Page 24 of Brooks

“What the hell happened? Did she bail?”

“I said, not now.”

“I didn’t bail.” Tatiana’s smooth voice drifted over me. She sounded nothing like the strong woman she had hours before when she was going toe to toe with Dec. She sounded unsure and I didn’t like it one bit. “Do you mind if I have a word alone with Brooks?”

“By all means.” I heard the door slam behind my friend and I tried to contain my anger.

“It happened two years ago. My second op with The Company. I was in Saudi Arabia just over the Iraqi border,” she started. “I had a lead on some items being smuggled out of Iraq, I wanted them before they went to bid. Turned out Lucre wanted them more. I went in to make the buy, so did Al Issa’s men. I was taken and held for two days. They left with the items, I was left with the scars.”

I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I had a hundred questions but I couldn’t find my voice. All I could see were the marks on her back. Men had put their filthy hands on her, hurt her. For two days she had to suffer through their brutality.

She sighed and continued, “I thought I was going to die. In and out of consciousness. I actually don’t remember a lot of it. Maybe I was passed out, or I’d been able to let go of the pain and go somewhere else. But after they left, I woke up in a home. A man and his wife were tending to my wounds the best they could. I called in for an extraction and was on a plane to Germany within an hour.”

Yet, she still wanted to work alone, even after she was captured and tortured. I didn’t understand. And who the fuck did she work for that had the capabilities to get to her within an hour of her call for help?

“I was lucky and was able to get medical care before infection set in. I was back in the field in five weeks.”

“Five weeks?” She jerked back from my outburst and that pissed me off. “You have no reason to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not.” Her chin lifted in defiance. I’d give Tatiana Jones one thing, she put on a brave face. She wasn’t always truthful, but damn if she didn’t fake it.

“Right.”

“What’s your problem?”

I wasn’t sure what my problem was. I’d seen the horrors of war. I, too, bore the marks of battle. I’d seen what humans were capable of doing to each other. I knew. I lived it. I saw it. But seeing it on her was different. Outrageous. Infuriating.

“What’s The Company?”

“No way. You don’t get to change the subject.”

“Someone hurt you.”

I stepped closer.

“I’m well aware.”

“They cut you.”

Another step.

“Again, I know.”

“They placed their hands on you with the intention of tormenting you.”

Last step and I was face-to-face with her.

“I lived it, Brooks. But nothing happened to me that hasn’t happened to hundreds of soldiers, or aid workers, innocent civilians in the wrong place, or hell, to men I’m sure you’ve worked with. It’s a chance we all take. The price we all know we may have to pay if shit goes sideways.”

“It shouldn’t’ve happened to you.”

“Why not?”

Why not? Why not? I didn’t have a good answer as to why it should’ve never happened to her. She was right, we all know the price, and we all go out into the field and take our chances. Yet, the thought of someone harming Tatiana filled me with irrational rage.

I wanted to pull her into my arms and explain my reaction but I couldn’t put it into words. It was a gut feeling, something deep in my bones. A sense of protectiveness I’d never felt. An uncharacteristic urge to claim her and shield her from anyone who challenged her safety.

“It just shouldn’t’ve,” I lamely told her. “What’s The Company?”