“I have that effect on people. You might know this, but Gordon had never eaten sushi before he met me,” Samantha reminisced, a slight smile on her face.
“I didn’t know that. Us guys, or, I should say, guys like me, we don’t pay attention to that stuff. It’s funny, I grew up practically living on the water, surfing every day, but the reality of eating raw fish sounded repulsive.”
“It took some persuading but Gordon came around. He actually did that on a lot of things,” she said. Her voice had taken a more somber tone.
“You kinda saved Gordon. After spending time with you, he became a better man than the rough-and-tumble knucklehead I knew. Yeah, he was still an ass when he wanted to be, and yeah, he had a bit of hardness about him.” Nelson was smiling as he spoke fondly of his friend. “Then you came along and took those rough edges and polished them.”
Tears started to run down Samantha’s face as Nelson spoke. She wiped them away and said, “I’m sorry I’m such a mess. I can’t stop crying these days.”
Nelson reached over and took her hand. “Samantha, you have been through things I can’t fathom. You’ve lost so much.”
“I’m getting better. I know I haven’t been there for Haley, and after what happened the other day, I realize I don’t have the luxury of mourning. I have a responsibility to her and to the group. I’ve finally come to realize that people are going to die, people we love especially. I don’t why this has happened to any of us, but I promise you that the Samantha you’ve been dealing with over the past few weeks is gone.”
Nelson gripped her hand tighter and said, “I’m here to help and support you until Gordon returns.”
“Thanks, Nelson. He makes me so mad. If he were here right now, I’d smack him. But God, I love him so much. I know in his heart he is doing what’s right for us. I just wish he were here to explain what that was, exactly.”
Nelson sensed that the conversation was headed toward the questions he had wanted to avoid.
She looked at him and asked point blank, “What happened that day you found them?”
Nelson had spent hours thinking of how he would respond to this question from Samantha. He knew how he answered would make a huge impact on their lives.
“You want to know what I saw or just what he said?”
“Tell me everything. How did you find them? What happened?”
He took a long, deep breath and began his well-rehearsed answer. He started with finding Gordon on the cross, then finding Hunter almost immediately after. Nelson didn’t want to go into the gory details of her son’s death; he knew that would put any mother into a tailspin. Instead, he described Gordon’s condition, the large wound on his face, then went into great detail to describe Gordon’s emotional pain. He told her how Gordon held Hunter for the longest time. At that, her face tightened and she looked like she was going to cry again. But she swallowed hard and Nelson felt it was okay to continue. He went on to describe how Gordon had told him his plans for revenge.
“Did you challenge this plan?” Samantha asked, looking him directly in the eyes.
“Of course I did. I felt he wasn’t thinking straight. We went back and forth about his decision not to come back, but you know him. When he has his mind set, there’s no changing it.”
“Oh, I know. That damn stubborn Van Zandt blood.”
“He told me that the man who had killed Hunter was still out there and that he had a small group of people who wouldn’t stop killing. He came at this with two thoughts: He needed to stop this man, and he needed to exact revenge.”
“Didn’t you tell him we needed him here?”
“Of course I did,” Nelson said, a tad defensively.
“When you tell me his reasons, I hear the idealistic Gordon. I hear his head. Where was his heart in this?”
“My opinion is that he couldn’t face you. Deep down, he feels he failed you and Haley by getting captured, then by not being able to stop Hunter’s murder.”
“Gordon, Gordon, Gordon… he’s such a proud man. Part of that pride has been about his ability to protect us. This was the one time that he thinks he failed. He doesn’t know that more than anything…” She stopped, trying to hold back tears. “More than anything, Haley and I just need him here. We can’t heal without him.”
Nelson nodded. “So what happens when he returns?”
“I don’t know if he’ll return. How long has it been?” Samantha said with a note of resignation in her voice.
“He’ll come back.”
“It’s dangerous out there and he could get himself killed. But Gordon’s resourceful and capable—more than anyone I know. It’s not the world that will stop him from coming back. It’s Gordon himself.”
With that, she set down her cup of tea.
MARCH 13, 2015
• • •
“The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.”
Gordon finished packing what few things he had with him. The doctor had just given him a clean bill of health. He couldn’t wait to get off the ship.
The past couple of weeks had been very tough for him. When he arrived in Coos Bay, he was in a lot of pain. He had a small laundry list of ailments when he showed up in sick bay aboard the USS Makin Island. The terrible headache he had been suffering from was a severe blast-induced concussion. The other injuries included a minor tear of a ligament in his thigh where the bullet had hit, a sprained left ankle, and a dislocated shoulder.
He was still in need of physical therapy for his shoulder, but he would get that when he arrived in McCall. The thought of seeing Samantha and Haley thrilled him, but he was very anxious about how Samantha would treat him. He spent many hours thinking about what he would say to her, how he would make it up to her.
During his time in Coos Bay, he had seen some old faces. Colonel Barone paid a visit to him while he was recovering. He thanked the colonel for all his help, some of which the colonel was not aware he had provided. McCamey and Jones stopped by and paid a visit upon their return too. They sat down and spent hours detailing the events of the battle outside. None of Rahab’s followers made it out alive. They were in shock that Gordon had survived the explosion. The floor had collapsed and Rubio had been crushed under debris. Gordon had asked about Lexi, but they didn’t find a clue that she had even been there. Not a body part, not a scrap of clothing, nothing. It was a mystery. He then asked about the woman they had tied up. They reported that they found her dead, her throat slit. All Gordon could imagine was that Lexi must have done it right before they left but he thought he remembered seeing the woman alive as they drove off. It didn’t make any sense.
The third set of visitors who came after McCamey and Jones were Gunny, Brittany, and Tyler. Brittany’s wounds were healing nicely and Tyler was thrilled to see Gordon alive. Tyler couldn’t talk about anything else but going to Idaho. He was as excited as a child on Christmas morning.
The first thing that Gunny had asked for upon reaching his bed had been the Randall knife. He asked half jokingly, knowing Gordon’s injuries were severe. But to his surprise, it was still attached to his gear when they put him on the chopper. Gordon handed it over with gratitude in his voice. Though he hadn’t been able to use it on Rahab, he felt that it was a lucky talisman that kept him safe.
With the small pack on his shoulder, he looked around at the empty, drab berthing space and bid farewell. He stepped out and headed down the busy narrow passageways toward the quarterdeck. With everyone back from the patrols, the ship was alive again. The passageways served as the veins for the ship. The blood was its crew coursing through it.