War Games_Valiant Knox

by Jess Anastasi

  How could he think she would ever do anything to risk the safety of the team? “You’re angry because I spent less than three minutes talking with those two men?”

  It had been a harmless few questions. Plus, everyone in the village thought they were rebels. She couldn’t understand how he could think what she’d done was any riskier than sitting there eating breakfast to cover Seb visiting his contact, Halden. Besides, it was information she’d desperately needed.

  “The fact that you can’t even see how dangerous your actions were tells me everything I need to know. It tells me I was right about you.”

  He started to turn away, but his words struck like a blade slicing through her. She grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He looked down at her, expression as cutting as his accusation had been, gray eyes freezing in their intensity. “You’re exactly like your brother.”

  He pulled out of her hold, her grip going weak at the shock of him even mentioning Jordie. It had always been like an unspoken agreement between them, that they never acknowledged the ghost of her brother hovering over them. Except, he’d just gone and blown that out of the water with a callous remark that made no sense to her.

  The shock gave way to anger, and she hurried to catch up with him before he went back inside, planting herself in his path to face him down.

  “You have no right to bring my brother into this!” Her emotions bubbled up, closer to the surface than they had in so many years. She’d always prided herself on keeping a cool head. For maintaining a tight rein on her feelings no matter what kind of shit was going down around her.

  But in the last few days, being around McAllister was like someone had taken to her much-prized equilibrium with a pair of scissors. Snipping and hacking until that control was in tatters and of no use to anyone.

  “You had no right coming along on this mission in the first place. That didn’t stop you, though, did it?”

  Her assessment of “ass” the morning before had been dead accurate. “I came on this mission to rescue one of my pilots—”

  “I’m fully aware of your agenda, Brenner.” His features were set in stone and unforgiving as he glared down at her. “Just know this. If you do anything to put my men or this mission in jeopardy again, I will have you detained somewhere until we’re done and then see you front a court-martial when we get back to base.”

  He was threatening to court-martial her over one little conversation? Distantly, it occurred to her that he was completely overreacting, and there had to be something else going on. But for the first time in a long time, her temper had gotten the better of her, especially her common sense.

  “Is that what you told Jordie when he wanted to defy orders to save everyone?”

  Both his brows shot up, his features losing some of their anger to surprise, making her gratified in the direction she’d taken the conversation. Good. If he’d knocked her off-kilter, then he deserved some of the same.

  “What, you think Jordie didn’t tell me everything? Yeah, it was classified and buried, but he told me the truth, McAllister. I know what really happened. I know what you did. I know who’s responsible for the team being killed. So, take that into consideration if you decide you’re going to detain me.”

  Ha. Take that big guy. She tipped her chin, daring him to try any other threats.

  He grabbed both her upper arms and yanked her closer, emotion burning in his gaze. Pain, regret, and shadows of things that haunted him. A vulnerability she’d never expected, gone between one second and the next, leaving just the dark glare of a man whose demons ran deeper than he let on.

  “You think you’ve got it all figured out?” He shifted in until their bodies almost touched, until she could feel nothing but the heat radiating off him, his gaze running over her face. “You don’t know anything.”

  He let her go as abruptly as he’d grabbed her, and she stumbled a step to lean heavily against the nearby wall, her legs shaky. McAllister strode away without a backward glance, anger in the tight set of his shoulders, the door slamming behind him.

  She took a few unsteady breaths, mind spinning with too many thoughts to catch.

  Dammit, she shouldn’t have shot her mouth. But no one had ever made her lose her temper that badly before. Okay, maybe she could have cleared it with McAllister before talking to those two men, but it had been too good an opportunity to pass up, and McAllister had totally overacted. Plus, what had that just like your brother thing been all about? Hurled like it was an insult.

  Closing her eyes, she forced some calm on herself, and then pushed off from the wall, heading back into the building to get the juice she’d wanted in the first place.

  When she returned to the table, it was like nothing had happened, though, McAllister didn’t even spare her a glance when she sat down. Obviously, he was going to deal with her now by flat-out ignoring her.

  Well, good. She could get on board with that. The less she had to interact with him, the better until she could get back to the Knox and pretend she hadn’t spent a few days in hell with him.

  Seb returned, looking relaxed and enthusiastic at the same time. He squeezed in next to her and shot her a smile when she pushed her mostly untouched food in front of him.

  “How did it go?” McAllister asked as Seb started shoveling eggs into his mouth.

  “Oh my God, this is so good,” he mumbled between bites.

  “Rayne.” The tone McAllister used was one she’d often employed herself when it came to Seb and his cavalier ways.

  Seb picked up her also-untouched tea, which would have been cold by now, and gulped it down. “It went really well. Halden didn’t want to get directly involved, but he knows someone in another village a bit over twenty miles from here. A transport will be leaving in the next ten minutes, so he’s going to get a message hidden in some supplies to let them know we’re coming. He also gave me these, in case we need to contact him.”

  Seb subtly flashed two old-fashioned radios, before passing one over to Cam and slipping the other back into his pocket.

  “And you’re sure we’re not walking into a CSS trap?” Harlow asked, tone wary.

  “As sure as I can be.” Seb grabbed the bread roll she’d pulled apart, but not eaten earlier. “He helped Jenna and me last time we were in this village. He’s a good man. He’s got no idea who I am, and like everyone else, assumes I decided to join the rebels. I’ve got no reason to believe he’s leading us into a trap.”

  McAllister nodded, seeming satisfied with the information. “We’ll keep our eyes open, just in case.”

  “Should we see if we can get ourselves some space on the transport?” Bartlet asked. “It’d be easier and quicker than walking.”

  “No go,” Seb replied with a shake of his head. “I asked. There wouldn’t be room for all of us, and it’d be better for the village if their shuttle wasn’t seen transporting rebels around.”

  “Even if we could all fit,” McAllister put in. “I’d nix the idea. It’ll take most of the day to walk twenty miles, but it’ll keep us more low key.”

  The colonel sliced a quick look in her direction, as if being low key was meant for her alone. Like she didn’t get it already.

  “So which direction are we heading?” McAllister continued as he refocused on Seb.

  “Still northeast. The locals call it Plowshed Road.”

  Northeast. Close to the direction the wreckage of Shen’s jet had been seen. She was probably asking for another fight. But no matter what stood in her way—the CSS or stubborn-assed colonels—she wasn’t going home without knowing she’d done everything in her power to get Shen back safely.

  “Sir. The intel I got placed the impact site of my pilot’s jet ten miles east of here.”

  McAllister finally looked directly at her, brow lowering as though he couldn’t believe she had the gall to bring it up now.

  “You got intel on Shen?” Seb asked, sounding impressed.

>   She shifted to look at him. “I spoke to a man who said he’d seen the wreckage. She came down in the field of an abandoned farm.”

  “Good one, Bren.” Seb clapped her on the shoulder in congratulations, sending her an encouraging grin.

  Well, at least some people around here didn’t think she was completely incompetent or had made the wrong choice in talking to the men.

  “I figure we can head east and check it out, then cut north after—”

  “No.” McAllister might have only said the one word in a hard, low voice, but it dropped like an asteroid into the ocean. “That’s not why we’re here.”

  He was going to block Seb and her from investigating the crash site when it was so close?

  “Maybe that’s not why you’re here, but it’s sure as hell why Seb and I are.”

  She’d known her goal was secondary to McAllister’s. But she’d figured once they got on the ground and in the thick of it, he’d be willing to compromise.

  Damn, had she been wrong.

  If it were one of his men out there, he wouldn’t be so willing to dismiss this opportunity. Besides, this might be their best and only chance to rescue Shen before the CSS got to her. If they hadn’t already.

  McAllister pushed to his feet. “We stick to the mission objective. If you don’t like it, you’re more than welcome to take that up with your commanding officer when we get back.”

  He motioned to his men and then picked up his pack from the ground.

  The anger and hurt she’d managed to push down after their exchange over Jordie threatened to come roaring back, so she tore her gaze away from him and once again forced calm on herself—a technique she’d learned while training to be a fighter pilot. It’d been a lot of years since she’d had to use it so much in such a short amount of time.

  “What’s gotten up his ass all of a sudden?” Seb muttered, frowning in McAllister’s direction.

  “Me, I think,” she said before she’d thought better of it.

  Seb cast her a sympathetic look. “Something to do with your brother?”

  Her heart skipped a beat. She’d never mentioned Jordie to anyone on squad, not even Alpha, who’d been her best friend for years.

  “How do you know about Jordie?” The words came out at not much more than a whisper, and she had to swallow down a sudden tightness in her throat.

  He nodded his chin in McAllister’s direction. “Cam mentioned it. Said they served together. I’m assuming they didn’t get along all that well.”

  She was about to vehemently agree, but stopped herself short. Actually, she had no idea how McAllister and her brother had gotten along. For all she knew, they’d been best buddies up to that point.

  “I don’t know. All I can tell you is that he’s here and my brother isn’t.” She got to her feet and retrieved her pack. “We’d better move before they leave us behind.”

  Seb stuffed the last of the bread roll in his mouth, then grabbed his rucksack. As they set a fast pace to catch up with the others, he caught a hand on her forearm.

  “Checking the crash site is a good idea, Bren. And you’re right, it’s not that far out of our way. Let me handle Cam, okay?”

  After the blowout she’d had with the colonel, she was more than happy to let Seb deal with him. Especially if it meant they achieved their own objective more easily.

  Chapter Eight

  Since they were walking on a road—well, dirt track was a more apt description—Cam wanted to set a faster pace to make the next village by evening. It should have been easier going than when they’d navigated the uneven terrain and underbrush of the forest, but he had to take into account the two fighter pilots who weren’t trained for this sort of thing, one of them with an injured ankle.

  They’d gotten half an hour out of the village when Seb caught up with him. He could already guess how the conversation would go, and who had put him up to it.

  “Hey, Cam—”

  “No.”

  Seb frowned. “Look, buddy—”

  “No.”

  “I just want to talk—”

  “No.” He put a bit more emphasis behind the third negative, but it seemed Seb wasn’t going to take the hint, and judging by his glare, wasn’t impressed with his tactic.

  “Are you going to let me say this, or do I have to give you a beatdown before you listen?”

  He cast Seb an incredulous glance. The fighter pilot might have an inch or so of height on him, but definitely didn’t match him in muscle mass. He’d have to be having a very bad day or already be half dead before Seb ever managed to take him out.

  “Fine,” Seb huffed. “We both know I couldn’t take you. Whatever. You still need to chill it down a notch and listen to me.”

  Damn Seb. The guy wouldn’t leave him alone until he got to say his piece, so he clamped his jaw and nodded.

  “Okay, good.” Seb glanced around before continuing. “I don’t know what the deal between you and Bren is—”

  “I am not discussing that with you.”

  If Seb planned on defending her, or trying to convince him Bren wasn’t that bad, this conversation was over. He’d put up with Seb’s pestering for the rest of the mission, but he was not talking about her with anyone.

  He was pissed enough about the situation without anyone else weighing in. He’d actually started thinking she wasn’t like her brother after all. How much of an idiot could he be? It was that damned hair of hers, combined with her blue eyes that made her too distracting. After pulling her out of the hunter’s trap and having her body pressed up against him, his hormones had sparked with all the subtilty of fireworks exploding, which had obviously obliterated his common sense. No one could ever claim their libido had a lick of sense, but his must have set a benchmark for stupidity. Or more like temporary insanity.

  At the outset she’d been steadfast, reliable, sensible, and definitely tough enough to hold her own. She’d taken everything in her stride. Not only did he respect the hell out of that in a soldier, but he also liked it in a friend. In a woman, he’d always found it alluring. He was a simple man; he didn’t have the time or patience to waste brain power on figuring out people who played games. And it had seemed Bren didn’t fall into that category.

  But then she’d gone and engaged with the two men in the village without clearing it with him or giving any thought to the risk. She wasn’t trained in operating on the ground, on clandestine missions, on how to gather intel while maintaining invisibility. No doubt those two men would remember her. Could tell others about the woman with the curly blond hair and blue eyes who’d seemed overly interested in a crashed UEF ship. Once she became a target, the rest of the team became vulnerable as well.

  It was exactly the kind of move he’d worried she would make, was why he’d had one eye on her ever since they’d crossed enemy lines—so she didn’t put his team and mission in jeopardy.

  What had happened was as much his fault as it was hers, which was partly why he was so pissed—he couldn’t exactly kick his own ass, no matter how much he deserved it. Because yep, he’d forgotten she was Jordie Brenner’s sister, had forgotten to see past the gorgeous tumble of hair, the beguiling blue eyes and tough-chick attitude, and let her go off by herself to get the juice, assuming she couldn’t get herself into trouble in those few minutes it would take to go in and come out again.

  As much as it pissed him off, he’d been left wishing she hadn’t done it. That the kindling of respect that had flamed to life within him could have been fanned into something more substantial. That he could relax his guard enough to trust her and give him one less thing to worry about. Besides, he’d actually started to like her, which made him question his own judgment. Had he really been dumb enough to fall for the charm of another Brenner?

  “All right, Cam,” Seb said after a few yards of silence had passed under their boots. “I know you’ve got your mission and we’re just tagging along. And one of the reasons you allowed it is my contact with the rebels. But you d
id agree to let Bren and me come, knowing we have our own agenda.”

  Hell. Seb might have been a pretty boy, but he had brains behind the façade of good times and sarcasm.

  “So far, you’re only telling me things I already know.”

  “The jet isn’t that far out of our way. There’s no reason we can’t take a small detour to check it out.”

  He wanted to snap back that there was every reason not to detour, but all of them started and ended with Bren, which made him question the validity of his decision.

  Hell, she had him so twisted up, he didn’t even know if he was making the right call for the sake of the mission. Was he simply reacting on emotion and not letting logic dictate his actions? The thought horrified him.

  There had to be a solution if he thought about it rationally. A way he could keep on point to contact the rebels, while Seb and Bren followed up any leads on their lost fighter pilot. Even if those leads had come about by questionable means.

  “How about I let you take Harlow, and the two of you check out the wreckage while the rest of us continue to the next village?”

  It seemed like a perfectly reasonable plan to him, but Seb was already shaking his head. “No dice. You’ll have to send Bren with Harlow.”

  Dammit, why did everything keep coming back to that woman?

  “Why?” He tried not to clench his jaw over the word, but failed miserably, leaving Seb eyeing him like he’d left his sanity back on base. Hell, maybe he had, agreeing to bring Theresa Brenner, of all people, along on this mission.

  “The ship malfunctioned and never sent a final coordinate, otherwise we would have already known where it went down and where Shen landed after ejecting. If we can recover the black box, it’ll still have flight data on it, then we can estimate a probable trajectory and landing zone for Shen. Bren is way better at that kind of stuff than me. She’s CAFF for a reason, buddy.”