Alexei nodded agreement, and Annabelle twisted back around before snapping her own harness back on.Kyle could have joined the others since he wasn’t needed as a navigator or on guns, but the flight deck was equipped with visual uplinks.While Annabelle went through the final points of her pre-flight check, Kyle opened an encrypted uplink to MDF headquarters.
The person who answered wasn’t Katie.
“Hey,” Kyle said, some of the tension draining out of him.
Jamie looked back at Kyle from the guts of the MDF’s main war room where field missions were monitored in real time.His blond hair was styled more for a night out than a day in uniform.His blue eyes flicked up and down as they took in what he could see of Kyle through the uplink, a frown marring his face.It didn’t do much to detract from his good looks.Then again, Kyle would always think Jamie was hot, no matter the circumstances.With a strong jawline, defined cheekbones, and a straight nose set above an expressive mouth, Jamie could easily be mistaken for a rugged model in or out of uniform.
“You’re all right?”Jamie asked.
“Was a little banged up at the beginning, but everything’s fine now.”
“Good.”
Kyle kept his attention on Jamie, wishing for some privacy, but this was an encrypted uplink being recorded by the MDF for records purposes.Anyone who observed the mission record would only see them interacting as teammates and friends, not the lovers they were outside the MDF and the regulations that defined it.Keeping the real status of their relationship under wraps was important to them both.
Liking men wasn’t the issue and hadn’t been for most of the world for the past few centuries.Jamie’s rank as his team captain and superior officer ran right up against regulations concerning nonfraternization.Which meant they shouldn’t be together, but they were.In point of fact, the entire team was breaking the rules by keeping quiet about their relationship status because even before Kyle joined, the members of Alpha Team had wanted Jamie to be happy.
Kyle, they knew, made Jamie happy.
Some days, Kyle couldn’t believe he got so lucky.He still remembered the night they’d met in a bar, when he’d come off a long mission overseas and just needed to get out of his head.Jamie had been the best-looking guy there that night, dressed in a bespoke suit that outclassed everyone else.Kyle hadn’t known at the time that Jamie was military or even a metahuman; all that mattered was Jamie turned out to be the best fuck he’d ever had.That one-night stand in a hotel room ended up turning into something more, something deeper, after Kyle and Alexei were seconded to Alpha Team just days later.
At the time, neither he nor Jamie had been looking for a relationship.Then the whole mess with a ghost from Kyle’s past in the shapeshifting form of ex-CIA Agent Cora Everly had derailed the life Kyle thought he’d have with Strike Force in favor of one with the MDF and Jamie.He’d been angry about that at first, but his anger didn’t last long.It never did, not when he had Jamie by his side.
“I’ll be present for your debrief when you and the others return,” Jamie said, looking off-screen at something that had caught his attention for a brief second.
“You had plans,” Kyle protested.
“They can wait.”
Kyle bit back his initial retort before it escaped his mouth.He would never say he regretted the way they got together, and he didn’t regret the secrecy their relationship existed in now, but some days, Kyle wished they could speak their minds without fear of reprisal.Promising to give Jamie a blowjob if he’d just go and deal with his family probably wouldn’t go over well with any of the brass.On the other hand, he knew it would go over extremely well with Jamie.
“Where’s Viper?Did you take over for her?You know she’s more than capable of leading in your absence,” Kyle said.
“Of course she is.And Viper was the one who called me back to the war room once the bomb was reported in.She knew I needed to be updated.”
Kyle knuckled his eyes.“Right.Did any of the photos from my scope camera get received?”
“Some.We have analysts working on them.I’m hoping we’ll have something when you guys get back.”
“Yeah.Okay.See you in two hours.”
Jamie nodded, all business, but Kyle knew how to read the relief in his blue eyes.“Copy that.Base out.”
Kyle killed the uplink and slumped back in the co-pilot’s seat.Annabelle was on the comms with flight control, the electromagnetic engines a faint hum in the background.She muted the public conversation in favor of their encrypted comms.
“We’re cleared for takeoff,” Annabelle announced.
The Hermes combat jet was capable of vertical takeoff and landing.Once the ground crew cleared the launch pad, Annabelle pushed the engines to full throttle, and the jet launched itself into the sky with a roar.The jagged megacity skyline surrounding the base disappeared in favor of hazy blue sky that got shades darker the higher they flew.The clouds thinned out as Annabelle plotted out a vector that would have them flying in the high stratosphere and skirting the edge of the mesosphere.The windshield was polarized against the bright sunlight, and Kyle blinked to adjust his vision to the brightness, staring at the curved horizon.
The flight didn’t take long, not with the way Annabelle was flying them home at a rate of Mach 2.By the time they landed, Kyle had his thoughts in order for the long debriefing he knew would happen.
The combat jet juddered as it touched down at the MDF’s airfield, the assigned ground crew approaching with their maintenance tools as Annabelle lowered the ramp.Kyle was already out of his seat and leaving the flight deck before the ramp even touched the ground.Madison and Alexei shucked off their harnesses and hurried after him, none of them surprised in the least to find the rest of the team waiting for them on the tarmac.
Aside from Jamie and Katie, Trevor Sanchez and Donovan Williams were standing shoulder to shoulder nearby as they let their captain and second-in-command assess Kyle and the others first.Trevor was the team’s medic and probably should’ve had first dibs, but the four who’d gone into the field were all walking under their own power.
“All right?”Jamie asked as his gaze trailed over them.
“Alive, if pissed,” Madison replied.
