Miami Beach, Florida;
12:05 p.m.
“Good God, it’s hot!” complained the man in the passenger side of the red 1969 Jeep CJ5 as it cruised down Calle Ocho.
Miami in July was hot, sea breezes notwithstanding.
The sun was bright and torrid, the humidity oppressive.
The sky was azure blue with wispy white clouds.
This was typical seaside weather.
The smells of several Cuban restaurants consumed the streets filled with locals and tourists looking for the mid-day meal with sweet odors of roast pork and fried plantains.
The July 4
th
holiday drew in many tourists, many making it a long weekend.
“It’s going to be a hot one, brother.
And I thought Texas was hot.
This humidity is hard to take sometimes,” complained Hugo Winsor.
“One day I’m headin’ back to the Lone Star State.”
“Hell, I know what it is,” smiled Dane Skoglund.
“It’s those Texas women.
And don’t you deny it.”
“Hmmm, I can’t argue with that.
But let’s not say anything bad about my Texas girls.
They are very hard to beat.”
Hugo suddenly snapped his head around.
“Oh, my God, look at those beauties over there!”
“Hugo, if you are not thinking about food, you are thinking about women,” Dane answered as he smiled at a trio of pretty young ladies crossing the street as they stopped at the red light.
Hugo sat up straight looking at the tanned long legs, the flip-flops and the bikini tops.
“My God, the women of Miami are so very fine!” remarked Hugo as the size of his grin grew as the ladies all looked his way and smiled.
A petite blonde waved at Hugo nearly setting him off into orbit.
Dane could only laugh as the light turned green and the jeep sped off toward Miami Beach.
Miami was his adopted home, far, far from his original homeland of Sweden.
His parents had come to America when he was only four.
He could hardly remember the numbing cold in his hometown of Sundsvall.
After his parents settled in Bremerton, Washington, he and his younger sister, Dana, grew up to be well-liked local athletes. They both excelled in any sport they tried.
But all through middle and high school Dane was enthralled with anything Navy.
His father worked at the Puget Sound Navy Shipyard as an electrical engineer.
Dane took to the sea like a fish.
Dane grew up around the Navy, many times touring the countless ships in the shipyard with his father.
It was only natural that he joined Naval ROTC in high school even though it was generally unpopular at the time.
But his infatuation with the Navy ensured his tenure.
Two weeks after he turned eighteen, Dane became a citizen of the United States.
To him this was a goal he had held since he was a small boy.
He had heard his father talk about how wonderful the United States was and how much opportunity was to be had.
Exactly one month after his graduation from high school, Dane joined the United States Navy and upon graduation from basic training immediately volunteered for SEAL training.
He excelled in both his training and testing, which paved the way for an assignment to the BUD/S course in Coronado, California.
He amazed the instructors; not only did he do everything well but did it without a single challenge or harsh word.
One instructor anointed him the “SEAL’S SEAL”.
That was an honor that Dane held high above all other accolades he had earned throughout his life.
Dane was a hulk of a man.
His Swedish genes produced a chiseled, bronze-bodied, blond perfect model for a Navy SEAL.
One could swear that he would have made
THE
best SEAL poster model of all time.
But to Dane, he was always trying to do even better.
His mother and father had instilled within him not only a strong loyalty to the U.S. but a burning desire to do whatever it takes to ensure the United States succeeded in everything.
He relished the chance to fight for his newly chosen country.
So much that he volunteered for duty in Iraq.
At first he laughed at a SEAL in the desert but once he got there he was thrust into the thick of things immediately.
His actions in Iraq earned him the Navy Cross.
The jeep turned off of Biscayne Boulevard and onto the MacArthur Causeway crossing Watson Island.
They were barreling out to Miami Beach.
Both Dane and Hugo gazed over to their right at the huge, white cruise ships docked over at the Port of Miami.
Saturday was a big turnaround day for the cruise ships in Miami and other major cruise ports.
Several Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian cruise ships came into port at daybreak just as they do many days of the week.
Saturday and Sunday were particularly busy days in Miami.
The ships disembarked thousands of cruisers from the previous week.
Within hours they took on provisions and loaded those lucky folks heading out for the next week of fun on the seas.
Even though both had seen their time at sea in the Navy, Dane and Hugo looked at the ships and then looked at each other.
“Hey, what about we try out one of those sometime,” prodded Hugo.
“We could have a helluva good time!”
“Yeah, I could see you patrolling the decks hitting on any female over the age of eighteen, leaving none untouched,” laughed Dane.
He paused a second, smiling.
“Now that I think of it, maybe we should.
It would be a hoot to watch you in action.”
“Oh, and what action I could show you, my man!
Think of all of the lovely ladies aboard and the time we would have,” grinned Hugo.
Hugo was the epitome of the ladies man.
A Texan, Hugo was born and raised in Austin in the hill country.
His exploits at Lake Travis and the Oasis were legendary.
If you didn’t believe it just ask him.
He was always glad to tell you about it.
Dane had heard the stories so many times he could recite them in his sleep.
Hugo and Dane were natural sidekicks.
They had met at BUD/S in Coronado.
He was almost a carbon copy of Dane except for the blonde hair.
Hugo’s was jet black and slightly curly.
The ladies loved Hugo.
Always ready with a suave line, he could literally charm the ladies into his arms.
Dane could get his share as well but had learned very early in their friendship that Hugo could provide for the both of them.
Almost as driven as Dane, Hugo was a master at combat arms and demolition.
Dane had often wondered if he had actually learned demolition as a child.
Hugo took to blowing things up like a duck to water.
He was very, very good at it.
He could also field strip any type of handgun or rifle before most people could sneeze.
He ate, drank and slept with weapons.
One could probably say that if he was not with a woman at night he was with a weapon.
Although Hugo’s life now was an open book, his childhood was a bit of a mystery.
He very seldom talked about his life before the age of eighteen.
When he did he cut the conversation short and moved on to other things.
Dane had learned not to prod him about it.
He figured that if Hugo wanted to let him know he would tell him.
Dane’s quiet Swedish background did not lend him to be a conversationalist.
What he did know was that Hugo’s father was a mechanic, his mother a nurse.
Both had had hard lives.
Both lost their parents at an early age.
Hugo had never met his grandparents; they died before he was born.
His world in his early years was only his father and mother, no one else.
He had no brothers or sisters.
From the time he could sit up, he was with his father at the garage.
He had learned auto mechanics long before he learned to play with other children.
Hugo could rebuild any engine and was a mechanical magician.
All of those hours spent with his father at the garage had stuck with him.
Any car he owned was immediately modified to deliver maximum horsepower.
When he wasn’t working as a lifeguard, he was working on one of several old cars he had stashed in his garage.
Since his mother worked as a nurse, usually on second or third shift, he had spent very little time with her and females in general.
Maybe that was why he became a ladies man when he discovered girls in middle school.
He loved his mother dearly and greatly respected her dedication to the family even though she was rarely there to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
Both she and Hugo’s father were killed in a car wreck a week after he graduated from high school.
That was the reason he joined the Navy.
He had no where else to go.
Hugo became a man’s man, the ultimate Texan.
He lived cars, trucks, grease and guns.
Both he and Dane left the Navy the same day.
Neither one of them had any particular strong ties back to their homes.
Hugo had loved Texas but felt that if he returned to Austin he would end up like his father in that garage.
Dane, on the other hand, did have parents back in Washington state but also had no particular reason to return there as well.
So these two vagabonds decided to do something completely different… move to Miami.
One of their Navy buddies had a friend who had a friend that was in charge of the lifeguards on the Miami area beaches.
With a little help and a few kind words, Dane and Hugo were settling in as lifeguards in the Miami lifestyle.
Within a few months Dane was tapped as a beach commander.
They continued their drive out 5
th
Street and turned north on Ocean Drive with hotels on the left and the gorgeous white beaches of Miami Beach on the right.
They drove north on Ocean Drive until they turned right into the headquarters of the Miami Beach Patrol Headquarters.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Dane stopped the jeep under a palm tree as he saw Wayne Johnson and Sherrie Knowlton walking up from the beach.
“Hi, guys,” waved Sherrie, turning to see where Wayne was.
“Come on, Wayne.
What’s slowing you down?
Must be those doughnuts you ate!”
“Doughnuts…
You got doughnuts?” yelled Hugo as he bolted from the Jeep and headed toward the office.
“Good morning, fine lady!”
“And a fine mid-day to you too.
Dane, where have you two been?” asked Sherrie as she stopped beside the Jeep.
“We had to run out to Miami International to pick up some gear that Hugo had shipped in from California.
It was such a beautiful day that we took our time.”
“Well, I guess if you are the boss you can do what you want,” smiled Sherrie, clearly flirting with Dane.
“It’s been a quiet day so far.”
When they walked into the patrol room, Hugo had already found the doughnuts.
True to form, he had already eaten one, had a sugar doughnut in one hand and a half a chocolate doughnut in the other hand.
The other half was in his mouth.
“I should have known…” chuckled Dane as he walked into the patrol room.
“Hugo, you could find food in the worst famine area.”
“I gotta keep my svelte figure for the ladies,” Hugo retorted, taking another bite.
Dane smiled and turned toward his desk.
Even Miami Beach lifeguards had to do paperwork.
He sat down and pulled a stack of papers from the pile in his IN basket.
“Hey, you’re not going to have one?” asked Hugo, referring to the doughnuts.
“Not me.
I don’t want to spoil my lunch,” said Dane, head down signing some form.
“Hey, anyone for a Cuban sandwich?”