Reborn by Melody Anne

Chapter Seven

Chad received an invitation to an event for active and former military members to gather at Naval Base Kitsap. The only requirement was that all in attendance wear their full uniform, including medals. The invitation included all five of the special ops team members.

As all of the special ops men had left their previous lives behind, packing next to nothing with them when they’d agreed to their new mission in Seattle, they’d had to send for their dress uniforms and medals, which each of them had kept safe as valuable items not to be lost.

They’d just finished dressing and walked out to the conference room when there was a gasp.

Sleep turned to find his wife, Avery, gaping at him. She slowly approached.

“You’re stunning,” she told him as she brushed at his chest. No one was fooled that there was a speck of lint on him. She simply wanted to touch her man.

“I don’t hold a candle to you,” he said before leaning down and kissing her.

“We can agree to disagree,” Avery said.

“How in the world did I get so lucky as to marry you?” Sleep asked. He was still in awe of the woman who’d been foolish enough to say yes to his proposal and then to not flee when they were standing at the altar.

“It’s me who got lucky.” She held her finger up to his mouth and stopped his argument. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that as well.”

“Okay, enough mushiness from the two of you. My wife’s insisting on photos before we depart,” Chad said.

“Yes, I am. It’s not too often I get to see you heathens looking this good,” Bree said with a laugh.

The men and their wives posed for several photos before they departed for the Naval base. There was never a dull moment in their lives, and they arrived in the blink of an eye going way past the speed limit, and laughing the entire way there.

“We’re here for the event with Captain Leach,” Chad said to the sentry standing guard at the entrance of the base. After confirming their identities, the men were given directions to the club where the event was.

“Be on your best behavior, Sleep,” Eyes said over his shoulder to Sleep who was in the backseat.

“Always am,” Sleep replied. He then gave a nudge to Brackish and mouthed never. Both of them laughed.

They stepped out of the van and stood at the entrance for a moment. If there was a more impressive visual representation of military veterans, it would be hard to find. The six men caught the eyes of others walking inside. They were dressed to perfection, their uniforms perfectly fitted, their medals glinting in the afternoon sun, and their physiques outdone by only the smallest percentage of the earth’s population.

They walked forward in two groups of three. Chad, Eyes, and Sleep in the front with Green, Smoke, and Brackish behind with perfect cadence. They were the ultimate representation of what the military had built and what the world thought of in terms of military power.

Chad met Captain Leach with a hug, introduced him to the special ops team, and then led the men into the massive room where many people were already engaged in conversation.

“I’m glad to meet you boys,” Captain Leach told them. “I only took command of this base a few months ago.”

“How’s it going?” Chad asked his friend.

“I’ve noticed a real undercurrent of low morale.”

“Is that why you’re having this party?” Sleep asked.

“Yes, it’s exactly why. I want to show the men and women here who they are and who they can become. That’s why I wanted to bring in Chad and all of you,” Leach said. “The best of the best are from the military. It’s a place boys become men. I hope this event can show the men that they can give their all to the military, and then have a successful transition into civilian life when their time is over.”

“It was difficult for me to transition at first,” Eyes said. “The military wasn’t only my job, it was where I felt I belonged in a world I hadn’t fit into before.”

“I feel the same,” Captain Leach agreed. “I guess that’s why I’m still here.” He chuckled as they approached a table. “I’m asking retired military to wear this gold medallion on the upper right side of their chest so it’s easy for the men to see who is current and who is former military.”

“Of course,” Eyes said as he stepped forward, grabbing six stars and passing them out to the rest of the men.

Smoke and Brackish stood out among the crowd of sailors and Marines in the room. Both of them were former Army, and their uniform shared little resemblance to the Navy and Marine members who filled the large room.

On a normal day, any one of the special ops men might have received the most attention, for nothing other than the special warfare pin attached to their uniforms, but it was Green’s Medal of Honor that created the most buzz. There weren’t many given of that most prestigious military medal. As most who received the Medal of Honor would say, they appreciated the accolade, but they didn’t feel they’d done anything heroic to receive it. They’d done what anyone else would do in the same circumstance. It made those who received them try to avoid much of the attention the medal brought.

“You know, if you hadn’t fallen on your face for Mallory, you’d be my wingman tonight,” Eyes said to Green.

“Yeah right, bro. I saw you checking your phone non-stop on the way here. You don’t need a wingman, you need a pastor and a chapel,” Green replied.

Eyes ignored the reply while scowling as he moved toward the table they’d been assigned.

“You boys have fun tonight. I have to kick off this event,” Captain Leach said with a laugh as he walked away. He took the podium, and the room went quiet.

“I want to thank all of you for being here tonight. I have so much respect for those men and women who have paved the way for the rest of us, for those who have sacrificed their time, their bodies, and their minds to protect and serve their fellow citizens. This is done with little acknowledgement, and little pay, but that doesn’t matter to most, because it’s a calling that must be met.”

There were words of agreement shouted out at his words. The captain continued laying out the evening and listing the speakers who’d entertain them during dinner. Most of the men and women in that room enjoyed hearing stories of military in action. Some of them seemed far-fetched, but those who’d served knew just how easy it was for the world to flip upside down in situations of war.

“If you all notice there are two open seats at each table. That’s so our current personnel who live on the base can move around and get to talk one-on-one with those who’ve retired.” He paused and looked over to their table and winked at Smoke and Brackish. “I apologize in advance but some of you will have to sit with two former Army soldiers. They’re both bigger than I am so I won’t make too many jokes, but since they were in the Army, they probably wouldn’t understand them anyway. Tyrell and Steve — Chad told me to say that, so if you feel like punching someone go after him.”

The room laughed at the time-honored tradition of making fun of other branches of the military. Most of the room stopped when Smoke and Brackish stood and started looking around at those laughing, making a snapping sound as their fists slammed into their open palms. Each person who dared to make eye contact with one of them didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to hold the gaze for long.

“Do you two feel good about yourselves, scaring all of the little kids?” Eyes asked, unable to contain his smile.

“Yep,” both men said as they sat back down.

As the hours passed, the room became more relaxed. They ate and visited as people shifted in and out of seats. The men were ready to do some of their own shifting as the night progressed, none of them able to sit for too long.

Eyes sat with three young active Navy sailors and one mid-career Marine. The former military members at the table included two twenty-plus-year retired men and a female who’d been an officer. None of them, other than him, held the special warfare pin above their heart.

“I’m Jon Eisenhart. You guys can call me Eyes. I served as a SEAL for a year or thirteen before medically retiring. I’m now in the private sector, leading a specialized security company out of San Francisco. In my free time I enjoy running and gambling on underworld bead stacking competitions,” Eyes started after the last person sat.

“The what stacking?” one of the young sailors asked.

“Bead stacking competitions. Big money, highly competitive, and quite hush hush but I figure since I’m among friends — who now know I’m a former SEAL — they won’t be telling anyone outside of this table. Right?” Eyes asked as he narrowed his eyes. It was all for show.

All three of the young sailors immediately looked away from Eyes as he slowly scanned their faces. Not one of them wanted to challenge a man who’d served as a SEAL, especially knowing that those who’d received the trident pin were incredibly scary — based on nothing more than what they’d heard about SEALs, almost all through rumors.

“You’re going to make them piss their pants by the time dinner’s over,” laughed one of the retired men.

“You guys, he’s busting your balls,” said the other retired sailor. “No offense,” he added looking over at the two women sitting with them.

“Really? I wouldn’t be an officer if I was offended that easily, you snowflake,” replied Officer Preen as she rolled her eyes. The other sailor nodded her agreement.

Eyes continued on before a reply could be made. Some of the men in the military still had a hard time with ladies serving alongside them. Not all, but some. “Am I really joking?” Eyes asked, again looking at the youngest at the table with a death stare he’d perfected. When the kid really did look as if he was going to piss his pants, Eyes began laughing. “You’ll eventually learn that most of us are all talk . . . that is, until action’s needed.”

Instant relief washed over the young men’s faces. But Eyes was pleased to still see respect in their expressions. There was just a tinge of fear there too, but they were fresh off the farm, so he wasn’t surprised. A few years of battle would cure that insecurity real fast.

“Marine . . . what do you do here?” Eyes asked.

“I’m stationed here with the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion. I oversee security for the submarines. Been here for two and a half years,” the Marine shared.

The table took turns explaining what they did on base or with their lives now that they were out of the military. The three sailors were each attached to submarines, the two retired men were active volunteers within their respective communities, and the former officer worked as the head of engineering for a department with Boeing.

Time flew as people continued moving from table to table and they got to know one another through reminiscing about the good and bad times they’d had in their years of service. Before too long, the event was over. Captain Leach gave a closing statement, thanked everyone for their attendance, then threw out an invite for those who could make it to a night of bowling.

“If you’re all of age and want to hear more colorful stories let’s head to the bowling alley,” Eyes said to his current tablemates. “The first round’s on me.”

Several eager young men and women stood, seeming quite infatuated with Eyes. He couldn’t help being as cool as he was. He met up with his team, then gathered more of a crowd as he walked outside, Captain Leach among them.

“I’m off to regale these kids with stories of yesteryear,” Eyes said in a terrible British accent.

“No one wants to hear about you learning to read at the age of twenty-eight, you knuckle dragger,” Sleep quickly replied.

“True, but they’ll want to hear about how you shot me more times than you can count, and I walked away from it with just a little scratch,” Eyes said, his well-known goofy smile coming across his face.

All of the men were laughing as they walked through the door of the bowling alley. There was a crowd who’d beat them there. The youngsters wanted to spend more time with the only men at the event who, if only by their special operations pins, struck fear into others. Those pins, and what they meant, always brought a lot of attention.

“Okay, I’ll share more with you all as I know my life story is better than Disneyland, but I’m also going to kick all of your asses at bowling, so let’s shoe up,” Eyes said. He had his own pair of shoes but was stuck with the rentals since he hadn’t known he’d be bowling that night.

They geared up, then finished a round while he kept the men and women in stitches with his storytelling. Sleep played off of him perfectly, just as the two of them had done for their entire careers. They finally sat at the table to have a third, or maybe tenth, round of drinks when their evening was rudely interrupted.

A young sailor came up to their table, pushing his way through a couple of dozen people, and then slamming into Eyes, making the kids around him gasp. Who in the hell had the nerve to do that to a former SEAL? Eyes briefly glanced up at the young man but gave him no additional thought.

“Hey . . . guys . . . hey,” the young man said.

“Stop interrupting, dude. Mr. Brackish was telling us about a time he was swimming in a lake . . . naked, and the cops were chasing him,” someone said.

The interloper put his hand on Eyes’s shoulder, spilling some of the contents in his cup onto the seat, splashing Eyes, while steadying himself as his equilibrium started to falter from too many drinks. Each man on the special ops team saw the event unfolding one of two ways for the young man.

Either Eyes was going to take the kid’s hand, twist and yank down quickly, putting the young sailor’s face onto the table with a flash of movement that put the young man into some weird yoga-esque position, or Eyes would simply remove the hand from his shoulder and ignore the individual’s bad public behavior.

Luckily for the young sailor, Eyes decided against option A.

“Oh . . . you’re the old SEAL. Is BUDS really that hard? I heard the only reason people quit is because they’re injured to the point of not being able to physically continue,” the sailor said, leaning into Eyes, looking closely at his trident pin.

The entire group went utterly silent.

“What’s your name, sailor?” Eyes calmly asked.

“Monterubio,” the young man replied with a bit of a slur.

“Well, Monterubio, I’m going to give you one opportunity to take your hand off of me. If you don’t, you’ll learn first-hand what being injured is all about. After your hand is removed you’ll leave this table. You’re disrespecting the men sitting here, as well as myself, and I won’t tolerate it,” Eyes said.

“Oh . . . hey . . . uh . . . I’m so . . . I’m sorry,” Monterubio said, finally realizing danger even in his drunken state. He quickly spun around and stumbled away.

The tension around the table eased considerably, but the men sitting around it watched the actions of the young sailor carefully. Intoxication makes people do stupid things. Doing stupid things next to men of war is bad for the body and soul.

Brackish finished his story, almost everyone howling with laughter at the thought of this oversized man being hauled into a third world country’s jail, naked and slime covered.

“I was wondering, what is that ribbon? The blue one there with the white line in the middle?” Monterubio asked as he snuck back closer to their table. He was a glutton for punishment.

“Are you an absolute idiot?” a sailor gasped.

“Damn it, shut up,” another barked.

“You’re seriously embarrassing yourself, bro,” a petty officer said.

“What? Sorry for asking!” Monterubio said both embarrassed and a bit angry. Not a good combo at all.

“It’s the Navy Cross,” Eyes said. It was obvious to his team the tipping point was starting to fall in the wrong way for this sailor who continued to be in Eyes’s face.

“Oh, the Navy Cross. What did you have to do to get that? Did you actually kill someone? It must’ve been so cool,” Monterubio said with a laugh.

Sleep shot up from the table in a flash and had the chest of the discourteous sailor’s uniform clinched in his fist. Before anyone could react, Sleep pushed Monterubio away from the table and was ready to slam the sailor to the ground.

“Don’t you ever ask that question again. You’re lucky we’re in uniform because if you weren’t, I swear on my life, you’d be eating out of a straw for months. Don’t say another word. Leave right now because if you don’t, it’ll take an entire battalion to get me off of you,” Sleep finished through clenched teeth.

Monterubio became stone sober in the blink of an eye. Looking over the shoulder of Sleep to all of the special ops men now standing in the ready-to-kill position, made the disrespectful sailor about pee his pants.

“Let him down, Sleep,” Eyes calmly said to his best friend.

“Do I have to?” Sleep asked.

“Yes,” Eyes replied.

Sleep did as requested, giving Monterubio a quick jolt to the sailor’s torso as a parting gift. It knocked the wind out of him.

“Monterubio. Come and sit,” Eyes said as he pointed to the seat next to him. The calmness in his voice frightened everyone. The kid looked as if he wanted to run, but he did as Eyes commanded.

“I was twenty-five years old, on my second tour with my team, and we were sent into an especially terrible place in the northeast corridor of Africa. No, I won’t tell you the exact location, but it rhymes with Djicooti,” Eyes said. The joke had the intended effect as a few chuckles rolled around the men and women.

“Our mission was to obtain an individual wanted for doing very bad things to a lot of people. Let’s just call him Bob. Bob had people who worked for him who hated Americans just as much as we hated what Bob and his friends were doing to thousands of innocent people. What I learned from a very early age is that if someone wants something more than you, they’ll find a way to get it. Long story short, our government decided they wanted Bob and his friends to never hurt innocent people again,” Eyes said, not taking his eyes from Monterubio. Everyone leaned in closer so they could hear every single word.

“My team arrived at our location, and we were ready to begin the climax of the operation when everything went down the drain. The vehicle we were in started taking fire and was quickly disabled. My team made a quick exit strategy and we started to enact that plan when the first part of the shitstorm started raining hell down on us. Somehow, the exact time and location of our arrival was known.” He paused for a long moment.

“There’s no explanation for how precise that attack was and at that moment it didn’t matter at all. The small-arms rounds were followed by two rocket-propelled grenades that hit our vehicle. One of the men on my team didn’t get out in time and he died instantly. I was on the opposite side of the vehicle, jumped in, and pulled his body out.” There was another pause to give respect to the soldier who’d died.

“From that point our team was split between those who exited the vehicle from the left and those who exited from the right. The teammate I pulled out was bleeding all over my shoulder. Fully geared up and lifeless, he was extraordinarily heavy. It didn’t matter though because I wouldn’t leave him. The things they’d do to his body while filming was something I’d never allow to happen,” Eyes said.

The air around the table became thick, people having a hard time taking a deep breath while they raptly listened.

“The team members who got out on the opposite side of me got sucked into a pinch point. They were fired on by people above them as well as from different angles down the roadway. They were trapped. The fire on the vehicle made it impossible for them to go anywhere. I could hear them yelling for assistance and while we were trying to get to them we were taking on fire ourselves. I sat the driver down, making sure his body was secure, and then began engaging in subduing those who were trying to take us out. Me, and the two men with me, tried exploiting the angle we had on those shooting at our trapped team members. It was obvious we weren’t going to get much accomplished with plan A, so we had to quickly develop a plan B,” Eyes said, the fire of the story starting to show its flames in his expression.

Eyes started speaking with more emotion, inching closer to Monterubio. “It was then that I decided to take action. I told my team my plan and each of them argued, but I knew it was the only way we were going to get the men on the other side of the vehicle out of that situation. So, I slid my long gun over my shoulders, handed it and my extra ammo over, turned toward the burning vehicle, and started sprinting for it. It was the scariest thing I’d ever done. All of the underwater training, almost drowning on more than a couple of occasions, combat training, days of no sleep — none of it compared to the fear, and heat, I felt when I jumped into the back of that vehicle. The smell of the burning metal and plastic was almost as intense as the heat surrounding me. I only opened my eyes one time once I was inside the vehicle, and that was to find the door handle on the opposite side of the vehicle I’d exited from.”

“Wow,” someone said.

Eyes didn’t acknowledge the single word and continued. “Thankfully, even after being blown up, the door wasn’t completely broken. Once I opened the door I jumped out the other side and rushed to the men. When I arrived two of the four had been shot. Thankfully neither of the wounds were fatal. But one of them could no longer stay in the fight. I made him leave his weapon with the men who were still firing and dragged him through the open door of the burning vehicle to the other side. Once I secured him I went through the vehicle again and took control of the weapon that had been left behind. As soon as I started engaging with those firing on us I told the other men to start making their way out of that spot and through the vehicle. As the last man and I were ready to make the line out of there, another rocket-propelled grenade ripped through the vehicle — completely closing us off from our team.”

“Oh shit,” someone said.

Eyes leaned in very close to his new friend. “I refused to allow myself or the teammate to become a lost name in a no-named town doing a no-named operation. There was a moment of complete clarity, or complete blackout. Either way I saw nothing but the way to get out of there. Bullets were ripping into every single surface around us and the likelihood of getting out of there was next to nothing. So, I grabbed my flash grenades and launched them as high into the night sky as I could. As soon as they exploded in a blinding bright white ball my teammate and I took off running as fast as we could. That created enough of a diversion for us to get into a new spot, and from there we started taking out the insurgents. We were almost out of ammo when the Blackhawks arrived. By that point I had eighteen confirmed kills and saved the lives of those men stuck on the other side of the vehicle. I only thought of my team and what I could do to make sure they got home. Unfortunately, not everyone comes home every time we go out on a mission.” He stared at the sailor who was no longer spouting off nonsense.

“Monterubio, understand this carefully,” Eyes told the young man. “This ribbon was awarded to me not for the human life I took or for the risks I overcame. I wear this ribbon for those I was able to bring back home — both alive and dead. One of my friends didn’t make it home. I’ll forever honor who he was and what he did for me and this country. He died for all of us and was more than willing to do it. Can you say the same? Would you do the same? Are you willing to be blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade for the men and women standing around us right now?”

The kid didn’t answer, shame written all over his face.

“The fact that you’re sitting where you are, and I’m sitting where I am, is all the answer I need,” Eyes said coolly. “The next time you feel the need to drink too much and start acting disrespectful to those who have gone before you, walk out the door instead of over to the table. If you don’t follow this advice the next guy you bump into could be Sleep, and as you’ve already come to know, he has a more, let’s say, provocative, sense of instant justice. It could easily end up being very unlucky for you if that were to happen.”

The sailor barely nodded his head in acknowledgement of Eyes’s words. He then slid from the table and walked away; his head hung down. It was a lesson he’d remember for the rest of this life.

“Now let’s forget the interruption and have one more round before my teammates and I hit the road,” Eyes said.

Just as quickly as the man had been subdued, the special ops men’s instant readiness dissipated. The problem had been solved. There was no need to dwell on it. Tomorrow would be a new day. Tonight, they were going to finish off this gig with a bang.