A Soldier's Heart Read Online Free Page B

spiral, one that could end badly for Nick, not to mention them.
    His decision made, Spence shoved his tray back. “Let’s go. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and he’ll stay gone long enough for us to get some answers.”
    Leif followed him back outside rubbing his arm again. “Lucky or not, the son of a bitch owes us an explanation even if we have to beat it out of him.”
    Spence grinned for the first time all day. “I’ll hold him while you get in the first few punches.”
    “Sounds like a plan.”
    •   •   •
    Their luck held long enough for Spence to find a well-worn piece of mail tucked under Nick’s mattress. There was nothing special about the envelope other than it was one of those security kind designed to prevent anyone from being able to read through it. Spence knew that for certain after holding it up to the light to see what he could make out about the contents. Otherwise, the handwriting looked decidedly feminine, another clue that they were on the right trail. There was no return address, but the postmark was from Nick’s hometown.
    “Should we read it?”
    The hesitation in Leif’s voice echoed Spence’s own feelings on the subject. Worrying about their friend was one thing, but somehow opening that envelope smacked more of betrayal. He wanted to help Nick to snap out of his funk; he didn’t want to ruin their friendship in the process.
    “No, not unless you think we should. Here, you do it.”
    Spence held it out to Leif, who held his hands up in the air and danced back a few steps, refusing to touch it. “No way. This was your idea.”
    “Okay, fine. We’ll put it back and resort to Plan B.”
    Leif lowered his hands and moved closer again. “Which is?”
    Spence’s answered with a grin that had little to do with happiness. “We beat the truth out of him.”
    His friend smiled back. “I definitely like Plan B.”
    But just as Spence was about to shove the letter back where he’d found it, the door opened and Nick walked in. It didn’t take him long to assess the situation.
    “What the fuck are you two doing?”

Chapter 4
    It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he and Leif were well and truly screwed. Rather than offering up some lame excuse, Spence went with pure bluster seasoned with a sprinkling of the cold, hard truth.
    “Any idiot can see that you’ve been off your game lately, Sarge. You won’t talk about it, so you left us no choice but to do some digging on our own.”
    Rather than retreat, Spence tossed the envelope down on Nick’s bed with a flourish and faced his furious friend head-on. “For weeks now, everyone around here has been tiptoeing around you, trying to give you enough space to work things out on your own. All they’ve succeed in doing is getting their heads ripped off for their efforts.”
    Nick folded his arms over his chest but didn’t argue the point. Spence plowed ahead. “Last week, you thought we should go haring off on our own on the way back from patrol, a boneheaded move if there ever was one. However, we didn’t say a word.”
    He took another step toward Nick, glad that Leif immediately moved up behind him, backing his play. “But then there was yesterday when you broke every fucking protocol you’ve taught us when you went charging off on your own without adequate backup.”
    Spence leaned forward, making sure Nick was listening. “Bottom line, Sarge, you almost got yourself killed. If that wasn’t fucked-up enough, you managed to get Leif shot.”
    Nick’s face flushed red, either from embarrassment or temper or both. Spence didn’t know which it was and didn’t care. Either way, the situation was about to reach critical mass as Nick snatched the envelope off the bed and shoved it in his pocket.
    “You’re damn lucky I’m not going to put you two on report for this.” His hands curled into tight fists. “You sneaky bastards had no right to go rooting around in my things just for shits and grins.”
    Spence met his