Page 104 of Luck Be Mine
She checked her screen.
Frogman.
Again, he was calling her at an off time. She froze, trying to prepare herself.
She slid off the chair and answered in one motion. “Hunt? Everything okay?”
“Cait, I need you to listen and not talk. I only have a minute.”
“What’s going on?”
“We’ve had a casualty, Doc. It’s Baxter.”
Time blurred. Her hand flew to her chest, holding herself in. Her eyes filled with a rush of tears. Her throat seized with pain and disbelief. She sank back into her chair. “What?”
Harrison reached for her arm and helped her settle firmly in place. “What happened?” he whispered.
Hunt’s raspy voice sent shivers down her spine. “The Navy has notified Bess. Baxter’s on the way to Dover. We’ll be landing in approximately fourteen hours. Central Command will be releasing the information soon. Do you remember who to tell before that happens?”
Cait yanked hard on her emotions and tried for comforting words, searching for what she’d said after Afghanistan. “Yes, I do. I’ll take care of it. Anyone else hurt?”
“No.” Flat tone. Like someone who’d already wept and run out of places to put the pain.
“I’ll be right here. Right here waiting, you hear me? I’ll meet your plane when you land. Does Senior Chief’s wife know?”
“He called before I did. Do you have the protocol for this?”
“Yes, I do.” She couldn’t stop the tears.
She looked at Harrison and mouthed, “Baxter. Down.”
His eyes closed in agony. He got it. He’d been Baxter’s commander for so many years.
Quaid took her hand. “Fuck,” he whispered. He’d gotten it, too. The mountain mission from hell flashed in his eyes.
“Where are you?” Hunt’s voice was too steady. Like trying to keep extreme control.
“QM.”
“Good. Tell Harrison traveler. He’ll understand.”
“I can do that.”
“It’s hard, honey.” Unlike Afghanistan, there was no choke, no slip, only hard edge.
“I know. I love you.”
“I love you so much.”
Disconnect. He was gone.
For a second, Cait thought she could hold it together.
Not to be.
The tears came hard and fast in sobbing gasps.
Harrison wrapped her in a fierce hug.
