Page 3 of Trusting the Team

“Toast?” Dari answered. Phantom rose to get some.

Rocco set the dialed phone down on the table, speaker on. “Tex,” Rocco started.

“What's up, Rocco?”

“We met a little lady on a recent mission. We need to find her family if there is any back stateside. We should be enroute tomorrow.”

“Ok, let’s get started. Is she there with you?”

“Dari,” Rocco looked across the table at her.

“Last name, sweetheart?”

“Stephens, with a p-h.”

Rocco continued as Phantom returned with three distinct types of toasted bread, “She’s 9, said her dad was a Soldier, her mother Afghani. She speaks Pashto and English.”

“Where was he stationed, when did he die?”

Dari looked up from the wheat toast she was testing, “He was deployed in Iraq.”

Tex asked, “Was he buried in DC, Dari?” Dari was smiling up at Phantom, happy with her toast. “Dari, did your dad speak Pashto?”

In Pashto, “yes, we spoke at home all the time.”

Tex responded, “I'll take that as a yes. I’ll get to work, how many Stephens are fluent in Pashto, married an Afghani and died in Iraq?”

“Thanks, Tex,” Rocco hung up. “How about some sleep?” he directed at Dari.

They had takenover an open bay b-hut used for Soldiers transitioning on and off the base. Phantom and Gumby made up a bed with their woobies for Dari. Phantom and Rocco were on either side of her bunk. Gumby and Bubba were across the hut, leaving a walkway between the foot of Dari's bunk and theirs. An incoming call from their Commander woke Rocco five hours later. He stepped out of the b-hut, sitting on the stairs, wearing only his shorts and flip flops, “Yes, Sir?” he was wrapping up the call, and attracting female attention when Dari stepped out. “What's up, kiddo?”

“Bathroom?”

“Me too, let’s go,” he stood and waited for her to come down the stairs, “I’ll hold your hand, if its ok with you?”

“There are girl Soldiers,” Dari looked up at Rocco.

“Yes, there are. They learn to fight and protect like boys.”

“They learn to fight?” Rocco nodded. “They stare at you a lot.”

Rocco laughed, “I think they aren't used to the beard. Here’s your stop.” Rocco pushed the door open for the small bathroom container, “I'll knock when I get back so just wait for me, ok?”

“Our flight is tonight,”Rocco informed the team. Everyone gathered in Rex’s hospital room.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Rex grumbled at Bubba, “it’s not that complicated.”

Rocco kept going, directing at Rex, “you will go straight to the hospital after we land.”

Rex nodded, turning back to Bubba immediately, “Let me show you. Dari, up here,” he patted the bed. Dari sat stiffly on the side of Rex's bed while he braided her hair.

“Tex found Stephens' parents; they’re being contacted. Hopefully, they'll meet us when we land.”

“See,” Rex looked at Bubba spreading his hands. While they finished game planning, Dari slid down into a corner, knees tucked under her chin. She was leaving. What if there was another uncle? She wanted to stay with them. Rocco had let her have ice cream when they had lunch earlier. They reminded her of her dad, only they were mostly bigger. Bubba did not have a beard, like her dad.

Gumby knelt, “Dari.” She looked up, she could not focus. “What's wrong?”

Her cheeks were wet, she had not realized she had been crying. “I miss my dad,” she sobbed. Gumby sat and pulled her into his arms and lap, at the same time looking up at the team mouthing What the fuck?

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