Page 64 of Loving a Warrior

Matt fought against the urge to rip off the crude cutout of Shane’s face haphazardly glued to an unfamiliar body—a body rippling with muscle instead of gloriously lean and sleek, one that undoubtedly smelled of coconut oil and pomade instead of sunshine and fresh air… A body that hadn’t been pressed to his or trembled helplessly under Matt’s touch.

Turning his back on the calendar, Matt returned to his post, his duty for the next several hours to watch over a phone that wouldn’t ring and a door that wouldn’t open. An air of stillness hung like a storm cloud over the entire base, heavy with the knowledge of what was to come.

He checked the clock again, then jumped from his chair at the reception desk and headed for the coffee urn set up in the conference room. One of his tasks during the night would be to make sure it was always full of fresh coffee for the instructors who’d eventually be rotating through the center to fill out discharge paperwork, make phone calls, or simply take a break from their mission of putting hapless trainees through hell.

“You’d better not fuck up my coffee, son,” Chief Howe thundered when Matt first came on watch. “Hot and fresh, all night long.”

“Hooyah, Chief,” Matt said briskly.

The chief narrowed his eyes at him, peering at the name tape on Matt’s uniform top. “What the fuck kind of name is that?”

“It’s Czech, Chief Howe.”

Matt stood at ramrod attention as Howe regarded him through beetled brows. “Have you ever been to the Czech Republic?”

“Negative, Chief.”

“Do you speak Czech?”

“No, Chief.”

“Then what good are you?” Howe barked. “Drop and gimme thirty!”

Matt didn’t know what good speaking Czech in Coronado, California, would be, but there’d been no choice but to shout “hooyah” and drop.

Now he shook his head, thinking he actually wouldn’t mind if someone ordered him to run the O-course in the dark. At least he’d be busy; sitting around with nothing to do was driving him crazy.

As he paced, his ears picked up a faint roar off in the distance. He tensed, staring toward the glass doors, watching them start to vibrate as the tsunami approached, a wave of sound that got louder and louder and finally exploded onto the grinder just a few yards away.

The undefined roar splintered into a cacophony of gunshots, yelling, whistles. Even buffered by the doors, the commotion was deafening. Matt stood, fists clenched, memories assaulting him from all sides. Out there on the asphalt guys would be crawling, a writhing mass of humanity driven into a confusion and fear that wouldn’t abate for hours and would only be exacerbated by unrelenting cold.

Matt threw away the hot cup of coffee he’d just fixed. No way would he allow himself such a comfort while his brothers were suffering only a few yards away. While Shane was suffering.

“Hang in there, clown,” he whispered, staring toward the doors. “One evolution at a time, okay?”

Hang in there.

* * *

“That fuckin’ Hovland is something else, ain’t he?”

Snorts of laughter from whomever Bernson was talking to. “That’s the tall blond dude, right?”

“Yep. Mr. October himself. All the other guys were about to lose it, but he stood up and told me in no uncertain terms to fuck off, he hadn’t signed jack shit.”

More laughter, and then a different voice said, “I hope you worked him over for that.”

“Oh, yeah, he was one cold, hurtin’ puppy when I was done with him, but then I slipped him an extra cup of broth afterward. Gotta admire his grit.”

“He’s finishing the Week really strong. Good motivator, showing great teamwork…”

The voices faded away as Matt moved on past the instructors’ table to dump his chow tray. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but the cadre was sitting right behind him and he hadn’t been able to help it. It was Thursday night, Shane’s Hell Week was almost over, and apparently he’d been making quite the impression on the instructors.

Good for you, clown.

The next afternoon, Matt ran to the parking lot to join the excited throng waiting for the blue bus to turn off the Strand with its weary, jubilant cargo.

“There they are!”