The Path to Freedom (Task Force 125)

by Pietsch, Lisa; Gerow, Tina

  Brian took the bait. “Oh, so it’s like that is it? How about the three of us go talk about it?”

  “Brian, this is Tracey, a fellow pork chop.”

  Tracey mumbled, “Thanks, loser.” Then flashed Brian a winning smile. “Hi, Brian.”

  “Don’t sweat it, Tracey. I don’t discriminate. Besides, we consider ‘pork chop’ to be a term of endearment. You here on business?”

  “We’re passing through on our way to Uncle Stan’s.”

  “No kidding? Where’s your crew?”

  “They’re over there, with the redhead in the corner.”

  “No shit! Don and I went through SEAL training together. I’d better go say hello. Good to meet you, Tracey. Any friend of Sarah’s is a friend of ours.”

  “You, too.” Tracey watched as Brian walked over to the group of guys in the corner. “Oh my God!” She whispered to Sarah. “I’ve got to run my fingers through that hair!”

  “I know. It’s got a pull like gravity, doesn’t it? Have another drink.”

  Sarah and Tracey tossed back another shot and watched four of Tracey’s crew jump into fighting positions as Brian slapped Don on the back of the head. Don didn’t move.

  “There’s only one guy in the world dumb enough to do something like that. How you been, Bri?” Don stood, turned around and shook Brian’s hand with a smile as his crew sat and returned to their drinks.

  Brian was introduced to everyone at the table and sat down for a drink with them.

  Sarah brought the long awaited tray of drinks to the boys, introduced Tracey to them and then walked with Tracey over to meet her crew.

  As Sarah and Tracey approached the table, one very attractive guy who looked like he was born and bred on a Pacific island spoke up. “Hey, look. Ballantine brought us a woman. Nice one, Trace. Thanks!”

  “Hold on there, troop.” Brian spoke up as he pulled Sarah onto his lap. “My boys and I have first dibs on this one. She’s ours.”

  “Get off me, Brian.” Sarah lightly pushed herself off him.

  “Hey, what’s the big idea, cramping my style in front of the boys here?”

  “Brian,” Sarah crooned, “How can I ever get another man to take me home when they think I’m with you? We all know no man can handle that kind of comparison.”

  He grinned, dignity in tact. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  Tracey made the introductions. “Sarah, this is Don, Mike, Will, Tom and Doug, otherwise known as The Wolf Pack.”

  “Nice to meet you guys. You’d better take good care of my girl here.”

  “No worries there,” the redheaded Tom said. “She takes pretty good care of herself.”

  Don nodded to Brian. “She broke a guy’s femur during her test.”

  The news didn’t surprise Sarah, Tracey definitely had it in her. They’d sparred with each other enough for Sarah to know that Tracey always went for the legs. “Nice one, Trace.”

  Tracey proudly nodded her acceptance of the compliment.

  “That’s good,” Brian said. “This one got pissed because she broke a nail kicking four guys’ asses and actually turned back to kick the last guys ribs in for it. Then, adding insult to injury, she stole their car and played the club scene afterwards.”

  They all laughed.

  Don shook his head. “No way!”

  Brian threw his shoulders back and seemed proud of Sarah. “Oh, yeah. Walked right into Pure like she owned the joint.”

  Tracey slapped Sarah on the shoulder. “That’s my girl.”

  “Well, as much as we’d love to talk shop with you guys, Tracey and I are going to go find some ugly men to buy us drinks. Later, Bri. Nice meeting you guys.”

  Sarah and Tracey left the pub and walked back to the house where American Swift was staying. They spent the whole night drinking and talking. After the way the year started for each of them, they were both equally excited and nervous about their new careers. Neither had planned it this way, but they both thrived on adventure and agreed that working for the Agency would be the ultimate adventure.

  Will and Vince wandered in at around two am.

  Sarah stubbed out a cigarette in the ash tray. “Where are the others?”

  “They met up with some babes and followed them home,” Will answered.

  “Those three goofballs got laid and you guys didn’t?” Sarah was shocked. “Damn. Tough crowd tonight, huh? ”

  Vince smiled. “There’s still time. Sun’s not up yet and you two seem to be pretty available.”

  “Tempting.” Tracey pointed to Vince. “But I have a rule against fishing off the company pier.”

  Will yawned. “Good rule. Too bad for us, but a good rule nonetheless. And on that note, I’m going to hit the hay. Goodnight all.”

  “Yeah, me, too. I’m beat,” Vince mumbled on his way upstairs.

  “Nice guys,” Tracey whispered to Sarah. “Still got a thing for Vince?”

  “Can you blame me?” Sarah lit another cigarette and took a long thoughtful drag. “I’ll get over it.”

  “Do they know about Scott?”

  Sarah had finally let go of her desire to hide the Scott incident while she and Tracey were in Phase II together. “If they do, they haven’t said anything about him.”

  “What are you going to say if they ask?”

  “Trace, we’re in the big leagues now. These guys can get any information they want. I guess I’ll just have to tell them the truth and take the crap they’ll give me over it.”

  “Hey, they might surprise you. They seem like good guys.” Tracey shook her head. “Damned shame they’re all so frigging gorgeous.”

  Tracey left just before dawn after they’d exchanged cell phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. Sarah and Tracey both knew keeping in touch was unlikely considering their missions, but hoped to meet again someday.

  ~~~

  Sarah woke to a knock on her door.

  She wasn’t in the mood for much besides breakfast. “What?”

  “Hey, Brian is making breakfast before we take off. You up for some eggs?”

  “Jason, you gotta stop waking me up. What time is it?”

  “Sorry, rank has its privileges so I always get the short straw. It’s fifteen-hundred hours.”

  “Okay, I’ll be down after I shower.”

  Sarah showered and dressed then joined the guys in the dining room where Brian had laid out a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, biscuits and coffee. Sarah sat at the table and poured herself a cup of black coffee.

  Chris was the first to speak. “So, Sarah. Who’s Scott?”

  Sarah took a deep breath and exhaled before shooting Chris a very evil eye. “What? No good morning? Scott is an ex.”

  Vince buttered a biscuit. “A serious one?”

  Sarah was still groggy from jet lag and tequila, but she realized then that Chris had heard her conversation with Tracey.

  So much for that whole “safe house” thing. Crap.

  That meant he knew all about her feelings for Vince, too. Damned earrings. Sarah gave up trying to hide anything from these guys. Being a spy would be difficult enough. There just wasn’t any sense in trying to have any personal secrets so she resigned herself to her fate.

  She tried to maintain her composure even though she knew she’d take a hellacious ribbing when it was all said. “A couple years, long distance.”

  These guys are going to chew me up when they find out that I got jilted for a guy.

  Jason sat back in his chair. “So, what’s the story?”

  “No story. I caught him cheating and left.”

  Will smiled. “Caught him in the act, huh. So, what did the girl do?”

  Sarah tilted her head. “The girl?”

  “Yeah, the girl he was with.”

  It’s time to bite the bullet. They might as well get it from me.

  “No girl. She was a he. He ran into the bathroom and hid until I left.”

  Chris’s fork clanged to the table. “Oh, snap!
”

  Brian laughed. “What did you do?”

  “Left, got kicked out of the Air Force, went to fat camp and became an ass-kicking hottie. Any more questions or are you guys going to let me have a cup of coffee while it is still hot?” Sarah stared into her coffee and prepared for the jokes.

  None came.

  Vince took a bite of his biscuit and drank some coffee. “Well, I guess we should send the fudge packer a thank you note, boys. Chris, add that to my list of things to do.”

  “Will do, boss. I’d love to help you with the delivery, too.”

  Sarah gave a small smile of thanks across the table to Vince. His eyes were soft and she felt safe.

  What does that mean?

  Vince nodded and returned to his eggs.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Sarah couldn’t believe her luck. She was stuck on a yacht in the Mediterranean with five of the coolest and absolute hottest men she’d ever met, and every one of them was off limits. Still, a bad day here easily blew away even the best day of her life before she was kicked out of the Air Force.

  Pork chop, indeed!

  The six of them spent the entire week in their bathing suits, in and out of the water and the boys were quite liberal with their compliments.

  They might be trying to build up my confidence since they all know I’m still a bit insecure, but I don’t care.

  Sarah thrived on the attention and did a lot of flirting back. The boost to her ego was just what the doctor ordered.

  It had been a while since Sarah had gotten laid and she was pretty hungry for sex at this point. There were times when she couldn’t deal with another buff body and simply had to go to her cabin for a cold shower.

  Will gazed up from his magazine as Sarah returned from her cabin after yet another cold shower. “I’ve never seen a woman take so many showers in a day. Why don’t you just jump in? What’s with all the showers?”

  Chris was driving golf balls into the sea while the others were lounging in chaises with beers in their hands.

  They all watched Sarah expectantly.

  “The salt is very damaging to my hair. I can’t show up on Hassan’s yacht with split ends, can I?” Sarah averted her eyes and stared at an empty chaise.

  As she sat, her eyes met Will’s and he raised an eyebrow.

  He doesn’t believe me.

  Vince flashed his perfect white teeth. “Really? Is that all?”

  “Aw, shit, guys. I’m like a diabetic kid in a candy store. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve been good and properly laid?”

  Will raised an index finger. “That Angelo guy, about six weeks ago.”

  Sarah glared at him. “And before that? Any idea?”

  “At least a couple of years.” Chris chuckled as he drove another golf ball far off into the sea.

  They all stared at Sarah and smiled with the ridiculousness of it all.

  “Yeah. What the hell am I supposed to do?” Sarah raised her hands to emphasize the question. “Look at you. There isn’t a beer belly in the bunch and you all have that three day beard thing going on.” Sarah was on a rant now. All the sexual frustration she had came out in a verbal tirade. “Why couldn’t I be on a team with a bunch of ugly guys? Seriously. You have no idea how tough this is on me.” She glared at each of them and the abundance of rippled abs overwhelmed her. She picked up a liter of cold water near the chair, closed her eyes and poured the entire bottle out over her bikini-clad body to make her point.

  The boys burst out laughing.

  “You know, boys,” Vince deadpanned. “We’re pretty lucky there isn’t a hottie running around here in a bikini all day.”

  Sarah opened her eyes in time to see them all staring at her.

  Jason stood and walked toward Sarah. “Okay, I’ll do it. If none of you are man enough, I’ll take one for the team.”

  Sarah rubbed her face and seriously considered taking a header off the deck just to escape the embarrassment she felt. “Jason, that’s very generous of you, but I don’t think…”

  “Oh, shut up. Get your mind out of the gutter. Jeez!” He grabbed her hand and led her up to the fly deck.

  Sarah stared at what Jason had on the fly deck and realized the solution to her problem.

  Perfect.

  “Ah, Jason. You shouldn’t have.”

  Jason picked up one of the many shotguns laid out. “Which one do you want to try first?”

  Sarah pointed to one that caught her eye. “Benelli Supernova with the eighteen and a half inch tactical barrel and tac pistol grip.”

  “The lady knows her firearms.” Jason loaded the black Benelli twenty gauge shotgun and handed it to her.

  “You ready, Chris?” he called down to the lower deck.

  Chris’ voice sounded from below. “Hold on…yeah, go for it.”

  Sarah smiled a wide grin at Jason. “Baby, you’re the best.”

  “Sadly, you can never know.”

  “Mmm-hmm…take one for the team, indeed.” Sarah took aim just above Chris’ head. “Pull!”

  Chris swung and a golf ball flew out onto the horizon.

  Sarah took aim and decimated it.

  Sarah spent the rest of the afternoon on the fly deck taking out her frustrations on golf balls. When Chris got tired of driving doomed golf balls into the ocean, Jason took over and taught her some trick shooting.

  Sarah spent the next two days learning how to pump and shoot a shotgun single handed. She was pretty sloppy at first but after two full days on it, she’d completely forgotten about her sexual frustrations and became totally focused on her new weapons skills.

  Early on the evening of the second day, Sarah finally got it right. The shotgun dropped like a pendulum. She caught the pump between her upper arm and torso, pumped it with a flick of her wrist and then let it swing back before taking aim and shooting.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Will muttered from the deck below. “Hey, Vince, check out Gattman and Robin up there.”

  Jason handed her a second shotgun. “All right, hot stuff. Do it with two.”

  They all watched now, but she kept her focus and did it on the first try.

  “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. A babe with brains who can pump and fire two shotguns at once. That’s hot. God, help me. I’m in love.” Brian raised a beer to his lips and chugged it.

  Jason nodded his approval. “You go, girl.”

  “So, how’s that little problem of yours, Sarah?” Vince called up from the sun deck.

  “Sufficiently repressed, smartass. Thanks for asking.” She could laugh about it now.

  The next afternoon, Sarah stood on the fly deck cleaning guns while the guys examined their maps and charts to see where the best spot would be to drop anchor and monitor Hassan.

  As Sarah finished wiping down the last shotgun, she glanced up to see a Zodiac-type inflatable boat on the horizon that appeared to be coming toward their yacht.

  “Hey, guys,” she shouted down to the deck below. “Are we expecting company?”

  Vince straightened up, stared in the direction of the oncoming boat and put a set of binoculars up to his eyes. “Sarah, stay out of sight!”

  The urgency in his voice startled her and she dropped to the deck instinctively, heart thumping.

  Within less than a minute, Sarah heard the small boat approach the yacht. She kept her head down and tried to listen for voices.

  Brian’s voice carried. “Oh, hell. Incoming!”

  A whoosh and a flash about eight feet over her head caused Sarah to drop back into a prone position on the deck.

  Holy shit! Pirates. And I’m up here with all the guns!

  Sarah scrambled to load two shotguns. The sounds of men boarding the boat on the port side ratcheted her fear. A guttural voice shouted to keep their hands up.

  Sarah carefully peeked over the rail to see how many pirates there were so she could pinpoint her targets.

  Okay, Stevens, this is it. Time to rise to th
e occasion and be a hero, baby!

  Sarah pulled off her T-shirt to reveal her skimpy bikini top and took one tactical shotgun in each hand.

  And this is why they make pistol grips!

  Sarah stood, careful to keep her hands and the shotguns behind the rail and out of sight from below.

  “Sarah, get down!” Vince ordered.

  The two pirates stared up at her admiringly and that moment was all she needed.

  With a flick of her wrists, Sarah brought the shotguns to bear on the two pirates.

  Both guns fired true and the pirates fell overboard. One hit the Zodiac on his way into the water while the other one fell straight in.

  With steady hands, she brought both guns to bear on the one man left in the Zodiac. She fired both guns on him at the same time. He cried out in pain just before turning his boat around and taking off, dragging his buddies in the water as they hung on to the boats’ ropes.

  “Get your ass down here, Stevens,” Vince boomed.

  Sarah was riding high on an adrenaline rush and happily bounded down the stairway to the deck below.

  Somebody said, “Uh, oh.”

  Vince’s face was red and his eyes filled with rage. “Just what the hell was that Annie Oakley shit?” He shook his index finger at her. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of sight? Just what the hell were you trying to do?”

  “I wasn’t trying anything. I was succeeding at saving your ass! They fired an RPG over the fly deck for Christ’s sake!”

  Vince grabbed Sarah’s elbow and fumed. “Do you know who we are? Do you have any idea how many people I’ve killed with my bare hands? I don’t need some girl to save my ass with her latest party trick!”

  Sarah shook off Vince’s grip. “Trick? You want to see a trick? I’ll show you a fucking trick. You get over your macho, pig attitude and accept the fact that somebody with huevos just saved your cojones or for my next trick I’m going to disappear and you can go fuck Hassan yourself!”

  “Oh, no, she didn’t,” Jason mumbled.

  Sarah wasn’t about to back down to Vince. “You know, if Jason or Brian or Will had done it, you’d be cracking open the beers and toasting them, but since it was me, I get bitched out? No, thank you. You told me I wouldn’t get preferential treatment and had to pull my weight. Now I see that was a load of shit. Stevens stay down? I had guns and ammo up there while you guys stood here with your dicks in your hands. You’d better get over yourself and accept the fact that I can take care of myself and you if I have to, or else this operation isn’t happening. You decide.”