Kelly Jacobs has already paid the ultimate price of loving a warrior; she has the folded flag and the grateful thanks of a nation to prove it. Navy SEAL Joe "Bear" Baker can't ask her to accept that risk again--even though he loves her. But the man responsible for her husband's death is back; closer than either of them realize. Kelly is in danger, and Joe may not get there in time. <br/><br/>Uncommon Heroes: Welcome to a world where friendships go deep, loyalties stand strong, and uncommon heroes perform the toughest jobs in the world. Dee Henderson's military romance series provides a detailed passage into the world of the military and homeland heroes, and those they love.
True Devotion
By Dee HendersonTyndale House Publishers
Copyright © 2005 Dee Henderson
All right reserved.ISBN: 9781414310626Chapter One
They were going to drown.
Kelly Jacobs could already see the headline on the front pageof the weekly Coronado Eagle newspaper: "Riptide Kills Teenand Lifeguard." The cold water had her by the throat. Six minuteshad passed since she'd last seen the boy bobbing in the swells,and they were being pulled out to sea at a horrifying clip.
She had a lifetime of experience in the Pacific waters off SanDiego, numerous rescues, but nothing like this. The water inearly May, warmer than usual from La Niqa, was still only sixty-sevendegrees, cold enough to induce hypothermia. The swellsdropped her four feet down in the troughs. If she didn't find theboy soon she wouldn't have the ability to get them back to shore.And this was a big ocean for a search party to cover in the dark-toher left the sun had already set and the twilight was fading fast.
The riptide created by the conflux of ocean currents and theoutgoing tide had formed late in the day with an explosive suddenness.When conditions changed, the riptide would fade asabruptly as it had formed, but whether it lasted a few hours or aday would not matter in the end. It was already on the verge ofbecoming deadly.
The fear of what was coming overwhelmed her. This fight toreach the boy was turning into a personal life-and-death struggle.The saltwater burned her throat and sent her gasping as anotherwave caught her in midbreath. To give up the attempted rescue tosave herself, to let the boy drown- It had been years since shehad cared about something this much. She wasn't going to giveup, and she wasn't going to fail.
Kelly strained to find a way to work with the waves ratherthan against them. The boy was out here, somewhere near, andshe was going to reach him. She thought about her husband asshe fought the cold of the sea. Nick, did you die because youdrowned? The Navy had never told her.
She would have said it was impossible for her husband, a NavySEAL, to drown. With all his training, with all his confidence andcourage, she had dismissed it as even a consideration, but she wassuddenly not sure anymore and the thought was agonizing.
Three years ago she had said good-bye to her husband at thegates of the U.S. Naval Amphibious Base, half a mile downHighway 75 from their home in the Coronado Shores subdivision.It was a typical good-bye-loving but rushed. Nick hadbeen slipping away from her ever since his pager went off fortyminutes before, his attention already on the upcoming mission.
She stole one last hug, burying her face against his uniform,wishing he wasn't leaving but unwilling to put that wish intowords. She never wanted to hold him back or give him reason tohesitate. She loved him and she would keep everything on thehome front together and ready for his return. Nick lifted Kelly offher feet for his kiss good-bye and then strode with purposethrough security to join the other members of SEAL Team Ninegathering to hear why they had been paged to assemble at 8 P.M.
A confident man, her husband, serving in one of the elitebranches of the U.S. special forces-a Navy SEAL: from sea, air,or land, they would get the job done. Fluent in three languages, acompetent backup medic, he was accustomed to being sent todeal with crises around the world where force had to be broughtto bear rapidly. They called him Eagle because he saw everything.A useful trait since he walked point for one of the two squads inGolf Platoon.
Kelly dropped him off at the base and returned home, knowingneither where he was going nor how long he would be gone.She trusted his confidence in himself, in the men around him, intheir training. They were the best and the best didn't fail.
There had been no welcome home.
A training accident. That was what the Navy officially said asit buried her husband with full military honors and handed herthe folded flag.
She knew they were lying. A training accident didn't bring herhusband home in a sealed coffin and bring Nick's commandingofficer, Lieutenant Joe Baker, home nursing a bullet woundthrough his shoulder. She never tried to break the understoodcode of silence to learn the truth. They were SEALs, and she hadbeen a SEAL's wife. The truth was classified.
She nearly dropped the flag when they handed it to her. Shehad not been able to see her husband; the coffin remained sealed.They handed her the flag he had fought to defend, folded neatand tight with no red showing. It had been prepared by the menin uniform with a solemness of ritual that would allow no slacknessin the fabric or imperfection in a fold. They gave her his flagbecause they could not give her back the man; they gave her hisflag to stand in his place. Their salute honored the man, the flaghis service, the taps his passing. And it hit her in that instant, thefact Nick was gone for good.
Looking into the eyes of the hurting men of SEAL Team Nineas the funeral concluded, looking into the solemn eyes of menwho grieved with her, she was assured that her husband had donehis job and not let them down. They were not able to share it inwords, but they all shared that truth in their expressions. Sheclung to the fact Nick died doing what he loved. Under her owngrief she was grateful for that.
And yet the pain that had come in the passing days andmonths ripped deeper than anything she had ever felt. Her lifehad changed forever. She missed Nick more than words couldexpress. The men of SEAL Team Nine had replaced him becausehis was a profession that required another to stand in the gap ofone fallen. They went on while they always remembered. But noone could replace him for her.
The medallion she wore, Nick's eagle, slapped against her inthe waves. She reached for it with one hand, grabbing hold, gratefulnow she had secured the chain so she could wear it in thewater. It had traveled with Nick through five years of missions.Now it was her closest reminder of him.
"People drown because they panic."
She clung to the words Nick had so often said. During SEALtraining the instructors tied his hands and feet and dropped himinto the deep end of the pool for thirty minutes doing varioustasks-the drown-proof test. Nick knew what he was talkingabout. He just hadn't told her how hard it was not to panic.
Relax. Do your job.
Nick would wonder why she was panicking when she'd beentrained for hard tasks such as this. She put her energy into judgingthe swells, riding them up to scan the surrounding water. Theboy had been south of her the last time she had seen him.
There!
She surged toward him with a hard crawl, willing to use thelast of her energy, knowing this might be her last chance beforedarkness fell.
The teenager had been surfing with a friend; both boys gotinto trouble in the heavy surf. She went into the water to back upher partner. Alex reached them first, securing a hold on one boybleeding from a gash on the forehead and pushing his float boardto the other boy. As Alex headed toward the shore towing theinjured boy, she went for the other teen, not surprised when inhis panic he fought her. At the same instant she got hit in the eye,they hit the riptide. The sea tore them apart.
The sea helped her this time, tossing her the last few feet. Shesnagged the boy's arm as she slammed past him, spun into him,the wave breaking over her head and into her face. She coughedhard, struggling to clear her lungs as she held on for all she wasworth. She was not going to lose him again.
The fight had gone out of the teen. The straps of the floatboard that had been pushed to him were around his left wrist, hisright arm hugging it. Even though she desperately needed a fewbrief moments of rest, she was careful not to put any of herweight onto the float board. It had kept his head above water duringthe last long separation and been a factor in keeping himalive. It would never support them both.
Sandy blond hair, blue eyes, slim, younger than she originallythought, fourteen or fifteen, long, skinny arms and lanky, still tryingto fit into his sudden growth spurt. Both his fear and fatiguewere obvious in his face. The waves sent them up and down androcked them back and forth in a never-ending sensation of movementthat made seasickness too calm a word for the reality."What's your name?" She leaned close to him to be heard.
He was swallowing water, coughing, and his voice rasped."Ryan."
"I'm Kelly." Fighting fingers that were stiff, that did not wantto do as she asked, she unwrapped the nylon rope at her waistand maneuvered the buddy line around his waist, securely tyingthe line. She wasn't going to take a chance on the sea once againtearing them apart. She put her hands on his face, smiling at him,even as she studied his eyes and assessed his condition. "That wasa pretty impressive wipeout you did on the surfboard."
He gave a glimmer of a smile back. "My dad is going to killme. I wasn't supposed to be surfing."
Hypothermia. She could hear it in the dragging words and seeit in his swollen eyes as he struggled to keep them open againstthe sting of the saltwater and the cold-induced fatigue. She wasn'tin much better shape herself.
She looked to the east. The twilight was almost gone; theshoreline appeared only by reflected lights on the horizon. Thedistance was distorted by the dim twilight, but even by optimisticassessments it was far away. Getting them back to shore was nolonger possible. Even if she had the strength, she would not beable to judge the location of the beach and the dangerous rocks inthe descending darkness. There was little she could do but keepthe boy talking and hope help arrived soon. She knew the rescuecrews would be out looking. As soon as Alex had reached shore,the call for help would have gone out.
"Who's your dad?" The conversation was as much to distracther as to distract him. Waiting was almost harder than searching.She had to figure out some way to get them through the comingordeal while she still had the clarity to plan. The cold water was adeadly foe for it ruined the ability to think clearly.
"Charles Raines."
"You live here in Coronado?"
"Across the water on the Point Loma peninsula. Dad bought aplace on Hill Street."
A wealthy man's son. The homes on Hill Street borderedSunset Cliffs National Park. That stretch of shoreline had themost beautiful rock formations carved out by the sea she had everseen. "Those are beautiful homes."
"The house is okay."
"Just okay?" she asked, amused at the perspective of youth.
"Our home in Hong Kong was more exotic, but we had toleave three years ago when the lease expired."
"On the house or the country?"
He laughed; it was weak but there. "The country actually.Dad's British. He had to move his company headquarters to SanDiego when Hong Kong reverted back to China."
Having never traveled outside of California, Kelly felt a littleenvious. Hong Kong sounded intriguing. "That must have beenfun for your mom."
"It's just Dad and me."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I barely remember my mom, Amy. She died when Iwas little."
Even though his words were matter-of-fact, she heard thewistfulness in his voice. He missed not having a mom. And inthat simple brief exchange, Kelly felt like she took a step towardunderstanding him. He would hide the depth of his grief, hangout with friends, and wonder why they thought their moms werethe worst when he thought their moms were pretty great. Kellyknew it was after the loss that you missed what had been takenfor granted. "My mom died about five years ago. It's rough."
Ryan looked toward her. "Did she-" His hand slipped fromthe float, momentarily dropping his head below the surface. Hispanic was instantaneous.
Kelly suddenly found herself pulled down as Ryan tried toclaw his way back to the surface using her, his hand pressingdown painfully into the nerve in her shoulder, his knee catchingher in the calf. She broke to the surface, grabbing him frombehind and wrapping her forearm under his chin. "Easy!"
"We're going to drown out here!"
She yanked the float board back by its rope. "Hug it acrossyour chest and stop moving," she ordered, treading water for bothof them, knowing just how precarious their situation was.
Ryan went still but he was crying now, the sound of his sobscarrying across the water, the fear overwhelming him. Kelly'sheart broke at the sound, knowing for a boy his age, tears wouldbe the last thing he wanted someone to see. She smoothed herhand over his hair trying to comfort without embarrassing him."It's going to be okay. Just relax. I won't let you drown."
His grip on her arm finally eased enough so circulation couldreturn. "How can they find us in the dark?"
She looked around, deciphering in the flickering moonlightthat the waves were increasing in size. There had been a low frontcoming through this evening and its front edge of wind wasalready reaching them. "Spotlights. Searchlights. The boats willbe out, even helicopters." She didn't add what she knew andfeared. Even with the resources, finding them before morningwould be difficult if not impossible.
No. She couldn't let herself doubt.
Joe would find them.
"Kelly, I would like you to meet my new boss, Lieutenant JoeBaker."
She turned at the touch of her husband's hand on her shoulder.Standing beside Nick, Joe seemed dwarfed, a good four inches shorter,the same powerful muscles but less bulky. But then at six feet fourNick broke the rules for what made a good SEAL physique. Joe couldhave been the prototype. He was a triathlete if she'd ever seen one. Hehad the warm copper tan of a man who spent most of his days outside.
Joe had nice eyes. She always looked there first because nothingtold her more about a soldier than his eyes. Joe's were blue, like the seashe enjoyed watching at dawn, and they were calm. He held her gazeas she looked at him, doing his own study. She knew the man wasbrave. He was known in the SEAL community as one of the best,and that said a lot among men who didn't give accolades until theywere earned. He also looked kind. The fact he was taking time tocome and meet the families of his men said a lot. She offered herhand with a smile. Her husband would be in good hands.
"Lieutenant. Thanks for coming to the cookout." She felt thewarmth as his hand closed around hers and could feel the texture ofcalluses, the strength of a man who could fight hard and yet stilltouch with tenderness.
"I never turn down an invitation to good cooking, Mrs. Jacobs."
Kelly was very happily married, but she wasn't immune to theman; she felt the impact of being the focus of his smile and thewarmth in those eyes.
Continues...
Excerpted from True Devotionby Dee Henderson Copyright © 2005 by Dee Henderson. Excerpted by permission.
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