Hercommand. She liked that word. It was strong and decisive, instead of wimpy and uncertain. She straightened her shoulders and raised her voice in a team-leaderly manner. “Let’s do it, then,” she commanded. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Goddamnit.
Jim sat in the shade under his RV’s awning, knowing that he should go inside and ice his knees.
“You okay?”
Ashley. She was heading to her trailer after having lunch in the mess—Team One had another hour of down time before they were scheduled up at the paintball field. She was still dressed in the cargo shorts and sweat-stained T-shirt she’d worn throughout the morning’s strenuous exercises—Red Sox cap on her head. She had to be tired, too, but she was hiding it well.
Jim thought about lying. He was fine,fine, fine-fine-fine…But he suddenly heard an echo of his own voice, earlier, right after Bull had groped her—telling Ashley that it was okay to get angry. And maybe—just maybe—it wasalsookay for Jim himself to be honest about whathewas going through.
So he tried it out. The N-sound was hard to make, but he pushed and it came out, “Nnnn…” He couldn’t quite make it a fullno. But from the deepening look of concern on her face, he knew he’d gotten the point across.
She came closer. “How can I help?”
“You could knit me a new career.”
She laughed—just a little—as she also frowned. “Who told you I knit? Clark.” She shook her head as she dumped her team-leader bag on the ground next to the table. “Did he mention I was sixteen when I last attempted a sweater, no probably not. Do I need to find Lieutenant King or is there ice inside?” She pointed to his RV door, and he managed a nod.
“Yeah, there’s ice, but it’s a mess in there…”
“Since I’m pretty sure any ice will be in the freezer, that’s a non-issue,” she shot back as she opened the screen and went inside. “God, Iknewyou were hurt—it happened right after the cargo net, didn’t it? You twisted your knee in the sand.”
Yes, but he rather desperately didn’t want to talk about it. Then he didn’t have to, as she changed the subject. Her voice carried clearly from the trailer’s open windows.
“You know, you would make a great lawyer.”
Jim laughed. A few years back, he’d briefly toyed with the idea, although most of the SEALs he knew had laughed their asses off. It had turned into a joke that was nearly as long-lived as his nickname: Spaceman Slade as a Perry Mason-esque lawyer, punching opposing counsel in the face, then turning to the bench to say,Your Honor, the defense rests.“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Ashley came out his RV with the ziplock baggies of fresh ice that Thomas had dropped off that morning, and the hand towels Jim had hung on the freezer door handle to protect his skin from the biting cold.
“Why not?” she asked. “I think you’d be really good at it. That codicil to the team leader agreement… You wrote it perfectly.”
“Codicil,” he repeated with a laugh as he took the frozen packets and the towels from her. He layered them onto both of his knees—as if that was actually going to help. “I didn’t know it was a codicil, it was just… me getting what I wanted.”
“No,” she said, sitting down in the other chair and settling in, as if she planned to stay for a while, “it was you getting whatIwanted. Which is exactly what lawyers do for their clients.”
She was serious, and Jim laughed again. “Going to law school would be… a rather huge challenge.”
Ashley shrugged. “Navy SEAL. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“Well, yeah,” Jim said, “but… also Navy SEAL…? Law school is, like, two solid years of sitting still.”
“Three,” she corrected him.
“Oh, even better.”
“Except maybe if you sit still—still-ish—for three years,” she pointed out, “your knees might actually heal.”
“Not enough,” he said grimly.
“Enough to be a lawyer,” she said. “Oh my God! I just realized—you could join JAG.”
JAG stood for Judge Advocate General—the legal arm of the Navy. “It’s not some club with an on-line signup,” he countered. “You don’t justjoinJAG.”
The look she shot him was one of amusement. “You know what I mean. JAG needs good lawyers—I happen to know they’re actively recruiting. And you can’t seriously think that the Navy wouldn’t do everything humanly possible tokeepyou—a SEAL officer? I mean, assuming you want to stay in. Although, you’d definitely earn more money if you left and went into the public sector.Waymore. There’s no law firm on the planet who wouldn’t salivate at the idea of including a Navy SEAL lawyer on their website’s short list of associates, so… The big question is:Doyou want to stay in…?”
