Soldier With Benefits (Military Men Book 2) (12 page)

“It won’t be fast enough. Both you and Carolina will be dead before we can get to you.”

“I agree. That’s why we need to put Carolina on our schedule. I don’t think all of the interviews should take place in the same week. It’s too predictable.”

Louie nodded, glancing at the notes they had regarding the places she wanted to visit. “If you did this one first because there are more known insurgents in this area that might work.” He tapped his pen on the paper, a scowl on his face. “What do you think, Simon?”

Simon, who had remained silent up until now shook his head. “I’m with Louie on this, Mac. It’s bloody dangerous and asking for trouble.”

“Done deal,” Mac said with a trace of impatience. “Help me make it through this and keep Carolina Eastern safe.”

“Fuck, Eastern,” Louie growled. “It’s you we want to keep safe.” For an instant open emotion blazed on his face before his features blanked to soldier.

“I’m with Louie. Eastern and her bosses might pay the bills but they’re secondary. All of us want you to make it through this.”

Mac swallowed while the sheen of tears formed in her eyes. She couldn’t believe how easily she fit in here. They truly were like a huge family, and if one of them became injured, it hurt the rest of the team. She swallowed again and said, “Okay. Let’s do that. We’ll send back our conditions and see what they say.”

* * * * *

After doing two recon drives, Louie felt they were ready for the real thing. Carolina Eastern had bitched and moaned the entire time, protesting they were being too cautious. The insurgents had been quiet recently, the city going through an unusual period of calm.

Nerves jumped inside Louie as they drove along the route they’d chosen, heading for an apartment block. Two women walked along the road, carrying their shopping, and a group of children played behind a wire fence in between their school lessons.

Although it was still early, the street near the market thronged with locals taking advantage of the lack of military action to purchase food and other essentials.

“Can’t we go any faster?” Carolina demanded.

“No, we can’t,” Mac said before Louie could formulate a reply. “We have our procedures for a reason. It’s to keep us alive.”

Carolina sighed loudly but stopped her grumbling.

And so she should. Despite the network paying extra, it didn’t mean they had to jump whenever Carolina ordered. Louie scanned the road outside the car, tensing when he saw the mobile roadblock up ahead. Their driver slowed.

“Tell them we’re going to the west of the city,” Louie said.

A shot rang out over to their right, and the tension in their vehicle heightened.

“Can you see what’s going on?” Mac whispered.

The local soldiers waved them on and went running in the direction of the disturbance. A volley of shots fired, and their driver put his foot down, barreling away to their destination.

“How’s it look?” Simon asked ten minutes later, his voice crackling over the radio.

Their driver pulled up outside the apartment building.

“Carolina, wait in the vehicle until we’ve checked the vicinity,” Louie ordered. “Do not move until I give you the say-so.”

Mac and Tai slipped from the vehicle, guns at the ready, eyes narrowed watching for any hint of danger, any person—man, woman or child—appearing out of place.

Louie shoved back his concern for Mac and concentrated on the job at hand. The best way to protect her was to watch her back, to do everything in his power to keep her safe.
His woman
.

A snort emerged. If he said that aloud to Mac, she’d probably deck him. Too bad. Now that he’d found her again, he didn’t intend to let her flee again.

His radio crackled. “All clear.”

“All clear here too. We’ll move Carolina inside now,” Louie replied, already striding to their vehicle. He tapped on the window and with the jerk of his thumb indicated to Carolina she could leave the vehicle. She grabbed her briefcase and slid from the rear.

“Move it,” Mac snapped. “We don’t want to give a shooter a target.”

“I know the drill,” Carolina said, increasing her pace despite the snap in her voice.

Louie and Simon were right. The reporter came across as a bitch, although Mac had to give her points for tenacity. She worked to get her stories, doing everything in her power to make them happen.

“Good,” Mac said, running in front of Carolina, weapon at the ready.

“Clear inside,” Simon said.

Mac gave a clipped nod and followed Simon up the stairs to the first floor apartment they intended to visit. Carolina followed her with Charlie, another of their group, riding her butt.

According to their plan, Louie, Tai and Garrett waited outside at the entrance, alert for any incoming danger.

At the doorway to the apartment, they paused. Carolina was fit, Mac would give her that. After the run to the entrance and the hurried trip up the stairs, she wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Are you ready?” Mac asked.

“Yes,” Carolina said, smoothing a short lock of blonde hair off her face. “One thing, I promised the wife there wouldn’t be any guns.” Not a flicker of guilt showed on her face.

“You might have mentioned that earlier,” Simon snarled at her.

“I knew you wouldn’t have agreed.” Carolina didn’t show the slightest remorse.

“That’s it. We’re pulling out,” Simon said.

“You can’t. We’re here. All the arrangements are made,” Carolina said, anger coloring her cheeks.

“But you didn’t pass on all the details,” Simon snapped.

Carolina squeezed past Simon and thumped on the door. “I’m going inside. The network pays your team to protect me, so you’d better do your job.”

Mac inclined her head, indicating to Simon it was okay. She slid her gun into the waistband of her trousers, making sure it was out of sight. “Let’s do this. Half an hour, right?”

“The interview might run longer,” Carolina said.

“No, it won’t,” Simon said. “If Mac has to drag you out, she has orders to do it.”

Carolina sent her a contemptuous glance. “I’d like to see her try.”

Mac laughed inwardly and lifted her shoulders in a shrug. The door opened, and they all went on alert, prepared for anything. Mac grabbed Carolina and shoved her behind her. The two men pulled back a fraction so they were out of the line of sight, but their weapons were ready should they be required.

“Reporter for the interview,” Mac said.

The woman nodded and opened the door wider. With adrenaline pumping through her body, she stepped inside the small apartment. It was spotlessly clean with the scent of cinnamon and cloves perfuming the air.

Two other women sat watching her and Carolina, their dark eyes curious as they inspected them. In the corner of the room, a baby fussed and one of the women rose to attend to it. In another room, a woman sang. She sounded young. The ring of a phone interrupted the singing.

“My daughter. Her friends are always ringing,” the woman who answered the door said with a smile.

Mac relaxed a fraction. If danger lurked inside this apartment, it wasn’t in plain sight. “Half an hour,” she murmured to Carolina. “Clock is ticking.”

Carolina’s mouth tightened, firming to a flat line, but she smiled at the woman who had answered the door. “I’m Carolina Eastern.”

Mac’s cue to blend into the wallpaper. She stood with her back to the wall, making sure Carolina wasn’t too far away for her to grab should the need arise.

The half-hour passed quickly, the women speaking good English.

“Carolina, time’s up. We need to go.”

“I’m not quite finished,” Carolina said.

“I can give you five more minutes, and then we’re leaving,” Mac said firmly. “Understood?” To her relief, Carolina asked her question and after the women answered, she wound things up, standing and thanking them very much for their time and for agreeing to speak with her.

As much as they might dislike her, Carolina Eastern had a way of putting people at ease, if she troubled herself, which made her a natural for interviews.

They hustled Carolina out of the apartment block and arrived back at their base two hours later, the trip taking an hour longer than usual because of a dust storm that obscured the city and made travel difficult. Mac prayed the quiet period lasted through all the interviews.

“I want to arrange the next interview for Friday,” Carolina said in her usual no-nonsense tone.

Louie frowned. “That doesn’t give us long to do our research.”

Although she understood the need for the recon trips and the scrupulous planning, Mac just wanted the interviews completed. All she wanted was to get through them alive. Even now her gut hummed with healthy fear. While it made for good reactions, living with constant adrenaline rushes wasn’t good for a person. She’d end up with the jitters, jumping at every slight noise.

At base, they piled out of their vehicle.

“Are you going to the gym?” Simon asked.

Mac hesitated, her gaze going to Louie who was speaking to the drivers. “No, I need to check my emails.”

Simon nodded. “Take care.” The honest concern in his face and voice brought the prickle of tears to her eyes.

“I will.” Mac strode away, heading to her room. She sat on the edge of Louie’s bunk to unlace her boots. The tremor of her fingers started then, reaction setting in. Her hands shook so badly she tangled the lace of her right boot into a stubborn knot. A strangled curse squeezed past her tight lips.

The door to their room opened and Louie stepped inside. He took one look and was at her side with two long strides.

“Let me, sweetheart,” he said, gently knocking her hands aside. With competent hands, he untangled the knot and slid the boot off her foot.

Mac studied his face through her tear-blurred vision, waiting for his chiding words. They didn’t come. Instead he helped her remove her protective vest and then pushed her onto his bunk, sliding in after her. He drew her into his arms and held her.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You did a good job today.” He smoothed his hand over her tightly bound hair and pressed her face against his shoulder. His arms surrounded her, the scent of soap, dust and musky sweat familiar and welcoming. Gradually her panic started to recede and her limbs ceased trembling. Just being with Louie soothed her, his strong arms representing security. Safety. Mac squeezed her eyes closed and realized she’d been fooling herself. This thing between them wasn’t anything remotely resembling friends with benefits. She had feelings for him. Somewhere along the line he’d grabbed her heart.

* * * * *

“I don’t believe it,” Mac muttered, scanning the contents of her email again.

“Problem?” Louie ambled across the bedroom to stare over her shoulder. Mac didn’t even think about hiding the email from him, which rammed home her worry that she’d fallen for him. She valued her independence and had never willingly shared her personal life with a man.

“My father is sneaking from the home again, staking out the vineyard down the road.” What the hell did she do? The director’s frustration came through clearly in his email. Her father was disrupting the smooth running of the home.

“What are you going to do?”

Mac shrugged. It was all she could manage while trying to keep other emotions at bay—the fear for her father, anger at the disease and a sense of helplessness because she couldn’t be there to intervene on her father’s behalf.

“I have an idea,” Louie said. “I have a friend who lives in Papakura. I was in the SAS with him. Why don’t I give him all the details and he can keep an eye on your father?”

“But the director won’t let in visitors who aren’t family. It’s for the patients’ safety.”

“So tell him Nikolai is your cousin or better yet, that Summer, Nikolai’s wife, is your cousin. She’s returned to Auckland and wants to visit her uncle.”

“But it’s a hassle for them. This is my problem to fix. I’ll think of something.”

“And if you don’t? What will you do if they decide your father is too much trouble? You wouldn’t want them to confine him.”

Confinement would kill her father. Mac dragged a hand through her hair, wincing when she ripped a hair clip free. “I don’t know.” She removed the clip and jammed it back in place, the faint sting of her scalp bringing home the truth. For once she needed to rely on someone else.

“Do you think your friends would mind checking on my father? And maybe giving him orders each day? I think he forgets.” The bloody disease. She hated seeing the decline in her father’s mind. Hard enough that he didn’t recognize her anymore, but seeing his pride suffer on the brief occasions when he remembered hurt far worse.

“I’ll ring Nikolai and ask him,” Louie said, his hand squeezing her shoulder.

Warmth swelled inside her. She closed her eyes briefly, fighting the tender emotions. They had no place on the battlefront. “Thank you.”

Louie checked his watch. “I’ll go and ring him now. If he’s not there, I’ll leave a message for him to ring me. Why don’t you email the director and tell him your cousin has been in touch? Get Nikolai and Summer Tarei put on the official visitors’ list.”

“Are you sure your friend won’t mind?” She snorted, a trace of amusement in the sound despite her anxiety for her father. “You know the director assured me they could handle my father. I chose this particular home because of their great reputation with Alzheimer patients.”

“Your father isn’t ordinary. He’s a military man. We’re different,” Louie stated.

Mac liked the fact Louie included her in the group. She was good at her job. After all, her father had shaped her, rearing her like a young soldier. “I don’t think the director bargained on a military man.”

“Nikolai will do this. I would do anything for Nikolai and Jake, and they’d do the same for me.”

Mac understood the sentiment and had seen the same deep friendships with her father and his army mates. The men fought and lived together in close proximity, facing danger and putting their lives in the hands of their fellow soldiers. They suffered through the same experiences, had the same mental traumas, and that bond made them closer than blood relations. Unfortunately, none of her fathers’ military friends were around to offer help. “Thanks, Louie. I appreciate this. I’ll email the director now.”