CHAPTER 1.8-Getting a Bead
“Okay, so why’d you stay here if this Connor Mac was so damn ‘magnetic’ as you put it?” asked Colonel Starkes.
Nicole paced with CJ in her arms trying to convince him to nap. She stroked CJ’s cheeks and he squirmed comfortably in her arms. “Um, I guess I didn’t have much choice.”
“Do you mean, Connor Mac just up and left?” asked Hannah. Her eyes followed Nicole’s pacing.
“No. He asked me if I wanted to go with him. He said he had to get back to Pittsburgh—well, he said he had to find a place south of the city.”
“Pittsburgh? That helps. Did he say why?”
“No, but I felt like it was something I shouldn’t ask about so I didn’t. Besides, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to know.”
“Was there a specific reason why he left?”
“Well, I guess because I made a mistake.” Nicole was upset and her eyes welled with tears.
“Tell me what happened, Nicole,” said Hannah Starkes softly.
“I don’t know what got into me! Well, I guess I do… now. It was… I guess I just wanted to see what was in that backpack of his. He was always so damn possessive about it. And it was so big. You know, I thought maybe it’d shed some light on why he needed to run back to Pittsburgh so bad.” She became quiet, lost in her thoughts.
“Go on, Nicole. Please.”
“One night, he caught me going through his backpack. I thought he was asleep. Mac called it a breach of trust.”
“What happened?”
“It was kinda weird. Mac was sound asleep and snoring. I was on guard. He was so big on that guard thing, you know? He said it amounted to trusting somebody with your life and there were no second chances. Well, I was going through his pack as gently as possible and when I glanced over at him, he was propped up on his elbow watching me.”
“I bet he was pretty angry,” said Colonel Starkes.
“No. That’s what was strange. Right then, I just froze and we stared at each other across the fire. Then, he stood up and walked over to me. I guess I didn’t know what he was gonna do, but he just took the bag from me, sat down, and pulled out a few packets of food and a knife.”
“Yeah?”
“Then he handed them to me, scooped up his sleeping bag, guns, and his backpack and left. He called it a ‘breach of trust and end of story’. He left without another word.”
“Where’d he go?” asked Hannah.
“I thought for sure he’d be back, but when it occurred to me that he wasn’t coming back, he was long gone. I packed up and went searching for him no more than a half hour after he left, but I couldn’t track him. When Mac doesn’t want to be tracked, it’s like he goes through the woods without touching anything—even the ground. I thought about going east, just to keep going I guess, but I settled down after I found out I was pregnant.”
Colonel Starkes understood Connor’s behavior. She knew how important trust was to men living in combat conditions, which today’s times certainly were. There was no luxury in granting second chances when trust was called into question. In a way, she felt sorry for Nicole. She was about to offer some platitude when Major O’Malley approached. It was obvious he was hesitant to interrupt, but did so anyway.
“Colonel?”
“Yeah?”
“Jimmy has something on Connor Mac.”
“That quick?”
“Says he’s not telling anyone anything until he hears that a bottle of your Glenlivet’s coming.”
“Let’s see what he has first. If it’s worth a crap, he can have the bottle.” They walked to the helicopter and arranged themselves near the radio in the cramped cockpit. Major O’Malley spoke briefly into the headset, stealing nervous glances at Nicole.
For a few seconds, Major O’Malley laughed into the headset and listened. He stole another glance at Nicole and refocused on the weak signal coming in on the headset. “Ma’am, Jimmy says he might be able to load the data onto the ’copter’s satellite datalink monitor. You want him to try?”
“Let’s do it, major.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Colonel Starkes waited several minutes for the information while the helicopter rotors slowly inched to full power. Shamus was taking the initiative to prepare for possible departure depending on the results. All personnel were now boarding and stowing their gear like they’d done a hundred times before.
Colonel Starkes was shoulder-to-shoulder with Nicole while in such close quarters. She smiled. “Can I hold CJ?”
Nicole nodded and handed over the squirming bundle.
“How old is he?”
“I think he’s ninety-two days old, if I kept track right. I’m not sure what the date was when he was born—I was kinda out of it.”
“He’s a beautiful baby, though he looks a bit small.”
“Yeah, well, don’t let him fool you.”
CHAPTER 1.9-Thinking Long-term
“I’m taking overwatch for the next week of our travels.”
“Okay, I guess I can live in fear for the next seven days,” said Amanda smiling.
Connor laughed at her quip. “You know I’m better at it than you by a country mile.”
“You might be better than me, but not by a country mile. Maybe by a hundred feet.”
“Give a woman an inch…”
“And she wants to know where the rest of the package is.”
Connor laughed good-naturedly and finished the last few strokes of the straight razor on his chin. He wiped the blade clean with a rag and tucked both the razor and strop in his kit. He felt exceptionally comfortable in this woman’s presence—she was quick, resilient, adaptable, and eager to do whatever was necessary for their continued survival. He often had to remind himself that she was a young woman, one who had just started college when the Avian Flu consumed the world. But when he looked into her eyes, sparkling with intelligence and an innate love of life, he felt himself energized, as if her youth imparted an extra amount of energy to him. After watching her, he felt ready for anything.
“Pack up. We’re leaving in five,” he said sharply. He wiped his face one final time and knelt to tie his bootlaces. Amanda leaned down to kiss his neck.
“We’re leaving after only one night?” she asked.
“Yeah, Snuff. I have a feeling the bad guys might want a little revenge. I might be wrong, but I don’t want to stick around to find out.”
“Okay,” she said amicably. “There’s no reason to stay right now. Hey, by the way, why’d you decide not to kill the sniper dude?”
“Marty? I don’t know,” said Connor, shaking his head, mildly confused by his own actions.
“Do you have any idea how good that bastard was?” asked Amanda.
“He was good?”
“Fuck, Mac, he was incredible,” she answered with genuine awe in her voice. “He sat twenty yards away from me and I could tell he knew something was wrong, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. The ants were eating me like crazy, but I couldn’t move a millimeter—he was frozen like a statue the whole time. Just waiting and facing you guys. Glad I was mostly behind him. I wasn’t sure I could wait him out.”