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He got up off the bed then, making sure to wrap her in the covers so she’d be warm. The fire had died down to banked embers and he restoked it. He showered \ quickly and put on some cargo pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He had watch in an hour.
He spent the next sixty minutes watching her sleep. He was the king of the world in those moments and knew it was how she responded to his lovemaking that made him feel that way.
Eventually his hour was up and he headed down into the cabin’s war room to conference with Marshall who’d taken first watch. Kyle and Scope were about an hour away. Holland and Ray both needed some rest. Mann would come in tomorrow.
“Anything?” Cap asked his man.
“Nothing. All’s quiet,” Marshall reported.
“What’s on your mind?”
“You realize there’s only seven of us, and they’ll be sending a small army,” Marshall pointed out.
“Eight, if you include Ava. We’re going to teach her the ins and outs of weapons, Marshall, and I need to make sure you don’t have a problem before I ask you to do that.”
“I saw what went down when she left. The problem isn’t me, it’s you,” Marshall said.
Cap looked hard at the man who’d once saved his life in an Afghani hellhole. “Spit it out,” he ordered.
“Come on, Cap—you’ve been insane the last two years looking for her. Now she’s here and we’re all just supposed to be okay with her? We saw how you hurt, dude. It wasn’t easy for any of us,” Marshall told him baldly.
“You realize what she went through, right?” Cap asked. “What I put her through before she left?”
Marshall nodded. “That’s not the point though.”
“Then tell me, Marshall. Quite beating around the bush.”
“It’s not her, it’s you. Is your head in the game or are you just in it for her?”
Cap cocked his head at Marshall. “You’re serious?”
Marshall nodded again.
“She is the game, Marsh. Everything I’ve built since I resigned my commission is for her benefit.”
“See that’s what I’m talking about,” Marshall pointed out.
Cap couldn’t understand what Marshall was getting at. He made a roll-it-up gesture with his hand. “I’m tired of this, Marsh.”
“What happens to you if we can’t protect her?” He finally came out and asked.
“That’s not an option,” Cap responded firmly. “Now, can we stop this inane conversation?”
“Sure,” Marshall said affirmatively. “But I’m still not convinced you understand my point.”
“I don’t, but it’s time for shift change. I’ve got watch, and you need rest.”
Marshall bugged out at that, shaking his head the whole way.
Cap went about watch. Nothing moved but the snow falling on any of his monitors.
The Chinese or the Russians would be able to find him eventually though this property was buried under mountains of shell corporations.
“I’ll try to hide you even deeper than you already are, but eventually it all comes out,” Tex had told him. But with the former SEAL on his team, Cap felt better about his chances. He’d bought himself a couple of weeks by running to this property. He intended to use every minute to cement his relationship with Ava and get her trained in weaponry.
He heard footsteps and turned to the doorway of the war room.
“I can’t sleep,” Holland reported and sat down at the conference table.
