Chapter 8 #2
Aspen was well aware that he didn’t have time for idle chit-chat, and yet here he was, doing just that. “My team is hanging out in their tent, so I’ll probably just go back to my own. Maybe take a nap.”
Kane frowned. “They didn’t invite you to hang with them?”
Aspen shrugged.
“Assholes,” he muttered.
“They really aren’t,” Aspen said. “Except for Derek, but thankfully he’s not in my platoon. They just don’t know how to treat me.”
“They should treat you as a valuable part of their team,” Kane groused.
“It’s okay,” she told him.
“Brain, we need to jet,” Trigger called.
“I’ll see you at the chow hall around lunch,” she told him.
“Yes, you will,” Kane said. “I missed you, kochanie.”
Aspen tilted her head in question.
“Polish,” he told her.
“God, I missed that,” Aspen said.
Kane reached out and touched the back of his fingers to her cheek for a brief second, then leaned down and picked up his rucksack. “Later,” he said quietly.
“Later,” Aspen echoed, watching as the man she suddenly didn’t think she could live without caught up with his friends and walked toward the post commander’s tent on the small American base in the desert.
Brain could hardly concentrate on the meeting.
He knew he should be taking notes and paying attention to what the post commander was saying, but all he could do was glare at Sergeant Derek Spence in anger.
The man was conceited and cared nothing about the soldiers under his command.
He was so concerned about “winning,” i.e.
, getting to Akhund first, he couldn’t see his own flaws.
And he had many.
It didn’t help that the man obviously recognized him, and was throwing glares his way as well.
The last thing he wanted was to get into a pissing match with the other soldier, but the way he treated not only Aspen, but everyone else, was going to get the jerk into trouble sooner or later.
And unfortunately, anyone around him was going to pay for his mistakes.
When Derek and Sergeant Vandine finished telling the Deltas what they’d done over the last month to search for the Taliban leader, everyone began brainstorming their next steps.
There was concern about the mysterious Abdul Shahzada, but their target for this mission was Akhund.
If they could kill him, it would take some time for the Taliban to regroup and appoint someone new to the area.
If Shahzada was chosen, he’d have to show his face eventually, and the Army would be able to get more intel about him.
By the time the meeting came to an end, it was twelve-thirty and Brain wanted nothing more than to see Aspen again. He wondered how she’d spent her morning and hoped she’d been able to get a nap in like she’d planned.
He was walking out of the tent when Sergeant Spence caught up to him. He grabbed him by the arm and spun him around, catching Brain off guard.
“If you think you’re going to come here and fuck Aspen, I’ll turn you in so fast your head will spin,” Derek growled.
Brain turned on the other man so quickly, he didn’t have time to defend himself.
He shoved him hard with a hand in the middle of his chest, and Derek bounced off the sturdy canvas of the tent behind him.
“First, don’t fucking touch me,” Brain growled, sensing his team closing ranks behind him.
He vaguely noticed there wasn’t anyone there to back up dumb-ass Derek.
“Second, if you think I’d do anything to hurt Aspen’s career, you’re an even bigger asshole than I thought—which is saying something, because I already thought you were a pretty big douchebag. ”
“Fuck you,” Derek muttered.
“Unlike you, I can keep my personal feelings about someone separate from my professional ones. You need to get over the fact that she dumped your ass and move on. Mesmer is a fucking great medic, and you’re supposed to be working with her, not against her, and the rest of your team.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Derek hissed. “I don’t see you and your team lugging around extra female baggage. She holds us back, and we would’ve caught Akhund by now if we didn’t have to constantly make concessions for her.”
“What concessions?” Brain demanded.
“She slows us down,” Derek told him, instead of offering concrete examples.
“Let me guess,” Grover drawled, “you’re upset you can’t whip out your dick and piss wherever you want because there’s a woman in your group.”
Derek shrugged. “That’s just one of a hundred ways we have to accommodate her.
We should be worried about finding and killing a fucking terrorist. Instead, she’s always on my case, wanting to coddle the teams. She whines about being dehydrated and about pushing everyone too hard.
It’s ridiculous that the Army allows chicks into the Rangers as it is, and to force us to drag one along with us as our medic is an insult! ”
“You won’t think it’s an insult when shit hits the fan,” Lefty sneered. “I bet you’ll be the loudest one crying for her help over a fucking splinter in your little finger.”
Derek’s lip curled. “You guys think you’re so fucking invincible.
News flash—you aren’t. You’re no better than me.
And you have to follow the same rules I do.
” He glared at Brain. “If I see you so much as touching Mesmer in a way inappropriate for a forward-deployed unit, I’ll report you both.
We’ll see how invincible you are in front of a court-martial.
Although,” he mused with an evil glint in his eye, “on second thought, go ahead. Kiss the bitch the way you did in that bar. It’ll give me a good reason to get her ass kicked off her team so we can get a real medic in her place. ”
Brain stepped forward to beat the punk-ass’s face in, but Trigger and Oz each grabbed one of his arms, stopping him.
He shrugged them off and leaned into the other man.
Derek was taller than Brain, but that didn’t intimidate him in the least. His hair was black as night and greasy from not being washed in who knows how many days.
He stunk to high heaven, and the BDUs he wore were filthy.
“You’re a sorry excuse for a soldier, let alone an Army Ranger.
Look at you—you look like you just crawled out of a gutter.
Modified grooming standards are one thing, but looking and smelling like you haven’t showered in weeks is unacceptable.
Be an example to your team, Spence, instead of an embarrassment.
And if you ever give Mesmer or me shit again, you’ll regret it. ”
“Don’t threaten me,” Derek growled.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m making you a promise,” Brain told him in a low, even voice. Then he turned and stalked away from the other man before he did something that would hurt Aspen’s career…like punch the sergeant.
Derek wasn’t taking rejection well, which was ridiculous since he was a grown-ass man. Now Brain understood a bit more the ups and downs Aspen experienced from day to day. Working with someone like Derek would be enough to make anyone want to quit and find a new career.
“You handled that surprisingly well,” Trigger observed as they headed for the chow tent.
“He’s an ass,” Brain said between clenched teeth.
“Yup.”
Taking a big breath, Brain did his best to rein in his temper. The last thing he wanted to do was make Aspen anxious by showing up in a piss-poor mood and having to admit it was because of Derek. “We’re headed out this afternoon, right?”
“Right,” Trigger agreed. “You gonna have your head on straight by then?”
“Yes,” Brain told him. And he would. Just seeing and being able to talk to Aspen would calm him down.
The team entered the chow tent, and Brain immediately searched for Aspen. He spotted her coming toward him with a smile on her face.
“Hi,” she said, her eyes on his. “How’d it go?”
“As expected,” Brain said. “We’re headed out after we eat.”
Her face dropped a bit, but she continued to smile for him. “Then we’d better get you something to eat so you can have some energy for walking around, huh?”
“You eaten yet?” Lucky asked.
She shook her head. “No. I was just reading a book on my phone while I waited for you.”
Trigger, Oz, and Grover headed for the line, and Brain put his hand on the small of Aspen’s back, urging her to fall in behind them.
He made sure she was sandwiched between the seven of them, just in case Derek decided to come in and give her shit.
Her Ranger team might not have her back, but he and his friends would.
They grabbed trays and went through the line. There was a young woman standing behind a large tray of green beans with a name tag that said “Sierra.” Her red hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head and covered with a hairnet. She greeted Aspen with a huge smile.
“Hey!”
“Hi, Sierra,” Aspen said, smiling back. “How’s it going? Are you settling in all right?”
“I am. Thanks.”
Aspen turned to Brain. “Sierra’s new here. Just got in a week ago. She’s working for the contractor supplying the food to the base.”
Grover was behind Brain, and he leaned in. “What brought you all the way out here to the middle of nowhere?” he asked, a hint of interest in his voice.
Sierra shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to serve my country, but I can’t shoot worth a darn, and I’m too short to be very effective at all the other Army stuff.”
“Too short? You aren’t that short,” Grover argued.
Sierra took a step backward—off the box she’d apparently been standing on to serve the food.
She lost several inches in height. “I’m five-two, and most people mistake me for a kid,” she said, not sounding upset about that at all.
She stepped back up on her box and smiled at them.
“Everything about working out here has been fascinating so far, and I’m thrilled to finally be serving my country in some way, even if it’s just by cooking and dishing up food to the soldiers who go out and risk their lives on a daily basis. ”