Talon: Combat Tracking Team (A Breed Apart) (14 page)

“Sorry. We were visiting a missionary in the area and decided to return for some privacy and a bit of luxury.” He winked at Lina, who stood beside him playing the coy girlfriend. “Could I get a new room key?”

“Of course, sir.” She placed the plastic card on the counter then handed him a piece of paper and circled some names. “Here are the names for the American embassy so you can report your stolen wallet. Your passport—”

“In the room safe, thank God.”

“Very good. Thank you, sir. Have a good evening.”

“Thank you.” At the elevator, with Lina plastered to his side, he smiled at her. Kissed her for the benefit of those watching. Once inside the car, he dropped back against the wall.

“How long do you think we have?”

He eyed her. “Thirty minutes.”

    Nine    

W
heels touching down saved him from the void of her acceptance. At least, that’s the way it felt—a void that he could vanish in. She accepted him, trusted him….Innocence bathed her fresh confident face. Not naïveté as some might presume. She wasn’t naive. He could see it in her mannerisms, in her dealings with others. But she
did
believe people were good.

A fatal mistake. Not that he would intentionally hurt her, but who was he kidding? Manipulating her, playing this game—how could she
not
be hurt? All the same, he had a job to do.

Backpack in hand, Cardinal hustled down the metal stairs and disembarked the plane, leaving behind Aspen Courtland and the baggage of guilt that came with her.

Four men emerged from a building and crossed the tarmac, warbling with heat waves. Compliments, no doubt, of both the heat and the plane’s engines. The screaming whine of the jets slowed as the plane shut down.

A tall man with dark hair strode toward him, dressed in his desert camo and a pair of ballistic Oakleys. “Lieutenant Markoski?”

“Yeah.”

“Captain Watters of ODA452.” He shook Cardinal’s hand. “Welcome to Djibouti.” He angled a shoulder and pointed to the soldiers. “My team will escort you and the others.”

Cardinal gave a curt nod then glanced up the flight of stairs where Aspen appeared with a leashed Talon. Due to anxiety, he’d been crated and sedated during the flight. His strong body hovered at the hatch. Panting in the oppressive heat, he looked down the flight of steps. Then his soulful gaze struck Cardinal and the military unit. Immediately the yellow Lab turned. Tail between his legs, he scurried back inside the cabin.

“Talon.” Aspen’s gaze darted to Cardinal before she hurried back in after the dog.

“That could be a problem,” Watters said as quiet descended on the tarmac.

“Let her worry about that.” But the captain had a point. A very sharp one that could poke a hole in Cardinal’s plans. He climbed back up the steps. Inside the cabin and bathed in the remnant of cooled air, he found Timbrel slouched against a seat.

“What’s going on?”

“Talon doesn’t like it.” Hogan slid her ball cap back on. “And neither do I.”

Cardinal shouldered his way past her. “Well, only one of you is vital to this mission.”

At the back of the plane, Aspen squatted at the wire crate that once again housed the Lab. Head down, Talon’s brown eyes bounced between Cardinal and Aspen.

“He’s shut down on me.” Aspen straightened, arms folded. “He hasn’t done this in months.” She hunched her shoulders. “I don’t get it.”

“Yeah, but he does.” Poor guy. If he already smelled danger and shut down, did they have any hope? “He knows this is trouble.” Cardinal crouched at the crate. “Did your brother ever come to Djibouti with Talon?”

“Not that I know of. But then Austin’s missions were usually SCI or above.”

Cardinal nodded as he reached into the crate and rubbed his fingers along the top of the Lab’s head. “Want me to carry him down?”

“No.” She sighed. “I’ve seen him bare his teeth on those who force him into something he doesn’t want to do.”

Cardinal straightened and glanced at her over his shoulder. “Has he bared his teeth with you?”

She slowly shook her head. “No, but in a normal training session, I would give him a bit of space then reattempt the situation.”

“But this isn’t a normal training session.”

“Exactly.” She turned to him. “Look. I want to be honest with you—I’m not sure Talon is up to this. Maybe I got a little ahead of myself.” Long fingers traced her brow.

“But we need him.” He tucked his chin, feeling the tension tightening the muscles in his shoulders. “You know how to handle him, right?” He waited till she agreed. “And you brought him to find me, which he did.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice pitching. “But this…this base, the noise, the chaos—it’s shutting him down. It’s out of his comfort zone.” Aspen gnawed the inside of her lower lip. “I think if we can get him out there, out of this plane and walk him, let him know there’s no danger out there, he’d be okay.”

“But there is danger.”

She blinked. “Right.”

“Can you carry him down?”

“He’s seventy-five pounds of muscle and heartache.”

“And you carried a sixty-pound rucksack in boot camp.”

“That’s different.”

“Yeah, only in that you strapped the ruck to your back because some burly sergeant shouted at you.” He raised his eyebrows and looked around the interior. “Here, it’s your choice. You’re bailing.”

“Excuse me?”

He wanted to grin at the fire that leapt into her blue eyes, and it fed the fire in her gut. And then a fire lit through him realizing he was working her, a maneuver so easy and effective, it almost never failed. “Fear. I see it in your face. You have doubts about this mission. You want to get your brother back, but you’re second-guessing yourself. Dump the doubts and the excuses.”

“How dare you! That’s my brother—”

“Then do something. Find that strength that got you through boot camp, that got you into JAG, and show this dog who’s in control.” Cardinal’s chest heaved.
Easy there. Take it easy
. “Put on that confidence you wear so well and carry him down. Show him you mean business. Show him this isn’t therapy. He needs to know you’re not afraid.
I
need to know you’re in the game to the end. I have a lot to lose if you aren’t in the game all the way.”

Aspen swallowed and wet her lips. She hesitated before brushing those long, loose curls from her face. Without looking at him, she squeezed past him. Then stopped and looked back. “This is about Austin, about finding out who did this to him. Don’t ever…
ever
think it’s about you.”

A war erupted in his chest—pride over her gutting it up battled the disappointment that stung briefly that she wasn’t willing to be honest with him. He saw her fear. Read it in her body language. In her hesitancy with Talon.

He stepped back as she squatted and reached into the crate. Talon darted her a nervous look as she hooked her arms around the broad part of his chest and beneath his hindquarters. She hauled him out then pushed to her full height.

Cardinal raised an eyebrow at the sight of her arching her back to balance the large canine overwhelming her upper body.

“What?” She grunted as she angled around him.

“That’s a lot of dog—and drool.”

Anger still colored her cheeks with a pink tinge. “It’s nothing compared to Timbrel’s hound.”

“He’s not a hound,” Timbrel called from the front. “He’s a bull-mastiff. I weigh his love in gallons of drool.”

“That’s disgusting,” Cardinal said with a chuckle.

“Only to the uninitiated.”

“Then,
please
, don’t initiate me.” He paced Aspen as she navigated down the steps, his heart in his throat at the steep incline and her struggling to see around the dog to place her feet.

At the bottom, she set Talon down. Ears back, head tucked, Talon started lowering himself, but Aspen broke into a jog. “Yes! Let’s go.” She cast a look in Cardinal’s direction as she trotted away. “Where to?”

A woman with stamina, determination, and siren-like blue eyes…

He wouldn’t come out of this mission unscathed. Neither would she.

    Ten