They only had a few days together before she was due back in D.C.and he returned to Bagram.Before that happened, she intended to bridge the emotional gap between them in the remaining time they had left together.
Get out of your head and savor this.Savor him.
Shoving the nagging worry aside, she concentrated on the feel of Ryan next to her, telling herself it was stupid to feel lonely when he was holding her so close, his grip tight and protective.
They would fix everything in the next day or two, and be stronger for it as a couple going forward.All that mattered was that he was here safe in her arms, and far away from anything that could hurt him.
THREE
His ringing phone woke Eric from the light sleep he’d allowed himself to fall into.He snapped on the industrial-style lamp next to the drop-down bunk bolted into the concrete wall and squinted at the call display in the sudden brightness.
It was Lyle, his second-in-command.They both used specially encrypted phones that were changed every other day, to limit the chance of detection.
“Yeah,” he answered, scrubbing a hand over his thinning hair.It was long.Too long.He needed to trim it soon, as well as shave.
The connection was muddled, something they were well used to by now, but Eric understood Lyle’s words perfectly.“I just got off a call with the guy in Colorado.He’s in.”
A slow smile curved Eric’s mouth.He’d been trying to recruit the man for months now, another step in his efforts to build his network around the country.Right now his powerbase was Montana and it spilled over slightly into Wyoming and Idaho too, but that was all about to change soon.“Excellent.That’s good news.”
“I didn’t want to wait until morning to tell you.”
“Understood.What about tomorrow’s training exercise?”
“We’ve reconnoitered the campsite and it’s still clear of any eyes and ears.Exercise is a go for oh-three-hundred.That gives us plenty of time to clear out before sunrise.”
Good.“You’ve got the suppressors and night optic devices?”
“Picked them up this morning from the manufacturer.”
One of their members was a skilled gunsmith.A handy thing to have, because trying to buy that many suppressors would have raised too many red flags and brought heat Eric couldn’t afford.“How many members are attending the training?”More of an evaluation, really.
Their membership had doubled in the last four months, and was now in the low hundreds.With the volatile political climate being the way it was, Eric expected that to keep growing at an exponential rate.
Every single member had to be carefully screened first, of course, before being admitted into the organization.For security reasons, no one but Lyle and a handful of others had ever seen him.Eric preferred to work behind the scenes, recruiting and organizing.Only when the time was right would he reveal himself to his followers, who knew him merely as The Captain.
“Around forty or so for this exercise.We didn’t invite the entire Montana membership, to keep the numbers down in case anyone sees or hears anything.”
