by Leslie North
“Mr. Jackelson?”
Gage shook himself out of his mood—he’d been starting to frown. He had to watch that. They’d talked it over and all had agreed that busting in here with questions might not get them far. They needed intel, meaning they needed to get inside this place and poke around. Which was why he was here. With his shirt off.
“It’s Lieutenant.” The correction came out automatically but quiet. Not like he was in uniform so she’d know. “Lieutenant Jackelson or Gage.”
She nodded, but the smile looked forced now. “Lieutenant, it would be nice if you seemed a bit less—”
“Stiff?” Gage offered a smile.
“Uncomfortable. Why don’t you tell us a story or describe something in detail?”
“Like a first date?” He was enjoying watching her blush.
That wide mouth of hers tightened. “How about instructions for changing a tire? Or talk about SEAL training. The point is to stop thinking about what you’re doing.”
And how my shirt’s missing. Gage realized that she was right. He needed to get out of his head. He needed to stop thinking about why he was really there. He wasn’t going to search the place any time soon, but he had a great view to check security and access for later.
He already knew Nick’s Natalie was linked to the place.
Natalie hadn’t shown up for Nick’s funeral or his wake. They were still trying to track her down in the hopes that she might know more about why Nick was dead. A photo on the cover of a book had led them here—and Gage lost the toss of the draw for the initial recon.
As soon as he’d walked in the door, he’d been mistaken for a cover model—and that was too good an opportunity to turn down. He’d played it that he could use the extra cash, but now he wondered if he should have just broken in after hours.
“Lieutenant?” That husky, sexy voice snapped him out of his thoughts again. He looked at Anna and found the blue eyes starting to sizzle with irritation. “If this is too much for you—”
Holding up his hand, Gage stopped her. “I got it. A story.” He stared at her.
Eyebrows lifting, she asked, “What’s it like being a SEAL?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know what it’s like not being one.”
“You started young.” “We all start young—it’s not a game for old guys.” “A game?”
“When you’re out on a mission, you tend to look at it as something to be conquered. It’s win and lose, and losing is not an option. It’s also fun. You jump out of airplanes and helicopters, swim in some of the worst ocean currents, you’re freezing, you’re sweating, and you hike some incredibly dangerous terrain.”
“And when you have time off?”
He crooked the corner of his mouth. “Some of us have been known to go looking for trouble. Or trouble finds us.”
“Which brings you here.” She started snapping photos. “Keep going. You do this alone?”
“Hell, no. You’re a team. We’re a team.”
She looked up from her camera and asked, “And what are they like, your team? Go ahead and move as you talk, you don’t have to stand still.”
He nodded. And stayed where he was, arms crossed. “Well...my team leader...fancies himself a bit of a ladies’ man. He’s got more ex-whatevers spread across this beautiful country than I have teeth, but he’s damn good at his job. Our sniper.”
“Your what?” She straightened and frowned. “You want to hear this?” he asked. She nodded and dove behind the camera again. “Go on.”
“He’s...well, he’s like the typical red head. A hot head, except in action he is one cool dude.”
Anna grabbed the camera and circled around him. “Linda, bring in a hat.”
Gage lifted his eyebrows. A hat? Linda grinned at him and put a straw Stetson on his head. She gave him a wink.
From behind her camera, Anna asked in that deep voice of hers, “What about you, Lieutenant? Are you a heart breaker, too?
Gage pulled down the Stetson to a better angle. “My expertise is things that go boom. Not something most women like to hear.”
She pulled the camera down and frowned. “Why?”
He glanced at her from under the brim of the Stetson. “Would you want to get that phone call if I screw up and am coming home in pieces?”
Her frown deepened, but she brought her camera up and snapped more pictures. He couldn’t imagine what she must see. He’d learned how to hide just about everything, but he also knew even the best had small tells—little twitches or shadings that gave away what you felt. And he thought about Nick—Nick who had been sent home in a box.
Why hadn’t Natalie shown up for her new husband’s funeral?
Anna broke into his thoughts again. “So what’s it’s really like being a SEAL? Do you guys get special treatment—I mean special forces and all that?”
He frowned. Did she really want to know—and why was she asking all the questions? He crossed his arms again. Linda dashed over, yanked off the hat and pushed a sword into his hands. “Seriously?” he asked her. She shrugged.
Anna glanced at him. “SEAL? Talking? Come on, Gage, we’re cooking now.” She gave him a grin that had him wanting to tell her just about anything.
“Okay, yeah, it’s different. Doesn’t matter what your rank is—an ensign could be in charge of a team of officers, something that’s been known to piss off some of the brass.”
“Okay, there’s a story there.” Anna motioned to Linda. “Swap the sword for a gun.” Gage liked that better. A weapon in his hand felt natural. “Story?” Anna reminded him.
“It’s not much of one. Happened on a practice maneuvers. Some admiral had been bragging about his time as a SEAL, and our CO offered him a chance to sit in on one of our runs. Our lowest ranked SEAL was running our team and we were one man short.”
Gage stopped, glanced at the fake gun in his hand. One man short—that’s how they were again now. He looked up. “We got the admiral, and it was like a wrench in cogs. We were losing, so Nick...our ensign, gets an idea that ends with the admiral covered in sludge that might be hazardous, meaning he gets naked and scrubbed and hosed down fast. He was not a happy admiral, but there was not a damn thing he could do about it.”
Gage watched for reactions to the mention of Nick’s name—he hadn’t mentioned anyone else before. He was going to go with neither of these two knowing Nick—they grinned and smiled, just like Nick was still alive.
But he wasn’t. And Natalie was missing. So how did he drop her name into things?
Grab your copy of Shooting The SEAL (Saving The SEALs Book One) from
www.LeslieNorthBooks.com