Pussycat Death Squad (14 page)

“Then why won't you look at me?”

Lelia turned, raising her head to meet his eyes. She stepped out of line; they weren't moving forward anyway. “I'm trying not to draw attention to us. Your friends are watching, and my soldiers are too,” she said softly in an attempt to keep others from overhearing their conversation.

“Everybody knows we're together. What's the big deal? Are you embarrassed? You're not trying to keep me a secret, are you?”

“No, I'm not embarrassed. Just trying to maintain professionalism,” she lied, waiting for him to call her on it.

Patrick took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak. After a brief pause, he shook his head as though he'd changed his mind. He exhaled, rubbing a hand over his closely cropped hair. “Look, I know you'll be leaving soon. I haven't seen you nearly enough. I thought we'd check out a little island south of here, very casual and laid-back. We can walk around barefoot in cutoffs and eat ice cream.

“Cutoffs?”

“Shorts.”

“Oh. I don't own any.”

“We can buy you some. It's not like they're a requirement. The only thing you really need at Topsail is a swimsuit, unless of course, you'd prefer au naturel?” He raised his brows suggestively.

She couldn't stop herself from punching his arm, and she didn't care who saw it. “Yeah, right.”

She shivered as his hand pressed briefly against her lower back. The touch wasn't enough for either of them, and they knew it. His voice lowered. “Please, baby, say you'll come.”

Her eyes were drawn to his like a lodestone, and she couldn't help but respond to the tenderness she saw in their depths. In that moment she knew not only was she in love but that he loved her as well. She couldn't imagine anything more wonderful than going away for the weekend with him. Nearly overwhelmed by the urge to jump into his arms and give him the kiss his eyes begged for, Lelia nodded. “You know I will.” She moved away before they drew even more attention to themselves.

She joined Sarai and Astaria at their table, steeling herself for their snide comments.

“You know, Sergeant, you'd draw a lot less attention to yourself if you didn't turn into a blushing twelve-year-old every time you see the man,” Astaria said in a derisive tone.

“Besides, everyone already knows, so what are you trying to hide?” Sarai asked.

“I'm not trying to hide anything. I'd like to maintain professional boundaries. And certainly, as your superior officer, it's not appropriate for me to discuss this with either of you,” Lelia said.

Lelia knew exactly what she'd revealed with that comment. She hardly ever pulled rank, especially not with her two closest friends. Fortunately for her they chose to let her get away with it and changed the subject. As she sipped her barely potable coffee, she watched as Patrick and the other marines exited the chow hall, both relieved and disappointed that he wouldn't be joining them for further training. On the other hand, she was almost breathless with anticipation of their weekend together.

The rest of the week went essentially the same way, with Lelia catching only occasional glimpses of Patrick. As they wound down their joint training session, he was frequently called off to other assignments. The time drew on endlessly as she anticipated their getaway, even as she reminded herself that their time left together could be measured in days.

* * *

Lelia ducked, brought suddenly out of her reverie by the explosive sound of the firearm discharging over her head. She paused, her ears ringing from the concussion. She started again when Sarai, her partner in this house-clearing exercise, grabbed her shoulders.

“What's going on, Sergeant? I could've killed you!” Sarai yelled, her turquoise eyes blazing against her umber-hued skin.

Lelia waved a dismissive hand. “It's not live ammunition.” She nodded toward the modified Beretta handgun Sarai was holding. “You know it's all done with lasers…” She stopped at Sarai's glare. “You're right,” she conceded. “All weapons are loaded and lethal until proven otherwise.” She quoted from the handbook she'd written. “I'm sorry.” She wiped her damp hands over her thighs. “I wasn't paying attention. My timing has been off all day.” House clearing, going room to room in a dwelling—usually in pursuit of an assailant—was one of the most dangerous operations they did. Death lurked around every corner when they pursued someone into an unfamiliar house. This was hardly a good time to be distracted, even if it was only an exercise with laser tags and spring-loaded targets that varied from benign to exceptionally dangerous. Depending on the lethality of their target, they had to decide with split-second timing whether to shoot to kill or hold their fire. Even before Sarai's near miss, Lelia had been missing her targets all morning. More than once she'd taken out an innocent civilian while totally missing a deadly assassin. Quite embarrassing considering that they were here to prove their lethality to the world. Praises be to Allah, that most of the reporters had moved on.

Sarai slouched against the wall beside her. “You've been distracted a lot this past week. Astaria said you almost started cleaning your weapon the other day before checking for ammunition.” She gave Lelia an arch look. “Wonder if it has anything to do with your weekend plans? Or more precisely, with the delectable marine you're planning to go away with.”

Lelia sighed. Sarai was one of her closest friends, but she could be a pill at times. She hadn't discussed her plans with either of her friends. They both knew what was going on, but until now neither had forced the issue. She was grateful for their restraint, and she knew it had to have been difficult for them. This was especially true of Sarai, who was a notorious gossip.

“I don't know what's going on with Patrick and me,” she continued in a rush when Sarai raised an inquiring brow. “I mean, other than the obvious, that is.”

“Really? Come on, give over.”

“Not very likely. Not unless I want everyone in the entire Guard to know.”

Sarai chuckled, then clicked the safety into place before sliding her weapon into the holster on her web belt. “Oh, you think they don't know already? What they don't know they'll just make up. And we all have very healthy imaginations,” she said with a knowing smile. “So what
is
going on with you two?” she asked when Lelia didn't respond to the previous provocation. “Why have you been so preoccupied all week? Or is that obvious as well?”

“No, it's not obvious. He says we're falling in love.”

“What?” Sarai pushed herself upright from the wall, totally shaken out of her provocative mood. “You can't fall in love. It's against the rules.”

Lelia pulled out a hairpin that held her long braids in their regulation chignon. Somehow it didn't help the headache that was brewing in the back of her skull. “Technically, there is no rule against falling in love. Only against acting on it.” Sarai gave her an arch look, so she continued, resigned to her fate. “We've pretty much burned that bridge, have we not?”

“What are you going to do? You can't tell the Colonel.”

“Of course I'll tell the Colonel. It's the honorable thing to do.” She looked around the modestly decorated home that was set up for training. Despite the marines' best efforts, the exercise couldn't produce the sense of foreboding and suppressed panic that such an operation usually engendered in the field.

“Honor will do you a fat lot of good when you don't have a head,” Sarai muttered under her breath. “You can't do this. We all thought you were just having a little fling while we were here in America.” She shrugged. “You wouldn't be the first.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Lelia started at her friend with a sudden premonition that she really didn't want to hear the answer to her question.

“Lelia, do you really think we're all stupid? Several of the girls have had lovers, or at least boyfriends.” She shrugged her elegant shoulders. “I haven't, but certainly some of them have. I thought as long as we were discreet it would be of no consequence.”

Lelia rubbed her forehead hard, scarcely willing to believe this level of duplicity had been going on under her nose. What else had she missed? “Who—” She broke off in midsentence. She didn't want Sarai to tell her. Truth to tell, she didn't want anyone to tell her, but of course, it couldn't be avoided now. “They will tell me themselves.”

Sarai's eyes widened. “Oh no. Sergeant, I thought you already knew. That's the only reason I mentioned it.”

Lelia whirled on her. “You thought I would be complicit in this?”

“Well, aren't you? What was this past weekend about?”

“I told you. I have every intention of telling the Colonel what happened as soon as we return.” She looked up as one of her soldiers rushed into the house.

“Mura, you know better than to run into a house we're clearing,” she scolded sharply.

Mura immediately halted and came to attention. It was then that Lelia noticed her reddened eyes and the tears flowing down her pale cheeks. She walked over to her. “What on earth is going on?”

“There's been a coup attempt,” the soldier whispered.

Lelia paused to get her bearings as the enormity of what had happened swept over her. “Oh my God. Is the Colonel all right?”

Mura nodded. “Yes, he's fine. He's barricaded in the Palladium Palace, but”—she swallowed—“all the Guard members we left in Laritrea are dead.”

“What?” Lelia struggled to remain standing. Her knees seemed to have lost the ability to support her. “All of them?” Mura nodded. “They were just girls. And Karida?”

Mura nodded again.

“Why were they involved? The Colonel was supposed to be guarded by his regular troops in our absence.” She stopped talking when she realized that Mura knew nothing more. “How did you hear about this?” she asked, hoping against hope that some mistake had been made. Wanting to wail out against the agony of her loss; instead, she gathered herself. Fortunately, she had duty and responsibility. Otherwise she wasn't sure she could have remained upright.

“It's on the news in our recreation area. Everyone else is just standing around crying. I thought it best to find you.”

Lelia nodded and started walking toward the recreation building. Mura and Sarai immediately fell into step on either side of her. They were halfway across the running track that stood between the training field and recreation area when Patrick rushed up to them.

“I heard about what happened. I'm so sorry,” he said, obviously making an effort to maintain his professionalism, though his eyes told her everything she needed to know. This man wanted to take her into his arms and shelter her for as long as she needed it. The knowledge that she needed it desperately shook her to her core.