by Dale Mayer
Silence as everyone waited.
“The problem is something no one expected. Because it’s not something we’ve ever done.” The commander paused. “You need to know. You brought back something extra.”
“Extra,” Mason barked. “What was extra?”
Megan leaned forward. She’d done the head count. There’d been the exact amount of men there was supposed to be.
The commander stood tall. “Inside the wounds of all four men we found trackers.”
“Inside the wounds,” Mason asked incredulously. “I worked on the men but I didn’t see anything like that.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Micro size, they were found in the X-rays. And the men who placed them there would have to know that they’d be found – sooner than later.”
“Trackers?”
Megan sat back. “Are you expecting an attack here now?”
The low murmurs in the room quieted.
“We’re planning for that contingency. At the same time intel did not show that this group had the firepower to attack a military base… Considering that all four men had these buried in their flesh, the enemy already knows exactly where they are.”
Mason stood up. “How deep in their flesh?” he asked in an icy tone.
“It appears the trackers were shot into the open wound with some kind of injector.”
“Damn it,” Cooper said. “That sucks.” He glared at the commander. “Did any of the men know?”
“No.” The commander shook his head. “Not that they can remember. There was some hand to hand but no one remembers anything like this. It wouldn’t have taken much. The trackers are small.”
“We have to consider all possible contingency plans.”
“Plans that include attacking the military base?” Hawk shook his head. “That’s gutsy.”
The commander nodded. “As you can see, we need to know everything you might have seen, heard…and yes, even felt.”
That set the tone for the next couple hours as everyone gave their impressions and details of what they’d seen.
Megan nodded as Evan’s information matched up with what she’d seen. Given the chance she collaborated his story. “But, I never saw the enemy.”
And finally, it was done.
No answers. No clarity, but at least everyone knew who’d been there and what they’d seen. There was a somber air as the meeting broke up. Megan walked out to the hangar and her locker. Men were all around. She passed several wheeled trolleys of parts. The threat alert had been raised, but she didn’t think that would change much. Why would it? It would take balls to attack the base. And that was a threat they all faced every day. “Why four trackers?” Megan asked.
Ice’s response from behind made her freeze. “In case we only picked up one or two of our men.”
She stared at her shock “They don’t retrieve all their men?”
“No, they don’t.”
That sucked. “I’m off for the next few days,” Ice said. “Unless things change and leaves are cancelled.”
“I hope not. I’m due to have tomorrow off.”
“I’ll be back if something changes.” Ice pulled her jacket off a hook then threw it around her shoulders and walked away.
What did that mean? Megan watched with misgiving. She wanted to help her but she was hard to get close to. Especially now. Ice had put walls up. She walked out into the sunshine hating the tension in the air. Surely the enemy wouldn’t be so stupid. There were thousands of trained men and women here. An outright attack would be easily repelled. An air strike would be taken out before it could cause much damage.
No. If it were her, she’d be a lot more subtle. Then the enemy didn’t seem to know or understand subtle. They were all about carnage.
The atmosphere had changed outside. She frowned.
“Can’t say this is the way I’d expected to spend my next few hours,” Evan said quietly at her side.
“Oh?” She motioned at the increased security now at the hangar. “I’ve never seen this before.”
“Lucky you. Only when we’re under attack. From outside or from within,” he admitted. “Unfortunately, I’ve seen both.”
“Of course,” she cried out softly. “There’s going to be an attack from within.”
“And you’re basing this on…” Evan stared at her. “Did you see something, know something?”
She shook her head. “Nothing new but just think about this. Why go to all that trouble and not attack?”
“I’m not sure I’m getting where you’re going here.”
“We’re all thinking a big attack. Trying to figure out where and how the attack is going to come, but what if a smaller assault comes from another direction. They know about this being a military base. That’s all they needed to know. If they send anything big, we’ll handle it, they know that. So instead, what if they go super small?” She smiled at the dawning understanding on his face. “We’re looking to the skies and instead the ants are marching in one by one on the ground.”
“Except our men aren’t so narrowly focused that they wouldn’t have considered that.”
“And did they pair that up with the fact that someone knew about Levi’s mission? And were they waiting for them?”
He shrugged. “Of course. This isn’t so unusual. We’re always looking for traitors.”
“Yes.” She nodded, knowing inside there was something here. Something they needed to dig deeper into. “But are you looking from within as in one of us?”
He stared at her. “Talk like that…”
“I know, it’s hard to think someone we know might be involved,” she said in a low voice, looking around behind them. “Although we’re talking Mexico not Islamic countries, consider the problems we’ve been having all over the world of young men and women becoming radicalized – often in a very short time period. Sure, I’d much rather think of a traitor being someone who had no choice. Someone who was pressured into it – rather than someone choosing to betray their friends and country. But it’s happening everywhere. We’d be foolish to not consider it here.”
Evan grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the way of a cart as it trundled slowly past her.
She didn’t know the man driving, but was it her imagination that had him glancing at her and holding that look longer than necessary? She let out her pent up breath as he carried on.
“Not very nice to consider those you work with being against you,” Evan said bluntly noticing her glance. “Those you depend on, is it?”
“No it isn’t,” she said in a hard tone. “But I’m not a fool. And just because something makes me uncomfortable doesn’t make it wrong. I’ll do what I need to do.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” he stressed. “It’s not like you’re going to be able to access their personal files or stalk anyone here.”
“I know that.” She threw up her hands. “But I want to do something. I can’t stand sitting around and waiting.”
“Let it go. Sure, stay wary, and if you see anything then let all of us know, but other than that…”
She reached up and stroked her temple. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to jump to conclusions…”
“It’s a tough time for all of us. When one of us goes down we all want to do something to help. But we have to have a target – not just create random ones.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that.” She glared at him. “Isn’t it time for you to slink off out of my life again?”
He snorted. “No. Not likely to have that joy again. Everyone needs someone so you’re stuck with me.”
“Like hell,” she snapped. “I’ll find someone else, like Ice to pair up with, thanks but no thanks.”
“Not happening. She’s headed to the hospital to stand guard.”
“I know she’s off for a few days. What do you mean stand guard?”
“The trackers. Everyone has been volunteering to stand by the injured men on their time off, in case they are going to be targe
ted.”
“Surely there’s security for the men, why time off?”
“It’s an honor thing,” he said. “Besides all hands are needed on base. So this frees up more man hours to figure this out.”
“I want to help.”
He shook his head. “You’re too slow. There’s forty men already signed up. Ice has been here a long time. She knew the process and got in quick.”
“Not to mention it’s Levi and Stone she’d be watching over.”
“As will every one of the other forty odd men who have volunteered.”
She winced. “Yeah, my chances are nil. That’s the problem with being new.”
“And yet like you said, you’re not that new.”
“Right. And time for you to leave me alone again,” she said bluntly.
“Not happening,” he said cheerfully and snagged her arm, looping it through his. “Let’s go. It’s lunchtime.”
“And if I don’t want to eat?”
“Too bad. The military is hell on the appetite. Stress is a huge killer. Besides, gotta keep up your energy. Never know when you’re going to be needed.”
“Ha, I did miss breakfast in order to make the meeting.”
“Not good. Let’s go.” He dragged her gently toward the street.
“Where are we going?”
“A small café I know.” He grinned. “It’s okay, lunch is on me.”
*
He loved the look of outrage on her face. She wanted to be coaxed, but at the same time she didn’t. She’d always been prickly. Maybe that was the attraction…knowing that she wanted him but didn’t want to. It was her heart and body over her mind. Right now the mind was firmly in control and he wanted to blow that to hell.
She was a puzzle. He’d been trying to figure her out ever since he met her. But they were going on different paths back then. He wanted to become a SEAL and she was working to become a helicopter pilot. They’d each achieved their dreams and had come back together again – both still single.
He’d heard the rumors that she’d gotten engaged but had recently broken it off. That event coincided with her return to the West Coast.
Good. He was sorry for the pain she’d been through but wasn’t sorry enough to wish her back into another man’s arms.
Better she healed a broken heart here – where he could hold her through the process.
Although, if he were honest, she didn’t look to be pining for anyone.
Unfortunately, not even him.
Chapter 5
Lunch was a tense, uneasy affair, and yet she couldn’t pinpoint why.
“You’re really edgy, aren’t you?” Evan asked calmly as he picked up the remaining half of his sandwich.
She shrugged and picked away at her salad.
“Do you know Levi and his unit?”
“Only the same as everyone else here. I’ve met him by sight but I doubt he knows who I am.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. Levi takes special care to know who he works with. If he didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be flying.”
She raised her eyebrows at that statement. “Really?”
Evan nodded. “Not that he’d go out of his way to make sure you were done, but if he didn’t think you were competent and the best of the best then you can bet he’d have something to say to those above him.”
It shouldn’t have made a difference but she knew what a legend Levi was, so it did. She understood there was a certain level of mystery around him, and that she’d likely never know what he really did. Hell, she doubted anyone did. Something had gone seriously wrong this last mission. Would he leave it alone when he recovered? She wondered if she could if their positions were reversed.
She put her fork down and gave up the pretense of eating. “Feels shitty.”
“It does.” Evan nodded as he continued to eat. “It’s always tough when something happens to one of our own. To have four go down…”
“But they are all still alive.”
“True enough.” He stared at her over his sandwich, his eyes a little too sharp. “Are you sure you didn’t know them? Seems like it’s affecting you pretty badly.”
“I don’t know them, but I lost several men in a mission gone wrong last year back East. One was a pilot.”
He slowly lowered the sandwich, chewing as that laser sharp gaze assessed her. “That would have been brutal.”
“It was. I was supposed to fly that day but last minute changes…”
“Makes you appreciate your humanity a little more. And the ease with which death finds us.”
“That it does.” She picked up her coffee and murmured, “It was way different though than what happened here…”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re a family. Whether it’s back East or here.”
She studied the small coffee shop. “I agree.”
“What’s going on? You’re not really listening to me.”
She blinked then stared at him. She dropped her gaze to the table. “I’m wondering if I saw something.”
“Tell me.” The joviality was gone.
She glared at him. “Who died and made you boss?”
That cat-like gaze never shifted. It locked on her and stayed there. “Tell me.”
She threw her napkin down – and that’s when she realized she’d shredded it before scrunching the pieces into a ball.
“Yesterday when we came back. There was a crew bringing in a new HVAC panel.” She shrugged. “It was nothing. There are all kinds of security clearances set up for stuff like that. It would be stupid to think the men were anything other than what they were supposed to be.”
“What made them suspicious?”
“I couldn’t see why they needed four men. The panel was small. I could see two. Maybe even three if they needed a gopher for testing purposes…four seemed like overkill.”
“Not necessarily,” he said slowly. “When we have civilians doing work we have no one on base qualified to do, the expectation is that they come in and get the job done then leave quickly. So to have an extra man to make the job faster makes sense.”
She gave him a quick nod. “That’s true.” A sunny smile slipped out. “I’m just making too much out of nothing.”
“But it still bugs you?”
“Not really…” but it did. In a big way. Four men were too many. Making a decision, she asked cautiously, “I don’t suppose there’s any way to check how many men were let in for that repair job, is there?”
“Everyone is tracked in and out. If four came in then four went out.”
“I’d hope so but…”
He finished his meal and stood up. He held out his hand. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” She stared at him, as if confused.
“We can go check how many came in and out.”
“Really?” She brightened. “Great. Then I’d know for sure and could forget about this.” She placed her hand in his.
*
Now that was a lovely first step. Trust. Nothing like a shared goal. He wasn’t asking much. Just the world. He didn’t know why her. He’d tried to forget her. Tried to find another partner. Instead, she held his heart in her hand. And it made little difference as she’d been trying to avoid him ever since.
He led the way back to where he knew he’d find Mason.
At the big meeting room where Mason was prepping for a large presentation, Evan stopped and cleared his throat.
Mason turned and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Evan could feel the hesitation in Megan’s movements. “Megan is worried that she saw something yesterday. It’s easily corroborated but I wanted to run it by you first. You might know.”
He put the chalk down and turned to look at Megan. “What did you see?”
Evan listened as she explained. “I’m probably making too big a deal of it. It’s just it seemed odd to me,” she said with a shrug.
“Anything else?” Mason asked, his probing gaze locked on her but there was curiosity the
re. As in he heard her and expected more.
She winced and slid him a sidelong glance.
“What haven’t you shared?”
“It’s nothing major and honestly I don’t want to make a mistake based on race.”
Mason studied her. “They were another ethnic group?”
“Yes, they were all Mexican looking. They spoke Spanish. But I don’t want to make a snap judgment based on something like that.”
“We don’t do that.” Mason called down to security. Even listening into the one half of the conversation, it was easy to understand the information.
When he replaced the phone, Mason turned to stare at her. “A van did come through to fix the vac system in the hangar you were in, but they say only two men were clocked in and out.”
“So,” Evan said. “They just met up with other men while here? That’s certainly not unheard of.”
“Neither would it be unheard of if they were hiding in the back of the van,” Megan said, her voice tart. “I’m not saying anything other than there were four men at the same place at the same time.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Mason said in low slow tone. “I’ll check it out further.”
“Or we could,” Evan jumped in. “Asking questions won’t seem untoward if she’s bothered by something.”
“And you, what’s your excuse for being there?” Mason asked slowly.
Evan glanced over at Mason. “I’ll be able to think up something.”
“Stone is missing his lucky cross,” Mason said. “Please check the helicopter for it and ask the crew if anyone has seen it.”
Evan flashed a smile and nudged Megan back out of the room. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t need you to go with me,” she said, tugging her arm free. “It’s probably nothing.”
“And now it is something even if only an item to knock off our list of things to check out.” He wasn’t going to brook any argument. “Besides, I’ll get to spend a little more time with you this way.”
She laughed, a bitter note weaving through her tone. “And why the hell would you want to do that?”