Chapter 20
20
Iwalked past a half-dozen offices. When I got to where Delgado had entered the building, I turned a corner and saw him at the far end of the hallway, exiting through another door.
Rachel was nowhere in sight.
Maybe I’d gotten it all wrong. Maybe I was being paranoid…
But I didn’t think so.
I jogged down the hall and cracked the door to look out.
Delgado was crossing the commons area.
Two hundred feet ahead of him, I saw Rachel entering the building that housed the gym and sparring facilities.
My stomach twisted as I realized I’d been right.
I followed Delgado across the courtyard, ducked behind a Jeep, and watched through the windows.
He glanced over his shoulder before entering the gym. He hadn’t seen me.
At this hour, the weight room and boxing ring would be empty since most of the guys were in the chow hall for lunch.
I had no idea why Rachel was going inside…
But I had a pretty good idea why Delgado was following her.
As I entered the building and crept down the hallway, I heard the whap whap whap of someone punching a leather bag.
That was when I figured out why Rachel was there.
One man had disrespected her in front of a group she had to lead…
And then another guy had suggested in private that she couldn’t handle the situation.
At least, that’s probably how she saw it.
She was blowing off steam. Couldn’t say I blamed her.
The training room was the size of a small gymnasium, with lots of weightlifting equipment, punching bags, and floor mats for sparring.
When I opened the door, Delgado was walking through the dimly lit room about 30 feet in front of me.
Just like I’d thought, the place was empty…
Except for Rachel. She was at the far end of the room fucking up a punching bag.
Whap-whap-whap-whap-whap
I walked in and shut the door quietly behind me…
Then pulled out my pistol and hid in the shadows.
A few minutes ago, Rachel had accused me of not thinking she could handle things – so I decided to give her a chance to handle it now.
Unless shit got out of control.
Then I’d step in.
Delgado strolled up the center of the room like he owned all of Afghanistan.
Rachel stopped punching the bag and looked over.
“Sergeant Delgado,” she said, like he was something nasty she’d found on the bottom of her shoe. “Come to apologize for your conduct during the briefing p>
“No… I came to get an apology from you,” Delgado said, half-amused, half-menacing.
“Well, you’re going to be waiting a long fucking time p>
I couldn’t see Delgado’s face, but I could hear the smirk in his voice. “You really shouldn’t be cursing with a mouth that pretty, Señorita p>
“And you really shouldn’t be so confident with a dick that small, yet here we are,” she said matter-of-factly.
Great.
She was blatantly provoking him.
Interestingly enough, she didn’t seem scared of him in the slightest – even though Delgado had at least six inches in height and 90 pounds on her…
And he was a Special Forces operative who killed people as part of his job.
Delgado laughed nastily as he stopped about ten feet away from her. “Since you seem so interested in my dick, puta, maybe I’ll whip it out and you can suck it p>
“I doubt I’d be able to find it, Sergeant p>
Rachel held up one hand in the air and put her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, like she was pinching the air.
So tiny, she mouthed silently.
“We’ll see if you still think that after I shove it up your ass,” Delgado snarled.
That’s when I stepped out of the shadows, directly in Rachel’s eyeline, and put one finger to my lips.
Shhhhh.
Her eyes flicked over in my direction, then immediately returned to Delgado.
She’d seen me, I was sure of it –
“No,” she snarled as she shook her head.
She was looking at Delgado…
But she was talking to me.
Delgado didn’t realize it because he didn’t know I was there –
But I was absolutely sure that her message was aimed at me, not him.
“‘No’?” Delgado sneered. “Like you have a choice p>
“Last chance to walk away, Sergeant,” Rachel said as she squared up in a fighting stance, fists in the air.
Delgado laughed. “I ain’t walkin’ away from shit p>
“Let’s settle it, then,” she said in a neutral voice.
God damn it.
I wanted to step in –
Everything inside me screamed out to protect her –
But she’d already chewed me out for questioning her ability to protect herself.
And ten seconds ago, she had told me not to get involved.
I fought every instinct I had to beat Delgado into a pulp.
Instead, I stepped back into the shadows and waited to see how it would all play out.
I just prayed Rachel knew what she was doing.
Turns out, she did.