Colton: SEALs of Honor, Book 23

by Dale Mayer

  With that, Colton let out a heavy sigh of relief. “I’m very glad to hear that, sir.”

  “The plane was one thing, but a second attack is another, although I don’t know that I would have recognized it as such except for that damn security camera.”

  “Exactly,” Colton said with a nod. “We’ll stay here until the security arrives.”

  “When you get back,” he said, “I want you in my office immediately.” And, with that, he hung up.

  Colton wrinkled his face. “Did you hear that?”

  Kate nodded. “He doesn’t sound happy.”

  “Doesn’t mean he’s unhappy with us. But the bearer of bad news has never been looked upon lightly,” he said with a smile.

  “Got it.” Kate motioned at the empty cups and the paper bag beside it. “Your coffee was getting cold,” she said, “so I drank it just in time.” Enough laughter was in her voice for him to realize she hoped he wasn’t upset with her.

  “We can get more coffee and muffins,” he said. “I’m glad we got as much as we did then. Obviously you needed it.”

  “I did,” she said, moving back to sit down outside George’s door. Just then a nurse came and entered George’s room.

  “We can’t go in?” he asked Kate. “I was really hoping to talk to him.”

  Kate shook her head. “Every fifteen minutes they’re doing checks, and apparently he’s on a monitor at the nurses’ station.”

  “Good,” Colton said, “because the last thing we want is to have any other attempts made on his life.”

  “Or mine.”

  He slid his fingers through hers. Gripping her hand warmly, he said, “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen either.”

  “Doesn’t this prove it was just George they were after though?”

  “Possibly, except they may be worried about what he or you saw.”

  Her gaze went wide. “I’d rather fly in the worst weather, in a damaged plane, over the worst enemy territory, rather than even think about people like that,” she announced, shaking her head. “My mind doesn’t work that way.”

  “No,” he said, “but mine does, and the security team’s does as well, so we’ll do everything we can to keep you safe.”

  “That means you’ll have to be with me all the time,” she teased.

  He gave her a special smile and said in a low whisper, “I plan to. Twenty-four hours a day.”

  “I’m supposed to be heading home tomorrow or the day after. Remember?”

  “I hear you,” he said, “but you’re not getting on any plane without me and not before it’s been checked thoroughly from top to bottom.”

  As her face paled, she nodded. “I appreciate that. I doubt I’ll be the pilot.”

  “I doubt it too,” he said calmly. “Not until you debrief back at Coronado. I don’t know what kind of checks and balances they have to ensure you’re fit to fly, but you can bet nobody will let you take the controls until it’s cleared that you’re as healthy as can be and that nobody is out to kill you.”

  “Somehow I feel like it’s more likely about how I’m healthy and ready to fly than anybody is worried about me dying,” she said drily. “Truth be known, the brass is probably more concerned about me keeping it together than anything else.”

  He laughed at that. “There are always jobs that nobody wants to do. That doesn’t mean you have to suck it up and do it all the time.”

  “Maybe not,” she said, “but George and I got along well.”

  “So George would have known you would be there this time too, right?”

  She nodded. “Yep, he knew it.”

  “So any attempt to commit suicide would have been set up knowing he was taking you with him, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, her gaze curious as she watched him.

  “So then most likely he wouldn’t have been trying to commit suicide.”

  “Except that he was really sad. Depressed even as we took off. So, I don’t know, maybe that was part of it.”

  “It’s possible,” he said, “but let’s hope not.”

  “What about his emails? Or any other way to check into his life to make sure he wasn’t being blackmailed or something?” she asked curiously.

  “There’ll be a full investigation now,” he said. “Whoever attacked him may have thought he would end things. But all he’s done has expanded the inquiry, making sure it really does open up into a full investigation. So, this was likely the best thing that could have happened to George.”

  “A sad way to look at life.” Kate’s gaze turned to two uniformed men coming down the hallway toward them. “Looks like the security detail has arrived.”

  “Yes,” Colton said. “Now we can catch a ride back.”

  “Is Parsons in town?”

  “Or he’ll come back to get us. I don’t know.”

  As the two men approached, they said, “Your ride is waiting out front.” Then they took up positions on either side of George’s door. Kate wished she could see George one more time or at least let him know she was here, cheering him on, but it was obvious she wouldn’t get close to George today.

  With a smile she said to the guards, “Thank you for coming. Please keep him safe.”

  One of the men cracked a smile and said, “We will, ma’am. We will.”

  She didn’t pull rank on them or mention anything other than the fact that it was important to her that George stayed alive. Colton appreciated that. At Colton’s urging, she moved down the hall with him. She sighed as they took the stairs and headed out to the front door. “It’s really sad,” she said.

  “What?” he asked.

  “George doesn’t know how much people are doing for him. I don’t even know if his family has been told.”

  “That is up to other people. Remember? That part of the deal isn’t something we can change,” he said. “Unless you’re good friends with George’s wife?”

  “I am friends with her. I used to talk to her every once in a while on the phone when George couldn’t answer.”

  “Has that happened lately?”

  “No,” she said, sadness deepening her tone. “It hasn’t.”

  Chapter 10

  When Kate and Colton got back to the base, Kate thanked the petty officer for giving them a lift, and the three of them headed straight to the commander’s office. Petty Officer Parsons stayed with her, smiling and saying, “He just wants me to keep an eye on you.”

  She shot him a sideways look. “For my protection or to make sure I don’t run away?”

  That had him laughing. “And why would you think that?” he asked.

  “It hasn’t escaped my notice I was there on the spot too,” she said. The smile fell from his face, and he gave her a hard look. “Did you have anything to do with your copilot’s attack?”

  “Of course not,” she cried out.

  “Then you have nothing to worry about,” he said. With a hard rap on the commander’s door, they stepped in. The commander stood and motioned at the two chairs across from him. “Please, from the top.”

  Kate was grateful Colton did all the talking. When the commander looked to her, she nodded. “What he said.”

  He gave a clipped nod. “I want the two of you confined to the base, preferably to the cafeteria and your barracks.”

  Her smile fell off. “Why, sir?”

  He shrugged. “For your own safety.”

  She wanted to kick up a fuss, but going against a commander on his own base was something likely to get her court-martialed. “For how long, sir?” she asked, desperately keeping her tone neutral, though she was heating up.

  He grinned. “That cost you, didn’t it?”

  She gave a solemn nod. “You have no idea how much.”

  “Well, I’m glad you appreciate authority. Our forecasts shows some ugly fronts moving in. So, you won’t be flying out for at least another two days.”

  She sighed. “Then you better add sick bay to your list of places that I’m allowed to visit.
Your shrink wants to see me if I’m still here in a couple days.”

  “Good, I’ll add that to the list,” he said, then sat down and wrote a note. “I’ll tell her that you’ll be here for two more days anyway.”

  “Great,” Kate muttered under her breath. He shot her a hard look, and she quickly added, “Thank you, sir.” As soon as they were dismissed, her shoulders sagged.

  Colton was at her side and said, “Come on. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

  “I’m still swimming in coffee,” she declared.

  “You are,” he said with forced cheerfulness, “but I’m not.”

  She couldn’t argue with that, so she nodded and headed that way. They’d missed dinner too. She stared at the staff already starting to clean up. She looked over at Colton and said, “I’m not that full.”

  He laughed. “Let’s grab what we can.”

  They stepped smartly into the cafeteria. The chef looked at them and said, “Uh-oh, did you guys miss out?”

  “Yeah,” Colton said, “we were asked to stay over at the hospital until a security detail could arrive and relieve us.”

  “Tell me what you want,” he said, motioning at the big serving platters, still sitting on the counter. “And we’ll get you fixed up right now.”

  Kate opted for fried chicken and a huge platter of steamed veggies. With that, she headed for the desserts, even as they were yanked off the counter. She snagged two pieces of pie. With her tray full, she went to an empty table and set it all down, then went back for some milk, water and, as an afterthought, coffee. She knew Colton was making a quick round the same as she was. By the time they sat down, she could see most of the kitchen food had been removed. “Good timing.”

  “Right,” Colton said with a big grin. “We could have been starving all night.”

  “Not a good thing for me right now,” she said with a half laugh.

  “How are you doing with the cold?” he asked worriedly.

  She shrugged. “It was good timing for the coffee. Let’s put it that way.”

  “Right. Well, let’s hope you don’t need to worry again for the rest of the evening.”

  Outside of the banging and clanging of the dishes and the conversation of the staff, they were alone in the big cafeteria, and Kate didn’t mind in the least. She leaned forward and said, “Such a weird feeling being on a base like this and isolated in a way.”

  “But not deliberately,” he muttered. His mouth was still half full, and he was plowing into his food at a faster rate than she was, but then she’d already had two muffins and two coffees recently. She picked up a piece of chicken and bit into it, then moaned. “I think fried chicken has got to be my favorite food.”

  “It would be a toss-up between fried chicken, steak, or lasagna for me,” Colton said. Then he looked at her sideways and added, “And crawfish. Well, prawns of any kind.”

  “You mean, seafood of any kind,” she said with a laugh.

  “But prawns especially.”

  She really enjoyed spending the next however long it took for them to eat. They didn’t race through the food, even though she knew the kitchen crew awaited their plates. She figured it could be the last load in the dishwasher, and, if two plates had to be done by hand, well, that was hardly a big deal. As they finished up, she pushed her plate to the side and moaned. “I want more, but I’m stuffed full.”

  “Good thing,” he said, “because no more is to be had.”

  She smiled. “Do they eat all that’s left themselves?”

  “Possibly,” he said, “or it could also be lunch tomorrow.”

  She brightened at that. “Okay, I’m down for that too.” They sat here together, sipping their coffee and staring at the apple pie.

  “So, you picked up two pieces,” he said in a conversational tone.

  She reached for both and tucked them closer to her. Then she grinned. “Were you fast enough to get any dessert?”

  “No, apparently not.”

  “Oh, fine.” She handed him one of the pieces. “I did think of you when I was picking this up.”

  “Sure you did,” he said, but he snagged it anyway and drew it out of her own reach to his side.

  She just laughed, really enjoying the kibitzing and joking back and forth. “It’s hard to imagine,” she said, “how much it feels like we haven’t been apart for the last four years.”

  He nodded. “I was thinking that earlier today.”

  “It’s like we’re friends who just haven’t seen each other.”

  He nodded again.

  “Which,” she said, “I would say we are.”

  “That works for me too,” he said with a smile.

  “I guess we just crossed into the friends-with-benefits thing back then.”

  “Considering we’d known each other for a couple years already,” he said, “that would make sense too.”

  “And now we’re not quite strangers, but we’re not quite friends.”

  “We’re definitely friends,” he said in a much stronger tone than she expected. “The question is whether we’re still friends with benefits.” And then he waggled his eyebrows at her in such a comical move that she burst out laughing.

  “Probably not a cool idea,” she said, “given the current scenario.”

  “The scenario has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

  “You already said you’re supposed to stay with me twenty-four hours a day. I don’t want you to think that comes with benefits.”

  “Obviously it does not come with benefits,” he said, his tone firm but friendly. “That has to be a mutual decision at the right time.”

  She was sorry she’d brought it up because it was obvious her comment bothered him. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I know you would never take advantage and would never expect something like that.”

  “Good,” he said, “because I would never want you to think that.”

  “No,” she said. She looked down at her plate. She was done. “Did you make the connection that George being attacked in the hospital means that person is here on location?”

  He picked up his coffee cup and nodded. “I was wondering if you had.”

  “I’m a little slow, but I did get it eventually.” She looked around. “Does that mean it’s somebody on the base?”

  “I don’t know,” he said in a low tone. “But that’s a line of inquiry somebody else will likely pick up, so we’re probably better off to stay out of it.”

  “But you know we can’t, right?”

  He nodded. “And again, I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t need to involve you.”

  “You can’t protect the little woman all the time,” she said. “In my job I’ve taken an awful lot of shit just to earn enough respect from a lot of men to do my job.”

  “Not from me,” he said.

  “So don’t treat me that way now,” she said in a firm voice.

  He sighed. “Is it wrong to try and keep you safe?”

  “How is that keeping me safe?”

  “If you start getting involved in this, you’re putting your name and your face out front. That’ll make you a target again.”

  “But, according to you, I’m already a target,” she said slowly. “So the best answer really is solving this thing, so it won’t matter who the target is. We’ve got to get to whoever is responsible.”

  “Yes,” he said, “in theory. But that doesn’t save your ass if it’s on the line in the meantime.”

  “So … what then? You’ll investigate, and you’ll keep me safe?”

  “All while keeping you in the loop. How’s that?”

  She smiled. “That works. But you can’t do too much investigating if you’re stuck on a twenty-four-hour detail with me.”

  “Don’t forget Troy.”

  She looked around. “Where is he anyway?”

  “Pursuing the line of inquiry you just brought up.”

  She stopped and stared at him, her eyes widening. “Seriously?”

  �
��Yes,” he said. “We figured it was better that I keep you close, and that left him free to wander.”

  “What we have to know is who was not on base today.”

  “We know,” he said in a soothing voice.

  She glared at him, but he just grinned and said, “No, I’m not patronizing you, but I do want you to keep your voice down.”

  She winced as she realized her voice had, indeed, been rising. She sighed. “Put it down to hormones and emotions.”

  “How about just plain old stress?” he said.

  She figured either he was avoiding any comment about hormones because she might have jumped up and bit his head off or he really did believe it was stress. As she thought about it, she had plenty to be stressed about. She just nodded and smiled. “I hear you. So now what?”

  “Now,” he said, “how about we go back to the barracks?”

  “And?”

  “My laptop is there.”

  She nodded. “Right and that’s important too.” She walked over to the counter with their dirty dishes and called out her thanks. One of the men poked his head out from the back and gave her a wave.

  Following Colton, she headed back to the barracks. One thing she could guarantee right now was that she was seriously tired. However, she also knew sleep couldn’t be further from her head.

  *

  It was hard to walk a fine line between keeping Kate in the loop and keeping her out of things that Colton didn’t want her to know. Mostly because he didn’t want her to show any reaction to things he said to other people. And her face was so damn expressive. Hell, all of her was. One of the things he really remembered from their night together four years ago was every time they had made love—and it had been several times that night—she’d been so honest and open with her feelings and her response. He’d been completely enthralled, and he couldn’t stop trying to make her enjoy herself even more.

  And now that he knew for a fact just how expressive that face of hers was, she could never play poker because everybody else would know what she had for cards. That was why he had to play his cards close to the vest, but it was also a fine line. He didn’t want to piss her off. Yes, keeping her safe was a priority, but she probably wouldn’t hold it very high in her mind.