Page 2 of Undefeated Love
General Standish looked directly at Team One. “I’m sorry, you might not be sleeping much at home for the next several months.”
As good military officers, they all answered, “Yes, ma’am.” Over the past two years, every woman on her team had found their soulmate, but they understood that as active-duty military their first commitment was to the service until their contract ended.
General Standish moved her attention to Team Two. “I don’t know how much time you spent in this building, but for the remainder of this week the eleven of us are going to learn every department, nook, and cranny.” Her gaze swept the table. “You are the best minds in all the military. We’ll meet in this room every morning and discuss everything from impressions to what we’ve learned. I have no intention of changing anything until I’ve been here several months. Today, we’ll do a brief overview of everything that affects the covert operations department. Tomorrow, we’ll deep dive, starting with Section 7. Katlin, where do you want to start?”
Shit. I have to conduct the tour?Even though she’d called Major General Standish “Aunt Ava” all her life, the woman was testing her. In her place, she would do the same thing. Katlin had only been back on full duty a couple of weeks. She had to prove herself as being fully capable of commanding Black Swan Team One once again.
Katlin pasted on a smile and stood. “Ladies, if you’ll follow me, I believe the best place to start is the heart of DCO, the operations center.”
All the women stood but Katlin stopped and turned to face them before she opened the door. “General Standish, are you aware that everyone on Team One has a tracker embedded next to her heart? Do the members of Team Two have trackers?” Katlin wondered if they’d be forced to get them if they didn’t already have the device operating inside their bodies.
“Yes, we do,” Kayla answered for her team.
The general glanced at Team Two. “Yes. Team Two actually has a higher version of the tracker than the five of you. We have not yet moved to embedding trackers in all special operators military wide. Too many of them leave the SpecOps field after one or two tours. Only certain teams have them and even though the ten of you have an extremely high security level, you have no need to know who those people are.”
“Understood.” Katlin started making a mental list of who probably had embedded trackers.
“It might be easier when we’re in the operations room to have them scan your trackers and start your baseline,” Nita suggested. “When we get to that point, I’ll explain how Section 7 uses the trackers to monitor your personal health.”
“Anything else I should know about before we head into working spaces?” Katlin was pleased that her executive mental functions seemed to be working just fine. When everyone shook their heads, she announced, “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER2
Four DaysLater
“Take care of yourself.” Alex Wolf tenderly laid his lips on his fiancée’s, Katlin Callahan. She and her team, the Ladies of Black Swan, were headed out on another mission. He, like the other men who dared to love an active-duty woman, weren’t allowed to know where they were going, how long they’d be gone, or what they were assigned to do. Operational security, and the women’s lives, depended on secrecy.
Alex and Kat sat in the Guardian Security SUV in front of the insignificant-looking hangar at Marine Corps Base Quantico. No one would ever guess that inside was one of the military’s best kept secrets: the Black Swan jet.
“Take care of my heart.” He laid his hand between her luscious breasts over top her engagement ring that she wore on a titanium necklace while on missions. “I love you.” He leaned in and kissed her one more time.
She laid her hand over his and gave it a slight squeeze then placed her fingers over his heart. “My heart is right here with you. Don’t let anything happen to it.”
It had been months since he had gone through this routine. While she recovered from her TBI, she’d traveled with him, spent every night in his bed, worked out in the gymnasiums of their ten jointly owned Guardian Security offices. Although he’d never try to influence her into leaving the Navy, he privately wished that she would surrender her commission to run their company at his side.
They both exited the SUV at the same time and met at the trunk door. Aware that no one could see them, he pulled her into his arms one last time. “I’m going to miss having you with me every day and every night.” He nuzzled her neck and kissed her just below her ear. He felt the shiver run through her whole body the way he knew it would.
“I’ll miss you, too,” she whispered into his ear.
Damnit tried to nuzzle between them, whining as though to saydon’t forget me. Katlin leaned down and put her face nose to nose with her hundred-pound rescue dog. “I’ll miss you, too, big boy. Alex is going to take good care of you while I’m gone, but you have to be a good boy for him. Will you do that?” As though the dog knew exactly what she’d said, he licked her face in one big swath. She ruffled the fur around his neck and scratched his ears before standing straight and wiping the slobber off with her sleeve.
She then stepped back and hoisted her two heavy duffel bags, one over each shoulder. She reached up and gently touched the side of Alex’s face. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.” Alex watched her walk toward the only door on that side of the scarred green hangar. He couldn’t follow her. The armed Marine Lance Corporal standing guard at the door had orders to shoot anyone other than Katlin’s Black Swan team who came within twenty-five feet. The fact that Alex used to be a Marine Raider commanding officer with over a hundred enlisted men under him meant nothing now. At this point in his life, Katlin was the valued military officer, along with the other women on her team.
When all five females disappeared into the hangar, the significant others of her team members joined him next to his vehicle.
“Is she ready to do this?” Daniel Callahan, Katlin’s brother, who was married to her teammate, Nita, asked the question that Alex had worried about since Kat had told him she was leaving on a mission.
Alex shrugged. “I sure as hell hope so.” Both her neurologist and her psychologist had cleared her for full duty. That didn’t keep Alex from worrying about her. He’d worried about her when she was perfectly healthy. “I just wish she still wasn’t having stomach problems. It seems to be extremely sensitive.”
“Maybe getting back out in the field is exactly what she needs,” suggested Marcus, Tori’s fiancé who worked for the Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives Department.
Griffin, Alex’s best friend and Grace’s fiancé, chuckled. “Coach always got us back on the field the minute the medics cleared us. He said we had to get back on the horse.”
“I can guarantee you that Lei Lu is thrilled to have her back in command,” Henry “Shakespeare” added. “She’s done enough research on TBIs to rival any practicing neurologist since they brought Katlin back from the Middle East unconscious.”
“Our women will take care of her.” Griffin slapped Alex on the shoulder. “Would you mind dropping me off at Reagan National Airport? I’m booked on the redeye to Miami.”
