A Darker Shade of Dead (6 page)

“Stunned, to be honest. I didn't really think of it happening so soon. Now that it has, I'm beginning to enjoy the idea. It's kind of awesome and scary all at once.”

“I can only imagine.” Matt stepped away as John called his group to order. “Please give Mari my best wishes and tell her she's welcome to join us for whatever part of the class she can handle.”

Simon thanked him and hustled to take his place on the mats with the other guys. Matt turned to his little group and wondered where to begin.

“Have any of you done any martial arts before?”

Matt expected Sarah to at least have had some training. Until recently, she'd been a county cop. When she raised her hand, Matt wasn't surprised. What did surprise him was Sandra's raised hand.

He turned to Sarah first, since she was closest. “Did you study with your brothers when you were a kid?”

Sarah laughed. “Far from it. Our dad didn't think it was ladylike, so I wasn't allowed to learn. I took a few training courses with the police department. That's all.”

Matt was surprised. “Well, you won't face that same attitude here. I think it's important for every member of this team to at least know how to defend themselves if necessary. If nothing else, it's good exercise.” Sarah nodded in agreement and he turned to Sandra. “How about you, doctor?”

“I have a green belt in
go ju ryu karate
. I know that's probably quite different from what you'll be teaching us here.” She seemed to want to downplay her abilities. Matt wouldn't let her do that. She was a vital member of this team, even if she spent most of her time in a laboratory and not in the field.

“You'll be surprised at the similarities, I'm sure. This is good. You can help me demonstrate the moves.” Sandra indicated her agreement as he turned to the last member of his small group.

“I've never done anything like this before,” Donna answered without being asked. He was discovering she was a forthright kind of person. He liked that, though he'd have to get used to her lack of military discipline. “But I'm eager to learn.”

“Good. We can build on that enthusiasm,” Matt replied, standing and facing the three ladies.

“W
ouldn't you rather be working over there with the guys, instead of babysitting us girls?” Sandra asked.

“Not really. I'd hate for one of them to put me back in traction.” Matt gestured to the other side of the mats where the guys were sparring full force.

“Traction?” She looked really concerned. Matt was uncomfortable with the subject but willing to be honest with her. He'd learned early on in his command that if you wanted honesty from your troops, you had to give them the same courtesy.

“My combat career ended because of an injury. My back is permanently messed up. This is about as good as it will ever get. I spent a long time in traction, and most of the doctors said I would never walk again, so I'm actually very grateful to have this amount of mobility.”

Sandra shook her head. “I'm impressed. I had no idea you were hiding that kind of injury.”

“Not hiding, exactly. Just dealing with.”

She looked contrite. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I'm actually impressed at how well you manage. I had no idea you'd been injured at all. That kind of thing must cause you a lot of residual pain.”

His mouth tightened just thinking about the spasms he sometimes had to deal with. “It's manageable.”

Mostly he ignored the pain. Sometimes it got so bad that he couldn't disregard it, though. When that happened, he did the best he could to muscle through the pain until he could get horizontal for a while. A few hours of sleep usually suppressed the spasms and let him continue his work.

“When I was in med school, I spent some time in orthopedics,” she said quietly. “I even considered making it my specialty before I was selected for a unique molecular biology program. If you ever need anything, I could probably help.”

Matt was touched by the shy offer. “Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'm doing much better lately. I only have difficulties once in a while. Luckily, this isn't one of those times.” A small white lie there. He did feel a little strain in the area as they practiced, but it was controllable.

They spent the next ten minutes working on the combination. Sandra was a fast learner, and he was able to partner her with Sarah, who had also quickly understood the principle of the movement, so he could give Donna another round of instruction. All three women were doing much better than he had expected, in fact. Donna was by far the least talented of the group, but she was doing well, considering. She had a sort of contagious enthusiasm, which almost made up for her lack of coordination.

The class certainly wasn't dull with her around. She managed to make them laugh more often than not, and the time sped by as they learned several new moves.

Matt moved on to a more complex combination, using Sandra as his practice partner. She moved well and had a natural grace that he found enchanting. He'd noticed the feminine sway of her hips before, but feeling her warm body under the thin cotton of her clothing as he helped break her fall was something even more distracting.

Her fragrance wafted to him like a siren's call, and the heat of her body radiated through his hands, straight to his libido. He had to step back and get a hold of his response before he embarrassed both himself and the good doctor.

“You can let go now.”

Sandra's soft voice drifted up to him as he knelt over her on the mat. He still had hold of her shoulder with one hand; his other hand was at her waist. He realized his mistake almost at once and let go as if she'd burned him.

“Sorry. My mind wandered.” She looked up at him with those sexy green cat's eyes of hers, studying him as if he confused her. He couldn't blame her.

The poor woman probably had no idea just where his mind had wandered to. A nice girl like her would likely be scandalized by the thoughts that had raced across his fevered imagination.

Images of her sweet, naked body straining under his as he took her in a sweaty, heavenly rush of dominance. He'd imagined for one blissful moment the way he'd possess her soft depths, pounding into her as she welcomed his strong thrusts, her voice crying out, spurring him on as she wrapped her legs around him.

Damn. If she was only half as potent as his imagination, she'd be lethal.

But he couldn't think of her that way. She was part of his team. A woman under his command.

She wasn't strictly military, and that allowed him some leeway he otherwise wouldn't have, but he didn't intend to bend the rules too far. No, it was bad enough he already had two couples in his new command. He couldn't afford the distraction a deeper personal relationship would bring. Mari and Simon were one thing. Both were now civilian contractors. Likewise, Sarah was not, nor had ever been, part of the military. Her fiancé, Xavier, was still in, but he knew how to follow orders.

While Matt didn't doubt the women in their lives came first—above and beyond any order Matt might issue—he still trusted both Simon and Xavier to follow his lead. Their girlfriends, he wasn't as sure of, though both ladies had already proven their ability to fight the common enemy. What Matt really didn't want to do was add to the couple count.

Even thinking about Sandra in an intimate way was dangerous. He couldn't afford the distraction—not for his team and not for himself. He had to be one hundred percent on target here. This command was too important, both to him personally and to the world at large. He couldn't afford to screw it up.

He stood and extended a hand to Sandra, who still lay on the mat. She took his hand, and he fought against the warmth that spread from her much smaller hand to his.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a low, concerned voice as he helped her to her feet. “Is it your back?”

He seized the ready excuse she'd given him, glad to have some explanation for his strange behavior. Even if it wasn't entirely true.

“I'm all right. Just a twinge.” He reached around to rub his back with one hand for good measure, but his words backfired.

“I'll take a look later, if you like. Maybe I can give the area a little therapeutic massage. It might help. Just take it easy for now and don't overexert.”

Damn. That sounded a little too good. The truth was he'd like to feel her fingers on his body. Anywhere on his body. The idea of that act was making him sweat. Matt had to calm down and get back to business. He had to push thoughts of Sandra's skilled hands on his flesh aside for now.

Much as he'd like to take her up on the offer of a massage then and there, he had to remind himself that they weren't alone. Donna and Sarah were waiting. Watching him and Sandra. A quick glance told him Sarah had one eyebrow raised quizzically in their direction. No doubt she sensed something in the air. She was too good a cop to miss the blatant signals Matt was trying so hard to hide.

“I'll be careful,” he replied noncommittally as they resumed their positions. He had to get back on track and teach these newcomers the basic skills they might need to protect themselves. That was his mission here today. That had to be his goal.

He had to put aside his attraction to Sandra McCormick. She was too tempting and all too beautiful for his sanity. It wasn't going to be easy to ignore that. Then again, as a retired Navy SEAL he wasn't a man used to taking the easy path.

 

Partnering with Matt Sykes was even harder than Sandra had expected. Oh, he took every precaution not to hurt her as he demonstrated the martial arts moves he was trying to teach. That wasn't the problem. She'd been thrown harder by Donna in practice. Matt guided her down to the mat light as a feather, controlling her descent in a careful and considerate way.

No, the problem was her reaction to him as a man. She'd been attracted to him from the start, but being near him—close to him this way—was kicking up the attraction another notch. His hands were big but gentle on her as he ran her through the combination move that ended with her flat on her back beneath him.

And that position brought on a whole other train of thought that was dangerous in the extreme. She wondered how it would feel if he crawled over her…naked. She could feel the heat of him through the worn fabric of their clothing. How much better would it feel skin on skin?

He was a large man. She'd known that theoretically. But having him toss her around as if she weighed no more than a feather brought home to her the real strength of him, the power behind his well-built frame. Even with a career-changing back injury, he moved with all the grace of a jungle cat. Matt was a man in his prime who was intensely attractive to just about anyone with two X chromosomes to rub together.

She fantasized about rubbing up against him, their naked flesh creating a friction that would probably burn her alive. Just the forbidden thought of it was heating her blood to an almost uncomfortable degree. She wanted him to climb over her and claim her. To stalk her like the male animal he was and put his mark on her. She wanted him. Like she wanted her next breath.

It was impossible, of course. He was the commander of this little operation and she was keeping some very dark secrets from him. Aside from that huge obstacle, she sincerely doubted a guy like Matt would even look twice at a lab geek like her. Sandra knew she cleaned up rather well, but she was by no means femme fatale material. Matt, no doubt, could have any woman he wanted. Why would he waste his time with a mousy scientist?

He wouldn't. Which was just as well. She couldn't afford to complicate her life even more by getting involved with anyone, much less the leader of the team that was working to fix some of the mistakes she'd made in the past.

Her thoughts flashed back to that night in the lab. The first night they'd tested the contagion and the first batch of zombies had risen. She'd run into the night, inadvertently letting the creatures out. That one foolish mistake would forever weigh on her conscience. Such a simple thing to have caused so much grief. All she had to do was bar the door and the creatures would probably have been contained.

But she hadn't barred the door. She hadn't even reported the incident. Once the day shift had discovered the lab empty, nobody had thought to ask if anyone had been tasked to watch the experiment overnight. Though they worked for the military, the science team hadn't run a tight ship. Duty schedules varied widely depending on the needs of the experiment, and nobody ever quite knew where everyone on the team was supposed to be at any given time. They operated more or less on the honor system and a task-related basis. You worked until you finished your assigned task, no matter how long that took.

She'd managed to escape blame for letting the monsters out of the cage. She would never forgive herself for her cowardice that night. If anyone ever found out she'd been the one to let them out, it would bring all kinds of suspicion down on her. By hiding her involvement, she'd dug herself into a hole she would never be able to climb out of.

Add that to the fact that she'd naïvely helped Dr. Sellars with what seemed to be a few harmless equations, and it would be easy to suspect her of playing for the wrong team in this game. Which is why nobody could find out. Especially not Matt. He would lock her in the brig and throw away the key. If she was locked up, she wouldn't have a chance to correct the wrong turns she'd made. She wanted, more than anything, to try to make things right.

Sandra had much to atone for, and ridding the world of the zombie contagion had to be her main focus for the rest of her life. However long that was. With Rodriguez after her and the possibility of her secrets being exposed at any moment, she had to concentrate on her goal and pray she had enough time to fix everything before her past caught up with her.

She managed to push lusty thoughts of stripping Matt naked and licking him all over to the back of her mind for the rest of the class. Barely. She grew concerned though, when he became less and less talkative. He seemed preoccupied, and she could think of no other reason than that his back was causing him pain. She'd gone into medicine initially because she'd had idealistic ideas about helping people. It was hard for her to watch anyone in pain—especially those who tried so valiantly to hide it.

She was relieved when the class ended with both groups joining for a final cool-down exercise period and some parting words of advice and encouragement from John. Matt had faded to the back of the room when the beginner and advanced groups reunited, but he was always on Sandra's radar. She knew where he was without looking. She was becoming attuned to him, and she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Either way, she knew just where to find him when John ended the class. Wasting no time, she made a beeline for him. She saw him try to duck away, but she wasn't going to let him suffer alone in silence. Not when she could help him.

“Commander, can I have a word with you?” she called out as he was about to leave. Caught, he turned back toward her. It would look odd if he ducked out now. Too many of the others had heard her request.

“Sure, doctor. Would you mind talking on the way to my office? I have an important call to make and need to get back there.” His words were polite, but she saw the slight wrinkles of pain edging his dark blue eyes.

She wouldn't make this harder on him. “Perfect. My lab is on the way.”

She grabbed her jacket from the bench along the wall and headed for the door. Matt held it open for her to precede him. She had to squeeze between him and the door frame, invading his personal space and inhaling his masculine scent. Damn. The man was potent and dangerous to her sanity.

He fell into step beside her as they walked away from the gymnasium. She watched his gait carefully. Now that she knew what to look for, she realized he had a slight hitch in his step. She probably wouldn't have noticed it before he'd told her about his back injury, but it was there.

“How's your back?” She decided the direct approach would be best with a no-nonsense man like Matt.