AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah,” Nate said, picking up the first two plates heaped with steaming eggs and handing them to Alex and Lauren. “This is a nice little nest for us to grab some serious sleep in while staying relatively safe.”
“Well,” Merrill told his teammate, “as safe as it can be, knowing nothing is safe around here.”
Lauren said, “I brought a couple of jars of Bacon Bits from the states with me. Would you guys like some sprinkled on your eggs?” She saw every man’s face pop up and grin widely at the offer. Setting her plate on her log, she walked back to the hut, opened the weapons bag, and pulled out one of the three jars. It was the least she could do, because now these men had two more mouths to feed and hens’ eggs didn’t grow on trees. Lauren had felt touched by their sharing of what little they had with her and Alex, but that’s the way operators worked with one another.
Bringing the jar back, she twisted off the lid and handed it to Sergeant Killmer first. His gray eyes gleamed as he took the jar from her.
“You’re a sniper,” he said, one corner of his mouth flexing upward, “you remember the details. Glad you packed this. Thanks.”
Lauren nodded. “It’s a good habit to get into. Pass it around, Sergeant. Everyone, have all you want.”
Alex watched the battle-hardened leader, Killmer, turn soft within the aura of Lauren’s presence. The man’s hard, weathered face lost its tough edge as she shared the jar with him. Lauren had that effect on everyone. He saw that Merrill and Cunningham were thrilled to have the unexpected gift. Out here, MRE’s were the only game in town, and no one liked them. He didn’t either, but tolerated them because there was nothing else to eat. As Lauren turned and walked back to Alex, he felt his heart twinge with emotion. She was a team player. And her sharing something this precious, bacon, out in the middle of the Peruvian jungle with men who hadn’t seen decent food in nearly three months, had really touched everyone deeply. He was proud of her.
Lauren sat down. By the time the jar of Bacon Bits got back around to her, at the very end of its rounds, there was still enough left in the bottom of the jar for her. She dumped them on her eggs and set the emptied jar at her booted feet, then mixed them in with the aluminum spoon she always carried in her cargo pocket. She figured that the team had probably used every egg they’d been hoarding for a week to make this scrambled feast for everyone this morning. Wishing she could do even more, she decided that she would leave the second jar of Bacon Bits with Merrill, who seemed to be their cook. It was the least she could do for this team.
As they ate, Lauren asked Killmer, “Have you noticed any changes since Alexandrov was killed and Petrov stepped into his place?”
“Insofar as their movement in their area?” Killer asked.
“Yes.”
“Same pattern, no changes. They’re using the same trails that were cut out of this jungle by ancient Indian people that even archeologist don’t know the name of. The ones they used themselves probably a thousand years ago.”
“Have you timed their stops at villages in their area?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. We have their itinerary. When we finish up with breakfast, we’ll spread out our maps and give you the details.” He eyed Lauren. “Got a few suggestions on where you can set up your op, if you’re interested.”
“I’m always interested in what the people on the ground find, Sergeant Killmer.”
“Call me Mace. We don’t stand too much on protocol around here with one another. It kinda flies out the door…,” and a slight grin leaked out the corner of one side of his mouth.
These were good men. She nodded. “Call me Lauren.” She hitched a thumb to her right. “This is Alex.”
“Last time I saw him,” Mace drawled, “he was looking near death.” And then he shifted his gaze to Alex. “You Ukrainians are damned tough hombres. My hat goes off to you for surviving.”
Alex nodded. “We can endure anything or we die trying.”
Killmer smiled a little, spooning his eggs into his mouth. “Well, you sure as hell came back from the dead. I’m impressed.”
Lauren felt her stomach clench. She gave Alex a quick glance. In profile, his broken nose was obvious, a bump at the root of it. It hurt her to think how much he had suffered. And she didn’t necessarily like Killmer ragging on Alex, either. She stared across the campfire at the grizzled sergeant. “Just to be clear about this, Sergeant, Alex put his life up for sacrifice to save two of my best friends. They wouldn’t be alive today if he hadn’t done what he did.”
Killmer nodded. “No need to come in hot about this, ma’am. We know what he did.”
Anger riffled through Lauren as she stared hard into the sergeant’s eyes. “He’s a real hero. No one asked him to do it. There were no guarantees that Alexandrov wouldn’t drop a round in his head for doing it, either.”
She felt Alex’s hand on her arm for a moment. Lauren turned to her right, meeting his eyes. He said nothing, but, when he gently squeezed her lower arm and released it, she got the unspoken message.
This action on Alex’s part wasn’t lost on the team. They said nothing, paying attention to gulping down the hot eggs with the tasty, salty Bacon Bits mixed in. Lauren scowled and dropped the subject, irritated over Killmer’s ‘so what’ attitude. She wasn’t sure the reason Killmer even liked Alex was because he was Ukrainian. After all, Alex had been with that Russian mafia team before he’d turned away from them.
“Loyalty is a funny thing,” Mace murmured, finishing off his plate of eggs. Rising to his full height, he set the plate near the fire hole. It was Merrill’s job to cook and do the housecleaning. He made a point of looking over at Lauren. “But it’s not funny when we need to rely completely on one another out here.”
Lauren stared at him. What the hell was Killmer suggesting? That Alex might turn on THEM? That she was blind and stupid? That he was not to be trusted? Her lips thinned as she held Killmer’s dark, uncompromising gray stare. She felt Alex tense. It was nothing obvious; just something she sensed. He said nothing, but kept on eating, not engaging the American sergeant. “Sergeant,” she snapped, “let’s get this show on the road. Haul out your maps and intel. I want to get this op moving.” Idle hands made mischief.
By midday, thejungle had brightened considerably at the spec ops camp. Lauren had made a call to Hunter on her sat phone, checking in, getting the latest intel and filling him in on what was going on at their end. Lauren stewed silently over Killmer’s insinuation that Alex could not be trusted. When she finished the call, she walked up to Killmer who was sitting on the ground outside his hut with his cover spread, cleaning his weapon.
“Sergeant? You got a moment? I need to talk privately with you.”
Killmer glanced up. “Sure thing,” he murmured. He placed his rifle aside, wiped the oil off his hands with another cloth, and unwound upwards like the lithe, dangerous jaguar that he was.
