“And working with deadly viruses is in your comfort zone?” Crusher shook his head.
“In the right environment, with appropriate safety precautions, it’s just another day at the office.” She hooked her hand behind her head. “Now, fighting my way out of a captive situation with a man I know nothing about, that’s a little terrifying.”
“There’s not much to know about me,” he said.
“I suspect there’s a lot more than you let on,” she said. “You’re strong, a trained combatant, and you say you’re one of the good guys. Assuming I believe you, which I don’t have much choice, I’d like to know more about the man I’m spending the night with.”
He glanced out at the river, not interested in answering a lot of questions. The less he engaged with her, the better off he’d be.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was now studying him, which made him uncomfortable.
“Crusher?” she whispered, her voice soft and warm, filling his senses in the darkness of the night.
“Yes, ma’am?” he answered reluctantly.
“Do you have family back in the States?”
He snorted softly. “Yes, and no.”
She frowned. “That was actually a yes or no question.”
“I don’t have any blood relations,” he clarified. “But the people I work with are my family. My brothers and sisters in arms.” They were the people he knew he could rely on to have his back and be there for him if he needed them.
“Your parents?” she persisted.
“Gone.” His answer was short. Abrupt.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Why?” He shrugged. “It’s been fifteen years since they died.” The pain of their deaths had long since mellowed, leaving him with the good memories and some regret that he hadn’t been to see them more often before they’d died in a house fire.
“I lost my parents when I was in grad school,” Marta said. “Nothing makes you grow up faster than knowing you have no one to call when you have a question about your car, or to share an accomplishment or just to say hello and hear their voices. Didn’t you ever want to share something with them you knew would make them proud?”
Crusher continued to stare out at the river. “I never got to tell my father I was selected for Delta Force. He would’ve been proud.” He’d never told anyone that. Why he was telling the asset, he didn’t know. Something about her, or maybe being on the run through a jungle at night, was wearing down his defenses. He’d be best to shore up.
“No wife or girlfriend?” she asked.
“Never wanted to burden a woman with the work I do. Wouldn’t be fair to expect someone to wait around for me when there’s a high likelihood of not returning or coming back in a body bag.”
“Morbid much?” she asked.
“Honest with myself and the work I do.” He’d refrained from committed relationships, unlike many of his battle buddies who’d fallen in love, married and divorced after their first long deployment.
“What exactly do you do, besides rescue scientists from cartels?” she asked.
His lips twitched as he recited the party line he’d come up with that simplified his job. “I do whatever needs to be done to make the world a better place.”
Marta snorted softly. “Funny, that’s what I was doing when I was taken.”
Before he could stop himself, he asked, “What about you? No significant other waiting for you in the States?”
She turned onto her side and tucked her hand beneath her cheek. “Who would want to be with someone who studies deadly viruses?”
“Why do you do it?” He turned to fully face her.
She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
He thought she’d either fallen asleep or was avoiding the answer to his question.
