CHAPTER TWO

Sabina swapped her dress greens for worn-out jeans and a navy knit pullover, then went into her front closet for the go-bag containing her clothes, her weapons, and her tool kit. Damn, damn, damn. Of all times to have to go on a mission. And all the way to Argentina to babysit General Vanderveer’s tattooed do-gooding daughter while she smuggled in a wad of cash to donate to an Argentinian orphanage. Why couldn’t the girl wire them the damned money like a normal person? Unfortunately, no one dared to say no to the general, not even Colonel Bustamante, so she, Vorhees, and Galinski were going down to Argentina to make sure the girl stayed safe.

Which meant Preston would have to spend Christmas by himself, which sucked for them. Big time.

Her tall, sexy, good-looking cop had tried to be brave, she thought as she threw her stuff in the car and headed for the colonel’s office. But she could see the disappointment in his eyes. As totally shitty as his family was, he loved them. And being completely disowned, to the point where they wouldn’t even talk to him, had hurt him deeply.

He’d been counting on Christmas with her and her parents, and now that was out. It was going to screw up Christmas for the Kaslov family too, and make what was already going to be a tough holiday even worse for her mother and father.

Speaking of. She started her car and called her parents. “We’re both here,” her father said. “What’s going on?”

“Christmas hit a snag,” she said without preamble. “I just got called away for a two-week training assignment, and definitely won’t be back until after Christmas.”

“Training assignment? At Christmas?” her mother asked disbelievingly. Her parents didn’t know what she really did, and they seemed to buy into all training assignments the Army sent her on.

“Don’t they have any respect for the holidays?” her father groused.

“No, they don’t. But it doesn’t have to be a total loss. Why don’t you and Mom come over anyway? You can still see Dominic and spend the rest of your time with Preston.”

Her parents were silent for a minute. “I don’t think so,” her mother said slowly. “The only reason we were coming was to see you.”

Sabina winced. Things had been chilly with her parents since she didn’t cover up Dominic’s participation in the criminal activities he and Jeremy engaged. Since they’d been arrested, she’d seen her folks only a couple of times.

Things had been even chillier between them and Dominic. Her parents had seen him only once since his arrest, and that visit had been anger-filled in the extreme.

“What about Dominic?”

“It hardly seems worth a trip for a thirty-minute visit to have another shouting match with him,” her father said with a tinge of bitterness. “We’ll see you both in January.”

At Dominic’s trial.

“Okay,” Sabina said quietly. “I’ll see you after I get back.”

Her father clicked off and she stowed her phone in the center console and slowed as she approached the guard post at the entrance to Fort Sam.

She couldn’t blame her parents. They didn’t know Preston, and she understood why they didn’t want to see Dominic. They’d aged ten years since Dominic had gotten into trouble, and they’d been so deeply angry and disappointed by her brother’s criminal behavior that she doubted their relationship with him would ever heal.

At least they were thawing toward her. She could only imagine Preston’s pain. Her parents were angry and hurt, but they didn’t shut her out. Preston’s family cut him off like a diseased limb.

She parked and took the stairs two at a time up to the colonel’s fifth floor office, where a good number of Bear’s Brigade waited for the prosecutor, each with varying degrees of waning patience.

Colonel Johnson, sitting in one of the visitor chairs, was flipping through her phone. Eagle sat on the edge of Lacey’s desk with his heart in his eyes as he chatted with the colonel’s administrative aide. Paco and Jazz were debating the merits of soul food versus Mexican food, and Josh Galinski and Jason Voorhees had their go-bags with them and seemed to be totally fine with having to go on a mission over Christmas.

“You ready, Sabina?” Galinski asked.

“I suppose. Not real thrilled. You two seem happy enough, though.”

“It’s now a Christmas tradition with us. We went with the general’s daughter last year almost to the day,” Voorhees said. “Fell in love with this dude on the trip. Seems to be an occupational hazard with our crowd. Falling in love on missions.”

Sabina smiled. “Kind of is. Except I’m leaving my sweetie all by himself for Christmas.”

“Aww, poor widdle Preston,” Eagle said derisively. “All by his wonesome.”

“So the fuck what?” Paco rolled his eyes. “He’s got a family. A damned rich one. He can eat turkey with them.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole,” Jazz chimed in.

“What is this, shit central?” Sabina demanded. “You’re being jerks.”

“That we are, and with good reason,” Eagle said. “Look, I get that you love him or something, but to the rest of us he’s still an asshole and always will be.”

“Seems to me he’s not the only asshole,” Sabina snapped. “He’s going to be all alone. He’s not going to eat turkey with his rich family because they threw him out on his ass and won’t have a damned thing to do with him. And Jazz, who I would’ve thought knew better, you’re being an asswipe and I don’t appreciate it.”

“Aw, come on, Sabina. He won’t be alone,” Paco said.

“He sure as hell will.” Sabina looked around at her fellow soldiers. “You clowns don’t understand. You weren’t there the afternoon his father declared Preston dead to the Ramos family. Back in the spring, when he went into the debriefing he told the truth. He didn’t lie to make Jeremy look better. His father disowned him that day. Shouted it so damned loud everybody in the hall heard him yelling at Preston over the phone. Preston did what was right, and put the good of his country before the self-centered demands of his family. And for his service, he was kicked out of his family.”

“She’s right.” Colonel Johnson looked up from her phone. “I overheard the conversation. His father was quite angry and said Preston was no longer a Ramos son. It was pretty brutal.”

“They kicked him out?” Lacey asked disbelievingly. “Just like that?”

“Yep,” Sabina nodded. “They did. Big time. He’s dead to them. And if they were ever going to forgive him, he put paid to that yesterday and today when he swore to tell the truth in a court of law, helping the government secure Jeremy’s conviction.

“He paid a price, a damned high price, for doing the right thing.” She looked around at her teammates. “Any of you ever had to pay that kind of price for your integrity? How ’bout it, Eagle? Has your shinali disowned you? Jazz? Has your Granny Washington, or your cousin Felicia kicked you out of the family? Have any of you ever had to pay that kind of price for doing the right thing?”

They looked at one another, and finally appeared contrite. “I didn’t know,” Jazz admitted.

“Sounds like the whole family’s a bunch of assholes. I guess he came by it honestly,” Eagle said.

“You’re such a moron,” Sabina told him.

“I don’t care if he is an asshole. I don’t care if he’s the biggest asshole in San Antonio. Nobody should have to pay that kind of price for doing the right thing. And nobody ought to have to spend the holidays by themselves,” Lacey stated.

“Thanks. But, as the saying goes: it is what it is. I hope he won’t be too lonely by himself.”

“One of the hazards of being with a Bear’s Brigade operative,” Colonel Johnson pointed out dryly. “Have a safe trip, Sabina.”

“Thanks, Colonel Johnson. See you all after Christmas.”