A Friend in Need

by Bianca D’Arc

  “Wow.” She was impressed. She sensed he was a little ill at ease talking about his language skills, so she didn’t press to know more. “That’s pretty cool,” was all she said. Time for a change of subject. “They were going to send me for some specialized comms training, but with the injury, I’m not sure that’ll go ahead now.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  “Yeah, I was looking forward to broadening my knowledge, but those are the breaks.” She shrugged.

  “Speaking of breaks, what’s the deal with your foot, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  Wow. She hadn’t expected such a direct question, but he’d answered her nosey questions, so she figured it was only fair.

  “When the bomb went off, I went flying. I sort of landed on this foot first, I guess, and I broke a lot of bones. They pieced them together as best they could, but it doesn’t seem to be healing according to expectations,” she told him. It was hard to say it out loud. She’d been told more than once that her injury was life-altering. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that she might never walk without assistance again.

  “That’s rough,” Carter said, his tone commiserating. “You know, one of my friends is a doctor. He’s got a talent, you might say, for working miracles. Maybe he could take a look, if you want.”

  “That’s nice of you, but I’ve had five or six different expert opinions, and they all say the same thing. Time. I just have to wait it out and see if it’ll heal properly. If it doesn’t, they’ll take further action, but their options are somewhat limited by the amount of damage that was done.” She sighed, hating the prognosis. Something about Carter made her go one step farther, to tell him the whole truth. “Honestly, last week, the doctor in charge of my care told me he’s leaning toward marking me down officially as permanently disabled. If that happens, I’m never going back to my unit.”

  “Is that important to you?” Carter asked softly.

  She met his gaze. “I left the job before it was done. That bothers me.”

  Carter nodded. “I understand.”

  She felt sure he did. He was just about the only person who seemed to grasp why going back to active duty was important to her. Maybe it had more to do with getting back to normal—whatever that was—or maybe it was her sense of duty. She wasn’t sure what it was, but something made her want to make everything go back to the way it had been before her injury.

  It might be selfish, but she was honest enough with herself to acknowledge that she wanted her old life back. Pre-injury. When she could walk and run and dance, and think nothing of it.

  She knew it probably wasn’t going to happen. Not anytime soon, at any rate. Possibly never.

  The sooner she came to terms with that, the doctors all said, the better off she’d be, but she just couldn’t bring herself to give up hope. There had to be a way. Her body had to listen to her hopes and dreams and get better. Didn’t it?

  “I really think you should let my buddy take a look at your foot,” Carter said, once again, his tone mild, but also insistent. “It couldn’t hurt, and you might be surprised. He might be able to help you.”

  He seemed so hopeful that she found herself agreeing. Plus, it meant she would see Carter again, which suited her just fine. He was easy to talk to, and he lit a fire in her that reminded her that she was female. She might be injured, but she was pleased to discover she could still feel attraction for a hunk of a guy with a killer smile.

  “All right,” she told him. “You arrange it, and I’ll submit to yet another round of prodding and poking at my bum foot.” She managed to chuckle wryly. “But I’m not getting my hopes up.”

  “That’s okay,” he replied, smiling now in that way that set her insides on fire. “Just as long as you let him take a look, I think you’ll be pleased with the results. I’ll take care of everything. Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow? You mean to see you doctor friend?” She was surprised he wanted to do this so soon. Usually, doctors had long wait times to get an appointment. This doctor must be a really good friend.

  Carter followed Hannah home, though she didn’t see him. He kept a few cars between them, so she wouldn’t notice. He just wanted to make sure she got home safely. She’d given him her phone number, so he could set things up for her to see his friend, Rick, tomorrow. What she didn’t know was that Carter would be bringing Rick to her home. It was the best way to do this without drawing too much attention.

  The unit was based on Plum Island right now, and for the most part, they had to stay on base. There were foreign agents actively seeking to capture any member of their unit, so when they did venture out, they had to be very, very careful about how they proceeded. In fact, Carter wasn’t alone. None of the guys were allowed out in public alone.

  Right now, Jake and Wil were in another car, following Carter, following Hannah. He knew they were back there, and they were all connected by the tiny tactical radio transmitters they used in the field. They might not be wearing their uniforms off-base, but they were kitted out with as much of the gear as they could manage without drawing too much attention.

  For Carter, that meant a handgun in an ankle holster, as well as various knives and other weapons hidden on his person. The radio had gone in his ear as soon as he’d parted with Hannah, and he’d checked in with the guys who’d kept him under close watch while also keeping a lookout for possible trouble. They had his back for this mission, as he’d had theirs countless times in the past. The unit all looked out for each other.

  Once Hannah had made her way slowly into her little house, Carter conferred with the other guys. A little discreet surveillance was in order. He’d start by riding around her neighborhood, observing the layout and possible ambush points. Then, tonight after dark, he’d go out on foot and check out her backyard and what he could see of the house itself, from outside. If he was going to bring Rick out here tomorrow, they needed to know as much as possible about the layout and possible threats.

  Carter started by the simple act of rolling down his window and listening. He wanted to know what languages other than English, if any, were prevalent in her area. Since his gift had to do with language, he could learn a lot about a place, just by listening. He drove around the area slowly, observing people in their yards or doing chores around their homes. Within an hour, his patience was rewarded by some interesting dialects of Hindi, Bengali and some form of Mandarin, but nobody was talking about anything subversive, much to his relief.

  It was a modern, middle-class neighborhood, with the usual children laughing and playing, teens shouting at each other and their parents, older folks sitting on the patio or working in their gardens. A cross-section of cultures and absolutely no hint of anything sinister at all. At least not right at that moment. Which was good. Carter had developed a habit of expecting the worst and being surprised when it didn’t happen, but he supposed, after the past few months, he was lucky that was the only problem he had.

  He cruised through a drive-thru burger joint and picked up some food. The team in the car behind him did the same. They’d been coordinating their movements all afternoon and would continue to do so until they headed back to the island late tonight. First, though, they’d wait for the sun to go down, so they could do a little more reconnoitering around Hannah’s house.

  They’d drop a few surveillance cameras that they could access remotely, too. Someone would be watching her place overnight, to make sure it continued to be safe for the visit tentatively scheduled for tomorrow. Carter liked the idea of keeping an eye on Hannah’s place. He liked the feeling of trying to keep her safe.

  She didn’t know him all that well, nor did he know much about her besides what Captain Haliwell had shared from her personnel file and the small amount she’d shared with him over lunch, but Carter felt a real affinity for the feisty sergeant. She had guts, and she didn’t really complain all that much about her medical issues.

  That she was gorgeous on the outside was obvious
. She had long red hair that she kept back off her oval face. Big blue-gray eyes blinked at him from under curling lashes that were thick and lustrous. She had a wholesome kind of beauty that didn’t need a lot of augmentation, though he thought if she’d made even the tiniest effort, she’d knock his socks off.

  As it was, he had a hard time keeping himself professional when she smiled at him. That wide, genuine smile that she didn’t seem to use much. Probably because of the ordeal she’d been through—and was still going through—with her foot. She had a purity about her that was incredibly appealing and a competence when she needed to act that was very seductive to a man like Carter.

  When he’d seen her that first time at the mall, in the middle of an active shooter situation, she’d been calm and sort of resigned to what was going on around her. Frustrated too, with not being able to move quickly out of the path of danger. He’d liked her then, and the attraction had only increased in the time since.

  He hoped Captain Haliwell would give the thumbs up to the mission Carter was planning for tomorrow. Ever since they’d gotten back from overseas, they’d had to be careful. They’d been stuck on base for the most part, except for brief forays onto Long Island. They’d fought a few battles, but nowhere near what they were capable of dealing with. For men used to a lot of action in the field, they were going a little stir crazy just sitting around, being examined and tested.

  They were used to defeating the enemy and helping people. They’d fulfilled that mission all over the world. It felt frustrating to not be able to do that here, on their own home soil. Helping Hannah would be a step in the right direction. Carter knew Rick couldn’t wave his magic hands and heal her completely in one go. He could, but that would likely raise too many questions. Still, Rick might be able to start a process that would lead to a more complete recovery for Hannah. That would be the best outcome, but Rick had to see her in person to do his own examination first.

  Which was why getting him to her was so vital. They had to do it safely for all concerned. The unit couldn’t draw attention to itself when they knew there were foreign agents actively seeking them out for capture. It seemed the leaders of a few different countries in the area where they’d acquired their new gifts, wanted them back.

  None of the guys really understood how the enemy thought capturing the members of the unit would cause them to work for the opposition. Maybe they had some weird beliefs about taking away the powers that had been gifted to the team by that old man in the ancient city of Babylon. Carter didn’t know—though he would love to find out what they thought would happen if they ever succeeded in capturing even one of the Green Berets of his unit. Carter suspected the bad guys would have a very rude awakening, indeed.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Overnight surveillance—done remotely via cameras and sensors Carter and the guys had placed around Hannah’s property—showed no activity, so Captain Haliwell gave the go ahead for the mission the next day. Carter was thrilled, though he did his best to contain his enthusiasm as he loaded up with the other guys on the boat that would take them to a private dock near Hannah’s hometown that had been secured for their use.

  They had several landing options all along the coast of Long Island, which allowed them to cross over from the tiny island on which they were stationed to just about any area of the much bigger island off the coast of New York, at almost any time. They had water supremacy in the area due to all sorts of sensors placed on buoys surrounding the island. They also had nature itself, helping out, in the form of dolphins.

  They really were highly intelligent creatures. Some of the guys in the unit could sort of speak to higher-level animals now, but only Carter could truly understand their language. On the rare occasions he’d been around dolphins who were making vocalizations, his new ability to understand every language ever spoken had kicked in, somehow, to let him understand what the dolphins were saying to each other.

  It had freaked him out. He’d tried it since with other animals, but most didn’t have the higher brain functions that allowed for true language. He was able to get single words from time to time, but not complex sentences. The guys had teased him, calling him Doctor Doolittle for a while, but thankfully, they’d dropped that particular nickname when his ability didn’t really produce results with other animals.

  He was a linguist. He understood languages. If the beings didn’t have a true language, his new skills weren’t really activated. That’s the conclusion he’d come to with the help of the specialists that had been flown in to evaluate the entire unit.

  Most of the keepers were gone, for now, off to report directly to brass in Washington about the strange happenings with their unit. It was just as well. Everyone was sick of being monitored and tested. They seemed to have leveled off, for the time being, and they were slowly gaining mastery over their new abilities.

  Carter was glad to have time out from under the microscope. He and the other guys were getting antsy, being stuck on the island, and a little time off gave them opportunity to do things for themselves. His mission to help Hannah was one of those things Carter had pushed for the group to take on ever since their paths had crossed during the mall shooting.

  Luckily, Jeeves and his new lady, Rose, were in agreement. They’d met Hannah first, when they’d taken cover behind her kiosk, with her, during the shooting incident. When they’d made a run for it, Hannah’d had to stay behind because of her bum foot, and that was when Carter had been detailed to keep an eye on her. He’d already been shot, so staying behind made sense, but the moment he met Hannah, he’d felt an attraction that only deepened the more he was around her.

  Carter was driving Rick in one vehicle. Jeeves was driving the car behind them with Jake. They were just about to pull up to Hannah’s house when Jeeves pulled over unexpectedly. Carter saw it in his rearview mirror, so he pulled over, as well.

  “What’s up?” Rick asked, looking behind them.

  “Jeeves stopped,” Carter said, watching the other vehicle in his mirrors.

  “Guys? Jeeves is doing his trance thing,” came Jake’s voice over the tactical radios they all had in their ears. “Stand by.”

  Carter waited impatiently to hear what the newly-clairvoyant member of their unit might have to say. When Jeeves finally spoke over the radio, the news wasn’t exactly what Carter wanted to hear.

  “Hannah’s place is bugged,” Jeeves said quietly. “Inside. Cameras and audio. She doesn’t know. Someone put her under high surveillance a short while ago. Probably right after the mall incident,” Jeeves reported. “And there’s one troubling image I saw of Hannah installing at least one of the cameras herself.”

  “Damn,” Jake said, accompanying his thoughts with a low whistle over the radio.

  “We can’t go in,” Rick said unnecessarily.

  “And we should probably remove our cameras and sensors from the yard before anyone else notices them,” Jeeves put in.

  Carter saw the wisdom in the suggestion, but he just couldn’t get over the idea that Hannah had put up cameras in her own house to catch him out. There had to be some other explanation.

  “This is your op, Carter,” Rick reminded him.

  Rick was an officer, but Carter knew they were all off the clock, doing this on their own time. He wasn’t going to pull rank because he knew this mission was important to Carter, personally.

  “I think we’d better get to the bottom of this. Either there’s some innocent explanation for your vision of her bugging her own home, Jeeves, or she’s on the wrong side of all this. Either way, we need to know. If she’s innocent, we need to protect her. If not…” it pained Carter to say it, “…we might be able to use her to get to the enemy.”

  “Call her,” Jeeves advised quietly. “Tell her to come out of the house. That you’re taking her to the doctor.”

  “That could work,” Carter agreed. “But where do we take her?”

  “Back to base,” Rick said. “We don’t really have any other choice.”<
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  “Hal’s not going to like it,” Carter mused, but knew he had few options. “Okay. Rick, get in the chase car. Maybe you could draw straws and the loser calls the captain to give him a heads up? I’ll call Hannah while you’re repositioning.”

  Rick got out of Carter’s vehicle and jogged back to get in with Jeeves and Jake while Carter dialed Hannah’s number. She picked up on the third ring.

  “My doctor friend has an opening this morning. Do you still want to see him?” Carter asked after they’d exchanged greetings.

  “Sure, I guess so,” Hannah replied, not sounding entirely enthusiastic. “What time?”

  “I can pick you up in about fifteen minutes, if that’s not too soon for you, and take you there,” Carter offered.

  “Um. Okay. I guess that could work. Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  She didn’t sound like a traitor, Carter mused to himself as he ended the call after saying goodbye. There had to be an innocent reason for her to put surveillance in her own house. Maybe she was putting in a security system or something. But most people aimed the cameras around the property, not in the actual house. There had to be more to what Jeeves had seen. Had to.

  Hannah was excited to see Carter again. She knew she should curb her enthusiasm. Nothing would probably ever come of anything between them. She had little doubt that he was on a very different life path than she was. Her injury had sort of stopped her in her tracks, and she didn’t know how things were going to work out with that, much less how it might impact any romantic liaisons.

  When her doorbell rang, she was ready. She made her way to the door on her crutches and opened it to find him on the other side.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked after exchanging greetings.

  “All set,” she told him. She locked the front door behind herself and followed him down the front walk to his car.

  It was a different vehicle today from the staid sedan he’d driven yesterday. This was a four-wheel-drive utility vehicle, similar to ones she’d driven in the Army. It was higher off the ground than a regular car, which made it a little easier to get her bad leg inside, though she needed a bit of help getting up high enough to get her butt on the seat. Carter was courteous, helping her into the vehicle and putting her crutches in the back. He also made sure she was buckled into her seatbelt before he started the car.