Page 10 of Gunn's Mission

He reached and pulled down a cup, then handed her one and took another for himself. “You get your cup first,” he said. “If you make a face when you drink it, I’ll know to steer clear.”

She grinned, set her cup below the nozzle, and flipped the lever. “Smell’s good. That’s always a good sign.” When she took a sip, she exaggerated a wince. “It’s great,” she croaked.

He chuckled, poured himself a cup, and raised it to sip. “Not bad sludge.”

They made their way back to the common area and sat on a sofa. She angled her body toward his so she didn’t have to crane her neck to speak to him. “I noticed the scars on your face and hand,” she said, indicating his right hand with her chin. “Those look pretty recent.”

He flexed the hand and let it rest on his thigh. “It was a helicopter accident when we were at sea. Two helicopters. We lost team members. I guess I was lucky. I was burned by fuel in the explosion. I’ve got burns on my hand, all the way up to my shoulder, and this bit on my face,” he said, pointing at his cheek. “The scarring on my hand was enough to get me mustered out on a medical discharge. I’ve lost strength in the hand, and I have to exercise it to keep the scarring from tightening up and rendering my fingers useless. But like I said, I was one of the lucky ones.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. When you sign up to be a SEAL, you know you’ll face danger. I just didn’t figure I’d go out that way.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. I guess we need you.”

One side of his mouth quirked up. “I’ll try not to get in the way of your work.”

“Maddie, you’re the last one,” Hanna called from the end of the hallway.

“Guess I better go talk to the officer. The sooner they leave, the sooner my folks can get back to work.” Yeah, she needed to keep busy—especially now that Gunn was here. She could already see that he was going to be a big distraction—for her, anyway.

CHAPTER4

While Maddie was gone,Gunn roamed throughout the building, pulling open unlocked doors and tugging on windows. There were no locks on the windows or most of the doors, which he guessed made sense because they’d never been needed before. However, now, it meant there was no way to secure them without replacing them, which wasn’t going to happen.

When he returned to the common area, Eric strode toward him. “She’s with the military dude now. What’s with that anyway?”

Gunn shrugged. That information was need to know, and Eric didn’t need to know. “Can’t tell you that.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed as he studied Gunn’s face. “You military, too?”

“No. Not now, anyway. I was in the Navy.”

Eric’s gaze swept over Gunn, down and up. “You see action?”

Gunn nearly laughed. He got that question from civilians quite a lot, as if they wanted him to confide all the gory details. “Some,” he said, his tone indicating that was all he would say about it.

Eric nodded. “I can see that.” He held up a hand and gave him a thumbs up. “Before a couple of days ago, I wouldn’t have imagined being happy to have someone with those skills here.”

When he walked away, Gunn shook his head. He could already tell it was going to be an interesting assignment.

Nate stuck his head around the corner of the kitchen door. “Stew’s hot if anyone wants to get something to eat.”

Gunn hadn’t thought of food in hours, but the mere mention had his belly rumbling. He headed into the kitchen. The helicopter pilot and crew members were already seated at the table. Some of the scientists were standing around, holding their bowls in their hands but strangely not even looking at the table.

He headed to the stove, picked up one of the bowls beside the burbling pot, filled it, then grabbed a spoon from a drawer and sat at the table.

Eric took an empty chair across from him but grimaced slightly as he set his bowl gently on the surface.

Gunn frowned across at him.

Eric wrinkled his nose. “Last time we used this table, it wasn’t food laid out on its surface.”

That explained a lot.

Eric shrugged. “It’s just a damn table. Besides, I didn’t want you to eat alone.”

The pilot looked up and grunted.

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