Risking It All

Yes, Cash the surfer did have an excellent sense of balance. Even if he did ruin her video.

Every time she thought about that, her head throbbed more. And, she was annoyed to note, she was turned on as well. Stella would never let her live this one down.

Yes, Cash had lived up to his bad-boy promise, and then some. Still, he could’ve at least waited around until breakfast.

“Jerk,” she muttered, and covered her head with the pillow. Then she remembered that they’d ventured outside, on the terrace and the beach and she was so glad to be checking out today because how could she face the hotel’s patrons?

Between the darkness and the sounds of the ocean, and Cash supporting her, she’d felt comfortable enough to forget the fact that they had been outside. In public. Naked.

He had, at some point, assured her that no one had seen them.

But I can’t promise that no one heard us, he’d said, and then he’d grinned and done that thing with his tongue and she hadn’t cared.

Now, huddled in bed alone, she cared very much. And when her phone rang, she winced for a second, pictured the hotel manager calling to tell her about the complaints they’d received. Until she realized that it was her cell phone and not the hotel phone.

“Rina, it’s Jenny. Is this a bad time? I know it’s early.”

“Not at all,” she said. She’d hadn’t been close to her mother’s younger sister until recently, and now she thought of her aunt more like a sister. Jenny had even told her to drop the aunt-and-uncle stuff because it made her feel old.

Growing up, Jenny and Mac never came to Rina’s house for the holidays. Together, the couple had remained something of a cross between the black sheep and a mystery in her family. And then, Rina’s uncle had called her with an opportunity to do a recruitment video, which she shot a few months ago, so she’d grown close with her aunt in a very short period of time.

It was something Rina’s mother wasn’t too happy about, claimed her aunt was going to be a bad influence on her. It was partially the reason Rina hadn’t told her mother about the possible Africa project. She knew her mother would blame Jenny for influencing her, and she wouldn’t have been all that wrong. She and Jenny had spent hours talking about her uncle and Jenny’s brother, thumbing through photo albums and old letters and when Jenny had told her that she reminded her of David, she’d never felt prouder.

“I tried your home phone first and then I remembered you’d mentioned being away,” Jenny said, drawing Rina into the present.

She sat up and groaned, then fell against the stacked pillows. “Yes, I’m living the glamorous life in Hawaii.”

“I’m jealous, since we’re expecting snow here today. And hey, I won’t keep you, but Mac wanted me to let you know that the Navy big shots love what you did with the recruiting video. They think it’s a major coup to drum up business, half rock video, half Survivor.”

“That’s what I was aiming for, so I’m glad they didn’t think it was too progressive.” She’d agreed to shoot the video to help his uncle, who was a high-ranking Navy officer—she and Stella were on the Little Creek base in Virginia for two days last month in order to get proper footage and the necessary clearances. It had been a good video, highlighted her and Stella’s skills, but wasn’t long enough to be included in their grant proposal. No, that film needed to be bigger.

“He’d tell you himself, but he’s away,” her aunt continued. “He’s so proud of the work you’ve done.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Jenny, with Mac away all the time,” she said, thinking she sounded an awful lot like her mother.

“Practice,” her aunt replied. “It helps that he’s hot, too.” She and Rina both laughed at that. Rina had to agree that Mac was a good-looking guy. But Jenny’s marriage to Mac was a frequent source of tension in the family, even though Mac had tried his best in the beginning to win her mother over, it became painfully apparent that that wasn’t going to happen.

Of course, Stella found the whole thing completely romantic, and even though Rina would never admit it out loud, she had to agree.

Eloping in the middle of the night after a first date—well, Jenny told her that even she had to finally admit that what had happened between her and Mac technically wasn’t a date—but she and Mac were still solidly together after eleven years, Mac’s numerous travels with the SEALs and her two miscarriages.

They were talking about adopting. Jenny planned to try until she was forty—two more years—and then she’d consider the alternatives. And Mac seemed more than willing to do whatever it took to make her happy.

But Mac had more than one strike against him, at least in Rina’s mother’s eyes. Not only was his Navy SEAL job and lifestyle completely unconventional, he was also fifteen years older than Jenny. They’d also married right after Rina’s Uncle David had been killed, another strike, since her mom blamed the military for what had happened to David in Africa.

Even though her Uncle was a retired Special Forces Soldier and now worked for JAG, he still did what was considered highly classified and confidential work for the government, which required his schedule to be top secret most of the time.

“It was great having you here. You’re welcome back any time,” Jenny was saying, but Rina barely heard her. Her mind had already begun a steady turn, and her imagination took off.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to apply for the grant this year after all…. “I might take you up on that one. Soon,” Rina said, her pulse racing nearly as fast as it had been last night.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Could you have Mac call me when he gets back? I’ve got another video idea I think the Navy might like.”

“Will do,” Jenny promised.

Rina hung up and dialed Vic’s cell phone number immediately. “I’ve got a pitch for you,” she said, dispensing with the usual hello.

“You’re supposed to be finishing up the job you’re on now. But I’m listening.”

“Bigger, Badder, Faster—X-treme jobs,” she said, scribbling notes to herself on a napkin even as she spoke.

“I like it. Tell me more.”

“We could do things like roughnecks, race car drivers, stunt men. Navy SEALs,” she continued, encouraged by the way Vic sounded.

“We’d need some kind of in,” he said.

“I think I’ve got the in for the SEALs,” she said. “And I want behind the camera on this one.”

Her mom was always saying how crazy her Uncle Mac was. So really, what could be more extreme, more exciting, than a day in the life of a Navy SEAL?

5

Two weeks later

“HOW BAD IS IT?” Cash asked Hunt, his SEAL teammate. Cash leaned forward to see the damage for himself while he shot off a round of fire to keep the enemy at bay. His muscles tensed and gut tightened, the way they always did whenever the situation involved adrenaline and explosives.

“Get out of here now before you’re trapped,” Hunt told him. The men had been inserted into Morocco an hour earlier, and Mission Tank Battle was already well underway.

Cash shifted, and mentally calculated their options. “Can’t we get around the side wall?”

“Not unless we want to die immediately. It’s too late and I’m too hurt to be helped, so go,” Hunt insisted.

“I’m not leaving you behind,” Cash said. He’d sacrificed too much to let something like this happen, the last half hour was pure blood, sweat and tears. He’d been shot, as well. Using every available resource he had, he grabbed Hunt, swung him over his shoulder and started to run.

“Watch behind you,” Rev, another teammate, urged and Cash swung to the left to avoid another grenade. And promptly dropped Hunt.

“I thought you were trying to save me?” Hunt demanded as the TV screen turned white and Game Over emerged in large blue letters.

“I can’t help it if you slipped,” Cash said, wondering why the hell anyone ever played these SOCOM3 games. Once you’d lived the real thing, the on-screen version paled in comparison.

“You suck at this,” Hunt declared, and took the controls out of Cash’s hands. “Good thing your track record’s better where it counts.”

From the room’s far corner, Justin snorted, where he lay on his back playing Texas Hold ’Em on his cell phone. Etienne, better known as Rev, had been trying to put some order to the paperwork blanketing the massive, scarred oak table where the SEALs held their meetings. But he’d given up at least an hour ago in favor of seeing just how far he could tip his chair back on two legs without falling over. He also offered commentary on the video game Cash and Hunt had been playing for an hour, since they’d all been benched with injuries, albeit minor ones, after last night’s training mission.

A stimulating afternoon. Of course, compared to the excitement of the Gray Ops mission in Hawaii, the just sitting around part was that much more frustrating. He and Justin had completed their end of the mission, had gotten lauded for their part in helping to bring down a major drug running operation. It was hard to come down from something like that.