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Heck, he was the one who owed her an explanation. Maybe even an apology for playing games with her that way.
Unless it was real....
No, she wouldn’t go there.
She was soon immersed in the crowd entering the cafeteria, then stood in line. Though not especially hungry, she decided that comfort food wouldn’t be a bad idea. Never mind that she usually scorned pampering herself in any manner.
She paid for her pancakes, bacon and coffee then scanned the compact eating area.
And saw no one she recognized.
She shoved away the pang of regret that Jason wasn’t there. She wasn’t looking forward to their inevitable confrontation—was she?
Well, maybe a little.
Maybe he would be kind enough to provide an explanation, one she could buy—and one that wouldn’t make her feel like an utter fool.
No Alpha Force members were eating here at the moment, at least none she’d met. Did that have some significance?
She would find out. She’d learn all she needed to restore her sense of sanity and well-being.
For now she headed, tray in hand, toward a small table where the folks eating there all wore lieutenants’ insignias. Were any of them members of the Ultra Special Forces Team, or could they be Alpha Force people she hadn’t yet run into?
“May I join you?” she asked, stopping at an unoccupied chair.
“Sure,” said a female lieutenant whose name tag read Swainey. She held out her hand as Sara sat down. “Vera Swainey.” She looked at Sara expectantly.
“I’m Sara McLinder,” she said.
The others at the table introduced themselves, too—three men and another woman.
“Are you all stationed here?” Sara asked.
“That’s right,” said Lieutenant Manning Breman. “You?”
“I just got here yesterday. I’m aide to General Greg Yarrow, who’ll be stationed here on temporary duty for a few months.”
The friendly atmosphere at the table suddenly seemed to freeze into icicles of stares.
“You’re with Alpha Force?” Manning asked, his tone stiff.
“That’s right.” It wasn’t exactly true, but she hated the antagonism that seemed to waft around her. Maybe they’d explain if she pressed. “Tell me what’s going on here. I get the impression that your unit and Alpha Force aren’t exactly buddies.”
“You could say that.” Vera’s voice was also chill. “We were recently assigned here and assumed that— Oh, wait. I see the person we were saving that spot for. Cal, come over here.” She sounded relieved as Cal Brown, the lieutenant whom Sara had met on her floor in their BOQ yesterday, approached with a tray of food.
There were plenty of empty chairs at nearby tables that Cal could pull up to their table. But all eyes of those seated there remained on Sara, as if demonstrating that she had outstayed her welcome.
“Here,” she said to Cal as she stood abruptly, picking up her tray. “Have fun with this group. I certainly didn’t.”
She strode away, chose a small table near the door and sat down by herself.
She glanced at her watch. It was seven o’clock. She would phone General Yarrow soon. Warn him about the extent of the friction between the two primary units stationed here at Ft. Lukman.
Find out when he was planning on arriving that day.
She wouldn’t, of course, mention what she had seen, or thought she had, earlier that morning.
But when he arrived, she would talk to him as soon as possible. Maybe even show pictures.
He could tell her more about Alpha Force. He had, after all, warned her to expect a different atmosphere and different kind of unit. Had even hinted at what she’d seen.
He knew what Alpha Force was about. She had just preferred not to imagine that what he hinted at could be real.
Now she knew better—and she hoped he would explain it to her.
* * *
Jason sat back on the uncomfortable folding chair, surrounded by colleagues, both shifters and not. He looked around the small basement office in the main Alpha Force building at the far end of Ft. Lukman.
This was where they always met on the morning after a full moon. Other meetings were also held here for Alpha Force members in the secured laboratory area.
On the first floor, dogs were housed—those used as the cover, when necessary, for wolf shifters. Jason had a dog assigned to him: Shadow. He also enjoyed helping to train them in his spare time, although not today.
All the dogs had remained in their nice, well-maintained kennels last night—unlike the shapeshifters of Alpha Force.
“We need your report first this time, Jonas.” Major Drew Connell, Jason’s oh-so-perfect cousin, stood at the front of the room. He looked worried.
He’d really worry if Jason told him what he’d done that morning. Therefore, Jason wouldn’t mention it.
“Everything started out fine,” Jonas Truro responded as he stood up from his seat in the first row of four. He glanced around the group of shifters and aides who were present. “All our wolf shifters chose not to take the version of the elixir that would keep them in human form. Instead, everyone drank the kind that helped with human cognition while shifted but didn’t stop them from changing. Our cougar shifter Colleen did the same.” He nodded toward the woman who sat in the same row as Jason, a few people over.
The elixir was good stuff. Both formulas were. Jason gave the unit, and especially Drew, a lot of credit for that.
Now premixed bottles of both kinds were stored in a special refrigerated room nearby, even as Drew continued to upgrade the formulas for each.
Jason listened with interest as Jonas described everyone’s change in the clearing in the woods that had been previously selected, then how he stayed with the wolf pack as they roved areas also designated in advance. With the Ultra Special Forces Team there for the last month, it had become impossible to have the run of the entire base while in shifted form when the moon wasn’t full. At least last night, with the moon full, the USFT personnel had been told to stay in their quarters...without being told why.
Jason had no doubt that some, if not all, of that unit already suspected the true nature of Alpha Force. They probably scorned it—or feared it. But the official position for both units, at least for now, was to stay separate in all training exercises and otherwise. No joint exercises yet, although that was intended for the future. When? Peons like him weren’t kept informed about such important matters.
“There was one incident,” Jonas said. “Minor, but everyone should be aware of it. Lieutenant McLinder was wandering around outside around midnight and saw the pack. I shooed her back inside, but maybe someone should talk to her about maintaining silence about what she saw.”
And about what she saw around five in the morning? Yeah, she definitely should stay silent about that, Jason thought. And probably would, even without being cautioned. He strongly suspected she wasn’t about to announce to the world, her world, what she had observed. Even though he’d seen her taking pictures.
She might talk to him about it, though.
If so, he was ready. Very ready.
“Our next exercise will probably be later this week,” Drew was saying. “We’ll decide who’ll shift and who won’t. That will also dictate which of our aides and cover dogs—and cat—are needed.”
He talked a while longer. Jason had started to tune his cousin out when a knock sounded on the office door.
It startled Jason, and probably everyone else in the room. They exchanged glances.
Before Drew could look outside to see who it was, the door opened.
Lieutenant Sara McLinder walked in.
Though she wasn’t extremely tall, her straight stance and the glare in her blue-green eyes had her dominating the room in that instant.
She was definitely a good-looking woman. Or maybe his opinion was colored by what he knew she’d seen...and, perhaps, enjoyed.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m obviously interrupting something. But you all should know that General Yarrow will arrive here at Ft. Lukman around ten o’clock this morning.”
* * *
Sara wasn’t sorry at all about interrupting this meeting, whatever it was about. It clearly involved Alpha Force, since she recognized most of the people who sat staring at her.
Including Sergeant Jason Connell. He was as great-looking as she recalled, of course—even with his clothes on. Seeing him in person again only stressed that she couldn’t have imagined what she’d observed...could she? Under his camos, his shoulders were broad. His face was incredibly handsome, and the small streaks of silver in his dark hair only added to the appeal of the package.
She met his amused golden eyes only briefly, then turned back to the major.
The family relationship was apparent between the two men. Major Connell also had gold eyes and flecks of silver running through his dark hair. He was nice-looking, too. Maybe a little older than Jason. But not nearly as handsome.
More quietly than her earlier pronouncement, she said to him, “Major Connell, you know I’m here representing General Yarrow. He even gave me his card keys to get into this building and the lab area on his behalf. If this is an Alpha Force meeting, I should have been invited.”
“I know your assignment, Lieutenant. You’ll be invited to all meetings necessary to what the general, and you, are here to accomplish. This was a recap of some prior exercises and I didn’t think it appropriate for you to waste your time.”
“I’ll let the general decide what’s appropriate for me.” She kept her expression neutral, though her words weren’t.
“I understand.” The major turned back to the group. “I think we’re through here,” he said. “Everyone is dismissed.”
Especially me, Sara thought. But she didn’t complain. Not yet. Nor did she ask any questions.
She had contacted the general, though, and she was really glad that he would arrive in only a couple of hours.
She would be there waiting for him.
For now, she scanned the group until her eyes lit again on Jason Connell, who was approaching the major.
Did Major Connell know what Sara had seen last night? Had Jason told him what he had done?
Surely the major knew who, or what, his own cousin was...assuming Sara hadn’t imagined it all.
Should she simply ask the major? Maybe, but she wanted to talk to General Yarrow first.
And preferably to Jason even before that, to gauge his position about the incident.
Not now, though. He was engaged in a conversation with the major. Time for Sara to leave, along with the rest of the group.
Outside the door she feigned answering her cell phone but hung up as Jason came through.
“I’d like to talk with you, Sergeant,” she said, inserting her most formal military quality to her voice.
“I’ll bet you would, Lieutenant.” There was humor in his tone and a suggestive smile on his face. “Would you like to go someplace where we could...talk alone?”
She felt her face flush. “No, thank you. But I would like for you to give me an official tour of this facility.”
“I can only do that on the major’s orders, Lieutenant.” This time, he sounded serious.
Which suggested further to Sara that she was being kept outside the Alpha Force loop for now. She was a superior officer, yet he was refusing to obey her while giving a good excuse. That would surely change when the general got here and ordered everyone to cooperate with her as well as him.
“Then come with me, please. There’s something I’d like to show you.” Not really, but she decided to lead him back to the area where he had shown her...a lot.
“Yes, ma’am.” His tone again suggested he was thinking about exactly what she was.
He didn’t comment as they walked up the stairs to the main floor of the building. There, she stopped in the kennel area to look at the dogs she had been told were there.
They were all of moderate size, and most resembled the animals she had seen last night: wolves.
“I like dogs,” she said casually. “Do you, Sergeant?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, smiling. “Especially those guys. My favorite is Shadow.”
He reached inside the chain-link fencing of a nearby kennel and stroked the head of the closest dog inside, whom he introduced as Shadow. Sara couldn’t help thinking that this dog in particular bore a strong resemblance to Jason in wolf form. Could he somehow have pulled a prank on her after all? But how?
“Any kinds of dogs you like better than others?” Jason asked.
He probably wanted her to say something like the kind she’d seen last night—and especially that morning. But that wasn’t something she intended to admit.
“Small ones,” she said. “These guys are cute, but they look difficult to walk and control. I like dogs that I can train and manage.” Oh, Lord. She knew she was stepping into a nasty mess that had nothing to do with dog excrement. He could read a lot into her words if he chose. Maybe that was a good thing, if he really was what she suspected. But there was no way she would ever admit to him that what she had seen had touched her libido, gotten her most intimate parts simmering.
“Sounds like a very interesting way to treat your...dogs,” he said. “I’d be glad to teach you how to work with these guys—or any others.”
She’d had enough. They were outside the building on a walkway that led toward the woods in one direction, or toward the BOQ in the other. “I’ve got someplace I need to go now,” she said. “See you later, Sergeant.” She stood straight, looking at him, until he saluted her. She saluted back.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said so officially that it sounded facetious, then he whirled on his heels and strutted off.
Sara headed back toward her quarters. She would find something productive to do until it was time to go meet the general.
* * *
At around nine-thirty, Sara realized she had actually gotten something accomplished in a short time, although not what she had intended.
For one thing, she had thoroughly searched Google on her laptop to see if she could find any information to suggest that shapeshifters could be real.
Of course there was. The authors could all have been credulous fools who wanted to believe, so they did. Nothing stood out to her as proof.
There were also a lot of websites ridiculing the whole idea.
