Return of the Phoenix - 01 Read Online Free PDF

accounts and left town. It was three years later when Mrs. Lamb received her first letter from her only son, telling her that he’d joined the N avy and had just graduated BUDs. Her son was a newly minted SEAL. He was requesting permission to return home for Thanksgiving. It truly was a heartfelt reunion. And the first time in three years that his father hadn’t felt that his son hadn’t run away , but to something. Manhood.
    “You reckon we’ll get stateside?” Lamb asked.
    “Beats the dog shit outta me, brother. Like I said, we could end up in Antarctica. Or fuckin’ Australia for all I know,” Jacobs replied.
    “Oh, wouldn’t that be the shit? Australia! Koala bears and kangaroos and shit. And what are those sticks you throw in the air and they come back to you?” Lamb asked.
    “What? You mean a boomerang?” Jacobs asked, wondering if he was serious.
    “Yeah, that’s the thing. And those funky ass tubes those li ttle pygmies blow in to make that weird ass noise.”
    “Okay, moron, your brain has had too much exposure to the sun.” Jacobs said, standing up.
    “Asshole, I’m not Australian, and it’s not like I ever played with one,” Lamb shot back.
    “You don’t have to be a damned Aussie to know what a boomerang is, and they aren’t pygmies in Australia!” Jacobs accused.
    “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah!” Jacobs tried not to think of leaving the team behind. “I can’t wait to get stateside and crawl inside the biggest, coldest fucking beer I can find.”
    “Not me, pal. I haven’t had a drink since we got here and my system is cleaned out. I’m giving it up for good. I’m sick of the hangovers and bumming money from ya.”
    We’ll see how long this one lasts, buddy. You got more demons than Lucifer himself, pal. Jacobs thought as he lay down on his own cot. Although the shower had really helped to cool him off, the heat was still there, and he knew it was going to be rough trying to sleep tonight. Especially not knowing what tomorrow might bring.
     
    *****
     
    Robert Mueller pulled his Jeep CJ-7 into the driveway of his ex-wife’s house. His house before the divorce. He stared at the front yard, the porch, the mailbox, the awnings over the windows. He remembered how happy they were when they first found the house and how hard he and Barbara had worked as they practically rebuilt the cottage from the ground up. Somebody tell me again what I did wrong? All I did was try to love you, Babs, he told himself.
    He practically had to force himself to step out of the Jeep and reach into the rear to retrieve his son’s birthday present. Bobby was turning six today. Practically a carbon copy of his father, Bobby had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes and a cheesy grin that cut straight to his mom’s heart. Both looked like they would be more comfortable along the beach with surfboards in hand. Her ‘beach boys’ was Barbara Mueller’s pet name for them b efore the divorce. Now, she rarely said anything nice to Robert unless Bobby was present, and even then, she was barely able to keep a civil tongue in her mouth. It took Robert a long time to realize that she finally cracked under the pressure of being an Army wife. Her husband could be called out at any time, and not knowing when or if he would come home was just more than her fragile disposition could handle. So she did the only thing she knew to do. She turned on him. And in doing so, she all but destroyed him. She took the two things he held most dear. His wife and son.
    Robert approached the front door cautiously. For one of the military’s fiercest warriors, one might find it odd that he was trembling as he reached for the doorbell. Just before he could push the button, Barbara opened the door and stood staring at him accusingly with her hands on her hips. “Late again, I see.” The bitterness wasn’t missed in her voice.
    “I wasn’t sure of the time,” Robert said sheepishly, handing her Bobby’s gift.
    Even though he knew she was acting