Love, Tussles, and Takedowns (Cactus Creek #3)(39)

“And this is where it gets murky, Reyes,” continued Clint over the phone. “At the third site, they found parachute and military uniform remnants. Since this was eight years ago, the physical site didn’t offer any more conclusive insight as to what happened to the soldier, but given the timeline of hostile activity in the area at the time, according to both our intel and Drew’s, we might be looking at possible capture.”

Shit. A worst case scenario, for sure. He kept his reaction silent.

“So what about at the last site?” he queried next, writing nothing but question marks on the paper regarding the third site finding.

“That one, the team was lucky enough to find evidence that suggests a local may have intervened and provided aid to the soldier. Strips of fabric commonly worn by the local women were found near the military artifacts recovered. And among the things dug up was a large metal panel that the team has ID’d as part of a U.S. military aircraft.” Clint paused and Hudson braced himself for what was coming next.

“Not only are we looking at a possible survivor here, but there’s also a brief note scratched into the metal paneling. By a pocket knife or some other sharp metal object. It wasn’t very long but it was clearly written to a loved one. And…well, it was initialed with a letter L.”

Hudson took a moment, then asked the first thing that came to mind, “Where are the remains going to be sent? Delaware or Hawai‘i?”

“That was the team’s call but the anthropologist believes they’ll be able to extract DNA from the marrow, so they’re sending everything to Dover for processing.”

“Is the metal panel going there also?” If it went straight to a non-biological lab, he wasn’t sure he could get Lia clearance. But he knew at least a half dozen military families who’d been allowed to meet their loved ones’ remains in Dover.

“Sorry, man. That one’s going to non-biological forensics. I can find out which base lab, but I’m almost positive we can’t get your woman clearance until afterward.”

His woman.

For a moment, that was all Hudson could focus on.

On Lia being his.

But he came crashing back to reality shortly after with Clint’s ill-timed, “If the note does end up being from her husband, then she’d of course get access.”

Right.

Her husband. Possibly alive.

Hudson looked up and saw that Lia was no longer in the living room. He watched as she stood silently in the kitchen, gripping the counter with one hand, fiddling with her necklace with the other.

“Say, Clint.” His voice was a rusty rumble as he pushed out his suggestion, “Remember that time they needed us to ID some personal effects of Specialist Thompson?”

“Yeah. Weird case. They had us do it over the internet, didn’t they? It was us and—” Clint’s tone took on a new level of respect. “Shit. Good idea, man. I’ll make the suggestion for a video forensics analysis and a video conference call. According to the detailed reports Drew provided in the last hour, it looks like the note on the panel could have been written to Lia or one other surviving wife from the men missing.

So there was a fifty-fifty chance.

The sound of increased activity over the phone line put a pin in that math equation from hell. “Look, Clint, I really appreciate all you’re doing with this. You’re moving mountains out there and…it just means a lot. I know this is supposed to be your team’s downtime right now.”

“Don’t sweat it. I made it voluntary for anyone who wanted to come. Which is why practically everyone is here. Even the newbies you haven’t met yet.”

Some days it was harder than others to be away from that life. Today was quickly climbing the charts. Feeling helpless and pointless wasn’t a good color on him.

Clint cleared his throat then, and made a half-grunt like he wanted to say something. But didn’t. Another novelty. Then: “We all miss seeing your old mug out here. It hasn’t been the same.”

Definitely one of the hardest days.

“These new guys here could learn a lot from you.”

“Not much I can teach ‘em these days.” Hudson flexed his fists. “Not with these bum hands.”

“I’m not talking about guns and fighting. These guys are all good soldiers but a few of the young ones still have a lot to learn about being a good man. Not everyone would fight this hard to find the missing husband of a woman he was clearly falling in love with.”

Hudson almost dropped the phone. “Wait a minute. Lia and I—”

“Save it, Reyes. I’ve known you for over ten years. You can deny it, fight it, or just damn well accept it. From personal experience, I can tell you the first two routes are just big ole time-sucks that will lead you right back to the third route anyway.”

Ah, yes. He remembered when Clint had fallen in love a few years back.

“How is Jenni, by the way?” asked Hudson, the doom and gloom of the situation lifting momentarily and the thought of the goofy, lovesick look that would be on his CO’s face at the mere mention of her name.

“She’s great. And the boys are doing great here too.”

As much as he wanted to catch up with Clint, he didn’t want to keep Lia waiting. “Clint, sorry to cut this call short, but I want to make sure to debrief Lia on everything.”