Semper Fidelis (6 page)

When he jumped into the Humvee again, his driver smirked. “One down, Magneto, sir.”

“One to go,” he finished. All he had to do was spot one more to unofficially win this not-a-contest contest.

Zach’s drone buzzed above him, swooping over their vehicle and doing a pass over the fascine. Zach was following on Galen’s find to see for himself what he had missed.

It took another forty minutes, but Zach won the next point. “A second IED has been confirmed,” a Marine said over the comm.

“Location, sir?” he asked.

“The southern perimeter.”

Only one IED left to locate and Galen had a feeling it was hidden in the fake city the base used for urban warfare training. He instructed the driver to head in that direction.

“Hey, Magneto. You hear what Synthfad’s drone has painted on the side?”

He shook his head but kept his focus on the road and landscape ahead. “Nope.”

“A Sentinel. As in—”

Galen interrupted him. “The X-Men Sentinels that killed Magneto in the last movie.”

“That’s ballsy, sir.”

He snorted when he laughed. “Yeah, the guy flying that thing must have an impressive set.”

The drone tracked near them, always within sight, as they got closer to the fake village.

“You think he’s playing off your instincts, sir?”

“Knowing your opponents’ strengths can be more useful sometimes than knowing your own.”

Galen paid attention to the grid pattern the drone wove over the city, maintaining a search pattern that allowed him to keep tabs on the drone’s movement. Both of them were on the hunt, eliminating sections piece by piece, and Galen could see the search area narrowing. If for some reason the IED wasn’t placed here, then they would both be sure of it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the drone tilt toward the ground and into an area of the city that had street after street of dead ends. From his ride-alongs with Casey as he was planning his live-fire exercises, Galen was much more prepared for the maze of streets than his driver would be. And if he didn’t take control now, then that drone was going to home in on the location of the last device.

“Out of the vehicle, Private!” he ordered, jumping into the driver’s seat as soon as it was clear and slamming his foot onto the accelerator. He was so concentrated on the path of the drone that he clipped the side of a storage container building and watched it sway in his rearview mirror. But his eyes had been off the road too long and he crashed into the side of another faux building. He looked up just in time to see the second story wobble, then begin a slow, inevitable rotation toward the sand.

The drone looked like it was going to course correct and head out of the path of the falling building, but at the last second Zach’s pride must have gotten the best of him because he ducked the drone down, attempting to fly it under and get to the last IED. For a split second Galen thought it was going to make it, that he was going to lose, then he heard the screeching of metal on metal and the ignition of a gigantic fireball.

* * * *

Galen texted Zach and met up with him on the roof of a building clear of the chaos, sitting down with him to watch the fire.

“I probably shouldn’t have used the chlorine trifluoride
in the fuel mixture.” He sniffed, took off his glasses and itched at his nose. “It’ll burn itself out eventually.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yeah, why not.”

“Well this was a fuckup of catastrophic proportions.”

Zach chuckled. “It really was.”

“You know what else I fucked up?”

“Not calling me after that night in the hotel?”

“You really are a rocket scientist. So smart.” He played with the binoculars in his hands, his nerves getting the best of him. But he had to know. “That night, then… It wasn’t just an anomaly?”

“You tell me. I hear you’re the one with the mystical sense for those type of things.”

He surveyed Zach’s features—the way Zach leaned toward him, the playful tip of his generous lips, those stunning golden brown eyes that shone like a doctored Photoshop pic—and answered with complete honesty, “Yeah, I think it was an anomaly.”

Zach swallowed, an abrupt frown making his chiseled cheekbones stand out even more.

How the hell could any man be so beautiful?

Galen shook his head. “We’re obviously combustible when we interact. That’s not common—or safe.”

Zach twirled his glasses in his hand and gave Galen a smile that melted him, like the chemical reaction of chlorine trifluoride
mixed with metal and desert sand.

“And?” Zach asked.

Galen smiled. “It’s all I’ve been looking for.”

About the Author

I sleep little, read a lot. Happiest in a foreign country. Twitchy when not mentally in motion. My name is Sam, not Sammy, definitely not Samantha. I’m a pretty dark/cynical/jaded person, but I hide that darkness well behind my obsession(s) for shiny objects. I’m the macabre wrapped in irresistible bubble wrap and a glittery pink bow, I suppose.

Email:
[email protected]

Sam loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.totallybound.com
.

Also by S.A. McAuley

Someday It Will Be

An Immoveable Solitude

The Borders War: One Breath, One Bullet

The Borders War: Dominant Predator

The Borders War: Powerless

ALWAYS READY

T.A. Chase

Dedication

To all the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard and the other military services. Thank you for your bravery and willingness to dive into the oceans and seas to save those who need it. To the crab fishermen of the Bering Sea, I couldn’t do your job for all the money in the world.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Skype: Microsoft Corporation

Sikorsky HH-60 Jayhawk: Sikorsky Aircraft

Chapter One

The din of voices hit Dean like a physical blow as he pulled open the door to Darwin’s Theory then walked in. He knew Phil would be waiting for him, but in the crowd of people, it was going to be hard to find him. Tonight was their last night together for a good long while.

Stationed at the Coast Guard’s Kodiak Station on Kodiak Island, where he served as an Aviation Survival Technician—or rescue swimmer—Dean had gotten a weekend pass to come to Anchorage. When he found out he’d gotten it, he’d called Phil to make sure his lover would be able to meet him.

Opilio crab season was about to open, and Phil had been up in Dutch Harbor, getting the boat he worked on ready to go. Phil was a third generation crab fisherman, and it wasn’t easy for him to get away before a season started.

Yet he’d been able to do so, and now they had two nights together before Phil went out on the Bering Sea to fill his quota, and make his money.

Dean jumped when someone pinched his ass. Turning, he hoped it wasn’t a woman who had done it. He didn’t feel like dealing with tears or an indigent female wondering why he didn’t find her attractive. Hell, he hadn’t found any woman beautiful—except his mother—since he was young. He was gay through and through.

“I’ve been sitting here for over an hour, checking out the asses walking in and out of the bar. I have to admit you have got the best behind I’ve seen in a long time.” The voice in his ear caused him to relax, even as he turned.

“Do you also pinch everyone’s ass?” Dean grinned at Phil, though he kept his voice low to keep anyone from overhearing.

“Only the good looking ones.” Phil winked, then gestured toward a table further back in the bar.

Dean followed Phil, letting his gaze drift down Phil’s back to where the man’s ass was enticingly displayed by a pair of worn thin, tight jeans. His lover would never wear those in Dutch or on the boat, but being in the city loosened some constraints for them both.

After flagging down a waitress, he asked for a beer and a shot of whiskey. She gave him a weary nod before rushing off to fill her orders. Phil took a seat in the corner, and Dean sat as close to him as he could without drawing attention to them. He slid his hand onto Phil’s knee under the table.

“Have a good trip in?” Phil inquired before taking a drink of his beer.

Dean nodded. “Yeah. Sully came in with me to meet up with his girl before she heads out to visit her parents or something like that.”

“Cool. I came in on my own. Caught a flight out of Dutch early this morning. Checked in the hotel, then did some shopping for supplies. Season opens next week, and we have to be ready.” Phil’s blue eyes danced with desire and happiness.

“I missed you,” Dean softly blurted out, wincing when he heard those words spill out of his mouth.

Phil reached under the table to cover Dean’s hand, then squeezed it. “I missed you too. It’s been too long.”

It had been two months since they’d been able to spend time together. They’d chatted over Skype, emailed and texted every day between opportunities, but it wasn’t the same as seeing Phil face-to-face and being able to hold him in his arms.

They’d been dating—if you’d call it that—for two years, ever since they’d met at a bar in Fairbanks. It hadn’t always been easy, but as their relationship had grown more serious, Dean knew he’d do whatever he had to do to keep Phil his.

“Here’s your drinks. Do you need anything, Rhody?” the waitress asked Phil as she dropped off Dean’s beer and whiskey.

Phil shook his head. After getting Dean’s money, she dashed off again. Dean took a swig, then set the bottle down. Staring at him like he was a juicy piece of moose meat, Phil’s eyes told Dean what he was thinking.

“We have to make it look good, Phil,” Dean admonished him. “There might be some guys who know you here, and they’ll wonder why we left as soon as I got here.”

Phil huffed in annoyance. “I hate not being able to tell people about you. It’s not fair.”

“Maybe not, but I’d rather you were safe than out, honey.” Dean turned his hand over to entwine his fingers with Phil’s. “It’s better for me in the Guard now that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is gone. Well, it was fine before that as well, but you’re stuck on a boat with men for weeks on end, and not all of them are accepting of differences.”

Phil wrinkled his nose, and Dean could tell he understood what Dean was saying, but didn’t necessarily agree with him. Phil was young, only twenty-eight compared to Dean’s thirty-eight. He didn’t always have the patience that Dean did.

“We’ll finish our drinks, then head to the hotel. We can get something to eat later,” Dean said and Phil nodded.

Once their plan was made, they didn’t chat, just drank slow enough not to draw attention to themselves. As soon as both beers were done, and Dean had drunk his shot, they paid, then left Darwin’s Theory to go to the hotel.

Dean had checked in before he’d gone to the bar, and Phil had registered early in the day, so there was no need to stop anywhere else. Dean was pretty sure they’d both brought supplies to ensure they didn’t have to leave the room for the rest of the weekend, if they didn’t want to.

Keeping his hands to himself in the elevator was difficult, but Dean managed to do it by tugging them in his pockets. Phil stood on the other side of the car, arms crossed over his chest, but his gaze never left Dean’s face. Gritting his teeth, Dean tried to adjust his erection in his suddenly constricting pants.

The smirk on Phil’s face made Dean want to kiss that expression away, but again he needed to wait until they were behind closed doors. He remembered the first time he saw Phil.

The younger man had been dancing with a friend at a gay club in Fairbanks. His blond hair had been dark with sweat, and his chest had glistened with it under the strobe lights of the club. Phil’s jeans had been even tighter than the ones he wore now. Phil ‘Rhody’ Rhodes, crab fisherman, was the most beautiful man Dean had seen in a long time.

All Dean had been able to think was how alive the man had looked and how happy he’d seemed. It was something Dean had wanted to absorb that night. He’d come to Anchorage on leave to try to get over losing a crab fisherman out in the Bering Sea the day before. The stranger had exuded confidence and carefree joy, calling Dean like a siren of the water.

Hitting on younger men was something Dean had rarely done. He was too old to play games or be any guy’s sugar daddy. Yet he’d yearned for the exuberance of youth, so he’d taken a chance to see if the blond would be interested for a little fun for the night.

Boy, had Phil been interested. Their first time together had been fast and hot in the bathroom of the club. Dean hadn’t done that in years, but he hadn’t been able to say no when Phil had flashed him the same smirk his lover was sending his way in the elevator.

The elevator dinged as it stopped at their floor, and Dean walked out first. Phil wasn’t far behind him, then passed him in the hallway. He didn’t speed up, letting Phil get in the room before him. The man couldn’t do anything without him…or so he thought.