Page 27 of Fast Vengeance

Rodriguez was intent on whatever the caller was saying, his eyebrows drawn together in a deep frown. “God.”

From his reaction, Brock knew exactly what the call was about. Rodriguez’s mother.

Fuck. Brock pushed to his feet, stood watching Rodriguez as his teammate dragged a hand through his hair in agitation and took in a shaky breath, his jaw tight, a haunted look on his face.

“When?” Rodriguez said quietly, the word brittle. Then he closed his eyes and exhaled a hard breath. “Okay, I… Dammit.” His voice shredded. Colebrook popped up beside him, laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Look, I’ll call you back,” Rodriguez said hoarsely, and ended the call.

Colebrook threw Brock a questioning look. Brock hustled over and together they walked Rodriguez out into the hall to Brock’s office for some privacy. He shut the door as Colebrook steered the other man toward a chair.

Rodriguez dropped into it and dragged a hand down his face, looking shell-shocked. “My mom died an hour ago. Everything was fine. Well, as fine as it has been for the last few months. My dad went down to get something from the cafeteria. She went into cardiac arrest while he was down there. They called him right away but by the time he got back, she was gone.”

Brock sat on the corner of his desk and leaned his elbows on his thighs. “I’m so sorry.”

“I was flying out in the morning to see her,” he said in a wooden tone, staring at the carpet. “Christ, if I’d known I would have taken the red eye last night.” He raised haunted golden brown eyes to Brock. “I should have been there. God dammit, I should have fucking been there.”

“I’ll call Charlie,” Colebrook murmured from beside him, pulling out his phone to dial his sister, who was Rodriguez’s fiancée.

Rodriguez didn’t argue, just put his head in his hands and pulled in an unsteady breath. His mom had been battling MS for a long time now, and the whole family had been on an emotional roller coaster for more than a year. But it was such a cruel twist of fate to take her while she was alone, a day before her son could be with her. With FAST Bravo’s last deployment, Rodriguez had gone more than four months without seeing her except on Skype.

“Want me to change your flight?” Brock offered. “I can get you on the first one available this afternoon.”

“No. Thanks. I’ll figure it out.” He sat up and slumped back in the chair. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Funeral arrangements were all decided by her months ago, but it’ll still take a few days to get everything organized. Not sure when the service will be.”

“Don’t worry about any of that. You just take care of your family. That’s all that’s important right now.”

Rodriguez nodded once, swallowed. “I can’t believe she’s gone,” he croaked out.

Colebrook lowered his phone. “Charlie’s on the way. She’ll be here to pick you up in fifteen.”

Another nod as Rodriguez buried his head back in his hands and made a valiant effort to fight the tears in his eyes.

“Be right back,” Brock murmured, and left to inform Taggart what had happened. They would have to find a temporary replacement for Rodriguez while he was away, in case FAST Bravo was called out for something. When he was done and stepped out into the hall, Charlie Colebrook swept into the building. Her dark brown gaze locked on Brock in concern.

“Hey. He’s in my office,” he told her before she could say anything, gesturing down the hall.

“How is he?” she asked worriedly, hurrying toward him.

“Not good.”

She made an empathetic sound and walked to the office with him. Brock opened the door for her and stood back. Colebrook stepped outside with him to give the couple privacy.

Rodriguez stood and turned toward the door. The instant he saw Charlie his face crumpled. She went straight to him without a word. Rodriguez wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, a sob ripping out of him as Brock swung the door shut.

Out in the hallway with him, Colebrook let out a harsh sigh. “I feel so fucking bad for him.”

He nodded. “The timing’s just plain mean.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck, shook his head, visibly upset. “We were a lot younger than him when we lost our mom. But I think it always hurts the same, no matter how old we are.”

“Yeah.” Damn, Brock was calling his mom the first chance he got. He hadn’t seen his family since last fall and needed to plan a trip home to Illinois soon.

“Just another reminder about how short life really is. None of us know how long we have left on this earth,” Colebrook murmured, his gaze on his sister and best friend as they held each other on the other side of the glass.

Yeah, it goddamn was short.

Brock’s jaw tightened, a rush of desperation flashing through him. Tomorrow was likely the last time he would ever get to see Tori. He was going to take full advantage of the little time he had left with her.

As he headed out the door, he dialed his mom’s number.

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