Page 12 of Duty and Desire
The last several days had been the same. Scarlett missed the general’s eyes on her. She liked being able to look at the older woman and see that she was being looked at too. But since that kiss, Ros had been fastidiously avoiding her gaze, and Scarlett was pretty sure she was being dodged around the base as well. That or before their kiss, Ros had been surreptitiously seeking her out.
Ros reached the front of the room, and Scarlett watched as she quickly did a head count, making sure all the senior officers were present. An imperceptible nod followed; they were all there then.
“Listen up. An avalanche has hit Fort Kirk. Communications are down, and many soldiers are in need of rescue. You will each be leading your squadron to assist in the evacuation. Captain Bennett, with your background, you will also be leading a team of engineers to try and get the base operational again. Once you have succeeded, you will rejoin your squadron in the evacuation efforts.”
She addressed me directly and still wouldn’t look at me. Is this how it’s going to be between us now? I almost wish I hadn’t kissed her at all. Better to have that unfulfilled spark than whatever this is.
“I will be running point from here,” the general continued. “Several heat source imaging cameras will be operated from the helicopters going with you, and I will be communicating with each of you when we find the locations of trapped service members.”
A nod from each officer confirmed their understanding.
“Good. Now, go brief your teams.”
Scarlett saluted and left the room, her mind pulled between thoughts of the mission and Ros.
Scarlett felt a tug on her arm and spun round. Lieutenant Colonel Izzy Oakley was beside her, a concerned expression across her face. Izzy had been a close friend of Scarlett’s since they’d met at a joint training exercise. “Scar, you okay?”
“What? Yeah, of course. Just thinking about the mission, you know?”
“No, there’s something else. You’ve been on missions before. You’re never like this.”
“I’m fine, Iz, honestly. It’s nothing. Just in my own head.”
“Yeah, tell me why I don’t believe you, then?” Izzy replied, obviously unconvinced by Scarlett’s weak excuses. “Give me the truth, Scar.”
“It’s dumb. It’s the general.”
“Carson? Why? What’s she done?”
“No, nothing like that, Iz. I’m just all flushed around her, that's all.”
“You have a crush on the general?” Izzy laughed.
Scarlett sighed; she could feel her face red with mortification. Maybe getting it off her chest would help her concentrate on the mission. Izzy didn’t need to know all the details, though, and Scarlett didn’t think she could survive the embarrassment of telling her about the kiss.
“Yep, Izzy, I have a crush on the general.”
“Oof, I mean I can see where you’re coming from, but good luck getting past that stony exterior. I’ve never seen a fortress that well guarded. Stay focused out there today, soldier.” Izzy gave her a hard slap on the shoulder before heading out the room, leaving Scarlett alone with her swirling thoughts.
She was almost hanging out the side of the chopper when Fort Kirk came into view. Nearly the whole site had been buried. Any deeper and no one would ever know an army base had existed at all.
Teams of junior soldiers were working to dig out paths to the buildings. They wouldn’t be able to get in to fix anything or pull anyone out if the doors couldn’t open, of course.
Lamp posts had been bent almost in half, and the few windows visible above the snow line had been smashed—whether by snow, rescuers, or those trapped inside, she couldn’ttell. It would take a lot of time, effort, and money to get this base running properly again. But that was the risk of positioning all these bases in the mountains.
They hit the ground running, and Scarlett glanced over her shoulder ensuring the engineers were following her lead. Lieutenant West was leading the rest of the company in the opposite direction to look for anyone trapped under the snow or inside buildings.
Scarlett headed for the back of the main building. She saw the power grid off to the side, poles bent and snapped and cables hanging loose, crackling in the frigid air. That was not something she could fix with a small team of engineers, though.
The base had been cut off from communications for hours, and restoring the lines was crucial for the rescue efforts, both for those trapped outside under the snow, but also those trapped inside buildings; the doors would not open without power.
“Alright, team,” she called out, her voice firm and clear despite the harsh winds. “We need to clear a path to those communication lines. The avalanche has buried them under several feet of snow, and there’s no telling what kind of debris we’ll find underneath. Safety first—stay vigilant for any signs of shifting snow or potential secondary slides.”
Her officers nodded before they turned, issuing orders to their own squadrons.
They began the arduous task of digging through the snow. Not one to sit on the sidelines, Scarlett joined them, her shovel biting into the frozen mass over and over. The dig was tiring work, but it kept her warm at least. As they worked, the sounds of shovels scraping joined the already cacophonous array that filled the air—the mountain groaned and rumbled, helicopter blades whirred, the shouts of soldiers and the barks of search and rescue K-9s mingled together in a chaotic orchestra.
A twisted antenna poked through the snow, its form bent and crushed. Farther down, there were the mangled remains of a thick cable, its casing torn open by the sheer force of the avalanche.