Page 64 of Secret Squirrel

I nodded. “Whatever happened with FNG?”

“He’s gone,” she sighed. “In the plane explosion.”

I was surprised by that. Even though Cash called me and asked me to help out, I had no idea someone had actually died. That explained so much about the last two weeks, and for a moment I felt like shit.

“You could have told me.”

She shrugged. “The body hasn’t been released yet.”

“Meaning, you don’t know for sure that it was him?”

“I saw him, but…”

“But what?”

“The man can’t die.”

“I have a few friends that would tell you differently if they weren’t buried six feet under.”

She frowned as she stared off into space. “It’s weird…that night, he kept saying it was his time. But in the past, he would say how he couldn’t die, that he’d had a lot of brushes with death, but it never happened.”

I stared at her curiously. “You really don’t think he’s dead.”

She ducked her head, shuffling the food around on her plate. “I don’t know. I saw him on the plane, but something isn’t right. I don’t know. I could be dead wrong.”

“And everyone else?”

“I think they accept that he’s dead. Except for Fox,” she chuckled. “He’s ready to send out a search team.

I frowned as I shoveled more food into my mouth. “It has to be weird as hell.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you don’t expect to come home from war and then have one of your teammates die.”

She wiped the food from the corners of her mouth in a very unladylike fashion. “Speaking of which, I saw you on the roof with Cash. What was that about?”

“He needed help,” I shrugged.

“Uh-huh. And all that talk about being out of the military?”

“It’s true. Why does no one believe me?”

“Because you still act like you’re ready for battle. What about Bowie? I noticed he was suspiciously absent yesterday.”

“Because I told him to fuck off.”

“You thought you were going to get laid,” she laughed.

I pointed my fork at her. “And I did. Don’t you forget it.”

“Oh, trust me, I still have the burn from your beard rubbing against my thighs. There’s no chance I’m forgetting anytime soon.”

“That’s the way I like it.”

“Just make sure you don’t leave that calling card with any other women. I might get jealous.”

My eyes lit with desire at hearing her say that, but then she stood after eating the last of her food.

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