Chapter 8

“Would you please relax,” Jeff chided her. “You’d think you were waiting on your own court martial.”

He and Sam sat outside a set of wide double doors in some of the most uncomfortable seats known to man. They had been sitting there for two hours waiting to be called into the meeting.

“You know what they’re saying in there?” Sam whispered.

“No! And neither do you.” She sat perfectly in her flawless black suit and stared directly in front of her. But he recognized the tension in the set of her jaw and the piercing gaze. Her arms were folded beneath her perfect breasts, but her hands were never idle. They were either clenching in and out of fists or her fingers were tapping on her arm. “You know,” he said casually. “You’re destroying a perfectly good fantasy I had going about you.”

His words had the desired effect as the sharp hiss reached his ears. “Excuse me?” she snarled finally looking over at him.

“Well, all I’ve heard since joining this unit is how cool and calm you are under pressure. With all due respect, from where I’m sitting now, I’m beginning to question the validity of those statements.”

“With all due respect,” she mimicked. “It’s not you’re career on the line in there.”

“It’s a briefing, Sam. Don’t read more into this than necessary. Unless you know something you’re not telling me?” Jeff asked, again trying to rile her.

“You’re a smart man, Captain,” she snapped. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why we were called here.”

Before he could fire back at her, the door opened and a young Lieutenant stepped out. “Captain Carlton? Ms. Cavanaugh? They’re ready for you.”

Sam and Jeff followed the young officer into the room and took their seats. Although the tables were arranged in a very large rectangle, the pair had one side entirely to themselves. Jeff’s earlier comment about a court martial, although made in jest, suddenly seemed more appropriate than he wanted to admit.

Sam was surprised at the amount of people that were currently in the room. She wasn’t aware that this many were privy to the project, and she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the large number. There had to be at least thirty people staring at her. Some were military officers, but more were suits. She guessed they were Congressmen that somehow had weaseled their way onto the ‘need to know’ list. She also didn’t miss the fact she was the only woman in the room.

Colonel Harris occupied a seat to her left and nodded to her as she sat down. She wasn’t able to read his face and took some reassurance in the fact. The Colonel had never been able to hide when he was truly angry.

“That will be all, Lieutenant,” a male voice spoke up, dismissing the man who had showed them in.

It was several seconds after the door closed before anyone spoke. Sam felt all eyes on her and knew she was being measured up by every person in the room. It took all her will power not to lower her eyes to her lap. She had spent many years fighting her insecurity and this was the last place she needed to show how apprehensive she really felt.

A two star general sitting directly in front of them seemed to take charge and finally addressed her. “Major, Captain. Everyone in this room has been briefed. We’ve heard from Colonel Harris.” He paused a second as if he wasn’t sure how to proceed. “You both have exemplary records. We’d like to ask you a few questions. Just to get a feel for how things are running out there in El Paso.”

Sam and Jeff both nodded.

“Captain, we’ll start with you,” he continued.

Another man leaned forward to ask the first question. “How do you feel about serving under a woman in combat, Captain?”

Jeff didn’t hesitate. He had been expecting this question. “I don’t see a woman, Sir. I see an exceptional officer.”

Sam didn’t know whether to be proud or extremely hurt at the answer. That’s what she had wanted, wasn’t it?

“How do you feel about that, Major?” another man asked her.

“If he had said anything else, I’d have asked for his removal from the team,” she said smoothly. Liar, her inner voice screamed.

“Most women would be offended to not be seen as female.”

“Luckily we’re not dealing with most women,” she fired right back, her words bringing several chuckles throughout the room.

“Major?” still another man called. “You’ll forgive me; I’ve just been made aware of this little operation. In scanning the report and listening to those who knew of it, your latest mission wasn’t exactly a success.”

Jeff felt Sam stiffen beside him and knew this wasn’t going to be good. He had read the report and wondered where this ‘suit’ was going with the question. To her credit, Sam never moved a muscle, but waited for the Congressman to get on with it.

“It appears to me that not everything is in the report?”

“Such as?” Sam asked quietly keeping her rising anger under tight control.

“The report doesn’t mention your state of mind,” he supplied for her.

“My state of mind doesn’t belong in an official report, Sir. It’s completely irrelevant.”

“I disagree. After you lose a man, under questionable circumstances, you continued forward with the mission and killed the wrong person. A fact you didn’t know until your subsequent return home. It’s a medically documented fact that women handle stress and emotions differently than men. So I believe your state of mind is very relevant.”

A hush fell over the room as the Congressman and Sam stared at one another. Sam could barely see the people for the red haze that swam before her eyes. She took several breaths to get her anger under control before she really did lose her career. It took her a moment to recognize the warmth under the table resting on her knee. It squeezed twice before it was gone.

Her blood cooled immediately as reason took back control. Her eyes found the Colonel’s face and was surprised to see the almost imperceptible nod. He knew what she was asking of him. She watched him lower his head to examine something in his lap and caught the grin on his face. This was going to be fun.

Her confidence grew as she plastered on a strained smile and looked back at the Congressman still waiting for his answer. He was so clueless, she thought. Two entirely different conversations had taken place directly in front of him in a fraction of a second. He had just declared war on the wrong person.

Sam raised her hands to her face. When she lowered them, tears swam in her eyes. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I was so upset.” She rose from her chair to slowly pace the room. Her peripheral vision caught a slight motion beside her and knew the Colonel had kept someone in their chair. A single tear slid down her cheek and she reached to brush it away. “I really should have turned over Command to Captain Taylor. I had no idea how hard it would be. To see someone die in front of you. To know you could be responsible. His blood was all over me. Everything after Tim’s death is really a blur.” As she looked around the room she was pleased to note the looks of sympathy on all the faces. They all felt sorry for her and obviously wanted to reach out and comfort.

By now she had made her way over to stand behind the Congressman who had asked the question. She read the name plate. Congressman Ellison. “But I couldn’t show weakness. All I’ve ever wanted was to Command like my Daddy did,” she cried. “He would’ve been so proud.” All eyes were on her as she reached inside her jacket and pulled out a tissue to dab her eyes. “Or maybe not,” she sniffed.

“I’m sorry I upset you,” Ellison said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “But I think I’ve made my point.” He looked at the blank faces around the table.

“As have I, Congressman,” the low voice said directly at his ear.

Ellison froze. The quiver in her voice from a moment ago was gone. He started to turn around but was stopped by a pair of hands framing his face. “If I was a man, and you a terrorist, you never would have let me get behind you. You would have watched my every move like a hawk. But you did exactly what every man does, what every man in this room did, save two. And with my background sitting in a folder in front of you. You assumed a woman couldn’t handle the circumstances. You assumed, incorrectly, that I wasn’t a threat.” She leaned down and rested her chin on Ellison’s shoulder. “And in this position, Congressman, I can snap your neck like a twig.” For added emphasis, she ran her short fingernail down his cheek.

A loud clunk startled everyone at the table as Sam rose from her position. All eyes were now glued to the spinning pocketknife, blade open, lying in front of the Congressman. “If I didn’t want to make a mess,” Sam added.

Confidently walking back to her seat, she sat down and smoothed down her jacket. Laying her hands on the table she look directly at the Congressman. “So my question to you, are you more upset at the fact that I’m willing to do it, or you don’t have the balls to?”

A scant half hour later the doors opened to the conference room allowing the assembly to leave. Several had smiles on their faces while some wore distinct faces of rage. Sam followed Colonel Harris and Jeff from the room without a word to anyone.

The rest of the briefing had been very innocuous questions that Jeff had handled with ease. She had made her point and no one seemed interested in contradicting her. At least to her face. She expected the Colonel would get several phone calls this afternoon.

“Major. Captain. I’ll see you this evening at dinner,” the Colonel said quietly already turning away from them to talk with the members of the committee.

They both nodded and headed for the elevator. Neither spoke until they were clear of the government offices. “You still up for that tour?” Jeff asked as they made their way to the official vehicle that would take them back to the hotel.

“Sure.” It was simple and direct and indicated to Jeff she still had her head back in that room.

“Poetry in motion,” he said.

“I’m sorry?” Sam asked finally turning to look at him.

“It was poetry in motion. Thank you. My fantasy is now firmly in tack.” Jeff reached to open her door.

“Glad I could accommodate,” Sam laughed at him.

Before they could enter the waiting car, a voice called out to Jeff. When the pair turned around, Sam immediately felt her blood turn to ice. Rosa was striding directly toward them with a smug grin on her face. She wore skin tight jeans, a low cut, clingy red shirt that enhanced her ample chest, and her long dark hair flowed around her shoulders. Sam couldn’t help but compare herself with Rosa and realized she came up woefully short.

“Rosa, I didn’t know you would be here,” Jeff said as the woman joined them.

“I’m in town to finish up some medical tests. Sam didn’t tell you?” Rosa asked looking over at Sam.

“You’re Team 2 now, Rosa. I believe it’s up to you to tell your commanding officer.” Sam’s friendly tone did nothing to lessen the sharpness of the reprimand. And she knew Rosa didn’t take criticism lightly.

“How long are you in town for, Sir?” Rosa asked Jeff, ignoring Sam.

“We leave tomorrow morning. And you?” He was starting to get use to not using ranks in public although there were times when it would have been nice.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Rosa answered smoothly. “If you have some time this afternoon, perhaps we could tour Washington?” She purposely continued to look at Jeff, excluding Sam from the invitation. “Have you been here before?”

“Sam and I were just….”

“That’s alright, Jeff,” Sam quickly interrupted. It really wasn’t. But she didn’t need Rosa with more ammunition than necessary. If she went with her gut, she’d send Rosa off on some stupid errand just to get her away from him. “I have some paperwork to catch up on and phone calls to make.” Team bonding, she told herself, even as the green monster started doing back flips in her chest.

“Sam…” Jeff started to protest.

“Jeff…” she said, raising her eyebrows mockingly.

“We need to talk about this morning.” He didn’t want her to go. And knew it was childish to even have such thoughts. But it didn’t change the fact.

“We have a long flight back tomorrow for that. Go. Have a good time and I’ll see you this evening.” She stood for several seconds watching him fight the battle to argue with her. Luckily, their audience won out and he simply nodded. “Rosa, I’ll see you back at the base,” Sam said in way of dismissal.

“I’ll be there Sam,” she said. And I’ll be there tonight, she thought to herself although she kept that piece of information to herself. She had known Jeff and Sam were invited to the formal dinner with General Casey and had wiggled an invitation for herself. She would have to careful since the Colonel would be there, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do a little recon. Sam didn’t know about her contacts in Washington and Rosa had no intention of her finding out until it was too late.

But first she had to find out about Jeff. This handsome man would be with her all afternoon. Certainly enough time to discover everything she needed to know. Her name was on the promotion list, which meant she would be the same rank as Jeff in just a couple of weeks. Although being in the same chain of command would be an issue, Rosa had no doubts of her plans to claim the man as her own. Little miss perfect would be out of the picture and she would take over Team 1 allowing her and Jeff to be together. And all within the rules and regulations.

Turning away from the retreating back of Major Bitch, Rosa beamed a seductive smile at Jeff and was thrilled at his slightly flushed face. Yes, tonight promised all sorts of surprises.