Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (44 page)

“I’ll stand in the hallway like an idiot and
talk on the phone if I have to.”

She walked to the door and pressed her hand
against it. Peering in the eyehole, she saw he was doing the same
thing. “Start talking.”

“Kayla—” His forehead leaned against the
wood. “I guess I deserve this.”

Toeing the tile in her entry, she shrugged
to herself. In a quiet voice, she said, “The guys need to be with
their families, and you need to go on a mission. Why don’t you call
Libby? Say good night, Commander.” She hung up the phone before
giving him the chance.

* * * *

Thank God this was her last shift and she
had four days off. She was exhausted, and all she wanted to do was
go home and fall into bed, but each night she spent reading,
listening for every sound, she hadn’t gotten used to living in the
Landing. Shivering, the air conditioning turned the ambient air to
meat locker cold, and she wrapped her sweater tightly around her
shoulders.

“Kayla, what if I come over after work and
stay with you tonight?” Gord said, laying a hand on her shoulder.
“You’ve got a spare room.”

She gave him a tired smile. “No, I don’t
want you guys anywhere around me right now.” Gord and Barry had
both offered several times already. She was so bloody tired she
couldn’t stop the tears, and they simply gushed from her eyes.

“Kayla, come on, it’s going to be all
right,” he said, wrapping her in his tall, lanky frame. He rested
his chin on the top of her head. “They’re going to catch him. You
just have to hang on a little longer,” he whispered.

Her whole body shuddered with the
overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, and she let go, soaking his
shirt, her body heaving with sobs.

Gord’s grasp lightened. “She’ll be all
right. She just needs to stop worrying about making sure everyone
else isn’t worrying,” he said to someone who walked up behind
them.

Another hand grasped her arm and gently
turned her as Gord stepped away. “Kayla,” Thane’s voice said
softly, “Sweetheart, please let me take you home with me tonight.
You need to sleep, and I can see you haven’t been.”

She obviously hadn’t emptied the pond,
because her tears continued to splash from her eyes. Thane held her
against his strength, and she hung onto him because she simply had
nothing else. His warmth gave her the few seconds respite she
needed. “I’ll be fi—,” the words catching in her throat. “I’m
sorry, Commander, I’ll get it together.”

She tried to step away, but he held her
tighter and rested his cheek against her head. “I know you will
be—in my arms. You have every right to hate me, but you don’t
understand. I’ll always protect you, Kayla, because I—”

“Commander, I have some paperwork for you to
sign before the end of the day,” Karen said, stepping into
view.

Kayla quickly turned her head away from the
young girl, embarrassment washing through her.

“Oh! Poor Kayla. It can’t be easy dealing
with the thought someone’s going to kill you, and he’s never missed
yet.”

“Miss Harrison,” the Commander’s voice
rumbled like two tectonic plates coming together. “Put the
paperwork on my desk, and then clear out yours. Your position here
is terminated.”

“What?” she squawked. “Commander, I—”

“Gord, call security have them escort Miss
Harrison from the base.”

“Yes, sir.”

The quick click of Miss Harrison’s heels
left them, but not before she muttered, “Arrogant bastard. What
does he want with a bitch like her?”

Thane’s chest muscles flexed and she
tightened her grip.

“Come on, we’re going home.” He reached down
and picked up her bag, giving Gord a quick nod. “She’ll be safe,
and—” He paused. “I’m not a bad cook. She’s been making my team fat
all week. Now it’s her turn.”

Gord planted one on her cheek. “Love ya,
Kayla, be good.”

She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes
as the Commander kept his arm around her and led her from the
center. He paused in the door to his office. “We’re heading home,
Red. Kayla’s had enough, I want her to rest.”

Captain Redding crossed the room with a
sympathetic smile on his lips. “He’ll take good care of you, Kayla.
I wouldn’t trust my best girl with just anyone.”

Her tears found a completely new reservoir
when the captain squeezed her tightly in an all-encompassing,
protective hug, like a real father would.

The Captain rubbed his thumbs across her
cheeks and gave the Commander a worried glance. “Ghost, I need to
talk to you.”

Thane followed him into the office, and the
Captain gave her a wink. “I’ll give him back in a second,” then
closed the door. She headed for the bathroom to splash some cold
water on her face.

* * * *

“What’s going on, Red?”

Red let out a long breath. “Listen, I just
took a call while you were in the ops room. HQ wants your squad out
in the field. A woman who’s been working for us in Panama was
keeping tabs on Chico Lemas. She’s disappeared, and they’re pretty
sure he’s got her. You remember him?”

“Yeah. We should have buried the fucking guy
years ago.”

“Well, he’s switched from just drug running
to supporting a cell planted in Panama City. He’s providing them
with money, a lot of it.”

He glanced at the floor, his jaw tightening.
“I’ll send Team Three.”

Red’s eyes widened with surprise. “They want
your team. The extraction is going to be hot and heavy. She’s being
held in the jungle fifty clicks from the city. There’s plenty of
reinforcements and sympathetics who’ll help, just to kill off a few
Americans.”

“Team Three has good men,” he said stiffly,
but wavering at the same time.

“You’re not listening, Ghost. They want you
to lead the mission.”

He raised his eyes to meet Red’s and bit
down hard with indecision. “When do they want us to deploy?”

Red crossed his arms. “Tonight.”

He closed his eyes, the warrior speaking
louder in his head. It held more ground, simply because it had been
in him longer.

Red shook his head. “You’re the only
Commander who goes in with his team. They’re desperate for what
this woman knows, but I need you to hear the goddamn truth for a
change.”

Red hadn’t spoken to him like this for
twenty years. Suddenly he was the young seaman again, and Red the
man he respected and modeled his entire life after.

“Thane, you’ve given every fucking ounce of
your life to the service, and for some reason you’re not at the
foot of a headstone.” He tilted his head and said, “Every man needs
to feel what you’re feeling right now, once in his life. And if
you’re smart you’ll never let it go.” His eyes narrowed. “Tell them
to go fuck themselves.”

Of all the words he imagined hearing from
his old mentor, those weren’t it. “I’ll send Three,” he said,
without another second of doubt.

Red nodded slowly, and then an enormous grin
cracked open on his face. He reached out and placed a hand on his
shoulder. “The flowers were a nice touch, son, but you’re gonna
have to work harder than that with her, you know that?”

A laugh rolled from his chest. Red walked
across the room, the limp showing up today more than it normally
did. They were all getting older.

“It’s not too late, you know,” he said,
plunking down in his chair. “You and Kayla would make beautiful
babies, and I wouldn’t mind being called Uncle Red.”

His brow wrinkled with humor. “Getting a
little ahead of yourself there, Red.”

The Captain’s brow crooked high on his
forehead as he leaned over his desk. “Am I?”

He shook his head, but reserved comment.

“Do you think there’ll ever be another
Kayla? Things will change, they have to, because you or she won’t
be able to remain in this department if you plan on having a future
together.”

“She doesn’t want a future with me,” he said
quietly. He’d given up on trying to talk with her after she’d left
him standing outside her condo. Like a vulture, he’d swooped down
and taken advantage of her weak moment today, but he wasn’t going
to take it for granted either.

“She might be sticking her spines out, but
she’s doing it for a reason. You just don’t see it yet.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Obviously, she
wasn’t as moved by the experience as he was. Making love to her had
affected him deeply and permanently. It swarmed in his mind hourly.
Walking around with a twenty-four hour hard-on was uncomfortable if
not frustrating. Yet, it wasn’t the sex. Every time he looked into
the future, her image sat boldly there, taunting him.

“Since you’re giving me half an ear, I want
you to consider something else.”

He stopped with his hand on the
doorknob.

“Your promotion has been approved. I know
you don’t want it because you won’t be able to join your men in
combat anymore. The brass isn’t going to let you waste away there
for long. They’re looking at you for the next Admiral West Coast
Chain. It’s time, Ghost. For you and for Kayla, it’s time to step
out of the theater. I want you to seriously consider this.”

“See ya, Red.” He wasn’t going to argue. The
Captain was still the master in a war of words. He’d be lying
anyway if he tried to deny the fact he hadn’t been considering his
options and his tomorrows.

“Son—”

He twisted, knowing what was coming.

“You’ve never had a mission as important as
this one. I don’t want to lose either of you, but if she dies, I
know I’ll lose both of you. Don’t fuck it up.”

* * * *

Kayla sat silently watching Thane prepare
dinner. Caught in her thoughts, she circled the flecks of granite
on his kitchen countertop with a fingertip. Thane wanted to see her
smile again, filling the room and him with joy. As a SEAL, he and
the others had to bear so much ugliness, and still remain sane and
involved in a civilian world. He finally understood why his men
juggled the stress of family life and warfare, and it was because
their families were their solace and their strength. Coming home
was always the prize. Until Kayla, he’d had nothing to covet.

“What do you think his thing is?” she asked,
pulling him from his thoughts.

“His thing?” He forked the vegetables he’d
finished cutting with olive oil and sprinkled them with
seasoning.

“Why do you think he does it? What pushed
him there? Is it a sexual dysfunction, did his mother abandon him,
abuse him, and now he’s pissed about it? What?” She gazed out his
front window vacantly.

He wondered if she was deliberating on her
past or her present. A time would present itself when he’d have to
admit he knew about hers. If he had to predict her reaction, he
surmised she’d run from him or at least pull away, and that’s why
he hadn’t prompted her. “You’re talking about a profile.”

“I guess,” she said quietly.

He seriously considered changing the
subject, but he knew it would piss her off if he treated her like a
helpless child. “Manchester let me take a look at the file they’ve
built from the victims. They’re looking for a male forty to fifty
years old. Probably someone who is abusive in his relationships, a
laborer, and,” He paused. She finally turned her eyes on him. “And
yes there’s a definite sexual dysfunction. All the women were
sexually violated prior to death.”

She nodded and stared out his front window
again. He laid down the forks and rounded the island. “I know it’s
hard, but I want you to try and forget, just for tonight,” he said,
pulling her gently from the chair.

“You want to go bowling?” she asked
dryly.

A smile cracked his lips. An eternal spark
always flickered inside her, and it gave him hope too. “Nope, I
want you to go change.”

“Change into what? I should be helping you
with dinner instead of sitting here like a useless sail without
wind.”

“I’ve got dinner covered, now go get changed
and come back here. You’re going into the Jacuzzi before we eat. I
want you to relax.” His cheeks puckered as a little glint
brightened her eyes.

“I could do that.”

He turned her by her shoulders and prodded
her to go.

It didn’t take long for her to return with a
sheer sundress draped across her like a second skin. Instantly, he
realized violet was his favorite color, seeing the fading hues of
purple covering her curves. As she walked in, she swept her waves
of hair onto the top of her head, and clipped it in place. Small
wisps fell from the sexy mop, curling around her cheeks, and his
pulse began to thump hard. She always kick-started his heart, but
now it was in a race for its life. The dark colors and sobering
outfits she wore to work never failed to impress, but she couldn’t
conceal her softness and femininity. “I’ll bring out the wine,” he
said, jerking his head toward the patio doors.

Suddenly her hands swept to her mouth and
she covered a gasp. The glass dish thunked onto the counter.
“What’s wrong?” his heart pounding.

“I just remembered it’s your birthday. How
could I have forgotten?” She clutched his hands. “I’m so
sorry.”

“Kayla,” he took a relieved breath and drew
her against him. “Sweetheart, I got my present didn’t I?” Her brow
twisted with confusion. “Remember? I wanted you to live with
me.”

“I’m not living here. I’m hiding here.”

“Details,” he said grinning down at her.
“Airlines on my speed dial. I could have us somewhere hot in five
hours or less.” He stretched for his phone lying on the counter.
“You want to take me to the Seychelles, be my guest.”

She covered his hand. “Stop. I’m not much
good as bait if I’m lying on a beach somewhere.”

She wasn’t bait. He’d never allow that, but
she was right. They couldn’t end this now, if he took her away.
“Jacuzzi is good to go. Get your little ass in there.”