Page 34 of Protecting Josie
“Sorry, but the admiral wants to talk to the two of you,” an officer standing nearby interrupted, nodding at both Nate and Kevlar.
“An admiral?” Nate whistled.
“Yes. If you could follow me,” the man said, gesturing toward one of the doors.
“What about Josie?” Nate asked, not moving an inch.
Without thought, Josie stepped closer to Nate. She wanted to press herself against him, beg him not to leave her, but she couldn’t speak.
“Is that her name? There’s a captain waiting to speak with her.”
“Then what?” Nate asked.
The officer blinked. He hesitated a beat before saying, “I don’t know. It depends on what’s said, I suppose.”
Nate shook his head. “She’s coming with us,” he told the man.
“I don’t think?—”
“Where she goes, I go,” Nate repeated firmly. “She can come with me and Kevlar to talk to the admiral.”
“He’s not going to want to talk about what happened on a top-secret mission, or what happened after, with a civilian there,” the officer warned.
“Tough. She knows just as much as I do about what happened after, and maybe more. She was a guest of theterrorists way longer than I was. Don’t you think the admiral will want to hear what she knows?”
Josie had never seen this side of Nate. He sounded pissed off and more authoritative than he’d ever been. It didn’t turn her off. Not at all.
“It’s your ass,” the officer said with a shrug before turning toward the door. “If you’ll follow me.”
“Impressive,” Kevlar mumbled from behind them.
Nate turned to his friend. “I need you to watch out for her,” he said. “If they take her away from me, don’t leave her alone for a minute. You know she doesn’t talk, so they’re going to have to give her time to write out whatever they want to know. And she needs to eat again. And drink. And shower. She?—”
“Easy, Blink,” Kevlar said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “If you think anyone is going to argue with you, you’re wrong. You were a POW. They’re treated with kid gloves around here. No one will upset you.”
“Right. Tell that to the admiral,” Nate muttered.
“I’m guessing he’s the one who made the order,” Kevlar said, sounding unconcerned. He smiled at Josie. “Now that we’re safe, and aren’t hanging out of a chopper or taking a pleasure hike through the mountains…I want to thank you for taking care of this big lug. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’sourpain the ass. Even if he did take off for Iran without telling us.”
“Didn’t have time,” Nate told him. “The commander gave me thirty minutes to get to the base before wheels up.”
“I know. I’m only half giving you shit. Trust me, thecommander knows that none of us are happy with how things went down.”
“Fuck. I didn’t even think about the mission until now. Is the other team okay? They got away?” Nate asked.
Josie’s head felt as if it was on a swivel watching the two men talk.
“They’re fine. Your distraction was enough for them to slip away successfully and get to the extraction point.”
“Good,” Nate said with feeling.
“But I have to say, if you ever doanythinglike that shit with us, you aren’t going to be happy with the consequences.”
“Noted. But I don’t regret it. Not for a second.” Nate glanced at Josie.
She was puzzled by the conversation, not exactly sure what they were talking about. But she didn’t get a chance to indicate her confusion to Nate before they were shuttled through the bowels of the huge ship.
Josie’s feet slipped on the metal floors in the socks she was wearing, and she would’ve fallen at least twice if it wasn’t for Nate’s iron grip on her hand. She held the blanket around her like a shield, not thrilled with the looks she was getting from the sailors they passed.
