Monroe was possibly more surprised than Jackie was. She jumped when she saw her teammate wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his wet body. Given their many missions together, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d seen the guys in towels or just their boxer briefs, but that didn’t make it any less awkward, especially when it was Monroe.
“Damn it, Monroe,” she cried out in anger and mild embarrassment. “Under the circumstances, would it kill you to lock the door?”
Monroe could do little more than stare at her, certainly not expecting to see her in the locker room.
“Is that Jackie?” Beck was heard calling from the showers. His tone then turned mocking. “I didn’t think we were doing the whole co-ed shower thing!”
“Hey, Jackie,” Gil cheerfully called from the shower area above the running water. “Nice of you to join us! Come on in!”
Jackie could hear the guys laughing within the showers. Monroe appeared mildly embarrassed and seemed to fumble over himself.
“Yeah, sorry about not locking the door,” Monroe remarked. “We weren’t thinking--” He then pointed to the shower room. “I’ll, uh, just--”
Monroe didn’t even finish the sentence before bolting back into the shower room. Darth suddenly appeared from the shower area, soaking wet, and happily greeted her. Jackie groaned and shook her head.
“There are days when being ‘one of the boys’ sucks,” she remarked, then deposited her towel and shower kit on the nearby bench and quickly left.
Since taking her morning shower was out of the question, at least for the time being, Jackie decided to venture into the kitchen and see if Zack had breakfast available. She walked along the corridor in her bare feet, not bothering to change from her sleep shorts and tank top. She didn’t mind parading around in her sleep attire in front of the guys. Being the sole woman on the team, she had to give up some modesty, but she drew the line at co-ed showers. It was bad enough she’d seen Kirk naked on numerous occasions, and she had given her virginity to Monroe before she went to college. She didn’t need to add seeing the rest of the guys naked to that list. She was almost to the kitchen when she heard a thump followed by a loud crash. Jackie ran for the kitchen and slid into the doorway.
Kirk and Nevada were entwined on the floor together among scattered dinnerware. At first glance, they appeared to be playfully tussling, but when Nevada delivered a sharp elbow blow to Kirk’s side, Jackie knew it wasn’t just friendly horseplay. Kirk was attempting to put some sort of wrestling move on the nimble woman. Despite his size advantage on every level, Nevada was holding her own against the big man. It was about to turn ugly fast.
“Hey!” Jackie shouted in anger, attempting to break them up without inserting herself into the mix.
Honestly, Jackie didn’t want to get between the two. Kirk wasn’t the most reasonable man on the team, and Nevada was a ticking time bomb. Attempting to separate them would require turning her back to the one least likely to go through her. Unfortunately, Jackie didn’t trust either in their current state. Nevada managed to whack Kirk in his groin with her palm before he could put her into a chokehold. The shot was enough to jolt him but not disable him. In short, it just pissed him off. Nevada attempted to scramble to her feet, but Kirk sat up, caught her ankle, and easily pulled her down to the floor. Once he had her down, he pulled her across the floor, feet first, toward him. She looked like a cat being pulled by its tail, clawing at the smooth, hard floor. The moment he had her close enough, she thrust her foot backward and clocked him in the mouth.
Despite the clean shot, he managed to grab her hips and keep her from escaping. It almost looked like some bizarre mating ritual, forcing Jackie to cringe. Jackie needed to end their fight before they once again became entangled. She bolted to the kitchen sink near them, turned on the faucet, and grabbed the spray nozzle. Jackie sprayed both with cold water. It was enough to startle them, getting their attention. Nevada cried out in anger while Kirk yelled profanities. Jackie sprayed Kirk in the face a second time just to silence him. She turned the water off and glared at the moderately wet man and woman sitting on the floor.
“What’s the big idea?” Nevada cried out while flinging back her wet hair, then glared at Jackie.
“You tell me?” Jackie snapped in response. “What the hell is wrong with the two of you?”
“He ate the last toaster pastry,” Nevada snarled, genuinely angry about it.
“It didn’t have your fucking name on it,” Kirk snapped back while casting an evil glare at her.
“I’m the one who put it in the toaster, garbage gut!”
Jackie couldn’t believe what she was hearing, although she actually shouldn’t have been too surprised. “You’re fighting over a toaster pastry?” she demanded, then rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’m surrounded by children.”
“You shouldn’t even be here,” Kirk lashed out at Nevada from where the two remained on the floor. “And you wouldn’t be if Zack didn’t have a weak spot for you.” His eyes then narrowed. “Or is it a hard spot?”
The fire in Nevada’s eyes revealed her next move. As Nevada lunged for Kirk, Jackie again turned on the water and sprayed both in the face.
“Hey!” Kirk cried out while glaring at Jackie and pointing demandingly. “She’s the one doing the attacking here!”
“You both need a time out,” Jackie snarled back.
Nevada attempted to control her anger while sneering at Kirk. “I never slept with Zack.”
“Enough,” Jackie shouted while glaring at both. “Both of you!”
Nevada sprang to her feet while Kirk seemed to be in less of a hurry to stand. When he did stand, he towered over Nevada, folded his arms across his broad chest, and glared at her. Whatever their problems were, they were far from resolved.
“Why are the two of you at each other’s throats?” Jackie demanded while shaking her head. “Don’t we have bigger problems?”
Nevada turned and left the kitchen without responding.
Kirk sneered as she left the room then looked back at Jackie. “Stop playing mother hen with me, Jackie,” he scoffed. “You can’t control me the way you do the others.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jackie snapped with surprise and a touch of anger.
Zack stood in the kitchen doorway with his arms folded across his chest and glared at Kirk. “Got something to say, Kirk?”
Kirk saw Zack then sneered and shook his head. “No,” he replied, then headed for Zack and the kitchen door.
Zack and Jackie watched Kirk leave. Once he was gone, Jackie shook her head and groaned.
“I’d blame cabin fever,” Jackie remarked, “but we haven’t been here that long.”
“Nevada doesn’t bring out the best in people,” Zack informed her while straightening. He then approached and eyed the water on the floor. “She’s fighting her own demons. The demons are winning.”
“The way those two are acting, I’d swear there was something between them,” Jackie remarked while tossing a dishtowel onto the puddle of water on the floor.
“Nevada’s a bit of a black widow,” Zack announced and helped wipe the water from the floor. “If she’s ever mated, none has lived to tell about it.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s not unresolved sexual tension between those two,” Jackie muttered as she wrung the rag into the sink. “So what is their problem?”
“Don’t know, and I wouldn’t ask,” Zack replied. “None of my business.”
“Becomes our business if they’re going to rip each other’s throats out.”
“Then call it a clash of personalities,” Zack remarked as he leaned against the counter. “You have Nevada, who’s almost certainly sexually frigid, and Kirk, who’s a bit of a man whore. Combine those two chemicals, and what do you get?”
“Two people who can’t stand the sight of each other,” Jackie remarked. “I get that Kirk’s a bit of a prick around Nevada, but what’s his newly found irritation with me? I’ve never done anything to th
e guy.”
“Kirk’s not exactly complicated,” Zack remarked. “Plenty of food, lots of exercise, let him kill something, and unlimited access to vitamin F.” Zack considered the comment. “Huh? I think I just described myself.”
“Joke all you want,” Jackie insisted. “You’re a lot deeper than you think. Somewhere, buried deep inside you, there’s a locked box filled with emotions.”
“You’d like to believe that,” Zack informed her, then smirked. “I’ll just let you keep thinking that if it makes you happy.”
“Kirk is singling me out lately,” Jackie announced, then shook her head. “When it comes to Kirk, I’m pretty much ‘hands-off’, and I certainly don’t mother you guys.”
Zack hid his grin. “No, of course, you don’t.”
Jackie shot a glare at him and suddenly felt offended. “Was that sarcasm?”
§
Sam rode along the wooded trail on game land nearly two miles from the sanctuary visitor’s center. Her horse suddenly snorted, alerting her to something within the woods. Sam stopped the horse and looked around. She scanned the ground first, then checked out the trees in the distance, possibly anticipating Zack.
“What do you see?” she asked the horse while patting its neck.
The horse remained alert while staring slightly off to the right. Sam lifted her binoculars and slowly scanned the area. Alarm swept through her when she caught a glimpse of a man dressed in black combat fatigues and carrying a rifle cradled in his arms. Sam released the binoculars and swiftly removed the rifle from her saddle holster. She aimed the rifle at the man in the distance.
“Drop the weapon,” she cried out. “Hands where I can see them!”
The man stopped at her commanding words, slowly and carefully set the rifle on the ground, and then straightened, holding his hands in the air where she could see them. Sam nudged her horse with her heels, leaving the reins draped over the saddle horn, and rode closer to the man. The horse suddenly snorted loudly and bolted in a tight circle to something behind them.
Sam cried out a loud, firm, “Whoa!”
A rifle blast echoed loudly from behind her.
Chapter 37
Later that morning, Jackie sat on the clinic desk while Marco listlessly picked at his breakfast within his cell. Nevada would be showing up shortly for her shift after she had a chance to shower. Jackie wondered if Nevada’s shower would contain fewer Navy SEALs. The guys needed to keep their distance from Nevada and her wrath. She just hoped Monroe and Bogart were smart enough to keep their hormones in check around the volatile woman.
“You seem like the most sensible, intelligent one in the group,” Marco announced while setting his tray aside and ripping Jackie out of her own thoughts. He stood and approached the bars. “Where am I going to go? Honestly? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Wouldn’t life be so much easier on everyone if you guys just trust me? I’m not suicidal. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Sorry, Marco,” Jackie replied and released a sigh. “That’s Ross’s call, not mine.”
“Then maybe you could talk some sense into him,” Marco announced and clung to the bars. “Let me out of here. This is ridiculous.”
“No, what happened at that cabin safe house,” Jackie announced and raised her brows, “that was ridiculous. Ross told you who we were, and why we were there, yet you still took off, endangering all our lives in the process.”
“When I saw the helicopter, I didn’t know who to trust,” Marco informed her. “I know the score now. Talk to Ross. Get me out of here.” He then gave her his best puppy dog eyes. “I’ll behave; I promise.”
“Yeah, sorry. Your charm isn’t going to work on me either,” Jackie informed him.
Marco groaned and walked away from the bars. Bogart entered the clinic and approached Jackie while grinning somewhat deviously.
“I heard you tried to shower with the boys this morning,” Bogart teased.
Jackie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “They just couldn’t wait to spread that around, could they?”
“I hear they’re fighting over who gets to tell Holden,” Bogart continued with his torment. He was starting to settle into his role as her annoying brother.
“I need better friends,” Jackie muttered. “Maybe I can adopt another SEAL team.”
Zack and Nevada entered the clinic while lightly arguing. When they saw Jackie and Bogart, both became oddly silent and didn’t even look at each other.
Bogart raised his brows and gave Jackie a quick look. “That’s not at all suspicious,” he muttered as Nevada and Zack approached.
“Okay, I’m here,” Nevada announced and flopped into the desk chair. “Everyone out.”
“Someone got up on the wrong side of Kirk this morning,” Bogart remarked.
Nevada’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “That’s not even the slightest bit funny.”
“Don’t poke the bear, Bogart,” Jackie muttered to her brother.
“No more in-house fighting,” Zack announced with little interest in the subject.
Jackie, Bogart, and Zack heard chatter over their concealed earpieces.
“Something’s wrong,” Kirk’s voice was heard over their ear transmitters, alerting them to the situation outside. “Sam’s coming in hot. Real hot.”
All three bolted from the clinic and ran outside, straight for the visitor’s center. Ross, Gil, and Monroe met them out front and scanned the area with their binoculars.
“I don’t see her,” Jackie announced while searching the area.
Gil touched his ear transmitter. “Which direction?” he demanded.
“Heading straight for you due northwest,” Kirk replied over their earbuds.
All six turned and saw the gray horse galloping for them with Sam slumped over his neck. The horse was approaching fast. As the guys bolted for the running horse, the horse slammed on the breaks. Sam was thrown to the side of the horse, held partially on the horse’s back with both feet still in the stirrups and the reins looped around her hands. She must have been conscious for part of the journey, knew she was fading out, and attempted to ensure she wouldn’t fall off before making it to the visitor’s center. Bogart easily controlled the excitable horse, being he had the most experience with horses. He held the heavy breathing, excitable horse still while Monroe and Gil supported Sam’s unconscious body.
Jackie darted to the horse's right side and removed Sam’s foot from the opposing stirrup while Zack and Ross removed the reins wrapped around her tight fists. Once she was free, they lowered her to the ground.
Monroe eyed his shoulder and the fresh blood soaking his shirt. “Shit, she’s bleeding,” he gasped while quickly backing up. “I’ll get the field kit. Meet me in the clinic!”
The guys immediately searched Sam for the wound. Her entire shoulder was covered in blood. The horse snorted several times while angrily stomping its hind leg. Zack plucked Sam from the ground and into his arms, then hurried her back to the clinic more than one hundred yards from the visitor’s center. Gil removed his shirt while running alongside Zack and attempted to hold pressure on the wound.
“That’s a gunshot,” Ross announced and immediately lifted his binoculars while scanning the area. “Kirk, keep your eyes peeled. We may have a bogey.”
The horse again stomped its back hoof. Bogart looked at the horse’s back leg and saw the bright, red blood running down its hind end.
“Ah, hell, no,” Bogart cried out. “The bastard shot the horse!”
Ross touched his ear transmitter. “Beck,” he barked in anger. “Get a rifle and get to Kirk’s location. See what you can see.” He then spun to face Jackie. “Get to the helicopter and wait for my orders. We may need to evacuate Marco and the ranger. If I give you the order, you’ll need to get here fast.”
Jackie nodded and ran east of the visitor’s center to where the helicopter was hidden. Ross then turned to Bogart, who attempted to look at the uncooperative horse’s injury. Ross could see the concer
n for the animal in Bogart’s eyes.
“Take the horse to the clinic through the wildlife entrance,” Ross informed him. “See if you can assess the damage.”
Bogart nodded and led the horse to the infirmary. Despite the blood, the excitable horse just about pranced alongside him, showing no signs of limping.
§
Sam lay unconscious on the metal examination table within the veterinarian clinic. Nevada paced the area before Marco’s cell and watched the commotion surrounding the injured ranger. Ross fumbled with the bottle of numbing solution while Zack ripped open one of the sterile syringes. Gil tore Sam’s shirt away from the wound, quickly assessed it, and applied pressure again.
“Can someone hand me some gauze pads?” Gil just about demanded. “I need to take a better look at the wound.”
Ross handed Zack the bottle of solution and hurried to Gil’s side. Nevada watched Zack as he was about to insert the syringe into the bottle.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nevada suddenly cried out and bolted for him. She snatched the syringe from his hand. “You just contaminated the stopper on the bottle. Jesus. Do you want to give her an infection?” Nevada removed an alcohol prep from the bag and sterilized the stopper on the bottle of solution. She drew up some numbing agent into the syringe, flicked out any air bubbles, and then approached the unconscious woman. Without regard to the men working around her, Nevada sterilized an area near the injury and injected the solution near the wound. She then glared at Zack, lacking patience. “Make yourself useful and find the bottle of morphine in that bag.”
Zack found the morphine and approached Nevada. While holding pressure to the wound, Ross watched Nevada remove a clean syringe from the supplies laid out on the table. She then snatched the bottle from Zack and sterilized the stopper before drawing up solution.
“Find the rubber tourniquet,” Nevada ordered while carefully drawing up a small amount of the morphine. “Tie off her arm above the elbow.”
While Zack found the yellow band in the bag and tied off Sam’s arm, Nevada swabbed the crook of her arm. Once the blood flow to her arm was stopped, Nevada searched for a vein. Ross and Zack watched as Nevada poked around the woman’s arm. She again swabbed the area after finding a vein and then inserted the drugs directly into her bloodstream.
Witness Protection 9: S.N.A.F.U. Page 28