Six Minutes to Midnight

by Elle James

  Besides, nothing could happen while they were deployed together. And when they returned stateside, he’d end up in some navy base on the East or West Coast and she’d be at an army post, probably in the middle of the country, like Texas or Oklahoma. They might as well be on different continents.

  The sooner she got the man out of her head, the better. But the more she walked, the more she thought about Petty Officer Trace McGuire. The man with the strong hands and big heart, who’d rescued her when she’d been knocked down and stayed by her side in recovery.

  * * *

  AFTER A TERRIBLE sleepless night, T-Mac left his bed early and went for a run around Camp Lemonnier. Then he hit the weight room for forty brutal minutes pumping iron. And he still couldn’t get Kinsley out of his head.

  He’d purposely resisted going straight to the medical facility and checking on her. But the longer he stayed away, the more he wanted to go. He showered, put on a fresh uniform and stepped out of his quarters. Despite his effort to stay away, his feet carried him to the medical facility. The closer he got, the faster he walked until he burst through the door.

  He didn’t stop to say anything to the guy at the desk, but kept walking straight to Specialist Anderson’s room. About to barge in, he stopped himself short and forced calm into his fist as he knocked.

  When no one answered, he knocked again. Was she asleep?

  When no one answered the second time, he pushed open the door and marched in.

  The bed was freshly made and completely empty.

  Damn! Where had she gone?

  “Specialist Anderson was discharged first thing this morning,” a voice said behind him.

  He turned to face the nurse who’d checked on Kinsley the day before.

  “Is she well enough?”

  The woman smiled. “She was. The doctor signed her release papers. She practically ran out the door with her dog. Oh, by the way, thank you for bringing the clothes. I think she would have walked out of here in her boots and the hospital gown if she hadn’t had them to change into.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of T-Mac’s mouth. “I’m sure she was happy to be free.”

  The nurse’s lips twisted. “It’s not like we’re a prison in here.”

  He chuckled. “No. And thank you for taking such good care of us.”

  She nodded. “Not many guys have the patience or desire to sit in a hospital room for hours on end. She’s lucky to have you.”

  T-Mac didn’t try to correct the woman. Kinsley didn’t have him. He’d just done the right thing to take care of a fallen comrade. Nothing more.

  “Thanks again,” he said, and turned to leave.

  “Do you want us to check your stitches?” the nurse asked. “We don’t often get shrapnel wounds here. Most people come in with colds, allergies or the occasional broken bone from playing volleyball or football.”

  “No, thank you. You all did a good job. It’s healing nicely,” he said as he turned to leave. He didn’t want to stand around and chitchat. He wanted to find Kinsley and see for himself that she was well enough to be back on her feet.

  His first stop was her quarters. Once again, he knocked. No one answered.

  When he raised his hand to knock again, someone spoke behind him.

  “T-Mac, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  T-Mac turned to find Harm standing behind him. The SEAL wore his desert-camouflage uniform and a floppy boonie hat instead of his Kevlar helmet.

  “What’s up?” T-Mac asked.

  “The CO wants us in the command center for a briefing in fifteen minutes. I’m headed there now.”

  His fists tightening, T-Mac sighed. So much for finding Kinsley. He’d have to wait until after the briefing.

  T-Mac fell in step beside Harm.

  “How’s your dog handler this morning?” Harm kicked a pebble in front of them.

  “The doc released her.” He didn’t tell him that he wanted to see her and had yet to find her. Harm didn’t need to know how the dog handler had him tied in knots. He’d get a big kick out of it and razz him even more than he already did.

  “Glad to hear it,” Harm said. “When will she be able to return to duty?”

  “Tomorrow.” Too soon, by T-Mac’s standards.

  “What about the dog?”

  “Agar spent the night with her at the medical facility. He seemed to be no worse for the wear.”

  “Good to hear. We might need them on the next mission.”

  “We’ve done just fine on most missions without a bomb-sniffing dog.”

  “What? You don’t want Anderson and Agar in the heat of things with us?”

  “Not really.”

  Harm grinned. “You really like her, don’t you?”

  “I didn’t say that,” he grumbled. “I just think she’s a distraction we can ill afford.”

  “There’s probably a little truth in that statement.” Harm glanced toward the command center. “You were quick to load her up and get her out of there without looking back.”

  “My point exactly.” T-Mac stopped in front of the building. “Don’t you dare tell her I said that. She’d skin me alive if she knew I didn’t want her on a mission.”

  “Too late,” a female voice said behind him. “So, you don’t want me on a mission?”

  T-Mac balled his fists, dragged in a deep breath and turned to do damage control with Kinsley.

  “Look, Kin—Specialist Anderson, I didn’t say you weren’t good at your job. I’m just saying that we’re used to working as a combat team. The night before last was the first time we’ve integrated a dog team in a mission. And, well, you know what happened. It wasn’t a raging success.”

  “And that was my fault?” she asked.

  “If you hadn’t been there...” T-Mac started.

  Harm cleared his throat. “You might reconsider going there, buddy.”

  Kinsley held up a hand. “No, let him go. I want to know how deep he’ll dig his own grave.”

  Anger rose up inside T-Mac, and he plowed right into waters he knew would be over his head in the next few words out of his mouth. “If you hadn’t been there, one of us would have breached that building in a way we’ve been taught that doesn’t involve walking through the door as if we expect a big hug and a hallelujah.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And you think that’s what I was doing?”

  Harm crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Told you to think before you opened your mouth.” He held up his hands. “Now you’re on your own. I’ll see you two inside.” Harm bailed on T-Mac and entered the command center.

  “So, you think I don’t know what I’m doing?” Kinsley asked.

  “I think you’re more concerned about your dog than your own life.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I care about Agar.” Her chin lifted even higher. “At least I care about someone.”

  “I’m sure you and Agar are good at sniffing out IEDs and land mines, but clearing buildings might not be the right fit for you.”

  Kinsley’s face grew redder and redder. “It’s a good thing you’re not my boss, or anywhere in my chain of command. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve been summoned for a job. A job you don’t think I can do.” She spun on her heel and marched into the command center without looking back.

  Once again, T-Mac could kick himself for opening his big mouth. The woman had a right to be spitting mad at him. He just couldn’t see going through what he’d been through two nights ago again.

  When Kinsley had been blown out of that hut and lay on the ground like she had, T-Mac’s heart had stopped and then turned flips trying to restart and propel him forward to pick up the pieces. What had him all wound up was the possibility that next time, Kinsley might not be as lucky. She might actually be in pieces. And he didn’t want to be th
e one to pick them up.

  Chapter Six

  Kinsley stood in the command-center war room, too mad to sit. How dare T-Mac tell his teammate he didn’t want her on another mission?

  Hadn’t she and Agar gotten them through a minefield upon entering the abandoned village?

  The CO paced at the front of the room, waiting for everyone to enter and take a seat. He raised his brow at Kinsley, who still stood. “Please, take a seat.”

  “Sir, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to stand,” Kinsley said. The only empty seat happened to be beside T-Mac. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to sit next to him. Not when he’d impugned her honor and spread doubt about her abilities as a dog handler and soldier.

  “Suit yourself,” the commander said. He addressed Kinsley and the room full of SEALs. “The mission two nights ago didn’t go the way we expected.”

  Several snorts were emitted by various members of the SEAL team.

  Kinsley held her tongue.

  “We were lucky to come out with as few casualties as we did,” the commander continued. “As it is, having Specialist Anderson join the effort was a welcome addition to the team. Without her, our SEALs might have stepped on and triggered half a dozen or more mines on their way into the village where the arms trading was to take place.” He held up a hand. “I know I’m repeating old news, but I want to be clear... We cannot have a repeat of what happened that night.”

  “Sir, does that mean we’re going out again?” Big Jake asked.

  “I’m not sure you are,” the CO said. “But the rest of the team is going.”

  Big Jake placed both hands flat on the table. “Sir, I might have taken a hit in the rear, but the rest of me works just fine. I won’t be sitting on a mission. And where my guys go, I go.”

  The CO stared hard at Big Jake. “If you think you’re up to it.”

  “I am, sir,” Big Jake said without hesitation.

  “Good.” He stared around the room again. “What happened two nights ago was an ambush. They knew you were coming and they were waiting for you to enter the village before they attacked.”

  Kinsley gasped. Having been in the hospital since the incident, and being the only army personnel in a sea of navy SEALs, she hadn’t been included in the scuttlebutt. “You think we were set up?”

  The commander nodded. “Someone leaked information about the mission. We still don’t know who did it, but we suspect it’s someone here on Camp Lemonnier.”

  Kinsley glanced around the table of men, all loyal, career military men who’d risked their lives on many occasions for their country. “You don’t think it was anyone in this room, do you?”

  “No, not anyone in this room,” the commander said.

  “I should think not,” Kinsley said.

  T-Mac’s lips twitched, as did others in the room.

  “We have a traitor amongst us on Camp Lemonnier. And that traitor is quite possibly connected to the illegal arms trading going on.”

  “What’s being done about it?” Harm asked.

  “We’ve interviewed everyone involved with the helicopters. We don’t know for certain, but we don’t believe any of them were the culprit.” The commander sighed. “And if one of them is, we haven’t found the connection yet.”

  He paused for a moment before continuing.

  “But we can’t sit back and wait until we find him. We have new intel, and we need to move on it before it becomes useless.”

  The SEALs all leaned forward in their chairs.

  “We have infrared satellite images from two nights ago. When our guys bugged out of that village that night, two trucks left in the opposite direction.” The CO stared around the room. “Bottom line is, we know where they went.”

  “Where?” Kinsley asked.

  The commander shook his head. “I can’t say. Until we launch a mission, I’m not revealing any specifics about any part of that mission until the choppers are off the ground.”

  “Radio signals can be intercepted,” T-Mac said.

  “I didn’t say I was going to use radio signals.”

  Pitbull frowned. “Then how will we know where we’re going?”

  The commander stared around the room. “I’m going with you. I will have the mission-specific information necessary to carry out the assignment.”

  “Sir, you haven’t trained with the team,” Buck pointed out.

  “Won’t that make the mission higher profile?” Big Jake asked. “If someone is leaking information and learns you’re going along for the ride, won’t that make the rest of us collateral damage when they’re targeting you?”

  “First of all,” the commander said, “this information is not to go outside this room. No one other than the people here are to know we have intel on a potential location of the attackers from the village the other night. No one outside this room should know what we know. Not the helicopter pilots, the mechanics, anyone in the mess hall or anywhere else.”

  The commander continued. “Every one of you should be ready to go at a moment’s notice. When we take off, you will have only a few minutes to prepare. Can you be ready?”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” Kinsley shouted along with the SEAL team.

  “Then for now, not a word to anyone.” The commander’s eyes narrowed. “Not even to each other. We can’t risk being overheard. Understood?”

  Kinsley stood at attention and shouted, “Sir, yes, sir!” along with the others in the room.

  The commander nodded, apparently satisfied. “Then you’re all dismissed until further notice.”

  One by one, the SEALs filed out of the room but without the usual banter.

  Kinsley stood in the corner, waiting until the others were gone. Then she and Agar approached the commander. “Sir, do you still plan on using me and Agar in the next mission?”

  “Specialist Anderson, I would not have allowed you in the room with the others if I didn’t plan on taking you along.” He stared hard into her eyes. “Are you up to another mission so soon?”

  She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s all I need to know. You proved invaluable on the last one. I see no reason to leave you out of the next one.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “You realize that some of the men might consider you a distraction to the mission.”

  Her blood pressure rocketed and her jaw tightened. “Did T-Mac say that?”

  “Not actually.” The commander smiled. “His report to me was that you were fearless.” His smile turned into a frown. “Why? Are you and T-Mac at odds? Do you want me to assign a different SEAL to look out for you?”

  Fearless? He thought she was fearless? And yet, he didn’t want her on a mission.

  “I could get Harm or Buck to look out for you,” the commander offered.

  “No,” Kinsley said, her pulse racing. “T-Mac was there for me. I trust him.” And she did. She’d bet her life on him. But was she betting his life on her being a part of the mission? Was it right for her to want to go even though she was a distraction to them?

  She stiffened her spine and pulled back her shoulders. Based on what had happened on the last mission, and finding all those land mines buried along the path the SEALs were destined to follow, she had to go. Whoever would set those up the way they had could do it again.

  Not only did she want to go, she had to go. Otherwise, she would be sitting back at Camp Lemonnier, safe and sound, while the SEAL team could be walking into a minefield. They needed her and Agar. She had to be with them. If something happened to them that she and Agar could have helped them avoid, she could never live with herself.

  She looked the commander square in the eye. “Sir, I’m ready whenever you are. Just say the word.”

  He nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  * * *

  “WALK WITH ME,” Harm
said as they left the command center.

  T-Mac would rather have waited for Kinsley, but he didn’t want to admit it, so he fell in step beside Harm.

  Instead of turning toward their quarters, he headed toward the flight line where the helicopters were parked.

  “You know you can’t always protect her, don’t you?” Harm said.

  T-Mac knew it would serve no purpose to pretend he didn’t know who Harm was talking about. “Who said I always want to protect her?”

  Harm stopped short of the helicopters and stood staring at them. “She’s special. I didn’t expect her to be so brave about sniffing out land mines.”

  His lips twitching, T-Mac rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t sniff out the mines. Agar does.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I do. You should have seen her go after Agar when he ran into that hut.” The image was etched indelibly into T-Mac’s mind. “And then watch as she was blown back out by the force of the bullet that hit her vest.”

  Harm laid a hand on T-Mac’s shoulder. “That shook you, didn’t it?”

  “I’ve never been more shaken,” T-Mac admitted.

  “I know what you mean. We anticipate our own deaths and meet that possibility head-on. But when it comes to someone else, we have a more difficult time accepting or even processing it.”

  T-Mac nodded. “You hit the nail on the head. All I could think about was how to get her out of that place as quickly as possible. I would have felt the same had it been one of my teammates.”

  Harm snorted. “I know you would rush in to help if one of us was hit, but I think it was more than that with the dog handler.”

  A frown pulled T-Mac’s brow downward. “Don’t read more into my actions than what’s there.”

  Harm held up his hands. “Just saying. You don’t have to bite my head off.”

  “You and the others think that just because you have women, I need one, too. I don’t need a woman in my life. And Specialist Anderson isn’t that woman anyway.”