Page 23 of S.O.S. Mizzay

“We’re getting closer all the time,” she tried to assure him.

But were they really? Just because they’d finally confirmed El-Umar’s identity, didn’t mean they had any concrete evidence against anyone else. And if they took the man into custody, scheduling Cobble to testify, the price on Cobble’s head would skyrocket as those unknowns who were on the FBI, CIA, and DOJ’s own federal food-chain got nervous that El-Umar would spill.

No. They had to get concrete evidence of who else was involved, and it wasn’t going to happen if she was sitting on her hands in the States. The CIA was supposedly still working thingsoverseas, but how much of what they told her they were doing, was lip service?

Andy made up her mind. As soon as she got Cobble acclimated to his new environs, she was heading back to South Sudan. Undercover. None of the people in her office would have to know. She’d take a leave of absence if she had to, and she’d track El-Umar’s movements herself, finding out who his connections were.

In the ensuing silence, Cobble sighed loudly into the darkness. “I know you and Chuck are working this as hard as you can, and I don’t mean to be ungrateful. It’s just that… I need a life. Areallife. I’m twenty-six years old, and— Hey.” He stopped midsentence. “I never asked how old you are?” he chuckled wryly.

“Does it matter?” Andy deflected. All her life she’d been functioning far above the norm for her age. She didn’t want Cobble to think she was a freak.

“No,” he assured her. “I guess not. It’s just curiosity on my part. I figure you must be older than me to have gone through college and officer training, then on to become my LT. But you don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Andy sighed. It would come out, eventually. She might as well spill, now. “I’m twenty-four.”

“What?” Cobble snapped upright. “You’re only…?”

Yup.Cobble’s voice had cracked and he sounded incredulous.

“How is that possible?” he strangled.

Andy sighed, becoming pragmatic. “Well, I was home-schooled and graduated high-school at sixteen. Then I went to college where I joined the ROTC and earned my undergrad degree in three years. Already knowing what I wanted to do for a career when I finished, I signed up with the Army, went through officer training, and got my commission.”

“Wow.” Cobble sat back in his seat and let that digest. “I knew you were smart, but… Man. That sucks that your career was derailed because of me.”

“Not because ofyou, Cobble. Don’t ever think that,” she bit out. “It was because my squad, ourfriendswere murdered that I took the job Chuck procured for me at the CIA.”

Cobble nodded, then because the emotional scars were still too deep, he changed the subject. “Do most people seem dumb to you, then?”

It was a valid question, and the answer seemed to really matter to Cobble, so Andy took it seriously.

“No. Not at all. Diversity in humans is awesome. Every person has their niche. For instance, Chuck is far more experienced with computers than I am. Oh, I use them, but I’m not all that great with technology on the whole.”

Cobble nodded.

Andy continued. “And then there’s you. You have a way of looking at things through an almost artistic eye, where as I’m all pragmatism. You see the beauty in building structures. I see shelter. You create food masterpieces and take art classes. Me?” She shrugged. “I eat fast food, prefer organizing things, solving mysteries, and sussing out what’s in an adversary’s brain.”

“I don’t think that makes us so different,” Cobble mused. “The elegance I see in construction is because of its symmetry and practicality. The same with cooking and painting. Without rules, none of it would work. And of course, we both have a love of being outside, challenging ourselves in the roughest of climates and terrains. I saw that during our one and only deployment.”

Andy instantly felt better. She’d revealed a small bit of herself to Cobble that not many people knew, and he hadn’t categorized her as an oddity. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I havesomething in me that’s creative. Do you think I should take up pottery or something?” she asked satirically.

Cobble ignored the edge to her voice and took her query at face value.

“I could teach you. It would be…fun.”

His voice had dropped into a low register. Was he…flirting?

Andy sucked in a breath and before she could chicken out, replied in kind.

“You mean like inGhost?” she managed, thinking immediately of her body being surrounded by Cobble’s; his woodsy scent filling her nostrils. Her panties dampened.

“Maybe,” he allowed, his eyes hooded as he regarded her.

A few seconds passed before he shook himself, as if coming out of a stupor to steer things away from what might be a dangerous precipice for them both. “But I prefer not to be dead.”

Andy snorted, letting him get away with his segue. “I’d prefer that, too.”

The conversation waned. Not in a bad way as she traveled miles down a thin, winding road until…

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