Full Circle (28 page)

"I hate it," Jack said, not bending. "I hate the possibility that you could get hurt. It gets me right in the gut!"

"No more than I hate the idea of you being hurt. I felt like my life was suspended while I was waiting to hear if you were one of guys that was hurt on your last mission. It works both ways, you idiot," Josie exclaimed. "You worked in dangerous assignments for years. I'm afraid you'll get tired of the slow pace of Rawlings, that you'll take off and re-up again."

He shook his head. "That's not likely. After the last few missions, I'm done with it. If I want adventure now, there's a heck of a lot I haven't seen right in here in the U.S. We can take a vacation to Alaska, or the Grand Canyon, or a bunch of other places I'd like to see. I was thinking that after we get settled in maybe we buy one of those RV things, take Alex and maybe even Buck with us and go traveling."

Josie nodded, smiling as she thought about it.  She looked up at him seriously. "What happened to make you want to give it up, Jack? Was it something awful?"

Jack looked away and nodded. "I lost three of my men. Three of the very best. They were good men, good friends. One of them stepped on a trip wire. Have you ever heard of the term pink mist?"

Josie shook her head and leaned against him.

"Pink mist is an explosion so intense it vaporizes the human body," Jack said. "You don't have time to respond or a chance to stop it. The bomb went off, and pink mist showered the rest of us with the remains of our friends. I'd heard of it happening before to other teams. I'd thought it was never going to happen to my team—not my guys." Jack gave himself a shake and stiffened. "We finished our mission and we got the others out alive, but something curled up and died inside me. I was done. I couldn't handle it anymore. That's why I gave up my commission."

"You went back for one last mission," Josie said.

"Yeah and it was good to know I could do it again, but I didn't want to be there anymore. At our level, we mostly get to pick our missions. We know what we're going into, and we do it willingly, but I didn't volunteer for the last one. I did my duty and came back to you.

"I told you that my last mission was complicated, on many levels. For the first time in my Navy career, I used a critical situation to my advantage. They needed my skills and knowledge to pull off the mission. I needed three more months of duty to qualify for my twenty-year retirement. I was too close to that pension to walk away from it and damn it—I'd earned it. I was willing to do it until they called me back. Strictly by accident, I overheard some bean-counting weasels saying I was a fool to come back for the last mission and walk away from a pension because I was only outstanding ninety days to earn it. They were laughing about it, and that pissed me off.

"The negotiations weren't pretty, and there was a good chance I could have been court-marshaled but I stuck to my guns. I had some powerful, high-ranking officers backing me up too. They got their mission, and I got my full retirement package. It took some complicated bookkeeping, but I was determined that they weren't going to use me when I wasn't medically cleared for a mission and get away with saying I didn't fulfill the requirements for my retirement package. The damn bean counters will try anything when a guy gets that close… they're weasels, every damn one of them.

"You're the only one who has my allegiance now, Josie. Well, you and the kid. I shouldn't have to tell you how serious I am about this. It's my job to protect you—even from yourself. I want you to be around for a really long time."

Josie realized for the first time that Jack's motivations weren't entirely based on his need for control. He was afraid of losing her. She had never had anyone in her life care that much for her, to put her needs and safety above their own. Love—Josie realized. Jack loved her. She and Jack did not wax poetic. They were a different breed, tough and pragmatic in their life choices, but that didn't mean they were incapable of love. She realized she did not merely want to make love with Jack. She was in love with Jack. She looked at him with eyes wide in surprise.

"What?" Jack demanded.

"I'm in love with you," she whispered.

He laughed, "That's not news to me, Hellion. I wondered how long it was going to take you to realize it. I'm in love with you too; I have been from practically the first moment I set eyes on you again."

Both of them jumped and wrapped their arms around each other as they heard the dreaded tornado sirens going off in the distance.

Jack gave Josie's hand a squeeze before unlatching the storm shelter's hatch that surfaced beyond the house out into the back yard. "If it's gone, we'll rebuild. We can replace things, but not the people we love. The only important thing is that you're okay."

"Same to you," Josie said, as Jack pushed opened the door, and they went up the steps.

The house was still standing, so was the carriage house. The porches and the deck were intact, although the Jacuzzi she'd been trying to protect was destroyed. Another falling limb had made a direct hit on it. The old tree was definitely coming down.

The storm had flattened and bent a shed at the end of the yard, and debris was everywhere. Part of the backyard fencing was down, and there was a child's tricycle smashed against the fence. As far as Josie knew, there were no small children living nearby. These properties on the edge of town were mostly owned by older people whose children were grown and gone. They had large yards and three- to five-acre lots each. Originally all the land had been Raintree property, but the lots had been sold off as her relatives had needed money. The neighbors were also coming outside to check around and assess the damage. They jogged over to the Jenkins first, checking with them to make sure they were okay, and went to two other neighbors before returning to her house.

Josie went inside through the back door, checking the house room by room. A bowl of fruit from the kitchen island lay shattered on the floor. A new triple pane side window in the family room was smashed, with some of the framing ripped out and bent. The new picture window that had been replaced only a week ago, had survived. The flat-screen TV was speared through with a long piece of metal fencing. Jack came through the front door heading down the hall as she went up the stairs. There was one broken window in a spare bedroom that hadn't been renovated yet, but no other damage. The rest of the upstairs rooms were in good order. She went back downstairs and found Jack in the library.

The arched cottage style bay window, which had been renovated sometime in the 1950s, was destroyed.  Josie had planned to replace it with a large stained glass window taken from Jack's house anyway. A dented aluminum trashcan lay on the floor by the upended kidney-shaped desk. The desk drawers were ripped out of their bases, and one of the library shelf units was tilted forward. The Italian secretary's doors were open, and one of the glass panels smashed, the drawers were askew."

"How does it look outside from the front?" Josie asked.

"Not bad. Trash is blown around everywhere, but not as bad as this. How is the rest of the interior?"

"Two windows on the main level are smashed, this one and one in the family room. I already had plans to replace this window. The other one was new, but it will need a total replacement. There's a broken window upstairs in one of the bedrooms, but I think that will only need the glass replaced. I have to find my phone, call in and get a report on the town damage. I also want to know if any of the storms are tracking towards Alex's camp."

"The electricity is back on. Turn on the TV and find out if there was a touchdown," Jack said.

"The TV has a long spear through it. I've already unplugged it," Josie said with a shake of her head, heading toward the kitchen. "I'll turn on the computer, and see if I can get online."

Jack followed her to the kitchen as she got an update from the sheriff's office.

"I have to go in," Josie said. "We need everyone. One touchdown has been reported so far, out by the Warren place but in the middle of pastureland. Maybe an F1. He has some crop damage, but that's it. The high winds were nearly as damaging, and there are reports of hail shattering vehicle windshields and storefront windows. Several roofs blew off. No fatalities reported so far, but injury reports are coming in, a lot of them.

"Clay is on his way out to the mobile home park. They usually sustain the most damage. The rescue-squad EMTs need their vehicles here, so they'll want volunteer vehicles for runs to Elkview General. You might want to volunteer your skills with the EMTs or the fire department, or volunteer to be a driver for the injured. All medical teams will work out of the clinic where Dr. Mellon and his staff will make triage decisions."

There was a loud pounding on the front door, and they both trotted over to answer it.

Buck stood on the porch. He grabbed Josie into a huge hug. "Are you all right, Baby?"

Josie nodded and after a slight hesitation hugged him back. "We're okay. I have to go to work. Jack's going to see about volunteering wherever he can be useful. You should do the same. The EMTs could probably use your SUV for transports to the hospital."

"Come on, Jack," Buck said. "First, we've got to get a half section of roof off the driveway because it's blocking the garage doors."

"We lost part of the roof?" Jack and Josie said simultaneously, rushing outside to the front yard to survey the roofline of the house and carriage house.

"I don't think it's yours," Buck said. "It probably blew in from somewhere else. Josie, take my SUV into town and lend it to anyone who can use it. You'll have a department vehicle to use. I'll stay here, and use your truck and start cleaning up debris."

"That's not necessary—" Josie trailed off as both men gave her a stern look. "Never mind," she said, realizing her statement was ridiculous. "Have at it. I have to get back into uniform. The chainsaw is probably still on the back porch roof, or it's been blown away. You might want to check the backyard."

As she walked away, Buck gave Jack an inquiring look. "Why the hell is a chainsaw on the back porch roof?"

"That's a story I'm sure she doesn't want you to know," Jack said, pulling on some leather gloves and going to work.

It was a busy afternoon that extended well into the night for nearly everyone in Rawlings. The town people considered themselves lucky. Even though there had been a tornado touchdown, it had been brief and not in a populated area. The wind shears, gale-strength winds and hail caused most of the damage. The schools and most commercial buildings were unharmed. The two churches were undamaged and opened their doors, setting up cots for anyone needing shelter until they could repair their homes. Mrs. Freeman opened up the high-school cafeteria to feed anyone who needed a meal. Volunteers helped deliver meals over to the churches. Several construction companies offered dump trucks to haul off debris. It would take a couple of days for the town to clean up and return to normal, but the storm had spared human life and injuries were minor. Volunteers were plentiful, reminding Josie why she had returned to her hometown.

She had lived in Washington, D.C. for eight years and had only met the people in the apartment next to hers one time when she had introduced herself to them. They had never spoken to her again. They were not neighbors, but simply people who lived in the next unit. The people of Rawlings hadn't lost their sense of community and pulled together in times of need.

Josie arrived home well after midnight. The lawn lights were on so she could see that Buck had done an excellent job of cleaning up the mess. There was a large pile of broken branches and trash piled up in the corner of her yard ready for pickup. He had stapled tarps over the broken windows until they could repair or replace them. He had swept the porches, rehung the hanging pots and brought out the flowers she had taken to the garage. She smiled, because her American flag was also flying. As a military man, that would always be important to him.

She hadn't seen him, but she'd heard that Jack was working with the rescue squads using his medic training. Coming through the back door, she noticed several large pizza boxes on the counter along with a take-out tray of pasta. She glanced out the window and noticed Jack's grill was already in its place of honor on the deck.

She pulled out her cell phone and plugged it into its charger as it had gone dead several hours earlier. She reached over to punch in the code for the home phone messages. Many friends had called to see how she faired through the storm, several of whom had made contact with her at the sheriff's office. The fourth message worried her. It was Alex's Camp Director, who asked that she return his call as soon as possible.