Cole (12 page)

Chapter 22

“Good morning.  Can you put me through to Petty Officer Lackey, please?”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“Cole Callahan.  We served together.”

“One moment Mr. Callahan.”

“Cole.  You’re up early.”

“Laura.  Good to hear from you.  I’m in the Midwest.”

“What in the heck are you doing out of California?”

“At first I was asking myself that same question.  It’s grown on me now.  The people are great.  I’m actually feeling right at home.”

“I must say I’m shocked to hear that.  I always saw you as a guy who needed an ocean nearby.”

“I thought the same, but luckily lakes seem to be working these days.”

“Good for you.  I’m glad you called actually.  I had some new information I wanted to give you.”

“Can I go first?”

“Sure.  Is everything ok?”

“Yes, but no, but yes.”

“I’m all ears.”

“The Navy made a decision on my case.”  Suddenly I froze up.  I didn’t quite know how to say it.  “Laura, I’m done.  It’s over.  They don’t want me anymore.”

“Cole, I’m so sorry.  And it’s not that
we
don’t want you, it’s that the PR people in their ivory towers are trying to reduce risk.  It’s not about you.”

“Thanks, but it feels like it is about me.  I’m trying not to blame them.  I understand the position they’re in.  The position they want to avoid possibly putting our country in.  It makes sense.  It’s just tough when it’s you.  It really hits home.”

“I would say I can imagine, but I can’t.  All I can say is I’m sorry, Cole.  You’re always one of us, with or without the uniform.”

“Thanks Lackey.”

“Don’t thank me.  Thank you for everything.  If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have this post.  I still have our picture by my desk.”

“When we got promoted together?”

“Yeah, that one.  Time sure flies.  We look like babies.”

“We were babies.”

We both laughed.

“We were just talking about you yesterday at lunch.  The pranks you pulled when you visited Headquarters.  You sure were mischievous, but it made the day a lot more fun.”

“Don’t count me out yet.  I still may put on some eye black and sneak in one evening.  You never know.”

“With you, you’re right.  You never know.”

“Laura, I’ve got a dilemma and you’re the first person I thought of.”

“Let ‘er rip.  Let’s turn this dilemma into a winner.”

“I opened a gym where I live now and everything was going great.  Really great.  This morning some suits showed up and shut me down.  Said I need to be licensed in martial arts to teach.  Liability reasons and such.  It looks like I would have to take some sort of course.  12 weeks probably.  I don’t have that time.  I have momentum now.  I need to keep this thing going.”

“And you’re asking me to bend some rules?”

“No.  No.  Not at all.  I’m still above board with everything I do.  I just want a solution to make this go away.  I have the training.  I just don’t have the paperwork.”

“Got ya.  And I’m glad to hear that, because I’m above board also.  I’m still Ms. By-The-Book.  The good news is I already have an idea.”

“Great.  I knew you would.”

“Did you take any of those elective martial arts training classes, or just the mandatory ones?”

“Come on, you know I maxed out every opportunity I got.”

“Thought so.  I have your file right here, but let me pull up your full records on my screen.  One sec.”

I could hear her keystrokes.  She seemed to be scrolling through information.

“Cole, I’m really sorry, but I’m getting pulled into a meeting right now.  Can I call you back in a few hours?”

“Of course.”

“Again.  Sorry.”

“No worries.”

She confirmed my mobile number and ended the call.  Off to her meeting.

Now I had the whole day in front of me, but with no car, no gym to look forward to, and it was starting to rain.  What was up with today?  When it rains it really does poor.  I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself.  I went and sat on the couch.  Next thing I knew I was sawing logs.

Chapter 23

Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang, but it might as well have been an incoming mortar.  The sound of those mortars always stuck in my head and seemed to be what was on my mind so many times when I woke up.
 

I looked around to get my bearings.  Remember where I was.  Jax’s house.  Right.  That didn’t take long.  My mind was starting to develop a comfort level with Jax’s place.  That was a good first step.

Ding-dong.

Right.  The door.  But who could it be in the middle of the afternoon?

I opened the door feeling wide-awake.

“Thought I’d surprise you!”

“And a pleasant surprise you are.”

“Hope you don’t mind me dropping by.”

“Carissa, you’re always welcome.  I’m glad you came by.”  I wanted to add especially dressed in her sexy skirt and blouse from work, but bit my tongue.
 

She reached into her backpack.

“And I brought us some goodies.  We had a small teacher meeting today after school and I brought chocolate chip cookies.”

“Let me get this straight.  I’m dreaming, and then I’m woken up by the site of Ms. Beautiful at my door carrying chocolate chip cookies?”

“You’re not dreaming anymore, Bucko.”

“Today started off a little weird, but it’s definitely getting better.”

“That’s the spirit.  The world can’t get you down any more than you let it.  Do you have any milk?”

“I think we do.  Let’s check.”  We walked to the kitchen.  Jax drinks tons of milk and sure enough, the fridge was packed.  Two percent, whole milk, skim milk, Vitamin D milk, and on and on.

“All that milk is for you guys?”

“Just the three of us.  But really it’s for Jax.  Jasmine has some on her cereal and at dinner.  I have a glass once in awhile.  Jax?  Whoa.  He’s like 100 baby kittens.  He can’t get enough.”

“Think he’ll mind if we take a little?”

“Hardly.  He’ll probably bring more home from the store today when he arrives with Jasmine.”

“They’re not back yet?”

“Surprisingly not.  Sometimes they go for hikes after school though.  I’d guess they’re up in the hills somewhere about now.”

“That’s so nice that he spends so much quality time with her.  He’s really a great dad.”

“The best.  You should see him help her with her homework.  I think he gets into it more than she does.”

“Maybe I should let the other teachers know to keep an eye on her handwriting.  Make sure it matches each day.”  Carissa gave me a teasing look.

“I think Jax would like the challenge of doing her homework.  Really, but he wants her to learn.  He guides her, but I can’t ever remember hearing him just give her an answer.  He wants her to be self-sufficient.  He tells her as long as he’s here they’re going to walk down the path of life hand-in-hand, but sometimes she’ll have to, and even want to, go off on her own.  He’s preparing her for those times.”

“That’s really nice.”

“Yeah, he’s really preparing her for life.  He’s a great dad.”

“I’ve heard from the other teachers at school.  And I think the single ladies would love to get to know him better too.”

“Maybe later.  Right now isn’t the best time.”

“I understand.  But you know what it is time for now?”

“What’s that?”

“Cookie dunking battle!”

“I’m in!”

My phone buzzed.

“Carissa.  Sorry.  I’m expecting a very important phone call.  One that could get the gym back to full steam.  I’ve got to check this.”

“Please.  I totally understand.”

I looked.  Sure enough.  I hit accept call and before I could even speak…

“Jackpot!”

“What ‘cha got?”

“Three years ago you did that full week of off base training at Pendleton, remember?”

“The joint training with the Marines?”

“That’s the one.  Says here you completed it and were awarded a certificate.”

“I got a certificate?”

“Cole, did you ever save anything that represented an achievement?”

“Not really.  Can’t rest on the past.  Have to be forward looking.”

“Yeah, but those things can at least make good bragging material for mom.”

“Guess you have a point, but my mom’s not one to talk a lot.”

“I get your point.  Anyways, that was just a certificate of completion, but it says here that represented about three months of civilian training up to and exceeding black belt.  I bet that qualifies.  And I have the number of those guys here.  They do a lot of government contracts so you could surely give them a call and find out.”

“Sounds perfect.  You’re the best.  I knew calling you was the right thing to do.”

There was no response.

“Laura.  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, and I’m glad you called earlier, but I have something more serious to talk about now.”

“Something heavy?”

“As heavy as it gets.”

I knew what she meant.  Captain Culver had not addressed the reason for my discharge.  We all knew the 600 pound gorilla in the room when we spoke, but neither of us wanted to name it.  Laura was about to dart into that forest, grab that gorilla, and put it right in my face.  But why?

“Cole.”

“Yes.”

“You might want to sit down.”

I felt a lump in my throat.  I looked at the kitchen table.  The same table where I had breakfast so many mornings with Jasmine and Jax.  A place of laughter and joking.  Now it was about to be anything but.  But I couldn’t sit there.  Carissa was there.  I made the motion with one figure that this might take a minute. She moved her hands sideways indicating a no problem response.  I walked up to my room.  I sat on my bed.  I didn’t look out the window as I usually do.  I looked down.  The phone pressed to my ear in my right hand.  My forehead in my left.  My left elbow resting on my thigh.  My eyes closed.

“There’s some new information about the incident in Kandahar.”

“Is this nightmare ever going to end?”

“Stay with me, Cole.”

I didn’t reply.

“Cole?”

“I’m here.”

Laura spoke slowly.  She was sensitive to my feelings from the incident.  I didn’t speak the entire time.  Just listened.  After about 10 minutes she finished.  I raised my head from my hands.  Stood up and looked out the window.

“Thank you, Laura.  For everything.”

“You’re welcome.  I’m glad we gathered this intel and were able to get it to you.  And in regards to the martial arts certification…I’ll email you the contact information.”

“Thank you.  Really.  Thank you for everything.”

“You’re welcome.  You sound very tranquil.  Should I let you go?  To process everything?”

“Yes.  I really need to take this in now.”

“Totally understand.  I’ll check in with you next week.”

“Ok.  Talk to you then.”

“Until then.”

I hung up the phone and continued staring out the window.  Carissa.  She was still downstairs waiting to begin the cookie battle.  I smiled.  A cookie battle.  How simple and different could that be from the news I just received?  To say completely the opposite would still be an understatement.

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

“You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I think I did.”

“Are you OK?  Do you want me to leave?”

“Strangely, I’m perfect.  I don’t want you to leave.  In fact it’s perfect that you’re here.”

“Are you sure?  You don’t look like everything is perfect.”

“I’m not in shock, but it’s probably looks like that.”

“That sounds about right.”

I sat down at the table.

“Something just happened.  Something that’s really life changing.  Literally.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I do.”

Carissa leaned in and intertwined her hands with mine.  She looked at me in such a supportive way.  She didn’t say anything.  She didn’t need to.  Her look simply said to me I could begin whenever I was ready.

“I’ve been battling PTSD for awhile now.  I’m getting better, but not fast enough.  It’s why I had to leave town. I went to Coronado to get news regarding my future as a SEAL.  The news wasn’t what I wanted, but I can’t say it was a surprise.  The Navy decided to discharge me.  I understand.  Although I’m making progress there is no way they can put me back in the field anytime soon.  They were great about it.  They’re here to help me get better, but just not as a SEAL.  I have to recover as a civilian and transition back to civilian life.  I don’t like the decision, obviously, but I understand it.  They can’t take risks with potential lose cannons in the field.  Right now I’m viewed as a loose cannon.  I’m not exactly, but I’m not 100% either.  To be a SEAL I have to be at 100%.  Mentally and physically.  And I’m not going to be at 100% for awhile.  The Navy probably wonders if that will ever happen.

I can take a lot.  Process a lot.  But something happened in Kandahar that was a lot for me to process.  Too much really.”

I stopped for a moment.  Carissa was still silent.  She was going to let me speak when I was ready.  I could feel her grip tighten just a little more in mine.  Her support was amazing.  She deserved to know.  She was 100% invested in this relationship.  I knew that.  If she’s all in, I’m all in.  And for me to be all in she gets to know the good with the bad.  She’s my future and she deserves to know about my past.  I’m sure of this.

“I was on lookout one afternoon.  We had a transport van meant to look like it was just transporting some local goods to the village, but in fact it was transporting SEALs into the area.  We were restocking so to speak.  They would transition in and our current group would transition out and back a few days.  To unwind.  It was supposed to be a simple maneuver.  Until it wasn’t.

We had three seals in bird’s nests scattered about the village.  That just means we were perched in areas to watch the van.  Provide any cover if needed.  Keep an eye out for anything suspicious.  That kind of thing.  It was midafternoon on a hot day.  A time when a lot of the local people take naps, have a coffee, and just generally have some downtime.  It was a good time to execute the plan.  Everything was sound.

I saw the van coming in my binoculars.  I scoped the nearby area and everything was calm.  The radio said everything was clear.  All three of us that were providing look out radioed in that we were good-to-go.

Through my scope I noticed one kid on a side street.  He looked a bit nervous.  Kind of fidgety.  He was obviously hiding from someone or something, but I couldn’t put the pieces together.  What was he doing?  Was he in trouble with mom and dad or was it something bigger.

I watched him.  He seemed really nervous.  He kept looking around to make sure no one was watching from the rooftops.  He was looking for something underneath his clothes.  He found it and pulled it out.  It was one of those old Nokia brick phones.  The kind you haven’t seen in the States in over 15 years, but that are still very popular in other parts of the world.  They’re also very popular with bombers, and although this kid was on a secluded side street he had a perfect view of the incoming van.”