Read Online Bring On the Dusk by M. L. Buchman - Free Book Online Page B

though he was biting down on a chocolate chip cookie, that wasn’t the taste he was remembering.
    It was a woman at sunset.
    * * *
    Claudia was doing her best to retain names as one person after another arrived. It wasn’t like a Marines operation with multiple ground commanders, flight team leaders both jet and helo, and so on. This was definitely a lean-and-mean operation: Night Stalkers, Rangers, Delta, and Navy.
    An extremely tall, slender guy strolled in, actually wearing a white cowboy hat tipped back on his head. His easy drawl proved that the hat wasn’t just an affectation as he introduced himself.
    â€œCaptain Justin Roberts, ma’am. Pilot of the Chinook CH-47 Calamity Jane at your service. Nice to have another captain aboard among all this riffraff.” He moseyed—a man who actually moseyed—his way over to one of the deep chairs and settled in. In SOAR, a company command didn’t necessarily follow rank. Seniority and experience were far more important in a regiment where captains and even majors flew the helicopters.
    Of course, a colonel in the field. Maybe Michael was only in planning. No. Last night. Yemen. Leading a four-man fire team himself.
    The man was a puzzle.
    The last trio to arrive was a very strange set. The man was tall—though shorter than the Texan—and slender, and introduced himself with a very Boston accent, not all that different from Trisha’s, as Air Mission Commander Archie Stevenson III. The man Claudia had traded a dozen words with last night before he sent her into Yemen. He moved off to the coffeepot.
    If he saw Michael, it was hard to tell. There might have been a brief nod.
    The woman he’d entered with just stood there facing Claudia until she rose uneasily to her feet.
    â€œLet me guess,” the newcomer addressed Claudia. “This is Trisha’s doing.”
    Claudia knew in that instant who commanded this unit. It was the voice from the DAP Hawk last night. The woman was tall, wore her mahogany hair in a long, flowing wave that framed a stunning face, and had an air of absolute authority.
    â€œWell”—she didn’t even wait for Claudia’s answer—“when you’re conscious tomorrow, you can officially report in. I did send Trisha to guide you in and welcome you aboard ship. She was supposed to lead you to me eventually. I’m Chief Warrant 3 Lola Maloney, by the way.” She had a firm handshake.
    â€œTrisha, ah, took me aloft, ma’am.”
    The woman glared at the gray steel ceiling, clearly counting to ten. Slowly. Possibly twice. “O’Malley…” she ground out between her teeth.
    â€œI had to see.” Trisha came over and shoved a cold can of ginger ale into Claudia’s hand. “I mean, last night she was good and all, but not like it was a tricky mission or anything. She did great, Lola. Can see something of all those Marine Corps SuperCobra habits, but well integrated. Took to the bird right away, compensated for the stealth characteristics nice and clean. No freeze in a crisis. If it were up to me, I’d sign off on her right now.”
    Lola glanced down at the pint-sized chief warrant officer.
    Unless Claudia was mistaken, Lola’s gaze had shifted from anger to interest. So, Trisha might be a certified lunatic, but she was well respected by her commanding officer.
    â€œYou, Captain Casperson, are forgiven. We’ll talk more after you’ve slept again. You, O’Malley, just stay out of my face for the rest of the night, please.” She didn’t speak as if she expected such a request to be obeyed.
    She headed off with a nod, leaving the third person who had entered watching Claudia frankly. The girl looked about fifteen, yet she stood with the poise of someone much older. Claudia studied her face. Except for the look in her hazel eyes, the girl was fifteen. But no young girl had ever looked at the world with such old eyes. She was