Page 24 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

“I don’t have a lot of spices with me,” Cooper said apologetically. “I’ve been eating out, if you’ll pardon the expression, but these should be edible. Particularly when compared to your MREs.”

Marissa turned her attention back to him and smiled. “I’m sure it will be fine. Do I want to ask what these are?”

“Protein Dinner number three,” he said. “I honestly don’t know what they’re made out of but you should be able to digest them.”

“Do you have other types of dinners? Is there a veggie dinner four, or something?”

“You know, I was issued a bunch of the veggie dinners but there was some kind of mix up and they got left behind when I took off and I ended up with someone else’s protein packs. Damnedest thing, that.”

“Sure,” Marissa laughed. “Clerical error, probably.”

“Probably,” Cooper said with a grin. “It’s for the best, though, the veggies just don’t agree with me. I’ll stick with the protein.”

The fork sticking out of her meal had three tines and a slightly odd shape to the handle but it was obviously a fork and Cooper was holding his the way she was used to so she followed his example and dug in.

She couldn’t tell what color the meat had been originally but the sauce was a vibrant purple with green flecks in it. The texture reminded her of a lamb curry she’d had when she was stationed in India but the spices were nothing she’d ever experienced. Marissa only realized she was moaning her appreciation when Cooper dropped his fork on the table.

Obviously, she’d distracted him more than she’d meant to.

“Do you like it?” he asked once he’d recovered.

“I do,” she said. “And you said these are rations?”

“Oh, yes, better than most but still preserved and packaged to last for years.”

Before Marissa could respond, Cooper’s phone rang next to her hand.

Chapter 11

They both stared at the phone while it rang. Dread filled Cooper until Marissa pushed it towards him with an upraised eyebrow. He swiped to answer it before the dread could take hold and put it so they could both hear.

“Hello?”

“Hello,” the voice on the other end responded. “I understand you currently have custody of Major Ozark.”

Marissa grinned so this must have been someone she recognized.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Cooper answered. “Who is this?”

“Is Major Ozark unharmed?”

“For the moment,” Marissa said. “I’ve been given food and water, sir.”

“Major Ozark, it’s good to hear your voice. Can you speak to your situation?”

“Yes, sir. It’s an unusual situation but I’ve been treated well so far.”

Cooper made a face but understood that the questions had to be asked. It would have been the first thing he asked about had one of his people been captured.

“Are you in danger?”

Marissa looked up at him and he shrugged. He wasn’t going to hurt her, ever, but he couldn’t tell how anybody else would react.

“Not at the moment, sir. If we handle this correctly, I don’t anticipate any harm coming to me from this quarter.”

The line was quiet and Cooper could hear the officer on the other end of the phone breathing. “Good, that’s good. What do we need to do to handle this correctly, Major? What does he want?”

“Sir, I believe Mr.-” she paused and he realized she was waiting for a name she could use for her superior officer. “Lizman needs our help and he couldn’t ask for it without causing more problems than he was able to handle at the time.”

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