Free Chica Bella by Carly Fall Page A

willing to go, will you?”
    “Fuck, Marty.”
    Landon sighed and watched a group of wanna-be SEALs running a training drill outside.
    Of course he would go. Not just because he felt the duty to his country, but because his friend had asked him. He would give his right arm for anyone in his unit.
    “You think you still have it in you, Landon?” Marty asked.
    Did he? Doing a quick gut check, he knew the answer was yes. If the answer had been no, he would be a danger to himself and to his fellow SEALs in the line of duty, and he wouldn’t do that to any of them. He had one more turn in him; he just didn’t want to take it.
    “Yeah, I’m solid, Marty.”
    They stared at each other for a moment.
    “But you listen to me,” Landon said, “I love you like a brother from a different mother, but you work your ass off to find that replacement.”
    Landon stood and went for the door. “I’m heading out to Cabo,”—he turned to look at his friend, and pointed his finger at him—“and when you call me in a week or so, make it the news I want to hear, okay?”
    Marty nodded and smiled. “I’ll do my best, Landon, but I can’t make promises. And don’t point at your superiors.”
    “I know you can’t promise me anything, just try,” Landon grumbled, flipping him the bird over his shoulder as he left the room.
    He rubbed his hand over his tanned face and skull-trimmed brown hair, as if doing so would somehow scrub away his fatigue. Reaching over the seat to his duffel bag, he found his sunglasses and slipped them over his blue eyes.
    The drive from the airport would be uneventful. Well, uneventful for him. There may be a near miss with another car or a quick lane change, but nothing like what he had been through. There would be no dangers of roadside bombs or ambushes, or some asshole with a missile launcher standing on the side of the road. He could relax. This was always the hardest part for him when he returned from a tour—learning to unwind again. He hoped that being in Cabo he’d become a quick study.
    As José sped down the road, Landon gazed out the window at the passing landscape. Horrific poverty reared its head every now and then against the beautiful backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. In some ways it wasn’t much different than Afghanistan, except that the backdrop of Afghanistan was nothing but brown dirt. Between the white sand dunes of the beaches in Mexico, Landon saw the waves breaking, and he was excited to actually hear them. The rhythmic sound of the water smashing itself against the sand, backing up and regrouping to do it all again was incredibly soothing.
    The tension in his shoulders faded a bit, and he sank lower into the seat. He thought of all the things he wanted to do while in Cabo. First, he needed to rest and get back into civilian mode. That entailed finding a lounge chair at the hotel by the pool, where he planned on camping out from sunrise to sunset, catching up on sleep, reading, and sipping afternoon margaritas. He was looking forward to enjoying real Mexican food and not food rations from the armed services.
    He wanted to take a glass-bottom boat out to the magnificent El Arco rock formations and see the beautiful fish that made the area their home. He always found it fascinating the area was where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean merged to become one, and he had faith he would be able to convince the boat captain to take him a little farther out to see some whales if they were still around. Being the end of March, it was definitely a hit and miss.
    Finally, he hoped to see a special woman. He sighed. He had picked up the phone countless times over the past month to call her, but had chickened out every time. Shaking his head, he couldn’t believe the stupidity of it all. He was a SEAL, for God’s sake. He had killed terrorists, faced bullets, done hand-to-hand combat with people who wanted nothing more than to see him dead, and he had trouble picking up the phone to make a