Beau smiled coyly to himself. After a few minutes of disengaging the attachments and cables holding him prisoner, he crawled from the Blackbird and was assisted once again to firm ground.
Garrett walked toward him and motioned the other men away. “I was afraid you would do something like that. You have the commander and lieutenant real pissed off.” Garrett turned to see if anyone was watching, then held his hand out. “Give me the battery.”
“What?” Beau was stunned. “I don’t—”
“Cut the crap,” he said smiling. “How do you think I know? They’ll find the battery in the suit. Hand it over.”
Sheepishly, he handed the battery to Garrett.
“Now go get your physical. Krysti is waiting.”
“Thanks Ted.”
In the distance, Beau spied Krysti waving. She wore white tennis shoes, tight jeans, and a red short-sleeved button shirt tied in a knot in front. Her auburn curls were pulled tight in a ponytail. Her left arm was wrapped around her son’s shoulders. She looked more like a teenager instead of a mother with a twelve-year-old son.
“Git!” bellowed Ted. He held the battery in his hand, grinned, and stuffed it in his pants pocket.
Krysti, along with an angry commander, led Beau to the infirmary for the check-up. Justin tagged along.
“You weren’t gone long. Where’d you go?” Krysti asked.
“Just to the stars and back again,” Beau said nonchalantly.
“Come on, quit kidding.”
For the next few minutes Beau explained the details of the flight as to how far and how fast he had gone. She listened to the story in amazement, unaware of the Blackbird’s capabilities. The only things he left out were the fact he had gone beyond the limit and that his thoughts had been on her.
The commander followed the two into the small medical room and waited impatiently as Beau went behind a screen and changed into his Jockey shorts for the physical. The commander snatched the discarded suit and disappeared.
After the flight Beau described, she expected to see his vital signs elevated, but they weren’t. She couldn’t believe his physical conditioning: pulse rate 50 and his blood pressure was 118 over 65. It was as though he had been resting all day instead of traveling at five times the speed of a bullet.
Krysti checked his heartbeat three times, and found that the touch of his body excited her. For a moment she regretted the latex gloves. She could sense her own heart rate increasing. This was not supposed to happen during a check-up. It had never happened before, even when she checked Michael. This was supposed to be a job and she would conduct herself properly. She shook her head in anger.
“Problem?” Beau asked when he noticed her shaking her head.
“No,” she came back, feeling the flush in her face. “You’re fine.”
Then Beau asked her the question she had been dreading all day. “You wanna go to the officers’ party tonight?”
“Beau, I’d love to, but I promised to go with Michael,” she said, while wondering if what she had with Michael might be a mistake. She had promised to go with him and she would not break a promise even though she felt badly but didn’t know why.
“I understand. Well, I’ll probably see you there,” he said, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.
“Michael and I are going to dinner with Sunday and Ruben first, then—”
“That little shit!” interrupted Beau.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. Now I know why Ruben was laughing when he invited me to dinner with them tonight. He even said find a date if you can,” said Beau apologetically. “I’ll tell him I can’t go.”
“Nothing of the kind. I’m glad you’re going with us,” she said sincerely.
Krysti gazed at Beau dressed in only his shorts. A smile lit up her face and she could hardly suppress a chuckle. She held her hand up and made a point to wiggle her middle finger and started to bend over.
“Now when I tell you I want you to cough.”
Beau jumped from the table to the floor, grabbed the towel, and held it in front of him. “Whoa, wait! A shot, anything you want, but not that.” He continued to back away from her trying desperately to defend himself as she moved nearer. “This isn’t part of the physical. You can’t!” he pleaded.
It was Krysti who caught Beau off guard. She started to laugh and took her glove off. “I’m sorry, I was just kidding. I just couldn’t help it when I saw you in your shorts.” She continued to laugh. “You seemed so helpless.”
With a sigh of relief, Beau relaxed and laughed at his own predicament. They were interrupted when Sullivan burst into the room breathless.
“Excuse me, Doctor Socorro. Have you finished with Beau?”
“Yes”
“Good,” said Sully. He turned to Beau. “You know those Special Forces Marines visiting the base?”
“Yeah.”
“Well Kipp challenged them to a game of football. Ruben’s trying to explain to Kipp, they don’t mean soccer. Those Marines are serious.”
“Who do we have?”
“There’s BJ, Ruben, Fitz, Pick, Marix, Cozmo, Dean, your brothers, me, and you. But we haven’t got a prayer without you. Shit, those Marines are huge and they want to play with eleven.”
His eyes turned to Krysti and for a moment he appeared to be more like a kid asking permission to play. “Well, doc? Do I clear waivers? Am I safe enough to play?”
She laughed and pushed him away. “Of course you are.”
He turned to Sully. Like an eager boy he said, “I’ll change. Tell Ruben, I’ll be there. Krysti, why don’t you come watch? We might need a doctor.” He was already opening the door and aimed for the gym and his clothes.
“Sure,” she shouted, as the door slammed shut. She turned and grabbed Sully who was returning to the game. “Why do you need Beau so bad?”
“With him, we won’t lose,” was all he said.
Krysti put her equipment away and made her way to the field. If she were going to bet money, she would have placed it on the Marines. They were bigger, younger, and appeared to be organized — thirty Marines ready to play.
In the middle of the field, Ruben shook his head at Mullholland in a negative manner. He was giving him a crash course in American Football. Krysti saw Sunday and made her way to where she and two other women watched. She recognized them both. One was Natasha, and the other was Ted Garrett’s daughter, Tracy. Ruben had drafted Tracy’s husband, Gene Demarr.
As Ruben walked from the field, he noticed Krysti and rolled his eyes. “Damn, these gorillas are gonna kill us.”
Marix strolled over to the women. “Seems to me like those guys are a tough group. I’d say they have it in the bag, but we should have some fun. Kipp was a little premature in his challenge. Ruben!” he yelled. “I have the plays set. Everybody is on the field. Let’s run a few.”
“G’day ladies,” said Mullholland.
Ruben shook his head in defeat. “Where’s Beau?”
“He’s coming,” confirmed Krysti. “Ruben, the five of us should have a wonderful time tonight.”
“It’s okay, five will fit in my van.” His eyes lit up. “Shit! Beau knows?”
“Yes.”
“Damn, he’s gonna kill me.” Ruben grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, well, on to the slaughter.”
Sunday yelled encouragement. “Good luck!”
With a bow to the women, Ruben waved his hand toward the team. “G’day mates, cheerio, and all that stuff. Hell, half our guys aren’t even American. Where’s Beau?” he mumbled as he ran onto the field.
Curiosity more than anything made Krysti ask Sunday what was so important about one man. Sunday explained the past about the high school rivalries — even the fact Beau’s wife and son were dead, but she eluded details of how the deaths occurred. And she didn’t tell about his exploits in Israel, which she felt wasn’t her place to do, and besides, she wasn’t sure how Krysti would handle the story.