The Shift: Book II of the Wildfire Saga (39 page)

One of the medics
 
grabbed Brenda's arm in an attempt to pull her away from Cooper.
 
"Major, we need to get these men into containment as quickly as possible and you aren’t in a baggie.”

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
 
Cooper said in a dangerous tone.
 
Brenda shook off the medic and placed a hand on Cooper's chest.
 
He imagined the warmth of her touch on his skin as he stared at the blue plastic that encased her hands and the yellow that covered his chest.

"No, he's right," Brenda said softly.
 
“This is good for temporary work and low-risk contamination.
 
You’ve already been through decon so I’m not worried—the virus isn’t
that
strong.
 
But a risk is a risk…”
 
She took a deep breath and stepped back from him, the tips of her fingers reluctant to leave his chest.
 
Her arm remained outstretched until it fell by her side.
 

Cooper could see the tears forming in her eyes.
 
"Well,” he said in a husky voice.
 
He cleared his throat.
 
“At least it’ll only be for three days…"

"Yeah, assuming you aren’t infected," muttered Digen as he walked past, apparently satisfied that Brenda was going to keep her distance.

"Captain, I would like a moment alone with Lt. Braaten.”

The look on the soldier’s face proclaimed
yeah, I bet you would
, but the man nodded courteously and gestured for the other medics to move back.
 
"No problem, ma’am.
 
See you back in the lab?"

Brenda nodded inside her suit’s fishbowl enclosure.
 
"I'll be right behind you."

Cooper turned and gave what he hoped came across as a meaningful glare at Jax and Charlie.
 
The two SEALs looked at each other, their black helmets reflecting the other’s image.
 
Jax laughed, the sound of his voice ringing hollow from inside his own suit.
 
They moved awkwardly into their new temporary quarters.

Cooper turned back to Brenda.
 
"It's like they’re in high school…”

Brenda laughed, the muffled sound like music to his ears.
 
Cooper couldn't help but smile.
 
The entire situation was just plain ridiculous.

Her face grew serious.
 
“I really am very happy you’re back," she said almost in a whisper.

Cooper nodded.
 
"Me too.
 
I kept thinking… While we were deployed," he suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
 
He felt the heat rise inside his fish-bowl hood.
 
Fog started to coat the lower rim of the clear bubble.

I’ve never been so tongue-tied around a woman before.
 

Brenda’s eyes twinkled at his discomfort.
 
"You know, you're cute when you get all flustered…"

"I guess I was trying to say—” Cooper began, his tongue tied in a wave of relief and confusion.

Brenda stepped forward quickly and placed her gloved hand on Cooper's bubble-helmet.
 
The pressure from her hand caused the hood to cave in a little and was nowhere near his mouth, but he got the message.
 
"Sssh,” she whispered.
 
"Not here, not like this.
 
I think I know what you mean and I’m pretty sure you know how I feel.”

As she looked down, he could see the color rise slightly in her cheeks.
 
Jesus, she's as worked up about this I am…

“I don’t want what we’re about to say to be through layers of plastic and PVC.”

Cooper nodded, a smile spreading across his face.
 
"Well, it
could
be, if you're into that kinda stuff…"

She stepped back with a laugh.
 
“Stop it!
 
You know what I mean."

Cooper moved forward and embraced her by the shoulders.
 
He held her in a steady grip and touched his fish-bubble hood to hers.
 
"I know exactly what you mean.
 
It can wait until the time is right.
 
I'm not sick," he said with confidence,
 
“and I’ll see you in a couple days.
 
I promise."

"I know," she whispered.
 
She slowly extricated herself from his awkward embrace and looked down the hallway toward the lab, her hand trailing behind her.
 
She turned back to him.
 
"I need to get going.
 
I want to stay here with you, but—”

“Not while we have to wear these damn suits," Cooper said.
 
"I'll see you after."
 
He flashed a smile and let go of her hand.
 
“Besides, I’ve got debriefings and all kinds of boring stuff to get through first.”

She smiled, but it never reached her eyes.
 
She looked sad.
 
She looked tired.
 
Cooper wanted nothing more in the world than to hold her to his chest and wrap them both in blankets and go to sleep.

Parts of his body wanted other things, but he pushed those thoughts and impulses
 
aside.
 

Mission first.

Brenda nodded.
 
“I’ll see you after, then."

Cooper stepped through the containment airlock into their new quarters.
 
He waited until whatever gas was hissing from the floor and ceiling dissipated and the red light above the inner hatch turned green.
 
Magnetic locks released with
clanks
and the hatch popped open with a muted
hiss
.
 
He ducked his bubble-enshrouded head and stepped into his new home.

Once the airlock had been sealed shut and the red light turned green again, Cooper turned around and took a closer look at their quarters.
 
The room was about the size of a small efficiency apartment.
 
On the wall opposite the big-screen TV, there was a large long window about waist high which offered a view into some sort of lab on the other side.
 
Cooper could see scientists in white biohazard suits with hoses hanging from the ceiling attached to their hips.
 
They moved about the lab, mixing vials, and working at computer terminals.
   

Jax, Sparky, Swede, and Charlie sat on cots and chairs, their biohazard suits strewn on the floor next to their glossy, black HAHO helmets.
 
Charlie was unstrapping his HAHO suit as he chewed on half of a sandwich.

Cooper's stomach rumbled audibly at the sight of the trays sandwiches and sodas.
 
There was an oblong cardboard box tied with twine at the edge of the desk next to the food.
 

Cooper reached up to his neck and ripped the thin surgical tape to release the bubble hood from his head and ignored the canned oxygen hissing out of his suit.
 
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the slightly less-canned air that was circulating in the room.
 

A few more minutes of cursing and struggling in the sweat-slick, PVC-lined safety suit and Cooper was able to at least remove his hands and torso from his HAHO suit.
 
That was good enough.
 
He shambled over to the food and grabbed two sandwiches and a Coke.
 
After inhaling the food and a long guzzle from the soda, he belched loudly to chuckles from Jax and Swede.
 
Cooper chewed the second sandwich and examined the package.

"What's this?" he said around a mouthful of what he thought was turkey and cheese on white with mayo.
 
It tasted stale, but he didn’t care.

"Seems you have a secret admirer," Jax said, a grin spread across his face.

Charlie's expression of contentment turned into a frown.
 
Cooper suddenly felt guilty that things were going so well with Brenda.
 
Every time Brenda’s name was mentioned it was clear Charlie thought of his wife and child somewhere out there all alone in enemy-occupied California.
 
Cooper couldn't blame him, but he was starting to get tired of the resentment being hurled his way—even if it was just dirty looks.

It was a distraction and one that needed to be dealt with before their next mission—less than that had killed operators before.
 
One distraction was all it took, one moment when you took your eye off the target to think about home—that was when the bad guys found you.
 
Not on Cooper’s watch.

He swallowed the last of his sandwich and washed it down with a mouthful of Coke, his eyes on his XO.
 
I have to deal with Charlie soon.

When Charlie looked up from the tangled mess of his HAHO suit, Cooper looked away.
 
He examined the cardboard box on the desk.
 
For now, I'd like to deal with this.
 

“You gonna open it or not?” asked Jax as he sat on his cot and leaned back against the wall.
 
He held a bottle of Coke up in salute.
 

Cooper flipped him off and picked up the box.
 
“Well, let's see what this is…" He undid the twine.
 
Inside was a bottle of Old Grand Dad.
 
“Bourbon,” he announced to a round of cheers.
 
Cooper laughed as he pulled the bottle free of the box.
 
A note inside fell out into his hand.
 
He tossed the box back on the desk and read the note aloud: "
To a job well done
."

"I didn’t think you'd gotten to
that
job yet," said Sparky, with a raised eyebrow.

“Must’ve made an impression,” observed Swede.

Jax burst out laughing and even Charlie had a smile on his face.

Cooper felt heat rise up his neck.
 
He cleared his throat, but the laughter only increased.
 
"For your information,
that
mission has not been completed yet," said Cooper.
 
The men roared with laughter.
 
"But," Cooper said raising the bottle.
 
"Even if it had, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell—Admiral Bennet sent this.”

“Well, don’t want to upset the Brass, do we?” Swede chuckled.
 

Jax picked up two plastic coffee cups from the food tray.
 
“A gentleman may not kiss and tell, but he does share," he said, handing the cups over to Cooper.

Cooper opened the bottle and took a whiff.
 
He smiled as the scent burned his nose.
 
"Indeed he does."
 
He poured a round for everyone and walked a cup over to Sparky, who sat on a cot adjusting the bloody bandage wrapped around his leg.

As the men raised a toast to Tank and other fallen comrades of the past, the room’s intercom buzzed.
 
Cooper saw a shadow through the small porthole in the airlock.

"
Medical staff to inspect the wounded.
 
Please step back from the airlock hatch
."

Cooper walked over to the intercom and pressed the transmit button.
 
"Copy that, come on in."
 
He stepped back and stood sipping his whiskey as the bio-security measures inside the airlock took place.
 
He could hear a faint popping from the wall followed by a hiss.
 
After a few seconds, the little window set into the hatch lit up as the green light inside the airlock illuminated a single figure.
 
The door hissed—it sounded much louder without his bubble hood on—and a medic stepped into the room carrying an equipment case.
 
He closed the hatch and stood there a moment, taking in the scene.

Cooper turned to look at his team—or what was left of it—and frowned.
 
Sparky sat on his cot, his right leg propped up.
 
His thigh was wrapped with a red and brown-stained bandage.
 
His forearms were caked in mud from the Mystic River.
 
Jax appeared none the worse for wear, other than a bandage over his right bicep.
 
Swede flexed his hands and rolled his neck with a pained look on his face, but Cooper could see no obvious injury.

He looked down at his own hands and noticed that they were bruised.
 
Also, the skin around his wrist and the back of his neck was sensitive to touch.
 
Felt like a sunburn.
 
Of all the SEALs, Charlie was the only one that had sustained no injury.
 
Safely encased in his HAHO suit for the entire mission, Charlie had been unscathed and unexposed.
 

The medic crossed the room and examined Sparky's leg first.
 
As he set to stripping the soiled bandage away, revealing the long gash on his thigh from a German
 
bullet, Cooper sat down at the desk and drained his cup.
 

He felt the alcohol rush immediately to his head—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d anything to eat or drink prior to that inadequate sandwich a few minutes ago.
 
With clumsy hands, he slowly unstrapped his boots and removed the rest of his HAHO suit.
 
He kicked the sweat-soaked bundle of fabric and wires into the middle of the room, sure that someone would be along shortly to collect all their gear.
 
Probably incinerate it or something—he didn't know and couldn’t care less.
 

His cot was calling to him from across the room.
 
The mission was over and if he couldn't have a hot shower and couldn't have Brenda, then by God he was going to
 
have another couple drinks and catch some sack time.