Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (14 page)

“What’s going on?” A growl came from behind
them and they all turned to see the Commander scanning them with a
stony look.

“Snow White’s coming with us this weekend.
We could use her in the demo for the tandem. She’s never jumped
before,” Mace piped up.

“And she’s not jumping now,” the Commander
said sternly.

Mace placed a hand on her shoulder and
squeezed her gently. “Not by herself, Commander, with me. I’ll take
her.”

The Commander shook his head, the look in
his eyes adamant.

Disappointment closed its cold fingers
around her heart. “Thanks for the offer, Mace.” She swung around
and answered a call from a base vessel departing the dock for a
border patrol. The next thing she knew she was being drowned out by
the team all squawking behind her.

“Why not, Commander? This is volunteer, good
will stuff. Why can’t she come?” Tony asked.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Fox said.
“She’d love it. What do you think, Lieutenant?”

Lieutenant Cobbs’ gravelly voice started to
reason aloud, like he often did. “We usually do a tandem jump
anyways. She’s light. We’ve probably got more equipment on when we
jump than she weighs. I don’t see why not, but it’s the Commander’s
call.”

She nudged the chair up to her console with
her back to them, she couldn’t help it, and crossed her
fingers.

Silence echoed in the room. “Decision is
final. I’m sorry, Kayla,” the Commander said after a few
seconds.

She nodded her acknowledgment without
looking at him, instead staring up at the electronic board
crosschecking the locations of all the vessels belonging to the
base, shaking off her disappointment. One more near miss at feeling
the wind beneath her wings, guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

* * * *

Mace closed the door behind him, but didn’t
step far from it. The Commander ignored him, taking a seat at his
desk.

In danger of sounding like a whining kid, he
said, “Why?”

“Mace—” The Commander turned a biting gaze
on him. “She’s not going. If she wants to fly to Arizona to watch
on her time, that’s fine, but she’s not jumping with you.”

“Sir, I don’t care if you make me clean the
entire flotilla, but I’m going to say this.”

The Commander leaned back, his jaw
tightening.

“She works her ass off here.” He took a
couple steps closer, but didn’t venture all the way to his desk.
“She makes life bearable, just by doing little things, and now we
have a chance to return her kindness in a small way.”

“She’s a grown woman, Mace. If she wants to
jump, she could get lessons and do it on her own time.”

Fisting his hand in frustration, it came
down hard against the wall. “Jesus Christ, Commander, I don’t get
it. Why do you hate her so much? You’re always glaring at her like
you want to rip her to pieces. I’m amazed she hasn’t buckled yet.
What the hell has she done that’s pissed you off, sir?” The
Commander had put his attention on the far wall as he spouted off.
No doubt the storm front was about to move in, and discipline was
sure to follow.

The Commander’s hand clenched, but not as
hard as his expression. “I don’t hate her, Mace. I helped the woman
find a place to live. I’ve accepted her for the long haul. Hell, I
offered her our help to move, which she refused.”

“No, she didn’t.”

That stopped the Commander cold. “What?”

“We moved her.” He shrugged, but did one
hell of an inner jig. He’d finally one-upped the Commander.
Somebody mark this goddamn day on the calendar.

“When?”

The inner jig came to a halt with one foot
high in the air. The Commander looked so off balance, it blew his
happy dance to hell. Nothing flustered the man, but he almost
looked hurt. “Last weekend. I brought the guys over and we moved
her in.”

The Commander shifted in his seat. “Good,”
the word barely made it out of his mouth. He leaned back, twisting
a pen through his fingers. “You do realize she’s older than you,
Mace?”

What the hell
? Now he was speechless.
Especially with the fierceness that dropped into the Commander’s
eyes like a flare on its downward arc. He’d seen it many times
before, but it sure as hell wasn’t aimed at one of them. A Tango
had a no RSVP required reservation to meet the grim reaper with
that look. He swallowed thickly. Time for a diversion. A fast
one.

“You didn’t see her eyes just now. For one
second, she was really excited. Have you ever looked into her eyes,
Commander? She smiles and even though she does, there’s a part of
her that never really gets to happy. She smiles for people around
her, but the smile is for them, not for her.”

“Yes,” he answered quietly. “I’ve looked in
the woman’s eyes.” The Commander stood up and approached him. “I’m
not going to take the chance she could be hurt—ever. Do you
understand me?”

It was right then Mace realized what he’d
thought was hate in the Commander’s eyes, wasn’t hate at all, it
was restraint. And the biggest shock of all—jealousy. The
revelation made him blink, his head jerking back. He considered
finding a Bible, because the end of the world had to be close at
hand. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Commander.”

“Mace, why is this so damn important to
you?” He swung a quick look into the ops room. “She’s not some
sweet young skirt. She’s professional, and she’ll keep it that way.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s time for a wake-up call.
She’s tough as nails. You think you’re going to impress her into
bed? You’re not.”

His brow crushed together. “I don’t know.
She’s just…she’s just.”

The Commander rested a hand on his shoulder.
“This isn’t about getting in her pants, is it? It’s about your
sister.”

He’d taken it pretty hard when cancer took
Leslie from the family last year. He had four brothers and three
other sisters, but Leslie and he were the closest. She was the
oldest while he was the baby of the family. Turning thirty last
month was harder on him than he thought. It was his first birthday
without her. She’d practically raised him, taking care of the house
and her siblings while their mom and dad worked hard to give them
everything they needed.

“Kayla even looks a little like her, doesn’t
she, Mace?” the Commander noted, cocking his head at him. “And I
know you miss her.”

He stared at the ground, dwelling on the
Commander’s words. Maybe there was some truth to it,
subconsciously. Kayla simply made him feel good. She laughed at his
jokes, and when she smiled at him, his heart melted. The reality
was, he had a horrible crush on her, but he knew there was no way
in hell anything would grow between them, other than
friendship.

Commander Austen sighed. “Mace, I’ll talk to
her, all right? If I feel she really wants to come, I’ll let
her.”

How had he missed it? It was obvious as hell
to him now. Just great—the Commander had the spoiled hearts of so
many women behind him it was like the tail on a meteor. The only
thing that would stop him would be the fact she worked in the
Command center. He hoped it was enough. He didn’t want to see Kayla
hurt, because the last thing the Commander would ever do in this
lifetime was love someone for more than one night. “Thank you,
sir.”

* * * *

Kayla darted past his door on her way home.
“Ms. Banks.” He heard her footsteps continue across the tiled floor
and around the corner to the elevator. Before he could catch up to
her, the elevator doors closed. Vaulting down the stairs, he pushed
through the door on the main level and waited. With her head down,
she walked straight into him exiting the elevator.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized before looking
up. “Sorry, Commander.”

He crossed his arms, watching her weave her
way through the people who entered the building. Instead of turning
toward the main gates to catch her bus, she strolled toward a small
park sitting on the edge of Glorietta Bay. Stopping at an empty
picnic table, she flung her bag on top, and climbed up to sit next
to it. With fingers tucked between her knees, she stared out toward
the water.

Sliding onto the table beside her, he
considered what he’d say. It wasn’t often he went back on his word.
He knew jumping out of a plane wasn’t the only reason he didn’t
want her to come. “I may have been too hasty in my decision,
Kayla.”

“You never call me Kayla, don’t start now,”
she said. “And you’re right, I am a grown woman. If I was stupid
enough to want to jump out of a plane, I would do it.”

Holy crap! She had to have the ears of a
fox. Either that or he should consider soundproofing the
office.

“Have a good weekend, Commander. Take care.”
She jumped off the table, slinging her pack over one arm and began
walking toward the beach.

Like a little clam, she’d closed herself up
tight. It bothered him, more than it should have. There was
absolutely no animosity in her voice. It sounded pleasant and
professional. She’d shoved her disappointment deep inside, and for
some reason he knew, only a woman who’d had to deal with defeat a
lot could cope like that.

He called after her. “You’re not jumping by
yourself. One of the men will have to take you, do you
understand?”

She stopped, and stared at the water instead
of looking at him. “What if I chicken out at the last minute?”

The Pacific’s breeze caught her curls and
played with them while the wind flapped at her sea-green colored
sleeves. “Somehow I doubt that,” he said with a twist of bitterness
in his chest. He hoped she did. The thought of her falling ten
thousand feet made his stomach roll.

She pivoted slowly on her heel, and tilted
her head at him. “I can go?” she asked carefully.

He shrugged.

She took five quick steps towards him. “Was
that a yes, Commander?”

He slowly turned his gaze to her. What the
hell was the matter with her, anyway? Most women who looked like
her wanted to get their nails done or go shopping for hours on end.
“What the hell do you want to jump out of a plane for?” She took
two more steps to stand right in front of him, within grabbing
distance. Then he realized he wasn’t breathing.

“Is that a yes? I can go?” she asked,
blinking up at him.

He cleared his throat, restrained by her
beautiful eyes. “Yes, you can go, Ms. Banks.” For a second, a brief
one, he saw it. He saw the light in her eyes Mace described, and
then she grabbed both his hands in hers and squeezed.

“Thank you, this is great. I’m scared
shitless,” she said, a sweet laugh following.

He’d never seen her smile so brightly. The
woman kept herself hidden and reserved every hour of the day. He
sure as hell didn’t expect her to hug him. It took him off guard.
Instantly he curled his arms around her slender waist, and gazed
down into her face, a smile spreading across his lips. His body
tingled and popped like embers from a fire. She felt so damn good
in his arms. “Mace better not screw up or he’ll be vacuuming the
bottom of the sea with his teeth if anything happens to you.”

So excited, she clapped him on his shoulders
twice. “I have to go pack, where should I meet you?” she asked,
pulling from him ready to run for the bus. He grabbed her hand and
she spun around. “What?”

“I’ll drive you home, Ms. Banks. We don’t
have time for you to take the bus, wheels up in one hour.”

“I can do one hour, come on,” she said
almost breathless, and started to yank him behind her. If a heart
could actually swell with warmth, he knew his just had. He was the
anchor and she was the beautiful vessel swinging around him
drifting on a tropical sea, but he was in danger of dragging, and
he knew it.

They caught a ride on one of the C-130s
demonstrating at the air show. Lieutenant Cobbs and Mace had her
wedged safely between them, and when Mace saw the loudness of the
plane bothered her, he placed a set of headphones over her ears.
She’d turned down the opportunity to ride in the cockpit, opting to
stay with them. Not wasting time, Mace was already showing her the
equipment and explaining the rules of parachuting.

Cobbs shot a look his way, and it definitely
had humor, if not a few questions roving around his expression.
Thing was, he didn’t have any answers, at least none he wanted to
admit.

* * * *

The large door in the aft of the aircraft
rumbled open. Mace held her around the shoulders as if afraid she’d
go running out before it settled on the ground. She turned, looking
for the Commander, but he was standing behind the team, hidden from
her view. All the men wore a light version of field fatigues, pants
and sand-colored T-shirts. With the opening of the door, she
understood why as the Arizona August warmth blasted inside the
aircraft. The smell of jet fuel, the sound of whining engines and
the hub of activity on the landing area made her excitement
spiral.

“Beer Garden!” Caleb shouted.

“Beer Garden,” the rest echoed.

Her brows rose at Mace.

“The Beer Garden at this air show rocks. If
we weren’t part of the entertainment we’d probably come anyway,” he
said, pulling her along with him as their boots fell on the nonskid
ramp toward the tarmac. Everyone carried their equipment and
personal gear as they left the aircraft, including her. When Fox
offered to carry hers, she shook her head. She didn’t want special
treatment. Commander Austen wasn’t getting one excuse to stop her
from jumping.

“Where do you all stay?” she asked.

“Normally, we throw up a few tents, but
we’re going in style this time. We’ve got rooms at a hotel close
by.”

“Um, I’m thinking that it’s pretty much sold
out for the show.”

“Probably.” He paused. “Oh, right,”
realizing she didn’t have one.