obviously likes you. So what’s really bothering you?”
Trigger hesitated. He knew what he was about to say would sound crazy, but these were his best friends. Men he’d die for, and they’d do the same for him.
“I think she’s it,” he said, putting a hand on his stomach, which was spinning and rolling.
“She’s what?” Grover asked in confusion.
“I don’t know how to explain how I know, but we clicked out there. It’s stupid, I realize that. Certifiable. We don’t even know each other. But something inside knows she could be it for me. And if I get to know her better, I’m not going to want to let her go. If she dumps me, it’ll kill me.”
No one said anything for a long moment, then Brain smiled. Huge. “Congratulations!”
The others chimed in with their own felicitations.
“Hang on, you guys,” Trigger complained. “Nothing’s happened. She’s probably totally forgotten all about me by now.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Doc said reasonably. “Call her.”
“I don’t have her number,” Trigger backtracked.
“I’ll find it for you,” Brain volunteered. “And her address too.”
“Talk to her, man,” Lucky urged. “What can it hurt?”
“Why are you guys pushing this so hard?” Trigger asked. He couldn’t deny he was happy for their support, but was a bit confused by it.
“Because none of us are getting any younger,” Lefty said reasonably. “You especially.”
Trigger punched him in the arm and everyone laughed.
“But seriously, we all love the Army and what we do, but we won’t be Deltas forever. There’ll come a time when we’ll sit up and look around and be alone. And that sucks. I want to find someone smart, independent, and sassy as fuck. Someone who will kiss me and tell me to kick some bad-guy ass when I leave, and be thrilled to see me when I get back. Someone who won’t cheat on me and won’t decide that she’s sick of waiting for me to come home.
“I want her to understand what I do is important to me. In return, I’ll treat her like a queen. She’ll be the center of my world, and I’ll make sure she knows it. Relationships are hard as fuck, even more so for us. So if you feel as if this woman is the one who can be all that for you, I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen for you. And I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to come between you and your woman.”
Trigger wasn’t sure what to say. He was deeply touched.
“What Lefty said,” Grover quipped.
Everyone laughed again.
“I’ll think about it,” Trigger said.
Brain rolled his eyes. “I’ll have her info to you this afternoon.”
Trigger nodded, then took off running. He turned around and said, “You guys comin’ or are you gonna let this old man kick your ass?”
That was all it took for the rest of the guys to dig in their heels and chase after him.
Later that afternoon, Trigger was sitting in his office when a knock sounded at the door. Looking up, he saw it was Brain.
“You know, you didn’t really have to rush and get Gillian’s info to me,” he joked.
But Brain didn’t crack a smile. “We need to talk,” he said instead.
Trigger immediately stiffened. He nodded to a chair in front of his desk.
Brain sat, and he didn’t make him wait. “You know how Gillian didn’t turn off the phone connection that last time in the hopes that we’d be able to get something from the hijackers when they talked to each other?”
“Yeah,” Trigger said.
“We got something.”
Trigger leaned forward. “What?”
“As we realized there at the end, they had no intention of flying that big-ass plane out of there. They had a cartel pilot picking them up in the Beechcraft to take them back up to Mexico.”
“Mexico?” Trigger asked in surprise.
“Yeah. They were with Sinaloa.”
“Fuck,” Trigger said, sitting back in his chair with a thump.
“They didn’t want Hugo Lamas freed so he could escape with them. They wanted him killed to send a message to the Cartel of the Suns. Essentially, they started a war.”
“And like any drug cartel, they didn’t care who got caught in the crossfire,” Trigger said in disgust. “The people they killed on the plane didn’t mean shit to them. All they cared about was sticking it to the Venezuelans. Letting them know they got one over on them right on their own turf.”
“Exactly. But there’s more,” Brain added.
“What?”
“There was talk of a seventh hijacker.”
“What are you saying? That we missed a hijacker and he got away?” Trigger