by Ali Vali
“Thank you,” Jin said and bowed in return. “If it makes it easier on you, my name is Captain Jin Umeko.”
“You made that look easy,” Devin said as they left the area.
“I’ll give my mother all the credit. She always says politeness pays off.”
Drew led her back to the communications room that was set up for live feed from Washington, and asked, “Who do you think this Lowe character is?”
“I’m sure the spooks have a file on him, but if the secretary is videoconferencing in today, maybe he’s got a clue.” The usual attendees were already sitting at the table when they arrived and Aidan shared a glance with her as Berkley sat down. “Our guest is being surprisingly cooperative and she gave up her backseat’s name.”
“Save it for about three minutes so you don’t have to repeat it all,” Aidan told her.
“Commander,” Drew said the minute his face was visible on the screen. “Welcome back and job well done getting yourself and Lieutenant Whittle out of harm’s way. Your captain sent word of your safe return.”
“Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I’m sure you would’ve done the same in similar circumstances. I’ve got a name for you to check out.” Berkley glanced at Devin to see if he wanted to give the report, but he shook his head. “The pilot we rescued is Captain Jin Umeko of the North Korean air force and the man with her is Lowe Nam Chil, is how she pronounced it.”
“Lowe Nam Chil, are you sure?”
“I’m not sure why she’s being so cooperative, but that’s what she said, and followed it with that you’d know who Lowe was.”
“If it’s who we’ve heard about, he’s Kim Jong Il’s main henchman and interrogator. Thank you, Commander.” Drew turned his eyes to Aidan. “Any luck on finding who sent that message, Captain?”
“We’ve got some new channels to investigate, sir, but so far no luck. The one thing we have done is inform Blazer that his father is dead. He didn’t take it well, and I’m not really sure he believes us, but his partner Alan Lewis has been much more forthcoming since Cletus’s return. Devin sat with him again, and he told us that Blazer didn’t share with him if what happened was an accident or on purpose, but Blazer did make him swear not to tell that they hadn’t gone back to check if their team members had made it out. All those actions followed the first call to ignore the order Cletus had given him not to engage.”
“You need to hang in a few more days and make sure that Nam Chil doesn’t cause any harm to himself. I’ve got Naval Command bringing in some backup to stabilize the area, then I want you to lift anchor and sail for the West Coast. Somewhere along the way I’ll make arrangements for Nam Chil’s departure from the Jefferson.”
“And if we’re engaged by the North Koreans?” Aidan asked.
“Have your pilots set up patrol and you have the green light that if fired on you engage. I’m hoping with the high tension now that they end up backing down before we’re done, but there’s a possibility that they won’t.”
“We’ll handle it and make preparation to sail. Thanks for the update, and if we have anything new on our end I’ll contact you immediately.”
“Will do, Washington out,” Drew said and the screen went black.
“Devin, you might want to do a full cavity search of our guest considering what happened with Adam Morris,” Aidan said.
“Aye, Captain, that sounds like a blast,” he said in a deadpan voice.
“And you get some rest and don’t get any wild ideas about doing any patrols yourself tonight,” Aidan said to Berkley. “Vader’s got everything under control, and I told him you can meet tomorrow morning to set up our defenses.”
“Let me check on Junior and I’ll bunk down for the night,” Berkley said and saluted Aidan before she left.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Junior was sleeping off his anesthesia when Berkley checked on him. They’d had to sedate him to reset his leg. The doctor had told her that there was a chance that he’d have a slight limp, but he was lucky his leg had been saved at all considering the infection that had set in.
When she locked the door to her quarters she headed to the chest in front of her bunk and sat to take her boots off, but her eyes stayed on Aidan and the way she was following her around the room with her gaze.
“Are you off duty for the night, Captain?”
“It’s still light outside, but I made an executive decision and took a few hours off to put you to sleep and then I have to go back to work for a little while. Unless someone drops a bomb on the ship tonight, I’m going to sleep in your arms.”
For once, Berkley didn’t bother being neat and dropped her uniform where she stood. It hadn’t technically been that long since she’d left Aidan’s bed, but when their bodies met skin to skin, it felt like a lifetime had passed her by since she’d felt something that wonderful. She rolled Aidan over and enjoyed the sensation of the simple touch, only to have Aidan start crying.
“Don’t.” Berkley wiped Aidan’s face with the tips of her fingers. “I hate seeing you in pain.”
“The pain I could live with,” Aidan sniffled. “I bore it for the years we were apart, but this time it was the numbness I couldn’t stand. When I thought you weren’t coming back I thought that’s all the sensation I’d ever feel again—nothing.”
“I’m here.” Berkley rolled them again so she could hover over Aidan and kiss her tears as they tracked down her cheeks. “And I want you to feel me.”
She moved to Aidan’s lips as her hand cupped the breast closer to her, and she smiled when she heard Aidan’s moan. “Let me in,” she whispered as her hand went lower. “Show me how much you missed me.”
Aidan was smaller than her, but her body was strong and Berkley could feel her muscles twitch. In the Korean countryside she’d thought about how to touch Aidan when she made it back and thought she’d have the discipline to go slow. But it was impossible.
Berkley placed Aidan’s leg over hers so she could see the blond hair that covered her goal. “I dreamed about this,” Berkley said as her fingers dipped into Aidan’s sex and found her wet. With Aidan lying naked next to her, Berkley took her time to admire the expanse of soft skin and luscious curves that had made her burn since their first time together.
“Go inside.” Aidan grabbed her wrist. “I need to know you’re here.”
Berkley ran her fingers along the wetness until they were covered in Aidan’s essence. Her movements were slow enough to make Aidan squeeze her wrist hard.
“Baby,” Aidan said right before Berkley entered her in one fast motion and buried her fingers inside her. “Oh God.”
Aidan’s clit was hard under her thumb and the way her hips started rocking right away encouraged her to pump her fingers faster. The moment might have proven to Aidan that she was back, but it freed Berkley’s heart from the past. This woman who gave herself so willingly to her touch was the one who would give her the kind of life worth living.
When she came, Aidan grabbed her wrist again to get her to stop moving her hand, but also to keep her inside. “I love you,” she said, her voice low.
“I love you too, sweetheart, and I’m looking forward to that picket fence you keep talking about.”
“It means retirement, Cletus,” Aidan said and her sex squeezed Berkley’s fingers. “Are you ready for that?”
“The toys aren’t as fun in the civilian world, that I admit, but there are other things to life than fast planes.” Berkley kissed the tip of Aidan’s nose.
“Like what?”
“Fast women,” she teased, and Aidan retaliated with a pinch to her nipple. “Okay, fast woman. You’re the only one I need, and we’re going to be fine. No matter what people like Blazer think of our service, we’ve given enough.”
“I’ve got another year.” Aidan sighed. “I don’t know if I could handle being away from you that long.”
“You’re in command of a carrier and I’m a pilot, sweet pea. I think things are going to work out for us.”
<
br /> “Enough about that. I’m supposed to be putting you to sleep,” Aidan said before she kissed her. “Would you like to hear a bedtime story?”
“Does it have any dirty words in it?”
“It’s more of an acted-out story without a lot of dialogue, but feel free to express your thoughts as we get through it.” Aidan kissed her again and moved down the bed after Berkley’s fingers finally left their warm haven. “I don’t know if this will give you the same thrill as when you’re in that bat from hell, but I’ll do my best.” Aidan sucked in Berkley’s clit so hard she came close to losing control instantly.
They linked their hands together and Berkley closed her eyes as the tingling sensation washed over her. She fought the urge to scream at how good she felt. It didn’t take long for the orgasm to reach a point that she couldn’t stop. Aidan must have sensed the change in her breathing and put her tongue at the base without breaking the suction of her lips. It made Berkley’s resolve to make it last longer shatter.
“The F-18’s got nothing on you, baby,” she said when her breathing slowed to a pant.
“Let’s hope you feel that way when I’m fussing at you to go and cut the grass.” Aidan moved up so she was covering Berkley’s body with her own. Their lazy kiss was interrupted by the alarm going off and the bridge announcing that they had incoming MiGs from the northwest.
“Back to work, Captain,” Berkley said and slapped Aidan’s ass to get her moving. She picked up the receiver in her room and called up to the tarmac. “Vader, get your team in the air and keep the bastards away from the ship. If you have a shot, take it. I doubt they’re here to pay a social call.”
“You got it, boss.”
Berkley called Mike Dyer next and told him to find her a backseat, which made Aidan stop dressing. The glare she shot her made Berkley put her hands up.
“You and I both know this is my job. If you want us to stay together, you need to let me do it, and have faith that I’ll come back.”
“No one’s going to say shit if you stay behind, least of all me.”
“I know that, but it’s not in me to stay behind, and remember that was the thing about me that attracted you in the first place.” Berkley moved closer to her and placed her hands along Aidan’s jaw and kissed her. “I love you. That’s what I fight for, and that’s what gives me the will to come home when I’m done.”
“Promise me again,” Aidan said and Berkley could tell she did her best to smile.
“I’ll be right back, so keep the light on.”
*
Minutes later Berkley was next to her new plane and found a young woman already in the backseat. Berkley didn’t waste time getting in and saluting the ground crew that secured the hatch. Once they were in the air she saw that the Koreans had sent about twenty planes and they were flying in a wide circle around the Jefferson but making no attempt to engage their planes, which were creating a buffer between the enemy and the ship.
“What’s your name?” Berkley asked.
“Hattie Skinner, Commander.”
“Up here it’s Cletus, and I promised the captain that I would try my best not to destroy any more expensive government property, so speak up, okay?”
“You got it.”
“Vader, what’s up?” she radioed him next.
“We’re locked in a game of ring-around-the-rosy, but they haven’t made any hostile movements.”
Berkley gained altitude and decided to go around to the other side of the ring the Koreans had formed. “How many planes did you send up?”
“We’ve got eighteen in the air now and I have more on deck ready to go if we need it.”
“Cletus.” Aidan’s voice came through the radio. “We’re getting a message from their government. So far they said if we let the two people onboard go they’ll call their fighters back.”
“What’s Command on our side saying?”
“They’ve sent the formal response and it was no, so heads up, everyone. If it’s true that they’ll engage, I need everyone vigilant.”
“What frequency are they on, Captain?” Berkley asked.
Aidan gave them all the correct channel so the planes could adjust their communications equipment. “This is Commander Levine of the USS Jefferson,” Berkley said slowly. “You are engaged in hostile activities in international waters. Break your pattern or you will be fired upon.”
Silence followed, but the computer beeped that one of the planes had locked on her. “Acknowledge that you understand, or we will engage.” Again, there was only silence.
“Cletus, we’re locked,” Hattie said.
“Got it,” Berkley answered and changed back to the channel where she could talk to Vader and Killer. “Broken wing formation. Lock on someone and be careful of incoming fire from the boys on deck.”
She waited for the plane that had locked on her to act. If it did, it would end up disastrously for the North Koreans. The pilot let his missile go and Berkley took evasive action by gaining altitude and allowing one of her pilots to shoot down the missile.
“Fire at will, everyone,” she told her pilots. It was still dusk, but the sky came alive with gunfire and rocket explosions. In less than two minutes five of the Korean planes had been downed. “Cease fire,” Berkley ordered, and even the Koreans listened. “This is Commander Levine. Stand down and turn it around or we’ll down the rest of your men.” She was flying above the fray now and kept an eye on her radar screen.
As she was about to ask for acknowledgment of her warning, the remaining planes broke to the left and circled back toward the north. “Killer, an escort to the coast, please.”
“Copy. Beta team, follow my lead.”
In the realm of combat it wasn’t exactly a battle, but Berkley wasn’t complaining. She lined up for landing and thought about the next year of her life. Unless the new administration changed course dramatically this is where she’d be. Her teaching days were over.
“Thank you, Hattie,” she said as she brought them in.
“Anytime, ma’am. I’ll be here until Junior is back on his feet.”
Landing on a carrier always took Berkley’s breath away. There wasn’t another experience that came close to the rush it gave her when the tailhook stopped her momentum cold. She laughed as she waited for the crew to bring the ladder and get them out once they were secured. The takeoffs and landings made her hair stand on end, but nothing compared to what Aidan had done earlier.
*
She made her way to the bridge when they were done and asked to speak to Aidan. “Once Killer and Vader land, send up the remaining planes and we’ll set up a watch pattern for now. I think you should get with Command, though, and find out who this is we’re holding. The last thing we need is a nightly visit from the regime trying to get their boy back.”
“You think they’ll tell us? You know how the alphabet soup works.”
“Tell them we’ve already lost one plane over this and I’d like to avoid any unnecessary damage if we can help it.” Berkley put her body between Aidan and the rest of the people working around them. “Think about it, Aidan. We’ve stuck a big-ass stick in a hornet’s nest, and these are the type of hornets with something to prove. Until they order us to lift anchor, we’re sitting ducks out here.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Their orders were to lift anchor and start for the West Coast. It wouldn’t take long for the Jefferson to be far enough from shore for the North Koreans to no longer be a problem. The fate of Jin and Lowe would be decided somewhere en route.
“This is like no other mission I’ve been on,” Aidan told Berkley when she made it back to her private office. “There’s something strange about this whole thing, don’t you think?”
“What I can’t understand is why was Lowe with Jin? If he’s that important to their government he would’ve been kept in a bunker somewhere.”
“And from what I’ve read about this regime, the small show of force doesn’t add up. The reason they wer
e never engaged was the fear of what the retaliation would be.” She rolled her chair back and pushed Berkley into it so she could sit in her lap.
“That’s for the spooks to figure out, but there was something else I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s Erika doing serving meals?”
Aidan gave her the rundown on what had happened, and she felt Berkley tense. “She didn’t think I’d do it, but I didn’t have the patience to sort out her bullshit.”
“After you dismissed her as your assistant, did she spend any time in the cargo area?”
“I could ask. I didn’t think about her at all once I sent her to the kitchen.”
“Save my place, I’ll be back.” Berkley jogged to the cargo hold where the jets were stored and brought on deck by hydraulic lifts when they were needed. The planes that had just landed were being refueled and checked over by Mike and his maintenance crew, which included Hattie Skinner.
“Did you forget something, Commander?” Hattie asked as she put her clipboard with her checklist under her arm.
“A minute with Mike,” Berkley said and smiled. “Thanks again for filling in tonight.”
“Hey, Cletus, you’re not going up again so quickly, are you?” Mike Dyer asked.
“Not until morning. What I need to know is if Lieutenant Erika Gibson’s been down here.”
Mike wiped his hands on the rag in his hand and glanced back at Hattie. Devin was closing in on them with a couple of his men. “When she got reassigned she came down and talked to a couple of people to vent off some steam about what happened. I kept it respectful, though, but I thought she had a right.” He stuffed the rag in his back pocket and cocked his cap back. “Is there a problem with that?”
“Devin’s going to need a list of everyone who she came in contact with.” Berkley leaned in and lowered her voice. “This is serious shit, Mike, so mention it to your crew that you do not want to get caught lying. People lose their careers over shit like this.”
