by Margaret Kay
A few minutes later, the men entered, carrying bags. Madison directed the positioning of them. Brielle stood back, watching. It again struck her how there was an order, a rhythm in how they interacted. The ammo was lined up on one of the tables, the rifle bags set immediately beside the table. The personal backpacks were sat on one of the couches. It didn’t take long for all the bags and equipment to be brought in and organized under Madison’s assertive direction.
The room was suddenly crowded with the gear and the eight members of the Shepherd Security Team. She watched them greet Madison and Cooper with hand clasps, shoulder bumps, smiles, and many overlapping conversations. The reporter in her closely observed the interactions. She was sure she was seeing relationships between these people that few others ever got to see. They were as tight of a unit as Brian had said, that was obvious.
“Sleeping quarters are through here,” Cooper said, pointing to the doorway across the room.
Sherman handed Brielle her backpack before picking up his own.
Cooper led them through the door and into a hallway. “Unisex bathroom.” He pointed at the first door to the left. It was propped open. Within, four sinks were visible from the door. “Madison has already called the first stall on the right as the girl’s stall. Unless you guys want to endure Xena’s wrath, I suggest you remember that. And it goes without saying, but I’ll point it out anyway, the urinals are closed.”
Brielle poked her head in. There were four toilet stalls and further in, she saw shower stalls. She wasn’t sure how sharing a bathroom would work. She’d have to ask Brian later.
“Madison and I took this first room.” He pointed to the door across from the bathroom. “There are four more double rooms.” He pointed to the four doors like a flight attendant on a commercial aircraft pointing out the exit doors during the safety briefing. “And the galley is there.” He pointed to the open door at the far end of the hall. “Brielle, you get your own room.”
Brielle nodded. She watched the men open the doors and enter the rooms. She stood still, waiting for what, she wasn’t sure. Her eyes found their way to Brian’s. He hadn’t entered a room either. They soon found that they were the only ones left in the hallway.
They stared at each other in silence. Brielle knew she wanted him in with her. Through the open doorways, she could see that two twin beds sat in each room. They wouldn’t be able to sleep in the same bed but being in the same room would satisfy her. She didn’t know how to tell him that was what she wanted though. He’d been different since they were with his team. She didn’t want to embarrass herself by saying anything, and she especially didn’t want to embarrass him with his teammates by implying there was a relationship that didn’t exist.
Lambchop exited his and Mother’s room, bags left on the bed. He opened the one door that no one had entered that laid beside his room. “Looks like this is your room, Brielle.”
Sherman watched Brielle bring her backpack into the room. He stepped up to Lambchop and motioned him to the end of the hallway, near the galley. “I think it’s a mistake to have Brielle in there alone. We still don’t know that she won’t take off on us. I should be in there to watch her.”
A knowing grin spread over Lambchop’s face. “Where exactly did she sleep last night?”
“Same as the night before on the boat, in my bed with me,”
Lambchop sighed out and closed his eyes for a moment. That’s what he suspected. At least Sherman didn’t lie about it. He respected that.
“It was just sleep, nothing more,” Sherman guaranteed him. “Brielle just likes to snuggle up against someone when she’s going to sleep.” Yeah, even as he said it, it sounded lame and he wouldn’t believe him either.
“Since when do you just snuggle with a woman?” Lambchop whispered in an accusatory tone.
Sherman smiled wide. “Since Brielle demanded it and would allow no more.”
Lambchop stared hard at him. Could it be that Sherman had met his match? He smiled inside at that thought. Sherman was known to play around, somehow always managed to hook up with any woman of his choosing. “You know there are protocols,” he began, but Sherman interrupted him.
“Don’t quote a protocol that practically doesn’t exist any longer, not since Jackson broke it and then Cooper and Miller, with each other. Let me now mention Garcia and Doc, and Sloan also breaking that particular protocol. Shit, Lambchop, I’m waiting for you and Michaela to break it too. Anyone with eyes can see how close the two of you are.”
“Michaela and I are just friends, and this isn’t about me. It’s about you, being in bed with a woman associated with this mission.”
Michaela, the master of many inventions that kept them safe, was a coworker and a good friend, nothing more. Could Lambchop have feelings for her if he allowed himself? Not that he’d admit to anyone. It pissed him off that Sherman brought her up, but he knew that Sherman was clutching at anything he could to justify his actions with Brielle. Lambchop smiled at Sherman, realizing that this was the first time that he knew of that Sherman had real feelings for a woman, not just a sexual intent. Maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“Unless the lady objects, I’m taking the other bed in her room. I really don’t care what anyone thinks about it. Let Cooper lecture me on why it’s a bad idea.”
“She seems like a nice girl, one looking for a relationship, not a fling. I can always tell. Don’t hurt that girl, Sherman,” Lambchop warned, not that he thought Sherman knowingly would.
Sherman flashed a lopsided grin at him. He’d just been given permission to carry on. “I’d never hurt her or anyone else.”
As he stepped into the room, closing the door behind himself, he was well aware that a relationship was the only destination that Brielle was headed for. The question was, how far was he willing to go to get this girl? Unfortunately, he didn’t have an answer for himself. But he knew he didn’t want to risk losing her either by not being there for her. Her pleading eyes when they’d stood in the hallway communicated quite clearly that she wanted him in here with her. He wouldn’t let her down.
He pointed to the second bed. “Mind if I take that one?”
Brielle smiled at him. “Not at all. I was kind of hoping you would.”
Sherman dropped his bags on the bed and then he walked over to Brielle and took her into his arms. “Just kind of?”
“Okay, more than kind of.”
Sherman pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Good.”
Her smile turned more hesitant. “I’m not sure what this means though.”
Sherman dropped his forehead against hers. “I don’t know either. I can’t make you any promises, but what I can tell you, is that I like you a lot and I want to see where this can go, on your terms. I went out on a limb with Lambchop to be in here with you. I have to know you’re on the same page that I’m on.”
A warmth spread throughout Brielle like she’d never felt. She closed her eyes. If this was a dream, she didn’t want to ever wake up from it. “I’m on the same page,” was all she could force out from her strangled vocal cords. She held onto his waist tightly as though it was her only connection to this reality.
Sherman wasn’t sure why Brielle’s response was so short. He expected more from her. But she did hold on to him with what he perceived as trust and affection. “We need to get back out there, for a briefing.”
“Sure,” she replied, taking a step back from him.
Sherman stopped her. He slid his hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and up her neck to her jaw. He gently angled her face as his lips approached hers. His kiss was soft and unhurried. His tongue danced with hers in a slow waltz. He needed her to know that he meant what he’d said. He needed the physical connection to her for just that moment.
When the kiss ended and Brielle’s eyes opened, he saw what he was looking for. Her eyes sparkled with life and lust. She gazed at him with trust, affection, and desire. He knew in that moment it wasn’t the thrill of the chase or the challenge that was
driving him. For some inexplicable reason, this woman captivated him, and he wasn’t going to be foolish enough to let his intentions go unsaid. Not too long ago, he had watched as Sloan nearly lost Kaylee by not declaring his feelings. He was not going to make that same mistake. But a relationship? Yeah, he could be making an entirely different mistake by going there.
“I’m not a man that plays games,” he said. “Life is too short and unpredictable not to lay it out there.”
“Agreed,” she said with a smile.
“In here, I’ll hold you. But out there with the others,” Sherman began.
“I understand,” she interrupted.
He pressed another kiss to her lips and then led her out of the room.
Juliette
The fact that Sherman and Brielle reentered the room together went unnoticed by no one. Everyone else already was in the room. “Good, we can get started,” Cooper said. “We’ll go up the bayou after dark and plant the cameras to monitor the back of the BioDynamix facility using NVGs. Forecast is for overcast skies. All of Delta Team plus Burke will go in. Madison and I will monitor from here. Doc, will you take the first overnight monitoring shift?”
“I’d prefer that,” Doc said. “Olivia had us up half the night. I could easily fall asleep right now.”
“Olivia is his baby girl, just about three months old now,” Sherman whispered to Brielle.
Brielle gazed at Doc, trying to envision this man with a little baby in his arms. He wore a gun on his hip, in open view. He was older than the others, his face serious with sharp angles. She remembered that Brian had said a few of them had wives and kids. She wondered who else in the room did. That was a story in itself, the men who did this job and had a family. That was another story she’d never be able to tell.
Cooper clasped Doc on the shoulder. “We’ll only wake you for an emergency. Set your alarm, you’re on at twenty-two hundred. I’ll catch a nap this afternoon and be up for the first half of the night.”
“I’ll take over for you at zero-three-hundred and stay on till the team returns,” Madison volunteered.
Sherman liked how Madison and Cooper were a cohesive team, always. They stepped up and made sure operationally that everything went smoothly, even when that meant working opposite shifts. He respected them, and he felt a pang of guilt for offering them up as an example of the nonfraternization protocol not being followed. When on duty, no one would ever guess that they were married. He’d been on many missions with them and it was a nonissue, their relationship.
“When do I go talk to Tina?” Brielle asked.
“Not for a few days. We want to watch and see what shakes out before we reach out to her. If we’re lucky, we may figure out what’s going on without involving her,” Cooper said. “Brielle, we will want you at the monitors with us when the team heads up the bayou tonight to plant those cameras.”
“I should be with them. I know that bayou like the back of my hand.”
“Yep, and that’s exactly why I want you sitting at our control center when the team goes in,” Cooper said. “You’ll be on comms and can give them direction.”
She nodded. “Besides the gators, there are venomous snakes and spiders to watch out for.”
“Before we head out, we’ll Google the nasty ones they’ll have to look out for,” Sherman said. “We’re going to want to keep the cameras accessible when we mount them. There’s a lot of movement in the bayou. I expect we’ll expend battery power every other day, maybe even daily, even with the cameras on standby until motion activates them.”
“Great, so we can expect to have to go out nightly to replenish the batteries?” Mother asked. “I have to say, this bayou of yours is sounding less hospitable to me by the moment.”
Both Brielle and Sherman laughed.
“The bayou is an acquired taste,” Sherman said with a smile.
“It’s beautiful, vibrant, thriving with life, both animal and plant. I’ve always found it to be magical, the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees, the morning fog hovering close to the ground in the still air,” Brielle said. “But you have to respect the animals who call the bayou home. It’s theirs, we are merely intruders in their ecosystem.”
Sherman’s lips curved into a smile. She had no idea how poetic she sounded, how beautifully and eloquently she spoke about a place that obviously meant a great deal to her. If he wasn’t already completely enamored with her, that statement right there would have done it.
“Sherman, you and Brielle take the lead on the mission plan. Figure it out and we’ll reconvene at nineteen-thirty hours,” Cooper said.
The briefing ended. Doc headed to his room to sleep. The crowd in the room thinned. Sherman led Brielle over to the tables. He grabbed his own computer tablet from one of his bags and brought up a map of the bayou to plan the mission.
“I should be out there with you, and you know it,” she said.
Sherman’s lips pulled into a grin. “And I’m feeling a whole lot better about this, knowing you’ll be here monitoring the mission. Camera feeds from each man will display on a couple monitors. You’ll see what we all see, the big picture. You’re more valuable overseeing the entire operation than you’d be out with us.”
“And safer,” she remarked. “Look, I know you’re going to do whatever you can to protect me.”
Sherman looked her in the eyes. Hers beamed defiance and strength. A smile curved his lips. “Momma, you better believe I want you kept safe. That’s my job, and I promised Bobby I would. That’s what you do for people you care about.”
Her gaze softened, as did her voice. “I care about you too.”
“Then watch over the operation from here.”
Brielle nodded, relenting.
They finished planning the details. Sherman left his tablet on the table beside the two others. He knew Madison would want at least four more computer monitors to bring up mission feed and maps on during the operation. Then they joined Lambchop, Mother, and Sloan in the galley for a bite to eat. Lunchmeat and cheese, bread and standard picnic sides were stocked in the refrigerator. They’d been purchased from a grocery store deli. They made themselves sandwiches and then joined the others at the table.
“Did Madison and Cooper go take naps too?” Sherman asked.
“Yes, and so did Burke. I’m almost done eating. I’ll go monitor the equipment,” Lambchop said. “We were just discussing initiating active surveillance on Sheriff Henderson. I’ll speak with Cooper about it after we plant the cameras. I think we have enough manpower to pull that off while surveilling the BioDynamix facility.”
“If we can at least get his phone paired and monitor all incoming and outgoing calls, that would be a good start. I know Garcia was going to dump his phone records, Mayor Stuart’s too, but to hear content will give us a good picture of what’s going on.”
Brielle’s attention was focused on him. “Isn’t that illegal?” Slipped from her mouth.
She watched smirks form on all four men’s faces.
“Not exactly,” Sherman remarked. “If we find evidence, we’ll get a warrant.”
“We operate outside of normal channels,” Mother added. “It’s how we get the job done.”
“Sometimes you have to skirt the law to get the bad guys, who remember, don’t follow the rules. But we do dot our I’s and cross our T’s, so what we get sticks.” Sloan said.
“So, let me get this straight. From what I’ve seen on television, when you pair a phone you get access to listen into someone’s calls?”
Sherman nodded. “We see the number it came from or the number our subject dialed as well as hear the conversation. It’s a very effective tool.”
“And my phone or Bobby’s phone could have been paired, and we’d never know?”
“That’s right,” Sherman said.
“That’s why Bobby and I did that stupid phone call when I was at the hotel, for the benefit of anyone who may have been listening?”
Sherman nodded, though the c
all had not been stupid. He wouldn’t argue that fact with her though.
Lambchop finished and left the room to go man their onsite Ops equipment. Soon after, Mother and Sloan announced that they were going to lie down and catch a few hours’ sleep. They had a few hours until the nineteen-thirty briefing.
Brielle helped herself to another serving of the potato salad. “So, if we reconvene at seven-thirty, what time will y’all head into the bayou?”
“We’ll discuss the mission for nearly a half hour and gear up. Cooper acquired us boats. I estimate it’ll take close to four hours to make it up the channel to be within range of the BioDynamix facility, necessitating the cutting of the engines. Then maybe another half hour to paddle to our LZ.”