STELLAR: The Portal Connection Book 1, page 5
“Okay, I’ll keep the jokes to a minimum,” he said, giving her a wink. He walked back around her bed, resuming his seat in the chair beside her. “Wanna watch TV?”
Jacinta looked around her, but he pointed upwards. Hanging from the ceiling above her bed was a small white box with a screen. She’d be lucky if an elephant was clear on it. She handed him the white box that controlled it.
“Go for it,” she told him.
He flicked through the limited number of channels, settling on an animal documentary with that famous British guy narrating it. Despite the odd circumstances, it was actually reassuring. A bit of normalcy in her helter skelter world. Together, the two of them watched the remainder of the show, and half of the next one before her dinner arrived.
As the nurse had said, a small bowl of golden brown liquid was under the cloche. A cup of red jelly sat to one side, and a small plastic tub with a lid that said apple juice sat on the other.
“They spared no expense,” the major said.
Jacinta huffed a laugh and winced. “Cut that out. Funny isn’t your thing,” she told him.
He snorted and went back to watching the television.
The broth didn’t smell that appealing, but as the first spoonful hit her tongue, Jacinta moaned, and her stomach gurgled in a way that it hadn’t since she’d woken.
“Too hot?” the major asked, leaning forward in concern.
Salt tantalised her taste buds, and a strong beefy flavour followed. It was the best damn thing she’d ever tasted, although it could be because she was truly starving.
“Too good,” she told him, picking up the bowl and drinking the rest.
He watched her avidly, probably fascinated with her lack of manners. Next came the jelly. Jacinta took a heaping spoonful and plunged it in her mouth, and nearly sprayed it everywhere. Good gods, what the hell was in that shit?
Quickly she swallowed it down, frantically reaching for the apple juice and whimpering when she couldn’t prise the foil back. The major took it from her, opening the container and handing it back. Jacinta snatched it from him, took a large mouthful and swirled it around her mouth. After the salty tang of the soup, the overly sweet jelly was revolting. It was like eating a spoonful of jam with extra sugar to boot. How anyone could stomach it was beyond her.
“No good?” he asked.
“Revolting.”
He snickered. “Mind if I … ?”
“Go for it, don’t blame me for not warning you. That stuff is shit.”
The major laughed then, the movement changing his entire face. Jacinta stared at him for a moment. When he wasn’t scowling, he was actually kinda pretty.
He gave her a wink, took a big spoonful, and she was satisfied when his whole body froze, his eyes opening wide in alarm. The next moment, he was on his feet, darting for the sink and spitting the rancid pink stuff into the bowl.
“What the everloving fuck was that?” he growled, grabbing a paper towel from above him and wiping at his tongue.
It was too much. Jacinta laughed, groaning and holding her wounds, but continuing to giggle despite the pain. This strong, silent man; gruff soldier; leader of men; reduced to a whimpering mess by a little bit of sugar. Okay, it was vile, but he was horrified. It was too funny.
He smirked as he walked back to the bed. “Be thankful you’re wounded, or I’d pin you down and make you eat the rest.”.
“Hey, no fair, I did warn you!”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t that funny.”
“Dude, you wiped your tongue with paper, it was very funny,” she said with a snicker.
“Tank showing off his good manners again?” said a voice in the doorway, making her jump.
The major jumped to his feet, standing in front of her protectively, before relaxing.
“Doc, Sam, anything to report?”
“Nothing on the surveillance yet, Sir,” the younger man told him. “You know they’ll lie low for a few days before becoming active again. They lost four men, you don’t just bounce back from that.”
Jacinta shuddered. She’d seen the four men they’d ‘lost’.
“How’s my favourite patient?” the other man said. Twinkling blue eyes looked down from a tanned face, framed by neat brown hair that was longer than the major’s buzz cut.
“Sir, she’s your only patient,” the younger man said, frowning.
The man rolled his eyes. “Not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?” he asked with a smile.
“Jacinta, this is Doc,” he pointed to the blue eyed man, “and Sam.”
Where Doc was tanned like the major, Sam was dark skinned, his teeth a brilliant white, flashing whenever he spoke. He was hesitant around the other two men, who were much more casual. That the major and Doc were comfortable with each other was very apparent. Given that Sam had called them both Sir, she assumed his nervousness was due to their higher ranks, but she couldn’t be sure.
“And this is Tank,” Doc said cheerfully. “You’re going to hear us calling him that, so you’d best get used to it from the get-go.”
“Tank?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. “That doesn’t seem like you at all.”
The man in question returned to scowling again, while Doc snickered.
“If you’re in the military, Ma’am, and your given name or surname is Thomas, odds are, your nickname is Tank,” Doc explained.
That was just odd. “Why?”
“Thomas the Tank Engine,” Sam told her.
Jacinta snorted. She wasn’t going to laugh, but damn it was kinda funny. “What about you?” she asked Sam. “Are you Dopey?”
“What?”
“You know, like the seven dwarfs. Doc, Dopey,” she pointed at each one. “Grumpy over here … ” she jerked a thumb at Tank who frowned.
“You can’t just change a man’s nickname willy-nilly. The other team members have to be able to remember it in combat. Tank is short, it’s what’s expected, and it suits me just fine.”
She snorted. “Oh, it totally does, you just steamroll right over everyone, huh?”
The other two men chuckled softly in the background. Jacinta would bet they were going to give him shit over that later.
“Well, you can’t keep it as Tank,” she insisted. “Not like all the other Thomases.”
He frowned down at her, likely trying to intimidate her, but she had his number now. There was no way she could forget him wiping his tongue with that paper towel.
“It’s not Grumpy, I mean it, young lady,” he snapped.
“No, not that either. I’ve got one even better than that.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Bowie,” she whispered.
He froze. “What?”
“Ground control to Major Tom,” she said, unable to sing it. “It suits you.”
They were all silent. Even Doc had stilled from where he was reading through her chart on the tablet she hadn’t noticed until now.
“She’s right, you know, it does suit you,” he said.
Jacinta could see him mulling it over. “I actually like his music,” he said eventually, then looked at the other two men.
“Go for it, Bowie,” Doc said. “It’s not a big deal, we’ll work with it.”
“Fine,” he growled. “Then I get to choose a name for you.”
Jacinta rolled her eyes. “Anything but Princess, Freak, Seizure Salad or Carpe Diem.”
“Carpe Diem?”
“Seizure Day. I know portals get hit with all the jokes about epilepsy. I’m not putting up with that.”
“Huh,” he grunted, then turned to the other men. “Sam, I gather you’re taking over?”
Sam drew himself to attention. “Yes, Sir.”
“At ease, man. She’s not to be left alone, I don’t care if you have to take a piss in the sink, you don’t leave her for a fucking second. Any medics come in, and you can stand behind the curtain, but you don’t leave the room, and you fucking listen to make sure she’s alright.”
“Sir?”
“A man came in dressed in scrubs with a mask, he tried to kill her. She doesn’t get left alone.”
“Yes, Sir,” he said fervently.
“Go empty your bladder now while we’re here. I want to talk to Doc for a minute.”
Sam practically ran to the bathroom, while the two men conferred beside her, lowering their voices but not so much she couldn’t hear them.
“How soon can we move her, Doc? I don’t want her staying here a second longer. He was Pure Human. I don’t know how badly this base is compromised, but I don’t want her exposed to it any further.”
“If we don’t move her tomorrow, we’ll need to wait until after her next event. I don’t want to risk her having it en route without anywhere to shield her. It’ll depend on the progression of her symptoms. She’s not ready tonight, but first thing in the morning, if she’s still alright.”
“Okay, I’ll organise it.” Bowie turned back to her. “Was there anything in that apartment that you were particularly attached to? I don’t want to show our hand by going back there, but I will if you need something.”
Jacinta shook her head. The only thing she was attached to was her baseball bat, and only because it made her feel safe. With a bunch of trained soldiers around her all the time, she probably wouldn’t need it any more, and even if she did, they could buy a new one.
“I can get a new baseball bat. The rest of it was just clothes and linen. My phone and charger, that was it, really. I’m guessing they got damaged.”
Bowie opened the top drawer beside her bed, pulling out her phone. “Is there anyone you need to call or keep in touch with?”
Now that was a much more pathetic story. Her mum had died two years before, and had been the only person she kept in touch with. The rest of her family were assholes, and she wanted nothing to do with them. Her dad could take a long walk off a short pier. “Nope. They’re either dead, or I wish they were.”
He pulled the case off the phone then got his own out and pulled the case off that. Extracting a small tool, he stuck it into her phone and the drawer with the SIM card popped out. He took it and ground it under the heel of his boot.
“We’ll get you a new SIM and a new number. It’s best if you can leave your old life behind.”
Now it was her turn to scowl. “What life?” she muttered.
He just nodded at her like he understood what she meant, and put the phone back in the drawer. The sound it made as it closed was kind of final which suited her fine. Her old life sucked. Her new life sucked even more, just in a different way, but the reality was, she had nothing to go back to. It was time to start all over again.
Chapter Six
Bowie
“Is that the last of the paperwork?” Doc teased Bowie as he typed out yet another report.
Bowie grunted. He’d forgotten how much more paperwork a permanent protectee was, as opposed to being a regional liaison for several portals. Then there was the matter of his new nickname. He loved it, it was a lot more individual and personal than being yet another “Tank” in the military, but he’d never admit it aloud.
The other men in his unit liked the new name, and switched over to it with disturbing ease. Then again, they were skilled at what they did. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d gone undercover in a protection detail, it was just that they had originally disguised themselves as Pure Human fuckwits, or freedom fighters in foreign countries. Playing civilian was going to take some getting used to.
It wasn’t just his own nickname that had been changed. His protectee now had one too. He chuckled at the memory of her reaction to his choice.
“Hey,” she’d called out as he turned to leave. “What’s my nickname? Don’t leave me hanging here, I’ll go crazy.”
Bowie’s lips curled in an evil grin. The name was perfect, it was exactly what he needed to call her to help him keep his distance.
“Jack,” he’d tossed over his shoulder. After all, if she was named like one of the boys, then he could treat her like one, right?
“Are you fucking shitting me?” she’d rasped at the fullest volume her damaged throat was capable of. She sounded kind of hot with the rasp, not that he could ever go there. “I give you a name that’s deep and meaningful, and you name me after a bottle of alcohol?”
She’d gone on to rant a bit after that, but Bowie tuned her out, getting the rundown of her status from Doc as they left the hospital together.
Now, thinking back on it, he smirked. He hadn’t meant for the comparison to the famous brand, but if that’s how she took it, all the better. If he could keep her at arm’s length, then he wouldn’t have to worry about becoming emotionally compromised. He couldn’t afford to do that again. Not after the disaster in south-east asia all those years ago. He’d never been caught, but he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
“So, what are we calling her?” Lister asked him.
“Jack,” he told him, nonplussed. “As in Jack Daniels.”
His friend had been as unimpressed as Jacinta was. Jack. As unimpressed as Jack was.
“Why Jack Daniels?” Lister persisted.
“It’s his go to drink,” Doc told them. “Probably the only thing he could think of when push came to shove.”
The other men laughed, but Lister looked at him knowingly. “Or he thinks she’ll go down smoothly. Maybe he wants to drink her.”
He pretended indifference as the men laughed again, but he couldn’t let Lister know how accurate he was. Fuck, it certainly hadn’t occurred to him at the time. But now that was all he could think of, sipping from her lips, tasting her everywhere. Her long legs wrapped around his hips as he slowly slid inside her, drinking her sighs and devouring her mouth.
“Her name is Jacinta. Jack just seemed like a way to shorten it,” he said with a huff.
The others chuckled and teased some more, but eventually let it drop. It didn’t matter, however, his plan was ruined. Now, instead of seeing her as one of the boys, he’d think about sipping from both sets of her lips.
Before his hardening cock could become too obvious, Bowie got up and went to the bathroom to take a piss. Well, that’s what he was going to let the others think. Instead he wrapped a hand around his length, imagining it was her mouth, those big doe eyes looking up at him as she sucked him all the way down.
Without warning, lightning shot down his spine and his vision blurred as he came. He barely got his hand cupped around the tip before it sprayed everywhere, instead pasting across his palm and dripping down into the toilet.
Fuck. That had come from nowhere. He waited for his cock to soften, and then did his business, washing his hands thoroughly and giving the bathroom a quick once-over to make sure he’d left no proof of what he’d been doing. Just to be sure, he grabbed the can of air freshener and gave it a squirt to cover up any residual smell.
When he opened the door, Lister frowned at him. “Fuck man, I need to go, but I’m not going in there now with the place all stunk up.”
“Give it a rest,” he said with more humour than he felt. “I only farted, you should be fine.”
Lister looked at him dubiously. “Man, if you’re joking about that, I’m going to get you back, you know that, right?”
Bowie chuckled, but inside he was anxious. He could only hope the fragrance covered up the scent of what he’d just done.
When Lister came out, he went back to watching the TV, saying nothing, and ignoring Bowie entirely. At least that was one less thing to worry about, he needed to be more careful.
“So what’s happening now, boss?” Tones asked. While Sam was still getting used to his promotion into the unit, Tones was more settled and comfortable with them.
“We’re shipping out in the morning if we can. It depends on whether her symptoms progress. The last event was only a partial, and her levels are building up again. We need to get her to the new base as soon as we can, without risking an unshielded event on the road.”
“What about the shit in the apartment?” Lister asked. “If we fetch her things, they’re going to know we’re moving.”
“I asked her about it,” he told them. “There’s nothing she wants to reclaim. It’s a clean slate.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Who the hell can just walk away from their life like that?” Hammer asked. He was the tallest and the scariest looking of all of them, but the reality was very different. Hammer was a ladies’ man, or liked to think he was. In Jack’s hands, he’d be nothing but a giant teddy bear. It was only a matter of time before the beast of a man was putty in her hands. For some reason, that pissed Bowie off.
“I was part of the crew packing up her flat,” Sam told them. “There was nothing there. Books, dvd’s, sure, but no ornaments, no pictures, just her clothes and crockery and linen. That was it. Everything she had was used and battered, not like she hadn’t taken care of it, but like it wasn’t new to start with. It came across as a woman who was used to running.”
“Fuck,” Hammer muttered, as they all processed the connotations of that.
“You think she’s got someone after her?” Tones asked the question they were all thinking.
Bowie shrugged, not trusting his voice. The thought of someone hurting her, and chasing her to do it again made his blood boil. He’d kill the fucker and find a way to write it off. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d killed a cockroach to help a woman out.
“The Pure Human cunts are after her,” Hammer said. “That’s enough shit to worry about right there. Any amateur comes after her, we’ll just sweep him up with the rest.”
Hammer had a point, and it made Bowie feel a bit better. Of course any asshole coming after her wouldn’t be a pro, not if she’d been established in the same place for the previous two years. All her tax and phone records had said her old place was just that, an older place. One she was established in. Still, what Sam said was reason for concern. What kind of person didn’t surround themselves with belongings?
Looking around the room, he had a kind of answer. The barracks where they were currently, were fairly plain. Bowie had been in most of their rooms, and aside from the odd pinup, or family photo, they didn’t have much in the way of personal touches either. Their unit designation had meant they were constantly on the move, and they needed to travel light. It would be a nice change to get a more permanent place again, somewhere they could put down roots a little once they got the lay of the land.
