“It won’t happen again, sir.”
“Good. The XO briefed you on the nature and importance of our mission when you reported on board?”
She nodded. They’d be gathering intelligence in unstable waters that could aid in the war on terror. Her dad was probably popping Tums like candy.
“We’ll make two port calls before then, Scotland and Spain. Be sure to take in the sights, get some fresh air and replenish any supplies we need. I don’t want to have to turn the boat around because we ran out of eggs, if you get my meaning?”
She had a feeling his version of eggs weren’t the kind you ate. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant and if you have questions or concerns my door is always open, but I’m sure the WEPS is taking good care of you.”
Not as much as her fantasies would like. “He is, sir.”
She got up to go and he held up a hand. “One other thing. That other vice I mentioned. My root beer floats?”
“Sir?” She hesitated, wondering if he expected to have one delivered daily.
“I prefer them with soft serve ice cream. Kind of hard to do when the machine is broken. Get it fixed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter Six
Life had fallen into a quiet routine since the scalding of the XO with daily drills, reports, movies on the mess deck, and practical jokes being dished out on all levels as the boat made its way across the Atlantic. They’d been underway for two and half weeks and would pull into Faslane, Scotland in a couple of days. As a kid her family had lived in Italy and England and had taken multiple trips throughout the UK. It was one of her favorite places and she’d been looking forward to the stop, albeit a short one.
Too bad she wouldn’t be allowed to escape for a couple hours of alone time. A quick one-hour ride on the train and she could be in Glasgow with shops, restaurants and people who didn’t know she was the big boss’s daughter. The atmosphere on the boat had warmed up around her from ice cold to lukewarm. Occasionally someone besides Kyle and Mace included her in their conversation. Someone—identity still unknown—had even played a prank on her. Of course if they thought finding a plastic snake in her bed would make her scream they’d picked the wrong girl. She was Liam and Reece’s little sister, after all.
It gave her hope that she was starting to fit in, maybe enough that someone would invite her along on liberty. Because while in port it was the buddy system or you didn’t leave the boat.
She shoved what was starting to sound like the beginnings of a self-induced pity party in her head away and focused on the order forms in front of her. Top priority was getting the darn soft serve machine fixed, again, so she could get the crew to stop their whining. But first up was nailing today’s security drill.
The 1MC crackled to life, “Security violation in the SONAR room.” The general alarm sounded and she scrambled to secure her stateroom. “Security violation in SONAR room. Petty Officer James has knocked out Petty Officer Banks.”
Feet pounded down the passageway as the crew made their way either to the mess deck or to the armory. Nic joined the mass en route to the mess deck, squeezing past sailors headed in the opposite direction. For once, none paid any attention to her as they brushed up against her chest. She was just another crewmember.
By the time she arrived, a whiteboard had already been set up and Chief Boone stood next to it, marker in hand and nodded to her. Nic wasted no time. She let out a whistle that cut the din in the room to silence in seconds.
“Okay, you heard the Chief of the Watch. Our job is to find James. When you find him, call for security. We don’t know if he’s armed, but he’s already taken out one person. Stay with your partner and watch each others’ six. You two, Brooks and Stone, search the torpedo room. Smitty, you, Peterson, Roberts, and Wu take the crew’s quarters.”
On and on she went, assigning pairs to the maneuvering room, control, officers’ quarters and so on until every department and nook and cranny of the boat was covered. They would start at the bow and work their way to the stern. When one team finished an area they’d fall in with the team behind them and do a second sweep. There was no way James could escape. Her team had one hour to find him.
She would not fail again.
As the minutes ticked down and each crew called in their area, she marked it off and directed them to a new location. Sometimes she sent them back to sweep an area another team had cleared. For one, you never knew if James was working alone or if the crewmembers missed a hiding spot. She didn’t sweat it. She had this. It was child’s play.
Literally.
When they were kids and their mom would go off to do one her charity events and leave her dad in charge, he’d keep them busy with war games. Probably training for her brothers disguised as play. She always got to be the intruder, or spy, as she liked to think of herself, because she was the smallest and could hide in more places. Not to mention, she had patience. Minutes, hours could pass and she’d sit there quietly waiting for Liam or Reece to find her without making a peep. If one of the boys had been hiding, they would have been moaning and groaning after two minutes.
“Smitty cleared the maneuvering room, ma’am.” Chief Boone marked it off on the whiteboard.
They were almost done—where could James be? She scratched her neck as she pictured the boat in her mind, trying to think of all the little nooks and crannies.
“Send the first two teams back through the crew’s quarters and tell them not to be afraid to the check the Captain’s stateroom.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He turned and relayed the information to her teams.
A quick glance at the wall clock had her cringing. Time was running out. She pulled up a mental image of Petty Officer James: five-ten or eleven, medium build, decent shoulder width. Ruled out some places like lockers, but it left plenty of others.
“Any sign of James yet?”
Her stomach bounced and did a few somersaults at the sound of Kyle’s deep voice. Heat stole across her cheeks when he turned his gaze from the board to her.
There was simply something uniquely sexy and soulful about his eyes. One minute laughing with you and the next stripping you bare, exposing all of your secrets and making you beg for more. When he looked at her like he did then, like he did at the bar, as if he could see past the surface. See all the imperfections and still thought she was amazing and beautiful.
He tempted her with that look. Tempted her to break the rules. Tempted her to put it all on the line—her career and her heart—and find out if it was worth the risk.
Thank goodness for a strong will power.
“Time’s running out, Nic. Have you found James yet?” Kyle repeated.
“No. The crew is almost done searching and they’ve come up empty. No one has seen him.” She glanced at the clock again, less than fifteen minutes until her deadline. Couldn’t Kyle go back to where ever? Didn’t he know he messed with her brain when he was around? “Shouldn’t you be guarding the torpedoes or something?
The corners of his mouth lifted. “I came to see if you needed any help.”
“No. No, Chief Boone and I have it under control. You can run along to your duty station.”
His cocked brow matched his tilted smile and both said he didn’t buy it for one minute. Maybe it was because while he’d been standing there three more of her teams had called in the all clear with no results.
“Fine. What do you suggest?”
She hated to ask, had wanted to prove to herself, the crew, to the Captain, and yes, to Kyle, that she could do this. Especially after the coffee fiasco that the crew still razzed her about every chance they got.
He stepped further into the mess deck and scanned the board. “Did you check the trash disposal room?” At her scrunched up face, he laughed. “Sounds disgusting but there’s a lot of guys who pick it because of that very fact.”
“Sir, Stone cleared the room,” Chief Boone responded.
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“Well, he has to be here. We’re on a sub, in the middle of the Atlantic, a couple of hundred feet below the surface. It’s not like he stepped out for a smoke.” Nic thought back to when she’d play the games with her brothers. If it were her, where would she hide? She pulled up the mental diagram of the boat and checked off locations. He attacked Banks in SONAR, so the logical choice would have been either the crew’s quarters or the torpedo room.
Kyle would have found him if he’d been in hidden among the weapons.
Her next choice would have been the CO or XO’s staterooms, but those were cleared too. So, where did the wily petty officer go? A light bulb clicked. But, of course.
“Chief, WEPS, we need to search the galley.”
It made sense. Hide right beneath their noses. Boone headed to the walk-in freezer, and Nic really, hoped James hadn’t picked there to hide. That would be taking the game to the extreme. She and Kyle headed to her least favorite spot—the pantry.
She slid the door open and sure enough, there was Petty Officer James munching down on a bag of chocolate chips with a grin a mile wide on his face.
“Call it in, WEPS and get security down here.”
As the armed guards zipped tied James and hauled him off to the CO to finish out the drill, Nic looked at the clock and sighed with relief. They had one minute to go.
* * *
Day eighteen of captivity. Taco Tuesday. The same as always. Week in, week out. The only difference this round was the distraction known as Nic Riley and today she’d shown she was more than just an admiral’s daughter.
Sexy, charming, intelligent, and beautiful—not words he usually thought of to describe a shipmate. Sure, Mace and Bryant were good-looking guys. At least that was the rumor. But sitting in the wardroom watching Nic smile, cheeks stained pink, eyes shining bright, biting down on that lush lower lip of hers while giving credit to her team as the other officers congratulated her on a job well done, floored him. Not all would be so humble. For a minute there, he didn’t think she would either, especially when he’d offered to help and she’d brushed him off.
He got that she had a need. No, make that a burning desire to prove herself to everyone around her and to her family. The I mentality might work in certain jobs, more so in the civilian world, very few in the military. Not that he’d really done anything. It’d still been her idea that led to James’s hiding spot, but she gave just the smallest bit and let him help. Which was a step forward. He’d learned a few things about Nic since they’d deployed: she was ambitious, competitive, and didn’t like to fail and when she did, she took it hard.
She’d thrown herself into learning the ship’s systems. If she wasn’t on watch, she was holed up in her stateroom or the wardroom studying. No one could fault her dedication, but a body could go a little stir crazy with all work and no play, which is why he planned to show her the sights when they pulled into port. When he’d mentioned his plans to Mace and Bryant they’d insisted on coming along, stating Scotland could be the undoing of his career.
“He told you to check the TDU? Man, you’d have to be a kid to hide in there,” one of the other officers commented from the far end of the table.
“Yeah, never believe Hutch. He’ll lead you astray,” Bryant said.
Thanks buddy, Kyle thought. He kicked back in his chair as Bryant focused on Nic, a total one-eighty from how he’d been since they’d lifted anchor. What was his friend up to now?
“So Nic,” said Bryant, “A couple of us are going to catch the train and take a couple of days to explore Glasglow. Want to join up with us? I know this great pub where the owner serves the smoothest whiskey and mouthwatering meat pies.”
What the hell? Bryant pre-empted him? He knew Kyle’s plans and there was no way Kyle was buying his friend was trying to save him from getting in trouble. Bryant was a dog when it came to women. No scratch that. Dogs had more loyalty. Kyle knew damn well Gatlin had been involved, more than once, with women he’d worked with while on shore commands. Now he was going after Nic.
It took everything Kyle had to stay seated. Granted he had no claim on her and if she’d made the moves on his friend, he’d… Okay, he’d still be pissed, but Bryant had been there when they’d met, he knew why Kyle couldn’t or wouldn’t pursue a relationship with Nic.
It was a dick move. You didn’t poach from your friends.
“Wouldn’t happen to be the Hound and the Hare, would it?” Nic replied in response to Bryant’s question about the pub.
“As a matter of fact, it is,” Bryant replied.
“Then count me in. I can never pass up Maggie’s cooking.” Forget nuclear power. Her smile could have fueled the sub for weeks.
The fact she knew of the pub came as no surprise. Every port had that place, the one who catered to the service. Here it was Maggie’s, Bar 57 in La Maddalena and the Horse and Cow in Guam. Some family-run, some classy, some raunchy. All a haven in a foreign land where they were made to feel at home.
The others talked about plans while in port. Some had shopping to do for wives, kids, girlfriends, or families. Others planned on indulging in the local delicacies. A few first-timers planned short excursions. Forty-eight hours didn’t give them much time. Mostly enough to blow off steam, get some fresh air, or get into trouble. Unable to watch Bryant flirt with Nic any longer Kyle pushed away from the table and excused himself.
“Where you off to, Hutch?” Mace asked.
Kyle shot a glance across the table toward Bryant. “Unlike what some think, this isn’t a pleasure cruise. Got work to do.”
His body ached when Nic’s gaze lifted to meet his, when she aimed her smile at him. It wasn’t flirtatious or filled with promises or even one that hinted at their secret past. There were times he’d swear the whole night in Boston had been a figment of his imagination, because Nic treated him no differently than she treated anyone else on board: with casual friendliness and respect. He tried to forget, but the better he got to know her, the harder it became.
Maybe in Faslane he’d grab one of the other guys and they’d head off in a different direction. Go look for Nessie. Fish. Take a dunk in a cold loch. Anything to put some space between him and Nic. While he’d never break the rules or protocol on board the boat, port calls were a different beast and three-minute cold showers just weren’t cutting it anymore.
Once they got back to base he’d be transferring and the temptation would be removed. Find a nice, uncomplicated woman who didn’t put demands on him while he focused on his career. Until then he’d limit his time around Nic, because clearly even in a room filled with people he wasn’t safe from his libido or lust or whatever was ruling his emotions. If anything, it was worse. Watching his buddy hit on her, his blood had boiled and he’d had to fight an urge not to go all caveman.
Yeah, he needed to keep his distance there. The last thing he needed in his life was drama. He had enough of that back home between his mom’s health issues and the dipshit twins’ shenanigans.
A couple of his guys, Petty Officers Wu and Brooks, headed toward him, deep in conversation, laughing.
“Good work on the search today,” Kyle said.
“Thank you, sir,” they both replied, still chuckling.
He eyed them back and forth. Sometimes it was best not to ask and he’d probably regret doing so. “Do I want to know what’s so funny?”
The two looked at each other and burst out in full on belly laughter. Wu had tears streaming down his face as he tried to catch his breath. He shook his head, one arm wrapped around his gut and pointed to Brooks.
Kyle turned his attention to his other guy, expecting the joke of the century at that point.
Brooks took a deep breath, slapped Wu on the back and grinned like an idiot. After a few seconds he got his laughter under control. “We froze the COB’s underwear. Every pair. We snuck them back in right before he returned from the shower. Didn’t know he knew so many swear words in Tagalog.”
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Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, that explains his earlier comment.”
“What was it?” Wu, sober now, looked worried.
“Said he was going to string someone’s balls up in the goat locker. Got the impression he thought it was one of the other chiefs.” A chuckle of his own escaped as he imagined Ronquillo’s reaction to the situation.
“You’re not going to tell him it was us, are you, sir?” Wu shot a look to his buddy, all the color drained from his face.
Couldn’t blame the guy; the COB had the ability to make their life a living hell for the next couple of months.
“Nah. Ronquillo has played his fair share of jokes on others. About time he was the butt of one. A word to the wise. Keep this to yourself for now.”
Both men hustled away and Kyle continued down the passageway to the torpedo room. He didn’t really think the COB would retaliate, but he might stick the two of them on watch while in port or assign them extra field duty scrubbing the heads.
“That’s a pretty steep price. Smitty said he got it for a steal.”
The comment caused Kyle to pause outside the entrance to the torpedo room.
“Now what?” he muttered to himself.
Both of the men inside had their backs toward him and every instinct he had told him whatever negotiation was going down wasn’t going to make him a happy camper.
“Yeah, but he only got a short clip. I’m offering you the full uncut deal and if you like what you see, I can get you more.”
What the hell was Stone involved in? Bootleg videos? Crap, the skipper would have a field day. If there was one thing the old man didn’t tolerate, that was breaking the law. He expected good morale and conduct from all of his men one hundred percent of the time and when you let him down… Well, the CO had no problem going old school. He didn’t tiptoe around and worry about PC bullshit. He saved the political correctness for when they were on land and dealing with the bureaucrats, with his sailors he was one hundred percent Navy.
Love Runs Deep Page 7