Troubleshooters 16.8 - Free Fall by Suzanne Brockmann Read Free Book Online

tasting vinegar and olive oil, and, you know, grape juice—” She cut herself off. “You’re really okay?”
     “I am,” he said. “But.”
     “Uh-oh.”
     “Yeah,” he said. “There was a mishap. Tony’s oxygen malfunctioned, but we figured it out and got him to the ground safely.”
     Eden wasn’t fooled by his use of the plural we and she sat down on a bench because her knees were suddenly weak . “But just you and Tony went into the tank thing. Although Jay Lopez was the one whose knee got hurt . . . ”
     “He landed wrong,” Izzy explained. “He was following us—faster than the other guys, who were still in the HAHO stack—in case we needed medical attention.”
     “ We being you and Tony,” she clarified.
     “Yeah,” Izzy said. “I was in the best position to help Tony when his O2 failed, so I did.” He then went into detail, telling her exactly what had happened, what he’d done, and what Tony had ultimately done.
     Dear God. Eden was glad she was sitting down. “On the danger scale of one to ten—” she started.
     Izzy didn’t hesitate. “Two,” he said. “The situation was not a walk in the park, but . . . Well, think of it like this, Eed. Tony needed help, and I went to help him first—and it got done. If it hadn’t, then Danny would’ve gone to help Tony and me. And if Danny had failed, then Jenk or the CO or even Ferd the FNG would’ve done it. But we didn’t get that far. We didn’t need to. Right?”
     Eden felt herself nodding. “Right,” she said. “Good. Thank you for being honest with me.”
     “Always,” he promised.
     “Is Adam freaking out?” she asked.
     “Adam is...” Izzy paused. “Ah, they went out in the back yard to talk and... No freaking, at least not visible from the window. And big Hollywood kiss. Some one’s having I came closer than usual to dying today sex tonight, and sadly it’s not me.”
     Eden laughed and said the words she knew Adam was saying, right now, to Tony, out in their flower-filled back yard. “I love you.” She added, “I’ll be home tomorrow night.”
     “And I,” Izzy said, “will be right here, waiting for you.”
     Provided he didn’t deploy . . .
     But that was like the Navy SEAL version of adding “in bed” to every Chinese cookie fortune. You will meet a tall, handsome stranger . . . in bed . Your luck is about to change . . . in bed . I’ll be right here, waiting for you . . . provided I don’t deploy . We’ll be having a wonderful anniversary party with all of our friends . . . provided he doesn’t deploy.
      It was part of being married to a Navy SEAL. Of course, as Izzy had pointed out, another part of being married to a Navy SEAL meant there were dozens of highly skilled and relentlessly trained teammates always ready to dive out of the sky to protect her husband.
     “Don’t let Danny be too rough on Ben tonight,” she warned Izzy. “Adam told me the fight was started by some ass-hat who was bullying some younger boys. Ben stepped in. And I know, he should’ve gone for help, but . . .”
     “He’s a Gillman,” Izzy finished for her. “The Force is strong in that one. I don’t think we need to worry about Dan getting on Ben’s case about this. Not tonight anyway. We’re just gonna make some dinner, chill, maybe glom a little more Glee .”
     “Danny’s actually watching Glee with you and Ben,” Eden repeated in flat disbelief.
     “It was his idea,” Izzy told her. “He heard that the show has an awesome gay character who has a really cool dad, and well, I’m not sure Ben even likes it, his tastes run more to the Coen Brothers. But he really loves that Dan put that much thought into it, you know?”
     “Yeah,” Eden said. “I kinda love that, too.”
     There was silence then, for just a moment, then Izzy said, “Life is pretty good today, huh?”
     “Pizza arrive?” she asked.
     He laughed. “You know me well, my darling. Yeah. Delivery car just