Crossfire

by TL Schaefer

  ASA HAD NO IDEA HOW or why Cam Ryder was going to save the world, not yet, but it had been apparent from his vision that the things she’d do alive would have a seismic effect on not only his life, but potentially on the nation. But only if they partnered up. The vision had been pretty clear about that. He shuddered as the image his prophecy had ended with played through his mind again.

  He could stop this. If he partnered with Cam.

  As unsettling as his thoughts might be, he was pretty sure this was a typical two-day trip down the river. If he was going to convince Cam they needed to partner up—to do what he didn’t really know yet—then he’d better get to work.

  From the conversations he’d seen between her and the blonde sitting next to her, he assumed they were friends. If she’d been alone, this would have been much easier. Maybe.

  Cam Ryder hadn’t survived on good looks and attitude in the years she’d been embedded with forward-deployed units. She’d done that on skill and a grit few people possessed, regardless of their sex.

  So as they slid down the river, hitting a few rapids none of them had the heart to enjoy, he tried to formulate how he could entice her to partner with him. And failed.

  ASA DOBBS WAS THINKING way too hard. Cam could almost see the smoke coming from his ears. She didn’t think he’d appreciate the imagery, he didn’t seem like the imaginary type.

  They were only half an hour away from the campsite, so she decided to let him stew a bit. She thought she knew what had him rattled. They probably met before, and he was working up the nerve to tell her. It was actually flattering. His intensity reminded her of a youth she’d almost forgotten amidst political intrigue and bottom feeders.

  If she was up for a dalliance she might actually take him up on it, but she just wasn’t in the mood for a roll in the weeds. She supposed she could take him back to her RV after all this was said and done, but that seemed somehow shallow, unflattering. To both of them.

  The next half an hour passed, her companions making minimal attempts at conversation. She felt Dobbs’ discomfort growing with each minute.

  When the finally landed on the beach below their campsite, Dobbs was the first out of the boat, potential concussion or no, to help Tony set up camp. What remained of his supplies were clean, neat, easily accessible, just like she’d expect a soldier’s pack to be.

  They ate soup and sandwiches next to a warming campfire, and while Mr. Pederson finished off his mystery flask, Cam decided to see what Dobbs was all about. He may have saved her life, but he was making her twitchy as hell.

  “So, Mr. Dobbs, what brings you to the river?”

  He looked up with an expression of pure surprise, and she wondered the last time someone had asked him something personal.

  He cleared his throat. “Call me Asa, please. I’m on a sabbatical.”

  Interesting. Most soldiers didn’t boast about being Army, but they didn’t shy away from it either. This guy was dodging like a pro, which meant he was probably black ops, and they didn’t tend to take sabbaticals. She was almost ready to press him when Carin, the devil in her back pocket, decided to pipe up.

  “What kind of work do you do, Mr. Dobbs?” her voice was all innocence and light, and exactly the opposite of the Carin she knew and mostly loved.

  He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Contract work,” he answered, his words short and succinct, and that was all Cam needed to go with Delta as his occupation. But that still didn’t explain the sabbatical.

  “I’m an analyst of sorts,” he elaborated, further startling Cam. But then she noticed he was looking at her as he said it.

  Yeah, he knew who she was, was trying to impress her.

  “But then a friend of mine died and I needed to take a break.”

  In Cam’s experience, a lot of Dobbs’ friends had probably died over the years, so him taking this particular death hard meant the deceased had been extra special to Dobbs.

  “His name was Carmichael,” he continued, the name caught her even more. Hadn’t she known a Carmichael, back in the day? She racked her brain, ignoring the fact the rest of the passengers had fallen conspicuously silent. Then it hit her.

  “David Carmichael?” He’d been one of the Air Force pararescueman who’d brought her and the Green Berets home after the ambush. They’d enjoyed a memorable, no-questions-asked, no-promises-made night together, but that wasn’t all she recalled.

  The ghost of his voice skimmed over her as she remembered him telling her about the “spooky” airman who’d known the ambush was going down, that he was the only reason they’d been in time to rescue the Green Berets and her. That he’d saved the PJs more than once, right along with the patients they were honor-bound to rescue.

  There’d been three PJ’s on the helicopter that day, each of them working a patient, each of them loaded down with equipment and weapons. Because sometimes they had to go on the offensive—to save their patients.

  She looked up into clear amber eyes that seemed to dive deep into her soul and had the sinking suspicion she was looking at Carmichael’s spooky airman right this second.

  Chapter Two

  Asa watched as comprehension crossed Cam’s face and wondered what in the hell Carmichael had told her. She didn’t look scared, so that was a plus. Actually she looked curious, almost intrigued.

  “I’m sorry to hear about Carmichael,” she said. “I only knew him for a short time, but he seemed like a good man.”

  Asa swallowed hard, surprised at how difficult it was, even now, to relive his mentor’s death in his memory. How senseless it had been. How devastating to watch a strong man like Carmichael waste away.

  “He was. I just thought you should know. I remember you from that mission.” More than anything he remembered her eyes, how much they’d reminded him of his own. Something that hadn’t changed in eight years.

  Her friend took their silence as a cue to jump back in to the conversation. “Where do you two know each other from?”

  Cam shot him a questioning look, silently asking if she should answer. He shrugged. It was years past, had been a routine patrol for the Green Berets.

  “Afghanistan.” She tilted her head toward him. “While I’ve never officially met Mr. Dobbs, he and his buddy rescued me and the forward deployed unit I was embedded with.”

  All eyes turned to her. The newlyweds gaped and the half-drunk older guy, Pedersen, just stared. Tony simply looked baked. Huh. They hadn’t known who she was. It wasn’t a horrible thing that their scrutiny had turned from him, and he was curious as to how she would handle it.

  Her friend chimed in again, as if saving Cam. “She worked for CNB,” she said, referring to the Central News Broadcast channel, which had streamed the war nonstop for over fifteen years. “Won a Pulitzer and two Emmys.”

  The older guy harrumphed as if she’d validated an assumption. The younger couple still looked confused and Asa realized they didn’t have a clue. They wouldn’t have been children during the kick off of the wars, but they had an almost-pampered look, and he figured two wars thousands of miles away had never been a priority to their parents or teachers. He was seeing more and more of that lately.

  Most civilians thanked him for his service, when they found out he was prior military, but a lot of them were off, doing their own thing, oblivious to men and women still losing their lives thousands of miles away. He supposed that was what servicemembers fought and died for, for the average American to be either thankful or oblivious.

  The group settled into a quiet silence, the sound of the river and the night around them soothing. The aches from his tumble into the river began to make themselves known. Asa swallowed a Motrin. Vitamin M, as the Air Force called it. He’d pretty much lived on the stuff when he was downrange. Extractions and chopper rides while getting shot at were hard on a body. “Gonna turn in,” he announced.

  He needed sleep, and to figure out a way to keep Cam close until he came up with a plan.

  NO MATTER HOW HARD she
tried, Cam couldn’t fall asleep. Part of it was the mystery of the man sleeping eight feet away, on the far side of the embers of their campfire.

  Since getting canned from the network, she’d spent the last two years crisscrossing the country, doing human interest stories for the internet. When she’d started, it had seemed like the furthest thing from her wartime correspondent, and then political desk, duties.

  It hadn’t taken her long to figure out it was the storytelling that appealed to her most. The seven years she’d been downrange had been all about telling the stories of battlefield, of the warriors who eventually had to come home.

  Politics had left her feeling slimy. Yes, there were a few good people in Washington DC trying to do the right thing, but by and large, she’d met more interested in lobbyists and what they could do for their wallets, and less for the constituents they’d been elected to represent.

  She’d seen some interesting things in those two years on the road, met a lot of really unusual people.

  Carmichael’s words echoed in her head. She’d seen spooky more than once, had pawned it off as her overactive imagination, or a series of parlor tricks.

  A kid from Omaha came immediately to mind.

  It had been right when she started her road trip odyssey. When she was unconsciously doing more investigative reporting than feature stories.

  Cam had been looking into a preacher claiming to heal with his hands. Olivia had been the girl’s name. Her parents had taken her to the old-fashioned tent revival, saying she’d been possessed by the devil.

  The preacher had laid his hands upon her as the room joined him in prayer. When the girl began to levitate, the expression on the preacher’s face had been priceless. So had the girl’s. She’d known exactly what she’d been doing, had even been saucy enough to open her eyes and give Cam a wink as the congregation went nuts. At the time, Cam thought she’d been part of the scam. Now, thinking back, she wasn’t so sure. Because when she went back into the “loving” arms of her parents, Olivia had looked scared. The little girl had been scared to damn death of her own parents. Jesus.

  If she asked Asa Dobbs if he’d been the spooky airman Carmichael had described, would he admit to it? She fell asleep with that question in her mind, and awoke four hours later with it still front and center.

  CAM RYDER WAS A WOMAN who loved her coffee. She was also a woman who desperately needed it first thing, and Tony’s brew just wasn’t cutting it. Asa tried to hide a grin and failed. He knew he shouldn’t tease her, not when he needed to get on her good side, but he just couldn’t seem to help it.

  “How did you ever survive downrange?” he asked. Coffee was a precious commodity when you were on the move, something treasured when you hit an entrenched encampment. If you even got java, it wasn’t exactly Starbucks.

  She grunted. “Five hour energy.”

  He laughed outright, and the sensation was strange. He hadn’t been tickled like this in a long, long time.

  She shot him a sour look at his amusement. Energy drinks, especially the easily portable, light ones had been frowned upon by the docs in camp, but were a warrior’s lifeblood out past the wire.

  From what he had seen in the last eighteen hours, her rep of taking no prisoners in the field was well deserved.

  As his amusement faded, he felt a strange sort of restlessness. If he could talk Cam into being his partner, what exactly were they going to do? He still had no idea, had no compass for where they were supposed to go, no clear direction for who they were supposed to save, or what they were supposed to stop. It was distinctly unlike him to not have a plan, and the lack of it cast him adrift. Not a feeling he was even remotely comfortable with.

  The group packed up their gear and settled into the raft. Everyone was quiet this morning, and Asa realized yesterday’s almost-accident had sobered them. They’d had a night to sleep on the fact they’d almost died. That would suck the joy out of what had been advertised as the trip of a lifetime down the Colorado River.

  They floated down the river, shooting a few smaller rapids and one long set that set Asa’s heart to thrumming with adrenaline. Cam finally seemed to be waking up, was needling her friend Carin about some inside joke.

  When Tony finally steered them to the shore, signaling the end of the trip, Asa had finally figured out his “in.”

  He’d ask Cam if he could tag along with her, kind of his way of saying goodbye to Carmichael, since she’d known him, and getting his head together. She might say no, or think it was creepy, but other than completely outing his talent, he couldn’t think of a better way to stay close. And when another vision hit, it would guide him where he needed to go. He had to believe that.

  Everyone gathered their stuff and headed to the bus that would take them back up to their departure point.

  As they boarded, Tony thanked them all for their patronage, no doubt hoping for tips. Asa tried not to smile as each of his passengers gave him a glare that spoke a thousand words. Mr. Pedersen seemed slightly hung over, and the married couple, who’d never offered their names, were still lost in each other.

  Cam and Carin were discussing their plans for the rest of the afternoon, which sounded like enjoying the lunch offered by the excursion at the restaurant on the rim.

  He could definitely eat, so would join them all and just pay for his own food.

  With that plan in mind, he trailed them out of the bus and dropped his gear in the storage area with theirs, then headed in to eat.

  The restaurant was casual, affording an amazing view of the canyon and river. Their table was set for eight, and no one commented when Asa joined them.

  Everyone ordered and settled back into pods of conversation, effectively leaving Asa, Tony and Mr. Pedersen in their own areas of silence. It would have been uncomfortable if Asa hadn’t been alone for so long. He looked at the married couple and wondered why he didn’t feel envy, or at least a longing to be one half of a couple.

  He knew part of it was his gift—he’d never wish that on a spouse, and he’d never met a couple who successfully melded a Talented partner and normal one together into an emotional unit. With CASI standing up, there’d be more and more Talented identified, and surely some of them were married.

  Since he’d left the Air Force and contracted with the National Security Agency, then Global Dynamics, he’d only met a few adults with power, and most of them were loners just like him. Used to hiding what they were from the normal world.

  Their lunch came, and the vision came with his first bite. It almost knocked him on his ass, it was so sudden, and as soon as it faded from his eyes, he was in motion.

  He slapped the fork out of Pedersen’s hand, as it hovered an inch from his mouth.

  The man looked at him in shock, and in reply, Asa simply said, “Peanuts.”

  Pedersen’s face turned ashen, then he drew in a great shuddering breath. “You saved my life again, friend.” He dropped his napkin in his lap and buried his face in his hands.

  Asa laid a hand on his shoulder. “C’mon man, let’s grab a breath of fresh air.”

  Pedersen looked almost helpless as Asa led him from the restaurant, onto the observation deck. When he began to talk, he couldn’t seem to stop. “My wife died two months ago. Uterine cancer. Made me promise to come on this trip. We’d bought it for our twentieth anniversary before she got sick.” He drew a shaking hand over his face. “She and Caitlyn, my daughter, are my life.” He corrected himself with a catch to his voice. “Well, Caitlyn is now. Marie is gone.”

  As much as Asa couldn’t imagine being married, he could imagine being a thirty-something who’d lost the love of his life even less. And it was obvious Marie had been Pedersen’s one-and-only.

  “Caitlyn is twelve, and the smartest damned kid I’ve ever met.” He met Asa’s gaze. “I’m not saying that as a father, I’m saying that as a physicist. She’s so much smarter than me it’s not even funny. I left her with my sister for the duration of the trip. Figured it’d be a fit
ting way to say goodbye to Marie, but once we got on the water, it was as if I wasn’t supposed to be there. And then you saved us, me, not only once, but twice.” He turned to stare at the canyon dropping thousands of feet below. “I thought about ending it after Marie died, but I couldn’t leave Caitlyn.”

  Asa shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to being a confessor, wasn’t one hundred percent sure he was even equipped for the role.

  “Until you put yourself in our place on the river, I didn’t realize how much I wanted to live. How much I needed to, for my daughter, and for what she might become.”

  And that fast, Asa knew why he’d had the vision. It was like a light going off in his head. Pedersen wasn’t the tragedy. Hell, maybe Cam wasn’t either. But if Pedersen had died on this trip, something would have changed for his daughter, something would have broken inside her that the world needed, at some point in the future.

  Maybe. It was the only way he could think to describe his gift, even to himself. Until today, he’d relied on others to take care of the action part of his visions. But now he was on his own.

  As if he’d summoned her, he felt Cam’s presence at the doors leading to the deck, and knew she’d heard everything.

  He wondered where it would take them. If he’d be leaving this restaurant alone. Wondered at the visions he’d see if he did.

  Pedersen turned to him and enveloped him in a body-crushing hug.

  “I don’t know who you are, Asa Dobbs, but right now you’re my guardian angel.”

  Pedersen dropped the embrace as quickly as he’d initiated it, then turned and walked through the doors at a fast clip. As he was almost out of earshot he said softly to Cam, “I have a deathly allergy to peanuts. One bite and I was a dead man.”

  Then he was gone, leaving Asa reeling. He’d been wrong. He wasn’t supposed to save Cam. He was supposed to save Pedersen for his daughter. Everything he’d thought over the last twenty-four hours had upended itself in his mind and he just wanted to leave, get in his Jeep and drive.