Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(11)
Still, Mark hesitated. Talking with his friends had never been so hard. The unsettling rumor that Alex wasn’t dead had surfaced and Harley had fed it. It had to end.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it needs to be said. I was there and I know what I saw. I watched Alex die. I couldn’t get my hands on him, and I didn’t administer CPR or first-aid like Gabe did, but he’s gone.” Mark took a deep breath, needing everyone onboard and moving forward. He measured his next words carefully. “Now that I’ve said that, you need to understand that I will stand by Kelsey with this exhumation order. I’ll go to the ends of the earth to help her through this next month or two. Or three. Or twelve. If exhuming Alex is what she wants, by hell that’s what we’ll do.”
“We’re going to visit with her tonight,” Rory offered. “Tyler wants to see his Grandma Kelsey.”
“He drew a big sunshine for her,” Ember said, a catch in her voice. “He pasted accordion arms on it. Said she needs a sunshine hug.”
“We’re going too,” Mark said. “Maybe we’ll see you there.”
Izza’s chin stuck out, masking grief with her usual mean-girl attitude. “Me and Connor are taking dinner in tomorrow night.” She glared even as she wiped her eyes. “Yeah, guys. I can cook. Never said I couldn’t.”
“Nancy and I will wait a couple days to visit then,” David said.
Mark clenched his jaw before emotion got the best of him. These people weren’t just team members. They were family. And that family was closing ranks around their heartbroken friend in her time of need.
He gave them the best he had left to offer. “No matter what happened or what happens from now on, I’m here to tell you three things. Alex believed in you. Kelsey believes in you. And I believe in you.”
Harley groaned and turned away. Mark kept going. It was a puny pep talk at best, but it was all he had to give. “Let’s make Alex proud one last time. Gabe and Zack, keep Kelsey safe. Harley, go home. Help Judy bring some happiness into the world.”
“Yeah, we need some good news for a change,” Ember said. “Hurry up. Get those baby boys here so I can kiss them and hug—”
Harley clutched his forehead with one hand, covering his eyes. His shoulders heaved. “We’re naming one of my boys... Alex.”
Ember went straight to him. She wrapped her arms around her friend while he fell apart. “I’m sorry. God, Harley. I’m just so damned sorry.”
Even stoic David wiped his eyes at the tender news. A baby named after their hard-as-nails boss? A shot straight to the heart.
Mark blinked the moisture out of his eyes, cleared his throat and said the only thing he could. “Dismissed.”
Chapter Four
Get me the hell outta here.
Gabe followed Zack away from the depressing doldrums that followed Death. Thank God and Greyhound they’d gotten tasked to assist Kelsey. The assignment might not be out of the country, but anything was better than being stuck at TEAM headquarters.
Besides, she’d set him straight at the viewing with a hug and a handful of tissues. Kelsey held no malice in her heart that he’d been there when the shots were fired, that he hadn’t been able to perform a miracle and save his boss. Gabe had outright asked for forgiveness, but received heartfelt gratitude instead.
“He always liked you,” she’d said. “You remind him of himself when he was younger.”
That teary exchange forged a link like no other. He headed for his locker one level up on the third floor, damned sure nothing would happen to Kelsey.
A special ops man always kept his duffel packed, and his gear bag ready to travel at a moment’s notice. Gabe’s duffel held a five-day supply of clothes and personal items. He also carried an extra bag for his spare bionic foot. He’d left more than empty shells and bad memories back in the Mideast.
His gear bag was something else. He’d packed it with the usual medical trauma pack, lock-pick kit, fingerprint lift cards, heavy-duty flashlight, spare lithium batteries, one hundred feet of nylon cord, his twelve-inch USMC knife, a baseball cap, ear protection and safety glasses. A guy always had to be prepared, even at the boss’s house.
His boss’s old house. Ex-boss. Oh, hell. Kelsey’s house.
They stopped at the armory before they hit the elevator. It was nothing less than a vault, pure and simple. It housed an assortment of sniper rifles, sawed-off shotguns, grenade launchers, semi-automatic handguns, rifles, extra magazines, ammo—you name it. All small arms were stored in individual agent’s lockers within the vault. That had been Alex’s rule. No one carried on the job.
Gabe removed his SIG 290 from his locker and slung its holster over his shoulder. He secured five magazines into their plastic carrying case, and stuck a spare thigh-holster and a pocket pistol in his gear bag for added measure. It never hurt to be over-prepared, even if just standing watch over a sad lady friend.
Lastly, he included his laser scope, range finder, and a specialized digital camera for the lower rack on his pistol. “You think we’ll need night vision?”
Alex had recently procured the latest NVG helmets, newly designed and downright futuristic looking. If Zack gave the word, two of them would be added to the growing stack of gear on its way out the door with them.