Page 14 of The Entire Team

“God damn it, can you stop!” Sylvie exploded. Both men sobered. Rave pulled into a residential street and stopped against the curb. Sylvie slid off the seat as her feet hit thesidewalk. She got about twenty-five feet when Rave intercepted her.

“Sylvie, I’m sorry. I go after what I want. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

She looked up at him. He looked so uncomfortable waiting. “I can’t…”

“Can’t what?” he repeated, while thinkingplease don’t leave. She looked miserable; he realized it only made him feel more fear. He was always confident but not now. If this woman wasn’t so upset, she’d realize how much power she already had over him.

“This isn’t how this is supposed to be. What happened between us on the ship was a lifetime ago.” She looked up at him almost pleading, “What if I don’t ever sleep through the night? What if I’m not staying here? What- “

“Syl,” he took her hands, “there’s no ‘supposed to be’. There’s only what is. I want you in my life and as long as there isn’t another guy, I will take everything I can get from you.” He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her carefully. She leaned into him, her face resting against his chest. He was scared to move, not wanting to be back at square one again. Then he realized she was crying, the only indication was her body trembling from sobs. He tightened his grip, protectively and waited for her to be done.If he was ever given the opportunity he would kill Taylor.When she was finished, she pulled away enough to wipe the good side of her face with the heel of her hand. “You ready?”

16

SYLVIE

“Why are you really here?” Rave asked. They were sitting on his small deck looking out at the skyline. It wasn’t a great view, but the breeze was nice.

“What?” Sylvie rebutted. “You don’t believe I got the crap kicked out of me?” Her stitches had been removed and the scar around her face was bright white.

Rave watched her quietly.

“The makeup wasn’t good enough, right?”

Rave continued seriously. “Taylor was a jerk, and I buy he’d do something stupid, but I didn’t think that the hospital would be so ill prepared for your transfer.”

“I couldn’t stay on the ship after what happened. How the fleet handled it,” she shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ve not been through it before.”

Rave narrowed his eyes. She was hiding something, he knew it. “Are you still in trouble?”

“I have to be part of the trial.”

“And then it’s over?” Rave gauging the length of the lie.

“It should be.”

“And you’re gonna tell me what this was all about?”

“Does it have to be different than what it looks like?”

Rav leaned toward her, “You just confirmed it.” He rose to go back inside, “I’ve been trained to see it and I don’t like it on you.”

17

ASHE

This figuresshe thought. The crowd in the bank was larger than she would’ve assumed for a Monday. Calls were quiet and she’d convinced her partner to stop by the bank before lunch.

There were at least eight people around her when a concussion grenade went off. As she came too, a pregnant woman was on the ground near her. One look and Ashe moved toward her. It was clear her water had broken, likely a stress reaction.

Ashe felt the barrel of a gun smack her in the back of the head, as she knelt at the pregnant woman’s feet. Ashe lifted her hands, without turning she responded, “I’m trying to help. This woman is having a baby.” The barrel disappeared and Ashe started working. First, she had the woman slide up against a pillar nearby so that she was supported and luckily the woman was wearing a long dress so there was modesty given the scenario.

Ashe was sweating bullets.She had no equipment, no help, no transport; if this birth had any complications, it would be badand on her hands. She would deliver this baby and get it placed in the mother’s arm with no hiccups. “Don’t move,” she warned the mother, “you haven’t delivered the placenta yet. Just wait here, I’ll be back.”

She followed the next cries for help. An elderly man was on the ground clutching his shoulder while his wife was calling out for help. As Ashe headed toward the elderly couple, about forty feet away, a second explosion went off. This one caused debris to fall around the old bank, likely Ashe thought something set off in attempt at a vault. She turned the old man onto his back, checking pulse and breathing. She took her hands off the man when she felt a barrel for the second time. “Same as before, only this one is likely a heart attack. He needs to get to a hospital.” The barrel of the gun disappeared, Ashe dropped her hands to go back to work, thinking they would step away again. Instead, palming the handgun, the thief slapped Ashe on the side of the head. The momentum from the thief knocked her off her knees and she smacked the floor near the old woman’s knees.

As she gathered her bearings she finally heard the man speak, “you talk too much. You’re a hostage like the rest, you dumb bitch.”

“These people need help,” Ashe answered back as she sat looking up at the man, blood starting to run down in front of her right ear. “Dead hostages aren’t any good.” Irritated because she was right, because this whole thing was not working out the way they had planned; he grabbed her by the shoulder of her shirt yanking her up. Immediately he realized she was wearing a protective vest of some kind under her uniform. He snarled and yanked her toward a couple of the other men he was with.

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