Damn. O’Neill scowled. The pilots of this bird were not fans of his. They wouldn’t step up to do him a favor, not when it would make them late getting home.
Wolf had to be messing with him. The asshole must have known O’Neill would be stuck down there for the night.
“You sure crashing with you won’t put your wife out?” he asked Rawlings, accepting the lesser of three evils. He sure wasn’t asking Muriel if he could bunk with her. And it was too cold to sleep outside without his cold weather gear.
“Nah.” Rawls settled back in his chair as the grinding sounds of the lift stopped. “Faith embraces the unexpected.”
O’Neill strangled on a scoff, his eyebrows lifting. Seriously? Did Rawlings know his woman at all? Faith was one of the stiffest, most buttoned up personnel on base. Embracing the unexpected was not a strength of hers.
The Thunderbird’s engines ramped up and the overhead rotors beat the air. The noise made it impossible to continue the conversation. He’d have to hash his bunking arrangements out when they landed.
The thirty-minute flight seemed to take forever. When the bird finally set down, O’Neill waited impatiently for the rotors and engine to fall silent. Finally, one of the warriors thrust the cargo door back and the debarking began.
O’Neill scanned the landing field as he hopped down, snow crunching beneath his boots. A triangle of overhead lights illuminated the dark field, and the cluster of automobiles awaiting their owners. As the rotors shut down and the engines went silent, an icy wind skated across his bare arms, raising goosebumps. The sweat from his run to the hangar bay had long-since dissipated, leaving a chill in its wake. Too bad he hadn’t had the time or opportunity to grab a jacket.
Rawlings hadn’t been messing with him. Not only had the bird shut down, but its pilots were fast tracking it across the field toward the cars. Had Wolf warned them O’Neill would be asking for a ride back tonight? Was that the reason behind their Speedy Gonzales impression?
A heavy hand fell over his shoulder. “Don’t ya worry that pretty little head. I got ya covered.”
Pretty little head? What the hell? Did the bastard think they were in some regency drama with O’Neill as the virginal debutante?
“You’re gonna regret taking him up on that offer,” Mackenzie growled, stalking past them, his boots abusing the snow with each thunderous crunch.
“Don’t mind him,” Rawlings drawled. “He’s just wishin’ he was invited to our party.”
O’Neill sincerely doubted that.
Across the field in the parking lot, car doors slammed and headlights burst on. He was surprised Wolf allowed the Bell to sit there all night, out in the open with no guards or fencing. He certainly trusted Faith shield’s to keep outsiders away. But what of those who lived in The Neighborhood? No concerns one of them might fuck with the machine?
“Who you visitin,’ anyway? I’ll drop you off. You can call when you’re done chattin.”
O’Neill was about to reject the idea and walk to Samuel’s place, only to realize he didn’t know where theCaetanee’s house was located. He sure hadn’t thought this trip out well. Which was unlike him. His tendency was to over-plan, over-organize, overkill.
Damn...he’d have to accept the squid’s offer.
“I’m headed to Samuel’s place.” O’Neill fought against rubbing his arms to fight the chill. He was tougher than that. Mind over matter and all that shit. “You know it?”
“Samuel?” Rawlings stopped walking so suddenly, O’Neill sailed a couple of feet past and had to wheel around. The gaze that met O’Neill’s was suddenly chilly. “Samuel’s still in the ER. Why you headed to his place?”
The dude’s voice was as cold as his eyes. What the hell? Did the asshole think O’Neill was on his way to ransack the place, or put the moves on Samuel’sle'ven'a?
Yeah, fuck Rawlings and fuck the kernel of disappointment unraveling inside him. While the squid might not be a friend, he’d thought they’d developed enough of a rapport over the past year to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Chapter eleven
Day 26
Shadow Mountain Base, Alaska
As O’Neill stopped walking to glare at Rawlings, the wind picked up and his already cold arms turned freezing. So did his chest and shoulders. Too bad he hadn’t swung by his quarters to grab a jacket. The delay would have cost him his ride on the Bell, which seemed perfect about now.
“Why I’m here isn’t your business,” he drawled, his tone pure fuck you. Looks like he’d be bunking in the woods after all. And hell, he needed to get hold of Wolf for Samuel’s address.
Rawlings studied him for a moment, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “You pickin’ up somethin’ for Olivia?” When O’Neillset his jaw and kept his mouth shut, the dude’s gaze sharpened. “Or you lookin’ for someone else? Heard another gal showed up out of the blue. A pretty little thing who’s saying at Samuel’s place.”
O’Neill scowled. The comment sounded like Muriel was staying with her twin for perverse reasons. “Her name’s Muriel, asshole, and she’s his sister.”
A smirk lifted the squid’s lips. O’Neill’s gaze narrowed. The southern bastard was playing with him.
