Page 32 of Pallas & Kawehi

KAWEHI: Morning

Hesitating for a moment, he picked up his phone and sent her a return message.

PALLAS: Morning, beautiful

He picked up his phone, dropped it in the chest pocket of his uniform and got back out of the Bronco. If he made his way across the green spaces on base, he could get to the building just as quickly as driving. And Kawehi's morning message had given him a boost of energy. Clipping his keys to a beltloop, he started running.

The team's meeting room was a cinder block square along a parking lot near a wooded area on base. There wasn't a lot of road traffic in the area and there were two other square cinder block meeting rooms on other edges of the parking lot.

It looked boring from the outside. Painted in a basic neutral color that looked like every other utility building in the area. If the aim was to make their meeting room look like some kind of storage facility, they had been successful. Pallas knew what was inside the building. A lot of computer equipment, practice gear, and well... things he couldn't really tell anyone about.

Or he'd have to kill them.

Smiling at the stupid, overused idiom, he used his key to open the door and stepped in. The air conditioning chilled his skin right away.

"You ran over."

Pallas looked up and saw Wolf sitting at the desk along the wall, his feet up.

"I got my run in and saved on gas."

"Saving on gas, my ass."

Pallas shrugged. "I needed the run."

Wolf nodded. "Still made good time." He gestured at the desk closest to him. "Want a seat?"

Pallas tipped his head to the side. "Do I need to?"

Shaking his head, Wolf dropped his booted feet to the utility carpeted floor and stood up. "You're one suspicious man, Pallas."

"That's one way to look at it." Pallas almost smiled then and that must have caught Wolf's attention.

"What's that smile about?"

"What? What smile?"

"You're not hiding it well, if that's what you were trying to do." Wolf sighed. "Someone in your life?"

Pallas didn't need to hide it. "I met someone."

"Does she work on base?"

He shook his head. "Lanikai Lanes. She works there with her family. It's a nice place."

Wolf's brows raised a little. "I've heard good things about it. You serious about her?"

There was something about Wolf's question that put him a little on edge. "I think so. It feels that way."

"That's good, man. Really good."

Pallas narrowed his eyes on Wolf's face. "Why do I feel like you're not fully behind this?"

Wolf folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. "If it works for you, Pallas, I'm glad. I've been in the Marines for over a decade now and I haven't managed to find a woman willing to put up with me and the life."

"She actually needs a bit of help."

"From you? Or the Marines?"

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