Page 34 of Twister

He sighed heavily. Her eyes still had those circles, and she didn’t look any better than she had a few days ago. “I’m checking up on you. I told you I was going to do it, and you kept ducking my calls.”

“You should really focus on your mission. The boys and I are doing fine. Please stop calling me every five minutes. I don’t need your help.”

He opened his mouth, but she had already disconnected the call. He dropped his face into his hand, deciding that what she wanted didn’t matter. When he got home, they were going to have this out, once and for all.

After Brian’s death, he made a point to keep in touch, but Quinn had totally walled up. That once vibrant smile was absent, and she was so brittle. All of it was hard to watch. He had been concerned ever since her hostility had become apparent. She’d hidden it, but after the funeral, she pulled away, got distant, started to talk to him with that edge in her voice.

There were nights when he’d lay awake until dawn trying to figure out how to get through to her about how Brian had died. And unless she opened up and allowed him back into her life, he was at a loss. Quinn might need to be rescued, but she certainly didn’t want it to be by him.

That hurt like hell... She was suffering through all of this alone and refused to come to him for help. He genuinely wanted her to get on with her life, but she was mired in some serious grief and unhappiness, and he had to face the fact that his feelings for her only seemed to compound, and he was fantasizing about wanting a whole lot more.

Didn’t matter. He wouldn’t, couldn’t turn his back on her and those boys, not now, not ever. She had better get preparedfor that reality, and if he needed to, he would play the biological card whether she liked it or not.

“Master Chief?”Twister asked, not sure why he’d called him into the hall. He couldn’t stop himself from glancing in the direction of Sadie’s door, and his eagle-eyed chief didn’t miss it. His body was restless because he wanted to be close to her, and it wasn’t all about sex.

“I’m guessing you’d rather be sleeping somewhere else than your bunk,” Bondo said.

There was no use denying it. He wanted to be with Sadie as much as possible, considering their schedules. “So much for subtlety.”

Bondo chuckled. “We all know how subtle I was with Cameron, and I’m aware of what you’re going through. In this case, looking the other way seems prudent and will alleviate your…distraction, and you can choose to sleep where you’d like to sleep.”

“Seriously?” Twister said. “What about Tex?”

“Who do you think suggested it? He doesn’t miss a damn thing.”

It didn’t matter that Tex was their CO. All that mattered was that he was part of their team. “Thank you, Master Chief.”

“Not so fast. You need to be discreet about this, but we’re not going to police you.” He paused and gave Twister one of his direct looks. “Speaking of our CO, Tex is concerned about you, and it has nothing to do with Sadie. Are you one hundred percent?”

This was the moment he had been thinking about, and although he didn’t want to lie to Bondo’s face, he also didn’twant to fess up to his panic attacks. He might be yanked off the team and sent home, and he didn’t want to leave his brothers short one shooter. He also didn’t want to leave Sadie. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was in danger. It wasn’t overt, just a gut feeling he had regarding her safety. “I’m working out some issues, but I’m operational, Master Chief.”

Bondo’s eyes narrowed, and he sighed. “I get that, Shane. We’ve been through some shit on our deployments. I killed someone with friendly fire. We dealt with sexual harassment and menacing on board an aircraft carrier. We almost lost Easy and Shark, and you…fuck.” He looked away and Twister gave him a moment.

“Yeah, and you became a dad and got a second chance. We’re built for what we do, and we both know it. It’s just that sometimes we get a little twisted up and have to find our way again. I’m just a little lost in the jungle.”

Bondo didn’t say anything. He just continued to stare at him, giving him an inscrutable look, then turned and opened the door. “Twist?”

Twister turned back. “Yeah.”

“You’re not alone in that jungle. You might think you can’t see us. But we’ve been there the whole time. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Copy that, Master Chief,” Twister said, clenching his jaw and fighting back a flood of emotions. The brotherhood bound him, regardless of how much he was struggling, invisible bonds still connected him to each of his teammates and always would regardless of where he was or what he was doing. This brotherhood was for life, an earned and beloved burden, and the only way any of them left it was in a body bag. Bondo’s reminder settled inside of him. He wouldn’t forget that again.

Axel Beck staredat the FBI forensic ME. She had delivered some news that reverberated in his head. He glanced at Griffin, and the same shock was on his face.

“Could you repeat that so I’m sure I heard you right?” Griffin said, his voice hushed in disbelief.

“Petty Officer Mercer was murdered with a military knife. In fact, I have sufficient evidence to suggest it was a Navy-issued weapon.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Axel said, his gut tightening at the implications of the murder weapon.

She nodded and walked away. “What the hell?” Griffin said. “That’s something I didn’t expect her to say. What are we looking at here?”

Axel shook his head, at a loss for words. He stared at Griffin, having worked with him in Niger. “Someone literally stabbed Mercer in the back. One of the divers?”

“Or it’s possible that a terrorist used one of their knives to kill Mercer.” He bit his lip. “I think someone should get back to that crime scene and search for the knife. Does Petty Officer Lancaster still have his knife?”

“That’s something we’re going to ask him, but if he had anything to do with Mercer’s death, why did he try to save him?”