When she walked out of the building, it was already a sea of commotion. It was a small FOB but still had as many as thirty soldiers in a small area less than half the size of a football field. Some soldiers were on guard duty, and others were working on their vehicles. Others were just hanging out smoking, while others cleaned weapons. But right now, all Mackenzie could think about was the smell of bacon and how the hell they got it. She found her way into a building near the command tent. When she walked in, she saw Logan standing in front of a camp stove grilling bacon, of all things. There were three other guys all gathered around a small table in the middle of the room, cards and poker chips on the table, and each had a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs. She stood silent for a moment watching as the men chatted. Apparently for special operations guys, they were not very observant, or they just chose to ignore her. As she watched them gobble up the bacon and eggs, she couldn’t take it anymore. She was starving.
“Where on earth did you find fresh bacon and eggs in this hellhole?” she asked as the men all turned to face her.
“Ah, guys, this is Ms. Roberts, the CIA chick I was telling you about. You want some breakfast?” Logan asked as he grabbed a plate. “Guys, move over and make some room for Ms. Roberts.” As the men moved their chairs to make room for her to sit down, Logan placed a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her.
“It’s Kenzie!” she said. “You can all call me Kenzie if you like. I am so hungry. I smelled that bacon across the FOB. Don’t you feel bad about eating it when the rest of the soldiers are eating those bagged meals? What do y’all call them?”
“MREs, ma’am. Meals Ready to Eat. And don’t worry. Each section sergeant got a turkey. Staff Sergeant Jase Beck from Macomb, Mississippi, at your service, ma’am,” he said, holding his hand out to shake hers.
“Wait, so this isn’t pig?”
“Gosh, no, ma’am, they ain’t got but one pig in the whole damned country. Still not sure how it got here. They don’t eat pork around here, ma’am. It’s against their religion. Pigs are considered dirty to them. This here is turkey bacon. Wolverine makes it up. It’s great stuff. Try it,” he said as he shoved his fork to her face.
“Oh, I see. I’m good. You eat yours. I have some here on my plate,” she said, smiling at the young blonde kid from Mississippi.
“All right, you’re gonna love it. I don’t know what he puts in it, but it tastes just like bacon to me, and the towelheads hate it, so Wolverine makes it just about once a week. There’s always wild turkeys running around here, and he just goes and shoots a few. Pretty much feeds us all. ’Cept a few of the guys don’t be likin’ turkey or pork. They be those veggie people. You’re not one them, are you, ma’am?”
“Nope, I am not a veggie person. I am a meat and potatoes girl all the way,” she said as she grabbed her first bite of Wolverine’s turkey bacon. “It’s pretty good, Sergeant Macalister. If you are looking for a job after you leave the Army, look me up. I need a good cook.”
Logan looked back at her and winked. “Well, darlin’, I might have to take you up on that if we all get outta here in one piece. Your friend Saheed might have something to say about that, though. Unless we find him first, right, guys?”
The small room erupted in a display of hoorahs, hoots, yelps, and backslapping. She just hoped that she could complete her mission before Logan and his men could complete it for her. She had to get him captured and interrogated before Logan’s squad killed him. Now she just had to decide if she should tell them what her real mission was or if she should hold out. They already mistrusted her, so why should she change their minds? It wasn’t like she would ever see these guys again, so what would it hurt? Sure, she wouldn’t mind getting to know Logan Macalister a little better, but she wasn’t going to risk her new career over getting some dick, even if it was the biggest dick she had ever seen.
Chapter 3
As they finished breakfast, she listened as the men conversed about past and upcoming missions when Logan mentioned the meeting that she had set up with Saheed. She thought she had successfully avoided the conversation earlier, but to her dismay, she wasn’t that lucky. As Logan explained to his squad that they were to accompany her to a meeting with Saheed, she felt a cold chill as their attitudes toward her quickly changed from friendly to friendly adversarial. She was trying to decide if she should sit there and take it or take the next open moment and escape. She chose to sit there. She did deserve it, in a way. She did lie to them, but neither she nor they knew she had lied, at least not until this morning.
She sat in the chair watching the men as they berated her with questions; most of them were “why?” and stating the reasons why they should kill him instead of asking for his help. It was then that she decided that if she were to gain their trust and confidence, she would have to be upfront and honest with them about everything, but first, she wanted to tell Logan alone.
“Can we go outside and talk for a moment, please?” she asked, looking at Logan, almost begging him. “It’s important, please? We won’t take long, then y’all can get back to tearing me a new one. I promise.”
“Sure. Come on. We can go out between the two buildings. Better coverage there. Just follow me. It’s through this back door,” he said, pointing to the door just behind the men.
“Guys, move the table so we can go out back.” As the guys moved the table, Kenzie straightened herself, trying to gather what strength and confidence she had to tell him the entire story. She would show him the contents of the envelope once the men left so that she could outline the entire scenario ahead of them.
When they got outside, Logan could already tell by the look on Kenzie’s face that it was serious. “Did you want to go back inside? I can send the guys over to the mess building or back to their bunks for a few,” he said.
“Could you? I would rather show you what I have in this envelope while I explain, because right now I am about as confused as the rest of you.”
He opened the door then poked his head inside. “Hey, guys, go back to your bunks ’til about eleven hundred hours, then get your asses back over here, okay?” The men all replied with a hoorah and exited the small building. Kenzie walked in after Logan, and he sat down at the table.
“Okay, show me what ya got,” he said as he leaned back in the chair.
Kenzie took a deep breath, sighed, and sat down. Leaning back into the chair, she placed the envelope on the table and then slid it toward Logan. “It seems that what I was told to tell you when I got here is a lie. I didn’t know it was a lie when I told you and the colonel, and for that, I am sorry. In fact, if you read the contents, you will see that it says I am not to divulge this information with anyone, but I felt that it was imperative, because of recent events here, that I should share this information with you. What you do with it is up to you, but I need your help to make this happen.”
Logan read over the contents, and Kenzie watched as he scanned each page, waiting for a response or any indication of his reaction, but he was good at one thing, and that was he was one hell of a poker player because his face was not telling her anything. When he finished, he leaned forward and slid the papers back to Kenzie. “So, basically, you’re telling me I get to torture and kill the man who killed my best friends and tortured Fitz and Tommy?”