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Chapter Fifteen – Tank
“Captain, the major’s ready. You can go in now.”
Sergeant Sharpe smiles at me as she places the phone back on its cradle. I wonder if she knows that no matter how many years I’ve been doing this, whenever I come to Major Kincaid’s office, it’s like I’m a rookie all over again. Today is no different. Especially because when I left the house this morning, I told Jess I’d be late because of a little nighttime training exercise, and a trip to the major’s office was the furthest thing from my mind. You never get called in for a friendly chat. Whenever the major calls, it means you’re about to get shipped off to a really far and dangerous place. I desperately want to wipe my sweaty palms on my cammies, but I don’t. I nod politely and rap twice on the door.
“Come.”
I enter the office and stand at attention in front of the enameled-steel desk, dented and scratched, and grant myself an inward smile as I do. The room smells distinctly like cigar smoke, and even though it’s illegal to smoke inside, I know that the major lights up every Friday night before going home to his wife for the weekend. He might be a complete hardass, but there’s still a higher power waiting for him at home, and that takes a touch of the nerves off.
The major is standing at the bookshelf, his lean frame imposing as he ignores me while placing a leather-bound book back on the shelf. The title embossed in gold against the stark black so small, I can’t read it.
“At ease,” he says when he turns to me.
I shift my pose, my hands clasped behind my back and legs apart. I feel the tug of a smile wanting to spread across my face when I think about how Jess loves to make me stand at ease while she wraps her lips around my cock. Now is not the fucking time to be thinking about this.
The major sits and steeples his fingers. His intense gray eyes lock on mine, the tip of his forefinger grazing over his mustache. Since I joined the Corps twelve plus years ago, Major Kincaid has looked exactly the same. His hair, balding on top and always buzzed close to his skull, was as gray then as it is now. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes hint that outside of the office, he smiles a lot, but in the office, those smiles are as rare as a yeti sighting.
We scrutinize each other, him comfortable in his polished oxblood chair so at odds with the rest of the office furniture and me standing in front of him. His eyes rove over me, seeking something, looking for a mistake, and I, in turn, stare him down. To do otherwise would be a career-limiting move. For what seems like long moments, we stay locked in our battle of wills until the major sees it fit to end the charade and points to the chair. “Take a seat.”
I do so, planting my feet firmly in front of me and defying my urge to bounce my knee.
“Captain, I’ve summoned you today because we have a sensitive matter to discuss.”
It feels like I should be sitting up even straighter than I am, but that would be impossible—you could shove a rod through my spine and not get it any more bolt upright than it is.
“Captain, have you heard of the Lorenzo case?”
“Yes, sir. It’s all over the news, sir.” He’s talking about the high-profile trafficking case involving Bernard ‘Bernie’ Lorenzo, one of the suspected kingpins of a major trafficking organization, who’d recently been taken into custody.
He nods as if he expected this answer from me. “What you don’t know is that Judge McNamara was contacted a couple of days ago and was told to throw out a key witness for the prosecution in order to secure the safety of his family. When he refused to be blackmailed, they remained true to their word and kidnapped his eldest daughter, Carys. She ditched her security detail at school, and they grabbed her.”
Fuck!
My stomach sinks like a ball of lead, and by the look on Major Kincaid’s face, it seems like telling this story had the same effect on him. He reaches into his bottom drawer and brings out the cigar box. Retrieving one of his prized Cubans, he places it on his desk pad and rolls it gently under his palm.
“You served with Garrett Ewing, am I right?”
“Yes, sir.” Where’s this going? Garrett Ewing was in boot camp with me, and we were both deployed to Iraq at the same time. He was the guy who gave me my nickname. On the first day of boot camp, he’d joked I was a machine, then took it one step further by saying I was built like a tank. The nickname stuck from then on. A little over four years ago, I'd heard that he’d been honorably discharged and was working for a contract security company that assisted the government where necessary.
“Garrett reached out to one of my college friends and told us that since her father didn’t back down. Carys is no longer any use to them and is being sold to an emirate businessman, one Saeed Khan. Garrett has been undercover as one of Saeed’s most trusted men for three years now.” He moves his cigar and leans forward, his hands resting on the tattered desk calendar. “Captain, Ewing asked specifically for you. Your reputation precedes you with all the work you did in both Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention bringing Mary Sutherland down and putting an end to the serum debacle.”
Serum debacle. The way he said it is like it was a puppy with a pissing problem, not the next world war kind of problem. “Permission to speak, sir?”
“Go ahead.”
“I had very little to do with taking Sutherland down, sir. That was all Miss Middleton.”
Kincaid leans back in his chair.
“Now’s not the time for modesty. You led that op and saw to it that we captured Mary Sutherland and retrieved the formula. Your orders are to deploy to Turkey, where Saeed’s ship is headed. Once you get there, I want you to correspond with Ewing’s men and come up with an extraction plan in case we need it. Right now, the boat, so to speak, hasn’t been rocked. Ewing reports that all is under control. Saeed wants her for his own private harem, so she will be safe for the time being. Despite being Khan’s number two for a long time, Garrett has never been in his home. He’s hoping this opportunity will lead him to the evidence that will finally take down a major trafficking ring and save a lot of lives. You depart tomorrow evening at dusk. I don’t need to tell you how sensitive this matter is again, do I? Are you clear on your orders?”
“Aye, sir.” This wasn’t the usual kind of thing the Corps got involved in, but it wasn’t my job to ask why, no matter how confused I was. It was merely my job to follow orders without fail.
“Outstanding.” He stands, and I know that’s my cue. “We’re counting on you, marine. Don’t let me down.”
I salute in response and pivot on my heel. Leaving the room, I shut the door behind me. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins as I think about what I have to achieve.
As I get to the car, I wonder how I’m going to tell Jess I’m leaving. It’s our anniversary coming up, and although I already left her once when we basically just met, this time is different. This time, we’re more committed.
