Текст книги "Sleeping With the Enemy"

Автор книги: Kaitlyn O'Connor

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Chapter Seven

    Absolute shock hit Sybil as if she’d been punched. Never in her life, certainly not in her military career, had she been assaulted in such a way. Rage chased the shock in a counter wave. She balled her hands into fists. “What did you say to me, Corporal?”

    He didn’t get the chance to respond. Powell grabbed him by one shoulder and half spun him around to punch him in the face. Caught off guard, the blow was far more effective than it might have been otherwise. Spencer staggered away from the blow, trying to catch himself and lost the battle. Almost the moment he hit the floor, however, he rolled to his feet, uttered a bellow of rage, and charged Powell.

    Holly screamed ear-splittingly.

    “Have you completely lost your mind, Spencer?” Sybil shouted as he butted Powell with his head and shoulders, carrying him across the room and into the wall. She heard Powell’s head make a sickening sound as it struck the wall. His eyes rolled back in his head. He slid down the wall when Spencer released him and turned, fixing her with a deadly look.

    Her heart slammed against her chest wall, knocking the breath from her, but she shook it off, assuming a fighting stance. “Don’t do anything you’re going to regret, soldier!” she said warningly.

    Not surprisingly, he was too enraged to listen. He charged her. Sybil waited until the last possible moment. Instead of meeting his charge, however, she leapt out of the way, whirling as she landed and driving her foot into his back. Pain shot through her ankle. Gritting her teeth, she resumed an attack stance, watching Spencer as he slammed into the floor from her blow and then rolled up again. Before he could get from his knees to his feet, the door of the observatory flew open and Anka, followed by two other soldiers, raced inside. Anka caught Spencer around the shoulders and lifted him bodily from the floor as if he weighed no more than a child. Spencer wrestled to free himself from Anka’s hold and then abruptly threw himself forward and down, flipping Anka over his back.

    Sybil sucked in a sharp breath. Before Spencer could follow through, however, Anka was on his feet and facing his adversary. Spencer had been reduced by his rage to snarling and grunting, but he managed to throw a few insults in her direction as he attacked Anka, throwing three quick punches in succession. Anka blocked each strike and then slammed a fist into Spencer’s face. His head snapped back at the blow. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell toward the floor like a felled tree, stiff as board.

    Aghast, Sybil stared down at the man. “Is he… dead?”

    “Not yet,” Anka growled, glaring at the unconscious man. He seemed to collect himself with an effort and tamp his anger. “Are you hurt?”

    Sybil looked down at her foot. “I think I might have sprained my ankle when I kicked him.”

    Surging toward her, he scooped her off her feet before she even realized his intention and carried her into her sleeping quarters, settling her on the bed. Crouching beside the bed, he gently lifted her leg, supporting the calf and foot, and studied the knot that had sprung up. His expression hardened. “I’ll have a droid scan it. It might be broken.”

    Sybil didn’t object. The pain had started to set in the moment the shock began to wear off. “Do you think Major Powell will be alright?”

    He studied her face for a long moment. “I’ll check on him,” he said abruptly, turning to go.

    The urge to stop him smote her as he reached the door but she curbed it. Listening intently, she struggled to interpret what was going on in the observatory, but discovered that Anka and his men were speaking their own language. After a few minutes, she saw one of the men who’d accompanied Anka carry Spencer out over his shoulder. Anka appeared in her door a few minutes later. “Powell has come around, but we’ll be taking him down for a scan to check his injuries.”

    “What are they going to do with Spencer?”

    His lips tightened. “He’s to be confined… alone.”

    She stopped him when he turned to go. “Anka.”

    He turned back, lifting his brows questioningly.

    “I’m sorry about the way I behaved this morning.”

    Surprise flickered in his eyes. “We’ll talk… later.”

    Disappointment wafted through her when he’d gone and anxiety. She couldn’t tell that her apology had had much impact. Swallowing the sudden impulse to cry for no damned reason at all, she settled back against her pillow and stared at the ceiling.

    “My god!” Holly muttered, plunking down on her own bunk weakly. “What in the world happened?”

    Sybil thought it was a rhetorical question, but she’d been trying to understand it herself. “I don’t know. According to his file, Spencer’s had some discipline problems in the past, but nothing like this. At a guess, he spent the night brooding over the fact that he was sent back here while we stayed to take part in the festival and was spoiling for a fight long before we got back. I think that only fueled the fire-the fact that none of us came back until this morning.”

    Holly cleared her throat. “I got to talking with Beckt-about their culture, you know?– and just completely lost track of time.”

    Sybil sent her a sour look. “You, too? That’s what happened to me-except I was talking to Anka.”

    Holly’s face reddened with anger. “Are you insinuating that I’m lying?”

    “Are you insinuating that I am?” Sybil shot back at her.

    “If that’s true, why was Spencer screaming ‘whore’ and ‘slut’ at you?”

    “Because he has a nasty mind and a fertile imagination?” Sybil retorted angrily. Why the hell was it that men could bed hop as much they pleased and yet the very damned moment a woman took a lover she was automatically a fucking whore? Was that just? Was that reasonable? It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair, and yet it was fact of life-always had been, always would be. There were two standards-one for men and one for women. And the worst of it was that women were largely responsible for it! Here was Holly, judging her, when she didn’t have any right whatsoever to do so, and instantly believing Spencer just because he said so!

    Holly sniffed. “I’m not in the habit of sleeping with strange men,” she said stiffly.

    “Neither am I!” Sybil said tightly. “Not that I don’t have a perfect right to do so if the mood strikes me, damn it! I’m single and I’m an adult and, if I have to take on the responsibilities of an adult, then I also have the same freedoms as any other adult!”

    “I saw you leave with Anka-we all did.”

    “So? I saw you drag back in this morning, and Powell and Kushbu, so don’t take that ‘holier than thou’ attitude with me! At least I’m not married!”

    “I am not married either!” Holly said angrily.

    “Well, I wouldn’t brag about it!” Sybil snapped. “What are you, forty? And Powell damned sure is!”

    “I was married,” Holly said defensively. “I’m divorced. It isn’t disgraceful for a woman who’s been married before to… uh… consider finding another husband!”

    “Says who?”

    “Everybody! Single young women shouldn’t… well, they aren’t used to living with a man and it’s different when you are.”

    Sybil gaped at her. “When were you born? Where were you born, for that matter?”

    Holly glared at her but apparently decided to keep the rest of her opinion to herself. Sybil just wished she’d kept all of it to herself! She stewed over it for a while and finally realized she wasn’t nearly as angry at Holly as she was upset by what had happened between her and Anka.

    He’d been cool and polite but he hadn’t unbent even a little when she’d apologized. That could mean only one thing as far as she could see-he regretted everything and he was trying to build a barrier to keep her out.

    The urge to weep swept over her again, but she beat it back, refusing to give in to her emotions.

    She decided after a while that he was probably right. They shouldn’t have done it. The situation was already a crisis waiting to happen. Allowing themselves to get emotionally entangled was only going to complicate things further.

    Not that she thought he was in any danger of that! She couldn’t actually blame him for trying to protect himself and the interests of his people, though.

    Well fine! If he wanted to pretend it had never happened, she could pretend with the best of them, damn him!

    The creepy droids arrived about the time she finished arguing with Holly, scanned her ankle and wrapped it. She guessed that meant it wasn’t broken. It was just a sprain, which she’d thought all the time-meaning she’d permanently fucked up her tendon. She refused the medicine they offered for the pain. She thought it was probably alright, but she didn’t want to take the chance of being knocked senseless and being defenseless.

    Of course, it didn’t appear that Spencer would be allowed to cause any more trouble, but no one was exactly friendly and if Holly, Major Powell, and Dr. Kushbu were going to be hatching a story to cover their asses, she damned well wasn’t going to be left out!

    She was left out, though. When meal time rolled around, one of the creepy droids brought her food to her. Everyone else left to dine in the mess hall. Trying not to feel like Anka had ordered it just to steer clear of her, she ate what she could, set the tray aside, and lay down to stew.

    Almost the worst of it was that she couldn’t even enjoy the night she’d spent with him– not now. It embarrassed her when she finally remembered what she’d said to him-which was probably why he was avoiding her like she had leprosy now!

    “For crying out loud!” she muttered angrily. “I was half asleep, damn it!”

    Of course she’d meant it-in a way, but she sure as hell hadn’t meant to say it! And it wasn’t completely true anyway-just sort of. The truth was that she’d had to work twice as hard to make it in the service than she would have if she’d been swinging a dick. Anybody could say any damned lie they wanted about ‘equality’ but there was really no such thing. She hadn’t dared get involved with any of the service men, fearful that it would show up on her record and earn her a reprimand that would go against her the next time she was up for a promotion, or a demotion, or maybe even a discharge. She’d had a few interesting encounters, but never interesting enough to make her lose her head and that went for her time before she’d entered the service. She figured if they couldn’t convince her there was no point in ‘doing’ it.

    She certainly hadn’t consciously made a decision to ‘save’ herself! She supposed, after a while, though, she’d begun to think that way, to figure that she’d already missed the boat, so to speak, and she might as well wait until some guy came along that really tipped the scales.

    And wasn’t it just typical that he wasn’t even human? Talk about unattainable!

    She frowned at the thought, wondering if she’d been subconsciously considering that as a point in his favor. After all, it wouldn’t be something that could come back to haunt her. At least, it shouldn’t have been. Now she wasn’t so certain. Unless everybody else decided to keep their guilty little secret about romping with the aliens, she could be in deep shit! Especially if they were willing to lie through their teeth like Holly, swear they hadn’t done a thing, and that she had.

    Not that they could prove she had, but if they ganged up on her… Hell, if Powell decided to report her she’d be cooked!

    It dawned on her abruptly that there was no way it wouldn’t come out, regardless of whether Powell and the others decided to keep quiet about it. Spencer certainly wasn’t going to… unless he decided to use it to blackmail them into dropping all charges against him. Given the situation, his behavior was mutinous, not just insubordination, and his attack on his superior officers, both her and Powell, would also carry heavy charges. He would be looking at spending years in the military penitentiary. Considering his personality, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he’d try to blackmail them, she realized.

    So they were screwed!

    She sighed, covering her face with her hands, trying to figure out how one innocent adventure in exploring her sexuality could go so nightmarishly wrong! How was it that other people managed to have sex without landing in such an awful predicament?

    She should’ve just had the damned thing sewn shut! She couldn’t even have sex one damned time without it turning into a fucking galactic incident!

    It wasn’t fair! It just wasn’t fair! And, unfortunately, railing against fate wasn’t going to do her any good at all.

    Hearing a commotion of arrival outside her door, she immediately thought about Powell and decided to get up to see if they’d brought him back. Hopefully, he wasn’t in too bad a shape and he could think what to do. He had more riding on the outcome, after all, than she did. It would be his career and his marriage!

    She’d only managed to hop about half the distance between her bunk and the door, however, when it opened and Anka appeared in the doorway. She halted abruptly, trying to keep her balance on one foot. His lips tightened. He surged toward her and caught her before she could fall. “I thought, maybe, it was Powell coming back,” she said uncomfortably. “Is he alright?”

    “He’s being treated for a concussion. We need to transfer him to your facilities, however. This is why I came. Your base commander wishes to speak directly to you.”

    Sybil went cold all over. She gaped at him in horror. “Me?”

    He frowned. “You are second in command of the mission and Powell is no condition to speak to him.”

    Sybil nodded, feeling like she might throw up.

    “With your permission, I’ll carry you.”

    There was no warmth in his eyes or in his voice. It was as if he was speaking to a complete stranger. Sybil felt like crying. “I can manage, thank you,” she said stiffly.

    Uttering an impatient sound, he scooped her up despite her protest. “I told them that you would speak to them in the next thirty minutes,” he said tightly. “It will take you far longer than that to hop down to communications. In any case, I need to take you to see Powell so that you can accurately report his condition.”

    Sybil set her chin at him, but she was far more hurt than angry and looked away almost at once. She would’ve almost preferred being drawn and quartered, though, to being lugged around by a man that acted like she’d… betrayed him! Or taken his virginity! She didn’t know why he was behaving like a complete asshole!

    It occurred to her after a few minutes to wonder if he was angry about the virginity thing. She didn’t know why he would be. Although she supposed he might’ve been disappointed in her performance, his behavior seemed a little excessive. He’d still gotten off, damn it! She’d washed the evidence off and she wasn’t ignorant just because she’d never actually had sex! Maybe it hadn’t been all that great from his point of view, but it wasn’t as if she’d left him hanging!

    Their arrival at the room where she’d been taken upon her arrival effectively distracted her from her personal problems. Powell looked awful. Anka set her on her feet-correction foot-and she used the side of the gurney Powell was lying on to help her balance as she hopped closer to look at him. “Major Powell?”

    “Sybil?”

    He didn’t open his eyes and he’d barely moved his lips, but at least he was conscious and he recognized her voice.

    “You look like hell, Sir.”

    “I feel like hell. The son-of-a-bitch cracked my damned skull.”

    “Ank… Commander L’Kartay told me they were going to get you home so you could get the treatment you need there. I’m going to speak to the base commander now.”

    He opened his eyes a slit. “Watch yourself, Lieutenant.”

    She studied his face for a long moment. “He’s going to demand to know what happened.”

    “I know.”

    “I’m not going to tell him a lie, Sir.”

    Anger flickered across his face. “I didn’t suggest that you should. I’m just saying… watch it.”

    “Understood, Sir.”

    “Do you?”

    “I believe so.”

    “I’m depending on your discretion, Lieutenant.”

    “I’ll do my best, Sir.”

    She debated with her urges for a moment and finally reached to squeeze his hand reassuringly. “You’re going to be alright.”

    Anka was studying their hands when she turned, his expression unreadable. As soon as she started toward him, however, he met her and lifted her against his chest again. She looped an arm around his shoulders that time. It was too uncomfortable to do otherwise, even though she disliked the sense of intimacy. She was sorry she had when they reached the communications center. All eyes turned to the door when they entered and there was no doubt in her mind that nobody missed a thing.

    With every appearance of being completely oblivious, Anka crossed the room and set her down on a chair. He turned to look at the man seated before the console as soon as he’d straightened away from her. “Is the channel open?”

    “Yes, Sir.”

    “Put it on speaker.”

    Meaning she wasn’t to have a private conversation-not that she’d expected to! She wouldn’t have minded being monitored. She just didn’t appreciate the fact that everyone in the room would be listening.

    “We have Lieutenant Hunter,” the communications officer announced.

    “Lieutenant?”

    “Yes, Sir. I’m here.”

    “What’s this about Powell?”

    Sybil’s belly clenched. “I didn’t witness the entire episode, Sir. I was in my quarters when I heard the argument. When I came out to try to prevent it from escalating, Cpl. Spencer exploded and attacked the major.”

    “Cpl. Spencer?”

    “Yes, Sir.”

    There was a prolonged silence. “You’re being monitored.”

    It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. The hair on the back of Sybil’s neck prickled. She chewed her lower lip, refusing to look at any of the Sumpturians around her. “Not that I know of, Sir,” she lied.

    “Never mind. We’ll get to the bottom of this once you’re all back. We’ve arranged with the Sumptrians to transport you all back to base.”

    Dismay filled her. It should’ve been a relief. “All of us?”

    “Yes. They’ve agreed to release all hostages.”

    Shock travelled through her at that. She supposed, after a moment, that that was exactly what they were but it was certainly not an attitude that was going to make it easy on either side to come to any kind of peaceful agreement. “We’re not hostages, Sir. We’re guests of the Sumptrians.”

    There was another prolonged silence. “We’ll debrief you when we have you safely back at base.”

    Joy! That was something wonderful to look forward to! “Yes, Sir.”

    “When will we be leaving?” she asked Anka when the communications officer closed the com unit.

    “Drs. Rains and Kushbu are already aboard the craft. They’re transporting Cpl. Spencer and Major Powell now.”

    Sybil nodded. Sighing, she got to her feet. Anka slipped an arm around her. “I think I can walk,” she said tightly.

    “I think you won’t,” Anka retorted grimly, lifting her up and carrying her from the communications room.

    Sybil warred with her pride and her hurt as he strode down the corridor with her. Finally, the hurt won out. “Won’t you at least tell me why you’re angry with me?”

    His lips tightened. He seemed to wrestle with himself. “I’m not angry.”

    Sybil sighed. “Fine! Don’t tell me. I don’t suppose it matters anyway.”

    Anka muttered something under his breath, but he needn’t have bothered. He spoke in his language. “What happened last night between us shouldn’t have.”

    Sybil felt her chin wobble threateningly. “I don’t see why not!”

    “It shouldn’t have because I’m trying to prevent a war here, Sybil.”

    She sniffed. “It was a beautiful thing…”

    “Don’t!” he said harshly. “Don’t romanticize it. It was sex, Sybil. It was never going anywhere and we both knew it-at least I thought you understood.”

    As if she was some starry eyed kid! “I’m not romanticizing! It was great sex.”

    “Thank you,” he said tightly.

    She noticed he didn’t say it was great sex for him, damn his hide! “Well, if it was just sex, then I certainly don’t see the problem. People do that all the time.”

    “It isn’t going to be a problem for you when you get back? The fight between the other two officers had nothing to do with the festival?”

    Put that way, he had a point. “Well, it’s our problem, damn it!”

    “It’s our problem! Do you think your people won’t use it as an excuse to start a war with us when we return you and more than half the crew is injured? All of the military personnel who took part in the mission.”

    “You think we’re going to try to blame this on you to save our asses?” Sybil demanded angrily.

    He sent her a look that made her long to punch him in the nose.

    “It amazes the hell out of me that you even wanted to make love to me if you thought I was that kind of person!” she said angrily.

    “Sex.”

    She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fine! Have it your way! But let’s not get too nicey nasty about it! Fuck me!”

    She thought she saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes. It made her angrier and she subsided into silence, glaring at the space in front of them until she saw that they were approaching a ramp. That distracted her, particularly once she realized that it was actually the ramp into the ship-docked directly into the corridor.

    The bottom seemed to fall out of her stomach. He’d said they were going now, but she hadn’t really registered it, she realized in dismay. She swallowed several times convulsively and managed to keep from yielding to her emotions, but she was relieved beyond measure when he carried her into a small compartment and set her down. When he’d steadied her, he reached down and grasped the bunk that she’d thought was attached to the wall. With no more than a couple of pulls, he’d transformed it from a bunk to a chair. He helped her into it and pulled safety harnesses over her, fastening them.

    “Where is everybody else?”

    “Separate compartments.”

    Her dismay increased. She should’ve just been relieved that she didn’t have to deal with her crewmates at the moment, but it was no comfort to be taking off in an alien craft, without any protective gear, alone. He straightened. “We’ll be taking off in a few minutes. Don’t remove the safety harnesses until we break free of the planet.”

    Feeling a little faint, Sybil nodded wordlessly, lifting her hands to grip the restrains. He studied her for a long moment, looked like he might say something and then turned abruptly and left, sealing the door behind him.

    Alone with her thoughts, Sybil considered giving in to her emotions for a while, but she was just angry enough, and just worried enough that she might be under observation, to hold it back. She thought it might have made her feel better if she’d indulged, but she had no idea how long the trip would take-not as long as their trip out had, she was sure.

    She hadn’t realized she might not get another chance to speak to Powell! It occurred to her forcefully now, which meant they were probably going to be separated before they had time to get their stories straight!

    Damn it!

    She sighed. Well, she’d told Powell she wasn’t going to lie and she’d also promised to ‘watch herself’. He would be expecting, or should be, that she’d told them he’d had an argument with Spencer that had resulted in the fight. If he hadn’t already thought up a reasonable lie to explain it, he would surely be thinking long and hard on the trip home. In any case, she’d told the truth. She hadn’t heard the argument, just the loud voices. She didn’t know what it was about. She thought she did, but she didn’t have to lie about that.

    They were going to ask her what she thought had started it, though, she realized. She thought she would stick to the night before when Spencer had behaved so badly he’d been removed. It was the truth and it was enough to have spawned the argument, particularly when Powell had threatened to bring charges against him in front of all of them.

    She would’ve felt a lot better, however, if she could have discussed the matter with the entire group-everyone except Spencer, anyway. Neither Dr. Kushbu or Dr. Rains were military personnel, but they’d been attached to a military operation. They’d be questioned, too.

    She was so busy worrying with her thoughts that it was several moments before she realized the faint vibrations she could feel beneath her feet must mean that the ship was preparing for launch. Her belly tightened. Closing her eyes, she focused on breathing slowly and deeply to ease the tension trying to take hold of her. The vibrations increased steadily and then, so abruptly she didn’t have time to brace herself, she felt her stomach drop as the ship shot skyward. A wave of nausea washed over her, but she realized the pull of G’s wasn’t even close to what she’d expected. Surprise flickered through her. Venus’ gravity wasn’t quite the equal of Earth’s but it should still have produced a hell of a force against her.

    Either they hadn’t taken off at the speeds she was used to in a launch, or the ship had some technology that prevented the occupants from feeling the effects as they should have.

    She wasn’t likely to find out which, and realized abruptly why she’d been taken immediately to the small compartment. They weren’t taking any chances that she might see anything she could report-which was also why she would be confined for the duration. Opening her eyes, she looked around the tiny compartment, wondering just how long she could expect to be confined in it. Days? Weeks?

    She shook that thought. If there was anything at all to the old UFO reports, they had the capability of exceeding the speed of light. They surely wouldn’t use that kind of speed within a solar system, though, especially if it included folding space-which everyone had always assumed it must. So… would they make light speed? Or would they be traveling at sub-light? It only took the sun’s light eight minutes to reach earth, so half the speed of light from Venus to Earth

    “This is Commander l’Kartay speaking. Please return to your seats and fasten your safety harnesses. We will be landing at moon base in five minutes.”

    Having located the speaker by the time he’d finished his announcement, Sybil glared at it. She hadn’t even taken her damned harness off!

    Maybe it was his idea of a joke?

    He hadn’t seemed in the mood for humor.

    She was still convinced it was an exaggeration until she felt the ship settle with a definite thump against something solid.

    The door opened while she was still trying to figure out how to unfasten the harness. Anka approached her and crouched in front of her, pushing her hands away. It took an effort to resist the urge to ask him if they had arrived, but she managed it. She wasn’t about to let on how impressed she was if it killed her!

    “There is no docking facility here to accommodate our ship. You’ll need a suit for the trip to the airlock.”

    Rising, he moved across the room and opened a locker. The suit he removed was much like the one he was wearing-very much like the suits they all wore in their Venus base. It hadn’t occurred to her that they were protective gear. They didn’t look anything like the clumsy suits they had to use for protection on the moon-because of the lack of atmospheric pressure.

    “Aren’t these for the conditions on Venus?” she asked doubtfully.

    He shrugged. “They are for any conditions not conducive to life. It will protect you,” he said, extending it toward her.

    Still doubtful and uneasy, she took it. She paused in the act of pulling it on, however, and decided to discard the clothing he’d provided. Not only did she not relish the thought of being seen in it when she went in to decontamination, she also didn’t want it around as a reminder. Anka, who’d been occupied with searching for gauntlets, boots, and a helmet, did a double take when he glanced at her.

    She ignored the look, removing both the skirt and the top, although she was actually a little reluctant to discard the latter. She also didn’t like the idea of having nothing but her panties beneath the suit, but the thought of having the top around as a reminder was enough to bolster her decision.

    The suit was far too big. It didn’t surprise her. The ferils were a tall race. Anka was no more than average among his own people even if he was damned tall next to humans. “I hope the fit isn’t going to be a problem.”

    “It won’t be,” he said grimly, holding out the rest of the gear she needed.

    She took them and pulled the boots on, taking care to seal them with the suit and then took the helmet and fastened it, leaving the gauntlets for last. Anka checked the fittings behind her. She resented it in a way, but she wasn’t certain enough she’d done it right to bet her life on it.

    “Wait here.”

    Sighing, she sat down on the chair. He returned a few minutes later wearing his helmet and gauntlets and her belly clenched. “You’re going to escort us inside?”

    “I am.”

    Sybil felt her throat close. “Do really think that’s a good idea?”

    He sent her a piercing look. “Perhaps not the best, but I intend to hand you over personally.”

    “Why don’t send some of your men?” she asked plaintively.

    “I never ask my men to do anything I wouldn’t do myself,” he said tightly.

    “But… you’re the commander!” she said, distressed.

    “Exactly!”

    Sybil bit her lip. “Damn it, Anka! You’re more of a target and you know it!”

    “You believe I’ll be a target?”

    She swallowed with an effort against the knot in her throat. “I don’t know. I just… I just don’t want you to risk it. Please don’t! It isn’t worth taking a chance. You said you were trying to prevent a war. If anything was to happen to you…”

    “If anything ‘happened’ to any of my men, the end result would be the same,” he said grimly. “Make no mistake about that. None of my people are expendable.”