“Yes, Sir,” Avery said.
The general stood, as did Avery. There were salutes all around and the general said, “Again, I’m very happy to see you doing so well after your ordeal. I’m sorry you were caught up in all this.”
“Me too, Sir, but I’m going to do whatever I can to help you find the bastards who did this.”
The general nodded and dismissed them. The group walked out of the office, past the hungover assistant, and back into the heat of the desert.
Trigger stopped Avery with a hand on her arm. She turned to him.
“We’re going to get him, Lieutenant,” he said seriously.
Avery nodded. “Good.”
“But…when you go back to California…you never met us. As far as anyone else is concerned, the only special forces team you saw was the SEALs who rescued you. Understand?”
“Of course. I’m not an idiot,” she said with little heat in her tone. “I might only be a naval nurse, but I understand how operation security works. I’m more grateful to you, and men like you, than you’ll ever know. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go home and give interviews to the local paper about the team of hot Deltas who are gonna reign down terror on the men who kidnapped me.”
There were a few chuckles at that.
Even Trigger smiled. “I didn’t think you would, but I had to say it. You understand, of course.”
“I do, even if it’s unnecessary.” Avery held out her hand. “It was good to meet you, dark and dangerous stranger. Be careful. I have it on good authority there are a lot more things that go boom out there than there were a few weeks ago.”
“Will do,” Trigger said.
“I wasn’t bored,” Brain blurted from her right.
Avery winced. “That didn’t really come out right back there. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
Brain chuckled. “I wasn’t embarrassed. And I wasn’t bored, but I might’ve been a little impatient to move on to information about the man we’re seeking, like you said. And I have a feeling you’re going to ID this traitor, Lieutenant.”
“I am,” Avery said with conviction. “It might take me longer than I’d like, but eventually I’ll figure out who he is.”
“Good luck,” Brain said.
The rest of the Deltas echoed him, and then they all headed off toward a different area of the base.
Rex put his hand on the small of her back as they headed toward the clinic. “You all right?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah. That wasn’t exactly fun, but the more I talk about what happened, the easier it gets.”
Rex wasn’t surprised at that. The worst thing she could do was keep everything bottled up. He had the sudden hope that he’d be the one she could talk to each night to help her process, but knew that wasn’t logical. They hadn’t even been on a date yet.
“The sooner we get out of here, the happier I’ll be,” Ace mumbled.
Rex couldn’t agree more with that statement. They were all aware that the person who’d wanted Avery dead was most likely right there on the base with them. He could even be watching them now. It was unsettling, and he’d feel better about Avery’s safety when they were gone.
“There was an army unit that went home a week ago,” Bubba said, as if he could read Rex’s mind. “It’s possible our man has already left to go back to the States. There are both naval and army units heading home in a few weeks as well.”
“So we’ve got some time for Avery to look at the pictures before we have to worry too much about her safety,” Rocco said. “Since the army unit that already left is from Texas.”
“That doesn’t mean the traitor won’t come to California to silence Avery,” Rex said.
Avery held up her hand to halt the conversation. “Stop,” she said with a bit of force behind her tone. “Before any of you suggest it, I’m not going to live my life barricaded behind my apartment door, hiding. I don’t need a bodyguard either. I’m very aware that I could still be in danger, but I can’t live my life hiding. I’m going to go back to California, see what I can do about identifying the man I saw, and be very, very careful as I start working my shifts at the hospital again. I refuse to let him scare me.”
Rex didn’t like it. Didn’t want her to be vulnerable when they got back to Riverton. He agreed that she shouldn’t hole herself up, but he also wasn’t sure it was a good idea for her to resume her life exactly as it had been either. The bottom line was, until they figured out who the traitor could be, she was in danger.
But it was Bubba who did his best to make her understand how her life had changed. “That’s all well and good, but you can’t just go home and pretend that nothing happened. That you weren’t targeted because of what you saw. You aren’t naïve, and you can’t put your head in the sand. Things are going to be different for you, either until this guy makes a mistake, or you ID him. No one said you needed a bodyguard and no one said you couldn’t go back to work. But, you have to be smart. You should get an alarm if you don’t already have one. You shouldn’t be alone at the hospital. You need to talk to your commanding officer and let him or her know what’s going on. In other words, don’t take chances. I have firsthand knowledge that sometimes the last person you expect to be the bad guy, is exactly the person you have to be most worried about.”
Avery opened her mouth to speak, but Bubba spoke over her.
“It’s none of my business what’s between you and Rex. But it’s more than obvious there’s a connection there. Don’t push him away because you think you can look out for yourself or because you’re trying to prove a point. Don’t confuse what he feels for you as pity, or think he just wants to keep you safe because he’s obligated.”
“Bubba, enough,” Rex said in a low tone.
“No, it’s fine,” Avery said, holding up a hand to Rex and staring at Bubba. “I suspect your story is fascinating, and I wouldn’t mind hearing it someday, but right now, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I’ll clarify, though, just to be clear.
“When I said I wasn’t going to let this guy scare me, I didn’t mean that I was going to be one of those idiotic horror-movie heroines either. I’m not going to skip around Riverton as if I don’t have a care in the world. I’m not going to leave my door unlocked and take the same route to work every day so a third grader could tail me and kidnap me. I don’t want a bodyguard, I wasn’t lying about that, but I’m not opposed to having a badass Navy SEAL hanging out with me either. If Cole and I see each other when we get back, it’ll be because I’m interested in him as a person, not because of what he can do for me. Got it?”
Bubba was grinning, as were Rocco and Ace.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Bubba said, saluting her.
Avery rolled her eyes. “You’re all a pain in the ass, you know that?” she said with a shake of her head.
They were out in the open, where anyone could see them, so Rex couldn’t do what he wanted to. Namely, put his arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side. But he did step a little closer, making sure he was in her personal space when he said, “We are going to see each other back in Riverton. You already asked me out, and I’m not going to let you go back on your word. And I’m looking forward to hanging out with you. I won’t be your bodyguard, but I wouldn’t mind being your boyfriend.”