Code Name: Ghost

by Natasza Waters

  “How the hell would you know? You’ve never tried.”

  The Commander shook his head. “Don’t have to, Red. I have all I need without having to say ‘I do’. Besides, I like Christmas dinner at your place,” he added, giving him a wink.

  Ghost showed the world a sharp edge, but the Captain knew the heart that beat inside the man was brave, fathomless, and ardent. “Kayla’s single, you want me to fire her, too?”

  The Commander’s head snapped around. “No, you wouldn’t have brought her onboard if you didn’t think she was qualified.”

  Interesting.

  “I’ll see ya later, Red. I gotta date with a shower and a sympathetic woman, preferably at the same time.”

  Kayla’s laughter filtered in as the two men reached the door. The guys were no doubt having fun with her again, and as always, she took it in stride. Ghost adjusted the duffel bag on his broad shoulder, his expression settling into stubborn disapproval.

  “Before you leave for some well-deserved—empathy—I’ll introduce you,” Captain Redding said, putting a hand on Ghost’s shoulder. “They’re your staff before they’re mine.”

  Ghost’s expression shifted, but only enough for him to recognize it. The man had as much subtlety as he did strength and intelligence. Uncle Sam would never let him go willingly because he was the kind of warrior they wanted, devoted to country before anything else, and a killing machine. Women were nothing but a hot, brief diversion to the Ghost. Like his missions, he was in, out and gone. A shame really, Captain Redding thought to himself. Of all the warriors he’d known, the man who needed to fall in the love the most was the man who never would.

  * * * *

  Setting his bag on the ground, Thane nodded his agreement, but with the distinct feeling Red had one-upped him—again. Red’s body might be giving out on him, but despite the physical desertion, his mind could calculate at fifty times the speed of any other man he knew. That’s why he’d always trusted him, and kept a wary eye on him.

  Red slid his security pass through the reader and cracked the door. A waft of chilled air escaped the center as they walked through the short anteroom and into the darkness. The low temperatures kept the equipment cool, and helped the staff remain alert.

  Now he’d have to deal with a damn woman on the roster. He’d managed to chase away the last harpy Red hired, after listening to her incessant ideas and complaints for a month. She demanded to be treated like a man, which wasn’t hard since she looked like one. That didn’t matter to him, but she was more interested in burning her bra and making a liberated stand than doing the job. He groaned inwardly wondering how this one would torment the hell out of him.

  “Commander on deck,” someone barked.

  “At ease, Jamieson,” he ordered, walking toward the people huddled at the far end of the center. With every step, a warning began to sound off in him. Squaring his shoulders, he scanned the entire group, but his eyes skidded to a stop on her. No expression marred her features. She reminded him of a portrait, perfectly still and composed.

  “Gord, Barry and Kayla, I’d like to introduce you to Commander Thane Austen. You’ll be seeing him from time to time. He’s in Command of SEAL Team One, and he’s just returned from deployment,” Red said, standing beside him.

  “Sir, I’m Gordon Baker,” the tall, young man offered, telling him right away Gord was the most social of the three. “This is Barry Olsen.” They both stepped forward.

  “Mr. Baker. Mr. Olsen, welcome to Coronado. Captain Redding says you’re settling in. We’re glad to have you onboard. Apparently, you have quite a lot of experience already. We look forward to that.” They both nodded and stepped back. It felt like too many seconds ticked by, even though only one had passed.

  “Kayla?” Red said, bowing his head a little as if prompting her.

  “Commander Austen.” She nodded, but stood her ground. A small beam of light from a lamp on the console illuminated the others, but she remained in the shadows.

  “Ms. Banks.” He didn’t move. She would come to him. He might as well set the cadence now.

  Although her eyes were dark, they pierced through shadow and into him. The glow from the switches on the console offered enough light to see thick brunette hair falling to her shoulders in a glory of waves. He cleared his throat. “I understand you have years of experience as well, Ms. Banks.”

  “Yes, sir.” Kayla’s voice floated through the darkness, shaking something loose inside him.

  Slowly, she clasped her hands in front of her.

  That wasn’t a gesture of calm. It was protection. “I’m sure everything appears daunting right now, but with time, you’ll learn the way we do things in America.” She took a step into the light, and a fierce but unmistakable sensation shot through him. It wasn’t a bullet, but it ricocheted like one. Holy—fuck.

  “That should take no time at all for a Canadian,” she said, her gaze holding his in an unyielding stare.

  For a second, doubt as to who was in control fluttered uncomfortably into his thoughts. Gord and Barry shuffled. Red clamped down on a grin threatening to bust out on his chops. “I’m sure it won’t.”

  Bold little thing, and instinct told him she could bite, but he could bite a helluva lot harder, she’d learn that quick enough. She wasn’t a SEAL, but she needed to think like one. No woman could do that, especially not one as beautiful as her.

  This woman belonged in silk sheets with warm hands seeking out her swelling feminine curves. Her sensuality flowed around her like undercurrents in deep water. How could this woman understand combat? An unfamiliar staccato in his chest interrupted his internal debate. Long ago, he’d married his call to duty and country, drowning his heart in the middle of the Pacific. Now, after all these years, it rose from the depths of him, and swam hard to surface.

  Questions flashed through his mind as his final thought made him tear his gaze from hers. She was under his command. Shit.

  Chapter Two

  Kayla read the recent downloads from two teams on deployment in Kabul and Panama. Both reports consisted of intelligence information Commander Austen needed to review.

  John nodded at her. “He’s in, you might as well take them to him now.”

  “You say that as if it’s an unsavory task,” she said warily.

  He offered her a shrug. “Can be. Depends—”

  “On?”

  John pulled up his chair and took a quick scan over his shoulder. “I don’t like to make presumptions, but the fact is Commander Austen doesn’t really get on well with the women who work here.” He held the printed copies out to her. “As you can see, you’re the only one.”

  Kayla groaned inwardly. After spending years in a predominantly male profession, she could already assume what was ahead. A long, hard battle of wills to prove she was as good as the rest of the guys. Without squeezing too many brain cells, she knew Commander Austen was a serviceman through and through. She plucked the papers from John and stood up. “Well, wish me luck then.”

  “Captain Redding is in there, too. He won’t let the Commander go too far off course.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  John gave her a sympathetic quirk of his lips. “The Commander deploys a lot. You won’t have to deal with him all the time.”

  Kayla grasped the edge of her dress and gave it a quick tug. Fine, she could do this. The Commander couldn’t be any worse than what she’d already lived through, and that was pretty much a trip through hell.

  Tapping on the door, both men raised their heads. Captain Redding gave her a warm smile.

  Relaxing back in his chair, the Commander’s steely gaze settled on her. “Ms. Banks, what is it?”

  “Commander, two intelligence reports came in from Team Three Delta.” She took a step inside the office, although she hadn’t been invited. “I think you’ll want to look at them.”

  “Why is that?” His gaze surveyed her from head to foot, like a machine scans a bar code.

  He wasn’t w
asting any time testing her. “Because the report from Kabul is in regards to Haji Mulhar. He’s one of—”

  “I know who he is,” the Commander said, sitting up slowly. “Take a seat, Ms. Banks.”

  She approached his desk, noticing she could see through the glass into the ops room. One-way glass. She’d have to remember that before digging for a slipped bra strap.

  She didn’t know what to expect when she’d responded to the post for a job at Coronado. None of them had really expected to get an interview. They were Canadian after all and Gord and Barry were civilians, she had been enlisted. It was a big move, but one she, Barry, and Gord had agreed was the right thing to do.

  The old man with a full head of white hair gave her a fatherly look. Right from the start, Captain Redding offered patience and encouragement, but he was also very much in charge, and she liked that.

  She laid the reports in front of Commander Austen, but he didn’t spare a glance, instead keeping his brilliant blue eyes on her. Intimidation 101. He who looks away first accepts the submissive stance. Submissive wasn’t part of her vocabulary. She swallowed sharply, seeing the long, jagged scar cutting across his cheek. How could a man be this wickedly handsome and a warrior at the same time?

  His low voice seeped into her soul like swirling fog across a quiet lake, causing an unsettled feeling. He was a Commander, all right. Without a word, he commanded everything around him, including the involuntary flutter in her heart. “Team Three Delta sighted Mulhar in a village they infiltrated last night. Their extraction time is two hours. They’re looking for further orders.” A minute grin slipped across his lips. God knows, if he had her under a light, she had to wonder if she’d give it all up to his fierce eyes.

  Trying to knock her off course, he said, “Your employment file practically floats with praise, Ms. Banks.”

  Dominance part two. Try to unsettle your target by changing direction and causing distraction and uncertainty. “Yes, sir, do you have a response for the team?”

  “What was your main desire for wanting to work for this department, Ms. Banks?”

  Desire? He should have used the word purpose. “Because I wanted to challenge my skills. Do you have a response for the team?”

  “Are you being challenged?”

  She straightened in her chair. This wasn’t just a case of having to prove herself, he was going to push her buttons. A sharp quake of fear eclipsed, but she fisted it deep inside her. She liked challenge, not conflict, being in her own personal war for over ten years, she avoided it at all costs. The Commander’s head tilted, drawing a slow glance across her features as if seeing something she didn’t want him to see.

  “You’re starting to, sir.” Her patience dwindling, she held her comments under tight reign. The Commander’s gaze hardened. Had she nudged a block in his resolute foundation? Was he going to fire off into a rage? Because she could do that to a man, break his restraint and turn it to violence. She remained silent, waiting for him to either turn her into a pile of ash or stand down. One movement, one fidget and he’d have her.

  “What would you do, Ms. Banks?”

  Smack that cocky look off your gorgeous face for starters. Her gaze darted away from his with the insolent thought. Bastard. When she looked at him again, his expression warmed a few degrees, but he was still waiting for her response. “Extract without Mulhar.”

  “He’s on the top twenty list of wanted men, Ms. Banks.”

  “Yes sir, however, the team have located the three missing Americans from the embassy. A delay could cause that mission to fail. They know where Mulhar is. He’ll remain in the area, thinking his location is safe, if they don’t acknowledge him. You can send a second squad in to recover him.”

  Commander Austen nodded once, slowly. “Do that, Ms. Banks.” She rose to see Captain Redding give her a wink. One step from the door and freedom the Commander said, “Ms. Banks?”

  She turned, steadying herself for the warning shot he was about to fire across her bow.

  “Your record is very impressive.”

  Huh?

  Commander Austen rose and strode toward her, stopping only inches away. Was this intimidation again? Looking at him meant stretching her neck back. She waited. Standing her ground, she ignored the sensation of quicksand replacing the floor beneath her feet. Breathing was impossible with him so close. Did this man ever laugh or was he as tainted by life as her? The small creases around his eyes told her he might, and she wondered what he looked like when he dropped the walls warfare had built around him.

  A muscle flickered in his jaw as he gazed at her with his striking eyes—the eyes of a predator. “You’ll have to prove yourself. I’m not taking flourished observations and compliments from another source.”

  The alpha male was so damn predictable.

  “Bring me the response before you send it.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll do it now.”

  * * * *

  The Commander stood staring at the empty doorway, the echo of her presence remaining in the room with him. When the smooth skin of her cheeks flushed and her eyes dilated under his gaze, his own body had gone taut in response. His subconscious recognized something in her eyes, but it wasn’t registering. She made him edgy, and he didn’t like edgy.

  He’d been home a week, and instead of taking a break, he came in to work until Kayla finished her rotation. She had three days off, and that’s all he took as well. Today was her first day back. Before he’d removed his cap this morning, his eyes were seeking her out. Even her body movements unsettled him. Red mentioned she was a half-blood aboriginal from a tribe in northern British Columbia. His team’s Master Chief, Mason Briggs, was part Cherokee. Raised in Arizona, Mason retained a close connection with his roots. He wondered if Kayla did the same.

  Knowing Red wouldn’t be in for another thirty minutes, he found her file and scoured the contents. Numerous letters of commendation accompanied it. The first thing his eyes sought out was her marriage status—single. Like him, she’d joined the Canadian Navy at seventeen. What surprised him was she was a commissioned officer, a lieutenant. Then on her own time achieved a bachelor’s degree, majoring in child psychology, yet she had no children.

  Why would a woman who seemed to have a stable foundation pick up her roots and move to the U.S.? It didn’t make sense. Being strikingly beautiful and single didn’t make sense, either. There was no way she could have the abilities listed in her personnel file, and it was a long list from extensive knowledge in military technology to strategic combat analyzes, the three pages blew his mind.

  Taking a break from dissecting her accomplishments, he raised his gaze to watch her. A Navy SEAL sees a lot of bad in his life, but he’s also given moments of serenity. Many times, he watched the sea as she changed from a soul swallowing blue to fire, under a setting sun. That’s what Kayla reminded him of, a creature with inspiring beauty on the outside, but on the inside—what the hell was on the inside?

  “Don’t think you’ll be running her off any time soon,” Red said, drawing him back to the present. “At least not like the last five who transferred because of you.”

  “I could kill you for this,” he grumbled, taking the few steps back to his desk.

  Red coughed out a laugh. “Any particular reason why?”

  “I think you damn well know why.”

  Red shrugged innocently. “Something I missed.”

  “Who was on the board with you when you hired her?”

  “Commander Masters.”

  “He’s a skirt-chasing prick.”

  Red’s brows rose, but he didn’t say, ‘Like you?’ “And—Captain Sheer and Lieutenant Law.”

  Law was Team Three’s lieutenant. Sheer worked with BUD/S in the training department. Both solid guys. “What did they think of her?”

  Red gave him a resigned look. “She’s here, isn’t she? We didn’t cut her any breaks, Ghost. She stood on her own two feet.” Red jerked his head. “See something in her file you didn�
�t like?”

  Crap.

  A knowing smile swept across Red’s face. “She’s solid, intelligent, and a team player. Kayla’s been Navy all her life. You want to paint paradigms, go ahead, but even Masters struck out already.”

  “What?” His attention pinned itself on his mentor. “What do you mean?”

  “First week she was here, he came sniffing around.”

  Figures, the guy was married and had three kids, but it didn’t stop him from spreading any woman’s legs. Of all the SEALs, he and Masters had always had a tense working relationship. Most women liked his alpha male routine, no doubt Kayla would, too. “And?”

  “And—she politely shot him down, in flames.”

  Relief washed through him. The woman had a good sense of character. Swiveling, he watched Kayla return to John’s side. The flourish of her knee-length skirt swept against an ass that made him swallow deeply. The other night the redhead had seen to all his needs, but the sexual angst he was feeling wasn’t nearly gone. Damned if Kayla’s face hadn’t flashed in his mind at the most inopportune time.

  Instead of the sway of long red locks against his bare chest, thick brunette curls brushed through his mind. Gripping thin, cool hips, his imagination filled his hands with full, warm, olive skin.

  Dammit anyway. He yanked open his middle drawer, rifling through it. Maybe a brunette? Plucking a card with a woman’s swirling script, he stared at it. Vanessa. Vanessa who? Did it really matter? Tossing the card back in with all the others, he slammed the drawer closed.

  He eyed the man responsible, or at least the man he was going to blame for hiring Kayla.

  “Problem?” Red goaded.

  He was definitely buying Red the ugliest sweater he could find next Christmas.

  * * * *