Forever Mine: Callaghan Brothers, Book 9 Read Online Free PDF Page A

he’d rather have controlling things at the head of the table, keeping watch over his father. His cautious optimism rose substantially.
    “I was there when Jimmy got the call, thought you could use an extra set of hands.”
    Michael raised his eyebrows. Sure enough, the swath of skin exposed between the surgeon’s cap and mask was turning pink. Those two had been circling around each other for years, but it looked like they finally decided to stop fighting Fate.
    “Appreciate it.”
    Michael took his father’s hand in his. “You hear that, Dad? You’ve got the best of the best. The Dream Team of open heart surgery. Everything is going to be just fine.”
    ––––––––
    J une 1970
    Near Kompong Speu, Cambodia
    “Everything is going to be just fine.”
    Jack heard the words, floating to him on a wave of white hot pain, but he couldn’t see who had spoken them. It was dark, too dark to simply be nighttime.
    “What happened? Where am I?”
    A telling pause. “Your team was ambushed two days ago. You are in a mobile medical unit. You sustained injuries to your head and chest.”
    Hazy memories began to surface. New intel had come through, a small cell of unfriendlies mucking up the works for a bunch of Army boys. It wasn’t supposed to be anything major, just a blip on the big picture radar, but they’d stumbled upon a veritable rat’s nest of bumblefuck. Trees and mud had come alive, eyes filled with hatred and hands sporting automatic weapons as the South Vietnamese and Cambodian Armies engaged in a battle to recapture the capital.
    Vastly outnumbered, they’d run for cover... Fitz had been only a few steps ahead, Brian at his six. Fitz had looked over his shoulder, reached his arm out and yelled something, and then they were airborne...
    Pain exploded at the back of his head. Jack squeezed his eyes shut, or at least tried to. The bandages around his head were wrapped too tightly to allow much. His eyes weren’t working, but his ears were functioning just fine. And it was too fucking quiet. No moans, no curses, no medics working urgently.
    “Where’s the rest of my team?” Jack asked. Silence was the only answer, but his heart ached with knowledge. Fitz. Bri. Tommy. G-man...
    “I’m the only one?”
    A heavy, rough hand landed on his shoulder. “O’Connell’s in surgery. You two are some lucky sons of bitches. We’ll take the bandages off tomorrow. For now, you need to eat.”
    The news hit him like a second blast. His team. His friends. His brothers. Fucking gone . 
    And this guy had the balls to say he was lucky ? Jack felt the bowl pushed into his hands. He gripped it with clumsy, almost-useless fingers covered in more bandages and flung it into the black space. A second later, he heard the dull splat and thwack as it hit the heavy canvas wall of the medic tent, then another as it hit the ground.
    A host of emotions swarmed around him, suffocating him. Anger. Rage. Guilt. Remorse. Grief. Questions whirled through his splitting head, but they all started with the same word. Why? Why did they have to die? Why hadn’t they been more alert? Why hadn’t they sensed the trap? Why hadn’t he been the one in front instead of Fitz?
    When those had run their dizzying course, another set followed closely behind. How bad were his injuries? Did he still have all of his limbs? Would he be able to see again, and if so, how was he going to look into Fitz’s mother’s, father’s, and sisters’ eyes and tell them? How was he going to live with himself?
    And then Kathleen’s voice whispered in his ear. “You promised me, Jack.”
    Jack reached beneath the sheet, fumbling for his pocket, but he wasn’t wearing pants.
    “Looking for this?”
    Jack felt something pressed into his hand. He recognized the smooth feel of the photo paper, though it was significantly smaller than it had been, and the edges were no longer clean and straight. He held it between his fingers, rubbing his thumb over an image