Tangled Pursuit (24 page)

Jay remained low in the hide, not revealing any of his lean body. He came over and lay next to her on some blankets she’d put down for him. He was only five foot seven, five inches shorter than she, and weighed around a hundred and fifty pounds.

Tal always teased him and called him skinny, but Jay was a lot stronger than he looked. The guy could carry an eighty-pound ruck for twelve hours, if needed. He was one tough Marine.

“The spooks are saying the Taliban had thirty-five hundred men come across yesterday, mostly during the day,” he reported now.

“Jeez,” Tal said in a low voice. They always spoke in normal tones, but to whisper would more easily catch the attention of any Taliban who might be in the area. “That’s a helluva lot.”

“Yeah, they’re jumpy about it. Also, there were three caravans of Bactrian camels, about thirty in each group, carrying fertilizer supplies last night. It’s all going to Taliban bomb makers everywhere in this country. It’s resupply time.”

Shaking her head, Tal muttered, “I wish we’d been set up last night. We could have called in the B-52s and dropped JDAMs on them, wiping them off the face of the earth.”

“Yeah,” Jay said, rubbing his dark brown beard with his long fingers. “By the way, Major Dickenson wants us to use those two egress points. He wants GPS on any camel, donkey, or human caravans, if any more come across tonight. But he won’t want them bombing our ridge, because that could kill us. What they’re planning on doing is sending up a drone to keep an eye on where these caravans go. Might give them some leads as to who the Taliban are dropping off these bags of fertilizer for.”

“Good plan,” Tal murmured. “Anything on Sidiq?”

“Nothing. Not yet. Cell phone chatter is high, but it’s the spring offensive.”

She cursed softly, watching the traffic dwindle to nothing as the sun moved closer to the eastern horizon. It made her feel good to know the drone was above them and had their position. It would prevent them from being killed by friendly fire from a drone Predator or combat jets flying overhead.

Her thoughts suddenly swung to Wyatt. What was he doing? Lying on her stomach on the smooth rocks instead of snuggling up against his long, hard body made her yearn for him. Even now, her body stirred with delicious memories of his touch, his mouth upon hers.

Her fantasies were interrupted when Tal saw Jay slowly rise to his hands and knees. “Hungry? I can make us two breakfast MREs.”

“Yes, thanks.” Her stomach growled, and Tal grinned. “That was a double-check.”

Caldwell chuckled softly and crawled into the back of their hide.

Tal’s mind clicked over the pros and cons of their hide position. She would have a 180-degree line of sight from here, which was excellent for a sniper. But if any Taliban came over that ridge behind them, she and Jay wouldn’t hear them until they were very close. The wind was blowing haphazardly right now, but she knew that either she or Jay would have to dig out the other end of their hide and place Jay’s M4 rifle there. Then he’d have to routinely check above the ridge with the scope from time to time.

They were also wary of young Afghani boys who herded their village’s goats up here. Jay’s investigation had revealed that it had been a long time since goats were in this area. Tal silently hoped it would remain that way.

If she heard the tinkling of goat bells, that would be a bad sign. Goats were curious, bold animals, and if they got a human scent, they’d waltz up to investigate their hide. Then she and Jay would definitely be screwed. What made it a tough call was that you couldn’t tell if a young boy herding animals was pro-or anti-American.

Tal didn’t like her choices, and she knew she would never kill a child. She didn’t give a damn what anyone said about her ethics and morals. Sure, snipers were taught to take out targets, no matter their age or gender. She’d never told anyone about her inability to shoot a child, and she prayed that she’d never be in a position to have to make that decision.

As Tal slowly panned along the border with her scope, she wondered how Matt and Alexa were doing. She loved seeing them when events conspired to get one or both of them in Bagram while she was there.

Jay was making breakfast behind her, and she could smell the food heating up in the MREs. Her stomach growled again. Speaking of appetites, her mind kept swinging back to Wyatt. How she missed him, that lazy Texas smile, that sexy drawl, and his take-no-prisoners brilliant mind. Most of all, Tal missed his deep understanding of her. How had he gotten that way? How did he know how to handle people so well?

Sometimes, Tal felt he knew her better than she knew herself. That was fine with her. She trusted him with her life, her heart. And yes, even her future. She tried to quell her worry over losing him as she’d lost Brian.

She frowned as it got lighter on the eastern horizon. For the first time, Tal felt hopeful about her future. Why? Was it because her family was bringing her into Artemis Security? Was she looking forward to a job that was safe in comparison with this one? She knew her parents worried about their children, all of whom were in a combat zone. None of them had safe careers. They could die at any time.

Tal wasn’t sure she’d be able to let her own kids enter the military. She didn’t know if she would have the guts to stand by like her parents had and be okay with her child’s decision to live a life of danger. Her love for her parents had always been there, but as Tal got older, she appreciated them even more. They had never interfered with what any of their children wanted to do. To have all three children in high danger all the time had to be a kind of hell they lived with every day.

She was grateful when Jay interrupted her thoughts.

“Hey, breakfast is served,” he said, coming up and placing her MRE next to her elbow. “Anything through the scope?”

Tal eased away from her rifle and sat up. “Thanks, Jay,” she said gratefully. “No, so far it’s fairly quiet. Everything’s ramping up. Now we get the boring daylight hours to count people moving across the border,” she said wryly.

Jay sat nearby, leaning against the rocky wall of their hide. He was wearing his dark green baseball cap on his longish brown hair. It wasn’t down to his shoulders yet but soon would be.

“So?” Jay said, spooning into his MRE bag. “How are things going in your life?” He looked at her as a close friend might, sensing a change in her but not sure what it was.

Tal sat opposite him. “Hey, let’s talk about you. How’s Linda? How are your adorable kids?” She knew that Jay had probably put two and two together about her and Wyatt, but she wasn’t admitting it to anyone yet. Not even Jay.

“I Skyped her before we left, and she had a surprise for me. She’s pregnant.”

“That makes four! Congratulations, Jay. Lucky kids . . . is Linda happy about it?”

He laughed softly. “Yeah, but she told me that I have to get out of this business and get my ass home and become a real father. She’s tired of being mom and dad to our brood. I can’t say I blame her.”

Tal nodded, thinking the same thing. “You know, we’re getting older,” she admitted. “And maybe it’s time for you to hang up your rifle instead of always being out on the front lines, Jay.” Tal saw him look down, weighing her words. There was worry in his eyes, and Tal could appreciate his wife’s pleas for him to come home soon.

Jay loved Linda and his children. He went through a mild depression every time he had to deploy back here. The military was a killer for families, there was just no question.

“I’ve been toying with the idea,” he hesitantly admitted. “But what civilian job is there for a sniper? That’s all I’m qualified for.”

“Have you thought of working with a security company? Being a PSD—a personal security detail? A bodyguard? Or how about the CIA?” Tal knew if he did, he’d be away from home a lot, depending upon where his assignment was—and it could be anywhere in the world. The U.S. government now ran its own in-house security. Although this function had originally been in the private sector, one civilian security corporation messed up, and after that the CIA started running its own internal security company.

“Yeah,” he grumped unhappily. He pointed to one of his knees. “You know, I have arthritis in them already. It’s from carrying all these heavy rucks and crawling around on rocks and shit. I don’t even know if I’d pass a physical exam to get into the CIA at this point.”

And that was the issue, Tal thought. She was lucky she had a job waiting for her, one she was eager to step into. “Yeah, my knees aren’t stellar at this point, either.”

“No way! You’re amazing,” Jay said. “You can out-hump most other Marines, hands down, gal or guy.”

“Thanks to my good old family genes,” Tal laughed quietly.

Jay grinned. He quickly consumed his MRE and folded up the pouches, placing them in a plastic bag. There could be no odors left to attract wild animals or alert Afghans or Taliban who might be in the area. “Yeah, well, with Linda pregnant again, I’m going to have to give my next gig some serious thought. Maybe go back to school, get into the computer industry, redefine myself and my skill set.”

“That could work,” Tal murmured. “You’re a geek at heart.” Like Wyatt, who was a brilliant software writer. “And you’re not a novice with computers. There’s a reason why the CIA calls and begs you to repair their hardware when it breaks down at Bagram. You’re really good at it, Jay.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. He was an excellent troubleshooter, and Tal knew he could make magic with those machines. Even the CIA recognized his skills, although he had no formal training. Jay had grown up playing computer games, and now it was all wired into his brain.

“I gotta do something. My enlistment is up in another six months. I’m really feeling the pressure to make major changes, Tal. The Corps is going to keep me where I am unless I get reassigned to sniper school as an instructor, but that’s a two-year gig, and then I’ll be right back in the field again. Linda’s freaking out now that I’m in danger again on this deployment. Let’s face it, I could get killed. She doesn’t need this kind of stress while she’s pregnant.” He frowned and shook his head.

Tal sympathized with his frustration. She knew he loved his wife more than life itself. She had never seen a happier relationship than Jay’s when it came to Marine Corps marriages. “I see her point. She’ll have four children, and you’ll be gone most of the time,” Tal said. She finished her MRE, taking the plastic bag Jay handed to her and stuffing the pouches into it.

“Hey, I’m with her on this, believe me,” he went on. “And I know this has been weighing on us ever since Chantal, our youngest, was born. That was two years ago.”

Tal knew that Jay had photos of all his children on the inside of his locker door, where they were safe. He couldn’t carry anything personal out here in case he was captured.

“Well, you’re a smart guy, Jay, and you’ll figure this out. If there’s anything Major Dickenson or I can do to help you, let us know.” Tal was technically his superior and took good care of her enlisted people; to her, they were like a second family. She saw the unhappiness in Jay’s blue eyes as he stared down at the rocks, and she felt how torn he was now that Linda was carrying their third child. Tal knew he wanted to be home to support his wife, to help her care for their other three kids. This was a hard life on the spouse who was always overseas and deployed, in more ways than one.

“Thanks,” he said finally, giving her a nod. “I love being a sniper, but as I’ve gotten older, my priorities have changed pretty drastically.”

She reached out, patting his slumped shoulder. “Hang in there. Things will change. Some doors will close and others will open up, but you’ve got your priorities straight. I’ll miss you when you leave, but I know you’ll be better off and so will your family.” Right now, Tal could tell no one that she was turning in her commission or that she was going to head up her family security company. Wyatt was the only one who knew, and he would keep her secret. She’d have liked to offer Jay a job, but now was not the time to discuss it. She would talk about it with him as she came closer to leaving the Marine Corps.

He cut her a sad glance. “You’re not only the best sniper I’ve ever been paired with, but you’re one hell of an officer.” His voice lowered with feeling. “I know out in the civilian world, I’ll never find a boss as good as you are, Tal.”

Tal reached out and squeezed his shoulder, feeling a fierce loyalty toward him. “You’re the best partner I’ve ever had, too. And as a spotter, you’re tops. I’m the one who feels lucky here.” She saw him rally a little, a slight flush appearing on his cheeks. Jay was a humble man, intense, focused, and a killer with details. A sniper personality through and through. And his ability to take orders and be 100 percent responsible in his position would make him an outstanding candidate for some lucky company—hopefully she could offer him a job at Artemis.

But so often, Tal knew, veterans were overlooked, despite the fact that they brought the best attributes to any civilian company. They were responsible, team players, hard workers, and loyal to a fault, rare in today’s business world.

“Let’s trade places,” she told him. Snipers usually pulled two hours on the scope and two off. It was Jay’s turn and he nodded.

Tal moved away from the rifle position and took out her Toughbook, set it on her crossed legs, and attached the sat phone to it. She had to give a report twice a day on their location and what was happening, get feedback from CIA headquarters, and then pass it on to Marine Recon HQ. While she did her daily office work out in the field, Jay would be alert and guarding them.

Her heart centered on Wyatt. What was he doing right now? Was he over at the chow hall having breakfast? Gearing up for his own mission along with his other men, who were also going out on DAs shortly? She was sure he was more than busy. Tal wished she could talk to him, explore him, and continue to learn about him as a person. Most of all, she loved his stories. He was so good at telling them, too. Not everyone who told a story did it right or well, but he did. She wondered if his mother had read to him as a child. There was so much she ached to know about Wyatt. At the same time, Tal felt terror insidiously worming its way into her heart. Terror that he could be killed out on this forthcoming op.