Page 26 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“Hah.Andy.” The big man chortled. “That’s what my friends used to call me when I was in the service,” Theodoros mused. He grinned at his daughter. “You never told me you’dalsobeen blessed with that moniker.”

“Well,” Andy shrugged, “it was a few years ago now and pretty short-lived.” Her mouth turned down at the corners, clearly thinking again about how truncated her Army career had been…and why.

“Now, Missy,” her father tsked. “Stop beating yourself up. We’ve gone over it. There’s nothing else you could have done. And after the incident, if anyone else had been finagled into changing hats like you were—rapidly and under such duress—they probably would have folded. But you kept it all together. I like to think it’s because you were born and raised not only to take on any new challenge thrown your way, but to relish a bit of turmoil. You handled everything well. Including that abrupt transition. And,” he ran a hand over the back of his neck, “I can’t say your mother and I weretooupset when you left the highly structured American military.”

Andy blinked up at her father. “What? Youze never told me you didn’t like me signing on with the Army.”

“That’s because we brought you up to be a free thinker, and didn’t want to influence you or your brothers in any way with your career choices. And you’d made up your mind that being in the armed services was what you wanted to do, so…” he trailed off, beaming proudly at her.

To Cobble, Andy’s upbringing sounded ideal. A support-system family, who also let her explore.

His childhood, although filled with love, had been much more structured. He and Chuck—live wires for sure—had never been allowed to get away with very much—if and whenit couldbe helped. And when they’d finished school, government service—always having been a family tradition before returning to civilian life to pursue a career in the trades—was where they had both been expected to head; serving American interests. Cobble had chosen a military track, and Chuck had gone with the FBI. Not that either one of them had ever regretted it. Cobble was certain that if the debacle in South Sudan hadn’t taken place, he would still be in Army green.

“Well, then,” Theo interrupted Cobble’s thoughts. “I think we’ll call you Cobble so there’s no confusion. And now we need to head to the house,” he added, guffawing heartily, turning to Andy. “Your mother and sisters-in-law are probably nervously waiting to see who we found out here. I know Eleni is going to be over the moon that her little girl is home, and she’ll beveryglad to meet you,” he told Cobble.

It was unclear to Cobble why that would be so, but he’d roll with it. If this was going to be his new, temporary home, he didn’t want to start second-guessing anyone already.

Her father pointed to the rental car. “You want to leave that little shit-box here and pile in with us?” he asked Andy. “I’ll have the boys maneuver it up to the house in the morning when there’s more light.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Missy agreed. “The keys are in it.”

One brother took two steps toward the car. “You have any luggage, philia?” he asked.

She turned to Cobble and whispered, “philia is a term of endearment from my brother.” Andy then addressed her sibling. “Just my bag in the trunk. Cobble traveled light.”

The men exchanged looks that told Cobble they understood what had probably happened to make him bereft of personal belongings.

Nik, or was it Atticus, nodded, then strode to the miniscule vehicle and doused the headlights. He turned the ignition off,popped the trunk, pocketed the keys, and closed both doors. Lastly, he retrieved Andy’s bag before trotting back. “All set,” he said.

The next thing Cobble knew, he was in the back of the family’s monstrous vehicle, sandwiched between two drooling dogs, with Andy grinning crazily on the opposite side of one large pooch…Griffin?

It only took Cobble a few seconds to settle in. Amazingly, Andy wasn’t the only one who was uncustomarily upbeat. Cobble found himself grinning from ear to ear with an arm around each of the enthusiastic pups as they made their way toward a warmly lit cabin. Ahugecabin, if what he saw in the headlights was correct.

Wow.Life wasn’t what he’d imagined for preppers…umm,survivalists, and as bleak as his existence had seemed a few hours ago, Cobble was suddenly…happy. He had Andy, two dogs, and several fascinating hosts with whom to share, hopefully, a few years.

What a freaking adventure this day had turned out to be.

And it wasn’t over yet.

Peering out the front window as the vehicle came to a stop, Cobble saw three women standing under the overhang of the porch. He wanted to laugh. They were all tiny like Andy. What was it here that made the men so huge, and their women so diminutive?

Almost before the SUV came to a stop, Andy, who’d been fidgeting in her seat, wrenched open the door and flew from the car. From what Cobble could see, she embraced the oldest of the trio—who looked a lot like her—hugging the woman and spinning her around as if she weighed nothing. The dogs, one of whom had climbed right over Cobble to get out, joined the excitement, yipping and jumping around at the pure joy in the air.

It was quite a party.

Theo chuckled from the front seat. “There’s going to be a lot of girl-chatter going on tonight. I can tell. We might want to make ourselves scarce. Maybe find something interesting to do in the barn or the bunkers.”

Cobble was just about to agree when Andy yanked open his door and pulled him out.

“I want youze to meet my mothah,” she said excitedly.

“Sure. I…”

Wait a minute.

As far as Cobble could tell, none of Andy’s family had the Brooklyn accent that popped out of Andy every now and again. Her father’s voice held inflections that spoke of his Greek heritage, and the one brother who’d spoken more than a greeting, also had some Greek inflections, but of a more neutral cadence. What was up with that? Why was Andy the only one who sounded like she was from New York? First chance he got, Cobble was going to pose that question. But right now…

“Let me just wipe the dog-spit off my hands,” Cobble said as his feet landed on terra-firma.

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