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Lauren walked with him to the other end of the clearing. The rest on the men were cleaning their weapons. Alex, who was at the furthest end of the camp from the pair, was doing the same. The sergeant halted, his large hands on his narrow hips, looking down at her. She kept her voice low so no one else could hear. “You got a problem with Kazak, Sergeant?”
Shrugging, he gave her an amused look. “It’s my responsibility to keep an eye on him, is all.”
Anger surged through her. “You don’t know him. You haven’t seen him since you discovered him slowly bleeding to death at that Indian village, Sergeant. I’ve been working with him the last three months.”
Killmer gave a negligent shrug. “He was in the Russian mafia, ma’am. You ought to be taking that into consideration.”
“What?!” Lauren gritted out between clenched teeth, “That it’s possible Kazak will turn on me during this op? Go back to Petrov’s team? Become one of them again? Because that was obviously what you were implying, Sergeant.” She glared up into his hard face. Killmer’s eyes flickered as he considered her harshly-spoken words.
“Ma’am, have you seen what these Russian boys do to the local populace? They’re worse than animals. A lot of innocent men, women and children are suffering hard under their rule out here.”
Lauren tried to rein in her anger. She couldn’t fault Killmer on his perspective. He didn’t know Alex. His story. His life, or that he was a kind and caring man. “Alex is a combat medic. Are you aware that he and Nik Morozov, another medic, have helped these Indian villages for the last two years they were out here? They’ve saved a lot of lives.”
“No ma’am,” he drawled. “We boys don’t get backstory on traitors out here.”
Traitor?Her eyes narrowed on the sergeant’s face in fury. “He has my back, Sergeant.”
Killmer gave her a hard, studied look. Finally, he said, “Ma’am, we have your back, too. Just don’t forget that if things start to go south for you at some point.”
He started to walk away. Lauren reached out, grabbed his arm, halting him. Her voice was low with fury. “You’re WRONG about him, Sergeant!”
Mace gave her a slight shrug. “We’ll see. I’ll be watching him, though.” He pulled his arm from her grasp. “And so should you.”
Lauren watched the tall sergeant walk away, his gait rolling as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Cursing softly under her breath, Lauren glared at his broad back. Well? What did she expect? Really? Killmer and his team didn’t know Alex at all. Only that he’d turned on his own comrades to save two Americans in deep trouble. Her own gait was stiff as she walked across the camp and sat down opposite Alex to clean her sniper rifle. He glanced up, met and held her eyes for a moment, saying nothing. She knew he sensed her anger, the question already in his eyes. She was too pissed to say anything, afraid their conversation would be overheard.
“Sergeant Merrill just left,” Alex told her, wiping down the short barrel of his AK-47.
“Where was he going? Do you know?”
“No. He did not stop to tell me.”
Lauren glared over at Killmer, who had sat back down and resumed oiling his own weapon. Daily care of their equipment in this high humidity and daily rain was crucial. If rust collected within the gun barrel it could throw off a shot and make it go wide. “I’ll find out later,” she said, her voice tight.
Alex glanced at her. “He does not trust me. And it is all right, Lauren. I expected this.”
Mouth quirking, she muttered angrily, “Well, I sure as hell didn’t! They don’t know you Alex, like I do. You’d NEVER turn on me. I know that in my heart.”
His hands stilled over his weapon for a moment. Lauren’s cheeks were flushed red. Her eyes were angry.
“Killmer has to take that stance. You know that. I am an unknown quantity to him. And he is charged with keeping you safe, Lauren. Even from me.”
Snorting, she growled under her breath, “I’m not feeling very grateful to the bastard right now.”
“Do not try to change his mind,Malen ‘kaya. He has a job to do. We can use his knowledge of Petrov’s movements, take in his suggestions as to where you might set up your sniper op.” He met and held her furious gaze. “It is nice for you to defend me, but I can handle this on my own. Okay?”
“He pisses the hell out of me!” Lauren grabbed the can of oil. “I didn’t expect this kind of reaction from him, Alex.”
“Killmer is walking fine lines,” he soothed. “We are not military any longer. We are civilians acting under DOD orders. He cannot order us around. We do not have rank or position. So, his hands are tied. He does not trust me. His team will always watch me.” Shrugging, Alex added, “So long as they do not interfere in our op, I do not care how they think of me.”
“It just gripes me,” Lauren rasped, rubbing the oiled cloth along the barrel of her favorite sniper rifle. “I didn’t expect it, was all. Killmer, of all people, found you in that hut. He saw the shape you were in. I mean,” and Lauren released an explosive sigh, “how many people would have done what you did to save Sky and Cal? Take a shot to the leg? Get the hell beat out of them? I’m really upset, Alex.”
He grinned a little. “I can see that.” He wished they were alone. Wished no prying eyes were around, but he knew this American team would be watching him. Their loyalty lay with Lauren. She was American. One of them. He was not. “I am unknown quantity to them. I will prove my loyalty to them over time,malen ‘kaya,so let your anger go.” His voice grew warm. “I appreciate you would stand up for me. Fight for me.”
She flashed him an irritated look. “They don’t know you! I do.”
He chuckled a little and said, “You are a fierce warrior when you want to be, Lauren. I could not have gotten a better partner on this mission.”
“Well,” she said, “I told Killmer you had my back. He KNOWS that I trust you whether him and his team do or not.” Her nostrils flared and Lauren tossed a glare across the camp at Killmer, who continued to clean his weapons.
