Deadly Aim (Bad Karma Special Ops Book 2)

by Tracy Brody

“I’ll get straws and napkins, Daddy.” Darcy spun on her heel and wove through the customers behind them while Mack handed cash to the teenager manning the register.

  “How’d the social studies project turn out?” he asked Amber while they waited for their food.

  Her head tilted up. “I got a ninety-eight.”

  “A ninety-eight? Wow! Where’d you get all those brains?” he said loud enough for others to hear and ruffled her hair. “I’m proud of you, girl. Keep it up.”

  “I have a science test tomorrow on landforms.”

  “You already study?”

  “Yeah, but I have a math worksheet to do.”

  “Did your mother know that?”

  “No. I brought it.” Amber patted her pocket. “I’ll get it done.”

  “Deal.” He didn’t want her getting behind in school, but he also didn’t want Rochelle carping about the few hours he got with the girls during the week were interfering with their homework.

  He turned around with the tray; only Darcy wasn’t at the condiment counter. His head jerked around, surveying the dining room. When he spotted her standing next to a table talking to a man he didn’t recognize, his grasp on the tray tightened.

  Before he charged over, he checked out the man’s dinner companion. Even from behind, he recognized the French braid of the uniformed woman talking to his daughter. Setting the tray on the condiment counter, he choked down the lump in his throat as he grabbed several packets of ketchup.

  Kristie shot him down when he said he wanted them to move things forward. And now, less than a week later, here she was in a restaurant having dinner with another guy.

  Damn, that didn’t take long.

  The guy she was with was also in uniform. Mack strained to make out the rank insignia on his chest. A warrant officer. Probably another pilot. Figures. Seeing her with another guy felt like a kick in the ’nads. It didn’t really surprise him. She was the total package.

  He clenched his teeth as Amber headed toward Darcy. A low growl formed in his throat. He’d prefer to sit across the room and call to Darcy.

  Ignoring Kristie would be rude though. Especially since, on Sunday afternoon, he’d found her in his driveway—she and Alexis each holding the ends of the long rope as both of his girls jumped together.

  There was no need to be an ass, even if she was on a date—with a loser who took her out for fast food. Classy. Maybe officers didn’t need to impress other officers.

  “Hey. Sorry for the intrusion. Girls, come on.” He motioned for them.

  “They’re fine,” Kristie said.

  A notepad sat on the table near Kristie’s elbow. At the far end of their table, a tray held empty food wrappers. Her date’s gaze shifted between Kristie and Darcy.

  This was killing Mack. Time to escape before introductions were made. “Have a good night.” He turned to find Amber sitting at the table catty-corner to Kristie’s booth. Great. He handed his girls their sandwiches as Kristie’s date carried their tray to the trash.

  “Be right back,” the guy told Kristie.

  Seated four feet away from them, Mack couldn’t help but overhear. Her date opened the door to the playground area, called out, then tapped his watch. A boy close to Amber’s age, wearing a white karate uniform, joined the man, and the two returned to the table.

  “Anything else before I head out?” the pilot asked Kristie.

  “The colonel approved a training op with the Special Operations guys.” Her head turned in his direction, but Mack didn’t meet her eyes. He had been looking forward to that op—until now.

  “Sounds good. Thanks again for meeting me here.”

  “It wasn’t a problem. Good thing I saw you before Friday, Dalton. I wouldn’t have recognized you. What has your mother been feeding you? You’ve grown a foot!”

  “She says it’s the Captain Crunch,” the boy said, making Kristie laugh.

  Even though she’d deflected Mack’s interest with the rank argument, he wasn’t willing to wave the white flag. This week, he’d pulled up the site and looked over the sample application for WOCS. If accepted as a candidate, it’d only take a couple of months to complete the course to become a Warrant Officer. A couple of months away from the girls. Away from his team. But it might be too late if Kristie got involved with someone else.

  Mack caved to the urge to check out the guy’s left hand and saw the wedding band. Alleluia. His appetite returned. Darcy stared at him with a puzzled expression, so he made a silly face. Still, she regarded him with open curiosity.

  “I appreciate y’all organizing the dinner,” he heard Kristie say.

  “Happy to do it. Once the women meet you, that’ll put an end to any crazy talk. It’ll be fine.”

  “Can I bring anything?”

  “Call and check with Mary Kate. Okay, dude, let’s go test for that blue belt.”

  “You’ll do great.” Kristie raised a fist, and the boy bumped it with his.

  “You heading out?” the pilot asked her.

  “I’m going to grab something to eat first.” She slid out of the booth and moved out of Mack’s line of sight and earshot.

  As Amber talked about school and her friend’s upcoming birthday party, he tried to focus on what she was saying.

  “Miss Kristie, you can sit with us,” Darcy’s sweet voice piped up unprompted.

  Kristie hesitated, a wistful expression flitting across her features as she returned Darcy’s gaze. “I don’t want to intrude on your family dinner.”

  “What’s ‘intrude’ mean?”

  “Um, go someplace you aren’t invited,” Kristie answered.

  “I invited you.” Darcy’s lips turned down in a pout that usually worked magic.

  Mack kept his mouth shut, watching Kristie’s face as she wavered. When Kristie looked to him, he shrugged helplessly. “She’s kind of hard to say no to.” He edged over, giving her room to sit down.

  “I can see that.” Kristie transferred her food to their table, then stepped back to retrieve her notepad.

  “Next time we’re at Daddy’s, you can come over and get your turn jumping rope,” Darcy said as soon as Kristie joined them.

  “I won’t be around next weekend. I’m having dinner with friends, then I’m going to Charlotte to see my family. Maybe another time. Though I doubt I can jump nearly as well as you girls.”

  Kristie’s tactful handling of his daughter’s invitation sounded authentic, and it stirred something inside him. He couldn’t quite identify it, but he liked it, and even Amber beamed at the praise.

  “Do you work with Daddy and Uncle Ray?” Darcy took a gulp of milk.

  “Not usually, but I will one day next week. I fly helicopters.”

  “Helicopters! That’s so cool.” Amber sounded impressed.

  “Can we go for a ride?” Darcy’s eyes opened wide. She bounced so hard on the seat the table rocked.

  “I’m afraid I can’t take you up.” Kristie looked genuinely disappointed as she addressed Darcy. “But your dad can bring you out to the airfield sometime. You can check out my Black Hawk, then you can watch me fly.”

  “Really? Can we go, Daddy?” Darcy batted her long lashes.

  Mack half-expected Darcy to come clear across the table. “I’m sure we can manage that.” He liked the idea and the smiles on his girls’ faces. The invitation to the airfield for a tour might be for the girls, but he’d make the most of the invite.

  Kristie answered more questions for Darcy, and then she made a point to turn the focus back to Amber, engaging both girls in the conversation. He couldn’t believe how well this was going—sitting here sharing a meal with his daughters, talking so easily with Kristie. It was a delicious kind of torture.

  Darcy slurped the last of her milk. She glanced over her shoulder toward the play area, then swiveled back to face him. “Can I go play now?”

  He nodded; normally, she wouldn’t have stayed at the table this long.

  “You wanna come watch me, Miss Kristie?
” Darcy’s eyes lit up as she scooted off the bench.

  Kristie gave a light chuckle, and Mack guessed her answer before she even opened her mouth. His youngest was pretty irresistible, but this also allowed Kristie to escape.

  Darcy paused as Kristie rose. “You comin’, Amber?”

  “I have to finish my homework.” Amber’s voice was flat, and her words drawn out as she looked at him, probably hoping for a reprieve.

  “Duty first.” He winked at her.

  Amber sighed, reached around, and pulled the sheet and a pencil from her pocket. “You don’t have to help me do my homework, Dad.”

  “All right. But math is my specialty. Just don’t ask me to spell those words they give you brainiacs.”

  Amber rolled her eyes in that preteen way that was still endearing instead of annoying.

  “I guess I’ll be in the play area with the screaming kids, then.” Usually, he avoided the play area, but tonight he had an incentive to sit out there—and he got to shoot down Kristie’s evade-and-escape maneuver. He pushed open the door and saw Kristie sitting at a table, facing the playset.

  “May I?”

  Kristie tilted her head. “Of course.”

  Seated beside her, he scanned the interconnecting tubes until he saw Darcy crawling through. Pausing at the window, she waved to them and blew him a kiss.

  “She is precious.”

  He angled his head to see Kristie’s face better. “She got the red hair and freckles from me.”

  She gave a low chuckle but didn’t tear her gaze from the children playing around them.

  “So, you’re having dinner with friends next weekend.”

  “Unit dinner party on Friday.”

  “There a problem?”

  Her head rocked side-to-side before she scrunched her eyebrows at him. Oops. Not like he could help overhearing her conversation.

  “A couple of wives and girlfriends weren’t thrilled when they heard a female pilot was joining the unit since it means I’ll deploy with the guys. James and Mary Kate thought if the women met me, it might eliminate their concerns, so they offered to host a get-together.”

  Flaunting a beautiful, single woman in front of them was supposed to make them feel better? He tried not to laugh. “You might need to take a date.” She met his gaze head-on, not that he expected her to ask him. “Sorry. And sorry about stalking out the other night.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not okay. Or fair. This sucks.”

  Though barely perceptible, her head nodded in agreement. A muscle in her cheek shifted, and the corner of her mouth curved down.

  Should he give up and end this emotional torture for both of them?

  He caught sight of Darcy, who smiled and waved at them again. He waggled his index finger to summon her. She disappeared from view in the maze of tubes, then slid out to his left. She bounded over, tiny beads of sweat dotting her flushed face.

  “Do we have to go already?” She gave an exaggerated pout.

  “Not yet. I just need a hug.”

  Darcy’s face lit up. She threw her arms around his neck, and her slight frame snuggled against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, stroking her back. Soft lips pressed against his cheek.

  She eased back. “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you, too, monkey. Thanks for the hug.”

  Impulsively, she lunged forward and squeezed him again, giggling. Love for her radiated through him. He wished it were enough as he glimpsed Kristie out of the corner of his eye.

  “You have an extra one of those?” Kristie asked before Darcy darted away.

  “Uh, huh.” His daughter beamed.

  He watched as she threw her arms around Kristie’s neck.

  With eyes closed and a serene smile, Kristie returned Darcy’s embrace. “I need to go, but thanks for the hug and dinner company.” Her voice broke with emotion, not that Darcy noticed as she jogged back to the playset.

  Kristie sniffed, drew in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

  It took every bit of restraint to keep from slipping an arm around her and drawing her to him. He nudged her with his knee. Look at me. Give me a nudge. Some hope.

  Kristie got to her feet and picked up her purse and notepad. She stood inches from him. His muscles flexed, but he kept his hands planted on his thighs. They stared at one another, her eyes filled with emotion.

  “I’ll see you later.” Her tone was resigned.

  His hand lifted in a half wave, and she reached out, her fingers grazing his before she walked away. Just enough of a touch—like a flame to kindling—to spark a blaze of hope.

  Oh, yeah. You’ll be seeing me. This was not over. Not by a long shot.

  Nineteen

  Kristie trailed behind her co-pilot, Powell, while he completed the preflight inspection. A transport truck rumbled up and parked alongside the tarmac when they were nearly finished.

  She cast a peek over her shoulder as men poured out of the truck. Her stomach constricted, churning the coffee she’d had.

  You got this. It might be her first big joint op here with the Special Ops guys, but she’d worked with the Ranger battalion back in Savannah plenty of times. She loved this kind of flying. Mack’s presence served as another reminder why anything beyond casual friends was not an option, but she was not going to let it rattle her.

  The wolf whistle seconds later made her freeze in her tracks. No way. Surely Mack wouldn’t …Tony? No. She overrode her initial impulse to turn, though Powell studied her with a dubious expression.

  “That could be considered sexual harassment, Milledge,” an unfamiliar voice chastised.

  Jeremy! Relief flooded through her, squelching her rising indignation. She turned and laid eyes on Jeremy Milledge and his ornery grin.

  “It isn’t harassment if she likes it. Right, darlin’?”

  Jeremy using Eric’s nickname for her gave Kristie a jolt. He spread his arms wide as he neared. His cocky attitude sparked guffaws from several of his team members. Mack and Tony exchanged glances.

  “You’re such a jerk.” She hugged him anyway. “Who’s your cute friend?” She extended a hand to the Belgian Malinois between Jeremy and the soldier holding the leash.

  “This is Dita,” the soldier introduced them.

  She let the dog sniff her before she rubbed his tan fur and black ears. “So, you’re going to fly with me today, huh, Dita?” The dog’s rough tongue licked her hand.

  “That means I get to fly with you, too,” Jeremy smirked suggestively.

  “Fine. But I am going to make you jump out of my aircraft,” she retorted.

  “Oh, you know I love it when you talk dirty,” he purred.

  She shook her head, leaving Jeremy and the members of his team to put on their chutes.

  “You might want to be careful,” her crew chief, Tinsley, said.

  “About?” she asked.

  “Flirting and hugging enlisted guys. Colonel Ball is a total hard-ass when it comes to relationships between the ranks.”

  “Jeremy and I are old friends—and he’s married.”

  “Just saying. Ball’s old school. Zero fraternization. Zimmerman, in B Company, was messing around with an enlisted chick, who got pregnant. Zimmerman went to the colonel, and she got kicked out of the unit.”

  “Warning duly noted,” she conceded so Tinsley’d ease up. It wasn’t Jeremy Milledge she needed the warning about. But neither Tinsley nor Colonel Ball could read her mind when it came to Mack.

  Nearby Mack, Ray, and another man stood talking with her unit’s captain.

  “We don’t get to ride with you?” Tony walked past, a teasing smile on his rugged face.

  “I guess not on this run.” Though this way, she might get to watch Mack fast rope.

  Don’t go there.

  The idea of him sliding down the rope from the craft to the ground taunted her as she boarded and buckled her straps, shifting in the seat to get comfortable. She started the engine, checke
d the gauges, then radioed the air traffic controller. “Tower, this is Renegade One-Three, holding short of the active for takeoff.”

  Having her feet on the control pedals and her hand on the cyclic control, with the whine of the engine vibrating through her, her earlier unease dissipated. Handling this aircraft was second nature. It gave her purpose. It enabled her to survive all she’d been through the past two years.

  “Renegade One-Three, winds are zero-six-zero at six, altimeter three-zero-zero-one. Runway two cleared for takeoff,” the controller responded.

  “Roger that, Tower.”

  She peered into the body of the aircraft and got a thumbs-up and wink from Jeremy before she throttled up the aircraft’s engines. The sight of Dita in his custom goggles and harness made her smile. Let’s give these guys a ride and have fun.

  Her Black Hawk gained altitude. James Lee took the lead position in his aircraft heading to the jump point. The men jumped, and the aircraft circled until they landed. She set down in the cleared landing zone to pick up the men for the next part of their exercise. The men resituated their loaded packs to their backs, then scrambled aboard.

  With Powell manning the controls, they skirted the forested area surrounding the clearing, flying in fast and low. The late-morning sun glinted off the plexiglass windshield while the men kicked out heavy, three-inch-thick nylon ropes. Kristie watched them step from the edge of the open doorway of James’s aircraft and slide down the rope to the ground.

  With helmets and goggles on, she couldn’t make out who was who—though she tried to identify the men based on body type and size. It only took five seconds for each to reach the ground. Watching sent ripples of desire through her.

  Whoa. Focus! She blinked and scolded her wandering imagination.

  The men hit the ground and moved out to establish a tactical perimeter. Once they were all down, her crew released the ropes.

  While Powell maintained a steady hover, Kristie watched the men run their plan, alternately advancing to cover each other. The aircrews scanned the area, providing cover in the event the “enemy” attacked—which they did. She observed Powell and his reaction when he saw the “insurgents” emerging from the woods to the left of the advancing teams.