“What’s going on, Strong Man?” Hawk said as he ducked beneath the hood of the bright Canary yellow Jeep to stand next to Derrick.
“Ah--Marjorie didn’t start my car while I was gone and the battery’s dead.” The man sounded out of sorts. “I have to have a jump to start it.”
“No problem, I have cables and I can pull my car around.”
“Thanks, LT. I appreciate it.”
Hawk got back in his Saturn Vue and did a U-turn in the apartment complex’s parking lot to arrange the cars nose to nose. Pulling the lever inside his car to open the hood, he paused to turn off the ringer on his cell phone, and tossed it onto the passenger seat. If he and Derrick were going to have a heart to heart, he didn’t want any interruptions.
Getting out of the vehicle, he retrieved the jumper cables from his trunk and linked the two batteries. At his signal, Derrick started his Jeep. The vehicle emitted a high-pitched squeal like a prolonged scream.
“Sounds like you might need to spray that belt with some lubricant,” Hawk yelled above the noise as he approached the man’s window.
“Will do, as soon as I’m sure this sucker will hold a charge.”
The sound died down to a persistent squeak as Hawk unhooked the cables and rolled them up. He tossed them into the trunk and turned off the Saturn.
Leaving his vehicle running, Derrick exited the car and joined him. “What’s up, LT?”
“I thought I’d just touch base. You’ve been out of town with your sister, and this is the first time I’ve been able to drive the car since straining my knee.”
“Sometimes you just have to get out of the house away from them, don’t you?”
Them? That one word didn’t sound good. There was aggression and impatience crammed in there, as well as a touch of condescension. He struggled to keep his expression neutral. “Well, Zoe’s pretty easy to get along with. She likes her own space sometimes, too.”
“What does she do? Go shopping?”
“No. She reads a lot. And she spends a lot of time at the hospital.”
Derrick frowned. “That’s tough duty.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Derrick leaned back against the car beside him, his expression subdued. “Cutter isn’t going to wake up, is he?”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“He looks dead,” Derrick said, an empty note in his tone.
Hawk glanced at him and found him studying his shoes.
“He’s breathing on his own, and all his vitals are normal. He’s going to come out of this.”
Derrick looked up. “It freaks me out to see him like--he is.”
“I know. It did me too at first. But we have to stay hopeful for his sake, and for Zoe’s. And if you say anything negative about his prognosis, don’t say it in front of her. She insists he’s going to wake up.”
“She’s got her head buried in the sand. He looks bad.”
“He’s losing weight, Derrick. But we can’t lose faith. He’s tough.”
Derrick nodded. “Yeah, he is.”
“During the mission, did you hear anything unusual inside the building?” Hawk asked
“No. The tangos upstairs walking back and forth. I was focused on getting my package delivered and getting out of there. Cutter was down the hall doing the same. Or so I thought.”
“His charges had been set, but he was down when I reached him.”
Derrick shook his head and rubbed a hand over his brow. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Did Cutter know about the assault charges you’ve had leveled against you?”
Derrick’s features blanked with shock. It took a moment before he recovered. “Who told you?” His voice sounded hoarse.
“Who, isn’t important. It’s that there were charges brought to begin with. You’ve dodged a bullet, Derrick. And if it’s established that Cutter knew about them, you could be in real trouble.”
Derrick clenched his fists “I didn’t touch him. He’s my best buddy. We’re tight. We might do the bonding thing and punch each other but we cover each other’s back. He’d never rat me out.” His eyes narrowed. “Who did?”
His patience splintered and Hawk thrust his face close to his. “Who the fuck cares? The problem is that if I found out about it, the brass will too, and then you’ll be knee deep in shit. Use your head, Strongman. You know what I’m saying.”
Derrick’s features looked wooden. “I didn’t hurt, Cutter. I’ll take a lie detector test to that.”
“I don’t think the Navy’s real impressed with those since they train us to lie so well.” Hawk said, drilling his point home. “How’s Marjorie?”
“She’s all right. Why do you ask?”
“I noticed she had a bruise on her arm.”
Derrick looked away. “She hit her arm on something. She’s all right.”
Hawk fell silent waiting for Derrick to look at him. “We’ve all been under the gun. Our last tour was tough. And with Cutter being hurt during the last mission--sometimes emotional stressors trigger problems. If you’re having a problem with anger management--”
Derrick’s cheeks grew flushed and his eyes narrowed. “Was this your idea or your girlfriend’s?”
“Mine, Derrick.” He met the other man’s gaze straight on.” All it takes is one incident being reported by the MPs, or something going through the court system, and it can haunt your career. Upper brass wants men who can stay cool under pressure.”
“Yeah, they want us to be bad-asses only when it’s convenient for them.” Bitterness laced the man’s voice, and pain flickered across his face. “I felt as though we were shadow boxing, LT. You could never tell who the enemy was. And what’s up with this bombing your own people shit? Why sacrifice a hundred of them just to get at two Americans?”
Hawk laid a hand on Derrick’s shoulder. “They want the U.S. Military gone, Derrick. Out of their country. And they’re willing to sacrifice whoever they have to, to see it happen. And as long as they’re threatening people, we can’t walk away. So we’re stuck in a cycle.” He shook his head. “The politicians’ reasons for us being there don’t mean shit. We’re there trying to protect the regular people on the street. That’s what we do, protect those too weak or defenseless to protect themselves. It’s what we’re about.” He looked the man in the face. “And that includes the people we love here at home.”
Derrick’s gaze dropped away.
Hawk drew a deep breath and chose his words with care.
“Marjorie seems to be supportive, Derrick.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his hands over his head brushing his close- cropped blond hair up.
“Do you think seeing someone, talking things out, would help you deal?”
“I can’t, LT. If word get’s back to the brass it will do just as much damage to my career as a police report.”
“No, it won’t. Because it looks like you’re being responsible and dealing with the problem, not ignoring it. And besides that, you can see someone off post.”
“Like that’s going to happen without someone finding out about it. And what about your girlfriend?” Derrick’s eyes narrowed again.
“Zoe knows how to keep a confidence.”
“I’ve never known any female able to keep her mouth shut.”
Hawk couldn’t completely quash his anger. “Yeah, you have, Derrick. Marjorie. She didn’t say a word. It was the bruise you left behind that has me here talking to you, not anything she said or did.” He studied the other man’s expression carefully. “She’s not going to have trouble from you because of this talk, is she?”
“No.”
There was a sullen tone to Derrick’s voice. Hawk eyed him. The window of connection had closed, and the man was growing defensive. He’d have to back off and follow through again later. “While you think about it, if you feel like the pressure’s building and you need someone to talk to, you call me.”
“Sure.”
Derrick’s continued brevity, the tensio
n in his body language, shouted a warning. “If I don’t get it together, you’ll turn it back on me.”
“That’s the trick, Strong Man. I won’t have to. You’ll get back what you put in. Like most things in life.” Hawk straightened away from the car and crammed his hands in his pockets.
“All right. I get it.”
At the dismissal in the man’s tone, Hawk eyed him. Should he push any harder, it might come back on Marjorie. Jesus! All the psychological training he’d received and he couldn’t figure out what to do. If he tried to use a threat to keep Derrick under control, it might push him into doing something regrettable. He’d gone as far as he could. For now.
“Stay icy, Strong Man,” he said as he got into his car.
“Yeah.” Derrick nodded, his expression hard, unreadable.
As he pulled out of the parking lot, Hawk looked up into his rearview mirror. Derrick stood there watching him drive away, and something in the man’s body language had alarms going off in his head. He’d have to stay in close touch with him, and if he stepped over the line again, he’d have no choice but to call in the MPs.
He’d have to report this to his commander and his own actions related to it. He couldn’t hold back that information, it could come back to bite him. But Jesus, the idea made him feel like a snitch. And on top of the lack of progress in finding out who had hurt Cutter, it would make for a delightful meeting with Lt. Commander Jackson.
Reaching over to the cell phone beside him, he flipped it open to check for calls and recognized his home number on the device several times. Zoe had obviously been trying to reach him. He pushed the button to return her calls.
“Where are you? Are you all right?” her voice came across the connection in a strident tone he had never heard before.
“I just left Derrick and I’m on my way back home to pick you up. What’s up?”
“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“I turned the ringer off while we were talking. What’s wrong?”
Silence hung over the line and he checked to see if the signal had broken.
“Hey, Zoe, talk to me.”
“I was worried when you didn’t answer. I thought maybe he’d hurt you. Damn it, Hawk--”
This time he knew the signal hadn’t died. She’d hung up.
CHAPTER 16