HeatedMatch (14 page)

“Ms. Stanton.” He gave her a genial smile.

“Captain Keel, right?”

“Just Keel, or Jonathan. We don’t go by formal military rank
around here.” Something in his tone said he was disgusted by that lack of
adherence to military structure.

She took a step back, forcing Keel’s arm to drop off her
shoulder. For whatever reason, his touch made her uncomfortable.

“What can I do for you?” she asked and took a step toward
the dining hall, hoping he’d take the hint. Or her rumbling stomach would do it
for her.

“I thought I could escort you to lunch,” Keel said with a
smile. “Adam’s caught in a meeting, so I thought I’d see if you want some
company.”

“All right. Maybe I can ask you some questions about my
father. You knew him, right?”

He didn’t meet her eyes. “Yes. I knew him.”

They entered the three-story red-brick building and Loren
grabbed a tray, loading it with a tuna sandwich and an iced tea. She followed
Keel to a two-person table far away from the fracas and camaraderie of the
larger rounds in the center of the room and smiled as some of the guys waved
and shouted greetings. Apparently, she was somewhat of an anomaly around here
with her willingness to eat with the boys and participate in their missions.

After living an only child’s quiet life, she loved
participating in the boisterous activities of Adam’s comrades. She’d always
imagined a fraternity or large family would be like this. Her four college
years had been spent questing after two majors and multiple internships and
never partying like a rock star or joining a sorority. An opportunity to hang
out and be one of the guys had fallen in her lap and she wasn’t squandering it
this time.

Today, she sat with her back facing the rest of the room and
concentrated on her tuna sandwich. “Tell me about my dad.”

“You were his daughter.” Keel shrugged. “What could I tell
you that you don’t already know?”

“After the past few days, I worry that I never really knew
my father at all,” she said. “I’d love to hear anything you remember about him.
When did you meet him? Why did he leave here?” Excitement built in her as she
realized Keel was an untapped source of information and memories of her dad.

“Your dad was in the first cohort of trainees I worked with.
I was recruited straight out of the CIA to work with the teenage soldiers.”

“So, you’re not one of them…us?” Something unidentifiable
flashed in his eyes. Rage? “Sorry to interrupt.” She hoped he wouldn’t think
she apologized for him being only human. He seemed defensive about it. “Please
go on.”

“As I was saying, I was brought in to teach the teenagers
tactics and military history.”

“I’m surprised they brought an outsider in. They seem to
have some trust issues.”

Keel blinked at her. “Well there was a shortage of trained
military professionals with my knowledge. They took a chance, knowing they’d
kill me if I ever spilled secrets.” He shrugged, obviously unimpressed with the
threat on his life. It had been decades ago, so she supposed the immediacy of
the scare tactic had lessened.

“Can you tell me about my father? Were you close with him?”

He smiled, but he didn’t answer her question and instead
threw out some of his own. “Your father never mentioned his work? Or his first
wife? Did your parents ever tell you how they met?”

His questions were starting to feel more like an
inquisition. Loren tried to push the conversation back to her father while her
mind spun with his rapid questions. “My parents always told me a friend
introduced them. They must have felt a very strong connection for my dad to
leave a wife and son behind. He was always gung-ho about families sticking
together. It still blows my mind that he had a whole other family I knew
nothing about.”

He nodded. “It was tragic when Chase’s mother killed herself.
Though I saw it coming and tried to warn people. She was depressed once your
father ran away.”

“Wait, Chase’s mother committed suicide after my father ran
away to be with my mother?” She started to lose her appetite and pushed her
plate away.

“Well, not ran away, as much as abandoned his
responsibilities. He had a wife and a kid here. I was shocked when Commander
Silver, the commander before Shepard, allowed him to continue running missions
from off campus.”

She didn’t want to hear about protocol and such, now that
she knew her dad had abandoned a family to start a new one and it had caused
such a catastrophic impact on Chase’s family. It was a wonder Chase didn’t hate
her. For the first time, her family history seemed tragic and sordid and unlike
the idyllic childhood she’d always thought she had. Lost in thought, she nearly
missed Keel’s next words.

“I’ve always felt a bit responsible, since I was the one who
introduced your parents to each other. And then when Marie killed herself,
well, it was terrible around here.”

“You were the one who introduced my parents?”

He tipped his head slightly, but didn’t look happy about it.

“Poor Chase,” she said. “His happy childhood ended in a
moment and precipitated the beginning of my happy childhood.”

“Don’t feel too badly,” Keel said, “your father and Chase
remained very close. He was forever coming back on campus to toss a football
with Chase or help with homework. At least until Marie killed herself. Then
Chase blamed your father and I never saw them spend much time together after
that.”

A distant memory tinkled a bell in her brain. She’d been ten
when the phone rang one night during dinner. Her father answered and listened
for a few minutes then had collapsed at the dining table and placed his head in
his hands. When he’d come up for air, tears streamed down his face. She
remembered horror filling her. It was the only time she’d ever seen her heroic
father cry. What terrible news could make him do such a thing?

She looked at Keel’s face and quickly calculated. The timing
was right. Could the phone call have been from Chase or someone on campus
telling him of his first wife’s suicide?

Her mom and dad had disappeared into their bedroom for a few
hours, and her father emerged with a suitcase packed, ready to leave on one of
his many trips for an indeterminate amount of time. Strangely, he’d arrived
home late that same night. She remembered being awoken when the front door
slammed and her father’s footsteps tread up the carpeted steps. She’d closed
her eyes and feigned sleep as her dad had come into her room and kissed her
forehead.

She poked at her sandwich and took a sip of her iced tea,
not really tasting anything. Her mom must know about Chase. How could her
father have hidden a son for all those years? And if she didn’t, was it her
responsibility to tell her mom now? Would it spoil her mom’s memories of a
happy marriage?

Keel seemed to know where her thoughts lay. “Your mom never
mentions me?” he asked.

“Um, no. This whole place and Chase were a complete shocker
to me. I mean, I read the news stories when they broke a few weeks ago, but
never had any idea I was connected.”

His fork paused midair en route to his mouth, and he leveled
a penetrating gaze at her as if searching her mind for something. Then he
smiled. “Would you like to see pictures of your dad? I think I have some from
the early years. They’re in my apartment.”

Eagerness rose up like a flower reaching for the sun. “Yes,
definitely. Can we go right now?” Together they rose to clear their trays then
headed out of the dining room. They emerged out of the building and blinked
against the bright summer sun. Keel placed a sweaty, pudgy palm on her forearm
to steer her toward one of the single-family homes down the path from the
bachelor pad, as the single-male dormitory was called.

Teenage boys halted their soccer game to pay their respects
to Keel.

“You’re a popular man on campus,” Loren observed, though she
also noticed there was none of the banter and invitations to play that Adam
garnered.

He gave her a prideful smile. “I’ve taught the teenagers for
more than twenty years. I could’ve accepted promotions at any time, but I like
to make my mark with young minds.”

“Umm-hmm,” she said. “Do you hear someone calling my name?”
She stopped to listen for a minute, but the shouts of the boys drowned out
anything else.

“No, I don’t hear anything, but then
I
don’t have
super hearing like you.”

He made it sound like a bad thing.

“Let’s keep walking. My house is the first one on the end.”
Keel picked up his pace.

“Oh, I’m staying in that one.” She pointed out her house,
while straining one ear, listening for her name. She could’ve sworn she heard
it. Suddenly the crunch of gravel grew. She whirled around as a large hand
landed on her shoulder.

Her smile faltered as she saw Adam’s expression.

“Where have you been?” he asked. “I’ve been running my ass
all over campus looking for you.”

“Eating lunch with Mr. Keel. And you could’ve called my cell
phone. Oh wait, Shep still hasn’t authorized its return.”

He ignored her unsubtle dig.

“I’m going with Mr. Keel to see old photos of my dad.
Perhaps you’d like to stick a GPS device in me so we don’t have this problem
again?” she asked.

They both looked at the older man, and Keel smiled at Adam.
For the first time, Loren noticed his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Adam gave Keel a cursory nod then turned his attention
toward her again. “Stop the sarcasm. We need to talk.”

She softened and placed a conciliatory hand on his biceps.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve left you a note. I got really hungry, and you were at
your meeting much longer than you said you’d be, so I went to lunch and then
Keel found me. We got to talking about the past. Do you want to come with us to
look at pictures of my dad?”

“We can’t. I’ve been looking for you because Chase got back
a little while ago. He’s hurt.”

Loren’s heart dropped into her stomach. “How bad?”

Adam shook his head, his tone flat. “Badly. They’re checking
for internal bleeding.”

Loren gave an inarticulate cry. Her brother. She’d met him
only a short while ago, but family was family. “Where is he? Will he be okay?
Don’t just stand there, let’s go.” She turned and threw an apologetic look at
Keel.

He gave her a wave, urging her to on. “Go ahead.” He paused,
seemingly lost in thought. He must have been upset Chase was injured. How
sweet. “We’ll look at photos another time. Go to your brother. I’ll find you
later.”

She grabbed Adam’s hand and they took off up the grassy
hill, bypassing the gravel path. She stumbled once or twice since she was
stupidly wearing flip-flops, which slipped on the grass. Without breaking his
stride, he picked her up in his arms and continued at breakneck speed toward
the infirmary. The medicinal stink of iodine, bleach and bandages filled her
nose as they burst into Chase’s infirmary room. A doctor hovered over Chase’s
form, injecting something with a needle in his upper arm.

“Oh Chase.” Loren gasped at a glimpse of his bruised and
bloodied body. “What happened?”

Chase turned a bleary face to her. “I’m fine. Sh…should see
other guy.” Then he grimaced and turned his head away.

Adam rolled his eyes at Chase’s lame attempt at humor,
though it was probably true. Even if Chase had been taken by surprise from the
back, he still would’ve put up one hell of a fight. Somewhere in London,
another person was breathing shallow from broken ribs and punctured lungs the
way Chase was. He’d been lucky to have enough strength to make it back onto
their private plane and back to campus. A stranded, injured soldier in a
foreign city was Shep’s least favorite thing to deal with.

He met Loren’s quizzical, horrified gaze across the bed. She
wanted answers, and he only wished he had some for her. He had no clue who had
done this. Not a civilian, that was for sure. How else could he explain why
Chase was lying battered in the sick ward when he should’ve been able to take
on any normal human with ease? Adam motioned for her to take a seat in the one
chair in the corner, and then he left the room to grab another chair. Once they
were both settled a few feet away from Chase’s sick bed, they kept a watchful
eye on the patient and chatted quietly.

“Chase is going to be fine. He looks like shit now, but we
heal pretty quickly and can take a hell of a beating.”

“You say this from experience,” Loren observed.

Adam looked away. Now was not the time to tell her about the
beatings from classmates from the ages of five to ten. The only white kid in
school tended to get a lot of attention, not all of it friendly. He’d been
forced to toughen up until he was the leader of his pack of friends.

“Who did this? Did Chase recognize his attacker?”

He shook his head. “He hasn’t been in a condition to tell us
much, but we think he was ambushed. That they were expecting him.”

Loren held a hand to her mouth. “What? How could they have
known?” She looked over at Chase and bit her lip. “He looks bad,” she
whispered. “How could a regular human beat him like this? He should’ve been
stronger and faster than anyone sent after him.”

He shrugged. “Not if he were taken by surprise.” But her
concern warmed him like chicken noodle soup on a cold day. Around here, unless
you were matched or your mom was still around, no soft feminine voices murmured
over you in the sick ward. No lips gently kissed your brow and wiped away sweat
or blood. As Loren fawned over Chase, he clenched his fists over the desire
that socked him in the gut.

A desire more than simply sexual. Desire for a little
softness, a little kindness in the harsh world he lived in. If it were him
lying bloody on that bed, he’d be alone except for a brief interlude with his
father probably demanding a recap.