Finish the Course (The Barnes Family Book 1) Read online

  “Nope,” he opened the door to allow her to enter ahead of him, “nothing at all.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Captain Barnes,” Slater greeted the pilot before taking his seat, “I appreciate the pickup.”

  “Have a seat, Reed,” she ordered. “We’ll see if we can make the next landing a little smoother than the last.”

  The men and their guest all slept during the nine hour flight back to the base.

  Slater woke first, about seven hours into it. He was not too surprised to see the pilot had left post to her co-pilot for the purpose of checking on the men. He was a bit surprised to see her studying him.

  “Well, Captain Barnes,” he twisted his head around to crack his neck, “I assume we are nearly out of danger now.”

  “Nearly,” she agreed. “Of course, there is no guarantee of anything. If God had wanted men to fly, he would have given them wings.”

  Slater snorted at the old joke, “If God hadn’t wanted us to fly, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

  She rose from her crouched position, “I take that to mean you believe there is a God who controls what is going on.”

  He frowned a little, “I’d be a fool not to.”

  She gave him half a grin, “I’d love to debate that with you, but I should get back to my job,” she started to walk away but turned back, “I’m glad you made it out okay.”

  Slater nodded at her, “Thanks.”

  He didn’t consider they had made it out okay. They had lost five men – five members of their team – friends. Brothers.

  They had been together for more than three years. Some of them had worked together for eight. The team had fallen, and that wasn’t okay.

  Colonel Ryan met them at the landing strip and led him into his office for immediate debriefing.

  “I assume Captain Barnes of the Air Force informed you she facilitated the removal of your men.”

  Slater looked around and his team. They were as confused as he was.

  “Not these men,” Ryan’s lips pressed together, “the fallen.”

  Slater shook his head, “I wasn’t aware.”

  Ryan met his eyes, “Major Hanes said it took both fire extinguishers to reduce the flames enough for them to drag the men out.”

  Slater’s opinion of the woman multiplied.

  Ryan didn’t allow him to dwell on it, “Were you able to identify any of the men you disposed of in taking Hanbali?”

  Slater answered all the questions to the best of his ability, and the squad was soon dismissed.

  The colonel had a few more questions and instructions for the chief, so Slater had to remain. However, it didn’t take long.

  “Captain Reed,” Ryan said as the younger man prepared to leave, “I am sorry for your loss.”

  Slater swallowed, “Thank you, sir.”

  “I assume you plan to return personal effects to the families yourself?”

  Slater nodded, “Yes, sir. We’re all due for a trip home now anyway.”

  “You’ll go home with all your team,” Ryan looked down at the paper before him, “one last time.”

  Slater went to find his men, to tell them the plan.

  “When do we leave?” Porter had just stepped out of the shower when Slater tracked them down.

  “Tomorrow at six hundred. Please shave before we go.”

  Hall scratched as his beard, “I was just getting used to the mountain man look.”

  Slater allowed a small chuckle to escape, “Anyone see DeWitt yet?”

  Chung was already repacking his bag, “I tried, but he was in therapy. Said to try back in an hour.”

  Slater noticed all his men had showered. He longed to do the same, but knew it would have to wait until he saw to DeWitt.

  “I’ll be back.”

  The infirmary was nearly empty.

  “You ready to go tomorrow?” he asked the man in the bed.

  “I’m surprised they’re letting us out so fast,” the other man admitted. “Last time, we had to stick around for two weeks to sort it all out.”

  “Last time was different,” Slater spoke without thinking, “I mean, we weren’t so overdue for home.”

  DeWitt shot him a look of annoyance, “I know what you meant.”

  Slater looked down at the ground, “You need anything before we leave?”

  “No, thanks, Reed. I’m all set.”

  Slater finally made it to the showers.

  “It’s about time,” Hall was in the latrine taking care of his beard. “I was thinking we could send you into the enemy and they would scatter just from your smell.”

  Slater stood under the spray. It wasn’t much more than a trickle today, and it was cold, but it would do the job.

  “Just once, I’d like to arrive stateside with my beard still in place,” Hall commented on the situation.

  “The families don’t need to see us looking like we just crawled out of a hole,” he scrubbed at the grit covering his neck, “Why did we have to shave last time?”

  “We met with those Senators at landing.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “They sending DeWitt to the CSH?”

  Slater ran his fingers through his beard, “I don’t think so. He’s pretty mobile.”

  “Say, you aren’t getting those stitches wet, are you?”

  Slater didn’t answer.

  Hall came and pulled back the curtain, “Lemme see.”

  Slater grabbed the thin plastic veil and gave Hall a little shove, “No peeking. I know you’re jealous, but deal with it.”

  Hall laughed as he went to wipe the shaving cream from his face, “Jealous of what?”

  Slater shut off the water and wrapped a towel around himself.

  “I think I opened them up again,” he admitted as he went to stand beside his medical officer.

  Hall looked down, “I doubt that was just the water. You’re a mess.”

  Slater touched the edge, “Hurts too.”

  “I’ll bet. Get some clothes on and meet me at the infirmary.”

  Slater grabbed his clean t-shirt and pulled it over his still-wet torso, “Fine, but if you have a nurse to come over and assist you this time, I’m telling Cheryl you’re afraid of heights.”

  “I wasn’t afraid,” Hall packed up his gear, “I was just surprised at waking up like that. And I only called the nurse over because I needed some help.”

  “You screamed like a little girl,” Slater pulled his pants on. “And you didn’t seem to need help getting the bullet from my shoulder last year. No. It was just when I got it in the pants that you had to have help.”

  Hall snickered, “Good you finally learned to keep your butt down.”

  Slater glared at the man’s back.

  Slater beat Hall to the infirmary.

  “You forget something the last time, Captain?” Major Rowney scowled up from his seat at the desk.

  “No thank you, sir. Hall wanted to check my stitches.”

  The PA shrugged and went back to his paperwork.

  “Hey, Major,” Hall came in and greeted Rowney, “I’m gonna go sew a new seam in the captain. He tore the last one out.”

  Rowney nodded his head without looking up.

  “You’re gonna have a scar with this one, Slater.”

  Slater didn’t comment on the use of his first name, “I’m going for the record.”

  “You and Emerson,” Hall laughed before sobering quickly. Obviously, Emerson wouldn’t be scarring anymore.

  “Thankfully,” Hall pulled out a syringe, “we have plenty of access to drugs here. You won’t feel the stitches this time.”

  Slater clenched his teeth to avoid grunting when Hall injected his side with some kind of numbing agent.

  Hall took a little longer this time. This was in part because he had that luxury but also because Slater had made a bigger mess of his side and hip by crawling all over it.

  “That oughta hold, but go have someone look at it next week.”

  Slater g
runted, and Hall knew that meant he had no intention of seeing a doctor once he got back to the US. Hall didn’t bother arguing; Slater had certainly taken out his own stitches before.

  At oh six hundred, Slater watched the bodies of his former team mates, along with the pilot, flight engineer, and crew chief, being loaded into the plane. He was about to climb on the plane himself, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

  “Captain Reed.”

  Slater turned to look at Colonel Olson

  “We’re sending Hanbali with you.”

  Slater blinked, “Sir?”

  It was as close he had ever come to questioning an order.

  “She’s booked on a commercial flight, but we want her out of here before then.”

  Slater did not want to babysit.

  “What am I supposed to do with her when we get to DC?”

  Olson handed him a file.

  Slater bit back a groan.

  “Have a good flight, Captain.”

  Slater grimaced and boarded the jet.

  He saw Riya Hanbali had managed to get on before him.

  He sat down next to her, “Miss Hanbali, what an unexpected surprise.”

  She smirked at him, “It would not be a surprise, were it expected, Captain Reed.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Do you need to go find your men?”

  He shook his head, “I’m sure they can manage to find their seats without my assistance.”

  She laughed softly, “I did try to explain I would be fine without a shepherd, but the brass, as you would call them, felt it necessary.”

  “I apologize, Miss Hanbali,” he shifted his foot slightly, “I did not mean to imply you were a bother.”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a voice from the other side.

  “Captain Reed,” Captain Barnes spoke as she took the seat next to Hanbali, “I’ve been ordered to come with you and Miss Hanbali.”

  Slater pinched the bridge of his nose, and Hanbali laughed, “Saddled with not one, but two women, Captain.”

  Barnes forced back a smile. He did look rather put-upon.

  “I beg your pardon, Miss Hanbali, Captain. It is not your gender that upsets me. It’s the thought that it is only oh seven hundred, and I have been surprised twice. It makes me wonder what is next.”

  “Learn to like surprises, Reed,” Anna suggested.

  Hanbali grinned up at the other woman, “Life is so uncertain that those words hold some wisdom.”

  Captain Barnes smiled back, but she used the moment to consider the woman sitting next to her. Nobody was about to tell mere captains why this woman was so important to the United States government, so she tried to quell her curiosity regarding that.

  Anna admitted to herself, though, that she felt like a lumbering giant next to the petite lady. Miss Hanbali probably had to wear shoes to accomplish five feet. The Afghani woman also had a beautiful complexion and neatly styled hair. Even upon their first meeting in Ghori, Hanbali looked as though she had recently combed through her straight locks.

  Anna, in contrast, had nine inches on Hanbali. Her hair often resembled an old rag mop, her skin was sunburnt, and she moved like a man. Even now, the smaller woman fit neatly into her seat while Anna had to turn slightly to make her long legs fit.

  If a man happened to look beyond the physical aspects, he would still see that Hanbali had a ready wit and an easy smile. She could converse on many topics and had been educated at Harvard and Oxford.

  Anna had never conversed easily with any stranger, particularly men. Anna earned her degree at the state college because they had a good ROTC program, but she didn’t socialize much because she had lived with her grandmother. In retrospect, Anna believed she would have gained a few more life skills – such as conversation and flirting – had she been made to live in dorms. The only topic in which she could hold her own was sports, and that hardly seemed like a point of attraction.

  Anna reminded herself that she wasn’t trying to catch any man’s attention, but it was hard to convince herself with one man in particular sitting just two seats over.

  Captain Barnes lay her head back against the seat, “Have you ridden in a military transport, Miss Hanbali?”

  “No,” the little woman replied, “but I have ridden in many jets, and this setup is not much different.”

  “Maybe not,” Anna opened one eye, “but takeoff is different.”

  “How?”

  Reed answered that one, “It’s going to be a little faster. More straight up.”

  “Oh,” she sounded like she was frowning, but Anna didn’t open her eyes to look, “Why?”

  “To avoid getting shot at or hit with an RPG.”

  Hanbali shuddered.

  The flight was to take nearly fifteen hours. Most of the men slept in the beginning and then played cards. Slater read after waking from his nap.

  “I suppose those are directions for my care,” Hanbali quipped.

  Reed shook his head and held up a small black book, “Directions for my own life, actually.”

  Anna recognized a Bible when she saw one.

  “Are you a devout man, Captain Reed?” Hanbali pursued the topic.

  “About my relationship with Christ I am.”

  Anna had read Hanbali’s file, and she could probably guess the woman’s religious views, but she asked anyway.

  “Do you practice your religion, Miss Hanbali?”

  “The Muslim religion is as valid as any other,” the little woman shrugged her shoulders. “I choose to identify with it because it is the belief of my family, but I am not a fanatic.”

  Anna couldn’t tell if Hanbali was calling Captain Reed a fanatic, and he had gone back to reading, so she couldn’t tell if he was offended.

  Anna pulled Hanbali’s file from her rucksack, “I should probably finish reading this.”

  Hanbali pulled herself to her feet, “I think I am going to stretch my legs.”

  Slater looked like he was going to argue, but Anna managed to catch his eye and dissuade him from it.

  “She shouldn’t be walking around by herself.”

  “She’s going to the latrine,” Anna didn’t see any use in hiding it from him.

  To her surprise, Captain Reed laughed, “Did I miss some sort of code?”

  Anna was amazed that the man could actually get better looking, but his amusement showed his straight teeth along with something else.

  “You have a dimple.”

  His brows shot to his forehead.

  Anna closed her mouth and looked down at her file.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Anna was glad she did not easily blush. She could feel her ears and neck heating, but the color hadn’t reached her cheeks yet. Time to deflect.

  “Have you read your file through yet, Captain Reed?”

  “I got through the first page. It seems like it will be straightforward.”

  She nodded.

  He didn’t look away from her, and Anna was trying to think of something to say but coming up blank.

  Thankfully, he spoke again.

  “She’s scheduled to leave Afghanistan in about three hours. I hope there won’t be trouble there.”

  She looked at her watch, “Too bad they didn’t schedule her for a later flight. We still have six hours here.”

  He nodded, “I’d sure like to have her safely into the hands of our successor before anyone realizes she’s already made it out.”

  He was silent again, but she didn’t believe that meant he had looked away. She refused to look up, but her attempt to read the page wasn’t getting her anywhere.

  “I usually wear a beard.”

  Her eyes betrayed her by jumping from the page to look at him. He didn’t appear to be making fun of her.

  “You didn’t have much reason to smile a couple days ago either.”

  He shook his head, “It was a bad day.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  He swal
lowed, “Thanks. Sorry about your team as well.”

  She nodded, “It wasn’t the same. I feel bad about it, but I hardly knew them.”

  Slater reopened his Bible and appeared to be concentrating on it. She didn’t know him well enough to determine if he really was or if it was just a coping mechanism to deal with the pain of losing his men, so she left him alone.

  Unfortunately for him, Colonel Price dropped into the seat next to Slater and started talking about the weather. Anna understood that the ranking officer was simply trying to gauge how Captain Reed was handling the situation, but she thought the younger man deserved a little peace – especially in light of what the brass was asking of him now.

  The colonel didn’t stay long. Slater put away his Bible and opened Hanbali’s file.

  “Have you two worked out all the details?” Hanbali stepped gingerly over Captain Reed’s legs.

  Both glanced up at her, but neither answered. They were now focused completely on their reading material.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “They’re going to take the team to the fort,” Hall approached Reed just before landing,

  Slater looked up, “We’re riding along with them.”

  Hall nodded as if this was expected.

  “Tell everyone to meet on the concourse.”

  Hall glanced between the two women and then back to Slater, the furrow in his brow asking the question he did not speak aloud.

  Slater didn’t respond.

  Barnes waited until Hall left, “We’re supposed to be in the chopper three minutes after leaving the jet.”

  “My men are expecting me,” he explained.

  “So, you’re abandoning your orders?”

  “No,” he closed the file, “I need to explain.”

  She narrowed her eyes, “That’s disobeying a direct order.”

  He tried to make her understand, “I will say as little as possible, but I stick with my men.”

  “Part of your code, I suppose.”

  “Something like that.”

  She closed her file and put it away without further comment.

  The bodies of the fallen men were carried from the plane to the waiting vehicles. DeWitt was unable to assist, but Hall, Chung, Porter, Turner, and Garret assisted Captain Reed in carrying Teague to the vehicle that would transport him.