by Wade, Cara
Tonight or tomorrow, he would make sure to tell her how much he appreciated her working on the case for him. She had at least that much kindness in her heart, and he was grateful to her for it. For now, he was going to go home and take a well-deserved rest before he had to finish packing.
As it happened, Sam was gone for much of the evening and he was disappointed, but relieved that they didn’t have to make polite conversation when he really just wanted to demand that she explain why she couldn’t love him. Love? Where had that come from. His hand stilled while he was folding one of his shirts.
Did he love her? Yes, he answered himself immediately. He did, absolutely. He loved everything about her, and every new thing that he picked up about her only made her all the more endearing. But what was done was done, he thought, shoving the clothes in the duffle bag to the side to make room for his toiletries.
He had no more time to think about this or he was going to be distracted. Distractions during missions were never good. He had both an attachment and a distraction, but he couldn’t let either bother him. He’d seen how Walter had gotten in trouble with his sole liability, Sam. Now, Jack saw himself in the same situation. It was as if the old man had arranged for this to happen himself. Why, though, he had no idea.
***
Jack loaded his luggage into the back of the ride that was taking him to the airport and gave the house one last glance. He’d said goodbye to Sam who lingered in the kitchen as he got ready to leave. She’d made breakfast and hovered, as if unsure of what role she was supposed to play.
Jack didn’t need her to do anything, but he was glad to see her at least. He sat her down the night before to thank her for working on the case. Jack gave her all the information she might need to contact him, including fellow team members in case something happened with his phone.
“We’re in remote areas sometimes, so try at different times during the day if you need to reach me,” he’d warned her. “And don’t be alarmed if the phone is dead. I might not have a way to charge it or I might have turned it off if I’m not at the base.”
Sam had nodded, but said nothing. She didn’t speak much about the mission and she asked virtually no questions. It took a moment for Jack to realize that it was probably because her father had been on so many, she was used to the routine. Still, he wanted her to show some concern.
Pacing before him, she’d offered a few items from the pantry that he might want to take for snacks. He added them and then turned to find her coming from the bedroom to offer him a travel pillow and other comfort items. He took a few of them gladly and declined the rest.
She was leaning in the doorway now, watching him leave. He opened the door to get into the cab when the driver turned to face him.
“You’re not going to leave her without a kiss goodbye, are you?” His eyes sparkled at Jack.
“Oh, right.” Jack turned look at her. She looked wan and tired. A result of the long hours she was putting in on his behalf. He climbed the steps back up to her.
“Did you forget something? I can go get it,” Sam said straightening.
“Yeah, I did. But you don’t have to go anywhere.” He meant to just lean in for a small kiss, but once his lips touched hers, an overwhelming need came over him and he kissed her deeper and deeper until he felt like he was feasting on her mouth. She responded immediately, as if she was waiting for it. Her arms came around him easily and soon he had her body trapped between the doorway and his own rapidly heating body.
A honk sounded behind him and Sam pulled away first, startled.
“I have to go,” he said. “I’ll call you when I get there. Remember what I said about trying to reach me.” He saw her eyes darken with fear.
Sam wrapped her arms around her middle. “I remember.” She bit her lip and he could tell she wanted to say more. She was probably going to warn him not to shapeshift out there, jeopardizing not only the mission but also the case here.
“I know,” he said. “I’m not going to do it. I know how to control it. Thanks to Walter, actually,” he said with a wry smile.
Sam gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I bet,” she said softly. “He was good at hiding things.”
Jack didn’t know what she meant by that and wanted to press her but another honk sounded behind him. He did have to go if he wanted to check on some of the larger items before the flight. He also had to go help some of the newer team members navigate their first mission.
With a final wave, Jack got into the car and drove off. He looked back to see Sam still standing in the doorway. He watched until she became a spec and even after when she was no longer visible, replaced by miles of changing landscape.
As they neared the airport, Jack touched his lips, her taste still on his mouth. She tasted the same, but something was different. It wasn’t anything they ate, but something deeper. From her essence. He wondered what it could be.
She had responded to his kiss like she was waiting for it. But damn it all, if she wasn’t the most confusing female he’d ever been with. He had Walter to thank for the mess he was in now, he thought drily. The man was right, they were good together. In bed. It seemed to be that out of bed was where their problems began. The solution was obvious, they should never leave the bed, he thought chuckling to himself.
“You two been married long?” the cab driver spoke up, breaking Jack out of his reverie.
“A few months now,” Jack said.
The driver entertained him the rest of the way with his own stories about marriage and misunderstandings. “I’m only telling you this because I know that look she had on her face. I’ve seen it a thousand times on my wife’s face.”
“Oh? And what look is that?” Jack asked.
“She loves you. No matter what you fought about. Forget about it. Being right isn’t more important than being together.”
“You’re right,” Jack murmured. He didn’t know how the older man’s advice was supposed to help him. They hadn’t fought, really. He wasn’t holding an opposing view from her. But he clung to the first words the driver had said. She loves you.
If that were true, Jack would be incredibly happy but also in deep trouble. He had no idea how he would make it through the next six months knowing that Sam loved him. The work she was doing for him was already too much for him, a man used to doing everything himself.
***
“You think that we can get by with defending all the files without knowing all the information in them?” Jonathan flipped idly through one new case file that was handed to him.
“The date for court is scheduled already,” Sam sighed. She shoved her hair out of her face and examined another file that was given to them two days prior. “It’s like they don’t want us to be prepared at all. I’m worried they may ask for all these cases that we have no information about.”
Jonathan nodded thoughtfully. “I’d like to think that they will be more understanding than that. The military hasn’t been forthcoming, hardly our fault. And we’ve tried all the channels. It’s not as if illegally obtained material will stand up in court anyway, so no use beating ourselves up.”
He pushed himself off Sam’s desk and made a circle in her office, flipping impatiently now. “I don’t know about the files you’ve seen but some of these aren’t even worth defending. Look at this one, the guy was caught in another guy’s tent. Doesn’t say what they were doing, just that he was there.” He flipped it closed, a look of disgust on his face.
Sam hoped he didn’t pry into what Jack’s file read. Thus far, he’d been respectful and didn’t ask about it. He left it up to her to sort out and deal with since he was now her husband. Having a personal interest in a case made it meaningful, but the stress levels increased tenfold.
The only problem in this whole scenario is that eventually, he could find out about this if the judge asked her about it in court. And quite likely, he would. She had to tell Jonathan, but she didn’t know how to explain something she herself was ju
st beginning to understand.
As far as she knew, he wouldn’t harm anyone unless he was protecting someone else. She didn’t feel endangered by him, at least not since the first time when she’d run from him. But she was intimidated by it. To explain to someone else...well, it wasn’t easy. She saw now why her father hadn’t done the best job explaining to her.
“Jonathan, I wanted to talk to you about Jack’s file,” she said hesitantly. Then she rose and shut the door to keep out anyone else. “It’s big.”
Jonathan stared at her, “Big, how? Big like he killed a guy or big like he’s a double agent?”
“Neither,” she said. “It’s, uh, unique.”
“Oh, now you got me hooked,” Jonathan said. He settled into a seat across from her desk and craned his neck to look back at her. “I’m waiting for more, unless you’d rather I just read the file.”
Sam walked over to her tote bag where she’d stashed his file since she’d gotten it and withdrew it. “This doesn’t leave this room,” she warned.
“Of course. But that’s contingent on the idea that the judge won’t request more information about what’s being suppressed here.” He thumbed through with a blank look and then his eyebrows rose. “Is this a joke?”
“It’s not,” Sam said flatly. “It’s real. I’ve seen it. And even my father told me about it.”
He gave a low whistle. “I don’t even know if I know what that means, to be honest.”
“It means he’s human, mostly. He just has this other side to him. Anyway, wrong place, wrong time, right intentions, and now a decade later he has to make sure the world doesn’t find out about it.”
Jonathan frowned as he read the papers intently. “Is there more to this?”
“No, not that I know of. I just have this file.”
“So every account you’ve heard matches this file?” Jonathan prodded her.
“Yes,” she came to peer over his shoulder. “What do you see missing?”
“Well, for starters, it doesn’t say why they had to have it suppressed. Was he being threatened?”
Sam straightened to rub her belly with one hand and her lower back with the other. She wasn’t quite showing yet, but she was expanding and the pain was getting to her whenever she wore her heels. “Hmm, well, no. The story I got was that they, meaning Jack and my father, took preventative measures in case it became anything big.”
Jonathan looked up at her, “Your father must have known someone would try to get ahold of this information at some point. This doesn’t look like standard protocol for something.”
“He’s a shapeshifter!” Sam said in exasperation. “Isn’t that reason enough?”
“Sure, but he did save an officer’s life, and nobody has seen him use his skills before or after. If you ask me, your father knew they would try to exploit him. Force him into missions, using him as a weapon of sorts. Your father was trying to protect him.”
Sam took the folder from him and thought about his words. What he was saying made sense. She wanted to kick herself for not seeing it before. She should have trusted Jonathan to look at it earlier.
“Are you pregnant?” Jonathan asked bluntly.
Sam gave him a sharp look. “Yes, how—”
“You didn’t tell him, did you?” His gaze was knowing.
“You’re a little too good at what you do,” Sam quipped. “I have my reasons.”
“Well, you two make quite the pair what with all those secrets you have.” He studied her carefully, “You know you can let me know if you need anything, right?”
Sam flashed him a grateful smile, “I know, thank you.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll do it for you, but…” he trailed off laughing when she hit him playfully with the folder.
“How long will Jack be gone for anyway?” He eyed her midsection. “And how far along are you now?”
“Six months, and I’m right at two months now.”
“Cutting it close,” he said sympathetically. “We have less than a month until this case is all over, so at least that will be one less stress for you to deal with.”
“Right, but that depends on the outcome of it.” Sam said, feeling anxious once again.
“You don’t worry about that,” Jonathan said. “Now that I have something to go on, I’m going to make it my mission to make sure that these files go nowhere. Jack and that guy,” he jerked his thumb to the file he had been mocking earlier, “will sleep peacefully again.”
“I hope so,” Sam said with a chuckle. “What do you plan on doing?”
“I think it would do us good for me to go pay the new officer in charge a visit.” Jonathan said. “He definitely knows something. And out of the files that we’ve seen, Jack’s is the only one that could potentially do any damage.”
“If you’re going, so am I,” Sam said rushing to get her purse.
“Whoa, do you think that’s a good idea? I can go and let you know what I found out. I think it’s safer if you stay here.”
“Safer? Do you think he’s dangerous?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him.
“I don’t know what to think, but I know Jack’s dangerous and I’m not about to let his wife go marching into this guy’s office when he’s the one pushing for her husband to be exposed to the public.” Jonathan said firmly.
Sam gave a laugh at this. “Jack’s hardly dangerous.”
“Oh, have you seen the missions he’s been on? He’s hailed as one of the riskiest SEAL members and he’s known for taking any risk that comes his way. His nickname changes according to how many missions he’s been on. Currently dubbed ‘38 lives’ on his military chart.”
Sam’s heart stopped. She didn’t speak for a moment. She did consider that he might not return, but she hadn’t considered it seriously. She just worried that he might get hurt. But just like she hadn’t expected her hearty father to fall ill, she didn’t think Jack would ever find himself in a vulnerable position. But thirty-eight missions? Sam looked at Jonathan. “I’m going with you.”
Something in her tone made him back down. He considered her words for a moment and put his hands up. “Your call. But let me start it off, please. I don’t want him antagonizing you. He’s definitely that kind of guy.”
Sam nodded and they filed out together. Calling for a ride to the offices as they went down the elevator, Sam listened as Jonathan highlighted key issues he wanted the man to address.
“What if he won’t see us? It’s not like we have an appointment,” Sam fretted.
“Once he knows who we are, he’ll talk to us. People like him love attention and he’s probably been waiting for us.” He looked at her curiously. “Did he ever come by when your dad was in the hospital?”
“No, never,” Sam answered immediately. “I would have remembered him. I kept a little log in the room for people to sign when they came in to write thank you notes to them later, but he wasn’t on there. And if he did visit, he never signed the book.”
“He wouldn’t have come,” Jonathan said waving his hand dismissively. “He just wants us to come to him. He definitely knows about Jack.”
Sam thought about Jack doing so many reckless missions and shuddered. Was he still throwing caution to the wind or was he being more careful? From what he had told her, he was mostly supervising. But once an adrenaline junkie, always an adrenaline junkie. She knew Jack wasn’t one to sit on the sidelines for any reason.
***
Squinting across the field, Jack saw a man in the distance climbing the craggy rocks that ran along the side of the mountain. He wasn’t a local, but he also wasn’t part of their team. Immediately Jack was on high alert. He looked back to see one of his youngest team members waiting for instruction.
Motioning for him to be quiet, Jack sat motionless, pressed up against the side of a ledge that hid him well, so he wasn’t concerned about himself. He was more concerned that his team might be found and shot before they could get a chance to identify or defend themselves. He had wanted to go out
alone to investigate, but protocol mandated that he take at least two others with him whenever he went out. Safety in numbers was more of a liability in his opinion. He’d worked the field alone for far too long, it was difficult for him to switch gears and work with others. None of them could really protect him, he knew that. That’s why he’d gained such a fearlessness. Those around him constantly looked to him for direction even when he wasn’t the one in charge.
His eyes darted to find his other man. He was tucked into some bushes several yards away from Jack. Jack only noticed when the bushes moved unnaturally when the wind had fallen still. He gritted his teeth. If these guys weren’t more careful, they would all be killed.
He stared hard into the bush and signaled for both of them to wait. If the two men with him weren’t so new and unpredictable, he would have stealthily made his way closer to the man that was hiding ahead of them. Instead he opted to lure the man out. In an open field, his options were limited. It wasn’t a method he liked to take because of the potential risks, but it was either that or wait until the other man signaled for more back-up of his own. As it was, he probably only knew about Jack’s man in the bush.
Using that information as his only guide, Jack thought quickly and found the fake grenade that he carried with him. He hurled it as far as he could from the opposite direction of where his man in the bush was hunkered down. That should do it.
Sure enough, there was a scuffle and a cloud of dust rose up as the man scrambled to scoot away from the toy. While he was distracted, Jack saw his chance to move from his position and gain an advantage. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw the bushes move again and his man came out charging towards the stranger. Cursing under his breath, Jack looked back to make sure the other man was still down. He motioned for him to cover for him as he went towards the scuffle.
Gun cocked, he darted and rolled behind another large rock, peering over the top. Where was he? He couldn’t see either man, then he spied his own presumably searching for the stranger. Then he saw the man approaching him from directly in front of him. He was slithering on his belly towards the SEAL like the snake that he was, Jack thought angrily.