Clutch tapped the mic near his lips. “We’re all on the same channel just in case something happens. There’s been a ten-man Taliban mortar team harassing the camp nightly, and we know they hide somewhere out here. We didn’t want you running into them and raising hell.” He gave Kell a wicked grin.
Kell sent them on their way and turned to Leah. “They’re nice guys but right now we’ve got Taliban hiding out here,” he told her. Cupping his hands, he helped her up on the horse. He saw her grimace as she carefully sat down on the saddle. Patting her thigh, he said, “Remember that hot shower? It’s not too far away, Sugar.”
Leah groaned and nodded, picking up the reins. It felt freeing to know they were surrounded by four other SEALs. Leah tried to see them, but never succeeded. They blended into the landscape and disappeared. The dawn was getting brighter. Some of her tension melted just knowing they were close to the forward operating base. It represented security to her.
*
KELL SAW THE SECURITY gate open as he rode with Leah at his side up the slight incline toward Bravo. His team had remained behind, continuing to search for that Taliban mortar team. He lifted his hand to the two Marines who guarded the gate. Leah rode at his side and he guided her off to the right toward the low, concrete one-story building that housed the SEAL contingent.
As they drew close, Leah saw at least ten SEALs waiting outside to meet them. She smiled to herself, understanding that Kell was one of their own and they were glad to have him back inside the wire, safe. Her heart felt heavy because her time with Kell was over.
The SEALs were all dressed in desert cammies. When Kell dismounted, he was instantly surrounded, his brothers clapping him heartily on the back, shaking his hand, welcoming him back among them.
She sat in the saddle, smiling, seeing the relieved and happy expressions on the men’s faces. She wished her squadron had that kind of tight-knit, positive feeling, but it didn’t.
Kell turned and made his way between his friends to where Leah sat on the horse. “Ready to get out of that torture trap?” he teased, grinning and holding up his hands to her.
Leah saw a number of the SEALs hanging around, curious and listening. A few of them gave her looks that made her blush. She felt as though she were among a pack of male alpha wolves. “Yes.” She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of them and dismounted under her own steam. She felt Kell’s hand settle on her upper arm, steadying her as she pulled her boot out of the stirrup. And then she looked up to see all of them watching her. It was disturbing because when they looked at her, she felt as if they had X-ray vision, looking straight through her. As if they knew everything about her lurid past.
“Why are they staring at me like that?” she asked in a whisper, turning away from them.
Kell smiled. “I told them you’re my woman. They’re checking you out. They asked me if I dirt dived you yet and I told them I had.”
Heat crawled up into Leah’s face and she rolled her eyes. “What does dirt dive mean? It sounds…rude…”
He laughed heartily. “No, it means to know someone really well, that it’s not a one-night-stand kind of thing. It means I’m serious about you, that this isn’t a passing fancy.” He squeezed her arm and said, “It’s a compliment, not meant to embarrass you, Leah. Don’t worry about it.” Kell lifted his head and walked at her side. “My brothers will take care of the horses for us. Let’s go inside. I need you to meet Ax and to introduce you to everyone else.”
Leah wasn’t so sure about being surrounded by all this high-octane male testosterone. She could feel the stares in her back as the group followed them into the building. The first place Kell took her was to the master chief’s small, cramped office.
Ax looked up as they came in. He stood and offered his hand to Leah. “Welcome back, Chief Mackenzie.”
His hand was huge! Scarred with lots of calluses, but when Leah took it his grip was gentle, even though he must have stood a couple inches taller than Kell. “Thank you, Master Chief. It’s good to be back.” She released his hand. “If it wasn’t for Kell, I would be dead.” Choking up a little as the master chief stood there watching her, she explained, “I never knew what SEALs did, really. But I do now. Kell is a hero. You need to know that. He deserves to be written up for a medal.” She saw Ax give her a slight smile, his gaze pinned on Kell.
“He was just doing his job, ma’am.”
Just doing his job? Leah stared at him and sputtered, “But he saved my life.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ax rumbled. “That’s the nature of what we’re trained to do.” He tried to sound less abrasive. “Can we get you a cup of good coffee? Can I make a call over to your squadron commander and let him know you’re safe here, inside the wire?”
“That would be very nice, Master Chief. Thank you.”
“Ballard, why don’t you get the chief some coffee while I make that call?”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Sit down,” Ax invited her. He picked up the phone and made a short, terse call to the CO.
Unsure, Leah warily sat. This man had real power. His office was a mess, with three sat phones and a number of different types of radios near his right hand. There were reports in leaning stacks that looked like piled-up pancakes all across his desk. Ax was a huge man, the chair creaking loudly in protest when he sat down.
Kell returned and Leah gave him a grateful look as he handed her the cup of coffee. She thanked him.
“Close the door,” Ax ordered Kell.
Kell did so and sat down with his own cup of coffee in the other chair.
“Ma’am, if it’s not too much trouble, would you humor me by filling out a sit rep on your experience with us?”
Leah shrugged. “No problem, Master Chief. First, I need to talk with Captain Markley, my CO. I could get to it after that. Is that all right?”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s fine. Whenever one of our men performs a rescue, planned or not, if the survivor is willing, we like to have him or her fill out a sit rep for our files. It’s routine SOP.”
Kell grinned and sipped his coffee. He gave Leah a sideward glance. “Ax likes making paperwork for everyone.” He made a flourish toward the desk. “You can tell.”
Leah grinned.
Ax scowled. His mouth tightened. “Ma’am, there’s a special reason I’m asking for this, and you need to know, we’ve got your six on this. Major Hayden Grant, the battalion commander, has accused you of being at the controls when that bird went down. Now—” Ax looked over at Kell “—Chief Ballard already told me his side of what he saw. But I need your sit rep because your CO is pissed up to the gum stumps, and he’s gunning for you.”
“I didn’t have the controls,” Leah stated coldly, defensively, stunned by the information. Damn Hayden!
Kell watched as color drained from Leah’s face. She sat up, her mouth hardening. He wanted to touch her, reassure her, but he couldn’t. “I was informed by Ax that Major Grant had made the accusation against you,” he quietly told Leah.
“You didn’t say anything about it to me,” she said, her voice strained as she stared over at him.
“You had enough on your plate out there. You were dealing with shock from the crash. I made the decision to wait and let Ax tell you after we got you back to Bravo.” Kell gave her a look he hoped she realized was caring. He saw the sharpness in her gaze disappear, her mouth soften as she nodded.
“I understand,” she choked.
Ax sighed heavily and looked at both of them. “Ma’am, I don’t know what’s going on here. It’s none of my business unless one of my men gets sucked into it, and then it does become my business. I asked Chief Ballard to go back to that crash site and retrieve anything and everything he could. All that evidence is going to be turned over to Major Grant. Kell found the flight recorder. I’m going to send Clutch to Bagram with it tomorrow morning and have it delivered to him in person. That should clear up this little tempest in a teapot and I can get back to running the p
latoon instead of dealing with a pissant major who likes to stir up shit just for the pure joy of doing it. That twerp wouldn’t last two seconds in my platoon with that kind of game playing. We have far better things to do with our time than play grab-ass politics with a sister service.”
“That tape will clear me,” Leah said strongly. She tried to keep the anger out of her tone.
“Well,” Ax grumbled, “that Army officer is on a mission.”
“He’s my ex-husband.”
Ax’s brows shot up and then he made a grumpy sound and sat back in his chair. “It’s personal, then?”
“Very,” she breathed. Leah saw the master chief’s beefy face grow less hostile and irritated.
“Sorry to hear that, Chief.”
“I’m sorry this happened, Master Chief. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for Kell.”
“I need to get Chief Mackenzie over to her squadron,” Kell said.
“Do it.”
Leah felt tired and deflated as she walked across Bravo with Kell at her side. “Why didn’t you tell me Hayden said that?” she demanded.
“You didn’t need any more stress on you than you already had, Leah.” He dug into her worried gaze. “I figured Grant was blowing hot air. He wasn’t at that crash site. I was. And so were you. It’s our two eyewitness accounts against his hot air.”
“He’s just trying to cause me trouble,” she muttered irritably.
“Why now?”
“He’s going up for early colonel recommendation. I’m sure he wants me to put in some kind words to my father for him.” Her mouth flattened. “Like hell I will.”
“So he’s trying to blackmail you?”
“Exactly.”
“Look, why don’t you check in with your CO and we’ll meet for lunch over at the chow hall? Maybe he’ll have more intel on this accusation.”
She tiredly rubbed her brow. Right now, all Leah wanted was to crawl into Kell’s arms and hide. She could feel that powerful sense of protection washing over her. It was in his eyes, in the set of his mouth. “That’s a great idea.” She looked at her watch. “Two hours. That will give me time to check in, grab a shower, a clean flight suit, and I’ll probably feel halfway human.”
He smiled down at her, wanting to touch her, graze her mussed hair in a ponytail. “You look beautiful right now.” Hell, she looked beautiful with or without clothes on.
Wanting to reach out, but stopping herself, Leah had to get used to the fact they were now in civilization. “I wish,” she said softly, holding his warm gaze, “we were back in that first cave where you rescued me.”
“But we aren’t,” he said gently. “There will be other times and places, Leah. Right now, I want to get you cleaned up, and I want some food in that belly of yours. We’ve been on the run for days and we’ve both lost weight we can’t afford to lose.”
“You’re such a big, bad guard dog, Ballard.”
“Better believe it, Sugar.” He winked at her. “See you over at the chow hall in two hours.”
Leah watched Kell turn around and leave. He wore a black baseball cap and his M-4 was in a sling across his chest. She looked at other men, comparing them to him. The way he walked, the boneless animal grace, stole her heart. He had confidence she’d never seen anywhere else, other than in the men at the SEAL HQ just now.
*
KELL WAITED OUTSIDE the chow hall. His heart hammered briefly as he saw Leah walking confidently down the avenue. She looked good in her desert-colored flight suit, although it didn’t show off her curves, which he knew so well. Her hair was loose and he could tell it was damp, barely touching her shoulders. When he met her eyes, he smiled a silent welcome to her. There were a lot of people milling around the entrance to the chow hall and he stepped out of the way of the traffic.
Leah smiled up at him. “I’m starving. How about you?” She him gave him a wicked look.
Kell’s smile widened. “Oh, I’m starving all right.”
“Poorly phrased,” she admitted, feeling heat sweep up her neck and into her face. “Hungry for food,” she admitted with a soft laugh.
Leah turned away because of the intense, burning look in Kell’s eyes after her remark, remembering their intimacy with one another. Around him, her shields dissolved and she was fully vulnerable to him in every way. Swallowing hard, she walked with him into the busy facility. Just being with Kell made her needy for him again.
“It’s okay,” he soothed, giving her a teasing glance. Kell held the door open for Leah and followed her in. The place was packed with the noontime crowd, mostly men in uniform, although there were civilians among them.
As they stood in the chow line, Kell saw her remove her baseball cap and stick it into the thigh pocket of her uniform. He inhaled Leah’s scent along with the fragrance of the soap she’d recently used. “What? You traded in my lye soap for almond-scented shower gel instead?” he teased.
Turning, Leah nodded. “You bet I did,” she said. Pushing her fingers through her damp hair she added, “It feels so good to be clean.” And her body was responding to his quiet, powerful presence whether she wanted it to or not. She knew Kell well enough to see that gleam in his eyes that was meant solely for her. It wasn’t obvious, but she felt heat course through her in response to that look. The man could turn a rock on. Hell, he’d turned her on, a major miracle in and of itself.
“How are things in your neck of the woods?” Kell picked up two trays, handing one to her. He didn’t really care if the men, who always watched the few women that came to the chow hall, knew he was with her or not. But maybe it’d go a long way to make a subtle statement to other males that Leah was taken. She was his. And there would be no hiding the fact that if they met here every once in a while to eat together gossip would start. Forward operating bases were magnified fishbowls of the human condition. One of the worst kinds. There were a thousand personnel here at Bravo and 95 percent of them were men.
Leah spotted a hamburger and added it to her tray. Her stomach was growling. She ignored the looks she always got from the men. With Kell behind her, maybe she wouldn’t get hit on, which usually always happened.
Once they were through the line, Kell said, “Over here.” There were two empty seats at the rear of the chow hall. They could sit together and he would have his back to the wall so he could see everything out in front of them. SEALs never sat with their backs to an entrance or exit, or near windows.
Leah took the end seat at the long table filled with the Marine security force that kept Bravo safe. She recognized the two sentries who had let them in earlier in the morning and nodded a hello in their direction. Kell sat between her and a Marine Corps sergeant.
Settling in, Leah put a lot of ketchup on her fries. “Our first real meal together,” she teased, grinning. She liked the way his mouth curved at the corners. On Kell’s tray were four hamburgers and twice the amount of French fries she had on her tray. She had one hamburger. He was a helluva lot taller and weighed much more than she did.
“One of many to come,” he promised her, picking up a hamburger. Kell noticed the men at the table looking longingly at Leah. He wondered how women in general handled this kind of alpha-male, testosterone-laden environment. Leah completely shut it out, busy eating. He could feel she’d put up her shields, so maybe that was her way of dealing with it. Women out here on the frontier were few and far between.
Leah had waited until the men across from her had eaten and left. She didn’t want to have a private conversation with Kell that could be overheard by others. Finally, the table cleared as she ate a huge piece of cherry pie for dessert. Sometimes, her elbow would accidentally graze Kell’s elbow. Every touch felt good to Leah. She yearned to be in his arms, to kiss that wonderfully male mouth of his, to sink against him as the world melted away.
“How’s it going over at the squadron?” Kell asked her, pushing his tray to the other side of the table.
“My CO, Captain Markley, told me Hayden is gu
nning for me.”
“Is this the first time?”
“No.” Leah finished her cherry pie and put the tray to the opposite side of the table. Picking up her mug of coffee, she said, “Hayden gets this way when he wants me to put in a good word with my father to have him considered for the next early rank selection. He’s up for light colonel, so he thinks I’m going to aid and abet him.” Her voice turned to a growl. “Not this time.”
Kell nodded and picked up his coffee, sipping it. “That flight recorder leaves tomorrow morning. Clutch’s been assigned to hop a flight into Bagram and personally hand deliver it to Grant. I’ll be interested in what Clutch sees in him.” In more ways than one. Kell wished it had been him that Ax had assigned to take the recorder to the bastard. He wanted eyes on Grant to ferret out his weaknesses and strengths.
Leah smiled a little. “You guys go by such funny names.”
“The master chief gives everyone a nickname when we first enter our platoon,” Kell told her. “Clutch got his name because he’s good in the clutch. He’s solid, steady and reliable.” He chuckled. “And if you knew Clutch, he gives the name new meaning.”
“How so?” Leah asked, enjoying his closeness, his Southern drawl.
“Clutch and I went through the same class at BUD/S to become SEALs. He came out of a very rich family. And he has a mind like a razor. He’s a good man, Leah, someone you want on your mission. Clutch trusts no one, sees their weaknesses and can exploit the hell out of them. He always goes for the jugular when it comes to a tango.”
“When I saw him appear out of those bushes, he scared the hell out of me,” she admitted.
“Yeah, he’s pretty intimidating when he wants to be.” Kell agreed. “But no one will have your back like he will, either. Clutch’s loyalty is to his SEAL brothers. Everyone else comes second.” And then Kell smiled a little. “Except for you, of course.”
She felt heat rising into her cheeks. “Why did you have to tell everyone we’re a couple?”
“Because it’s how SEALs work. No one will hit on you. If one of the team guys is around and they see you, they’ll keep an eye out for you. And if you have a problem or a question, you can go over to our HQ and ask Ax. He’s our manager, so to speak, and he’s the go-to guy if you need anything. He’ll make it happen.”
Running Fire Page 23
