Page 6 of Hearts Under Fire
Kate’s blue eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
With that, Alexis turned on her heel and left the medical wing. She tried to convince herself she wasn’t attempting toescape as she walked briskly toward the exit, desperate for a breath of fresh air.
Chapter 3
Kate
The droning of engines lulled Kate into comfort, and she dozed lightly. She sat with three others on a C-130 on the tarmac, waiting to take off. She’d been early. It had occurred to her that if she were in place and asleep before the plane took off, she wouldn’t have to endure any idle flirtations from Lt. Cole, so she’d gotten up long before she’d needed to and had been the first non-flight-crew member to arrive. She’d spent the last hour snoozing off and on to the rhythmic rumbling of the airfield.
Kate had spent the rest of the previous day packing, prepping, and going over the maps. She knew if she committed the maps to memory it could save their lives. She’d texted Lt. Cole a few times to arrange an equipment pickup and had request the final mission plans electronically so she could review and memorize those, too. Kate believed in being prepared.
Trauma nurses spent a lot of time thinking about the next patient. Kate was no exception. She’d spent the last hours before going to bed flipping through her trauma notecards and going through her triage material. She knew backward and forward, but practicing and preparing helped her recall important detailsin the heat of the moment. Kate wanted every advantage going into the scenario with limited information on the status of her patients.
She’d dozed off amongst a meadow of flashcards that covered her bed. The rest of her room was otherwise spotless. Kate frowned to herself, recalling waking up with notecards stuck to her forehead and several crumpled beneath her.
Sudden heat bathed Kate’s left side, pulling her out of her reveries. Her eyes sprang open. Lieutenant Cole occupied the bench seat next to her, her eyes closed, and her belt-harness already fashioned. Kate stared at her, consuming Alexis’s profile with abandon. The cocky, flirtatious arrogance was gone, and a serene, tired mask darkened her expression. She had dark brown hair in a low fade, with it grown out carelessly long on top. Kate was certain it was out of regs but doubted Alexis cared.
The uniform hugged Alexis’s body in a way that Kate tried to ignore, but she couldn’t help but appreciate her tan forearms covered in swirled black ink tucked across her chest. Her gaze drifted up to Lt. Cole’s mouth, and she snapped her eyes shut. Alexis’s plump lips were turned up in a cocky grin, as if she knew Kate had been looking.
Kate jolted awake sometime later, feeling the plane jerk down slightly due to turbulence. Pain radiated through her neck, and Kate groaned. She’d slept with her neck bent and now her muscles were protesting. She worked out the knot with her thumb and opened her eyes.
Lieutenant Cole had fallen asleep at some point and had leaned over the cable net between them. Her her head was tilted to the side and was resting atop Kate’s. Quickly surveying theothers, Kate found that everyone else in the cargo area was also asleep, despite the roaring of the Hercules engines. Rivera and Huang were in a similar position. The two large men's heads were tilted together, Sergeant Rivera’s temple resting on top of Master Sergeant Huangs’s shaved head. Kate was tempted to take a photo. The two men bickered like old hens when they were awake.
Even though she wanted to pull away from Alexis, Kate stopped herself. The flight was long, and most of them hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before. If Kate woke up Alexis and their team leader didn’t get enough sleep because of her, she’d feel responsible. She reluctantly closed her eyes and sighed. She’d forgotten how good it felt to be close to someone else, and the warmth that spread from Alexis into Kate’s side was intoxicating. The woman was a furnace, and the C-130 was colder than usual. Kate resisted the urge to snuggle in closer and bask in her presence.
Alexis sighed and nuzzled the top of Kate’s head, and she blushed. Alexis’s voice was groggy and rough, as if she were still asleep.
“Go back to sleep, Little Lieutenant. Still got four hours,” Alexis whispered, her voice soft and low. It wasn’t a question but a command. Kate found herself complying without even thinking of arguing. This time, she fell asleep and remained that way until they touched down on the tarmac. Her dreams were filled with piercing blue eyes and tan skin covered in inky black tattoos.
Kate knew they’d landed in the desert by the scorching heat. Night was ready to fall, but as the sun was still up, thetemperature persisted. Sweat dripped down her neck and back, her normally spotless appearance marred by the heat. It didn’t matter. They were headed deeper into the desert soon, and they’d all be cold or overheated and covered in a layer of dust and sand. The risk of infection worried Kate, but she kept her mind on the present as they went through their gear.
The atmosphere had turned electric. Kate felt wary, knowing her job was to follow orders until she reached her patients. Huang and Rivera were already snipping at each other about something, and the rescue ops soldiers who worked directly under Lt. Cole were compulsively field stripping their weapons. Everyone was, double and triple checking that everything was shipshape.
Kate did the same, repeatedly taking inventory until Lt. Cole materialized at her side, bathing her hip in heat and lighting her ablaze with awareness. Kate finished the inventory, put all the supplies back into her pack, secured the cauterizer, and turned to see what Lt. Cole wanted.
She was surprised when Alexis offered her a pistol tucked into a leather shoulder holster. Kate shook her head nearly imperceptibly.
“I don’t usually carry a weapon, Lt. Cole. Didn’t Colonel Williams informed you of that?” she whispered, motioning Lt. Cole away from the others so they could speak privately.
Alexis jerked her head in a rough nod and followed, sticking close to Kate’s back. “I was made aware of the fact that youusuallydo not carry on your missions. This is not a normal mission, and we don’t know what we’re walking into. I wanted to strap you up with several different options for weaponry, but Colonel Williams insisted that you wouldn’t like that option. So in the spirit of…” Alexis trailed off, pausing to find the right word. “In the spirit ofcooperationand compromise, I hopeyou’ll be willing to graciously accept this 9mm pistol along with a tactical knife.”
Lt. Cole held the pistol out to her with her right hand by its barrel, and a large knife by its sheath in her left. She’d successfully backed Kate into a corner. Technically, Lt. Cole could make her carry whatever weaponry she chose. It was only out of respect for Kate’s wishes that she had limited it to a pistol and a knife. By all accounts, Kate figured she was getting off easy when she saw some of the hardware the Combat Rescue Officers’s were packing around with them.
Alexis offered the pistol and strapping up to her and Kate was all planning to snap and snatch it from her and do it herself, but before she knew it, she had offered her arms up to Alexis and was allowing Alexis to strap it onto her.
What the fuck are you doing, Kate. Get a grip.
As Alexis’ hands roamed freely over Kate’s chest and back while she strapped her into the holster, she called over one of the CRO’s Kate had seen handling a grenade launcher earlier.
“Maloy! Come give me a status report on the ammunition situation.”
Kate listened as Maloy rattled off an encounter with a particularly dense ammunition supply technician. When Alexis finished with the holster, she started to put Kate’s gear on her piece by piece. Kate tried to focus on what Maloy was saying, and not on where Alexis’ hands slipped Kevlar plates into the base layer vest.
“So this genius was like, ‘Yeah but the earliest I can have the ammo shipped to you is Monday morning.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, our mission is tomorrow, and what are you talking aboutshipping? If you can’t haul the ammunition to the flightline, we’ll just sign out the equipment at the source and transport it to the freakin’ C-130 ourselves.’”
Alexis’s rough laughter made butterflies swarm in Kate’s stomach.
Kate could clearly dress herself. Why on earth was she letting Alexis just do as she pleased? It wasn’t standard practice. But then Kate figured, Alexis wasn’t ever so hung up on standard practice. It seemed Alexis Cole just did whatever the hell she wanted.