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“I thought we were training, doing drills, Sir?” I ask while keeping my educated eyes ahead.
“This isn’t basic training, Captain. Physical and strength training will be done on your time, if and when I decide to give you spare time.” He pauses, his voice low. I hear the sexual innuendo in his words. To say I’m not pissed off would be nothing short of a lie. My muscles ache to feel the burn from working out, this time not in the way he’s suggesting.
“Captain, they're discussing Operation Mission Liberty and we will be doing drills. Night vision, military assault drills. Now get your sexy ass over there with your team.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter loud enough for him to hear. I march forward silently and carefully, joining my team and attempting to shut down my raging anger at both myself and him. How am I in this position? I did this shit to myself. He knows better than to show any sign of our actions out here, and him making comments like he is will pull attention to us faster than anything.
I listen and try to calm myself for the next hour as Major Roberts delivers our mission, knowing my defiant words pissed Maverick off, but he needs to understand that I'm not putting up with his condescending shit. I'm a highly trained soldier and deserve to be treated like one.
The mission is simple. Just like we all assumed, we'll be going in with our specialized skills, highly trained schooling, and our ability to be the best in a raid to bring down a very important enemy leader.
“The research has been done. The facts are laid before us. Azham-Amir-TajUdin is indeed hiding out in or around the small village of Tashraq, Afghanistan. We will capture him. We will defend our country, and we will all leave here in one piece. Report back here at 2100 hours and be prepared to spend all night doing these drills.” Both Commander Maverick and Major Roberts dismiss us for dinner chow. I turn to leave, not speaking a word to anyone. I know I should eat with my team and socialize, but I ignore Captain Harris as he calls my name to my retreating back. I follow the urge to confine myself to my tent and pay no attention to anyone until Harris and I have to report to the Commander’s office for whatever the hell he has planned for us. I will not let Kaleb Maverick ruin this for me by screwing with my head and leaving me vulnerable to the enemy or putting any of my fellow teammates in jeopardy. Fuck this.
“Damn it, Jade, stop.” I spin around, ready to lash out at Harris when I jerk my head back. The look in his eyes startles me. He looks troubled. In all the time I’ve known him, he’s never looked at me this way. Not even the other night when we were caught. “What’s wrong? Did I miss something?” I place my hand on his arm.
“No. But it’s obvious I sure the hell did.” He steps back out of my reach. Those troubled eyes turn serious as a damn heart attack.
“What the hell are you talking about?” My mind is boggled, and I'm sure my face shares the same sentiment. If he could see it in the dark, he would know.
“You have blood all over the back of your shirt. Did the Commander do something to you?” He sounds pissed.
“Good god, no. Why would you even think something like that?” I retract my gunned-up response out of the blue. “I tripped over a bunch of ammunition and landed flat on my back.” Just like Harris, I’ve been trained to be able to stare anyone in the eye and lie. He studies me to the point of an analytical evaluation, but I give nothing away. “I’m not sure if I believe you or not, but for now I’ll take your word. If I find out you’re lying to me, Jade, Commander or not, I’ll end him.” Those are my friend's parting words. I stand there in the now black darkness, my feet unable to move and my body shaking. I’ve never let anyone control my mind or my body like this. What in the hell am I doing?
What’s happening to you, Jade? the sweet part of my conscience asks.
My entire military career has lead me to this point, where the rush and the feel of the blood pumping feverishly throughout my veins has my adrenaline hastily soaring. This is the second time I’ve let my Commander fuck me literally senseless. It’s time I put a damn stop to it or this mission will fail before it even begins.
CHAPTER FOUR
KALEB
I pretend to listen to my team talk about the mission, while I sit here eating and watch her talk to that motherfucker Harris. He wants her, but little does he know he'll never touch her again, not the way he wants to anyway.
The moment my buddy Pierce Davis requested to see me in his office at his USSOCOM, also known as The United States Special Operation Command, I knew he was calling in his mark for him saving my life ten years ago when we were in the middle of combat. It was during our second tour of the Iraqi war. Without hesitation, I accepted.
Not only did Pierce and I serve for years together, he’s like a brother to me, along with Kase Flynn. While Pierce continued to serve our country, both Kase and I had enough after serving twelve years.
We now run a tight private military firm, which is contracted with the government. Pierce and Kase are the two I directly work with to lead our team through the missions. I’m still serving my country by training or guarding significant military personnel who may travel in or out of The United States. We get called on special dangerous missions, and this is no exception to that. It feeds my craving for living the life without all the fucking rules of being in the Army, and I fucking love every damn second of it.
I know this country as if it were my own. It's one of the reasons I was selected to get this team in and out of there as quickly as possible. I know the process, the drills, and still have the desire to fucking blow the enemy apart until there’s nothing left of them but a pile of ashes. Yeah, I fucking know the routine and can’t wait to feel the rush again.
Pierce and I spent hours, days even, going through files, searching for the perfect team. I thought I had them all, until I opened her file. The blonde with the most captivating eyes I have ever seen. I swear to Christ those eyes popped out of that file and bewitched my ass. I knew nothing about her but her name. For the first time since I’ve met my military brothers, I’m keeping something from them. They have no idea I have a woman on this team. And they definitely don’t know I can’t take my damn mind off of her.
Captain Jade Elizabeth Elliott. Fucking beautiful. I scoured every bit of information I could find on her to the point of being her stalker. I’ll admit it. I’m drawn to her in a way I can't even comprehend to my own fucked-up mind. It's fate, or maybe destiny, fuck if I know. All I know is she has fascinated me from the moment I laid eyes on her.
At first it was her outer beauty, then it became her drive, her determination to be one of the first women to enter and graduate special ops training. Then it became her agility. Her voice when I heard her speak in the many videos I watched her in. I’m obsessed, not to the point of placing her in danger, but to the point of making her mine.
“I need to brief Captain Harris and Captain Elliott on a few things. See you all in a few hours.” I grab my tray, dump the scraps into the garbage, and walk past her tent. I pause when I step in front of it for a brief second. I can smell her. She’s addictive. I clench my hands into fists and plow forward to my office, where I kick a few boxes over. My frustration at my own actions deepens.
There’s a knock on my door the minute I collapse into the chair behind my table.
“It’s open.” I don't even bother to look up and see who it is. I know it’s the two of them here to work their punishment off. One I have no damn right to give either one of them after the shit I’ve done, but as the Commander of this unit, I have to. Both of them need to understand. Jade already does, or at least she fucking better. Harris on the other hand won’t get it through his head if I don’t lay down a few rules somehow.
I would love to shove Harris’ head in the fucking sand and tell him to stay the hell away from her, that she will never be his because she’s mine; or at least she will be when I'm finished. But I won’t.
I have nothing but respect for Captain Harris when it comes down to his intelligence, his ability to endanger his life like the rest of us, to kill a man who has done nothing but bring heartache and destruction to our men and women of the armed forces. The man can speak the native tongue of this country just as well as he can speak English. His ability to interpret is imperative to accomplish what we came here for, but after this is over, I hope I never see the man again.
“Good evening, Sir.” Harris speaks. It’s then that I lift my head, clasp my fingers together under my chin, and zone in on the two of them. Neither one of them will look at me. They stand at attention. Oh, how I would love to see him sweat. I may be a heartless son of a bitch for doing this, but I need to make a goddamn point to both of them.
