Page 4 of Twins for the Secret Prince (Even More Babies #8)

EVA

E va was about to start her pep talk when she heard one of the new recruits mutter under his breath about having less time in the mess hall for lunch than the other squad. She was disappointed, but not surprised, to see that the complainer was none other than Private Sully.

“Do you have something you want to say to me, Private Sully?” she asked.

His eyes went wide. “No, Sergeant Bailey. Sorry, sergeant.”

“Having fifteen minutes less than the other squad is the least of your concerns, Private Sully. I’ve been watching you because you stand out in this squad. You do not want to stand out for the wrong reasons. Understood?”

“Yes, sergeant.”

“Good. Now, I made it clear this morning that I don’t accept anything less than perfection from my squad. Senior officers will be watching you during drills this afternoon. I mean it when I say you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons to them. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, sergeant!” the squad affirmed in unison.

“Good. If any one of you stands out for the wrong reasons, I will stand out because anything less than perfection is a blight on my record. And believe me when I say that if any one of you is responsible for blighting my record, you will live to regret it. Understood?”

“Yes, sergeant!”

“Good. So this afternoon, I want your focus to be laser-sharp. I want you to anticipate the order before it is called out. That is what I’m expecting from each and every one of you. I want you to channel your superhuman energy and be one with the drill. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sergeant!”

Eva saw that a few of the recruits were fighting smiles as they answered her.

She’d told them, during training, that to be the best at drill required a kind of sixth sense, not just tuning into the energy of everyone else on the squad so that they moved as one, but also developing a capacity to trust the mind and body to work as one.

It was one of the most rigorous and disciplined aspects of military life and, she knew from her own experience, one of the most difficult to master.

Military life thrived on fierce self-control, and drill was something akin to that, mixed with a little bit of mysticism.

“Good,” she said. “You have impressed me during your basic training because you’ve made excellent progress very quickly. Don’t forget everything I’ve taught you that’s gotten you to this point. You need to rise to the challenge this afternoon. You will be the best. Don’t let me down.”

“Yes, sergeant!” her squad shouted, and Eva heard determined pride in their voices.

As Eva led her squad in one last round of drill training, she remembered Sergeant Billings’ smug face as he’d said he was up to the challenge of seeing whose squad was best. True, she’d had a couple of weeks with her squad and it was Billings’ first day with his, but she was looking forward to seeing the smug look disappear.

She’d only known him for a few hours, and he already felt like her nemesis.

He embodied everything she’d come up against in the military — men looking down their noses at her or, worse, looking right through her like she didn’t exist.

Not all men in the military were like that, of course, and Eva was fortunate that her commanding officer, Lieutenant Marshall, seemed to see her for what she was capable of.

He wasn’t effusive in his praise, but he offered consistent, solid support.

That he was the exception was evidence of how much needed to change, but she knew that change happened slowly, one small victory at a time.

She needed to show Pete Billings that she was the better candidate for promotion. She would be the next sergeant major, and when that happened, it would be one of the small victories that led to wider change.

As the squads took their positions for drill, Eva looked to see which of the senior officers were joining them that afternoon.

Major Aston was there, one of the officers Eva knew she needed to impress.

In fact, he was the main one to impress.

She watched him scrutinize her squad as they took their positions.

She watched as Sergeant Billings led his squad out and pursed her lips together to prevent herself from calling him something she didn’t want her recruits to overhear.

He looked as confident and self-assured as he’d been when she was introduced to him, like he was not at all concerned about having his squad on view so soon after arriving on base.

Typical, she thought again. He assumes he’s going to steal this out from under my nose too.

She hoped his squad would be called on first so that her own would have something against which to benchmark their own drill, but Major Aston called on Eva’s squad instead.

She took her position in front of them, commanding their attention with her eyes as she tried to make eye contact with them all.

When she got to Private Sully, she opened her eyes slightly, willing him to understand that there was no room for mistakes and that he’d better be perfect.

He looked back at her with a determined look, with just the slightest hint of fear. Pleased that she didn’t see any defiance on his face, Eva took a deep breath and called out the first command.

Her squad moved as one, every movement synchronized almost to perfection, particularly in such early stages of their training. As she called out each command, she watched with pride and not just a little bit of relief that they were executing the drills so well.

Even Private Sully was on top form, apart from one slight hitch at the halfway mark, when he wobbled as he tried to keep his balance after doing a half-rotation.

Eva hoped and prayed that Major Aston didn’t have his eyes on Private Sully at that exact moment. But she told herself to stay focused on the actions of the entire squad, to be fully present for them as their drill commander.

When it was all over, she gave them a single nod, her sign that they had done very well indeed.

Eva took a deep breath and turned her eyes to the other squad.

She had to admit that Sergeant Billings cut an impressive figure as he strode in front of his squad, eyeing them up and giving them whatever unspoken communication he deemed necessary.

Eva told herself to tear her eyes away from his body as he strode directly into her field of vision, but she couldn’t help but look at his broad shoulders, strong back, and the way his torso narrowed at the hips.

He was living proof that it was possible to look elegant and graceful as well as strong in a military uniform.

His deep voice boomed out the first command, and Eva dragged her thoughts away from what he would look like out of his uniform and watched as the squad carried out their first moves.

Although they looked nervous to begin with, she had to admit that they, too, moved in near-perfect synchronization.

As Sergeant Billings called out more commands, Eva watched as his squad grew in confidence with each one.

She drew in a shaky breath, wondering if what she was looking at was a fluke, or evidence of the kind of training the sergeant was capable of.

He’d had a mere couple of hours to get his squad to the level she was watching play out in front of her eyes.

Eva’s heart sank, Armstrong’s words about her being the best trainer of new recruits they had ringing in her ears.

She and Sergeant Billings were rivals, plain and simple, and she didn’t like what she was seeing. She needed him to be a lesser rival, and with every passing minute, it was looking more and more improbable that it was the case.

When drill was over for the afternoon, Eva decided she needed to burn off some of the excess frustration and stress that was eating its way through her body. She changed quickly into her running gear and was heading out the door when she ran into Sergeant Billings.

“Great job with your squad,” he said, giving her a smile that turned her insides to melted butter. “They looked excellent out there today. A real credit to you.”

Eva stared at him as the red mist slipped down to cover her eyes. She wanted to shout at him that she didn’t need or deserve to be patronized, especially not when it was his very first day on the base. But instead, she counted to ten and then attempted a smile.

“Thank you. Excellent work with your squad out there today, too.”

Billings smiled again, showing an incredible set of teeth. “Thank you. Off for a run?”

“It’s not just drill training you’re good at. You’ve got great powers of deduction too.”

To his credit, Billings didn’t let his smile falter. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a detective.”

Eva cocked her head at him, not sure if he was teasing her or not. “Well, if this is anything to go by, you’d have been great at it.”

“I was actually going to ask if I could join you.”

“Oh.” Startled, Eva realized she did want to run with him, but would that be fraternizing with the enemy? “It’s well known on the base that I always run alone,” she said, feeling stupid as the words came out of her mouth.

“If you can make an exception just this once, I’d love the company. I can ask you questions about this place. But I understand if you’d rather not.”

Eva couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. They were mesmerizing — like chunks of the sky on the warmest summer’s day chiseled out and shaped into eyes.

What are you talking about? screamed the voice in her head. Don’t be ridiculous!

“I’m not waiting around, but if you catch up with me, I can’t stop you from running beside me,” Eva said.

“That’s an offer I can’t refuse,” he said, laughing.

Eva did some quick stretching before running off as fast as she could.

She hoped to make it to the far corner of the perimeter and keep running at such a pace that he had no hope of catching up to her.

Or, if he did, that he’d soon be so out of breath that he wouldn’t be able to ply her with a hundred questions.

Ten minutes in and she was in the zone, her muscles taking over to propel her along so that she could focus her mind on other things.

Chiefly, she ran several ideas about how she could stand out to the senior officers.

Excelling as a trainer and drill commander were the most obvious ways, but seeing Sergeant Billings in action had chipped away at her belief that she was — and always would be — the best.

Major Aston was eager for officers under his command to engage with the community in ways that were both necessary and authentic, to use his words.

When the weather posed challenges to the day-to-day lives of the local civilian population, it was easy to find opportunities to help.

Whether it was setting up and managing shelters after storms or evacuations or actions like helping dig people out of homes when the snow made virtual hermits out of them, Eva threw herself into every chance to help.

But the typically fair summer weather made things less simple. Eva didn’t want to hope for severe rainstorms or tornados, but such inclement weather would assist her in being able to get out into the community and take action for the better.

Deciding that she needed a more failsafe plan, Eva had the sudden thought to call one of her close contacts in the community, who ran a food bank for those who’d fallen on hard times.

If she could set up a regular pattern of involving her new recruits, it would give them valuable experience as well as strengthen the base’s links to the community, not to mention helping out people in need.

She was so focused on working through how to put her plan into action that she didn’t hear Billings approaching until he was right beside her.

“I had to borrow some roller skates just to catch you,” he said, falling into step with her.

“Yes, because roller skates work so well on grass.”

He laughed. “Okay, you caught me in an untruth. I was trying to make the point that you run really fast.”

“If I’m too quick for you, feel free to fall back a few paces.”

“Let’s see if I can keep the pace,” he said, not sounding at all out of breath. They ran in silence for a couple of minutes and then he asked, “Were you raised in Alaska?”

“I was, yes.”

“Do you know I’d never been here before yesterday? I had no idea what I was missing.”

“It’s only the most beautiful state in the whole US of A.”

“I think you might be right,” Billings replied. “And the smell — what is that smell? It’s intoxicating. Like cinnamon and freshly baked cookies.”

“I guess you’ve never smelled fresh air before. Let me guess, you’re from New York?”

He laughed. “Does fresh air really smell like fresh cookies?”

“My little brother used to say whenever he went outside that it’s what green smells like.”

“That’s an excellent way to put it,” Billings said.

“Some newcomers find their first summer here difficult because the sun never really sets. They say it messes with their internal clock.”

“I’m not worried. I can buy an eye mask.”

“And your first winter here might be a bit of a shock.” Eva would bring up every negative about Alaska she could if it got him to leave.

“I love snow.”

“Well, that’s good, but unless you like a lot of it, for half the year, you might be singing a different tune come January. Not to mention that twenty-four-hour days in summer mean twenty-four-hour nights in winter.”

“Okay, well, thanks for the warning.” A few strides later, he added, “Is there anything else I should be warned about?”

“There is one other thing, actually. You made it pretty clear when I met you earlier today that you think you’re a shoo-in to be the next sergeant major.” She paused for dramatic effect and then added, “I’d like to invite you to reconsider that assumption.”

“Is that so?”

Eva could see the way the corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly.

“It is,” she said. “We’ll see in time who the last man standing is. But I can give you a hint — it won’t be you.”

“I guess it won’t be you, either, since you’re not a man.”

“I was just using the turn of phrase. You can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be me.”

With those words, Eva sprinted ahead, sincerely hoping that Sergeant Billings was eating her dust.