Trust Me, I Hate You

by Romeo Alexander

  Aidan shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I know the General is a very busy man.”

  Christian cocked his head, his smile flickering slightly. “He is, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to know you’ve been so patient.”

  Not that Aidan had much choice in the matter. If the General wanted him to wait, then Aidan would have to sit back and wait. It had been General Winter after all, who had requested he come out to Fort Dale under a recently opened position. Aidan had never been assigned to a proper team before, having been passed around like a cheap whore between groups and teams in need.

  While the idea of a consistent team, one that he could come to know inside and out, had its appeal, it also filled him with wary apprehension. Considering the very nature of his position, and the danger of the work, it could spell trouble to get too close to other people. One of the reasons he’d always enjoyed intel jobs was the tantalizing promise of independent work in a government organization infamous for teamwork. Aidan had enjoyed working on his own, hopping between teams with a sense of individuality he could cling to, and he didn’t want to lose it.

  But that had all changed…because of him.

  Taking a quiet breath, Aidan shoved the thought away quickly before images of a black-haired man with dark green eyes intruded on his mind as well. The last thing he needed was for one of his two greatest regrets to come back and haunt him, unnerving him before his mysterious meeting with General Winter.

  Christian stirred, leaning forward to look at his computer screen and nod. “General Winter will see you now, thank you for your patience.”

  Aidan would have loved to know what was going through the receptionist’s head, and couldn’t help but wonder who went through basic training and somehow ended up working as the personal assistant to a general. Aidan also hadn’t missed the flicker of emotion that came over the man’s face when Aidan had mentioned how busy Winter was. He wasn’t sure if that was a brief moment of displeasure on Christian’s part, or something else. It was good to know what sort of situation he was walking into, and Aidan didn’t want to go in totally blind.

  Pushing himself up from the seat, he nodded at the receptionist, crossed the office, and walked through the door Christian had indicated. It opened up into a spacious room, the walls lined with bookcases and a few shelves. From the back of the office, Aidan couldn’t see what was on the shelves, though he could make out awards, small figures of tanks and helicopters, and what looked like a gold-plated grenade. At a glance, as he passed the bookcases, he spotted books on philosophy, war tactics, historical non-fiction, and a few biographies.

  If the room gave off a generic feel, then the man behind the desk continued to fit the expected stereotype almost completely. The only thing that marked General Winter out from other generals Aidan had met was his age. General Winter was easily in his mid-forties, if not a little younger. Aidan wasn’t typically into older men, but he would have been lying if he tried to claim he didn’t see General Winter as a handsome man. Both the salt in his pepper hair, the few lines around the corners of his eyes and across his forehead, and the somber wisdom that seemed to radiate from his pale eyes only served to enhance his looks.

  “Sergeant Rider,” General Winter began, not looking up from his screen as Aidan approached.

  Aidan snapped a salute, holding it. “General Winter.”

  General Winter let him hold the salute for a moment before waving at him. “At ease. Make yourself comfortable.”

  Interestingly, of the two seats available for Aidan to sit in, both looked reasonably comfortable. Of the handful of Generals whose offices he’d seen in the past, all but one had used stiff and uncomfortable chairs for those who came to meet with them. One, General Knox, had chosen to have one comfortable looking chair and one uncomfortable one. Aidan had known the mind game for what it was, but he hadn’t known precisely what General Knox had been trying to decide on when someone sat in whichever chair they chose. He still hadn’t known, even after deciding that he might as well be comfortable, and as far as he knew, General Knox had never thought of him again after sending him off.

  General Winter leaned back in his seat, his shoulders remaining stiff. “How was your flight?”

  Aidan shrugged, taking a casual air the General wouldn’t. “Being shipped across the country after having been back in the States for only a couple of days wasn’t something I’d recommend to anyone, but I’ll live.”

  In truth, he had jet-lag from hell. The time difference from the Middle East to the West Coast had been brutal, and he still hadn’t adjusted by the time his new orders came in. Aidan had barely heaved himself up from the barracks to make it to his flight out to the East Coast on time, though the several naps he’d managed on his flights had helped. Something about the security of the plane’s cabin had helped him to sleep while he was still on alert after weeks in the desert.

  General Winter glanced at his screen. “I had the chance to look over your record while you were still overseas. You were exactly the sort of person I was looking for to help me with a situation I have on my hands. I put in a request while you were still away to have you considered to join a team I have stationed here at the moment.”

  Aidan nodded, keeping his face politely interested, while privately seething inside. That was twice in one statement that Winter had felt the need to mention that the consideration and the request had both been done before he’d come back from the Middle East. Aidan wasn’t so dense or naive as to think that it didn’t have anything whatsoever to do with a tall, dark, and handsome commander at his last station. The very same person who was the reason Aidan had been sent back to the States unceremoniously, and who would probably continue to haunt Aidan’s military career for life.

  Damn him.

  Aidan smiled. “Well, I appreciate the consideration. I’ve worked with various teams over the years, who all specialized differently. I hope my experience and skills are sufficient and are what you’re looking for, as it is quite varied.”

  General Winter cocked his head, pale eyes scanning Aidan’s face. “After being thrown from team to team, outpost to outpost, doing a bit of this and a bit of that, you think you can handle working full-time as part of a team?”

  Aidan held his smile. “I wouldn’t say thrown, General Winter. I enjoyed what I did, and I liked the variety and the experience it gave me. I always knew there would come a day that I might be assigned permanently to a team.”

  “I was made to understand that you requested to be placed into a long-term position, rather than the short-term one you were doing before.”

  Oh, yes, ‘requested.’

  Aidan sighed. “I’ll be honest with you, General. If you’ve read my file, then you know some of the circumstances that led to my return to the States. The request was made on my behalf with the not so subtle hint thrown my way that if I wanted to salvage what remained of my career, I should take the generous offer.”

  “So, you don’t think this is generous, considering,” Winter said, motioning to the screen that no doubt held Aidan’s record.

  Aidan brought his smile back. “I wasn’t trying to say it wasn’t generous. I was simply repeating what I was told, including the exact words.”

  The older man continued to watch him, eyes shifting over Aidan’s features patiently. It wasn’t the first time Aidan had felt himself come under another’s scrutiny, but there was something strange about the way General Winter looked him over. Rather than being left with the impression he was being sized up and judged on his worthiness, Aidan felt as though the other man was trying to gauge his character. It was an odd thought, and one Aidan thought of as too noble and generous for someone in Winter’s position. In Aidan’s assessment, a general did not become one simply by being a good leader. It was almost always the people you knew that got you a high position.

  Winter’s gaze turned back toward the screen. “Do you have anything you’d like to say about what I’ve read?”

  Again, Aidan was
struck by an idea that seemed far outside his expectation of someone in Winter’s position. Could it be that the older man was asking him to give him a fair chance? Or was General Winter simply better at evincing the magnanimous and noble air that most people thought generals had?

  “I don’t think there’s anything I could add that would change anything,” Aidan said honestly.

  Winter snorted softly. “You might be surprised.”

  Aidan said nothing, not sure what he could say. There was no way in hell he was going to believe the unspoken invitation to trust the general. Trust wasn’t a commodity Aidan traded in regularly, and after recent events, he was not going to trust someone in charge.

  Aidan took a breath, deciding to take a small risk. “I think everything before...recent events, speaks for itself. I also think that my record is what led to my being allowed to come here, instead of being shoved off to some far-flung base, sat in front of a computer, and working there for the rest of my career.”

  It was honestly the only reason Aidan could drum up to explain why he hadn’t been tossed in a hole and forgotten. He’d worked hard, suffering through Basic, then busting his ass to make sure he nailed his intel training. When it had come time to put his training to good use, Aidan had gone above and beyond to make sure he was not only noticed for his effort, but in the best way possible. Eventually, politics had become involved and while he’d hated having to say the right things, knowing the right people, and making sure not to make too many waves with those in charge, it had paid off. That was until he pissed off one person, only the one, and now he was teetering on the edge of losing everything he’d worked so hard for.

  General Winter’s shoulders relaxed slightly, laying his arms gently on his desk. “I certainly hope so. It was both your experience and the versatility it spoke of, which brought me to my decision to request your placement here.”

  “Here, or with this team?” Aidan asked, careful not to sound apprehensive.

  “Team Maelstrom is currently stationed at this base until I deem them fit to return to service. In order for me to do that, I needed someone who I felt would be a good fit for their missing member,” General Winter explained.

  Aidan sighed. “And by missing…”

  “Killed, in the line of duty approximately four months back. The remaining four members of the team have...well, they have understandably taken the loss hard. As much as I would love to give them more time to mourn, we’ve just about run out of time.”

  Aidan frowned, letting that sift through his mind for a moment. “Someone over your head is stepping in.”

  General Winter snorted, the wry amusement on his face bringing life to his stony features. “Not yet, but they will. I assured them I would find someone I felt was the best replacement for the fifth member of Team Maelstrom. So far, I’ve not had much in the way of luck, and upon seeing your record and talking with a few others, you seemed the best fit.”

  “Seemed,” Aidan repeated.

  “I won’t lie to you, Sergeant. I do have my reservations, but not necessarily in the way you might think. At its most active, Team Maelstrom was an effective force, and their skills are wanted again. With the precarious state of the team at the moment, I’ve tried putting their deployment off as long as possible. It’s been made clear to me that if I didn’t find a replacement, someone else would.”

  Aidan understood. It had probably been made clear in much the same way his own ‘choice’ had been made clear to him. When those who were even higher than you made up their minds, there was no arguing. You could evade, cajole, and try to bribe, but in the end, if a decision was made, you snapped a salute, gave a yes sir, and did your job.

  “But having chosen someone does not magically put Team Maelstrom back on their feet, but it also doesn’t change the demand for their skills.”

  So he was being thrown into a team that was still aching over the loss of one of their own, and he was going to be the one taking this teammate’s place. Only someone so eager regarding their own fortune of being put into a sought after team would be looking forward to what Aidan was going to face. Everyone grieved differently, but Aidan had no doubt he was going to be treated as an intruder by at least one of these four team members.

  “Meaning I need to get up to speed as quickly as possible and make the team whole again before Command decides they want to throw us to the wolves,” Aidan said.

  General Winter nodded. “And I can’t give you a time estimate. They’ll have us move when they want us to move, and that’s about all I can say.”

  And since it sounded as if those above General Winter wanted Maelstrom in the field as quickly as possible, Aidan guessed they wouldn’t have long. Perhaps that was one reason Winter had dragged him to the other end of the country on such short notice. Fresh from the field, Aidan might be stressed and worried about his prospects, but he was still honed and ready to work if need be. The only real problem facing him was finding a way to get himself into the team’s dynamic without throwing everything into upheaval.

  And he did not envy himself.

  General Winter leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “My intent is that you will serve in the position of the last team member. You will serve as both intel and as second in command.”

  Aidan blinked, unable to withhold that brief moment of surprise. “Second?”

  “You assumed you would be leading?”

  Aidan shook his head, knowing better than that. “Even second in command is more than I thought.”

  “Team Maelstrom operated under the belief that as a team focused on both recon and extraction, the intel member of the group should have a say in how the team was run. Not exactly a novel idea, but as they have proved, it has worked quite well for them. Command wishes to see the same basic structure here as well, and so that’s what it will be,” General Winter told him, eyes once again searching Aidan’s face.

  “Does the team leader know this?” Aidan asked.

  “Staff Sergeant Harris has been made aware that the fifth member, who is to serve much the same role as the previous member, is due to be placed in his team soon.”

  “Meaning he doesn’t know I’m even here,” Aidan said.

  “You weren’t due to arrive back in the States before now, and when I was alerted you were back, I put the request in quickly. The wheels have moved faster than I thought they would, and now you’re here.”

  Great, so he was probably dealing with a bunch of angry, mourning soldiers, who would see him as a usurper of their former teammate, and they didn’t know he was even here yet.

  General Winter looked him over once again. “So, considering the recent...events in your career, you can see why I might be wary.”

  “That has nothing to do with this,” Aidan said.

  “Not directly, but your own life has gone through a great deal of turbulence.”

  “You don’t have to worry about my ability to do my job, sir. I promise you I can do what needs to be done.”

  General Winter leaned back again, his face impassive once more. “I certainly hope so. Because you’re meeting the team tomorrow.”

  3

  Sean

  This was a waste of time.

  Sean did his best to keep the thought from digging itself too deeply into his head as he watched Ricardo circle Matt. The two men watched each other intently, their bodies braced for the coming brawl. The wind coming off the ocean blew through the bushes at the outer edge of the roughly made ring they’d created. The dirt serving as the inner circle kicked up as Matt paced, whereas the larger Ricardo barely made a sound.

  Beside him, Nick eyed their teammates. “You think they’re going to get started anytime soon, or do you think I can pretend I care, and they won’t notice?”

  Sean turned to glare at him. “You mean, take a nap.”

  “I close my eyes once in a while. I’m not always sleeping.”

  “If you’re not paying attention, then what’s the difference?”

&n
bsp; Nick shrugged, but to Sean’s relief, he turned his attention back to the sparring match. It had been Sean’s brilliant idea to try and see if maybe a bit of training that wasn’t just going over and over tactics might do them some good. Once upon a time, a good sparring match had been the sort of thing Team Maelstrom had needed to work out all their frustrations and pent up energy. Sometimes, it had even been a good way to work out personal issues between one or more of them. That it was a good way to keep their close-quarters combat skills sharp was a fortunate byproduct of what had once been a bonding experience.

  There was something different about the way Ricardo and Matt were moving, though, something Sean couldn’t quite place, but he knew it wasn’t right. He’d fought beside, laughed with, lived with, and suffered at the side of his team, he knew them inside and out, even if it was only on a subconscious level. They might, on the surface, appear to be ready to throw down, but Sean could see their hearts and minds weren’t in it. They were going through the motions, doing what was expected of them, and, ultimately, wasting the time meant for training.

  Nick looked up at him. “Why didn’t you get in the ring? You always used to go first.”

  True, he could have easily been called eager, with how readily he was prepared to scrap with just about anyone in a sparring ring. The trouble was, Sean was rarely beaten in a close-quarters fight, and he hadn’t wanted to start the day off with him beating one of them like he always did. His team was struggling enough as it was. He didn’t want to risk dragging their mood down even more.

  “Should have put you in first from the looks of it,” Sean said, eyeing his lazing teammate.

  Nick had probably undergone the strangest transformation Sean had seen out of everyone. Matt had always been a little on the cranky side, and Ricardo had always been a little quiet, but Nick had never been so lethargic and disinterested. Sure, he wasn’t quite as energetic and high-strung as Matt, but he’d always shown an interest in what was going on around him, and while he hadn’t said anything, Sean didn’t think he’d been sleeping very much either.