“It’s good to see you, brother,” he said as he squeezed his friend and former teammate.
“You too, buddy.” Shane turned and looked in his British friend’s direction.
“Is that Wally? Holy shit, man! How are you?” It was now Wally’s turn to get a long hug.
“I’m great, mate,” Wally replied. “Good to see you too.”
“Awesome,” Shane said, whipping his sunglasses off and examining his two friends. He turned back to look at the women he had left behind. “I’ll have to take a rain check, ladies. These two heroes take priority.”
“Dante’s, huh?” Nate asked.
“Oh yeah,” Shane replied. “I’ve got a lot of good memories here. Hell, you know that.” Nate did. The two of them were in the same dive class and had spent many a memorable evening in this pool, at this bar, and with a few different ladies.
“Yeah,” Nate laughed, “I do.”
“Come on,” Shane said, yanking his head toward the bar. They sat down at one of the tables under the thatched roof of a tiki hut. Shane caught the bartender’s eye, held up three fingers, and yelled, “Three mojitos!”
“Looks like you’re set up comfortably here,” Nate observed.
“Dude, I love Key West. Even through all the suffering, this place stole my heart.”
“So where do you live?” Wally asked.
“Over there,” Shane said and pointed toward the dock.
There was a yacht moored at the end of the slip that must have been fifty feet long and towered above the rest of the boats. It appeared that Shane was the high roller on the scene.
“Damn, Shane,” Nate said. “That’s impressive. You must be doing pretty well for yourself.”
“I do alright,” he said. Then added with a laugh, “Who am I kidding, I’m killing it, bro.”
Shane went on to describe in detail what he had been up to since leaving the army. He’d always been fairly well off, having saved up money from his UFC fighting days and investing it wisely. Once he left the military, he’d gotten together with two other UFC fighters and they had opened a training gym in Miami. It had done so well that they opened a second in Tampa, a third in Jacksonville, and eventually a fourth in Atlanta. Once those started bringing in good money, he invested in several fast-food franchises. He even owned a frozen yogurt shop.
“So they basically run themselves?” Wally asked.
“Pretty much,” Shane replied. “I pop in here and there. The other partners run the gyms day-to-day, and the franchises all have operations managers. I hired a personal assistant to help me keep it all straight. Good guy. Great with numbers.”
“And now you’re living the high life,” Nate observed.
“Pretty much. After Yemen I just needed a new beginning, you know?”
“Yeah, I do,” Nate said as he lifted his mojito. “To new beginnings.” The three men toasted.
“Yeah, things are great,” Shane said. He drummed his fingers on the table and looked out longingly at the yacht. “Just fucking great,” he muttered absently.
“But?” Wally asked. They both sensed thebut.
Shane stared out at the sea and sighed in frustration. “But I’m fucking bored!” he exclaimed, and Nate smiled. “I have plenty of money. I have the boat. I own a place up in Tampa and one out in Vegas. Bought some land that I set up a range on. I used to fight, and then I used to do war. Now I’m a fucking playboy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun, but it’s just not the same. You know what I mean?”
Nate knew exactly what he meant. He’d enjoyed his academic studies over the last few years and had the chance to study things that interested him. He’d traveled and gone on several archaeological digs for his fieldwork studies. But he hadn’t really felt alive again until someone had tried to kill him in his hotel room in Germany. It had awoken something inside him, something he thought had been buried for good. And he couldn’t really explain it, but he was enjoying every minute of it.
“I know exactly what you mean,” Nate said, verbalizing his thoughts. They were all silent for a minute and Shane grabbed a waiter by the sleeve as he passed.
“Three more mojitos, and keep them coming.” He turned back to his friends. “It’s damned good to see you guys.”
“You too, brother,” Nate replied.
“Cheers, mate,” Wally added.
