Excerpt of Trapped with the Covert Ops Soldier by Julie Rowe

Chapter One

 

“I hate flying,” Dr. Abigail Westward groaned as she bent forward to breathe through her nose. The commercial Airbus she was on was full, and then some. Full of soldiers returning from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They’d boarded in New York and were headed west to Missoula, Montana.

Most of them were asleep.

She was lucky, she was going directly home from Missoula.

If she was very lucky, she wouldn’t lose her last meal before she landed.

“You gonna throw up, Doc?” the soldier next to her asked, giving her a curious side-eye.

“Probably.” She closed her eyes and held the barf bag ready. Her stomach jiggled in ways God hadn’t intended.

“Huh,” the soldier grunted. “How come you can pick pieces of people and their guts off the ground without flinching, but get sick on a plane?”

“Motion sickness and one’s gross-out-meter aren’t the same thing.”

The soldier chuckled, but didn’t say anything else, just put his head back and closed his eyes. Not 60 seconds later a snore sailed out of his nostrils.

Abby was tempted to do something childish, like tie his boots together in revenge. She wouldn’t be sleeping. She never could on planes. It had been bad enough when she’d had to deal with simple air sickness. The attack that killed most of the people she worked with at the Combat Support Hospital in Syria only amplified her suffering. She, along with one other guy, had crawled out of the wreckage of their convoy, banged up and bleeding, and damn near killed themselves trying to save two critically injured survivors while keeping a group of fighters from killing them all.

By the time the rescue helicopters arrived the injured were dead and she had scars in places she never wanted anyone to see.

The plane rocked back and forth, sending her stomach spinning. Yep, this plane ride was going to accomplish what months of duty in Syria couldn’t…finish her off for good.

She sat, head bowed over the barf bag, for a couple of hours before the plane began its descent into Missoula. The soldier next to her had woken up and was staring a hole in her temple.

“What?” she asked, not really caring what his answer was as long as he looked at something else.

“I heard you maybe killed a couple of people.”

If he’d heard that, he’d also heard that she didn’t like talking about it. Not to anyone.

She gave him the finger.

“Yeah, you look real tough, Doc.”

What was he doing trying to pick a fight?

She sat up and looked at him. “Listen asshole, I’m the last person you want to piss off.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “Because I’ll barf all over you if you don’t shut up.”

“That’s not what Smitty said.”

Smitty. That stupid shit. He’d set this meathead up to get his ass handed to him. She turned around in her seat to look at Smitty, seated several rows behind her.

He grinned at her and winked. Good thing she liked the guy as much as she did or she would have done something nasty to him a long time ago.

He was the only man she’d have at her back if FUBAR happened.

She glanced at her neighbour. “I’m going to do you a favor and forget you asked me anything.”

“Yeah?” the meathead still had a stupid grin on his face.

She met his gaze and held it, letting all her nightmares out to stare back at him. “Yeah, because if you bug me any more all you’ll be to me is pieces of people and their guts on the ground.”

His grin faded slowly into a fog of fear. He swallowed then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Abby turned her head and threw up into the bag. The plane landed sometime between heaves and she barely noticed when they docked at the terminal. Everyone else got off, including the soldier next to her, but she waited until the rush was over before standing up and looking for her stuff in the overhead bin.

She ignored the big man who’d stopped to wait for her.

“Nice flight?” he asked.

She glanced at Smitty. “No. Jerk. Did you tell that dude I was a badass or something? He had no idea what you set him up for.”

Smitty’s grin was wide. “That’s why I did it.”

“What did he do to piss you off?”

“We’ve had words.”

“Huh uh.” She started up the aisle shouldering her backpack. “Next time you want to scare someone, don’t pick me to do it.”

“Why not? No one expects you to be scary. The best part is the moment they realize you’d be perfectly happy gutting them.”

She stopped walking and Smitty bumped into her.

She turned and glared at him. “Don’t.” She sucked in a breath and held on to her temper with the very edges of her chipped fingernails. “Do it again.”

He grinned at her. “Yes ma’am.”

“Asshole.”

“Yep, that’d be me.”

“You’re damn lucky I let you get away with all your shit.”

“I love you too, Doc.”

Surprise froze her for a moment before she burst out laughing. Only Smitty could make her mad enough to boil water with a look then indulge in a belly laugh the next moment.

They exited the plane and walked up the ramp into the terminal. The baggage claim area was packed with military uniforms and only a few suits and jeans dotting the room.

“It’s good to be home,” Smitty said looking around.

“Is it?” It looked like the same old airport with not enough space to hold everyone. The fatigues were all too familiar. “Heh, you’re right, it’ll be nice to see people in real people clothes.”

He frowned at her. “That’s not what I meant, Doc.” He tilted his head to one side and asked, “Aren’t you happy to be home? See your friends and family? Take some time to relax, sleep in, and drink a few beers? Maybe have some wild monkey sex with your best buddy.” He waggled his eyebrows and winked.

She snorted. “Some of that sounds…” Not too bad, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. The idiot had a big enough ego as it was. “The beers sound good.”

Someone behind them laughed and she glanced over her shoulder. A group of soldiers were looking at her and Smitty with shit-eating grins on their faces as one of them mimed a monkey.

Great, just great.

She gave Smitty a glare. “You just got demoted from best buddy to baby brother status.”

He laughed and shrugged.

The baggage carousel started up and duffle bags began their journey around. Several soldiers in front of Abby and Smitty jostled each other in an attempt to get theirs. Someone got shoved hard enough that he stumbled into Abby, knocking her on her ass.

“What the – ” she began, but before anything else could make it out of her mouth the shoving morphed into punching. Within seconds most of the crowd was swinging at each other. Someone stepped on her foot and she realized she’d better get out of the way or risk getting trampled.

She tried to stand, but got an elbow in the nose for her trouble and ended up on her butt again. A duffel bag landed with a heavy concussive thunk next to her as a body tumbled over her legs and landed face down. She wiped her hand over her face and it came away covered in blood. The sight of it, and the sounds of the fighting, speared through her, penetrating reason and suddenly she wasn’t in an airport anymore. She was in the wrecked truck, the body of a dead man on top of her, the smell of smoke and fuel and blood filling her nose until breathing was impossible.

She had to get out. Now.

Abby closed her eyes and fought panic. She was not in Syria, not surrounded by the dead and dying, not fighting for her life and the lives of her friends. The people she could hear now were all very much alive.

She was in the Missoula airport and home was just a drive away.

Abby opened her eyes and crawled away from the confusion, but there were men fighting everywhere. Most of them were big enough to do her some damage if they fell on her or landed a misplaced kick. But it didn’t seem to matter which direction she tried to go, everyone was fighting.

Men were punching, grabbing each other and generally acting like it was a free-for-all at a wrestling match. There was a lot of shouting. Some of it to try to calm things down. Most of it the sort of language her grandmother had told her never to use. Unless it was an emergency.

The situation was looking like it qualified.

A hand reached out, snagged the back of her shirt and yanked. Whoever had a hold of her jerked her backward into his body, spun her around, threw his arm around her waist and picked her up.

Smitty.

“Hang on Doc, I’m gonna try to find a hole.”

She hooked both arms around his neck.  “Go!”

He surged forward, one hand extended in front of him like a quarterback with a football. He turned and dodged two guys who fell to the floor in front of them, then dodged another cluster of men trading punches and insults faster than stockbrokers made deals on the floor of the stock exchange.

A couple of people stumbled into them, but Smitty pushed them aside. She buried her face in his shoulder to keep from getting another elbow to the head and clutched him a little tighter. He danced around, spun, and hit a door with his back. It opened and they stumbled inside.

The sudden quiet after the door swung shut disoriented her and she tightened her grip on Smitty’s neck. His scent, clean and woodsy, tempted her to do something supremely stupid, like lick.

“You okay, Doc?” The arm around her had her plastered to him from breast to hip. His free hand came up to cradle her face and tilt it upward. “Geez, you’re going to have a hell of a shiner.” His breathing was fast and heavy, his gaze colored by concern.

“Yeah, I’m okay. You?”

“Better than you, I think.” His thumb traced around her nose and she winced.

There was blood on his fingers.

“Damn it, they gave me a bloody nose.”

“Better than a broken arm or leg.”

“True, but I’m never going to hear the end of it.” Shouts from outside the door drew her attention. “How long will this insanity last?”

“Someone will straighten them out. Eventually.”

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine,” she said with a snort.

All humor left Smitty’s gaze. “You scared the shit out of me, Doc.”

She frowned. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You went down.” His arms tightened around her. “I thought those morons had trampled you.”

She patted his chest. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. I was afraid of the same until you snagged me.”

“Any other bruises?” he asked tilting her face up again.

“I don’t think so.” He bent closer, but the look in his eyes wasn’t worry. Desire heated his gaze.

She was so surprised she didn’t move a muscle when he placed a light kiss on her bruised eye. His lips trailed down her cheek and he bent a little more to catch her mouth in a quick kiss.

She sucked in a breath to tell him to stop, that this was a bad, bad idea, but he kissed her again, lingering, tasting her. Heat uncurled from her belly to lash at her muscles and nerve endings.

So good.

Her hands moulded over his shoulder muscles, then dove into his short hair to pull his head down so she could kiss him back harder.

He groaned and her back hit the wall. He hoisted her up and he pinned her with one of his thighs between her legs.

She curled one leg around his, securing him to her so she pressed against his erection. A very impressive erection.

He left her mouth to trail kisses down her neck and she rocked against him. “Good God, how long have you been hiding this monster?” She rocked against him again.

He nibbled on her earlobe and whispered, “I’ve been saving it for you.”

That had her pulling back. “What?” Was he serious? They’d been friends for several months. She’d wondered if he looked at her a little too long, but he’d never done or said anything to indicate any real interest.

“What?” he said back to her with a grin. “Did you think I hung around you for your stimulating conversation?”

His words stabbed an ice cold knife in her gut and she flinched. It took her a moment to find the strength to breathe again. He’d always been a stand-up guy with her. He’d backed her up in triage as well as outside of work, and made sure no one bothered her or hit on her.

His friendship had been the one thing she’d counted on through the long months working in a country completely alien to home, a place where death lurked around every corner and down every dirt road.

She put her palms on his chest and pushed. “Let me down.”

He resisted for a moment then pulled his leg back and let her slide down to her feet. “Doc?”

She shoved again, shame making her tremble. “Let go of me.” She couldn’t meet his gaze. She had thought he really did like her. He hung out with her so much and never once tried… God she’d been such a fool.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, her mouth so full of bitterness and pain she couldn’t speak. She ducked down to go under his arm but he caught her and held her still.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I was joking.”

“Joking?” She demanded. “I thought you were my friend.”

“I am. I’ll have your back until forever.” His brows were low over his eyes. “Besides, you kissed me back.”

She closed her eyes to the truth she could see in his face. She had kissed him back, had even teased him a little. “Yes, I did. I got…carried away.”

One corner of his mouth curved up. “Yeah, it got pretty hot fast.” He took a step back, though his hands still held her by the shoulders. “Maybe I could buy you dinner?”

Dinner? She stared at him, her mouth open. “Like I’m some stranger you don’t know?” Anger fired up her muscles and she pushed him back another step. “Get out of my way.”

“Where do you think you can go? That fight is still going on out there.”

“Not for long it isn’t.”

She yanked open the door.

Not everyone was still involved in the fight. Quite a few people had abandoned it to stand around the edges and just watch as several security guards tried to break up the stubborn ones.

She put her fingers between her lips and blew a loud harsh whistle. She repeated it twice more and by the time she was done even the diehards had stopped to see who was making all the noise.

“If you assholes are done beating the crap out of each other, get out of the way so the rest of us can go home.” She marched up to the carousel and began looking for her duffle bag. It took her a few minutes to find it, and while she was looking, the rest of them sorted themselves out and were finding their own bags.

She dragged hers across the floor, heading toward the exit when someone grabbed the back of her shirt.

“That’s getting old really fast,” she said to Smitty.

“You forgot your backpack in the men’s room.” He held it out.

She took it and threw it over her shoulder. “Thanks.” She stared at him, uncertain of what to say.

“You heading to Bandit Creek right away?” he asked.

“Yeah. My dad should be here to pick me up. It’s about a two-hour drive. You’re lucky, you live in Missoula.”

“Maybe I’ll come up for a visit.”

“To buy me dinner?”

“I think that’s a trick question,” he said with a grin that came and went. “How about coffee? In a restaurant. With people all around.”

Now he was acting as if they’d met on a dating site. Disappointment was a led weight at the bottom of her stomach. “Sure, sounds…safe.” Only, she didn’t want safe, not from him.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

“I screwed up didn’t I, Doc?”

She sighed and was about to speak, to let him off the hook, but he spoke first.

“I’ve been dying to kiss you for a long time.”

She frowned. “Really? You never gave me any clues.”

“That’s cause I knew you wouldn’t welcome it. You’re a little shit sometimes, but you’re also big on following the rules.” He gave her a half smile. “I also watched you hand Major Fuller his ass in the chow line that first week.”

“Is that why you ran interference for me? You knew I didn’t want that sort of attention.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I’m over protective. Call it a testosterone problem if you want. Look, I just want a chance to see if we could make something between us work.”

Her anger drained away until all she was left with was the bitter dregs at the bottom of the barrel. “It crossed my mind once or twice.”

“What crossed your mind?”

“Hooking up with you.” She laughed, but it didn’t hold any mirth. “But I was smart enough to realize that was a bad idea before I could do anything about it.”

“Why would it be a bad idea?”

“We’ve been working together for months, in a place where the concept of safe didn’t exist. The IED explosion…” The memories of that horrible day overwhelmed her ability to speak for a moment, but she reined it in and continued. “It changed us, Smitty. Changed something basic in both of us, and I need time to process it. Time to get myself figured out, because right now I’m no good for any man. Especially not you.”

He stared at her silently for several seconds then nodded. “You’re right. We both need time to process what happened.” He took a step toward her and put one hand on her shoulder. “But never doubt it, I will be back and we will figure out what we have between us.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He smiled at her and winked. “Never.” He grabbed his stuff and headed out of the baggage area. She watched him leave and struggled to hold off the sense of sadness he left in his wake.

Idiot. She’d probably never see him again.

She picked up her duffel and headed toward the exit, but two men in security uniforms waved her down.

Abby walked over to them. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, you can,” one of them said. He handed her a piece of paper.

A job application.

“Uh, what’s this for?”

“You. You’ve got a talent for crowd control. Want a job?”

She blinked. “Fellas I’m just a country doctor.”

“You’re kidding,” the second one said.

“Nope. Listen, you want someone who’s good at crowd control? Hire a pretty woman with several brothers. That’s where I learned it. Breaking up fights at home.”

The two guards glanced at each other. “Thanks for the tip,” the first one said. “That’s just what I’ll say in the ad for the paper. But, uh, in case you change your mind…there’s always a job for you here as airport security.”

“Good to know.” She waved. “Thanks.”

Abby walked through the double doors and spied her dad standing off to one side, leaning up against a wall.

He saw her and came over to take her duffle. “How was the flight?”

“Only mildly horrible.”

He chuckled and gave her a one armed hug. “Welcome back, honey.”

She smiled at him and something wound tight in her gut relaxed a little. “Thanks Dad. It’s good to be home.”

They walked out of the airport and approached her dad’s old half-ton truck. She glanced at the doors of the airport and watched all the military uniforms trickling out, mixing with the rest of the population. Already they were dispersing, joining the rest of society, leaving their military duties behind.

If only she could leave her memories of Syria behind as easily.

Her dad patted her hand. “Stop thinking so hard. You’re home.”

“I hope it’s that easy,” she said to him. “I really do.”