by Jaime Lewis
Ashraf leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk.
“Yaseen sometimes thinks more with his dick instead of his brain. From the moment he saw her at that market, he had some sort of infatuation with her. Although I can’t say that I blame him. Alex Hardesty is a beautiful woman and built to serve a man. However, beauty can be deadly, and, in her case, she is as deadly as they come.”
“I promise you she’ll be taken care of. After I make her squirm a little.”
“Well, she should be squirming now with that video my son put out there. Him calling her out personally should send her a message.”
“Yeah, although I can’t say I approve of that.”
“Like I said, my son thinks with his dick. Just see that you take care of her before she causes any other problems for me. Once she is out of the picture, I can start planning the takeover of the territory I’m acquiring.” Ashraf warned, then waved Reynolds out.
Ashraf opened the top drawer to his desk and removed a cigar. Taking a puff, he inhaled deeply, savoring the sweet, mild cedary taste. He thought about Reynolds. In the beginning, Reynolds was a great asset to his organization, and he was paid very well to run interference between the many government agencies who dared to investigate his dealings. But lately, he’d been a little sloppy and had gotten too comfortable. Now he was wondering if it might be time to sever ties with his American friend.
He propped his feet up on his desk and again stared off into the distance. His mind kept going round and round on the American woman. She was very good and thorough at her job. She had ways of getting information. If it weren’t for the inside help he had to alert him about her and her team’s presence in the area she would have succeeded in ruining him, if not killing him. But thankfully, money talks, and he was able to avoid being brought down. In the end, her team got what they deserved, and, in his opinion, she should have suffered the same fate. Instead, she got a second chance at life, but damn if there would be a third. He would see to it that Alex Hardesty would never make it out of Afghanistan alive, even if his son didn’t agree.
Chapter Seven
Alex stifled a yawn before rubbing her tired eyes. Glancing at the time, she gasped, seeing how late it was. Thanks to the Red Bull she found in the mini-refrigerator, she’d been going strong all day. She sat up straight and stretched her arms over her head. Loosening her tense muscles felt amazing, although a proper massage would have felt even better.
She was feeling a little edgy since watching the hostage video a zillion times. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but she believed the guy speaking in the video was Ashraf’s son, Yaseen. She tried focusing on the eyes since that was the only feature she could see, and they mimicked those same eyes she remembered from two years ago. They were dark, cold, and gave that vibe of a killer.
The downside was she couldn’t get a read on the area the video was shot in. Unfortunately, she was going to need to bring Bert in and see if any of his people at the agency could take a look. She tried contacting him a few minutes ago but had been informed by Mical that he was tied up in another meeting. She had spoken with Derek and gave him an update, and though he was trying to hold back on the protective mode, she knew he was worried about her. Tomorrow, when she went to see Bert, she planned on taking someone from the team with her just as a precaution because something in her gut told her that Bert wasn’t about playing fair.
She shut her computer down and started to pack up when her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten. Knowing the mess hall wouldn’t have any food at this hour, she would have to settle for one of the protein bars she kept in her bag. She had learned long ago always to have some sort of snack on hand.
She snatched her bag from the table and took one last look around the room, making sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind that could potentially fall into the wrong hands.
On the way out, she waved to Staff Sergeant Hill, who was still plugging away at his computer while talking on the phone. She thought she heard him talking in Dari. He was one of the more pleasant soldiers on base.
Strolling along, she noticed there wasn’t much activity around the base, probably because tonight was movie and poker night. Another reason to pass on seeing if there were any leftovers. If what she overhead from a soldier today, poker night was a place she wanted to avoid at all costs, as it tended to get a little rowdy.
As she got closer to “prison yard” as she had dubbed her and the team’s secluded corner of the base, she noticed a couple of lights were burned out, making the pathway darker than usual. A chill shot up her spine, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, giving her an uneasy feeling. She glanced around but didn’t see anything or anyone. The way the temporary structures were positioned around the solid foundations provided plenty of cover if someone wanted to hide from view. Picking up her pace, the three buildings nestled together came into view. The smell of smoke and the sound of a fire crackling followed by low laughter brought a small smile to her lips, knowing the guys were getting to enjoy a little downtime. Not wanting to intrude, she decided to circle around the back of the buildings and slip inside using the secondary entrance on the side.
Chapter Eight
The team had gathered around a makeshift fire pit, having a beer and making small talk. The Colonel had invited them to the poker party, but they opted for the present to just chill by the fire.
Ace was kicked back in the chair with his legs stretched out. He looked up at the sky. It was a gorgeous night. The air was crisp and cooling as the night went on. Clear skies meant the full moon could cast its light on the land below it.
While the others bullshitted about stuff back home, he went over the particulars of the mission at hand in his head. During dinner, the team had discussed how a group of insurgents had managed to abduct five highly trained ex-Special Forces soldiers. He ran back through his head all the details Alex had given them, and there were some parts he now questioned. Not one of the video feeds had captured the abductions, nor did it reveal any shots of the contractors themselves, leading Ace to wonder where the contractors had been stationed during the time of the initial break-in. As he hadn’t heard from Alex since they parted ways in the early afternoon, he took that as a sign she hadn’t come across anything substantial.
Potter’s voice broke his train of thought, making him glance toward his second in command as he walked toward an open chair. Potter’s presence brought some relief. Potter had been on Alex duty for the last two hours. So, if Potter was back, that meant Alex was back in her barracks. What made Ace nervous was the shit-eating grin on his best friend’s face. The two of them went through BUD/S training together. He knew from experience, that when Potter had that look, it meant he was up to something, and nine times out of ten, it didn’t bode well for him.
They had formed a friendship from the start, and Ace considered Potter the brother he never had. Growing up with three younger sisters, he welcomed Potter as a male counterpart in the family.
Lowering himself in the chair, Potter popped open a beer. Ace watched and waited. When Potter swallowed half the beer in what seemed like one gulp, he glanced over and smirked.
“Your girl Alex is back safe and sound.”
Ace felt a sensation in the pit of his belly just at the mention of her name. It was high schoolish at the jealousy he felt when the other guys stopped talking and glanced over at Potter. Stitch had a big grin on his face. Ace cocked one of his eyebrows.
“She isn’t my girl.”
Giving a quick snort, Potter said, “Yeah, keep telling yourself that Romeo. Dude, you were staring at her ass. Not to mention every hour, you’ve asked at least one of us if we’ve heard from her yet. I can’t say I blame you. She is a catch for sure. And damn that little snappiness to her is a total turn-on if I say so myself.”
“You’d be snappy too if your dream vacation were interrupted for something like this,” Frost said to Potter.
“That sucks, but as we all kno
w, when duty calls, you don’t have a choice,” Dino chimed in.
The talk about Alex and her vacation had Ace envisioning what she might look like in a bikini as the sun’s warm rays penetrated her silky, smooth skin. He bet she filled out that swimsuit very nicely.
“What’s your assessment of her, Ace? And not of her backside,” Irish teased. Jesus, they were never going to let him live that down.
“She’s definitely a wealth of knowledge. She’s tough, but I get the feeling some of that toughness is an act to cover her nervousness of being back here after what she went through. We just need to keep an eye on her now with that video surfacing.” He looked at Stitch, and Stitch nodded.
“Speak of the devil,” Dino said, smiling, then tipping his beer toward the direction of the barracks, and several of the guys grinned.
Ace glanced over his shoulder as Alex strode towards them. She had changed. She had replaced her business casual look with black sweats and a fitted plain red t-shirt. Which if he had to choose, he thought she looked hot in the more comfortable set of clothing. Not to mention her t-shirt dipped low in the front, teasing him with a glimpse of her cleavage.
“I was starting to wonder if you were going to join us,” Potter said to her, and Ace gave Potter a questioning look.
“She and I ran into each other, and I invited her to join us.”
Ace looked at her. In the clothes she wore, and her long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, she looked youthful but still beautiful and all woman. He would thank Potter later. He noticed her fidgeting with her fingers and motioned to the empty chair beside him.
“Have a seat.”
“You looked like you were talking. I don’t want to interrupt.”
“Nonsense, sit down. We were just chitchatting,” Irish said as he gave her body a once over. If Ace had to be worried about any of the guys hitting on Alex, it would be Irish. Ace cleared his throat, and Irish looked at him and grinned before shrugging his shoulders as if saying he couldn’t help it.
As Alex sat down, he caught a whiff of coconut and found himself leaning closer as he handed a beer to her.
She thanked him, then popped open the can and took a gigantic gulp, then sighed before relaxing back into the chair. “God, that tastes good.”
“Have you been in that room all afternoon?” Stitch asked though they all knew she had.
“Yep. I tend to focus on work too much sometimes. Studying a video frame by frame can be daunting and long. Not to mention my reading list got longer after you guys left, but I got hungry and needed a break, so I came back to grab a protein bar.”
“A protein bar? That was your dinner?” Frost asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “And lunch.”
“You need to eat, Alex,” Ace reprimanded her, and right away, he realized how much of an asshole he sounded like, especially when she narrowed her eyes at him.
Frost chuckled. “Watch it, Ace, she doesn’t pull any punches. She handed my ass to me numerous times over the years.”
Ace watched as Alex’s eyes took on more of an amused glare. Kind of like a mischievous look, and he grinned at her. “Good to know.”
◆◆◆
Alex wasn’t sure about the meaning behind Ace’s words, and it sort of made her belly flutter. When Potter had spotted her trying to sneak into her building, then invited her out to have a beer with them, she tried to think of any excuse to decline the invite. Even after she told him she’d be out after she changed, she debated on just locking the door and staying inside, kind of like what she did today. She did have a lot of work to go over, but she could’ve taken a break to have lunch and dinner, but then there was the possibility she’d run into Ace.
It was hard to ignore him each time she saw him. She found herself wanting to be around him, but at the same time, he made her uncomfortable, and she couldn’t put her finger on why that was. There were a few times today while she was working, and her mind wandered in his direction, which bugged her because she didn’t like distractions. And he was a huge distraction. Then why are you sitting here with him? At times, she wished she could just turn off her inner self.
The reason could be that he’s the first guy she’d been attracted to while on an assignment. He was your typical Alpha male that screamed dominance and authority, whereas, with other men she’d dated, she found herself more of the dominant in the relationship. And that is probably why none of them ever lasted.
Thank goodness, Skittles spoke up, “Any news on the Intel front?”
“I think I identified the guy in the video.” She looked at Ace. “I need to talk to Bert tomorrow.” He narrowed his eyes. “I know, I don’t like it either, but I need to ask him about an informant he’s used in the past. As I’ve said before, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw, but he’s the one who was in contact with the guy. So, would it be okay to borrow one of your men to accompany me? Someone who has a good knack for reading people.” She had a keen eye herself and was trained well; however, considering who she was dealing with; she thought it would be good to have a second set of eyes. “The person would also act as my insurance policy, so if something happened, which I hope doesn’t, but if it does, I don’t want Bert throwing me under the bus yet again.”
Ace looked at Potter, and Potter nodded. “Potter will go with you.”
“Perfect, we’ll go in the morning.” She smiled at Potter, and he winked. She took another sip of beer before she continued. “I did speak with Derek, and I will explain more tomorrow, but be prepared to head out on a little side trip tomorrow night.”
“Seriously?” Ace asked.
“Like I said, we’ll see what Bert has to say. I remember the guy’s name, and if my memory is correct, this guy is a very credible source and has eyes and ears everywhere. He is someone we need to speak with.”
Ace raised his beer. “Well then, let’s all hope this information pans out, and we can bring home those men quickly.”
They spent the next hour or so just talking. The later it got, one-by-one, the guys started calling it a night until Ace and her were the only two left. The fire crackled, breaking the silence. Alex downed the rest of her beer, then shivered as the temperature in the air got cooler. She had meant to grab her sweatshirt before she came out; however, she hadn’t expected to stay out this long.
“Here,” Ace said, removing his fleece pullover. Her eyes about popped out of her head when his t-shirt lifted, revealing a set of delicious looking abs. Now would be a good time to call it a night.
“Actually, I think I’m going to head inside myself.” She started to stand when Ace covered her thigh with his hand. She looked down, but he didn’t remove it, then their eyes met, and just like that, the atmosphere between them changed instantly. It felt electrifying, and Alex found herself wanting to lean into him, wondering how his lips would feel against hers.
“Don’t go yet,” he said to her in a low voice and gave her the saddest, yet convincing puppy dog look she’d ever seen. He didn’t allow her to protest as he laid the pullover in her lap, basically telling her to put it on and that she was staying. “Tell me something about you.”
Who was she to argue? Although she could argue with herself, why try to fight the attraction they were both obviously feeling? Maybe talking with him would reveal something about him that would turn her off. She tugged his exceptionally large pullover over her head, and immediately his scent engulfed her nostrils. She tried not to be obvious as she inhaled deeply. It was hard to describe, other than it was just Ace’s manly scent. Once she was settled, she looked at him.
“What would you like to know?”
Smiling, he said, “Well, I already know you are a badass chick with a sense of humor.” She laughed. “I want to know what Alex Hardesty is like in the real world. What do you like to do for fun? What don’t you like? What is your favorite food? Those types of things.”
She looked down at the case of beer sitting on the ground. “Any more of those left?”
◆◆◆
As their conversation flowed, Ace was learning more than he imagined about Alex. He was finding out that under her job facade, she was just a normal girl next door. She was funny, smart, cute, had a great personality, and was extremely passionate about the things she spoke about. What added to her awesomeness was she was a huge sports enthusiast and loved attending live games. Football was her favorite, with baseball and hockey coming in a close second and third. Blue was her favorite color, and she would eat almost anything smothered in buffalo sauce. She adored penguins and polar bears and had even adopted one of each through the Wildlife Foundation. She also doesn’t like it when people play on their cell phones at the dinner table. But what touched him the most was her family values. Listening to her speak about her family made him realize how important family was to her. When he asked her if she wanted a family one day, he was pleased when she said yes.
He was going to be thirty-five in November. He wasn’t getting any younger, and his mother had been pestering him even more lately about finding a woman to settle down with. He always imagined having a family of his own but knew that with his profession, it would be challenging to find the right woman.
He hadn’t done the dating game in quite a while. Not that he never tried, but it just never worked out. Either the woman couldn’t handle the aspects of his job, or she was only in it to say her boyfriend was a SEAL. Sure, he had his fair share of hook-ups when the need for a release was evident. But sitting here with Alex, he realized he wanted more than just casual sex with a woman he met at a bar. He had been waiting for the day he would meet a woman to share his life with, one who understood his career and loved him for him. The more he spoke with Alex; he was starting to wonder if maybe he had found his match in the most unexpected place.