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“Meaning he doesn’t know I’m here,” Aidan said.

“You weren’t due to arrive back in the States before now, and when I was alerted you were back, I put the request in quickly. The wheels moved faster than I thought, and now you’re here.”

Great, so he was probably dealing with a bunch of angry, mourning soldiers who would see him as a usurper of their former teammate,andthey didn’t know he was even here.

General Winter looked him over again. “So, considering the recent...events in your career, you can see why I might be wary.”

“That has nothing to do with this,” Aidan said.

“Not directly, but your life has gone through a great deal of turbulence.”

“You don’t have to worry about my ability to do my job, sir. I promise you I can do what needs to be done.”

General Winter leaned back again, his face impassive. “I certainly hope so. Because you’re meeting the team tomorrow.”

SEAN

It was a waste of time.

Sean did his best to keep the thought from digging deeply into his head as he watched Ricardo circle Matt. The two men watched each other intently, their bodies braced for the coming brawl. The wind from the ocean blew through the bushes at the outer edge of the roughly made ring they’d created. The dirt kicked up as Matt paced, whereas the larger Ricardo barely made a sound.

Beside him, Nick eyed their teammates. “You think they’re going to get started anytime soon, or do you think I can pretend I care and they won’t notice?”

Sean turned to glare at him. “You mean, take a nap.”

“I close my eyes once in a while. I’m not always sleeping.”

“If you’re not paying attention, what’s the difference?”

Nick shrugged, but to Sean’s relief, he returned his attention to the sparring match. It had been Sean’s brilliant idea to see if maybe a bit of training that wasn’t just going over and over tactics might do them some good. Once upon a time, a good sparring match had been the sort of thing Team Maelstrom had needed to work out all their frustrations and pent-up energy. Sometimes, it was a good way to work out personal issuesbetween them. That it was a good way to keep their close-quarters combat skills sharp was a fortunate byproduct of what had once been a bonding experience.

There was something different about the way Ricardo and Matt were moving, though, something Sean couldn’t quite place, but he knew it wasn’t right. He’d fought beside, laughed with, lived with, and suffered at the side of his team. He knew them inside and out, even if it was only on a subconscious level. On the surface, they might appear ready to throw down, but Sean could see their hearts and minds weren’t in it. They were going through the motions, doing what was expected, and, ultimately, wasting the time meant for training.

Nick looked up at him. “Why didn’t you get in the ring? You always used to go first.”

True, he could have been called eager, with how readily he was prepared to scrap with just about anyone in a sparring ring. The trouble was, Sean was rarely beaten in a close-quarters fight, and he hadn’t wanted to start the day off with him beating one of them. His team was struggling enough as it was. He didn’t want to risk dragging their mood down even more.

“Should have put you in first from the looks of it,” Sean said, eyeing his lazing teammate.

Nick had probably undergone the strangest transformation Sean had seen out of everyone. Matt had always been a little cranky, and Ricardo had always been quiet, but Nick had never been so lethargic and disinterested. Sure, he wasn’t quite as energetic and high-strung as Matt, but he’d always shown an interest in what was going on around him, and while he hadn’t said anything, Sean didn’t think he’d been sleeping much.

Nick cocked his head, snorting softly. “Then put me in, Sean.”

Frustration burned inside Sean, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle Nick or hug the man. No matter what he tried to do, he was watching his team slowly but inevitably pull apart.

As Matt and Ricardo finally stopped dancing around and came together to begin, movement on the other side of the ring caught Sean’s attention. Looking past his struggling teammates, Sean watched as a man strolled into the clearing, his expression more curious than startled as he stopped at the edge of the ring.

Nick snorted. “Who’s that?”

“I don’t know, but we haven’t exactly made it a mystery that this area is ours when we’re training,” Sean said.

While soldiers had to get permission or be stationed on the small islands that dotted the area beyond the peninsula, most of the base was free for anyone to roam, train, or lounge around while off-duty.

“Probably a private, fresh from Basic,” Nick said.

Sean didn’t think so. Recruits fresh from Basic all tended to have the same look. There were those who were still flush from success, thinking they were ready for whatever was coming. Some had been stiffened more than others, looking stone-faced and a little robotic. And there were those who looked relieved but worried now they were out in the actual force.

The man watching Matt and Ricardo looked like none of those things. Sean watched him, taking note that he seemed more interested in the sparring match than Sean’s blatant glare in his direction. The man’s dirty blond hair looked as though he’d had it cut recently, shorn close to the sides of his head. From several feet away, it was impossible for Sean to see the exact color of the soldier’s eyes, but they were fixed intently on the fight, sharp and attentive. Sean could see he stood a few inches shorter than himself, being almost as muscular, though it was more evenly distributed than it was on Sean. His entire posture was relaxed, at ease, as though he hadn’t wandered intowhat should have been a private training session. And he had barely paid any attention to Nick or Sean.