The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 34

Dean closed his eyes and just held onto her. In three years of having the nightmare, he’d never woken up to find anyone else in his bed with him. He had always handled the aftermath alone, either by downing a few tumblers of whiskey to help him go back to sleep, or by lying awake the rest of the night, trembling and berating himself for what had happened.

This, though. Having Emma here, warm and soft and soothing. This was the best thing he could imagine – a sweet and loving woman to coax him back from the darkness. It was the best way to spend the first few minutes after waking up, after realizing that Kimberley had died in his arms all over again. That he’d failed her again.

Emma waited for his shaking to stop. She didn’t say anything, and neither did he. Whatever he needed right now was completely silent; it was about touch and warmth more than anything, she knew. He stayed where he was for a long time, and she stayed right there with him.

Dean finally pulled back, his eyes raw and vulnerable. “I’m sorry, honey. Did I scare you? Hurt you when I was thrashing around?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“OK, that’s good.”

She touched his lips gently. “You want to talk? Tell me?”

He dropped his eyes. “I – I don’t know.”

She waited a few seconds and then she asked, “Who’s Kimberley?”

He started. “I said her name?”

“Yes. More than once. You were shouting, Dean. Who is she?” She ran her fingers over his shoulders again. “Your girlfriend?”

“Oh, no. No. Not even close.”

“Tell me, babe. Please. Maybe it’ll help.”

Dean was quiet for so long, she was sure he was going to refuse. But then he sighed and started to talk.

“Kimberley Valance. That was her name. Rich woman from Washington, two sons in pre-law, married to some politician. He talked a good game about educating girls in Afghanistan, apparently, but Kimberley… she walked the walk. She raised money and kicked in quite a bit of her own and she started a school for girls just outside Kandahar. She didn’t just toss the cash at the idea and get back to her lunches, though. She got on a plane and she stayed for months, overseeing everything and getting to know the girls and their families. She was a – a great woman. I think you would have liked her.”

“I think you’re right.”

“Not everyone liked her, though, as you can imagine. From the word go, she needed round-the-clock protection, and even then, she was thrown into lots of dangerous situations… bombings as her vehicle went by, attacks as she left her hotel. The usual. But unlike all those other rich people who decided that Afghanistan was too tough to take, Kimberley stuck it out. She told me once that it was the reality her girls lived in, and damned if she’d run from it just ‘cause she could. She knew what it meant to be targeted for just being who you were, for wanting to do something more than what everyone expected you to do.”

Emma nodded.

“Anyway, she got her school up and running and it was no small feat, let me tell you. Me and the rest of my squad just couldn’t believe it, but we knew that if anyone could do it, it would be her.”

“It sounds like you got to know her pretty well,” Emma said.

Dean paused, seeing Kimberley in his mind’s eye again: pushing sixty-five years of age, with long gray hair that she saw no sense in dyeing, sparkling blue eyes, stunning smile. The first time Dean had met her, he’d been seriously taken aback – unlike the other dignitaries and political types he’d had to protect, Kimberley didn’t walk around in expensive suits and good shoes, looking well-rested. She was serious about what she was doing there, and applying lipstick wasn’t high on her list of priorities. Neither were photo ops or complaining about the heat. The woman was tough, smart, funny as hell. Kind, too; so f*****g kind.

“Yeah," he said. "We’d all gotten to know her over the months, and we’d escorted her to and from the school many times. That wasn’t really supposed to be our job, you understand. Rangers aren’t really supposed to take the lead on bodyguard and security stuff like that, but the thing about Afghanistan is that there aren’t always enough highly-trained bodies to go around, so you kind of make-do. And we were more than up for it, you know. We were more than qualified to assess threats and take steps to protect her and the students. Dallas would often come along with us and set up position someplace elevated. Keep an eye on things, and be there to pull the trigger if we couldn’t handle it all right on the ground.”

“Dallas was a sniper?” she said.

“Yeah. The best I ever met.”

She nodded again.

“So this one day, we took Kimberley to the school for some kind of celebration. God, she was so excited to see the girls again. All she talked about the whole way there was how she wanted to see how much they’d learned, and to thank the teachers for all their hard work and bravery. Not one word about her part in any of it, you know… not one mention of her bravery or work. It was always about everyone else. That was Kimberley.”

Dean stopped and Emma felt dread building in her stomach. She knew by now, of course, that something bad had happened to Kimberley, and that Dean had been there for it. Emma touched his face gently, and she kissed him. Against his mouth, she whispered, “Tell me, Dean. Tell me the whole thing.”