Page 19 of Operation: Valiant Angel

Reina was thankful to have a friend like Jimmy to call, as she’d told him. She had no one to talk to about anything regarding her real self. Even though she never expected their relationship to lead to anything romantic, she couldn’t help but feel attracted to him. He was good looking, blonde hair and blue eyes. His body was lean and muscular, built just how she liked her men. He was smart, funny, and gave good advice. And he was kind. She had not run into that many men who were good people at their core, but Jimmy Wilson was.

Echo

The conversation he’d had with Rae, who he knew he needed to start thinking of as Reina, remained on Wilson’s mind long after the call ended. By some stroke of luck, his and Tessman’s flight to St. Thomas was not canceled. It was one of only a handful of flights to make it out of O’Hare International Airport the following morning.

After takeoff, as the two men settled in for their flight, Wilson opened an email on his phone from Shepherd with some articles Shepherd suggested the team read. He was behind on his reading and saw this as a good opportunity to catch up.

“A Shepherd article?” Tessman asked.

“Yeah,” Wilson answered, but then clicked out of it. The flight attendant was nearly to them, and he planned to get a drink. “I can’t wait to be below the waves.”

“Something’s eating you,” Tessman remarked. “You’ve been off all morning.”

“Nah, not off, and nothing’s eating me.”

“Really?” Tessman pressed.

Yes, Tessman knew him well. He’d been thinking about Rae and his conversation with her all morning. “Do you think I have a white knight complex?”

Tessman laughed out loud. “You, Mister let the chips fall where they may? Mister, it all pays the same? No. What fool accused you of that?”

“I came to it on my own, trying to figure out my motives.”

“I’m not following you,” Tessman said just as the flight attendant stopped her cart at their row and gazed between the two of them appreciatively.

“What would you like?” she asked with a smile.

Tessman grinned at the pretty young woman. “Darling, you’d slap me if I told you what I wanted,” he said. “I’ll be happy with a rum and diet, though.” He chuckled.

She giggled along with him. She’d been quite friendly to them both when they first boarded early and identified themselves as armed law enforcement. Flight crews always loved to have armed law enforcement on their flights.

“Make it two,” Wilson said with a chuckle. Tessman looked at least fifteen years younger than he was. This woman was young, looked to be in her early twenties, too young for either of them.

“Are you staying long in St. Thomas?” she asked.

“Just a long weekend,” Tessman said. “Do you fly back out this afternoon?”

“No, I’m actually meeting a girlfriend there and we’re staying until we work again, a late afternoon flight on Sunday. Maybe we’ll see you around the island. Where are you staying?” she asked as she handed them their drinks. She slipped them both an extra little bottle of rum with a wink.

Wilson just popped open his can of soda pop as Tessman and the flight attendant traded hotel info. He took a long drink. He was normally up for a good time meeting women while on a shortvacation, but this time, he just wasn’t interested. It must have been her age, he told himself.

“So, white knight?” Tessman asked.

“Never mind,” Wilson said.

“No, you brought it up. What motives?”

And Wilson thought he hadn’t been listening. “Someone said something yesterday that got me thinking?”

“Lassiter?” Tessman asked.

“No. He doesn’t know about this. Would probably have a field day with me if he did.”

“Okay, Taco, man, just out with it already?” Tessman said. “I’ll tell you if you need to talk to a shrink about it or if you need to just get over yourself. Then we can focus on diving. What is it?” He took a big swig of his drink.

“There’s a woman from one of our missions I’ve stayed in touch with.” He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned into Tessman’s ear. “Do you remember Rae Ella Easton from a mission nearly a year ago?”

“Norfolk, dead undercover DEA agent, Marshals relocatee after,” he rattled off.

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