Chapter Four

As soon as the helicopter landed at King Faisal Air Force Base, I headed for Captain Harris’s office. To my surprise, Harris wasn’t waiting for me. He usually insisted on a debrief before I could eat, shower, or sleep.

I secured my weapons in his office armory and grimaced. God, did I stink. My deodorant had quit two days ago, and I desperately needed a shower. Leaving a message on the captain’s desk, I headed to my quarters.

Because I was special , I had my own room. Grabbing clean underwear, a camo tee-shirt and pants out of my locker, I hit the showers. Fifteen minutes later, I braided my wet hair and made a beeline for the mess hall. I was so damn hungry.

Angry voices had me glancing at the military police’s guard post. Huh? What was going on? A tank blocked my view, and I was too hungry to investigate. My eyes widened in horror. Wait a minute. One of the voices sounded awfully familiar. Was it my Marines? Nah, there’s no way they could have found me this fast.

The smell from the mess hall drew me like a magnet. I was having one of everything. Grabbing a tray, I went down the line until there was no more room on my plate.

A soldier eyed my tray in disbelief. “Are you sure you’ve got enough food?”

“Nope, I’m coming back for seconds.” I carried my tray over to an empty table and started eating.

“On your feet soldier,” Sergeant Stone growled.

Well, hell. I plastered a confused look on my face and looked up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Drop the act. You know why I’m here.”

“Sorry, but I don’t.” I went back to eating.

Sergeant Stone studied my face. “Are you the Scorpion?”

I picked up my glass of water and drained it.

“Answer the question.”

“By your stench, you’ve been out in the sun too long. Maybe you should have a medic check you over for heat stroke. It might explain your mental confusion too,” I said pleasantly.

“I could have you arrested for assault,” Sergeant Stone snapped.

I raised my eyebrows. “Got any proof of this brutal assault, sergeant? Like a picture or fingerprints or some kind of hard evidence?”

“Footprints.”

Shit! Shit! Shit! “Call me curious, but who did I assault?”

His lips twisted in self-mockery. “Me.”

“Un huh, and where did this horrible assault occur?”

“The village of Tarin Kowt.”

“Never heard of it.” I took a big bite of chocolate cake. God, it tasted so good.

“You’re the blonde midget we’ve been tracking for the last two days, and I can prove it.”

Midget? That was kinda rude. “I’m not the person you’re looking for.”

“Yes, you are. Now get up. You are coming with me.”

“No.” I shoveled more food in my mouth.

“You see these sergeant stripes? I outrank you,” Stone bellowed.

I glanced up at him. “Do you?”

Sergeant Stone narrowed his eyes. “I don’t see any lieutenant bars on your shirt.”

“So?”

“On your feet soldier!”

“No.”

His left eye twitched. “What did you say?”

“Are you hard of hearing too? I’m not going anywhere with you.” I took another bite.

His huge hand clamped around my arm, and he jerked me around. “I could have you thrown in the brig for insubordination.”

“Okay.” That sounded pretty darn good. I could get some much-needed sleep.

“Show me the heel of your left boot.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m eating.”

“Now, soldier.”

My temper flared to life. All I wanted to do with eat my dinner in peace, but that wasn’t going to happen. “Go away before I hurt you.”

Sergeant Stone laughed. “You? Hurt me?”

“Yeah. Since I supposedly assaulted you already, why not again?” That’s when I noticed everyone in the mess hall was watching us and I didn’t care. So what if Pops or Captain Harris got angry. I was sick to death of men pushing me around.

The idiot reached for my left leg.

I hit him upside the head with the metal water jug and rammed my boot into his stomach.

“Sonovabitch.” Sergeant Stone staggered backward and shook his head to clear it. “That was a mistake.”

The menace in his dark brown eyes had me diving under the table.

“You can’t outrun me.”

Maybe not, but I wasn’t planning on running. I kicked him off his feet.

Sergeant Stone crashed to the floor. His merciless gaze locked on me. “You want to play? Game on, Tinkerbell.”

Damn, he was scarier than Pops when he was riled up. Rolling to the other side of the table, I jumped up and grabbed a plastic tray. The instant he popped up, I hurled it at him like a frisbee.

Thud! It hit Sergeant Stone in the face. Blood gushed from his nose, but somehow, he managed to stay on his feet. He grinned at me.

Shit. I wouldn’t last two minutes in hand-to-hand combat with him, and he knew it. Anything I could get my hands on; I threw at him.

With unbelievable ease, Sergeant Stone ducked and dodged the projectiles.

He could give Pops a run for his money.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Sergeant Stone said.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. He had a glob of mashed potatoes perched on the top of his head. To make it even better, pieces of corn, gravy, and coleslaw were splattered over his beard and uniform. “Gee, sugar, I don’t have a problem hurting you.”

His attention suddenly fixed on something behind me.

Had his team shown up?

A hand clamped on my shoulder. I instinctively shifted my weight and tossed the person over my shoulder.

“Hey!” A military police officer smacked the floor.

“Shit! Sorry.”

His partner tackled me, placed a knee in my back and slapped the handcuffed on. “You are under arrest for assault.”

“Sorry, I thought you were one of the jerk’s buddies.”

The MP pulled me to my feet. “Who started the fight?”

Everyone in the mess hall pointed at Sergeant Stone and in unison said, “He did.”

I let out a sob. “I broke up with him and he won’t leave me alone.”

“Like I would date that vicious little hellcat.” The look of outrage on Sergeant Stone’s face was hilarious.

“See? Just cause he’s a sergeant, he thinks he can do whatever he wants.”

“Cuff him, Andrews. We’ll let the lieutenant sort this mess out,” the MP ordered.

Sergeant Stone’s jaw dropped. “What are you arresting me for?”

“Assault.”

“I never touched her,” Sergeant Stone snarled.

I held out my left arm which had a colorful bruise above the wrist. “Yes, he did.”

Andrews cuffed Sergeant Stone and relieved him of his weapons. “Let’s go.”

Sergeant Stone shot me a withering glare.

I gave him my Debbie Sunshine smile. Gotta say, I really enjoyed our perp walk to the brig. Everyone stopped dead and gaped at Sergeant Stone’s food covered uniform. “A Marine’s table manners leave a lot to be desired,” I called cheerfully.

“Shut it, Reynolds,” the MP instructed.

“Yes, sir.”