Page 74 of Loving a Warrior

Neither of them hung up, though, and Matt could hear Shane breathing. “I’ll miss you,” he finally mumbled, feeling stupid as hell.

“Yeah. I’ll think about you occasionally, too.”

“Whatever.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

The phone went dead in Matt’s ear, then immediately vibrated with an incoming text.

See you in Vegas?

He smiled.

See you in Vegas.

* * *

The bus jounced along the road toward La Posta, a military installation high in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego. Most of Matt’s classmates were sound asleep despite the rough ride, evidence of a BUD/S student’s ability to snooze whenever and wherever he could.

A low-grade excitement buzzed through Matt, preventing him from sleeping. At last they’d be getting a break from the ocean side of things—away from the surf torture, from being wet and sandy. Here they’d work on their land navigation techniques, the art of camouflage and, best of all, get to start familiarizing themselves with various weapons and explosives.

In short, they were finally gonna take the first steps toward becoming warriors.

Glancing back and seeing that he was awake, Chief Howe moved from the front and settled himself in the seat across from Matt. “How’s it goin’, Knytych?”

Matt hesitated. Was this a trick? “Very well, Chief. Thank you.” He wondered if he’d be ordered to drop right there in the bus aisle, and he tensed.

“Relax, kid. I’m not here to bust your balls. Just felt like shootin’ the shit for a minute.”

Matt blew out a quiet sigh of relief. “Okay.”

“How’s ol’ Rick? Ornery as ever?”

Surprised, Matt said, “Yeah. I haven’t talked to him in a while, though. I didn’t realize you knew my uncle.”

“He was actually one of my BUD/S instructors. Taught me a lot, but man, he intimidated the shit out of me.”

“I know the feeling.”

They chuckled together before Howe said musingly, “The last time I saw him was at a SEAL funeral, what, two years ago?”

Matt winced. Jon’s funeral.

“Now that was such a fuckin’ waste,” Howe went on, shaking his head. “Kid was a rock star, one of the ones who had it all…brains, guts, the works.”

“You knew him?”

“I did. Fantastic operator, just a helluva SEAL.”

“He may have died a hero, but he wasn’t a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination.”

Curiosity burned once again through Matt, and he wondered if Howe knew of Jon’s connection to Shane. It wasn’t his place to say anything, though, so all he did was mumble, “I’m sorry for your loss, Chief.”

“Yeah, thanks. This is a harsh business, son, no question about it.” Howe stood and clapped Matt on the shoulder. “Well, say hello to your uncle for me when you talk to him again, would ya?”

“I will.”