Page 24 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

It was a waste of time.

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?”

“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 issues between 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 into what should have been a private training session.

And he had barely paid any attention to Nick or Sean.

“That’s no private,” Sean said.

Nick leaned in. “Yeah, his uniform isn’t wrinkle-free.”

Sean snorted but didn’t disagree. It was something he hadn’t noticed.

The ring was an informal place for people who wanted to spar or wrestle, but it was widely known that when Team Maelstrom had it, no one else was supposed to intrude.

They’d never had to enforce it before, and Sean sighed as he decided he would finally have to.

“You show ’em,” Nick said as Sean walked off.

Sean resisted the urge to flip Nick the finger, even though he knew it probably would have drawn a smile from him.

Instead, he kept his eyes on the stranger standing at the edge of the ring.

Even as Sean approached, the man’s gaze stayed locked on the training that Sean himself should have been overseeing.

“They’re messy,” the man said, his voice sharp and a little wry.

Sean blinked, looking at Matt and Ricardo, who were also aware of the stranger in their midst now that Sean had approached him.

“What?” Sean asked.

The man motioned toward Matt and Ricardo. “Them. They’re messy, or weren’t you paying attention?”

Sean wasn’t sure what irritated him more, the question or the amusement in the guy’s voice.

Cocking his head, Sean waited for him to turn and look at him, and to his even greater annoyance, the stranger took several seconds before tearing his eyes away from Matt and Ricardo.

Sean had thought the soldier’s eyes might have been brown from a distance, but he found they were, in fact, a deep blue.

They lit upon Sean’s face with that same amusement and a touch of expectation.

After another pause, the guy held out his hand. “Aidan.”

Sean looked down at the offered hand. “This area is taken until we’re done with it. You can use it when we’re finished.”

“Huh, guess I should have asked Winter what kind of attitude I was going to be dealing with before I walked my ass all the way out here,” Aidan said, keeping his hand out in front of him.

Sean’s brow stitched at the mention of the general’s name. “General Winter sent you?”

“You’re Staff Sergeant Sean Harris, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m Sergeant Aidan Rider. Pleasure to meet you,” Aidan said, shaking his hand slightly in the air.

Sean resisted the urge to smack the man’s hand away and remind the man to salute.

They were a whole rank apart, so despite the formality of it being called for, even between soldiers in general, it shouldn’t have mattered to Sean.

Yet Aidan’s entire demeanor rankled Sean’s nerves, as though the man couldn’t be bothered to show even the slightest respect.

Reminding himself to stay calm, he took a deep breath.

“Right, what did the General want?” Sean asked, still ignoring Aidan’s hand.

Aidan withdrew his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching. “General Winter sent me out here because you’re looking at the new fifth member of your team.”

“What?” Matt barked, followed by a murmur from Nick in the background.

Sean was right there with them, but Aidan’s dark eyes were still locked on Sean’s face, and he had to keep his features straight.

He’d known General Winter was looking for someone to be their fifth and had been dreading the day.

However, Sean had expected more warning than to have the guy just show up.

And to say Aidan was already making a bad impression was putting it mildly.

Aidan raised a hand at the other three. “Sergeant Aidan Rider, field intelligence.”

There came another couple of murmurs from behind them, which Sean did his best to ignore.

He wasn’t surprised Command had included another intel member since they no longer had one.

Still, the idea of Clint’s spot being replaced was hard enough, but to hear it was his same position rubbed salt into the already stinging wound.

“Why weren’t we told about this beforehand?” Sean asked with a tightening jaw.

Aidan eyed him. “If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t given much warning either. I returned to the States, and they threw me over here and told me I was joining you guys.”

Not that Sean was surprised. It wasn’t as though Command cared one whit about whether someone was ready.

When they told someone to jump, the expectation was that you jumped and hoped you went high enough.

Privately, Sean had the impression Aidan was one of the few people who waited to jump, seeing if he could get away with letting everyone else do it instead.

“I showed up yesterday, met with General Winter, got some real sleep for the first time in days...well, close to real sleep, and now here I am,” Aidan said, gesturing grandly.

Upon closer inspection, Sean saw the dark circles under Aidan’s blue eyes.

Other than that, though, he didn’t seem tired, but Sean knew better than to trust that too much.

From what Aidan had said, he’d probably come from overseas, and when you were there, you learned to live on minimal sleep for long stretches of time.

It became a great deal harder to adjust when you first returned, though, Sean remembered, the jetlag was utter hell.

Sean looked toward his team. “Does this mean we’re being redeployed?”

“If there are any plans to deploy tomorrow or within a week, General Winter didn’t tell me. He told me to come over here and introduce myself. I think he wanted us to make nice since we’re going to be on the same team and all,” Aidan said, cocking a brow as he finished.

Somehow, Sean didn’t think Aidan was in the dark about the circumstances involving their lack of a fifth member. He wasn’t sure if he was an asshole or just a complete dumbass, but he found his temper steadily growing as Aidan continued to talk.

Did the guy think it would be as easy as showing up and pretending they were old friends?

Sean could barely process the idea that their new member was already here without so much as a warning, let alone pretend he knew the guy and liked him.

He knew he wouldn’t be doing himself or his team any favors by losing his temper, however, and he shoved it down, letting it boil away where no one else could see it.

“I think I need to speak with General Winter before we agree to anything,” Sean said.

“I mean, you’re more than free to try to get an appointment with him if you want. He called me out here and still made me sit around for almost an hour,” Aidan said with a laugh.

From behind them, Matt snorted. “Just an hour? Sounds like the general wanted to talk to you then. Last time Sean was there, he had to wait almost two.”

Sean turned to shoot Matt a mutinous glare. “He had something come up at the last second and had to deal with it before he could get around to our meeting.”

“Well, and you’d been visiting him three times a week up to that point.”

Sean turned back to Aidan, nostrils flaring. “That’s Matt. The big guy next to him is Ricardo, and the guy behind him is Nick.”

“Oh, I didn’t want to ask, but,” Aidan said, flopping his hand at the three men, who returned it with varying levels of enthusiasm.

“Either way, I’m speaking to General Winter before we do anything. I wasn’t warned about this, and we’re not ready,” Sean continued.

Aidan raised a wry brow but said nothing.

Sean didn’t think he had to since he could practically hear the smart comment that was probably fighting to come out of Aidan’s mouth as he looked over the four of them.

His initial assessment of Matt and Ricardo’s duel had probably been accurate, as all of them had been off their game since returning to the States.

That didn’t mean Sean wanted someone he didn’t know or trust to tell him that.

“Once I’ve spoken to him, we can reconvene and figure out what we’re going to do,” Sean informed them, looking at his team.

Ricardo shrugged. “If that’s what you wanna do, then so be it.”

With Ricardo offering no resistance, he could see Nick and Matt quickly followed suit.

The four of them might be losing their way and unsure how to get back, but at least Sean could rely on them for support when needed.

There was no way General Winter could think they were anywhere close to ready, especially not with Aidan.

Sean couldn’t say precisely what it was, though the man’s flippant attitude was irritating, and he could feel Aidan wouldn’t be a good fit for the team.

Sean nodded. “Good, then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll let you guys know what happens.”

With only a curt nod in Aidan’s direction, Sean walked off, ending the day’s training without saying a word.

He knew damn well General Winter would probably be booked for the day, as the man kept himself busier than Sean thought was possible.

He suspected General Winter was expecting a visit from him, however, considering he’d sent Aidan without so much as a warning.

Sean was going to speak to the older man and pray that, for once in his military career, he managed to get someone in charge to be understanding.

Walking through the trees, he heard Aidan’s wry voice again. “Not like I’m going to argue with him. I’m only supposed to be the second in command, after all.”

Sean froze, glad he was out of sight, as he stared at the nearest tree trunk, aghast.

He was supposed to be what?