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I pulled up my file on Brady and Grady Beaumont of Jasper Creek. Sons of Rose and Arthur Beaumont. I’d found Rose’s death certificate. She’d died twelve years ago. Her maiden name was McBride. I didn’t find any current information on Arthur or Brady, but Grady enlisted in the Marines when he was eighteen. He was currently serving as a Marine Raider.

So he was in Special Operations. Didn’t that sound familiar?

Seemed like I needed to talk to Little Grandma. Since I had to wait until morning, I might as well shoot the shit with Clay if he was in country.

I went to the bed and piled up all the pillows behind my back and shoulders and pressed in Clay’s number.

“So, you remembered me after all? What took you so long? I’ve only left eight voicemails and texted you eighteen times.”

“Don’t you have some woman to stalk instead?” I asked.

“Nah, the two I had my eye on took out restraining orders.”

I laughed. “Seriously, you should start dating.”

“Who in the hell wants to date a Spec Op when we never know when we’re leaving or for how long, and we can never tell our woman shit?”

“Rick’s wife. Brandon’s fiancé. To name two.”

“Yeah, well, they’re both something special. Trying to find somebody else like them is impossible.”

Behind Clay’s nonchalance, I heard just a little bit of pain. I knew he wanted what his parents and siblings had. At the same time, he didn’t want to leave the teams.

“Anyway, I wasn’t leaving you messages to discuss my love life. I was tracking you down to see how you were doing, and if you’re still trying to find out if you’re not related to that fucking prick, Ronald.”

“Yes and yes.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Not really. How is everybody?”

“I’ll let you deflect my question for three minutes. That’s all.”

“You’re a pain in my ass,” I told my best friend.

He laughed.

“They’re all real good. Frank took his test and got promoted to an E-5. He’s pretty damn happy. Rice is pretty sure he saw him dancing outside the cafeteria when he found out.”

I laughed. “That’s great. He can use the extra pay now that he and Julie have a baby on the way.”

“Dude, you’re so behind the times. The baby’s name is Andrea, and she’s five months old. Frank told me he sent you a picture.”

“There were two other guys named Davis at Walter Reed. They kept getting our names mixed up and our mail mixed up, even though my name is Davies. Mike said he would forward my mail as soon as I gave him a permanent or semi-permanent address.”

“Mike?”

“Mike Kowalski, my demon from hell physical therapist. He was the best of the bunch. Used to be a submariner during his four years in the Navy. Came out and got his college degree and played football. Was scouted by the Philadelphia Eagles. Third year as linebacker, he got knocked sideways in his knees. Did a year in physical therapy, played another two years and was injured again, and that was all she wrote. He went back to school for his Doctor of Physical Therapy and has been at Walter Reed ever since.”

“Quite a story.”

“Yeah. I hated and loved him at the same time.”

“You would have loved him more if he got you back to our team.”

“The docs were straight with me. That wasn’t going to happen. I was lucky that I ended up with full range of motion.”

Clay sucked in a deep breath. “Shit.”