Chapter 24 #2
Jennifer didn’t seem scared. Currently, she was smiling at him, and they hadn’t stopped talking since after she’d greeted Zita, saying how happy she was that she was all right.
“Thank you all for coming over tonight. It means more than you’ll know,” Zita told everyone. “I don’t know if Sage has told you, but I’ll be moving to Norfolk as soon as I can get my life straightened out in California.”
“I’m sure Tex could help with that,” Pyro joked.
“He could?” Zita asked, with a tilt of her head.
“Why not? The man is a little spooky with the shit he can do,” Chaos agreed.
“What do you need done?” Mandy asked. “Maybe we can help you? Make some calls?”
“I need to talk to my boss at the ambulance service I work for, pack my stuff, arrange for movers, get my car across the country, talk to my contact at the agency I work for and let her know that I’ll be in Virginia instead of California, research ambulance companies here in Norfolk, turn off my utilities, stop my mail, find an apartment here…
Man, it’s a lot, isn’t it?” she said with a small chuckle.
“I can help with an apartment here,” Jennifer said from her spot at the table.
“There’s an empty apartment in my building and the landlord likes me, so I’m sure if I put in a good word for you, she’d seriously consider you for it.
It’s totally safe too. Cameras, you have to be buzzed into the lobby, and there’s a full-time security guard in the lobby as well. ”
“I can talk to people at the hospital on base,” Buck volunteered. “See what ambulance companies are the best and who they’d suggest you contact.”
“And Tex can totally deal with everything to do with moving,” Casper said.
“I don’t want to be a bother,” Zita said a little shyly.
“Trust me, Tex loves this shit. He’ll have your entire place packed up and all your stuff on the way here within a week,” Casper said with a grin. “Your car included.”
“Oh. Wow. Um…”
Obi-Wan kissed her temple. “Say yes, Zita. Let us help you.”
“I feel as if you’ve all helped me more than my fair share as it is.”
“Nonsense,” Laryn said. “This is what friends do. And we might not have spent a lot of time together, but you’re pretty awesome.”
“Thanks,” Zita told her.
“It’s settled. You’ll need to talk to your boss and the film person, but leave the rest to Tex. I’ll give him a call later,” Obi-Wan told her.
At that moment, Casper’s phone rang. Which wouldn’t be unusual, except most of the people he knew were already in the room. And any other day, it could be entirely possible it was a spammer or his brother…but the ringtone was one every Night Stalker in the room recognized.
Because they’d all programmed their phones with the same ringtone for the same number.
“Shit.”
“Fuck.”
“Damn.”
Obi-Wan tensed. He wasn’t ready.
Casper took a deep breath and didn’t bother to leave the room to answer the call. Everyone’s eyes were on him, and no one bothered to hide the fact they were listening to his side of the conversation.
“Davis. Yes, Sir. Uh-huh. Oh-four-hundred, understood. All right. Out.”
It was short and to the point. No one was surprised when, a moment later, Buck’s phone rang with the same distinctive ringtone.
“What’s happening?” Zita asked, looking confused.
“We’re being called in. Mission,” Pyro told her.
“Oh.”
One by one, the men’s phones rang and their conversations with whomever was on the other side, probably the colonel, were equally short and to the point.
Obi-Wan tensed after everyone had received a call but him.
And then it was his turn. He wanted to ignore the ringing. Wanted to tell the colonel to fuck off. That he wasn’t leaving Zita. Not when he was still feeling so raw about almost losing her.
“Answer it,” Zita ordered. She’d turned in his lap and was staring at him.
He slowly pulled out his cell, wanting to throw a tantrum. But everyone was there. Watching. Waiting to see what he’d do. The tension was thick in the room.
“Engle.”
“Obi-Wan, I’m sorry to do this. I know you’re on leave, but we need you.
This one will hopefully be short. The shit’s hitting the fan in Gabon.
Libreville, more specifically. The government elections aren’t going well, we need to pull the US employees, and it’s not safe to do so by ground.
We’re gathering as many employees and their families as we can at the embassy in the capital city. This should be an in-and-out job.”
Gabon was in Africa, the west coast. It was a country that had been on the government’s watch list as far as violence went. But an “in-and-out job”…there was no such thing in the Night Stalkers’ line of work.
Expect the worst, hope for the best. That was their team’s unofficial motto.
“Yes, Sir,” Obi-Wan managed to say.
“Oh-four-hundred at the hangar. Wheels up as soon as we can get ready to go after that.”
Obi-Wan nodded, but his throat was too tight to say anything.
He felt like shit that he was both terrified to leave, but excited at the challenge of the upcoming evacuation.
It had been a while since he’d been behind the controls of his bird during a mission, and he was ready to get back to it.
But that would mean leaving Zita. The situation sucked.
“See you soon.” Then the colonel hung up.
“Sage?”
“I have to go,” he said softly. It felt as if they were the only two people in the room. Vaguely, Obi-Wan heard Laryn’s cell ring, but he was completely focused on the woman in his lap.
“It’s okay. I’m okay. You need to go and help whoever it is that needs help. Assistance only you and your friends can offer.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“But you have to. This is what you do. There will be times when I have a twenty-four-hour shift, or when I need to leave town to be on set somewhere. It sucks, but it’s life. Go. Go be awesome.”
This woman. She was amazing. He was in awe of her. She’d just been through hell, had almost died, and yet she was still encouraging him to leave.
“I know we don’t know each other very well…but you can stay with me,” Jennifer offered from nearby.
Upon hearing his owner’s voice, Fred rolled over, shook himself, looked over at Jen, then at everyone else in the room.
And he made a beeline for Zita, putting his head on Obi-Wan’s knee in front of her and whining a little.
“He can tell you’re stressed. That you’re both stressed,” Jen said quietly.
Zita petted the dog’s head and looked back at Obi-Wan.
He closed his eyes, everything in him screaming to say no. He wasn’t going. But it wasn’t in him to disobey his superior officer. Besides, he wanted to fly. Wanted to help the people who were probably scared out of their minds.
He nodded.
Zita leaned against him and whispered, “I’m so proud of you.”
She was proud of him? He was about to burst with the pride he felt for how well she was handling everything that had been thrown at her in such a short period of time.
“You could stay with me too,” Mandy said.
“I mean, if you don’t want to stay here by yourself.
Wait—I know! What if we had a sleepover?
That sounds juvenile, considering our ages, but I could come here with Rain, if that’s okay with you, Obi-Wan?
And maybe Jen, you and Fred could join us too? Or we could take turns staying here.”
“I’d love that,” Jen said. “And Fred loves other dogs.”
“Rain hasn’t been around them a lot, but I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Mandy said.
Obi-Wan wasn’t upset in the least that the women were planning on crashing at his place. He understood and supported Zita’s need to have her own apartment when she moved here permanently, but knowing she’d be in his space while he was gone would make him feel much better about not being there.
“Now that that’s settled, we all need to get going. Get a few hours’ sleep before we head to base in the morning. Everyone good?” Casper asked, looking around the room.
They all nodded their agreement. Obi-Wan eased to his feet, keeping an arm around Zita as they walked everyone out and said their goodbyes.
Once they were alone, Zita leaned into him and asked, “Are you sure you’re okay with me staying here? And with Jen and Mandy coming over?”
“Absolutely. I don’t want you to be alone.”
“Honestly? I don’t want to be alone,” Zita admitted, making Obi-Wan second-guess his easy acquiescence to going on the mission.
As if she could read his mind, Zita said, “You don’t have a choice. I’m a big girl, Sage. I’ll be okay.”
“I want you to be more than okay,” he told her.
“You know what? I’m alive. I’m here. I have you, and our friends. I’m good. I’m more than good. I’ll miss you like crazy, but you’ll come back, and maybe by then I’ll have figured more things out with my move here.”
“Which reminds me, I need to call Tex.”
“It’s okay if you don’t. I’ll see what I can get done myself.”
“I’m calling Tex,” Obi-Wan said firmly.
Zita grinned. “Okay. But if he seems reluctant, he doesn’t have to do anything. I’m sure he’s busy helping others the way he helped me.”
“Tex is definitely a helper. He’ll have no problem doing this for you. For us,” Obi-Wan reassured her.
“It doesn’t seem real that just days ago, I was in a room on that ship. But you know what? I knew you’d be doing everything possible to find me.”
“Damn straight. I love you, Zita. The second you didn’t respond to my texts, I knew something was wrong, and I also knew it had to do with Silas. I’m just so damn relieved he didn’t…” His voice trailed off, not able to verbalize his fears that she’d been killed before he could get to her.
“I know. Me too. I thought when he had his hands around my neck that he was going to end things right then and there. But I stabbed him in the eye with my thumb…as you know from what I told the detective.”
“And scratched the shit out of his face. That was smart, and I’m prouder of you than I can put into words that you didn’t give up.”
“How could I give up when I had you to return to?” she said quietly.
“When I get back, I’m going to show you just how much you mean to me. I’m going to lock us in our bedroom for twenty-four hours straight.”
“Sounds perfect to me,” Zita said with a smile.
The doctor had said that if she felt well enough, sex wasn’t off the table, but it was obvious to Obi-Wan from the way she was moving so stiffly that she wasn’t ready. Which was okay, he could wait. Would wait as long as it took to love her the way she was meant to be loved.
“Be safe on your mission,” she told him.
“Of course. I’ve got you to come home to.
I’m not sure if that will change my mindset when I’m flying, but I don’t see how it couldn’t.
I need to talk to Casper and Buck about it.
See how they reconcile the danger of what we do, and doing what needs to be done, with worrying about coming home to their loved ones.
And now that Casper is going to be a father, I bet he’s even more aware of how much is at stake every time he gets behind the controls of a chopper. ”
Zita nodded. “You and your friends are damn good at what you do. And I highly doubt you’ll do anything differently now that you have girlfriends. Do what you always do, Sage.” She grinned. “Be all that you can be.”
Obi-Wan chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You know how corny that is, right? Using an Army slogan in your little pep talk?”
“Yup. But it made you laugh, which was my goal. Now…you need to pack. I’ll help.”
“I’ll call Tex first, but yes, I do need to pack. I love you, Zita. You’re my everything.”
“Back atcha, Sage. Come on, let’s get you ready to save the world.”
“Not the world, just a tiny little portion of it.”
“But for the people who you’ll be helping, it’s their entire world.”
She wasn’t wrong. Because that’s how he felt about her. Getting into that damn room on the abandoned ship and seeing her alive, was like being given the entire world.
He hoped the colonel was right and this mission would be fast. Because he was ready to get back home and start a new chapter in his life…with Zita by his side.