“Hello,” she greeted the man. “I know I’m paid up, so this must be about something else,” she smiled.
“I beg your pardon, Miss?” he asked.
“What?”
He repeated himself, only spoke slower.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying, Miss?”
“My HOA dues,” Jill clarified. “I have it automatically deducted from my checking account. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Something to do with the homeowners association?”
He seemed to relax and then he smiled brighter. “Uhm, you’re right.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his notepad.
Uh-oh, that didn’t look good. But then he looked up and gave her a big smile. No dimples. She so wasn’t interested.
“I wanted to tell you about the upcoming Labor Day celebration. We’re looking to see if you or any other residents here in your home are planning on attending. It’s going to be at Founder’s Park this year. We’re putting on quite a show. If you have kids, we’re going to have face painting and a jump house. For adults, we’re having a lot of the local restaurants putting up booths and providing samples of the best of their menus with wine pairings.”
Jill immediately thought of Law. Would he be up for something like that?
“I have to check, but I’m pretty sure you can put me down for two.”
“This is a pretty big house, do you have children?” he probed further.
Jill laughed. “Nope, no bambinos. What about you?”
He went silent for a moment, his eyes downcast. “No, I don’t have any children,” his tone suddenly flat.
Jill cocked her head and gave him a kind smile. He looked like he could use one.
“So, two?” he confirmed again.
Jill grinned. “Yep, put me down for two.” She really hoped that Law would be up for this.
He snapped his notebook shut. “Well, ma’am, I have the information I need.”
He didn’t even say good-bye, instead he just turned on his heel and stalked down her walkway. They really needed to get someone with better people skills on the job.
Jill heard her phone ring again.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Can’t I catch a break?”
It wasn’t for another hour-and-a-half that she realized she was hungry again, and her last hot pocket was now the texture of a rock inside the microwave. She should have saved some cookies for herself. Time for bread and cheese. She really needed to stock up on mayo and mustard.
Three grueling days of training in the dusty, hot shrubs of the Southern California wilds in the Camp Pendleton base and Lawson was ready for a beer, a shower, and time with Jill, not necessarily in that order. He’d told her that he’d be off the radar for three days, but to expect him to touch base on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. But after assessing the new recruits, he and his team had realized it was definitely going to take the additional night to get through to the boneheads.
“Roger, how many times do I need to tell you to keep your belly to the ground?” Law shoved the kid’s ass onto the rough earth and grimaced with disgust when Roger let out an oof of pain.
Seriously? That hurt?
“When you signed on for this assignment, you assured me you wanted to learn SIGINT, but you sure as hell aren’t showing a willingness, let alone any damned aptitude.”
“But, sir,” the recruit started.
“Don’t call me sir. Do I look like a damned officer?” Lawson hissed.
He heard Clancy laughing behind him. “You don’t have the looks,” his teammate joked. “You need to grow back the mustache, then you’re officer material.”
Lawson flipped him the bird before turning his attention back to Roger. “Let’s try this again. I need you to, this time, accurately calibrate and read-out the spectrum analyzer and the directional antenna. We need to know who and what we’re up against, where and how far away they are. We need that information now!”
Law watched as the kid once again fumbled three times to get the cord for the antenna into the analyzer. It took everything he had not to rip it out of his hands. When he finally got that done, the kid attempted to calibrate the machine with one hand as he held out the antenna. Law heard Clancy snickering behind them. He was going to kill his friend.
“Roger, that’s the wrong sequence.” Lawson kept his voice even. He knew if he sounded mad the kid would really blow it. Besides having to train the kid, he wanted his team, the Blue Blades, to kick the other Marine Raider team and grind them into the dust. Law knew that they were at the same kind of disadvantage because they were training newbies—but they weren’t stuck with a Roger.
“How about this?” The kid’s blond hair was stuck to his forehead. He kept licking his lips and his eye twitched. Law looked over his shoulder at Clancy and his trainee. He could see that both of them were having trouble keeping straight faces. It so wasn’t fair.
Law looked down at the frequency range that Roger had put into the spectrum analyzer. “It’s close, but it looks like you inverted the six and the three. Try again.”
As soon as Roger fixed it, the signal came in.
Success. Finally.
Now it was time to see if they could get a read on where the other team was broadcasting from and hopefully nail them. Law had been on his team’s ass to keep radio silence. It would’ve made life a hell of a lot easier for them if they’d been able to contact the two tactical vehicles on their team, but Law forced them to stick to the plan and only report
