Chapter Seventeen
Wendy wasn’t jealous. It didn’t bother her at all that Cato had been talking to the pretty reporter or that they had stepped out into the hall to continue their discussion.
Jill Hope probably had questions about the hybrid angle. Soldiers weren’t exactly rare; hybrids were. There was nothing more to it.
Plus, of course Cato would be talking to Jill and not her. Wendy had spent the entire day doing her best to avoid talking to him, or even being close to him. It wasn’t like she could expect him to sit in a corner crying and waiting for her.
Nope. There was no way in hell she was jealous. If only she could convince the pain in her heart that was the case.
Wendy let out a long sigh. She couldn’t complain that she’d made a choice and now had to deal with the consequences. After the colonel’s little talk, she’d made the conscious decision to distance herself from Cato, at least for a while. If anything to help sort out what the hell she actually wanted.
Why did things have to be so complicated? All she wanted to do was keep the career and the man she had wished for. It seemed unfair that because she was a woman she would have to give up one or the other.
She wasn’t even sure if that was the case, even if she wanted to advance higher. It wasn’t exactly like married senior female NCOs unfindable unicorns.
Sure, it could be harder for women, but that didn’t make it impossible. Maybe the colonel had to make that choice because of her particular career situation, but that didn’t mean the same thing would apply to Wendy.
As a waiter brushed past her, Wendy realized that Colonel Hall wasn’t wrong. Cato wasn’t just some man, after all. He was a hybrid.
She couldn’t ask him to turn his back on his people if she was assigned elsewhere, and that was assuming things didn’t get messier for whatever reason.
No matter the problem, she couldn’t get Cato out of her head. They were a part of one another. What he had said about souls made sense because she was certain he held a piece of hers.
This wasn’t as simple as just passing on a nice boyfriend. The wrong choice might haunt her for the rest of her life.
“Wendy.”
The sound of his voice brought her back to just where she was, a busy party.
“I need to talk to you,” Cato said.
She turned to glare at him.
He looked so good in his button-down shirt with just a hint of that magnificent chest peeking through. It was no wonder that the reporter had been attracted to him. She was half surprised all the women in the room weren’t hitting on him.
The thought soured her mood even more.
“Maybe you should just go talk with your reporter friend again,” Wendy snipped.
It was childish and petty and totally not something she meant to say, but the words came out nonetheless.
He moved in quickly. She could smell the aftershave he’d used, and it made her want to move in closer for a better smell. Cato gripped her upper arm in a firm hold.
A grim expression covered his face. “We can talk later about Jill, but right now, we’ve got a serious problem.”
All her jealousy drained away. This wasn’t something minor. In the time they had spent with one another, not once had she seen him look so worried.
Wendy scanned the room. She’d been so wrapped up in her pity that she hadn’t noticed. A lot of the conversations had quieted. Every hybrid she saw looked worried.
“What’s going on?”
Cato shook his head as a waitress passed by with a silver tray full of hors d'oeuvres. “We need to find Colonel Hall. Now.”
Wendy nodded. She didn’t know what was going on, but she trusted Cato.
They both looked around the room and found the colonel talking with several people.
“Don’t raise an alarm,” Cato whispered in her ear. “Get her to follow you in the hall. I’ll be there with Titus. He can explain.”
Wendy nodded and watched as he made his way to the door.
She could do this. The only really issue was how her commander would feel being deceived. There wasn’t time to think on that. She either acted on trust or not.
Wendy made her way over to Colonel Hall.
“Sorry to interrupt, ma’am,” she said with a bright smile. “I was hoping I might get your opinion on something.”
Colonel Hall stared at her for a moment and then turned to the men. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.” The took several steps away before Colonel Hall spoke. “What’s wrong?”
Wendy looked over to her, surprised that she could even guess.
“Don’t be so surprised,” the other woman said. “You don’t spent years commanding troops and not pick up a thing or two about reading people.”
Wendy shook her head as they made their way to the hall. “I’m not sure, but Titus is waiting in the hall.”
Colonel Hall nodded. “Understood.”
They stepped through the door, and both were surprised to find about a dozen hybrids standing there.
“What’s the meaning of all this?” Colonel Hall snapped, a frown appearing on her face.
“I’m sorry, Maria,” Titus said. “We were just informed that there is a possibility that a bomb has been planted in this building.”
Wendy looked over to where Cato stood next to the reporter. He nodded for Jill to speak.
“I got a tip that there was a bomb,” Jill said.
Colonel Hall narrowed her eyes on the woman. “From who?”
Jill stood a little taller. “I’m not at liberty to say. But I know this is coming from inside the government.”
“Our government? The tip?”
“You don’t understand.” Jill shook her head slowly. “No. The bombing.”
Colonel Hall snorted. “That makes no sense. Why the hell would our government want to bomb their own people?”
Titus raised a brow. “Why indeed?” He stared at Colonel Hall. “You’re a soldier, you already have to know the truth. Sometimes all it’s takes is one ambitious politician, maybe a senator with a grudge, for example, and soon innocent people are getting hurt, and that’s not even when a hybrid might be involved.”
“You expect me to believe that someone in the US government is coordinating a terrorist bombing on US soil that might get US Army soldiers killed?”
“I expect you to believe that if someone believed the hybrids are a serious enough threat, that a little collateral damage would be considered acceptable losses if they could take us out.”
The colonel’s face tightened.
Wendy watched as the colonel processed everything she had just heard. She could tell that the whole thing bothered her, but she wasn’t going to let that affect how she dealt with the situation.
“If we disrupt this party, and say there’s a bomb, the facility will never recover,” Colonel Hall said. “If what you say is true, then whoever is pulling the strings will use it as an excuse to try and put more pressure on this place not less.” Titus started to say something but stopped when she held up her hand. “We need to assess if there is actually a threat.”
Titus nodded. “I’m on it. My men can move silently and smell if there is anything off.”
Wendy thought for a moment that the colonel might protest.
“Then we’ll rely on your skills,” she said. “I’ll quietly send a few men to guard the children.”
Titus nodded. “Thank you.”
Colonel Hall turned to head back inside but stopped just outside the door. “When this is all over, I think you and I should have a talk.”
Titus nodded. “Agreed.”
She nodded again and walked toward the door. “I need your help, Sergeant.”
Wendy chanced a look at Cato. His eyes were following her as she made her way to the door.
“I’ll find you,” he said.
His words were low, but she still heard them as clear as if he were standing next to her.
She nodded. Her heart beat painfully in her chest as she stepped through the doors.
Danger and uncertainty came with being a solider. She knew this. They all had a job to do, and they would just have to trust that they would see one another at the end.