“Yeah. On one condition.”
The Pup worked his jaw, ready to ramp himself up again. “Depends. What is it?”
Lachlan leaned forward, his eyes locked on Kyle’s. “Come back whole, son.”
Kyle’s jaw unclenched and his brows furrowed. He started to speak, then pressed his lips into a firm line. He nodded.
Sam took that opportunity to limp out from under the massive desk. He crossed the room to his trainer as fearlessly as he’d ever gone on any attack mission. The dog stopped and sat in front of Kyle, tongue lolling, tail thumping, as he waited for Kyle’s next move.
The Pup’s face softened as he bent to pet Sam’s head. Without looking up from the dog, he said, “Limp’s coming back. Keep on his glucosamine and chondroitin, double the dose even, and don’t let him get too heavy from eating treats while I’m gone. Sir.” Then he stood and calmly but quickly left the office.
Camden stepped into Lachlan’s office with Toby.As expected, the big man thought.
“Have a seat.” Lachlan was already unlocking The Big Drawer, the one that held everyone’s background files with the information that was left out of their official ones stored in HR. As Camden took a seat, Lachlan pulled out Kyle’s file and opened it on the desk, though he already knew its contents. It wasn’t as thick as the others, the second-thinnest next to Gina’s. No one at Watchdog knew about Kyle’s final top-secret mission except for Lachlan and Gina. It was time to let Camden in on that last mission.
And the real story behind it.
Two
Come back whole.
What was that supposed to mean?Kyle wondered. No way Lachlan could know where Kyle was going and why. He punched his dashboard on the 405 to LAX. No way his boss could know, and Kyle wasn’t about to share.
The universe had it in for him, end of story. First, the devastating mix-up he’d discovered this morning, and now heavy traffic to LAX and he was already running late for his last-minute flight. It would be the ultimate slap in the face if he missed the plane, because that might mean he’d never see Camo again.
And he’d be damned if he let that happen.
Damn military and their screw-ups. He’d put in to adopt Camo as soon as he was out, and now they’d lost his request and paperwork. Kyle was certain they’d ‘lost’ his paperwork on purpose. Maybe they were still trying to punish him. Well, if they wanted him to stay quiet, this wasn’t the way to do it. He would not be denied.
Camo.
Kyle pulled into LAX’s long-term parking. He grabbed his duffel and hoped it was small enough for a carry-on because there was no way he had time to check it. He’d already checked in for his flight on the airline app so he could go straight through security and on to his gate. He prayed that the lines weren’t too long and that the gate was close.
Of course, neither was the case.
The last passengers were disappearing into the boarding bridge when Kyle ran up and dashed the hopes of a stand-by flyer on the overbooked flight. The guy scowled at him as Kyle handed his phone to the attendant checking everyone in.
She looked at his duffel. “I don’t think there’ll be any room in the overhead compartments for that. You’ll have to check it.”
“It’ll fit under the seat,” Kyle bluffed.
“It doesn’t look—”
“It. Will. Fit. Under the seat.” It took everything Kyle had not to scream the words in her face. Why did everyone have to ride him today?
She gave him a tight-lipped smile while her eyes saidfuck you. “Enjoy your flight.”
“Merry Christmas,” he answered just as tight-lipped, and jogged into the passenger boarding bridge.
Because he was the last passenger on board an overbooked flight he got stuck with a middle seat which sucked big-time. He hated being confined.Hatedit. But then again, if the middle seats weren’t available, he probably wouldn’t have been able to even book the last flight to Denver that day. Maybe not any flight for a day or two, considering the weather developing over the Rockies. Holiday travel was extra bad this year. Everyone wanted to see their loved ones, and it looked like a lot of people had taken a few extra days off. It was Tuesday, December twenty-second. He had time to fly to Denver, rent a car, and drive north to someplace called Longmont, and a ranch just west of there. To Camo. He’d state his case, make his claim. Then they’d fly back to L.A. together and be home before Christmas on Friday.
Christmas with Camo, the first one spent together Stateside. He was ready.
The gate attendant was right; there was no room for his duffel in the overhead bin, so Kyle mashed it as much as he could under the seat and hoped the flight attendants would take mercy on him, even though it stuck out a bit.
He stretched his legs out as far as the comically-small space allowed, hoping his feet would block his duffel. He put his earbuds in and pretended to drift off as a flight attendant instructed passengers on how their seat cushions could be used as flotation devices in the unlikely event of a water landing.Fat chance, flying over Nevada into the Rockies. When his aisle seatmate nudged him at the flight attendant’s request, he pretended to snore and hoped he wouldn’t be bothered again. It worked, and Kyle breathed a little easier as he felt the plane taxi and then take off.
In truth, the last thing Kyle wanted to do was drift off in a center seat on a crowded airplane. Because if he dreamed, or God forbid, had a full-blown nightmare, well, he didn’t relish the idea of an air marshal tackling him if he mistook a sixty-something granny for an enemy insurgent. But the plane was warm and Kyle was coming down from the adrenaline rush since getting the terrible news about Camo.Fucking military. Camo was his partner. His best friend. Kyle shook himself a little to keep from drifting off while trying to look like he was sound asleep.
