Dakota leaned over Rylee, dropping a kiss on her lips. “I’ll text a check-in later. I don’t expect an answer, I know things are about to get busy.” He turned to the others. “Good luck, ladies.” And off he went with not a single “Look at me! Look at me! moment.”
Neesa noticed it, too. “What? No ‘I’m the god of scrambled eggs’ remark?”
“Concentrate,” Rylee said.
“As far as I’m concerned, he is the god scrambled eggs. Delicious.” Mandy took a bite, then put down her fork. “Okay. Active conflict zone. Three major players are fighting it out. Economic strain. Currency instability.” Mandy paused. “I don’t see anything in the reports indicating that it’s spilling over the border into Turkey.”
“Are you going, Rylee?” Neesa asked.
“Yes. As we planned.”
“You have a go bag?” Mandy asked.
“They outfitted me the other day, I’m set.”
“Okay. I’m heading to the warehouse to organize supplies and load the truck.” Mandy closed the lid on her laptop. “Letme know the second you have information about the space and weight that’s available to us in the airplane hold. I’ll get the truck headed to the right hangar.”
“Thanks, Mandy,” Rylee said. “And I’ll have the cash in my bag with me.”
“Logistics is already rocking and rolling,” Neesa said. “But we’ll head to the office to lend them support. We’ll stay in close communication.”
Mandy headed out the door.
“I don’t love the idea of walking around with fifty grand in my backpack,” Rylee said.
“As long as you treat your backpack like it’s full of plane snacks and nothing more interesting, you’re golden. Or you could go the other route. You could get security to handcuff it to your left wrist. If they want the money, they’d have to chop your hand off to get it.”
“Gross. And also, no,” Rylee said. “They could simply unzip it, take the money, and leave me holding the bag.”
“Ha, I see what you did there. Very clever. I’d be clever, too, but your boyfriend doesn’t know how to make his coffee thick enough for my taste.”
“Not boyfriend. But if there’s ever a next time, I’ll make the coffee. I’m sorry you suffered.”
“You need to take a shower. That’s his shirt, isn’t it? So you did the dirty with Dakota, huh?
Rylee walked back to the bathroom, leaving the door open so she could talk to Neesa while the water warmed up. “Jasper?”
“Not yet. He’s acting the gentleman, and I both like it and don’t like it. Slow is probably for the best.” Neesa pulled Rylee’s armchair around to face the bathroom and sat. “So give me the low-down on Mr. Dakota Kayne. Oh, hey, did you know what his call sign was in the military? Raisin.”
Rylee pulled the T-shirt over her head and held it to her nose to smell Dakota’s clean scent. The smell of spices and soap. “Raisin? What? Why?”
“Raisin Kayne. Jasper’s call sign was ghost.”
“Okay, because?” She folded the T-shirt and put it on her shelf, then tugged her sweatpants off and dumped them in the hamper.
“Jasper sounds like Casper?” There was a shrug in Neesa’s voice. “I got distracted and never asked. Okay, so spill. To me, Dakota seems like a good guy. You can see it on his face. Easy going, friendly, kind.”
Pulling on her shower cap, Rylee stepped into a cloud of fog and turned the showerhead to massage so she could lean into the wall, and it could pelt her butt and thighs that were sore from yesterday’s crawl across the Iniquus field.
“Yeah. I like his ready smile and that his smile hits his eyes, not just his mouth.”
“Genuine,” Neesa said.
“Sincere without the weight that word usually carries. I like that his dog is so thoroughly devoted to him.” She poured some liquid soap onto her palm.
“I’m told that one should always trust a dog. Dogs hate me, so I’m assuming that saying is accurate. Why am I hearing hesitation?”
“Yeah, well, good guy. He’s different. Forthright, no games, seemingly no agendas.” Rylee worked the soap over her skin, wishing that this morning had been slower and that she had woken in Dakota’s arms, they had another tumble, then they were showering together.
