Read A Sense of Duty: A Former Navy SEAL Falls in Love and Begins a New Journey with his Private Consulting Company: Dark Horse Guardians for Free Online

family financially. He offered to buy Javier's truck and paid Marissa cash, much more than it was worth. It was priceless to him. He also respectfully asked for one of Javier's shirts. Marissa gave Ben the shirt. Ben had all he could do not to break down in front of Marissa. He spoke lovingly to her of Javier and his valiant fight. Ben remained in California to attend Javier's military funeral. He did not shed a tear at the service. He held Marissa and the children in his arms and comforted them, speaking lovingly about Javier, the brave warrior.
    Ben remained stoic until he started driving in Javier's pick-up truck from California to Prince Edward Island. Driving for hours on end alone, he sobbed uncontrollably some days. Staying at cheap motels along the way, he ate, slept, and cruised for sometimes ten hours at a time listening to Javier's favorite CD's found in the storage compartment of the truck. They both loved country music. Ben knew he had to look forward and not back. Somehow he felt planning a new life would dishonor Javier. But, over time Ben came to the realization that he would never forget Javier and the special bond between them. Javier's soul had permeated Ben's like an irremovable tattoo.
    As he spent time at the Prince Edward Island retreat, he started up Dark Horse Guardians. He threw himself into the project working morning, noon, and night. However, Ben was wrestling with demons that would not leave him. He could not stop looking for IED's. This was a particularly annoying habit from his time in combat. It took transcendental meditation classes, but he was finally looking for IED's less frequently. At one time he thought he might never conquer the obsession. But as everything in his SEAL training taught him, it was mind over matter. What made it so difficult was the fact that he had to go against the training he had been immersed in for the last ten years. The mind of a naval man, especially a SEAL, was purposefully programmed to assess threats twenty-four hours a day. This was not something he could turn off like a switch. He had to force himself to deep breathe and focus his mind away from the frightening thoughts that periodically invaded it.
    The other major problem he suffered from was chronic insomnia. However, with many months of transcendental meditation, he was now able to force himself to sleep most of the time. The deep breathing and a unique form of visualization helped, and if he did it for about ten minutes it most often brought immediate slumber upon him. He learned he could also manage his dream state focusing on detailed visualizations just before drifting off. This made his dream state more pleasant, especially when the thought of holding a female body close was involved. The technique didn't work all of the time. There were still night terrors. But he was gradually seeing improvement in his sleep pattern. And, he found Einstein. The moment Ben laid eyes on the tiny English bull terrier puppy, he felt his heart melt. As he sat on the floor in the breeder's mud-room, the small black and white puppy came directly to him, with his tiny tail wagging. Einstein forced Ben into a regular sleeping and waking cycle, gave him unconditional love, and brought him back into the world he once knew.
     
    ~ Lara ~
    Upon awakening, Lara followed her morning ritual. As any good obsessive-compulsive would, she opened the daily calendar and checklist on her phone. Her careful life was ruled by lists and appointments, running from one task to the next, while living off portable food in her pink leather sack. Protein bars, apples, bananas, yogurt, granola, and the occasional sandwich or salad, was what her diet consisted of on a daily basis. She rarely had time to cook a meal. Everything in Lara's life was neat and orderly, even her relationships. Like the one she had with Eric Henderson. Because he worked in Boston, Lara could take him off the shelf for a weekend date, and then put him back when finished