by Karen Foley
Elena hesitated. “What you said about your friend and Sergeant Corrente…”
“Val and Mike? What about them?”
“I know it’s none of my business, but were you referring to them having, you know, sex?”
Callie grinned. “Val’s been plotting to get that boy alone since she first laid eyes on him, and I don’t think he’ll put up too much of a fight.”
“Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but I was told in no uncertain terms that sex is strictly forbidden. Is that true?”
The first woman, Corporal Chapman, gave a hoot of laughter. “They can try to forbid it, but it’s happening whether the brass likes it or not. General Order One doesn’t expressly prohibit having sex, but it’s highly discouraged. Yeah, there are rules about how we’re supposed to behave, like we’re not supposed to be in each other’s quarters with the door closed.” She gave another snort. “Like that’s going to deter anyone. Believe me, if two people want sex, they’ll find a way.”
“Those rules,” Elena ventured. “Do they apply to everyone?”
Corporal Chapman sharpened her attention on Elena. “Why do you ask? Do you have your eye on one of our boys already?”
Elena couldn’t prevent the heat that washed into her face. “Of course not. I was just wondering.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” But when it became clear that Elena wasn’t about to offer anything more, she shrugged. “Even if the rules don’t apply to you, they apply to the soldier you’re fantasizing about. But like I said, if two people want to be together badly enough, they’ll find a way. We always have female soldiers turning up pregnant and trust me, they didn’t get that way by themselves.”
Elena watched as the women finished stowing their gear and left the building, before turning her attention back to Sylvia. She sat on the edge of her bed, twisting her blanket in her thin fingers.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Elena asked gently. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re protected by some of the best and bravest soldiers in the world.” She adopted a brisk, friendly tone. “C’mon, let’s go get something to eat. Personally, I’m starving.”
But Sylvia only shook her head. “No, I couldn’t eat a thing. My stomach is in knots. I think I’ll just stay here.”
Elena nodded in sympathy. “All right. I’ll bring something back for you, then. Why don’t you lie down and try to get some rest? I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
Sylvia nodded and at Elena’s urging, lay woodenly on the bed with her eyes open, as if she expected the Taliban to burst through the door at any moment.
Elena left the hut and stopped uncertainly when she saw Mike Corrente in a heated, hushed conversation with the dark-haired woman who had left their living quarters so abruptly. Mike wore an expression of extreme frustration and twin patches of color rode high on his cheekbones. Valerie looked defiant. As Elena closed the door behind her, both soldiers looked up, and while Mike was distracted, Valerie took the opportunity to turn and walk away. For a brief instant, Elena was certain that Mike would go after her, before he visibly restrained himself.
“Where’s Ms. Dobbs?” he asked in a clipped tone.
“Not feeling well. Look, if you just want to point me in the right direction, I can find my own way to the chow hall.”
“No doing,” he answered, shaking his head. “I promised McCormick I wouldn’t let you go anywhere alone and I don’t intend to.”
Elena sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”
As they made their way through the housing area and past the latrines and showers, Elena was amazed at the level of activity on the base. The sound of diesel engines filled the air as a dozen Humvees and armored vehicles prepared to leave the base and patrol the surrounding area. Two helicopters stood on the landing strip, the downward wash of their rotors creating small sandstorms of dust that rolled across the base in billowing clouds.
Elena wondered what Chase was doing at that moment. Had he and his team already left the base? Were they making their way toward the spot where the Taliban forces had been spotted? She knew for a fact that he hadn’t slept the previous night; would he get any sleep this night? Her mind whirled with all the possible scenarios. Her stomach was a knot of anxiety, and she didn’t think she’d be able to eat.
“Here we are.” The sergeant’s voice interrupted her thoughts. They had arrived at the chow hall, and the delicious aroma of grilled burgers and French fries made her mouth water. Inside, rows of tables and benches filled a large room.
“Just grab a tray and move through the line,” Mike instructed, nodding toward the hot food. “There’s also a salad bar and a dessert bar and the drinks are over there. You can pretty much help yourself to whatever you want, as much as you want.”
Elena stared around her, amazed by the selection. “I thought I’d be eating MREs,” she marveled, referring to the prepackaged field rations that the military used in combat.
Mike smiled. “No way. We’re the best-fed military in the world.” He winked at her and patted his flat stomach. “The only problem is the food is almost too good.”
Although it had seemed to Elena that every able-bodied person on the base was gearing up to confront the enemy, the dining area was about half-filled with people, both military and civilian. She saw several of the men who had flown in on the same helicopter with her, and one of them raised a hand in friendly acknowledgement.
Not feeling particularly sociable, Elena smiled but turned to Mike. “I’m just going to grab something and bring it back to my room. You don’t need to wait.”
Planting his feet apart, Mike crossed his arms. “That’s okay, ma’am. I’ll wait.”
Giving him a dubious look, Elena nodded. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”
She quickly chose some sandwiches, fruit and bottled drinks and bundled them all in a paper bag. Despite Mike’s determination to wait for her, she sensed that he was anxious to get back to his job.
The sun was setting behind the mountains as they made their way back toward the living quarters, and Elena could feel the temperature beginning to drop.
“Does it get cold here at night?” she asked.
“It can. We’re in the desert, so the difference between day and night is pretty extreme. Best to wear layers, since you never can tell what the weather will do.” He hesitated before continuing. “So, um, how’re your living quarters working out?”
Elena shrugged. “I grew up with two sisters so I’m sort of used to sharing my space.”
“Did you—did you meet the enlisted women?”
Elena glanced sharply at him. “Do you mean Valerie?”
To her amazement, twin spots of ruddy color appeared on his cheeks. “Yeah. She won’t tell me if she’s going out on patrol, or not. Thinks I’ll freak out, or something.”
“I don’t know about Valerie, but the other two women said they were most likely going out.”
They were approaching Elena’s housing unit when they heard a shrill, terrified scream from inside. Elena barely had time to register what was happening before Mike broke into a run and flung the door to her hut open, disappearing inside. Elena followed, her heart hammering. She reached the open doorway and peered over Mike’s shoulder to see Sylvia standing on top of her bed, an expression of horror on her pale face. She stabbed a finger toward the floor.
“There! Did you see it? Under the bed! It went under the bed!”
Mike worked his way through the cubicles, crouching down to check the floor as he went. “What is it? What am I looking for? A snake? A scorpion?”
“Sp-spider,” Sylvia managed in a choked voice. “A huge spider.”
“Damn,” Mike muttered. “I hate frickin’ spiders.”
Elena stood in the doorway, poised to run, when she saw a dark shape, easily as big as her hand, scuttle across the floor. Only scuttle was the wrong word, because that would imply the thing merely hurried, when in reality it raced across the open floor. Directly toward her.
Elena couldn’t help h
erself. She shrieked and flung herself outside, her eyes scanning the ground in case the thing actually decided to follow her. She was only vaguely aware of several soldiers running in her direction, and from inside the hut, Sylvia squealing in fright.
Strong hands gripped her by the upper arms and gave her a slight shake. “Elena, what’s wrong? Are you all right?”
“Spider,” she managed to gasp as Chase stared down at her. “A huge spider!”
“Wait here,” he said grimly and ducked inside the housing unit.
Elena leaned back against the wall of the hut, listening to the chaotic noises coming from inside. It sounded as if they were overturning the beds in their search for the enormous creature. She could just distinguish Chase’s voice speaking in low tones, presumably to calm Sylvia. She jumped when Mike emerged from the hut, looking a little stunned.
“Ah, you might want to move away a little,” he said when he saw Elena standing beside the door.
There was a collective gasp from the congregated soldiers as Chase emerged from the hut. Dangling from his gloved hand was a massive spider.
Elena recoiled in horror.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “It can’t hurt you now.”
“Oh, my god,” she breathed, staring at the creature in disbelief. “What is it?”
“The soldiers call these camel spiders.”
“Is it alive?”
Before Chase could answer, the thing made a hideous noise and began to twitch in his hand. As one, the soldiers took a step backward.
“Damn, Sergeant,” one man said, “you’re either the bravest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen or the dumbest.”
Chase held the spider up and considered it. “They’re actually not venomous. This guy was probably just looking for a shady place to hide.”
The spider was sand-colored and hairy, and each of its legs were easily six inches long. It jerked grotesquely in Chase’s hand. Elena shuddered and looked away, repulsed by the thing. Her imagination conjured up horrible images of what might have happened had Chase not captured it. What if the spider had attacked her during the night?
“Somebody get me a box or a jar,” Chase commanded. He turned to Elena. “You okay?”
She couldn’t understand how he could be so calm while holding something so frightening. “I don’t think I can go back in there,” she said, indicating her sleeping quarters. “What if there are more?”
“We checked everything and the hut is clear. There’s nothing in there to be afraid of.”
Elena gave a disbelieving snort. “Right. You couldn’t pay me enough money to sleep in there.”
A corner of Chase’s mouth lifted and his eyes gleamed with humor. “I did warn you that the conditions here are different than what you’re accustomed to.”
She bristled. “If you even try to insinuate that I’m acting like a typical female, Chase, then take a good look around. Even your own soldiers are afraid to get near that thing.” She grimaced. “Any human should be afraid to get near something that revolting.”
Chase laughed. “Okay, I concede.”
One of the soldiers came forward with a cardboard box, and Chase dropped the spider inside, quickly closing the top before it could escape. He handed the box back to the soldier. “Release it outside the wire.”
The soldier blanched. “Me?”
Chase arched an eyebrow. “You have a particular problem, Corporal, that prevents you from releasing an insect?”
The man flushed and defiantly snatched the box from Chase’s hands, although Elena noted how he held it at arm’s length. “No, sir,” he snapped. “No problem.”
He strode away, and Chase turned to the remaining men. “Okay, show’s over. Back to your posts.”
“Speaking of which,” Elena said quietly, “why aren’t you at your post? Something about insurgents preparing to overrun the compound? What are you doing here? I thought you were against rescuing damsels in distress.”
He glanced at her. “The intel was false,” he said curtly.
“Ah. Well, that’s a relief. I mean, if you’d been gone, who would have captured that little critter?” Elena peered into the hut to see Sylvia still standing on her bed, her face pale. “The spider is gone,” she assured the other woman. “You can come down.”
Sylvia gingerly climbed from the bed and came outside. Elena could see she was shaking. She held out the bag she’d carried from the dining facility. “I brought you a sandwich and something to drink.”
Sylvia grimaced. “Thanks, but I couldn’t eat a thing.” She drew in a shaky breath and faced Chase. “Actually, I’d like to speak with whoever is in charge of the DPA folks.”
Chase’s expression didn’t change. “That would be Colonel Vinson. I can walk you to his office, if you’d like.”
Realization hit Elena, and she reached out to touch Sylvia’s shoulder. “You can’t leave. Not when you’ve just gotten here.”
Sylvia turned around. “I can’t stay. I’m sorry, but I completely underestimated what the conditions would be like out here.” She glanced back into the hut and Elena saw a shudder go through her. “I can’t sleep in there, or anyplace else where there might be those spiders. Or worse. I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Chase assured her. “You’re making the right choice.”
Elena briefly narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to the older woman. “Sylvia, you don’t have to do this. Granted, the spider was disgusting, but it wasn’t poisonous. We really need you out here. The troops really need you here. I wish you’d reconsider.”
Sylvia shook her head. “I can’t. I’m going to ask if I can leave on the next helicopter out.”
Reluctantly, Elena glanced at Chase. She fully expected to see an expression of triumph on his face, but his features were somber as he considered Sylvia. “I’ll personally ensure that you’re on a flight back to Kuwait first thing tomorrow.” He shifted his attention to Elena. “Can I persuade you to go with her, Ms. De la Vega?”
“Not a chance.”
“Fine,” he said, clearly not pleased. “But next time there’s an uninvited, eight-inch critter in your bed, don’t expect the cavalry to come to your rescue.”
Elena smiled sweetly and allowed her gaze to drift over him. “Trust me. The next time I have an eight-inch critter in my bed, it won’t be uninvited.”
7
ELENA SPENT a sleepless night tossing and turning on her hard pallet, and she knew Sylvia did the same. After the other woman had returned from Colonel Vinson’s office, she’d confirmed that she would be leaving in the morning. Then she had repacked her duffel bags with the items she’d unpacked just hours before, and had slid fully clothed into her sleeping bag. The female soldiers didn’t return that night, and it was just Elena and Sylvia in the hut. The temperatures fell and Elena shivered in her sleeping bag, her eyes wide open.
The base apparently didn’t sleep, either. Elena listened to the sound of diesel engines throbbing to life, and the shouts of soldiers as they went about their work. She dragged the sleeping bag up over her shoulders and turned onto her side, thinking about the events of the day. Part of her understood why Chase wanted her to go home, but another part of her felt hurt and insulted by his eagerness to see her gone. She still had a difficult time reconciling the man she’d known in Kuwait with the hard-eyed soldier here in Afghanistan. She just wished she knew if his desire to send her home really had to do with her safety or his own discomfort at having her around.
She had just begun to drift off when a strident alarm snapped her into full awareness. Sylvia mumbled something incoherent and Elena heard her fumbling in the dark until finally, she hit the alarm and blissful silence ensued. But for Elena, there was no falling asleep.
With a groan, she sat up and pushed the sleeping bag back, shivering in the cool air. Reaching out, she groped for the light attached to the wall and snapped it on, illuminating her little sleeping compartment. She looked over at Sylvia,
who was also sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
“What time is it?” Elena asked.
“About 4:00 a.m. Sergeant Corrente is coming to get me in ten minutes to bring me to the airstrip.” Sylvia swung her legs over the edge of her bed and scrubbed her hands over her face. “God, I’m tired.”
Elena agreed. She was exhausted to her very bones, but she knew she’d never be able to get back to sleep. “I think I’ll go grab a shower and something to eat, and then head over to the contracting center,” she announced. “Any chance I can borrow your shampoo?”
Leaning over, Sylvia unzipped her duffel bag and tossed Elena a small cosmetic kit. “You can keep it,” she said. “I’m not going to need it.”
Elena slid her feet into her boots. “Well, I guess this is it,” she said to Sylvia. “I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you.”
Sylvia gave a huff of laughter. “I’m not. I’m glad I came, if only for the fact that I now realize how lucky I am.”
“What do you mean?”
Sylvia shrugged and looked a little embarrassed. “I’ve spent the past year feeling sorry for myself. My whole life changed after my husband left me. Somehow, I believed that was a bad thing.” She looked around the room they shared. “But coming over here and seeing how these young people live was a real wake-up call. They work in these horrible conditions, far away from their loved ones, and yet I haven’t heard one complaint. It’s a little humbling.”
Elena knew exactly what she meant. She considered that this was Chase’s fourth deployment to Afghanistan and that he was prepared to spend another year away from his family.
“It does make you reconsider what your priorities are,” she agreed. “I’m sure none of these soldiers take what they have for granted, not when they know they could lose everything at any time. You figure out really quick what it is that you care about.”
She wondered what Chase cared about. Who were his loved ones? He’d told her that he wasn’t married, but did he have someone waiting for him at home? She realized she knew next to nothing about the man, other than the fact he was from North Carolina. If circumstance hadn’t placed them on the same outpost together, she would never have seen him again, never known anything more about him than what she’d learned during that one amazing night.
