CHAPTER 19
Will frowned as his second call of the day to Jessa went directly to voicemail.
The first time he’d called and she didn’t answer, he’d figured that she was in the shower. After allowing himself a brief moment to picture Jessa there, her bare skin all wet, her naked curves all soapy and begging to be touched, he pocketed his cell.
Maybe she was driving and couldn’t answer. Or possibly already at work and couldn’t talk. He could have left a message to let her know what he’d found out from the call to Jon, but he’d rather try again later. Speaking to Jessa was far preferable over speaking to a computer voicemail prompt.
He was about to head to the team room when his teammate Boomer skidded into the hallway, grabbing onto the doorframe to stop his momentum. “The airport at Kabul was just hit.”
Will’s eyes widened at that news. “Shit.”
He’d been wishing for action. Clearly, he should be careful what he wished for.
Fitzy leaned out of the meeting room and shouted into the hall, “SitRep is in!”
He trotted to the meeting room, eager for more information now they had a new situation report.
As more team members funneled in, most didn’t bother to take seats, opting instead to stand. It didn’t matter. Will doubted they’d be there long.
When the room was full, the commander began. “Upwards of forty rockets were fired at the international airport in Kabul. General Mattis had landed there two hours before the attack as part of an unannounced visit to the region after his trip to India.”
The whole room reacted as Will cussed beneath his breath. The attackers had to be targeting the Secretary of Defense’s transport. Apparently Mattis’s unannounced visit wasn’t such a secret at all.
There was no doubt in Will’s mind that this was meant to send a message to the US in response to the recent increase in airstrikes in the region.
“Mad Dog was long gone by the time they hit,” his commander continued. “Currently both the Taliban and ISIS are claiming responsibility. According to early reports there was some costly damage to structures and aircraft. No reported loss of life. All flights in and out of the airport are suspended. The situation is ongoing. Security forces are still engaging fighters holed up in a nearby building.”
“And . . .” Tompkins breathed the word under his breath on one side of Will.
On Will’s other side Fitz stared at the commander as he hissed softly, “Say it. Say it. Come on.”
“In light of heightened volatility in the region and the fact we’ve got troops en route as part of the increase in boots on the ground, the brass want more eyes and ears over there. We’re heading to Afghanistan, boys. Kit up. We go wheel’s up, one hour.”
“Yes!” Boomer punched the air.
Silently, Will agreed. Finally, something that didn’t involve him sitting behind a desk on base.
After so long without shipping out on an op, some action was exactly what he needed. But damn, the timing could have been better. Heading out right after he and Jessa finally took their relationship to the next level was definitely not ideal.
He had to call her, but he couldn’t tell her what was going on.
Crap. Just one day into this new relationship and Will was already getting a stark reminder of the challenges of having a girlfriend while in the teams.
Sighing, he stood, slid his cell out of his pocket and, while walking toward the cages where his gear was stowed, punched the screen to dial Jessa’s number for the third time that morning.
Again, the call went to voice mail, but this time he was going to leave a message.
“Hey, Jess. Um, things are getting real busy for me at work so I’m not gonna be able to see you tonight. Probably not for a while actually. Okay. Gotta go. Bye.”
Hopefully his message conveyed what he needed her to know. He didn’t want her to think he was avoiding her. Will laughed at that concept. The last thing he wanted to do was avoid Jessa.
Disconnecting, he trotted toward the cages to grab his shit. After he got himself ready, he’d call his mom quick and check in on his grandfather and sisters. Then it would be time to put his home life on the back burner and get his game face on.
Wheels up in less than an hour. Woo hoo!
~ * ~
It was days before Will had a secure line and felt he could call Jessa.
Even now, with having a phone line up and semi-reliably running where they were, what he could and couldn’t say would make conversation challenging.
He’d been down this road paved in half truths and secrecy before with Sara. He didn’t like it then. He liked it even less now with Jessa.
He dialed her cell number and listened through the rings, all the way through to the voicemail prompt.
Crap.
Glancing at his watch, he calculated the time difference. It was getting late in the States, but not too late. Jessa should be home but not sleeping yet. So why wasn’t she picking up?
He couldn’t say much to begin with, but he really couldn’t leave any details about where he was or what he was doing on her voicemail.
“Hey, Jess.” Unhappy to be leaving a message rather than talking directly to her, he hissed in a breath between his teeth then blew it out. “I was really hoping you’d answer. Okay. I’ll try you again. Goodnight.”
It was so strange. He hadn’t called her a whole hell of a lot since they’d gotten close, but in past she’d always answered when he did. That was until recently . . . until they’d had sex.
Shit. Had he fucked up royally by sleeping with her?
Was Jessa avoiding him now because of it? But why?
Their night together had been unexpected, yeah, but it was also one hell of a great night. Which had led to an even better morning.
He’d left her place and everything had seemed fine. Yet just hours after kissing her goodbye at her door, she’d stopped answering his calls.
Will pressed his lips together, pissed that there was nothing he could do about the situation from Afghanistan. He could only hope the commander’s estimate that they wouldn’t be in-country long—just long enough to secure the area for the newly arriving troops—was accurate.
He needed to get his ass home and straighten this shit out because Jessa was too important to him to lose. If he’d somehow fucked it up, then he’d fix it. That was what he did. Fix things. But he needed to be there to do it.
Itchy to get home, he felt ready to crawl out of his skin. If action didn’t kill him, inaction might.
“Wonka!”
Fuck. He was going to have that damned nickname until the day he died.
One more time he cursed the guy in BUD/S who’d given it to him all those years ago. Will’s only solace was that the guy had rung out during Hell Week.
Having no choice but to live with the crappy name, Will drew in a breath and turned to see Tompkins. “Yeah?”
“Where’s that dating app you promised us?”
Will cocked a brow high. “Um, I’ve been a little busy lately.”
Busy possibly saving the world from Kim Jun Un with the Trojan Horse reverse hack. Busy tracking Taliban emails to preempt another attack in Afghanistan. Busy worrying if he might have somehow screwed things up with the woman he was falling for . . .
In light of all the things going on in his world, finishing the app had been pretty low on the To Do list. But work always had helped him keep his sanity. Kept his mind off things, even if everything was going to shit around him.
He did have some down time here. And it wasn’t like he had anything better to do in his off hours. He might as well finish the damn thing.
His sister Megan would be happy when he did. Amanda certainly needed it sooner rather than later to keep her dating life in check. And if it got his nagging teammate off his back it would be time well spent.
Will turned to Tompkins. “I’ll get it to you before we leave here.”
“Okay. I look forward to it.” Tompkins rubbed his hands together. “I can’t wait to get my fingers into Boomer’s profile. And yours too, of course.”
“Mine? Oh, no.” Will shook his head. “Not me. I’m not getting fixed up.”
“Oh, yes, you are.”
“Oh, no, I’m not.”
This was starting to sound like a school yard fight between two first graders, rather than two highly trained, combat hardened operators, one of whom happened to be a certified genius.
“Look. You invented the damn thing. If you’re not willing to try it out on yourself, then why should anyone else trust you enough to use it? That would be like a chef who refused to taste his own food. Ain’t nobody else gonna eat it.”
Will blew out a breath, hating that Tompkins might be right. “All right. I’ll go through the preliminary process of choosing the dates with you—”
“Me and Fitzy both. We both want in on this. And Boomer, of course. Oh, and Cassidy too, actually. He was all excited about it when I told him.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll give everybody access to the beta. But as I was saying, I’ll go through the selection but I’m not going on any actual dates.”
“We’ll see about that.” Tompkins grinned.
Will shook his head. There was only one woman he wanted to be with, and she currently wasn’t answering her phone.
He had a feeling he’d gotten himself in way too deep. With Jessa and with this damn app he’d thought was such a good idea—until it got turned back on him.
Handing his Facebook friend list over to his teammates so they could choose a date for him—it was one scary as fuck prospect.
What the hell had he been thinking?