Page 38 of Unrest
“No more marathons for me, guys,” I said.
Remy nodded. “In the freezing cold and snow.”
“With no food or water,” Matt added.
I closed my eyes, smelling my coffee before I took the first sip. Then I let the warmth touch my lips. Slightly sweet. Slightly bitter. Complete perfection.
“Do you seriously have tears in your eyes?” Tall Mark asked.
I opened my eyes and sure enough, they were watering.
“Just like Dad,” Tater said softly. We made eye contact, and his face fell. I blinked the moisture away.
“Well, I hope someday I find a girl who loves me as much as you love coffee,” Mark said, taking a sip of his and smiling.
“Hate to tell ya, man,” Texas Harry said, “But you’ll never make a chick feelthatgood.”
Mark let out a false guffaw then held his cup up to me across the table. I held mine up too. Then we all raised our cups.
“Cheers new guys,” said a husky female voice from behind me. “And girls.”
We turned our faces up to the tall, slender girl we’d seen when we came in last night. Her stance and expression were all badass, from the oversized T-shirt knotted in the back, down to the camo pants slung low on her hips. Her blond bangs angled across her face, coming to a point beneath her opposite jaw. She looked straight at Rylen.
“We meet again, airman Fite. Sleep well?”We meet again?Wait, they knew each other? Something ugly clenched deep in my belly. Remy cast me a look, like she was curious too.
Ry’s expression remained unfazed as he set down his glass of water and nodded. She gave a tight smile. “Good.” Then she looked over our group. “I’m First Lieutenant Linette Thompson. Finish up. I’ll be giving you your jobs.”
“Sure thing, officer,” Texas Harry said. He grinned, but she didn’t smile back. She just stood there while we quickly finished our breakfasts, which, by the way, tasted amazing and I wished we’d had time to savor it. I didn’t appreciate having this officer breathing down our necks, but the others took it in stride. I guess being in the Army gave people a higher threshold for annoyances. Or taught them to fake it really well.
We took our trays into the kitchen where an older man and woman took them and washed them, using a tag-team effort. Linette turned and looked down at Remy.
“Bio background, right? You’re needed in the greenhouse, which is after-dark work. You’ll report Monday through Saturday at twenty-one-hundred.”
Remy shot me a look of panic, I assumed at the military time.
“Nine at night,” I explained, and she relaxed.
Linette looked annoyed by the disruption. “You’ll need to learn military time by the end of the day, civvy or not.”
I didn’t care for her rude tone and apparent disdain for civilians, but Remy quickly nodded and said, “Okay. So, food production, then?”
“Affirmative.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. Did she really need to lay it on so thick with the lingo?
She turned to Matt. “You’ll be in the Comm room.” Matt clicked his feet together and saluted. “At ease. No need to salute in here. Sergeants Depaul, Harris, and Tate?”
New York Josh, Texas Harry, and Tater stepped forward.
“You’ll all be trained for perimeter guard duty. You’ll rotate between day and night shifts. Sergeant Mahalchick you’re on watchman duty.” They all nodded. She turned to me, all seriousness. “You’ll be with Captain Ward in the med unit. He’s our only doc on the premises. Actually, he’s a dentist. Thankfully we don’t have many med emergencies.” Several of the guys chuckled.
“Airman Fite.” Rylen’s hands were clasped in front, his feet apart as he watched her. “Based on your background, you’re needed for top secret work with Dog Balls.”
His expression never changed as he heard this and gave a single nod, but the rest of us got wide eyes. Top secret? It seemed like there should be no more secrets with how things were going these days. What could they possibly be doing? Was it dangerous? Well, that was a useless thought—of course it was dangerous.
“Any questions?” She eyed us. When nobody said anything, she turned and walked away.
“You know her?” I whispered to Rylen.
