"You could make a mint selling that over here if you bring more."
"Hope I won't need it again."
Quiet settled between them, heavy with the unspoken knowledge of the inevitability of another battle on another day in another place. A soldier's mission. Meanwhile, focus on this victory. Tomorrow would come gunning soon enough.
Korba scraped back his chair. "Well, sir, I need to hook up with Doc Hyatt on a few points and it looks like she's through with the vaccines now."
Drew flipped his wrist to check his watch. "It's about time to sleep, anyway. See you tomorrow at the mobile command center?"
"Roger that, sir," Korba shot over his shoulder already rounding the corner of the table.
Drew wadded up his napkin, pitched it on top of his half-eaten stew. Thumbing up the edge of the grape Kool-Aid, he smacked it against his hand idly and hunted for the girl pushing the water cart. Damn, but a man could dehydrate before she made it over.
Scanning four tables down, he found her. Talking again. This time with the copilot Derek Washington—Rodeo. The copilot's wide smile flashed across his coffee-toned skin. Her hands fluttered through the air with the same gestures as if asking for directions like before with Santuci.
Exactly the same gestures.
Like a concocted excuse to talk.
His brain shifted to military mode, never too far of a shuffle. The Air Force's Office of Special Investigations—OSI—would have checked her out. But shit happened. Stuff got past. Losing some of his men to suicide bombers in Iraq had left indelible suspicion.
He assessed her more closely, this time as a possible terrorist threat. Black dress, Western clothes, but not stylish. Length almost to her ankles. Could be hiding a knife or gun strapped to her thigh. The dress nipped at her waist, snug enough for him to ascertain no explosives were strapped to her chest No, he could clearly discern the outline of her small, high breasts.
Breasts?
F—uh, hell. LifeSaver. Lemon.
Self-disgust roiled through him like another bite of that godawful stew. He was old enough to be her father. Some fine damned example he was setting for his troops.
Libido reined, he eased back in his chair, flicked the edge of the Kool-Aid packet. Tap. Tap. Tap. Waited. Watched. Seemed like she was settling in for the kill with the copilot Rodeo. The man could handle himself, but it still made for sticky politics to mix with locals.
Both backed away from each other. Tough day for the home team.
Almost amused, Drew watched her walk, stroll, assess, definitely on the make. No one else seemed to notice. She was actually fairly good at the game. Admiration spiked for someone who might have made a challenging adversary with a few years' seasoning. He'd just been around longer, seen more than anyone else in the room. Been taken in once himself by Glenna. His smile faded.
The woman paused, in front of Korba this time. For about half a second before giving him a wide berth. Smart girl. In spite of his grins and jokes, Korba was an edgy bastard she'd be wise not to tangle with.
She was out of her depth here. Amusing, but sad, too, how far she would go.
Not heart-tugging enough for him to sacrifice one of his men for her.
The sixteen SEALs rose as one into a human barricade blocking the woman from sight. The SEAL wall, packing M-4s along with their meal trays, moved to reveal empty air where the woman had been before. Damn.
Of course he would just check in with the ADVON team later, notify Captain Baker to keep an eye on her. Tucking the grape Kool-Aid pack in his pocket, Drew stood, kicked back his chair, more than ready to dump this meal and find his bed.
The hair bristled on the back of his neck in a battlefield instinct he knew better than to ignore. He'd been targeted. He scoped. Found nothing.
Tray in hand, he pivoted. "Damnation!"
He stopped short of slamming into the water cart. And the woman. How the hell had she crept up on him? That she could catch him unaware scared the shit out of him more than an M-16 jammed in his face.
Women moved softly here. A fact worth remembering.
"Sorry, ma'am." He barked the apology, already making his way past.
"There is no need for you to apologize."
Shoulder to shoulder, he paused, the melodic echo of her accented words catching him as unaware as her silent tread. Dark eyes stared back up at him. Eyes as black as the night sky seen from a bedroll on a moonless evening.