Dino by Jaime Lewis
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dino dove for cover just as the bullet whizzed by his head and ricocheted off the rock next to him.
“Motherfucker!”
He and the team had stirred up a hornet's nest. What was supposed to be a routine grab and go turned into a complete shit show?
As soon as the mission was green-lighted, everything had fallen into place, just like they’d rehearsed. An hour before sunset, the team was dropped into the middle of the Sea of Japan along with their Zodiac Combat Rubber Raiding Craft. They traveled the two-hundred-seventy-six miles to their beach landing point—a deserted beach at the mouth of the Tumen River, separating North Korea and Russia. From that point, it was a six-mile trek on foot up the river using the cliffs and darkness as cover. Just as they were about a mile from where the trade-off was to occur, the team split up into two-man teams. Doing this would allow the team to set up a perimeter around the spot where the exchange was supposed to happen.
Dino was paired up with Skittles. The two of them made their way up the riverbed when suddenly they were ambushed from the cliff areas. As gunfire rained down on them, they took cover behind a cluster of large rocks near the waterline. They were pinned down, and their only hope of getting out alive fell onto the shoulders of their other team members.
“Where in the hell is that distraction that Potter promised?” Dino barked out as he and Skittles took up positions and returned fire.
They were running out of time, and the longer they sat there like sitting ducks, the more the insurgents moved toward them.
“Alpha six and Alpha seven—suppressed by enemy fire. Repeat Alpha six and Alpha seven—suppressed by enemy fire.” Skittles communicated to the command.
“Copy Alpha seven. Alpha eight and Alpha two, what is your position?”
Potter’s voice echoed through the comms unit. “Diversions set and retreating to Alpha one’s location.”
Those diversions better come soon, Dino thought to himself as he held his ground and kept firing at the approaching forces. Another ten or fifteen minutes, and he and Skittles would be overtaken.
“Alpha four, what is your status?” Dino barked.
“Alpha four and Alpha three in place,” Irish replied. Irish and Frost were supposed to be in an overwatch position; however, with the surprise attack from the enemy, Dino knew they hadn’t made it to where they should’ve been.
Irish’s voice sounded again through the comms. “Alpha six and Alpha seven, sit tight.”
“Sit tight? Is he fucking kidding?” He said to Skittles sarcastically.
Derek’s voice came over the comms.
“Alpha team, you’ve got two vehicles approaching Alpha six and Alpha seven’s location. They are approximately two-hundred-twenty-five yards north and closing. You all need to get the hell out of there.”
“You do remember how to fire your weapon?” Dino asked Irish with some amusement, but he was also serious. Things were getting sketchy down on the beach.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Irish spoke back. Dino would give the man credit. Nothing got under the sniper's skin. Always while in action, he was calm, relaxed, and collected.
Suddenly, three sets of explosives went off simultaneously above the cliffs sending debris into the air and down onto the beach.
Enemy forces started running towards the water, directly in the path of where Skittles and Dino were. The gunfire doubled as the team joined in on the battle. Dino watched as enemy forces were picked off one by one.
Dino felt some relief knowing his team were engaging. Suddenly an object fell from the sky and landed right in between Dino and Skittles. Dino knew immediately what it was, and there was nothing he could do. It was as if time had stood still and all the commotion had ceased. He closed his eyes as his life flashed before his eyes—his troubled past, his future, and the woman he loved. When he opened his eyes and found Skittles still standing across from him staring at the same object, he realized that angels were watching over them.
That grenade should’ve detonated. Skittles must have had the same thought as they both continued to stare at the device. They both had long forgotten the gunfire directed toward them. Dino studied the object and noticed that the pin was pulled, but the spring lever didn’t deploy. He pointed to it, letting Skittles know what he saw. The percentage of a grenade malfunctioning was only two to three percent.
Skittles started to reach for it, and Dino’s eyes widened. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I am not going to fucking sit here and wait for it to pop like a jack in the box.”
“Dino held his breath as Skittles skillfully placed the live grenade into his hand. The next couple of seconds felt like a lifetime. Skittles then lobbed the explosive back over to the “other” team. This time as soon as it landed, it detonated, sending people, debris, and smoke into the air. Another huge fireball erupted just down the beach. Moments later, it was followed by Potter’s voice. “Enemy vehicles have been eliminated. What do you say we all get the fuck out of here?”
Dino wasn’t one to argue. There were some lone enemies who had retreated that were still engaging in the firefight, but he and Skittles used the elements along the beach to take cover as they moved back down the coast to the rendezvous point.
It wasn’t until Dino was back in the belly of the C-17 headed home when he came to terms with what he could’ve lost today. That had been the closest he had ever come to losing his life, and it put a lot in perspective.
He had been so stupid to let his past dictate his life up to now. What happened to him had destroyed his trust in people. He believed that the saying was, “If you can’t trust family, then who can you trust?” That was the way he had always looked at it. It took the Navy and his current team to instill a lot of that trust back into him. But the one thing he never thought he’d be able to do again was trust with his heart. That was until he came across one woman who managed to find a way to infiltrate the solid wall guarding his heart and bring it back to life. She had been so patient and understanding while he dealt with his feelings. She made him whole. She was perfect. She was his.
Ace sat down in the seat beside him. He was quiet at first, but he asked, “You doing okay?”
Dino leaned his head back against the metal of the fuselage and took a deep breath. “I’ve never been that scared in my entire life.”
Ace nodded. “I can imagine. Focus on the positive, you’re still alive.”
Dino turned his head in Ace’s direction. “That’s all that I can focus on. That, and how much of my life that I let slip by all because I held onto something from the past.” He let out a dry laugh. “Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with me?” He stated, running both of his hands through his hair.
“Whatever it was must’ve been tragic for you to keep it bottled up this long.”
“I don’t want to anymore. Meeting Arianna made me open my eyes and really look around me and see everything I was letting slip by. I’ll admit it, I envy you, Potter, Frost, Irish, and Stitch. You each found an amazing woman who loves and respects you for who you are. One that doesn’t complain when you get called out, but instead supports you.”
“If you’d open your eyes wide enough, you’d realize you have one amazing woman waiting for you at home who shares those same qualities.”
Dino grinned. “I know. And, damn this mission, because I was in the right frame of mind while she and I were on that dance floor, and I wanted to pour my heart out. But then the fucking phone rang.”
Ace laughed. “Hey, I didn’t say it was easy.” Ace gripped Dino’s shoulder. “All I can say is that if it feels right, then act on it. That’s what happened in Afghanistan with Alex. And, I’m sure as shit glad that I acted instead of pushing my feelings to the side.”
They both sat there staring at the other side of the plane. They could hear some of the other guys talking at the other end, mixed with the deep humming sound of the plane's engines.
After a while, Dino spoke, “I’m sure you’ve realized now that I don’t talk about my family. I don’t speak about them to anyone. In my mind, they don’t even exist anymore. But as I sit here and talk about my trust issues, I realize that I need to turn the mirror around because I haven’t been honest with you guys. You are my family, and you deserve to know the truth.”
Ace didn’t say a word, but Dino knew he had his full attention.
“Have you ever heard of the Michetti family?”
“Can’t say I have.” Ace answered.
“The Michetti family was run by my grandfather.”
Ace’s eyes widened in surprise. “Dude, are you saying that—”
Dino nodded. “Yes, unfortunately by blood, I’m connected to a crime family. After my grandfather passed away, my dad and two uncles spent years trying to keep the business going. Once I was old enough to understand what activities were taking place, I knew I didn’t want to be a part of it. Surprisingly my parents were okay with it. I kept myself busy by playing sports. I joined other clubs after school and even got a job.” He took a deep breath. “When I was seventeen and a senior in high school, I met a girl, and we fell in love. Her family also had a reputation, but they were allies of our family.”
“She and I were so in love that we were already talking about getting married right after we graduated. We spent every waking hour we could together. But I should’ve known something was wrong when she started to spend more time with her friends—at least that was what she told me she was doing. I also noticed around that time my older brother Dexter had been hanging around the house more. Unlike me, Dexter, who was four years older than me, chose the family business. He and I were never close, even when we were kids.”
Dino closed his eyes, remembering the day that turned his world upside down.
“It was a Friday—Valentine's Day, and she and I had planned to go to dinner and then spend the rest of the evening together. She told me at lunch during school that she had to cancel our plans because her grandmother was very sick, and the family wanted her to be with them. I didn’t argue because I knew how much family meant to her. Instead, I spent the night at my friend's house. When I arrived home early the next morning, our driveway was flooded with police cars and ambulances. I had no clue what was going on. I found my mom, and she was in such a state of shock that she couldn’t even put a complete sentence together as the paramedics were trying to calm her down. It was chaos. I couldn’t find my dad. I finally found one of my uncles. His face was white as a ghost. He told me that the police were questioning my dad. I asked him what was going on, and first, he was reluctant to tell me. But then my aunt showed up, and she made him tell me.”
Dino felt his chest start to tighten, recalling the news his uncle delivered to him.
“My brother and my girlfriend had been seeing each other behind my back. All those days and nights when she said she was spending time with friends, she had been secretly meeting with him.” He shook his head. “I can’t really say they were secretly meeting because I found out later on that my parents knew about it. Anyway, my brother apparently was involved in a big deal, and the deal had gone south, costing another family a lot of money and territory. They found out that it was my brother’s doing, and they wanted to show the world that nobody crossed them and got away with it.”
“Sometime in the early hours of the morning, a hitman entered my brother's apartment over the garage and started shooting. I guess he hadn’t realized that my brother had company the previous night and was in bed with him.”
Ace cursed under his breath. “Shit. It was your girlfriend.”
Dino nodded his head somberly. “At first, I didn’t want to believe it but then reality set in.” He shook his head. “I don’t know which hurt worse—the fact that my own brother was sleeping with my girlfriend or the fact that my parents knew and condoned it. Not to mention that I lost both of them—cold-blooded murder.”
“What happened after that?”
“My mom sent me to live with a distant cousin. We had my birth certificate altered to make it look like she was my mother. I just wanted to get away from everything and everyone. One day about a month before graduation, a Navy Recruiter was at my school. I went up and started talking to him. He said a lot of things that I had needed to hear. Right after I graduated, I enlisted, and here I am.”
“Damn, man. I don’t even know what to say. The first thing that comes to mind is fucked up. I just hate that you’ve had to carry that grief with you for all these years. Are your parents still alive?”
“They are. They live up near Boston.”
“Do you ever speak to them?”
“No.”
“Well, you’ll always have us. And don’t ever think you can’t come and talk to one of us. We’ve all been through something tragic, but we’ve also overcome it.”
Dino smiled. “Thanks, man. For listening and just being a great friend.”
Just then, a couple of the guys came over and started telling him and Ace that Derek had gotten a message about some sort of show that the women were hosting as a fundraiser for Paul's medical expenses.
As Dino sat there and conversed with his brothers in arms, he felt at peace and as if an entire world had been lifted off of his shoulders. But most importantly, he felt free of his past.
