Read Online Hide and Seek by Jeff Struecker - Free Book Online Page B

on our Web sites. I also want to prepare an address to the public.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Mr. President,” the general said, “may I suggest contacting the U.S. Air Force at Manas and the U.S. Embassy to be on alert. If my fears are warranted and this gets even more out of control, they could be in some danger.”
    “The air base is north of the city,” Meklis said.
    “Yes, sir, but it’s not that far. People drive there everyday to use the international airport.”
    Meklis nodded. “I’ll make contact. With phones down, I’ll send couriers. I also want increased security for key government officials and their families.” He thought of his wife. He thought of Jildiz.

CHAPTER 7
    IT TOOK ONLY A few minutes for J. J. and the others to kit up. He glanced around the ready room. No one spoke, each man was focused on his gear. It was the way with warriors before battle. Talk was cheap and it was big when not on the front line, but minutes before a mission boastful chatter gave way to private thoughts; thoughts of home, of family, of comrades wounded or killed in previous action.
    J. J. was scared. He felt fear every time he was called to do what only a handful of men would or could do. At first his fear bothered him but over time he learned to embrace it. Fear never made him turn his back on the action; never hesitate to walk into the line of fire. It did, however, make him sharper and smarter. If he wasn’t terrified he would begin to worry. His former team leader once told him he preferred to lead frightened men because he knew they were sane. “Men without fear are not brave, they’re nuts.”
    If that was true, then J. J. was the sanest man on the planet.
    While the apprehension was not new, there was a new flavor to it. Images flashed in his mind. In his early spec ops days he thought of his Army chaplain brother and his parents, maybe the girl he was dating at the time. After he married, he thought mostly of Tess. Now a movie of children not yet born playing on the white sands of some beach flickered on the screen of his mind.
    And it brought the deepest ache he ever felt and fanned the flames of anxiety until they were white hot.
    “You okay, Boss?”
    J. J. looked up at Jose. “Me? Yeah. Sure. Why?”
    “You been staring at your shoelaces like you expect them to tie and untie themselves.”
    “I’m a fan of shoelaces.”
    Jose crossed his arms. “Who isn’t?”
    J. J. straightened and turned to his team. “Okay, ladies, fall out.” Jose turned to join the team as they left the room. “Not you, Doc. Hang a sec, will ya?”
    “Sure thing, Boss.”
    A few moments later only J. J. and Jose remained. J. J. cleared his throat and broke eye contact. “Doc, you got, what, three dozen kids?”
    “Not quite that many . . . yet. Just four. Or is it five? I’m not good with numbers.
    “How do you do it?”
    Jose narrowed his eyes. “You’re asking me how to have kids? I would think you and Tess had that figured out by now. You said she was expecting twins . . . Oh. I get it.”
    “Good. I was starting to worry about you.”
    “You’re looking for advice from me, Boss?”
    “Yeah.” He looked into Jose’s eyes and saw understanding.
    “Having kids changes a man, soldiers especially. You want the pat answer or the truth?”
    “I want it straight.”
    “Okay, I have no idea how I do it. I just do. When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me to eat what was on my plate. I’m a little thick-headed but I finally realized he wasn’t talking about Mom’s cooking. He was teaching me to deal with what’s in front of me. It’s the only thing I can change. That’s what I do. I deal with what’s on my plate at the moment.”
    “So you don’t worry about your kids growing up fatherless?”
    “Don’t be stupid, Boss. I worry about it all the time.”
    “You’re confusing me.”
    Jose nodded. “Welcome to my world.”

CHAPTER 8
    FOR J. J. BARTLEY the most difficult hours of a mission were those