Invisible: An Alpha Company Military Romance

by Beth Abbott

  But what the hell point was there in that sort of thinking? It wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t let it.

  Invisible!

  Right!

  Ellen felt the tears build up behind her eyes, and forced them away. It was no good crying over what you couldn’t change. She hadn’t allowed herself to cry in, well, 3 years, 5 months and 4 days. There was no point.

  “Hey Ell? Where do you want me tonight?” Suzy yelled from the staff room as she yanked the big fleece she was wearing over her head.

  “Can you cover the engagement party upstairs with the twins?” Ellen yelled back. “The function room is all set up, but there’s a big group, so we’ll have to get the bar upstairs opened. One of the twins will have to cover the bar as well.”

  “Yeah, no problem.” She yelled, pulling her boots off and slipping her flats on. “But you’d better put Mark on the bar if G wants the till to balance. Chris can’t add up past ten unless he’s wearing flip-flops.”

  “Screw you! I heard that!” Chris yelled from the linen closet at the back of the laundry.

  “You were meant to, big boy!” Suzy’s laughter had them all smiling.

  Chris and Mark were nineteen-year-old twins, who were in their second year at university. Smart as hell, they were both headed for big things, but it was a well-known fact that Chris, currently studying politics and current affairs, was awful with numbers. Add a pretty girl or two into the mix, and his head (the big one) would definitely not be on what was going into the till.

  Mark was a completely different kettle of fish. He was completely focused at whatever he did, had mad IT skills, and had made it clear that he had no time for girls. He had his life mapped out, and this was a stepping stone. He was going to be the next Steve Jobs!

  Ellen had a soft spot for both, but she could relate to Mark better. Keeping your head down was what she did well, and although their reasons were different, she felt a connection to him.

  Still, they were just boys. Almost a decade younger, they were like her kid brothers, and that was fine with Ellen. She wasn’t looking to attract men into her world. It just wasn’t safe.

  As they all got to work, it wasn’t long before the doors got unlocked, and soon there was a steady flow of customers making their way through the doors. The engagement party upstairs was in full swing, and downstairs Ellen was being kept busy with a few large family groups, as well as the usual complement of couples, out on a romantic date.

  They tried to keep the two groups apart as the families were generally noisier. A wicker screen and some cleverly placed plants kept one group of tables fairly private, and they’d had quite a few marriage proposals happen in the restaurant over the years.

  Being the romantic that he was, G always gave a bottle of champagne to the newly engaged couples, so they could celebrate properly. Ok, so it wasn’t Dom Perignon, but it was a sweet gesture anyway.

  It was about nine-thirty and the night was actually going quite quickly, when the door opened and a man-mountain of a guy came in, wearing a big overcoat to keep out the cold.

  G welcomed him, and took his coat, guiding him over to a quiet corner table.

  Ignoring the seat that G offered, the guy moved to take a seat with his back to the wall, and lowered his big frame into the chair. Being a welcoming host as always, G smiled, ignoring the snub, and offered him a menu.

  Watching the interaction from the back, Ellen saw them exchange a few words, before G walked away, leaving the man looking over his choices.

  “Wow! Intense!” G whispered as he came up to her. “Can you see to him?” He nodded his head toward the corner.

  “What’s the deal?” She looked over to the giant.

  “No clue, but he doesn’t speak, he growls!” G muttered. “I think he’s going for the dark and dangerous vibe.”

  “Ok, I’ve got it.” Ellen nodded, inwardly groaning.

  Just as the night was going so well!

  Picking up her pen, she glanced across at the new-comer. He was big all right, and kind of rough looking. He could be military, she thought, although his dark hair wasn’t regulation by any means. It fell just below the collar of his button down black shirt, but was still pretty tidy, as though it had once been a short cut that was only just growing out.

  Checking other diners as she passed, and making small talk with a few of the regulars, Ellen made her way slowly towards his table. As soon as she saw him look up from the menu and glance around for service, she took the last few steps to his table.

  “Good evening, sir. Are you ready to order?” She offered a twitch of her lips in place of a genuine smile. Ellen didn’t make eye contact – she never did with strangers. She just waited for him to speak.

  And waited, and waited…

  Eventually, the silence was too much and she glanced up at him.

  He was staring straight at her, and she got the feeling he had been deliberately waiting for her to look up.

  As she did, her breathing stopped.

  For seconds, she was absolutely transfixed.

  His left eye was what caught her attention. It was split down the middle, half blue and half black. It was quite stunning!

  But what was more shocking, was the fact that whilst she didn’t know this man from Adam, she’d seen this exact same eye before!

  And when she had last seen the man it belonged to, he was staring straight at her.

  And he was dead!

  3 years, 5 months and 4 days ago!

  Chapter 3 - Luke

  Luke almost smirked. She’d seen his eye, and almost stepped back.

  God, how many times had he had this reaction, from women and men alike?

  But he was too tired to react or even care, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get into it with anyone tonight. He’d been travelling for too long and was utterly exhausted, so the last thing on his mind was conversation.

  Huh, he almost grunted aloud. He was never one to welcome conversation at the best of times, but even more so today. He was here for a reason, wild goose chase as it might be.

  He was here to find someone, and he didn’t have much time.

  “Soup, steak, well done, and a beer.” He clipped out, bringing the waitress out of her trance.

  “Sorry?” She mumbled, obviously still distracted by his eye.

  He frowned, his brows pulling together.

  “Soup, a well-done steak and a beer.” He drawled slowly, as though he was talking to a half-wit.

  “Oh!” The waitress jumped back, startled, as if only just realising she’d been staring like an idiot.

  “Of course.” She started scribbling frantically. “Would you like a sauce for your steak? We have….”

  “Plain, no sauce. No salad. Just chips.” He interrupted rudely, barking the instruction at her.

  He watched as her eyebrows raised slightly. She didn’t appear cowed by his bossy manner, which in itself was unusual, but he could tell that she obviously considered him rude.

  “Certainly, Sir.” She said, taking the menu, and backing away.

  He watched as she headed back towards the kitchen.

  He was a pig, a bully, some may say, barking at a poor waitress like that, but he was tired and frustrated. This was just another restaurant in another town, and he’d been doing this for far too long.

  Searching.

  He sat back and poured himself a glass of water from the jug on the table.

  He’d been back to this area quite a few times in the last few years.

  Every time he’d been on leave from the army, and in the years since, he’d taken the time to come up here and search, but so far with no success.

  Looking for a woman. Hah, that was a joke!

  And what was his search based on? An intercepted telephone call, and a grainy picture from a CCTV camera in a London bus depot, taken almost three and a half years ago.

  Easy, right?

  That would be a ‘Hell No!’ If it was easy, he wouldn’t have wasted all this
time doing it.

  3 years, 5 months and 2 days to be precise.

  Luke had been in Afghanistan, half way through his fourth tour, when the call had come through.

  Luke closed his eyes, the taste of vomit rising unmistakably in his mouth. He remembered everything like it was yesterday.

  Dragged from his bed after only an hour of sleep, he’d gone along to the tent where all the communications equipment was housed.

  His Captain was sitting at the head of the table where he usually sat, but the rest of the room was almost empty. A few men in uniform sat at the opposite end of the room, their ever-present headsets firmly attached to their ears, but apart from the occasional mumbling into a mouthpiece, the tent was as quiet as Luke had ever known it. Unnaturally quiet.

  “Luke?” The Captain waved him over. He’d known Jon Thornton for ten years, served with him for most of that time, except for the odd occasions when one of them had been seconded out for other missions. ‘Captain Sensible’ was his name amongst the men that served under him, a sign of respect for the level-headed way he dealt with everything, even under extreme duress.

  Rank aside, the man was one of his closest friends.

  “S’up Cap?” Luke grinned. “Missed my ass so much you just had to drag it out of bed? Hell, I was only gone for three days!”

  Yeah, three long, dry, dusty as shit days, in the mountains of hell!

  He held his arms out…. “Well, pucker up then…”

  The lack of come-back was the first indication that something was wrong. He and JT gave each other shit. That was just what they did, at least when there were no subordinates around.

  JT wiped a hand across his face, his eyes shut tight.

  Luke waited. This was bad. Really fucked-up bad!

  “What the fuck man? Are the team still out there?” Luke was trying to figure out what could have put that pained look on his friend’s face. Had something gone down with his team?

  They’d been split into two groups, and what with more and more IED’s taking out the coalition convoys, anything could have happened….

  “Nah, man. The team’s good. Got back just after you bunked down.” JT sighed.

  “Then spit it the fuck out, man!” Luke hadn’t stopped worrying. “You look like someone just ran over your dog.”

  The silence stretched out for a few more seconds, with Luke dreading what might come out of JT’s mouth. Was it his mum? He’d spoken to her last week, and she’d been a bit under the weather, but he hadn’t detected anything serious in her complaint. It was just the flu, wasn’t it?

  It felt like minutes had passed, before JT suddenly pulled in a breath and faced him.

  “I just had a call from London. The police, in London, to be exact.” JT paused, as if not sure how to carry on.

  “Luke, it’s your brother.”

  Luke blew out a breath.

  “Casey? What the hell has he got himself into now?” Luke groaned.

  Casey was Luke’s twin brother, his other, more adventurous, half, and until nine months ago, he’d been his brother in arms as well.

  Casey had been hit by shrapnel when a car had exploded during a routine patrol, and he’d suffered damage to one eye.

  Unable to consider a desk job, he’d agreed to a medical discharge when it became clear that his eyesight was so badly damaged in his ‘normal’ eye, that he’d be ineffective on the front line.

  He’d gotten himself a security job in London last time Luke had spoken to him, rehearsing for when they all got out and set up their own business. At least that was the plan!

  So, who the hell knew what Casey could have been caught doing?

  He’d teased him last time they’d spoken, that ‘doing recon’ was just another way of saying you were being a peeping Tom.

  Shit! Had Casey been arrested for looking in some poor woman’s window? Luke almost smirked at the idea.

  “Luke, he’s dead.” JT said quietly, looking Luke straight in the eye. “I’m so sorry.”

  Luke wanted to laugh. He wanted to punch his friend in the face for pissing about. But the look on JT’s face told him that he wasn’t joking.

  Luke felt the bile rise into his mouth at the same time his bones disappeared from his legs. Shit, he was going to faint. Or vomit. Or both! It was like a race to see which happened first.

  What the fuck?

  His mind was a mass of white-noise, like the hiss of a TV channel with no signal. If JT was talking to him, he didn’t know it, couldn’t hear it above the racket going on in his head.

  NO, NO, NO! This couldn’t be happening. Casey was his brother, his best friend, his mirror image. He was too God-damned mean to die for Christ’s sake! There had to be a mistake. Had to! FUUCCKKK!

  “Luke! Man, it’s me!” JT said, his mouth close to Luke’s ear, his hand firmly gripping Luke’s bicep. “Come back to me, soldier!”

  Luke jerked upright. He hadn’t even realised that his body had started to collapse in on itself.

  “How?” He managed to whisper. “How did it happen?”

  “There’s no easy way to tell you this.” JT grasped his upper arm tighter, as if preparing to have to hold him back.

  “He was murdered.”

  The vomiting won!

  Chapter 4 - Ellen

  As she carried the steaming hot soup to the table she watched her customer very closely. He was definitely military, she thought, given the way he’d barked those orders at her.

  But something was strange about him.

  She’d taken the beer to him first, along with the soup spoon and steak knife, ready for his starter and main course. He’d barely even breathed, let alone acknowledged her. He seemed to be in a trance, yet as she’d watched him from her spot at the server’s station, she’d seen his face take on a look of anguish, almost as if someone was causing him physical pain as she looked on.

  By the time she was ready to take his first course over, he’d seemed to have settled a bit, but she’d watched him take a paper out of his pocket and unfold it, and he was studying it intently now.

  As she got closer, she could see he was looking at a road map. It looked like a street map of the town and surrounding area.

  That was odd in itself, she thought, as most people used the map app on their phones these days, but as she got closer, she could see writing and notations all over the map, and it was well creased, like it had been refolded a hundred times.

  “Sir?” She said quietly as she reached the table.

  As he glanced up at her again, the look on his face was questioning, as if he couldn’t figure out why she might be interrupting him.

  “Could you move your map, please, so I can put the soup down?”

  She wasn’t sure if he’d comply or shout at her at first, but as if a switch was clicked, he suddenly came back to life, and gathered the map up, folding it carefully and laying it to one side.

  “Yeah, sure. Sorry!” He mumbled, looking a little embarrassed.

  “No problem.” Ellen said quietly. “There’s more bread in the basket, and if you’d like anything else, I’ll be around, so just ask. Ok?”

  He looked up at her again, as she readied to turn away, and she could have sworn he was going to ask her something, but then he shook his head.

  “I’m good.” He said, turning his attention to his food.

  Ellen walked away slowly, more than a little confused. Ok, so this man was odd!

  One minute he was barking at her, making him seem like a big, bad bully. Then he’d looked so hurt that she’d almost wanted to hug him. And now he’d turned into Bashful!

  Jeez, the guy had actually blushed!

  But, good God, he was sex on legs!

  There was no mistaking the impressive number of bulging muscles, just about contained under his shirt, or his trousers for that matter!

  She certainly hadn’t come across too many men built like that in her life!

  Admittedly, Ellen had zero experience with men, either in
this life or the previous one, but even she could see that this guy was HOT!

  He’d probably had more women than she’d had cooked breakfasts. Hell, he could probably take two at a time, and keep both of them happy!

  Ellen blushed at the direction her thoughts were taking.

  Men like that weren’t now, nor would they ever be, in the picture for her, so why she was thinking about this particular guy like that was a mystery.

  Since he’d walked in to the restaurant not twenty minutes ago, her mind had wandered to all sorts of places it never went. What was with that?

  And what about his eye?

  She thought back to the other man she’d seen with an eye like that.

  That was a memory she preferred to repress because it frightened her. Because it led to where she was today.

  Invisible!

  She hadn’t known him, had never seen him before that night.

  Her father had gone to his employer’s house to pick up some papers, and had taken her with him as they were supposed to be going to dinner to celebrate Ellen getting her Masters’ degree.

  Dad was so proud of her, and as there was just the two of them, they’d gone out intending to eat at their favourite restaurant, as they’d done for every milestone they reached. Her eighteenth birthday, his fiftieth, her twenty-first and even her graduation, were all celebrated, just the two of them, at Frazelli’s. It was the restaurant he’d taken her mother to so he could propose to her, so it was special to them for so many reasons.

  Neither of her parents had had any extended family, so when her grandparents had died, it had been just the three of them. Her mother’s cancer when Ellen was just eight, had left it as a twosome, and Ellen and her dad had clung to each other for support ever since.

  Her father had been in finance, and had made a very good living, so she’d gone to an elite girl’s school until she was eighteen, and then on to Oxford, just as her father had done before her.

  Rather than ride on his coat tails, so to speak, she had chosen to drop the hyphen from her name, and instead of enrolling as Emma Thomas-Lansing, she’d gone through university as plain Emma Thomas.