Melody's Six

CHAPTER2

Dean felt morepressure with every step. He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. He’d do anything for this job. Do anything for Mel. Take a bullet? Sure thing. Save her from a spider or snake? He’d handle it.

Be the husband for a week among strangers?

No way. He rubbed his sternum. Couldn’t do it. Too much baggage. He’d failed marriage for real. That entire fiasco had wiped him out. Financially and emotionally. He had nothing good to draw on for this op. Mel needed a reliable partner for this. He had to drag himself back in there and tell Beck to make a change.

Admitting his limits would suck, but it was better than letting down Mel.

Hank Patterson had offered him a fresh start, a chance to do valuable, positive work after his military career came to its natural end. He hadn’t expected the unique Athena Project opportunity, but he’d jumped on it. And until today, he’d loved every minute with the team as well as his partner.

“Hey, Dean! Wait up.” Mel’s cheerfulness baffled him. He’d been a jerk downstairs. Why was she pretending as if everything was fine?

He forced himself to stop running away. Embarrassing to admit that’s what he was doing. Turning back, he realized things were about to get worse. She wasn’t alone. Jake, RJ, and Mel were all headed straight for him.

He smothered the groan. Jake might’ve lost the lower part of one leg during his military career, but the man didn’t let it slow him down. He sure didn’t freak out over being a husband either. Yeah, Jake was a great leader for the Colorado division and he provided a phenomenal example Dean should try and emulate.

“Hey.” He straightened his shoulders and smiled at RJ and Jake. Couldn’t quite meet Mel’s concerned gaze.

“You all right?” Jake asked.

Dean had to pretend Mel wasn’t even there. “Sure.” Saying more would leave himself open for more questions.

Jake didn’t appear convinced.

“Are either of you available tonight?” RJ asked.

“No, sorry,” Mel answered for them. Still avoiding eye contact, he felt her move to his side. “Beck has us picking up a job in Colorado Springs this afternoon,” she added for them. “Are you terribly shorthanded?”

“No, it’s not that.” RJ waved off her concern. “With all the recent hires,” she beamed at her husband, “we have plenty of people willing to step up. I was thinking it might be nice to get together, the four of us.”

“Us?” Dean’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “Like a double date?” They weren’t a real couple. Just partners.

Jake shook his head. “She wants to play Euchre again,” Jake said, draping his arm across RJ’s shoulders.

“Guilty as charged,” RJ admitted. “I’m kind of addicted.”

“Me too,” Mel gushed. She had insisted that Dean learn how to play. Though the game was quirky, it was fun and moved quickly.

Obviously excited, Mel moved forward, linking her arm through RJ’s and steering her back toward the lodge. “Can we get a raincheck?”

Dean gave the women a lengthy head start before he forced himself to follow. Jake shot him a curious look. “You need to vent or anything?”

“No” The denial was sharp enough to cut glass. “I’m good. The latest case just...” His voice trailed off as he watched Mel. She was loyal, warm, and kind. When she did marry, she would be the polar opposite of his ex. “A challenge I wasn’t expecting,” he finished lamely.

Jake stopped. “So tell me how we can help.”

After more than a decade he should be immune to his past and all the crap he felt in the worst moment of his personal life.

“It’s not the job.” Dean shoved a hand through his hair. “Well, it is, but we can handle it.” He would get his head on straight. “We’re going deep undercover with the target, that’s all. We’ll need to sustain the ruse for about a week.”

Jake slipped his hands into his pockets. Eyeing Dean much too closely. “You’ve done more dangerous things than hang out with Mel for a week. Everything I hear from Beck is how the two of you make a perfect team. In sync, good anticipation. Excellent communication.”

Dean’s jaw clenched. He couldn’t stop it, even knowing Jake would notice. “All true. She’s the best.” The Athena Project was too new, too important for him to mess up because of a personal crisis. They’d had amazing success so far. Not just Dean and Mel, but the other four teams too.

Those teams had also connected on a more personal level. Maybe those changes in the dynamic were getting to him, making this pretend husband thing too real. “We’re fine. Perfect. Perfectly fine.” Good grief, now he was rambling.

He started walking with purpose. Toward the truck, his responsibilities, and his partner. Mel wouldn’t let him screw this up and she sure as hell wouldn’t expect him to be something he wasn’t on or off the job.

Despite the ball of ice in his gut, he would tell her the whole story. Only the truth would get them back to that high communication level they relied on. He needed to reassure her that she could count on him through the week ahead.

He respected her, trusted her. These days he’d much rather have Mel covering his six than anyone else. He didn’t want her harboring any doubts about whether or not he’d have her back in a crisis.

She leaned against the driver’s side door, hands tucked behind her, as he approached. The woman knew how to strike a pose. She also knew how to put up a convincing front. Times like this, he had to remind himself he wasn’t just working with an intelligent, gorgeous woman. Melody Boyd had been one of the CIA’s best chameleons at the peak of her career.

Watching her, searching for the right way to start this uncomfortable conversation, he recalled the day she’d told him why she’d left the CIA.

“I played by the rules,” she’d said. “Bent them up a little along the way, but I stayed on the right side of the line.”

She’d looked up at him, her big brown eyes gleaming with emotion and tears she refused to let fall.

“Nothing we did mattered. In that instance, the Taliban got nearly half of those girls.”

“You saved dozens.”

“For how long? A day or maybe a month? Probably not even a year. That’s the thing, Dean. Playing by the rules didn’t help for long. Breaking the rules only created more fallout down the line.” Frustrated, her long blonde curls swayed as she shook her head. “I had to get out. Had to start doing something that had a better chance of lasting success. Only way to save myself.”

He’d understood exactly what she’d felt. There was no way of knowing if his Spec Ops missions had a long-lasting impact. They went in, did the job and got out. The entire concept was to be no more than a blip on the radar. The happily-ever-after was never part of the equation.