Love, Tussles, and Takedowns (16 page)

“Understood.” He gestured to Lia that he needed a pen and paper to jot notes down. “Go ahead. She’s out of earshot.” His inner soldier faded back. It was just him at the helm again, the man who would do anything to protect Lia. “Tell me everything.”

“As I mentioned earlier, remains were found in four sites. Two bodies were found at the northern most point, and according to initial assessment of the forensic anthropologist with the JPAC team, those deaths appear to a direct or eventual result of the crash itself. There were dog tags with those two, and though they need to do DNA testing to confirm, the current status is that Private Lawson was not among those identified at that site. Next, the body found on the southernmost site was actually found with no tags or clothing. The team determined that the body was a Caucasian male in the right age range for one of our soldiers, but definitely older than Private Lawson. He had at minimum, three GSWs and additional indications of an intense struggle. Those remains need to go to a base lab for more analysis.”

Hudson didn’t really need the pen and paper Lia returned with to remember the details but he jotted notes down anyway, being careful not to be too graphic about the third body found. Lia was sitting across from him, seemingly lost in thought and it tore at him to know what must be going on in her head.

“And this is where it gets murky, Reyes,” continued Clint over the phone. “At the third site, they found parachute and military uniform remnants. Since this was eight years ago, the physical site didn’t offer any more conclusive insight as to what happened to the soldier, but given the timeline of hostile activity in the area at the time, according to both our intel and Drew’s, we might be looking at possible capture.”

Shit.
A worst case scenario, for sure. He kept his reaction silent.

“So what about at the last site?” he queried next, writing nothing but question marks on the paper regarding the third site finding.

“That one, the team was lucky enough to find evidence that suggests a local may have intervened and provided aid to the soldier. Strips of fabric commonly worn by the local women were found near the military artifacts recovered. And among the things dug up was a large metal panel that the team has ID’d as part of a U.S. military aircraft.” Clint paused and Hudson braced himself for what was coming next.

“Not only are we looking at a possible survivor here, but there’s also a brief note scratched into the metal paneling. By a pocket knife or some other sharp metal object. It wasn’t very long but it was clearly written to a loved one. And…well, it was initialed with a letter L.”

Hudson took a moment, then asked the first thing that came to mind, “Where are the remains going to be sent? Delaware or Hawai‘i?”

“That was the team’s call but the anthropologist believes they’ll be able to extract DNA from the marrow, so they’re sending everything to Dover for processing.”

“Is the metal panel going there also?” If it went straight to a non-biological lab, he wasn’t sure he could get Lia clearance. But he knew at least a half dozen military families who’d been allowed to meet their loved ones’ remains in Dover.

“Sorry, man. That one’s going to non-biological forensics. I can find out which base lab, but I’m almost positive we can’t get your woman clearance until afterward.”

His woman.

For a moment, that was all Hudson could focus on.

On Lia being
his
.

But he came crashing back to reality shortly after with Clint’s ill-timed, “If the note does end up being from her husband, then she’d of course get access.”

Right.

Her husband. Possibly alive.

Hudson looked up and saw that Lia was no longer in the living room. He watched as she stood silently in the kitchen, gripping the counter with one hand, fiddling with her necklace with the other.

“Say, Clint.” His voice was a rusty rumble as he pushed out his suggestion, “Remember that time they needed us to ID some personal effects of Specialist Thompson?”

“Yeah. Weird case. They had us do it over the internet, didn’t they? It was us and—” Clint’s tone took on a new level of respect. “Shit. Good idea, man. I’ll make the suggestion for a video forensics analysis and a video conference call. According to the detailed reports Drew provided in the last hour, it looks like the note on the panel could have been written to Lia or one other surviving wife from the men missing.

So there was a fifty-fifty chance.

The sound of increased activity over the phone line put a pin in that math equation from hell. “Look, Clint, I really appreciate all you’re doing with this. You’re moving mountains out there and…it just means a lot. I know this is supposed to be your team’s downtime right now.”

“Don’t sweat it. I made it voluntary for anyone who wanted to come. Which is why practically everyone is here. Even the newbies you haven’t met yet.”

Some days it was harder than others to be away from that life. Today was quickly climbing the charts. Feeling helpless and pointless wasn’t a good color on him.

Clint cleared his throat then, and made a half-grunt like he wanted to say something. But didn’t. Another novelty. Then: “We all miss seeing your old mug out here. It hasn’t been the same.”

Definitely one of the hardest days.

“These new guys here could learn a lot from you.”

“Not much I can teach ‘em these days.” Hudson flexed his fists. “Not with these bum hands.”

“I’m not talking about guns and fighting. These guys are all good soldiers but a few of the young ones still have a lot to learn about being a good man. Not everyone would fight this hard to find the missing husband of a woman he was clearly falling in love with.”

Hudson almost dropped the phone. “Wait a minute. Lia and I—”

“Save it, Reyes. I’ve known you for over ten years. You can deny it, fight it, or just damn well accept it. From personal experience, I can tell you the first two routes are just big ole time-sucks that will lead you right back to the third route anyway.”

Ah, yes. He remembered when Clint had fallen in love a few years back.

“How is Jenni, by the way?” asked Hudson, the doom and gloom of the situation lifting momentarily and the thought of the goofy, lovesick look that would be on his CO’s face at the mere mention of her name.

“She’s great. And the boys are doing great here too.”

As much as he wanted to catch up with Clint, he didn’t want to keep Lia waiting. “Clint, sorry to cut this call short, but I want to make sure to debrief Lia on everything.”

“Of course. Understood. I’ll email you about the video analysis.”

“I don’t know how I can thank you, man. Again, you went above and beyond here.”

“No thanks needed. We were able to send three of our men home today, and gather new answers for two more families. Not a bad week’s work at all. You keep me updated, you hear?”

“Will do.”

After hanging up, he turned to see Lia standing beside the couch, breathing spaced evenly, fingers rubbing over the two rings on her necklace.

“Did they find his remains?” she asked in a wobbly, unreadable voice.

Christ, he couldn’t imagine what she was going through. “No, Leo wasn’t among the bodies found. Two sets of remains were ID’d via their dog tags and they determined that the third set belonged to someone older than Leo.”

She looked up at him and locked her gaze on his. “I saw the look on your face before you stopped taking notes earlier. What else did they find?”

“At one site, there was some inconclusive evidence of a possible capture.” The small gasp she couldn’t hold back ripped a jagged hole out of his heart. In recent years they’d seen how the reality of war time torture could be far worse than the imagination could conjure. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves with that one. There’s still a lot of investigation that needs to be done there.” He took a deep breath. “And actually, the last site has the evidence that we should be focusing on right now. There was positive evidence that a local woman may have provided aid to the soldier.”

Lia’s breathing stopped completely.

“Honey, it’s possible Leo survived...”

If she hadn’t already been sitting, Hudson had a strong suspicion Lia’s legs would’ve given out under her just then.

“And that’s not all. They also found a note, initialed with a letter L.” Unconsciously, he took a step toward her to try and comfort her. But her shuttered expression stopped him in his tracks. “I asked Clint to arrange a video forensic analysis online so you could view the letter—to see if it was from Leo.”

Suddenly, her apartment exploded in a symphony of sounds. Her cell phone started ringing in stereo with her landline. Her laptop began pinging like crazy with instant message and incoming email alerts. A string of musical beeps from her work cell alerted them to awaiting texts and tweets also.

The ringing of his cell phone was the last to join the bunch.

He hazarded a wild guess as to which of her brothers were calling. A glance at the caller ID confirmed it.

Phoenix Police Department

“Hi, Caine.”

“Is Lia okay?” The level of stricken concern in Caine’s voice told Hudson that Lia’s rigged watch probably didn’t activate the Spencer brother phone tree at
this
level of alarm very often. If ever.

Hudson gazed over and saw her talking calmly on her cell phone.

“She’s on the line with one of your brothers. Bottom line, she’s safe, just a little shaken. We just got some new evidence on Leo so she’s processing that right now. I know you’re worried but honestly, Drew can fill you in with what’s going on probably better than I can. I’m going to stay off the phone so I can be there for her. You good with that?”

A pause. Then: “Yeah, okay. I’ll call Drew right now. You tell Lia if she needs us, we’ll come right over.”

“Of course.”

“And Hudson?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, man. I know this can’t be easy for you either.”

Try impossible.
“I’ll be sure to update you guys if there are any new developments.”

* * * * *

TWO DAYS LATER, Lia was sitting on her living room couch as two blank online chat screens came to life on her flat screen TV, along with what looked like a view of a desktop computer in the background. Drew had walked them through hooking up her laptop to the TV so they’d be able to see the forensic video better.

Hudson hadn’t left her side the entire time.

“I called in sick,” he’d informed her yesterday with a shrug. “Since the last thing they want is for me to infect the entire cast with a rather explosive case of the stomach flu, they told me they’d switch a few scenes around so I could take off until today.”

That had
almost
succeeded in making her laugh.

All of a sudden, a pretty young woman appeared in one of the chat screens, next to the screen she was being projected in. Lia couldn’t place the woman, but she looked vaguely familiar.

The woman waved. “Hello? Can you see me too, or did I hook this up wrong?”

Lia smiled back. “No, I can see you. And hear you. So I think you wired everything correctly.”

The woman tilted her head. “You’re one of the wives of the five MIA, aren’t you?”

That’s
where she’d seen the woman before. “Yes. I’m Lia. Private Lawson’s wife.”

“Sasha.” She waved again. “I’m Corporal Sheridan’s…ex-wife, I guess you could say. I’m still not sure myself.”

Drew was right, the TV screen was a hundred times better for viewing these videos. And as such, she could see that not only was there a wedding ring on Sasha’s left hand, but she was also clearly pregnant.

Sasha rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “This is all so weird. When I got the call yesterday… Did you freak out? I freaked out. I didn’t even know whether to cry, be happy, or sad, or what.”

Her nervous rambling started picking up speed. “I got remarried three years ago. To a really nice man. And this is baby number two on the way. A girl this time. I can’t… I don’t know how to even process any of this.” She peered intently into the screen. Not the camera, the screen. It made for a weird conversation. “I did wait, you know. For years. But I just couldn’t put my life on hold any more. Five years. That was long enough for me to wait, don’t you think?”

Lia had no answer to that one. She couldn’t even imagine being in Sasha’s shoes. But she could see that the woman was probably topping out her blood pressure right now. Not good for the baby. “There’s absolutely no fault in moving on with your life. None. And if you love your new husband, that’s all that matters.”

At that, Sasha smiled. “I do. I love my new husband so much. He’s the complete opposite of my Landon but—” She blinked and snapped her lips shut. As if surprised by her own words.

The appearance of a third person on the screen broke into their conversation.

“Good morning, ladies. Thank you both for joining us.” A woman in a lab coat greeted them as the sound of keyboard clacking filled the speakers. “We’re just going to jump right in if that’s alright.”

Clearly a rhetorical question as their view on the monitor changed to a live feed. It looked like they were watching an HD-quality movie taking place in a scientific lab. The camera shot swung down, blurring out and shifting back into focus on an old metal slab on the table. The view changed to one more like a microscope lens as it zoomed in and then panned out.

All the while, the woman in the lab coat had completed introducing herself—Dr…something—and stating the case number for what was probably a recorded session of sorts.

“Ladies, this is the note in question. Let me adjust the lighting a bit so you can make out the words better.”

On screen, Lia saw the bottom half of the note glare in and out with the lighting. The initialed letter L on the screen caught and held her attention. The lighting evened out finally and instantly, the entire note was visible.

Lia couldn’t speak. Didn’t know what to say.

Sasha, on the other hand, burst into tears.

Landon.

The initialed L was for Sasha’s husband, Landon. And the note was clearly written to Sasha.