded. “You’re the one who said we shouldn’t just sit around and wait with the news on to find out what’s happening!”

Chapter Twelve

Holly

By the time Rachel and I arrived at the Rosen Air Museum, every nerve was frayed. The entire ride up the coast had been spent turning over scenarios in my mind. Rachel had taken my keys and drove so I could continue my frantic search over every news site in hopes for even a scrap of new information. After two hours in the car, I’d finally found an article that provided a little more insight into what had happened. After that, all of the articles rehashed the same two or three lines of concrete information, and the only thing that changed from one article to the next was the particular spin the publication was putting on the facts.

As far as I can tell, the only things that were for certain…a fighter jet had deployed from the USS Theodore Roosevelt from their location somewhere in the Persian Gulf. In the course of their mission, which wasn’t specified in any of the articles I could find, they had taken enemy fire from the ground off the Sinjar mountain range in the area. According to my research, the area was a hostile zone, embroiled in religious conflicts for several years, and more recently had been taken over by a group of terrorists who had once been aligned with US forces until deciding to switch sides mid-war. So far, no group had come forward to take claim for the attack or the downed plane. The pilot of the downed plane was not listed, nor were any of the other pilots involved in the mission, but my gut wouldn’t let go of the suspicion that I’d held from the beginning, and that it had been Jack’s plane. Otherwise, he’d have been able to get back to the air craft carrier and message me to tell me he was all right. I knew he’d have done anything to get back to me as quickly as possible—especially considering how our last conversation had been interrupted. He wouldn’t string me along for nearly two days.

When I finally put my phone away, I did my best not to break down again, as I recounted the information to Rachel. Afterward, I sank into my own quiet reflection, watching the coastline as we whizzed up the 101, and turned over all of the facts like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle inside my head.

The sun was shining on the road ahead of us and I thought back to the day I’d taken off to Holiday Cove almost two months before. I’d been in a completely different mindset and the beauty of the scenic drive was the first thing I’d seen to start tearing away the stress I’d been carrying throughout tax season. As Rachel drove up the coast, all I could think about was getting there faster. My mind wasn’t on palm tree lined beaches, white sand, or soaking up the sun in my bikini or taking a late afternoon nap without a hint of guilt. I just wanted to get to the air museum and talk to Aaron.

And hopefully get the answers that I desperately needed.

As we neared, I began giving Rachel turn by turn instructions, remembering the day Jack had taken me to the museum to let me pick out a plane for us to take up for the afternoon. A smile tugged at my lips, remembering the moment he’d flipped our plane upside down and the way that my string of cuss words had only made him laugh harder. Everything about that day had been magical.

The sound of gravel crunching under the tires pulled me from my memories, as we made our way up the driveway that led to the parking lot in front of the Rosen Air Museum. My heart jumping even higher into my throat as the main building came into sight.

This was it.

“Is this the place?” Rachel asked, her eyes scanning left and right until she found a free spot.

There were a handful of cars in the lot, and I wondered if that was the reason Aaron hadn’t been able to answer my call. I knew the museum was a family owned business, but I couldn’t recall if I’d seen any other employees the day Jack had taken me to visit. If Aaron was responsible for running the entire place by himself, then there was a chance he’d been too busy to look into what was going on with Jack. In fact, there was a chance—I realized with a shiver of worry—that he didn’t even know anything was wrong. I hadn’t even considered the possibility before. If I hadn’t been on the video call with Jack, listening first hand as the alarm had rung out over the sound system aboard the ship, I might not have known anything was wrong. Since Jack had left, the majority of our communication had been via email. He was usually too busy to video chat, or the time difference made it impossible to coordinate. I had no idea how often he spoke with Aaron or even his own family. I’d never asked.

I just hoped I wasn’t about to be the one to give him the bad news.

I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. “Yeah, this is it.”

Rachel swung into a compact spot near the front entrance and I unbuckled my seatbelt before she’d even cut the engine. I jumped out of the car and made my way towards the front entrance. Rachel caught up at the front doors, and I tamped down my urge to tell her to hurry up. I’d barely swung open the right side of the glass double doors, when Hunter tore off, jerking his leash right out of Rachel’s hand.

“Shit,” Rachel gasped, clutching the hand that had been holding Hunter’s leash. I winced, knowing all too well the pain of a nylon burn. “Hunter, get back here!”

I echoed Rachel’s call and took off running after her as we both chased the brown puppy around the corner. I stopped short when I realized where Hunter had been going, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my God, Huntey.”

Sitting outside the side door of the large warehouse building, was Princess.

Hunter raced up to her and they exchanged what could only be described as a puppy greeting, touching noses, tails wagging, sniffing each other’s butts and jumping around each other in celebratory circles.

“Hunter!” Rachel scolded.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “That’s Princess. Jack’s dog. Hunter must’ve smelled her.”

We were still watching the dogs when the side door flew open. “Princess! Get your fluffy ass back inside or I’m gonna ship you off to the middle of the –” Aaron stopped short, recognizing Hunter, and then dragging his eyes a few yards away to where Rachel and I had stopped. “Holly?”

“Hey, Aaron.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His eyes went from me to Rachel, and I offered the introduction, “This is Rachel.”

Rachel stepped forward and extended her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said, shaking her hand. When he released it, he shifted his gaze back to me and cocked a brow. “Was I supposed to be expecting you?”

The fear I’d felt as we’d driven up the hill blossomed in my chest, sending my heart into overdrive.

“Things have been pretty crazy around here the past few days,” Aaron continued, rubbing the back of his neck. “I haven’t been able to keep up with everything, so if Jack sent me something about you coming for a visit, I didn’t realize.”

I licked my lips before cutting a glance to Rachel. “We actually were here to see if you had any information,” Rachel began, picking up where I couldn’t. “Holly thought you might be able to get us some more details, at least more than what they’re showing on the news –”

“News?” Aaron repeated, his blank expression confirming my worst fear.

He didn’t know. How could he not know?

I took a deep breath and willed myself not to cry. “On Saturday evening, I was on the phone, well, video chat with Jack. In the middle of our call alarms went off and some guy came over the speakers talking about an attack. Jack had to go before he could tell me anything about it, and I haven’t heard from him since. I haven’t been able to find much, but there was an attack in Syria, and it was confirmed that in that attack, one of four fighter jets had been shot down.” I stilled, watching Aaron’s face as he reacted to the news.

“Wow, I haven’t watched the news in a while.” He scrubbed his hand down his face and continued, “You’re sure about this?”

“Yeah, I don’t know a lot about what Jack is doing over there. He couldn’t tell me much before he left. But, after the way our last conversation went, it seems like too much of a coincidence. You don’t know anything? If his plane has been shot down—” my voice broke off as the tears that I’d been trying to hold back rolled down my cheeks.

Rachel took a step to close the gap between us and wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders. She looked from me back to Aaron and said, “Holly thought that since you used to be in the Navy with him, you might have some information. We tried to call before we came up but there was no answer.”

“Holy shit,” Aaron said, the words leaving him like an exhausted sigh. He reached for the back of his neck and held his hand there for a moment. “I had no idea. I tend not to watch the news and, like I said, it’s been so busy around here, I haven’t had much of a chance to check in with Jack. I didn’t know anything was wrong.”

“Sorry to barge in like this,” Rachel said.

Aaron shook his head. “No, no. I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but let me check with a few guys and see what I can find out.” He turned back around and opened the side door that had swung close behind him. He held it open and ushered Rachel and me forward, and then herded the dogs in after us. “You guys can follow me.”

We followed behind as he passed through the main open bay of the museum, and as we walked, more memories of my day spent there with Jack came back to me. We ended up going to what appeared to be an employee lounge, with a long, navy blue couch, that looked well-worn and comfortable. Opposite that was a small, but workable, kitchen with a fridge, microwave oven, and a large espresso machine. In the center of the room was a round table with four chairs.

“Help yourselves to anything in the fridge. There’s water, juice, sandwiches. Or, if you can figure out how to work that behemoth—” he pointed to the espresso machine, that upon second glance was so shiny that it looked like it had just been taken from the box it came in, “—you’re more than welcome to an espresso. Had the damn thing about six months and haven’t been able to get it to do anything.” He smiled politely at us.

Rachel returned it easily, but I found it hard to muster up anything even remotely resembling lightness. “Thank you.”

With a curt nod, he backed up to the doorway. “Anyway, I’ll be in my office just down the hall from here, and I’ll be back as soon as I find out what the hell’s going on with Boomer.”

“Boomer?” Rachel repeated once he was gone.

This time I did smile, only slightly. “It’s Jack’s call sign. You know, like Maverick and Iceman.” I explained, laughing softly as I remembered that was how Jack had explained it to me the first time. And the horrified look on his face when I’d confessed I’d never seen the movie
Top Gun
.