by Dale Mayer
“He just went up to talk to a group in the kitchen,” Rhodes called out from the nearby med bay.
She spun on her heels and said, “What are you doing awake?” But she couldn’t stop the delighted grin at seeing him looking so bright-eyed and actually awake and talking.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I love you too, kiddo.”
Her heart melted. She reached out, grabbed his hand and said, “Goddammit, we came close to losing you.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m not so easy to kill,” he reminded her. “Don’t go soft now.”
She just glared at him. “You know we’re pushing the odds each and every time, right?”
He studied her carefully and then smiled. “Maybe it’s time you went to a desk job.”
Immediately her back stiffened.
He nodded. “See? You’re not quite ready to hang up your wings, and I’m not quite ready to take off my boots and leave them at the door,” he said quietly. “We’ve been doing this a long time. And, yes, at some point, one of us could very well not come home from a mission.”
“Better not ever happen,” she said. Her fingers gripped his so hard that she was forced to relax, so she didn’t cause him any further pain. She looked down at the dressings and said, “Has my father been in to check on you?”
“Several times,” he said cheerfully. “And I’m doing just fine.”
“Everybody is now,” she said with a smile. “You’re just doing this so you can spend the next month and a half by the pool.”
“Yep,” he said. “What we need to do is find a way to keep all of those lovely world gremlins away from our gates.”
“I was thinking about that. Is this because of a coup on a government we’re helping?”
“Yes. And we have discussed before the sensibility of helping governments in these situations,” he said. “Maybe we should take them off our list of customers.”
“Maybe,” she said, acknowledging the sense of that. “At least certain ones.”
“Exactly. You need to get rid of those prisoners and soon.”
“I’ll find Levi and see what he’s got planned. I want the riffraff off the property before I go to bed tonight.”
Rhodes chuckled at that and then winced.
Ice reached out a hand to his shoulder and said, “You need to relax.”
“I will,” he said, “and, yes, I’m healing. I’ll be fine.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe,” she said, “but I’m not so sure that it’s all good.”
“It will be good if you let it,” he said gently.
“You know about it too, don’t you?” Her gaze searched his, and she saw the comprehension and acknowledgment. She stared down at him. “Why? Why not let us do it in our own time?”
“Because you weren’t doing it,” he said instantly, “and we didn’t know what it would take to have you actually go through with it.”
“What if he’s not ready?” Ice murmured, unable to hold back that worry.
At that, Rhodes chuckled and then gripped her hand, wincing. “Don’t make me laugh,” he said, gasping in pain.
But she stared down at him, chewing on her bottom lip.
“He’s never wanted anything other than you. Put the man out of his misery.”
She studied his face for a long moment and then said, “Do you really think so?”
“Don’t you know that he loves you?” Rhodes asked her, his gaze searching hers.
“I know that,” she said with a nod. “He always has, but he’s never wanted to be tethered before.”
“Times change,” Rhodes said. “And we’re all looking at our futures.”
She nodded slowly. “I know,” she said. “We were talking about maybe taking on less dangerous jobs.”
“I’m all for that,” he said, “especially these military ones involving foreign governments. Stop putting them on our roster. It’ll keep us all healthier longer.” And then he yawned.
Instantly she backed away and said, “I’ll go find Levi.”
“You do that, and make sure you show up tomorrow morning.”
She spun on her heels, looked back at him and asked, “What time do we need to be back here?”
“At eleven,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s plenty of time.”
And, with that, she walked out. Eleven in the morning. She thought about it and realized it really was plenty of time, and it was probably a perfect time of day for them too. In the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of coffee. Hearing voices, she found Levi standing with a group of five men. She poured him one too and walked over to hold it out to him.
He took it with a smile. “Do you want to run the helicopter tonight?”
She gave a clipped nod. “Sure. What are we doing?”
“Giving back the prisoners and getting an agreement from them that they’ll leave us alone,” Levi said.
“I was thinking we should probably back out of foreign government work. Rhodes and I were just talking about it.”
“Yes, we’ve had that discussion here too,” Levi said. “Stone brought it up earlier.”
“Right. Guess we have to be a little more circumspect where we put our support. But, in the meantime, we have to deal with this issue now.”
Levi nodded. “It’s eight p.m. We’re heading out in two hours.”
She frowned. “Why the delay?”
“Because the other government will meet us in Mexico for the exchange.”
“They could come to Texas and pick them up.”
“They don’t want to cross into the US.”
“But do we have a free pass to cross into Mexico yet again?”
“Hence the two hours—to get it,” Levi said. “If I explain what the hell’s going on, I don’t think they’ll have a problem with it.”
“Maybe they’re caught in the middle anyway.”
“Exactly,” he said. He looked at her as the men drifted away and asked, “How are you?”
“Now that I’ve talked to Rhodes, much better,” she admitted. “And I think he’s right. We do need to stop supporting foreign governments. This coup has caught us in the middle, and this time it came back to bite us in the ass.”
“I know,” Levi said. “I was also thinking we should set up a perimeter farther back. It would give us more of a warning system.”
“Not a bad idea. We can look at it next week.” Ice reached up to rub her face. “I’ll go grab some shut-eye before we head out again.” Then she turned and walked away.
*
She hadn’t once brought up the wedding tomorrow. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. With Ice, one never knew. Sometimes she was the most amiable, easy-to-get-along-with person. But then something would make her balk, and you couldn’t move her—no how, no way. He didn’t want that to happen at the wedding tomorrow. He hadn’t really understood the details until the men came to him and told him what the women were planning. Not wanting Levi to get caught by surprise, like Badger, they’d explained it all and had laid it out clearly.
Part of him wanted to just kidnap Ice and take her away to Mexico to a deserted beach, somewhere they could just be together. He had yet to think of a place to go for a honeymoon. She’d say she’d want to be right here, right now. And, since she had redone the entire backyard with a huge pool and gorgeous tropical plants and bushes everywhere, he knew he would be hard-pressed to find anything quite so nice. And, indeed, the rest of them felt the same way. It was nice to get away, but it was even nicer to come home.
He looked down to see his phone flashing with a dozen messages he had to take care of, but at the top of the list was his contact in Mexico. He answered the call, and it took only a few minutes to explain what was going on and to give them a flight plan. With that agreement in place, he stepped up the stairs just in time to meet Stone in the control room.
“You’re not expecting a problem, are you?” Stone said.
Levi hesitated. “I don’t want t
hem thinking they need to send us a bigger message in case we didn’t get it the first time.”
Stone thought about that for a long moment and then said, “You need to double up on some firepower.”
“I know,” Levi said. “I was thinking of that. I was also thinking we need to take an extra man or two, but that’ll increase our weight.”
“The big helicopter can take it for a while,” Stone said. “Make sure you get it fueled up again.”
“Or we take two helicopters,” he said. “I’m sure Bullard wouldn’t mind.”
“Actually that’s a better idea,” Stone said. He hit the intercom and called Bullard. Within a few minutes came a pounding on the door. Levi opened it to let in Bullard.
Bullard looked at him and said, “What’s up?”
They explained the plan.
“But what are we getting in exchange?” Bullard asked.
“They’re to stay away from us,” Levi said. “But I’m afraid they won’t want to just let us leave without giving us another lesson.”
“Right,” Bullard said. “So two helicopters?”
“Possibly,” Levi said, “and maybe drop a team ahead of time, so we can see if they’ll be honest or try to take out one of the helicopters.”
“I can see them doing that,” Bullard said. “Kind of a lesson like, ‘Now stay out’ type of thing.”
“I know,” Levi said. “They don’t have anything of ours to give back, which is a damn good thing. But neither do we want these men. We want to give them their men back as a sign of good faith, but we also want them out of our face.”
“I’ll take one bird. Ice can take the other. I suggest I leave half an hour earlier, get there first, drop my men and have everyone in position for when Ice brings you guys in and for a quick getaway afterward.”
“I like that,” Levi said. “Not only that you can take the extra men but getting in early …”
Bullard nodded. “I’ll go check on the birds, get them fueled up and ready.” He looked over at Stone and said, “Send me the flight plan, will you?”
“It’s not far away,” Levi said.
“Good thing,” Bullard said. “You know how quickly this can go south. The sooner we’re across the border and back again, the better for us.”
“They have farther to come,” Stone said, thinking about it. “So keep that in mind if you’re thinking about going early.”
“I still want to get there before them,” Bullard said. “As a matter of fact, if we can be in the air in fifteen, we should. I’ll take my men as backup. They’ll look after me.” He turned to look at Levi and said, “You’ll have the four men you’re taking back, plus you and Ice, and you’re taking two men for backup?”
“I can’t really take two,” Levi said. “Weight restrictions will keep us with the four prisoners.”
Bullard frowned. “And that puts our numbers in the red.”
“How many have you got with you?” Levi said.
“I’ve got seven with me right now. I can take five,” he said, “and that leaves two men here as backup against another attack.”
“Good enough,” Levi said. “Let’s get your men up and at it right now.”
He sent out a warning call, letting everybody know there was action, and action now.
Chapter 11
Ice heard the signal but wasn’t sure what was going on. She was back in the office, trying to get the rest of the stuff tied up. She wanted to crash at least for ten minutes but didn’t think it was likely to happen. With the signal running through the compound, she was up and out the door immediately. As soon as she saw Bullard and his team, she gave him a frown. “What are you up to?”
He just gave her a lazy grin. “We’re going as your backup,” he said. “But, because of that, we’re going first.”
As she listened to their reasoning, she nodded. “That sounds like a sensible idea. All we’re trying to do is dump off their garbage.”
“But we also want to be in control,” Levi said. “We don’t want to be unprepared and end up turning tail and running, so they think they can come and do this anytime.”
“Neither do they have anything of ours we want,” she said, nodding. “What we want is to be left alone.”
“Exactly,” Levi said. “So Bullard goes in early, sets up men to make sure we don’t get double-crossed, and, if they do try anything, we can burn them right then and there and walk away.”
Ice smiled. “I’ve pretty well had enough of being jerked around by everybody else’s actions,” she said in a cheerful voice, but she wondered as everybody straightened up and looked at her.
She shrugged, walked into the kitchen and said to Alfred, “I need something to eat before I head out. I was hoping to sleep, but that’s not happening.”
Alfred was running around cooking and baking—she had no clue what—but he had more pots and pans out than usual. She shook her head. “Forget it. I’ll just grab a sandwich from the fridge.” She walked to the fridge, and, as always, there were half-a-dozen stock sandwiches. She pulled out one for herself and one for Levi.
As she walked out to hand it to him, Bullard reached up, grasped it and nodded. “Thanks.” He unwrapped it and took a big bite, grinning at Levi’s look.
She handed hers to Levi and said, “I’ll go get more.”
Back in the fridge, she removed the last of the sandwiches and gave them to Bullard’s men. “Remember. Nobody is allowed to get hurt,” she said. “I’ve got one man who’s just come out of surgery, and I’ve got two others injured. Do not piss me off by getting hurt,” she warned them.
They just grinned at her. “We won’t,” they said in chorus.
Bullard chuckled. “They’re already terrified of you, my dear. They don’t need any more reminders.”
Ice just rolled her eyes at him. “I mean it,” she said. “No playing cowboys, and nobody comes home hurt.”
“That’s because tomorrow’s a big day, isn’t it?” he said, being typical Bullard and opening up the one topic that was being quietly avoided.
She nodded. “Apparently.” She gave him half a smile and went looking for more sandwiches only to find Bailey making them. She grabbed two, put one on a plate, cut it into smaller pieces and headed down to see how her father was.
As she walked in, she saw Rhodes sound asleep, and her father waking up from his nap on the cot. He sat up and stretched. She sat beside him and said, “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” he said, “but I would definitely feel better if my daughter wasn’t going off on these midnight trips.”
“I know,” she said. “Might be the last one for me.”
Her father scoffed at that. “You will always go if anybody’s in danger, and you think you can do the job better.”
“I have some up-and-coming pilots,” she said, “but that’s not the same thing as having fifteen years of experience at your fingertips.”
“You need to take care of yourself now. You know that, right?” His gaze was deep and penetrating.
She looped her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder. “I know,” she whispered.
He dropped a kiss on her temple and said, “Can’t believe you’re getting married tomorrow.”
“I can’t either,” she said with a laugh. She reached over and handed him the plate of sandwiches. “It’s not much,” she said, “but everybody’s getting ready to leave.”
He nodded. “I heard the battle call.”
“Thanks for being here, Dad,” she said sincerely. “I’m not sure Rhodes would have made it without you.”
“You did a good job,” he said. “You should have been a surgeon.”
“Field surgery—about my style,” she said with a laugh. “You know I’d have gotten rid of all the administrators and money guys and marketing guys in that hospital of yours. I can’t stand any of that.”
“I know,” he said. “I can’t stand them either, but they’re a necessary evil. In your case, you’re very gift
ed with that surgeon’s scalpel too.”
“Maybe, but a little rough around the edges,” she said.
“Nothing wrong with being a bit rough around the edges,” he said. He picked up a sandwich, looked at it and said, “You know what? I can’t remember the last time I had a sandwich.” He took a bite. His eyebrows rose, and he looked at her and said, “What on earth …”
“The sandwiches here are gourmet,” she said with a smirk. “The fridge is always stocked full, so, if you ever need anything, make sure you help yourself to something.”
“When you’re gone,” he said, “I’ll get some coffee. I can’t imagine trying to sleep tonight.” He sighed and added, “I don’t want you on my table.”
She nodded. “Understood. It’s the same warning I give my guys every damn time.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Still, you’ll have to make a decision soon.”
“I know,” she said, refusing to go in that direction. Of course her father had most likely seen the signs even before she had. But it wasn’t something she was prepared to talk about because no way was she staying home tonight. Besides, at the moment, it was a nebulous territory.
She didn’t know anything for sure. She walked over to look at Rhodes, leaned down and gave him a kiss on his forehead before turning back to give her father a hug. “I’ve got to go gear up.”
He nodded and watched as she walked away. She could feel his gaze on her shoulders as she headed out. She knew how hard it must be for him because it was damn hard for her every time Levi left. Her father had hoped she’d go into the same field as he had, and, in a way, she had, but definitely not with as much finesse.
Geared up, it was time to start her preflight. As she headed upstairs, she saw Levi standing there with the four hooded prisoners.
Ice nodded. “Do we have anybody to guard the prisoners?”
“One,” Levi said, and he nodded to Brandon, standing there fully geared up.
She smiled. “Nice to have you on board this trip as you’re also one of the lightest weights,” she teased.
“Which is why I’m coming,” Brandon said with a half laugh.
By the time they had all the prisoners secured, so they wouldn’t have to worry about them during transport, she realized Bullard was long gone. “I didn’t even hear him leave,” she exclaimed.
