Chapter 19
Frankie wasn’t ready for Keel to go back to work, but he had to. She would get used to being alone here. Besides, Ansley was planning on coming over for lunch. Not spending the day alone would help.
That evening before bed, Keel had helped her gain access to her old email account so she could figure out who to contact about her money. Now she could figure out who to call.
She also wanted to see if there was anything she could do with her degree. At the time, going to college hadn’t seemed like a waste. Now she wondered if it was a total waste. Of course, having Forest in her life had made a lot of things go bad.
Her lips were pressed together, her eyes on the floor, when Keel stepped into the kitchen. He moved to stand in front of her.
“Everything okay?”
She glanced up and met his gaze. “Yeah. I just don’t know how I’m going to deal with being alone all day. I know that’s not your problem. It has just been a while since I’ve been alone. I don’t really know how to deal with it.”
“So after you got a degree, did you work at all?”
She shook her head. “No. Forest really did sabotage all of my interviews. He didn’t want me to work. Basically, I just stopped living.”
“You could go back and get a master’s degree.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. Getting a new degree would be hard.”
“Yes, but you could do it, then you could search for a job.”
Would she be any good at a job? She had to try. At least if she tried, then she would know if she was really useless like Forest had told her. Surely she could find something that mattered to her and build a life for herself.
Keel hated leaving Frankie, but he had to work. Before he left, he made sure she knew how to use the application for the alarm. She’d promised to keep it on. The alarm wouldn’t stop all crime, but it was a great deterrent.
If Forest showed up by chance, maybe the alarm would frighten him off. He hoped Forest and his brother would stay away. They needed to go home and forget Frankie existed.
No question, if Frankie left him, he would have a hard time forgetting her.
She was funny, smart, and very good-looking.
He could get used to her being around. Before meeting Frankie, he would have told anyone who asked that he would never get with anyone.
Now, he wanted something more and was almost at the point of believing he could have more.
It was weird that meeting Frankie had changed things for him. She had opened his eyes to feelings he never thought he would have again.
At work, they headed into their meeting room. Their facilities were secure, but they still took more precautions when talking about strategies and possible missions.
They were being briefed on a situation developing in one of the African nations. It was a terrible situation with people being killed and others being taken hostage. He hated fights like this.
There would be no winners, only losers. They might be able to go in and stabilize the area for a little while, but resources were scarce, and people got mean when they had to pick which child got food and water.
“I want you guys to develop a plan,” Lieutenant Marsh said. “We’ll reconvene at fourteen hundred hours.”
Keel stood and left the room. They all headed back to their offices as they thought about the task. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Frankie so soon after she came to stay with him, but she was safe here in the middle of the state.
As they talked, their discussions got heated, and to outsiders, it sounded like they were arguing, but they were just talking through what needed to be done.
A little after noon, they felt like they had a good handle on everything.
They broke for food, then came back together to go over their plans before heading back in to confer with leadership.
In this unit, they had a lot more autonomy, but also a lot more responsibility.
They relied on operational support, and men like Marsh were here for support.
They asked difficult questions because it was their job to make sure every Delta operation was a success.
Sloppiness got people killed, so every detail was gone over repeatedly as they planned to go in and take down the bastard who was leading the disruptive force trying to screw up a nation.
Every move, every decision was picked over as they detailed their plans. After an hour, Marsh said he was satisfied.
They left the room, certain they would be headed to Africa before the end of the week.
The moon would be dark in six days, and he was sure they’d want to strike by then unless this jerk dropped dead.
They’d had that happen a few years ago. The guy they planned to take down had keeled over from a heart attack two days before they’d been set to go in.
Keel had been disappointed, but it had saved them time and travel.
He didn’t think this guy would be so accommodating.
Keel didn’t look forward to going home to tell Frankie he would be leaving soon. He’d warned her this was part of the gig, but that wouldn’t make it easier for her to accept. He just hoped she stuck around until he got back.