Stark Shadows (Stark Trilogy Book 2)

by Bradley,CD

  “What the fuck?” Kira jumped startled by his sudden intrusion. “You scared the shit out of me.” She scolded.

  Stark melted at the sight of her. She stood there in the moonlight wearing his t-shirt for a night gown. “Fuck Kira.” He crossed the room in two steps and took her in his arms. He held her so tight he was afraid he would crush her but he couldn’t let her go. She remained stiff. He knew she was mad and scared. He didn’t know what the hell to believe. How had everything gotten so fucked up?

  “I know you need sleep. Just lay here and let me hold you.” Owen pleaded.

  “Owen I don’t think…” Kira looked up into the Aegean Sea of his eyes. Moonlight danced over the waves. “Ok… I need to sleep.” She finally consented

  Owen scooped her up and laid her gently on the bed. He got rid of his jeans and boots and curled up beside her holding her. “Sleep my love you are always safe in my arms.”

  ***

  “Wake up love. It’s time to go to work.” Stark gently shook Kira after what was the shortest three hours in the history of all time.

  “Noooooo.” Kira moaned and tried to roll into the cocoon of the blankets. “5 minutes. Please.” She tugged on the fabric and squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Your CO will have your ass if you are one minute late. Come on I have to take you into work.” Stark stole her blankets and Kira jumped up.

  “Shit, Its cold in your house.” She squealed and reached for the blankets.

  “No dice princess we need to go.” Stark started tossing her uniform at her.

  Finally, awake Kira caught sight of the alarm clock. Shit! She only had 30 minutes to make it to work on time. “Ah Shit! Let’s go!” She threw on her clothes and followed him quietly down the stairs so they wouldn’t wake Zoe. Kira couldn’t believe how well she had slept. In the past 10 days the nightmares had kept her up.

  They jumped in his truck and took off for the base. Kira stared out the window as they drove. She wondered where they stood. Despite staying over it wasn’t as if they were back together. So much was wrong between them. Now with Paige missing and her strict orders, Kira needed to distance herself from him. Miles went by but he didn’t say anything.

  “Owen. As much as I love staying with you and I know you want me to be safe but we need some distance until we have a chance to sort all this out.” Kira started, and watched him to try and gauge his reaction. “I want to help with Paige in any way possible. But for you and me…” She paused and took a deep breath. “I just don’t know where we stand.” Kira rubbed her hands together. Stark drove and stared straight ahead, his face like a stone. His fingers gripped the steering wheel until they turned white. What the hell was he thinking? Kira’s heart broke into a thousand pieces. Being this close to him. Lying in his arms, Kira had been in heaven. That made this so much harder. Still she knew it was for the best. Right?

  Finally, he slowed and turned to her. “We need to talk about us. I wanted to meet you at the Garden of the Gods. Kira, you don’t know how bad I wanted to be there.” Stark began as he pulled to the curb near her clinic. He wanted to walk her all the way to the office but he knew better. “I had something to tell you, to show you…”

  Kira put her finger to his lips. “Just wait ok. Find Paige. Put all your efforts into her right now. I have to get ready for my deployment. If you need anything for her just call me.” Kira reached for the door handle.

  “Deployment?” Stark’s eyes went wide. He reached over and grabbed her arm

  “Yes, in case you missed the memo, I’m in the army. We tend to get deployed from time to time.” She said smiling.

  “Not right away. You have training and should be in for at least a…” he paused and thought about it, “year. Shit. Has it really been a year?” He slid his hand down her arm and took her hand.

  “Owen this is what I signed up for. I’m ready to go. I’ve been training for this for the last year. It’s my duty and my privilege to serve where they need me.” Kira said and squeezed his fingers. She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.

  “Ok listen the sandbox isn’t like anything you have experienced before.” Stark began but Kira cut him off.

  “I’m not going to Afghanistan.” She interrupted. “I’m going to Lima, Peru. To help a medical team collect samples to study the Zika virus.” At the mention of the word virus Starks eyes widened further.

  “What? I saw something about that on the news. Is it dangerous? You aren’t going into an outbreak area are you?” Stark asked confused. He seemed unsure if he should be relieved or worried.

  “You don’t sound like a special ops soldier. You sound like a worried boyfriend.” Kira shot at him. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself and serve my team. You go into situations far worse all the time.” Kira wondered if he would ever see her as a real soldier instead of just some little girl.

  “That’s different.” He countered. “I’m a ranger and I kill people for a living. You… you are so much more than that. You are everything to me. If something happened to you I wouldn’t have anything left to fight for. Stark rubbed his other hand through his hair. He still held tightly to her fingers.

  “How exactly is that different?” Kira started to say more but thought better of it. “This is why we can’t have this conversation right now. You need to find Paige and I need to focus on the mission I have ahead.”

  “We need to talk. You don’t leave for two weeks. Stay with me until then so we can have a chance to iron things out before you go. It’s not safe at your apartment anyway.” Stark offered.

  “That’s not a good idea Owen. I can stay at my apartment or Abby offered to let me use their spare room until I leave and things calm down. I may take her up on it since my apartment is now possibly a crime scene.” Kira’s mouth spoke the words but her heart wanted to jump in his arms and say hell yes. Was she crazy or just stupid? Kira knew she had to get out of the truck this minute before she changed her mind.

  Stark let go of her hand for a moment and reached for his jacket behind the seat. Kira opened the door and took the opportunity to jump out.

  “Kira wait! There is something I have to tell you before you go.” Stark sat in the truck holding his jacket but Kira was already out on the pavement.

  “Tell me when I come home and you find Paige. Be safe Owen.” Kira turned before he could say another word. She could hear him calling for her but she kept walking leaving a piece of her heart and soul on the pavement with each step. By the time Kira reached clinic she felt like a shell of the woman she was. There was no question she loved Owen Stark with every fiber of her being. She started to understand her mother’s heartbreak. But Kira was stronger than that. Falling apart was not a luxury she would grant herself. For the present Kira was married to the military and that was a commitment she was going to honor, no matter what the cost.

  Stark needed to be free to focus every ounce of energy on finding Paige. Kira hoped and prayed that he would be able to find her. Paige had done so much for Kira in the last week. Though they had started off on rocky ground, Paige had become one of her closest friends. Paige was probably the strongest woman Kira knew. If anyone could make it through this, it would be her.

  ***

  Stark sat in the truck and watched her walk away until she disappeared from sight. He took a deep breath. The jacket he clutched so tightly held a small box. He knew this wasn’t the time or the place but he really didn’t give a fuck. More than anything he wanted to pull it out and tell her what he wanted to say at the Garden of the Gods. That little box he had carried with him every day since. It held the promise of their future. If she only knew he had put in for the commission they had offered. Soon he would leave the team and go to alpha school. Once he was a captain, nothing would stand in their way. He just had to make Kira see that nothing in his life past, present, or future could compare to her.

  He put the Jacket back behind the seat and reached over to shut Kira’s door. He had to focus on Paige now. He
would bring Paige home and then nothing would stand between him and Kira.

  Chapter 9

  Well we’re fucked. Kira looked around at her fellow servicemen and women as they scrunched to fit everyone into the C130. The seats were arranged along the sides around a mass of cargo loaded into the middle. She eyed Humvees, Crates of testing equipment and drum after drum of larvicide. Kira buckled her harness and decided to pretend she was comfortable. The odor of too many nervous bodies in a cramped space was starting to infiltrate her nostrils. She looked at the faces of the soldiers and wondered exactly what goes through your mind before you set foot in battle. Thankfully they would be landing on a base and not in an actual battle zone. She shifted trying to find a place for her arm and her elbow grazed Holt. He shot a glaring look in her direction. Ok, so he’s still mad. Holt hadn’t said two words to her since they had been “volunteered” for this mission. She knew traipsing through the jungle attached to an army group collecting samples was not his idea of a mission. She was sure he pictured himself attached to a heroic group in the Middle East saving lives. The American flag waving valiantly behind him as the sun shone on his sweat brimmed brow.

  “I’m sorry Liam. I really am.” Kira started softly. “I know this wasn’t the”

  “Captain Riley, you don’t know anything about me.” He snapped cutting her off then turned and faced forward. Silence followed. The hot Florida sun had heated the interior of the C130 into a near inferno. Kira crinkled her nose at the growing aroma. They had announced 30 minutes to take off about a year and a half ago. Holt turned back to her abruptly when she cleared her throat. “If you think it’s hot in here now princess just wait till they dump our asses in the middle of the fucking jungle.”

  “Captain Holt, I told you I was sorry. I am for my part in this. But you did just as much to land yourself here. No one asked you to admit me to the hospital. No one asked you to violate protocol. You did that all on your own. I am sorry if this mission doesn’t live up to your high standards but we have a job to do and …” Before she could finish Final flight announcements came blaring over the intercom. Within a moment the roar of the four turboprop engines of the Lockheed C130 Hercules came to life drowning out all other noise. The deep, menacing sound of the engines as the plane is rolled down the runway for takeoff sent a shiver down to Kira’s toes. She was pushed back slightly as the plane increased in speed, screaming down the runway. Just before liftoff the pilot released the brakes and the force pressed her back into Holt who was sent into the guy behind him. Kira remembered reading that the pilot would reach maximum power while holding the brake then release just before takeoff to give enough power to make the 45-degree climb. The force was 2.5G as the 120,000-pound plane lifted into the sky. The pressure on her body in that moment was powerful, like a shove to every square inch of her. She could only imagine what fighter pilots experienced with forces of 15Gs. She decided then and there she never wanted to find out. All at once the plane leveled out and Kira felt her stomach lurch like going over the top of a roller coaster. For a moment they went from 2.5 G to negative 2.5 G. Though the weightlessness lasted only a second it was enough to make her lunch want to head back to Miami. Kira settled back into the blue fabric covered seat and tried to get comfortable in the nylon straps. She closed her eyes and prayed she wouldn’t have to pee for the next six hours. The flight from Miami, would provide some time to try to put together details of Paige’s disappearance.

  After turning over all the footage to the police they had set up a crime scene in around her apartment to look for clues. Stark had taken a copy of the video also and was going to work with Lysander despite their differences to see what they could uncover. Kira felt helpless and responsible. Despite her vouching that Holt had nothing to do with it he had been called in for questioning as well. No arrest had been made but he was put through the ringer as a suspect.

  Kira tried desperately to sift through the foggy memories of that night in The Apex Club could the man in the video be the same one that had taken Paige. Seeing the expression on her face in the video had sent cold shock running through her. She knew that she had recognized him when she looked in his eyes. Only now she couldn’t be sure if he just looked like someone she had long since tried to forget or if it was really him. But there was no way. It didn’t even make sense. Robert Devin Bentley. Kira hadn’t even let herself think that name in years. She whispered it into the hum of the motor. Robert Devin Bentley. I am not crazy.

  She had admired him from afar like most girls in their class. He was tall and blond. Both being premed, Kira and Robert shared much of the same schedule. Kira, being from meager beginnings, didn’t want to take time to date. She had to maintain her grades to keep her undergrad scholarships. Nights, weekends, while everyone else was out having a good time she was studying. Kira recalled seeing him in the bar that night. She winced remembering thinking he was cute. Looks can be deceiving. She had never been able to figure out how and why he had drugged her. The humiliation of not being believed was worse than the shame of what happened. Kira couldn’t bear to relive those memories, everyone thought she was crazy. Why Now? If that was him at the club, why now? What could he possibly gain from coming back into her life now? Last she heard he was pursuing vascular surgery. Not that she cared to keep tabs on him, but their alumni newsletter had featured an article on the upcoming Dr. Bentley. Rising star, blah, blah, blah.

  Lysander had searched the registry at the club, no one by that name. No one even close to that name. He had promised her he would look into it more. All those years of no one believing her left her skeptical of accepting help. Hell even Stark hadn’t believed her. Even after seeing the video of Paige there was a still rift between Stark and herself. Kira didn’t know if they could ever move past it. He had questioned her and her motives again. Kira closed her eyes tight she wanted to find Paige. More than anything she wanted her to be ok. She had to focus now on the task before her and put the darkness out of her mind. At least here in the belly of a C130 heading into the heart of the jungle she would be safe from the ghosts of her past.

  Kira shifted trying to find a way to be comfortable scrunched into the seat. She willed her thoughts to center around the mission at hand. They were headed to NAMRU-6, a biomedical research laboratory of the US Navy located in Lima, Peru. At first she had been confused when the commanding officer had instructed her to a naval base. But she soon learned that they would be attached to an army unit charged with trekking inland to collect samples and treat local water supplies to help prevent the spread of the Zika virus through mosquitos. Upon learning of the mission Kira began reading and researching every article she could find on the virus and its transmission.

  Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 in the Zika forest in Uganda. The first human cases of Zika were detected in 1952. Over the years, outbreaks of Zika have been reported in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Since the symptoms of Zika are similar to those of many other diseases, many cases may not have been recognized. Compared other members of the flavivirus family, which includes the dreaded yellow fever, dengue fever and West Nile virus, Zika seemed mild. Possibly an irritating little brother with a brief high fever, a rash, some joint pain and in the worst cases a bit of headache and nausea. Zika was barely worse than a touch of the flu. That is until Brazil.

  In May 2015, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an alert regarding the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. This was the first locally transmitted case reported in the Americas. The virus had crossed the pond. Previous human infections were found across Africa and Asia, typically were only accompanied by mild illness. In 2007, the first large outbreak of disease caused by Zika infection was reported from the Island of Yap, as the virus moved from south-east Asia across the Pacific. It wasn’t until a 2013-14 outbreak in French Polynesia, that the disease began to be linking to more worrisome symptoms. The neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) was linked to Zika infecti
on through retroactive studies. Then in South America, the first reports of locally transmitted infection came from Brazil in May 2015. By July 2015 Brazil reported an association between Zika virus infection and GBS. In October 2015 Brazil reported an increase in infants born with the severe birth defect microcephaly since August of 2015. As Zika virus had already been proven to be transmissible by blood and sexual contact, fear began to spread that not only was the Zika virus responsible but that it could become a worldwide pandemic.

  Kira sat up and opened her eyes. What had changed? Why did the virus go from being a mild nuisance to causing severe debilitating neurological effects? Previous reports of the disease over a span of sixty years showed no lasting effects, no hospitalizations, and no reported deaths. Had the virus suddenly mutated? If so why. What was the trigger? Kira’s mind raced back to immunology class. Could a genetic mutation be responsible? If the virus was changing, could this become a major health threat across the Americas and the world? She realized someone must think so, as she was currently strapped in the belly of Hercules barreling toward the jungle surrounded by mass quantities of larvicide. She looked over at Holt. He had drifted off to sleep, the recently permanent scowl wrinkling his forehead. Until she had seen the video at the Apex Club Kira had worried Holt had something to do with her attack. Now she realized just how crazy that was. Overbearing, yes, but she just couldn’t see Holt as a stalker. I have to be just projecting old fears onto him. Does that make me crazy? Mabey Stark was right to question her. Maybe just maybe she was so damaged she couldn’t let the past go. What if she did just dream the whole thing? The hum of the massive prop engines drummed steadily into her subconscious. Maybe this mission was her chance to start over. Quit dwelling on past hurt and Stark and make a real difference in helping to learn about this disease and how to stop it.