They Walk Among Us Ch. 10

Here's the next installment. I'm sorry it's a little late getting out, real life got in the way for a while. I hope I got the Guinness right this time. Thanks as always to my editor Dawn. You're such a dear for sticking with me, also Misty and Miss Cullen for your guidance on the critics. Please enjoy the story, and don't forget to vote.

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For quite some time, the small group of SEALs drank beer and talked about different things. Mostly, of how good it was going to be to head back to the States. Every time it came up, Kristine's heart sank a bit more; her affair with Adam was ending.

When she glanced at Adam, he was smiling and talking about taking a few weeks vacation, something stupid about watching the Buckeyes. It was loud in the club, so she tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

"Why would you want to watch a deer's eyes?"

"No Kristine, it's not a deer, it's the name of The Ohio State football team. Their called the Buckeyes."

"Oh, so you're not unlike European men. All they want to do is sit around and watch football."

"That's not football Kristine, that's soccer. Real football is hard hitting and fast, that's football baby," V-man corrected her.

Their conversation stopped when Laura approached the group to pick up the empty bottles. She knew Kevin was nervous around her, so she stayed away from him and went in between Hawkins and Dawson.

"Hi there little lady, if you can swing it, how about one more round and then I think I have to call it a day," Neal Hawkins said as he pulled out his wallet again.

"Hey Skipper, you got the last one, it's my turn," Kevin told him.

Kevin stared at Laura to see if his werewolf senses would kick in, they didn't. When she looked up and saw Kevin staring, she quickly diverted her eyes down. Kevin detected a hint of sadness, but couldn't figure out why.

"Laura, I'd like to apologize again for earlier. I had a cramp and I didn't mean to startle you," he told her with a big smile.

"I told you, it's alright. I'll be back in a few minutes," she replied, and her voice left little doubt about her feelings.

After she left, Hawkins leaned across the table towards Kevin. "It's just me, but I think you need to tip her big for making her..."

His critique of Kevin's behavior stopped when his pager went off. Hawkins looked down and found it was the duty office trying to get in touch with him. "That's it for me kids."

"Hey Skipper, we're going to call it a day also. Can you give me and the guys a ride back to the barracks?" V-man asked, as he looked over at the two other SEALs from Charlie.

"No problem guys. How about you Dvorska, need a ride?"

"No thanks Skipper, I got beers coming, and I'm sure Kristine could give me a lift."

Lieutenant Commander Neal Hawkins and the others walked out of the Enlisted Club. Now that Kristine was alone with her two favorite SEALs, she scooted her chair over towards Kevin.

"Ok, out with it Kevin. SEALs are some of the most physically fit men in the Navy. They don't just get cramps all of a sudden."

"This isn't really the proper place to tell you about my, you know what, side of me."

"So it's got to do with your gift?"

"I wish everyone would stop calling it that," Kevin replied with a grim face.

Just then, Laura came back with a full tray of beers. She looked around for the others and then got that sad look again. As she set the beer on the table, she looked at Kristine.

"I guess I made them nervous too. Sorry about running your friends off."

"Why would you think such a thing? They had to go take care of some things, that's all. Trust me I know those men, and they would have love nothing better than to sit her and flirt with you dear." Kristine told Laura, as she placed her hand over hers.

"It's just, I'm not very good around people. I still don't know why I took this job." Laura pulled her hand back, and then quickly glanced at Kevin. It lasted only a brief second before she diverted her eyes again.

Kevin's wolf side wasn't screaming to get out yet and thought that maybe it was just a fluke last time. He decided to test his theory. Standing up, he walked around the table and moved to within a few feet of her. His large frame dwarfed her waiflike body and she started to move away.

"I think we should start over Laura, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. My name is Kevin Dvorska, it's a pleasure meeting you," he said softly as he extended his hand.

Laura was a bit hesitant; she didn't need a repeat of the earlier episode. She slowly reached out and took his hand. She looked into Kevin's eyes to see his reaction and found him smiling brightly back at her. When she returned the smile, she had no idea that Kevin's werewolf was screaming holy hell to get out.

"See, that wasn't so bad was it Laura?" Kevin said politely, even though he wanted to rip his hand back.

"You seem like a nice guy. I don't get to meet nice ones very often."

Kevin pulled his hand back slowly so as not to make her nervous again. He reached into his wallet, paid for the beers, and then tipped her generously.

When Laura left, she had a huge smile on her face and a bit more spring in her step. After sitting down, Adam looked at his friend with a thankful look.

"You handled that well buddy, you must have been wrong last time."

"I wasn't L-tee, it happened again. The only thing different was this time I held my reaction in."

"I don't understand what reaction? She's not a -- um -- you know -- gifted," Kristine asked him as she carefully selected her words.

"I have no idea Kristine. When I touch her, my -- gift -- as you so put it, goes crazy. I wanted to -- you know, do it -- so bad it was hard to control."

"I tried to tell him earlier in the restroom honey, it might be love by the way he's reacting to her," Adam told her.

"Oh Kevin, that's great! It's her, you found her. Oh honey, I'm just so happy for you Kevin," Kristine told him as she wrapped her arms around him.

Kevin pulled her arms off him and looked at her with a very serious look.

"Stop Kristine, I don't think it's my true love. Besides, Adam has said a million times, people like us don't have lives like that, we have the teams. That's especially true for someone with my -- condition."

Kristine sat back and tried very hard not to comment. She knew all to well on what was going to happen soon. Adam even told her one night after they made love, it was going to end, and she should remember their deal, just friends with benefits.

She wanted to cry at that very moment, so she quickly grabbed her beer and took a long drink. After placing it down, she turned to Adam and kissed him deeply. Kevin was a little embarrassed, turned his head, and took a hit off his beer.

When Adam pulled away from her, he gave her a stern look. "Jesus Kristine, you know better than to do that in public. If the wrong person found out, it would mean the end of my career."

"I don't care anymore. If you weren't a SEAL then maybe we could be together more. I don't know why your job should keep you from having a life and love at the same time," she said with a hint of anger.

"We've talked about this before, and you know why Kristine."

"And I don't want to talk about it here."

"You brought it up honey," Adam said, as a matter of point.

"Now I'm dropping it. So what are we doing for dinner Adam? It's your turn to choose."

Adam shook his head in bewilderment. He knew he was in love with her, but he also couldn't put her through the pain if he didn't come back. It was a real possibility with the SEALs. She couldn't understand he was actually trying to save her from that heartache.

"I was going to grill out tonight since it's such a nice day. But since you seem to be upset, maybe we should just..."

"The grill sounds fine Adam. Since you're a man I'll spell it out for you, I'm not upset I'm complex."

"Oh, my mistake Kristine," he replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Kevin you should make up for you're earlier actions by asking Laura to dinner at my house tonight. You need to get back in the saddle again and start dating."

"Kristine, I am not going to ask her to dinner tonight. I'm not going to sit around and do the Saturday evening get together with someone who already makes me suspicious."

Just as Kevin finished, Laura walked up. She still had a bright smile and Kevin found it extremely appealing. He shook the feeling off, and smiled back politely.

"Hi Kevin, I was in the area and I thought I'd check on you, see how you're doing," Laura said in a happy tone.

"Everything is going good Laura. We were just..." Kevin couldn't finish his statement because Kristine suddenly cut him off.

"Just going to invite you to a cookout over at my house tonight. Kevin felt it was the least we could do to say sorry for earlier."

"That sounds great and I would love to, but I have a term paper that's due on Monday. If it's ok, I'd like to have a rain check on the offer. I don't have a lot of friends, so I don't get out much," Laura told her with a hopeful look.

"It's an open invitation, anytime you wanna come over for dinner, just give me a call." Kristine pulled a pen out of her purse and wrote her number down. She handed it to her and looked at Kevin.

"Looks like you just made a new friend Kevin. Can't have too many of those now can we?" she said with a sly smile.

"Yeah, that's great. Thanks for the help with my shyness -- Miss Duka."

When Laura walked away, Adam glared at his lover. "That wasn't very nice Kristine; what if Kevin is right and there really is something up with her."

"Nonsense, what could possibly be wrong a cute young blond girl?"

"A lot," Kevin and Adam said at the same time.

**********

Neal Hawkins locked the door to this office and pulled the note out of his pocket. He dialed the number and waited. After a few moments, a sexy voice came on the line.

"Good afternoon, Sensor Systems Technology. How may I direct your call?"

"Alpha, victory, tango seven," Hawkins said, as he remembered the code phrase for the CIA.

"Thank you Sir, I'll put you through right away." Within seconds, another female voice came on the line.

"Central, what party Sir?"

"This is Lieutenant Commander Neal Hawkins. I was told to call Allen Brenner."

"Thank you. May I please have your clearance code, Commander?"

"Seven three eight, bravo six four."

"Stand by Commander Hawkins."

'Jesus, getting back with these CIA fucks is a pain in the ass.'

He was on hold for three minutes until Brenner finally got on the phone. "Commander Hawkins thanks for getting back with me so quick."

"It would have been sooner if I didn't have to prove my dick size to everyone there. Now would you please tell me what the hell is so important that you had to bypass my CIA Liaison?"

"That's what I love about you SEALs, you're always..."

"Brenner, I have a truck load of people here willing to kiss my ass. Skip the pleasantries and get to the point."

"Basically my boss is an asshole."

"I'm not sure I follow you Brenner. Why call me to complain about your fucking boss?"

"Because I need your help and he said not to let you or Kristine know. He thinks we should do this on our own."

"Let me guess, you need help on your parking tickets?" Hawkins left no hint at his growing aggravation.

"No, I need help in recapturing Martina Duval."

For a brief moment, there was dead silence as the news sank into Neal Hawkins mind. It was coming to a point that Allen thought Hawkins didn't hear him.

"What?" Hawkins asked.

"Martina Duval escaped about three weeks ago. Whoever helped her, took out two agents who were transferring Duval to Ramstein Air Force Base. The Station Chief thinks he doesn't need your help, so this is off the record."

"Give me a moment to get this straight. We find out about Martina Duval, who gave up an entire SEAL squad. Then we kill her husband and hand her over to you fuckers. Which by the way isn't what we should have done if you remember, and then what? You get a couple of your goons to drive her around -- and then you fucking let her escape!" Hawkins screamed the last statement as he bolted upright.

"Commander, I know what you must think about our..."

"You have no fucking idea what I'm thinking right now shithead. I lost one of my best Fire Teams, and almost lost two more SEALs thanks to that bitch. Now just how in the hell do you expect me to take that news? Jump for fucking joy, and wish there were more of you dumb fucks?"

"Are you done?"

"I haven't even started to..."

Suddenly there was a knock on the Skippers door. He had no idea that his voice was carrying down the hall, and it was just the Executive Officer trying to tell him to be quiet.

"Get the fuck away from my God damn door!"

Neal caught his breath. "What the fuck do you want from me Brenner? I already did your job once."

"I was a Green Beret, so I know how you feel. What I need, is for Kristine and the rest of your team to put their heads together and find this bitch. We can't locate her, and I don't want her to find a way to repeat her performance.

"Ok, what do you have so far as Intel?"

"I'll have a courier there tomorrow. Everything that I have on Martina and her husband is in it. Go over it. See if we missed something. I swear Commander; all I want to do is put this God damn bitch down once and for all."

"And the Station Chief?"

"What Station Chief? You deal directly with me and me alone."

"Fine, just one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Is Dawson and Dvorska in any danger?" There was a pregnant pause as Hawkins waited for his answer.

"They killed her husband and put her in a cage. What do you think Commander?"

**********

It was late Monday morning and Neal Hawkins had been up all night going over the very thick CIA file on the Kordic family. Most of it he'd seen before on Viljem, but some of it was new. He wondered why the agency kept this information from him, and then he realized whom he was dealing with.

Neal tossed the last of the photos on his desk and rubbed his tired eyes. After taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and dialed Adam Dawson's office.

"Dawson."

"Hey Adam, do me a favor and get your team together and meet me in the briefing room," Hawkins said tiredly.

"Sure Neal. What's up, we going out?"

"I don't know yet, that's up to you guys. Bring Duka with you as well. She needs to be in on this one."

"Roger that Boss," Adam replied and then hung up his phone.

It was twenty minutes before all of the members of Dawson's fire team made it to the briefing room. Carl Werner walked in followed by Kristine and Dawson gave them both a concerned look.

"Nice of you two to join us," Hawkins said.

"Sorry Sir. I had some bad Rigatoni last night," Carl replied, and then took a seat next to V-man.

Hawkins tossed the large folder on the table and looked at the group of SEALs. "Alright folks we got tossed this one by an anonymous friend at the CIA. It seems they've lost one of their prisoners a few weeks back and they want us to go over what they have. Dawson, I want your team to put their heads together and get me some new leads."

"Sure thing Hawk, who are we looking for." Dawson pulled the folder over to him.

"I want you guys to hunt down Martina Duval," Hawkins told them.

Kevin Dvorska's heart sank as he heard the name. He thought back to when he had her pinned to the floor, ready to rip her throat out. Hindsight being twenty twenty, he knew he had been mistaken when he stopped.

"We already had this bitch once Skipper. How in the fuck did she manage to escape?" Bob Holiday asked.

"It's all there in the file Chief. By the way, this is a black op Dawson. Only one other person knows we have that file outside of this room. Kristine, if you're asked about it, deny any knowledge of its existence," Hawkins told her.

"Existence of what file Sir?"

"Exactly. Dawson, she has a three-week head start. Duval could be in Siberia for all we know."

Adam started spreading the contents out on the table, as Kristine read the report on the escape. Everyone in the team grabbed some Intel and began looking it over, everyone except Kevin, who was staring at the table.

Neal Hawkins saw the turmoil within him. He knew of the pain he went through the first time. Having to open old wounds was never an easy task, but Kevin Dvorska was still a Navy SEAL, he would have to endure it.

"Dvorska, you can be excused if you feel you can't contribute to the task at hand."

Kevin looked up at his Commanding Officer. "No Sir. There isn't anyone in this room that wants her -- recaptured -- more than me."

"Good, but you need to remember that this is a job. There is no room for vengeance or personal feelings."

Kevin stared at his Skipper as he walked out of the briefing room. He knew he had to keep his mouth shut, but he really wanted to scream at him.

'What the hell would you know about personal feelings? You weren't the one she used as a piece of meat.'

"Adam, I don't think she went back home. That would be the first place the CIA would have searched for her. From the photos of the dead agents, she had at least two people helping her," Kristine told him as she handed him the report.

Doc Sharp looked up from his paperwork. "If I was Martina Duval, what would be my motive for going somewhere?"

"Hey Boss, maybe she's coming back here to get her husband's nuts back," Carl Werner said with a laugh.

Adam Dawson looked at his team's weapons expert, then he shifted his gaze to Kevin. "Or maybe she's looking to get someone else's."

The SEAL team went through every piece of paper and photo twice. The only answer any of them could come up with was none of it made sense. It was now getting very late in the day and Dawson decide to call it quits for a while. Maybe some time away from it would help.

The team put everything away and filed out the door. When Adam and Kristine were alone, she leaned back in her chair and stretched her toned arms behind her. Adam couldn't help but glance over at her chest.

"So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" he asked Kristine.

"I don't know. I think we should invite Kevin over and keep an eye on him. I don't think he's handling all this very well."

"Yeah I think you might be right. He hardly said two words all day. If it wouldn't bother you, I'd like to bring this file over too. Maybe over a few beers we might see something different."

"After a few beers you better be looking at something other than the Intel. Or am I going to have to run around with stockings and a garter belt?"

"Now that might get my attention."

They left the briefing room and headed down the hall. He noticed Bob and Kevin heading out of the building and stopped them.

"Where are you two headed off to?" Adam asked.

"We're going to the E-Club for a few beers." Bob replied.

"After you're done Kevin, head on over to Kristine's place."

"You baby sitting me now L-tee?" Kevin's tone displayed his frustration.

"No, but I will if you don't pull your head out of your ass."

"Don't worry Adam, I'll make sure he goes." Then he looked at Kevin. "Even if I have to drag his unconscious body over there.

"Kevin if you happen to see Laura..." Kristine tried to say.

"Oh come on Kristine. Please don't play cupid anymore, it's starting to get annoying."

"Think of it as a woman's prerogative."

**********

Chief Holiday and Kevin walked up to the bar and sat down. When the lovely bartender walked up, Kevin looked over at the draft taps. When he saw one of them had a large black ceramic handle with a white tip, he ordered two drafts and then looked around to see if Laura was there.

"Let me guess Kevin, you're looking for that girl Kristine was talking about."