Bab 13: Chapter 13
"You're right." She took a sip of her drink and set the glass down. "Okay, Commander, fire away."
"I'm curious. How did you get into the data mining business to begin with? It isn't, at least in my limited knowledge, a career that's hot in the marketplace."
"I got lucky." She shrugged. "I've always been interested in puzzles of all different kinds. I read some books about people who could listen to fractured conversations, pick out key words and discern the purpose of the dialogue. I had a double major in college, languages and computer science. And I was fascinated with the military. Always had been. A friend of a friend knew of an opening for someone with my skills. I got an interview, and that was that."
"Where do you get the information you analyze?" He chuckled. "That is, if it's not a national secret."
"If Silas picked you for this mission, I think there's very little that would be secret from you."
"Thanks for that."
She shifted in her chair, and, when she re-crossed her legs, Max couldn't help noticing the flex of thigh muscles beneath the smooth fabric of her slacks. At another time he'd like to have those thighs clamped around his body, holding him in place. But this was neither the time nor the place, and he had enough discipline to put it all in a corner of his mind. At least for now.
"Some of our information comes from intercepting phone callsand that I really can't tell you about. But, right now, the bulk of it has been coming through what our satellites have picked up and transmitted to us."
"You have to be damn good at what you do if you can take bits and pieces and make this kind of picture out of them."
She grinned at him, and he noticed the faint hint of a dimple he'd missed at the left corner of her mouth.
"I am. But I have a lot of help, too, in deciphering what I come up with. It's really a team effort."
"Teamwork is always the best," he agreed. "Did you get your job at Norfolk after you were married?"
She shook her head. "I was already working there. I met him through friends one night when we were all at the same bar. He asked me out to dinner, and we never looked back."
"I'm so sorry for your loss." He'd had to say that too many times to widows of SEAL friends, but he still never felt comfortable with it.
"Thank you. We were only married for four years when he was killed, but I was lucky to have him for the time I did."
"There hasn't been anyone since then?" "Just checking to see if there's someone waiting for you to come back from this mission," he added. "And. You know, maybe worrying about you. And that could distract you."
Anger flashed across her face but so quickly he wondered if he'd actually seen it.
"she said carefully, "because I understand why you have to ask it. I would have thought Silas would have told you, prepping you for this mission."
Max watched her carefully. "He did say there wasn't anyone specific in your life, but I always like to check things myself."
She crossed her legs, lifted her glass, and drained it. Then she turned to him.
"I hope you're not playing games, Commander DiSalvo, but I have nothing to hide. I've had one or two short-lived relationships since Dylan was killed and occasional dates here and there, but that's it." Her look was almost defiant. "It's hard finding someone to live up to him. And I'm told I'm very picky."
She sat so stiffly in her chair that Max swallowed a grin. He'd been testing her, but he didn't want to piss her off. She was ideal for this. In addition to her skills and the fact that she was a knockout with a brain, Si had told him she had an excellent memory and retained critical facts.
"So, have I passed the test?" There was a definite edge to her voice.
Max grinned. "More than. Sorry for that. I'm just used to working with the same team all the time, people I'm comfortable with and trust without question. No matter how much Si vouched for you, I had to satisfy myself. You're bright, you're sharp, and you don't rattle. I just had to make sure I wasn't missing anything." He lost the grin. "I've been depending on the same group of men for so many years, I have to learn how to trust others all over again."
The look on her face softened. "I should have remembered that. Si told me you were a
SEAL for almost twenty years."
He nodded. "Twenty being the operative word. I actually had another eighteen months to go."
She wet her lower lip, and he tried not to be fascinated by the quick swipe of her tongue. "He explained about your injury. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to worry about me holding my own. It might not have healed well enough to keep me in the SEALs, but I don't miss a beat anywhere else." He tried to keep the bitterness from his voice.
"I believe that. My turn. Anyone waiting at home for you? Or anywhere else?"
He shook his head and took another swallow of his soft drink. "The truth? I never wanted to start a relationship with anyone all that time. Everything I had belonged to the SEALs. I figured when the time came, I'd have found someone and settled into a pattern that I could just step into after retirement."
She burst out laughing. "Spoken like a true male."
He managed a grin of his own. "I guess. Anyway, I was out of the SEALs before I expected and, well, there it is. My friends worry I'll turn into a grouchy old man."
She tilted her head and studied him. "Somehow, I don't see that happening. I'm willing to bet there are plenty of women, maybe even a long line of them, who are ready to make sure Max DiSalvo doesn't spend his later years all alone."
"I think you're imagining things. Anyway, that's a discussion for another day. Suffice it to say, no marriages. Not even a fiancé." After this mission was complete and he could explore those reactions his body kept having to her. He hoped things would change.
"So. Now that we've gotten past the You show me yours and I'll show you mine dance, we should probably get to the things that will really matter. The things that make us who we are. Things a married couple would know about each other."
"You're right, even though Max Ferren and his wife have only been married for a short time. Second marriage for both of them, and long enough to know each other's quirks and habits. Let me get the folder Si put together that gives us all that information so we can share it. And add some of our own peculiarities so we don't get caught off guard."
They sat there in the waning sun, throwing information back and forth about the people they were about to become, concentrating with the same intensity Regan applied to her complicated job and Max had applied as a SEAL. He thought of other people who so often used the expression life-or-death to describe situations and wondered how many of them even knew what it meant. Three days from now the two of them would face the first of their hurdles when they met Jed Whitlow at the hotel where he'd insisted they stay before heading to the meeting at the lodge. That literally would be life or death. One false step, and he and Regan would both be dead not to mention untold numbers of people who would be victims of whatever horrific event was being planned.
Hadiah
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