Learning to Stand by Claudia Hall Christian Read Free Book Online Page A

helicopter landed, the Weasel’s mouth closed.
Without saying another word, he and his guards left the
helicopter.
    “ What was that?” Raz
asked.
    Alex shook her head. Buckling into her seat,
she stared out the window at the dark clouds of the snowstorm.
    What was that indeed?
    FFFFF
    Two hours later
    Tuesday Night
March 25 – 7:30 P.M. MDT
    Military Intelligence, Buckley Air Force
Base
     
    Alex waited until the last of the men
checked through medical before returning to her office. She sent
her Sergeant home, shut off the phones then began filing out the
stack of paperwork on her desk. Every assignment came with at least
one stack of papers. This year, she and the men had completed one
stupid assignment after another until the paperwork towered on
Alex’s desk. Flipping on her coffee maker, she settled in for a
long night.
    The coffee maker had finished its last
burble when a coffee mug entered her line of site. She looked up to
see her boss, Colonel Howard Gordon. He was wearing a dark cap and
his overcoat as if he stopped by on his way home.
    “ I was surprised you didn’t
look up when I came in,” he said. “Fascinating paper
work?”
    “ Oh...” She sighed. “I fill
in the boxes while I think about something else. I was miles
away.”
    He sat down across from her.
    “ How did it go today?” he
asked.
    “ Which part?”
    He laughed.
    “ You might have missed the
reports, but there was an incident while attempting to interview
the Weasel.” Alex shrugged. “I know you’re busy.”
    “ Yes, Major. I missed
entirely the destruction of a national wilderness area.”
    “ I guess that’s not funny,”
she said. Holding up a stack of pages, she added, “But it does
provide for some excellent paperwork opportunities!”
    “ You have a Sergeant to do
your paperwork,” he said. “You have a second in command. Hell, you
have an intelligence officer in training who has nothing to
do.”
    “ Oh shit, I completely
forgot about him,” Alex said. “Is he still locked away at Fort
Carson?”
    “ He was released by Captain
Mac Clenaghan. While you were with Agent Rasmussen at the hospital,
Captain Mac Clenaghan drove to Fort Carson for Sergeant Flagg. They
are on their way to Denver right now.”
    “ Oh, thank God,” Alex said.
She took a long drink of her coffee. “See, my second in command
can’t do the paperwork. He’s busy with Flagg.”
    “ Major Drayson.”
    “ Yes sir,” Alex
said.
    “ How did it go with your
team?”
    “ What team?” Alex asked.
“They fought with each other. They thought I was crazy. I had to
yell at them to knock it off more than once. They were like
competent tornados each working toward their own end. I...
“
    She shook her head.
    “ I suck,” she said. “I can’t
do this ‘command a team’ thing.”
    “ Every leader feels that way
sometimes,” Colonel Gordon said. “You need to get your feet under
you.”
    “ I was wondering, sir, if I
might join a team?”
    Colonel Gordon’s scowled. This was not the
first time he had heard this request.
    “ I’d happily take a lower
rank and...”
    He opened his mouth to say something then
changed his mind. Shaking his head, he looked away from her.
    “ There are two wars going
on, sir,” she said. “I’m an okay intelligence officer. And as you
know, there’s more than a hundred people held hostage in the world
at any given time. I could join the team that replaced us
and...”
    “ Alexandra
Hargreaves!”
    “ Sir?”
    She scanned his face. His bushy eyebrows
betrayed his worry over his obvious anger. She smiled as if he
caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. He sighed.
    “ Maybe I could go back to
drawing maps?” She gave him a big smile.
    “ Alex.” Pulling his cap off,
he ran a hand through is bushy gray hair. “Every leader goes
through exactly what you’re feeling. Hell, I’ve had many sleepless
nights over this very same issue. The key is to find what works for
you.”
    “ Charlie