2. Alexis

Chapter 2

Alexis

D espite the fact that a new, dangerous, and intriguing mission lay ahead, Alexis Cole's mind occasionally kept stubbornly straying to the feisty, fit, blonde Lieutenant Kate Cross. The woman was temptation wrapped up in a uniform and shrouded in icy defenses. Alexis' breath had escaped from her lungs in a quiet, startled gasp when she'd opened that door and come face to face with Lt. Kate Cross. Chocolatey brown eyes staring into her soul, intriguing Alexis and pinning her into place at the same time.

Alexis had struggled to pay attention to Colonel Williams's phone conversation as she'd picked up the scent of roses on Kate as she'd brushed past her. Unable to resist, she'd inched closer, almost folding herself protectively around Lt. Cross's body, trying to locate the elusive scent again. Before she'd had the chance, Colonel Williams had started their meeting.

After listening to Colonel Williams' brief, Alexis had to push Lieutenant Cross from her mind in order to focus on the task at hand. There was a team to be assembled, gear to obtain, and a mission to be planned. There were six soldiers counting on her, and she had no intention of letting them down.

Picking a team hadn't been difficult. Palstein was a prime location filled with many different units all specializing in something. Getting the required equipment, however, proved to be slightly more difficult.

Alexis needed to coordinate with Lt. Cross, and time was running low. She fished out her phone, deciding delegation was the only way things were going to get done. After two rings, the call connected.

"Alexis, it's been a minute."

"Yes, Staff Sergeant, it's been a while. While I'd love to shoot the shit with you, unfortunately I'm calling on business."

Staff Sergeant Maloy, a long-time friend of hers, could clearly hear the seriousness in her tone and immediately switched gears.

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant Cole?"

"I've got your file. You're available for a trip to the sandbox with me and a team for a rescue. I need to finish some of the finer details, so head over to the Rescue Ops office and start reaching out to the chosen team members. We're only taking a handful of people, and some of my chosen ops guys are already located on our Forward Operating Base. (FOB) Find out what we need to do to have the two we need released to us for the duration of the mission. Then coordinate a pickup for our equipment and have it delivered to the flight line. The equipment and supply folks were sending mixed signals about our access to ammunition. Clear that up. We can't go into hostile territory without proper ammo. We leave at 0600 tomorrow, and we have no time to spare."

Silence reigned for a few beats before Maloy responded. "Copy, Lieutenant. I'll take care of it."

Adrenaline and excitement coursed through her.

"Thank you, Maloy. I'm glad I can count on you," she said in a serious tone before hanging up.

She had a cute nurse to make plans with and some soldiers to rescue.

Alexis mulled over her reaction to Lt. Cross on her walk back to the mission briefing room. The woman was stunning. All lean, sinewy muscle, flowing golden honey-colored hair, huge brown eyes, and a fierce glare that would scare a weaker woman. What Alexis hadn't expected was the very visceral reaction she'd had to Kate Cross. Her heart had pounded, her breath had caught, and a lump had risen in her throat, nearly choking her. She'd felt electricity zip through her and had the urge to run her fingers through Cross's hair to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

Alexis shook her head to clear the thought. There was plenty of time to think about that later, perhaps on the eight-hour flight to the desert. She was a bit irked to find that Cross wasn't in the Colonel's office, but Colonel Williams was quick to give her directions to Lieutenant Cross's office.

"Her office is in the back of the medical ward, two floors up. Take the hallway all the way down, then make a left. There's a sign, so you can't miss it. She usually sits at the nurses' station, but she may be in her office doing prep work for the mission."

Alexis took off for the med ward, her boots filling the silent stairwell as she took the steps two at a time. The building was eerily quiet for a weekday, but Alexis didn't mind. It'd be easier to prepare for the mission with most of the base personnel elsewhere. Following Colonel Williams's directions exactly, it wasn't long before Alexis found herself strolling down the crisp, sterile hallway of Palstein's medical ward.

The unit smelled like a hospital, clean and foreign. The white walls were lined with photos of men and women in scrubs, white lab coats, and some in uniform. Fluorescent lights lined the ceiling, leading the way down a long stretch of hallway and illuminating the nurses station.

The nurses station was a large, clean, meticulously organized semi-circular desk. Each folder, binder, and paper was properly labeled, filed, and arranged in perfect lines. Alexis was pretty sure she could eat off the floor and be no worse off. The idea created the image of Lt. Cross with her nose scrunched up adorably in indignation at the thought of someone eating off the hospital floor.

With her thoughts once again centered on Cross, Alexis peered around in search of the back office. A door tucked in the back on the left stood open, a light on inside filtering out in a beam of soft gold light in direct contrast from the fluorescent lights that illuminated the rest of the building. Drawn toward the light, Alexis silently approached the office door and peered in.

Lieutenant Cross sat behind a large metal desk. Like the nurses station, Cross's desk was organized within an inch of its life. Not a single paper was out of place, and every pen was tidily placed inside a metal cup. All the lights were off save one old lamp that cast warm golden light toward Lt. Cross. Two massive windows occupied the wall behind where Cross sat, and Alexis could see a dark, gray overcast day with clouds threatening snow.

Lieutenant Cross sat as still as marble, her only movement her fingers across the keyboard and her eyes across her computer screen. The soft light illuminated her, casting a glow on her skin and giving her blonde hair an ethereal halo. Alexis swallowed hard, her heartbeat picking up into a sprint, and she tried to push down the mix of panic and attraction choking her.

A small crease appeared in Lt. Cross's brow, and Alexis couldn't bear lurking in the doorway any longer. She cleared her throat and stepped in, causing Cross's gaze to snap to hers. Silent electricity charged between them, making the air feel heavy in Alexis's lungs.

Alexis launched her most charming smile. "Just came to talk plans with you."

Cross's gaze narrowed slightly, and her right eyebrow rose in suspicion, conveying annoyance and distrust. Some unnamed emotion appeared on Lt. Cross's face, then her expression cleared and her professional mask reappeared.

When Kate spoke, Alexis listened, enraptured by her voice. "The colonel said you could assign me a medic and possibly have one of your rescue ops personnel carry a medical pack. I could definitely use a medic as an assistant. I can make do without a pack mule, but if you have an extra set of hands to give, I'd be able to bring an extra trauma pack that may make all the difference in the wounds we can treat."

Her previous thoughts of anything but the mission evaporated, and Alexis switched into work mode. She was a combat rescue officer (CRO), and she lived for missions like these.

"I can definitely assign someone to carry supplies for you. One of the pieces of intel we got was a radio report that their backstock is running low, including food and medical supplies. If you think an extra med pack is necessary or even just strategically advantageous, then we'll bring it. Equipment for this region is pretty light. There's only so much we can do with extremely hot temperatures during the day and the low temps at night."

Lt. Cross nodded in agreement. "If we can add an extra personal trauma pack to each individual team member's supply, that would be helpful, as well. We don't need full-sized first aid packs. The pocket SABC first aid kits will do. Other than that, I have a few pieces of equipment we can't afford to lose or break, and they're going to be vital in saving as many of the injured as we can."

Alexis hummed in thought. "Tell me what the injury list looks like."

A frown marred Lt. Cross's face. "One amputation for sure as well as a few minor cuts, so we can expect some infections and possible broken bones. The report's sketchy. Could be an arm, or maybe an ankle. Not entirely sure. I also have reports of possible gunshot wounds." She trailed off into silence.

"Dear god, listen to this: Possible gunshot wounds and/or internal/external hemorrhaging."

Alexis grimaced. "Sounds like a tough guy is trying to avoid saying he got shot, it hurts like hell, and he's scared he's gonna bleed out."

Lt. Cross let out a startled laugh, and Alexis grinned at her.

Kate shook her head in disapproval. "I expect there's more than one hard case who will deny injury until they're ready to pass out from blood loss. I see it a lot. I just hope we make it in time."

"Okay, so we need to prioritize blood loss, which means time is certainly a factor. We shouldn't go the long way around, but we can't take the most direct approach, either. If we go in hot in a convoy straight through the valley we'll attract unwanted attention to us and those we're rescuing."

Alexis tapped her fingers on her chin and stared off into the dreary afternoon out the back window. She pondered aloud, "We could take the southern entrance by helicopter and have them drop us in the most secluded section of the valley. We'll have to ruck through the night, avoiding multiple enemies from any direction. But if we do it that way, we may get in and out undetected and retrieve our people."

Silence reigned. Alexis smiled at Lt. Cross when she didn't automatically give her thoughts on the plan.

"So, how do you feel about the idea? Is there an obstacle I'm not seeing?"

Lt. Cross's perfect blonde brows skyrocketed into her hairline. "Oh. Well, this works for me. My med packs aren't terribly heavy, so it shouldn't be an issue to ruck through the night with them. The approach seems sensible, as the valley will be crawling with enemies during the day. Also, we'll be much easier to spot during the day, and the heat may be an issue. If we can have our transport team drop us as close to the last known location of our troops, we should have ample time to reach any survivors who are still holding on and do any treatments necessary. How do you want to exfil?"

Alexis shook her head. "Not many good options. We'll have to have multiple plans in place, just in case the first one or two extraction points aren't possible to maintain. I'm thinking, in the ideal scenario, we just ruck back to where we were infilled by the helo, and they can return and pick us up with our extra cargo."

A wry smile lifted Lt. Cross's lips. "What's the likelihood that the ideal scenario will actually happen?"

Alexis shrugged and frowned. "Honestly, I've only had two or three missions go ideally. Otherwise, we usually move to option three or four before we find a safe, successful exfil. But that's why we make Plans B, C, and D."

"Okay, so Plan B would be a different pickup location, still in a remote, relatively unpopulated area. In Plans C and D, we'll need to hike up and out the northern exit and exfil either on the northern side, which increases the danger for our pilots tenfold, or we have to hike through the north exit only to swing around the mountain range and hike several days through the desert with wounded."

Alexis nodded, impressed with Lt. Cross's ability to fully grasp the situation. Colonel Williams hadn't been wrong when she'd said it was shit storm. The location of their injured was incredibly inconvenient and inhospitable. There were insurgents around every corner, and Alexis wasn't sure if there was a good approach.

"We'll have a satphone, and they'll have GPS monitoring for us so they can track and monitor the mission from the TOC. We can attempt to do the southern exit and deal with the pickup location after that, but if the southern exit becomes impassable, we're fucked. We'll have to take the northern exit. There's sure to be someone maintaining a presence at the northern exit route, so we'll have to be extremely careful of another ambush if forced to make that exfil."

Lt. Cross surveyed the maps again and hummed. Alexis watched, silent and transfixed, as she slid her slender fingers over the map of the valley. Cross spoke, not to Alexis, but aloud to herself.

"If it were me, and I'd been ambushed in the northern section of the valley," she trailed off, her eyes narrowing. "Probably, I'd look for cover. But this location has none to speak of, unless they could find a cave or a well-hidden riverbed. This area is known for its dry riverbeds." She pointed at the map, indicating a section of valley surrounded on the northern edge by cliffs.

Cross turned to Alexis, her eyes wide and questioning. "What do you think? Did they have any medical personnel with them, or would they have taken a different route?"

Alexis answered after searching through the pile of personnel files. "They had a medic. Normally I'd say the commanding officer or whomever was highest ranking would have taken charge in the event of an ambush, but the only person I know for certain who made it out alive is the combat medic. I know him personally, and he has more experience in hostile zones than the rest of his team."

Finding the file for their medic, Alexis offered it to Lt. Cross. Without looking up, Cross reached out to take the file and missed. Instead, Alexis felt Cross grasp her hand and she heard a soft gasp escape Kate's lips.

Their gazes collided, and Alexis realized how close they'd gotten. Their breaths mingled, and she could smell roses in Cross's hair again. The thought derailed her. Her mind blank, she leaned down toward Cross, their hands still grasped together, and her eyes locked on Lt. Cross's lips. She was curious if they tasted like roses, too.

"I think you should call me Alexis." She exhaled softly, leaning closer.

It was as if she'd dumped a bucket of water over Lt. Cross's head. Her eyes widened in surprise, her jaw clenched, and her nostrils flared. She took a step back out of Alexis' reach and yanked the file out of her hand.

"You'll call me Lt. Cross, and I'll address you as Lieutenant or Lt. Cole." Her voice rang out with an edge of steel, but Alexis heard the tiny break at the end.

She'd unnerved the unflappable Kate Cross! The thought made her giddy, and excitement bubbled in Alexis's chest. This was turning out to be interesting, and Alexis was more than just curious. The sensation was akin to having just taken a drug for the first time. She didn't want to consider what it would be like to get addicted to that woman.

A lopsided grin stretched across her face and Alexis put her legendary charm on. Despite the fact that Cross was only a few inches shorter than her own six feet, Alexis felt as if she was arguing with a tiny, adorable pixie.

"Well it looks like we've got a live one. See you later, Little Lieutenant. Call or text me if you need me. My info's in the file."

Kate's blue eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

With that, Alexis turned on her heel and left the medical wing. She tried to convince herself she wasn't attempting to escape as she walked briskly toward the exit, desperate for a breath of fresh air.