Chapter 3
The Meeting
He surveyed the group seated at the long table in the operations office of Nellis Air Force Base, Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be sitting with his cadre and the cadre of two international counter-terrorism units, one, typically seen as the enemy. Now, not only was he sitting here with the Oktober Guard, but, he and the commanders of Red Flag were under orders to fly with them. Show them all the tricks in their bag of aerial dogfighting. Deep down, Hawk felt this was wrong on so many levels. But, orders were orders.
"Colonel Brekhov, pleasure to meet you. I'm General Hawk and this is Commodore Catherine Flynn of the Royal Navy." He introduced not only himself but the petite woman seated to his right. Hawk had already took in all of her. She was small, no more than five two with chestnut brown hair pulled severely in a bun. Blue eyes twinkled with intelligence and despite her size, she clearly commanded a room. Of the two visiting commanders, Flynn was the only one of equal rank to his Brigadier General. Brekhov, he noticed was runner thin, but of sturdy stock. His dark hair complemented his equally dark brown hair. His face expressionless save for the nearly lecherous glances he threw both Lady Jaye and Scarlett.
"It is pleasure to be here, Comrade General. I must zay, are all your vomen soldiers dees beautiful? If zo, ven can I defect." He smiled as Lady Jaye stood over him pouring a cup of steaming coffee. His eyes lingering slightly on the ample cleavage revealed by her fatigue shirt. "Подходит, моя красота. Вы присоединитесь ко мне на ужин, да"[i] Lady Jaye blushed again as Flint scowled. It didn't take him not being able to understand Russian to know the suave Soviet Colonel was making moves on his girl.
"Это было бы мое удовольствие, Полковник." [ii]She replied with a slight smirk in Flint's direction. She knew exactly what she was doing. If the beret toting galoof wasn't ready to admit that it was time to formalize their relationship, then, she was going to make him pay.
"Well, Colonel, we can discuss that later." Hawk cleared his throat to bring the roving-eye Russian back to the business at hand. "Right now, we need to discuss what to expect from this school." Hawk took over the meeting once again, outlining how the Aggressor squadron based at Nellis would be training the three teams to not only defeat their common foe, but to work together. Even though it was not explicitly mentioned, Brekhov was sure the Americans and the English teams were going to learn Russian dogfighting tactics.
When Lady Jaye got to Duke, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "We need to talk." That and a simple glare from the blue-eyed first sergeant nearly stopped her in her tracks. She forgot Duke could speak Russian as well, in fact, she forgot he was almost as fluent as she was in several languages. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk about.
Outside, Duke caught up with the Covert Operative. "Just what do you think you're doing in there?" Duke grabbed Lady Jaye by the upper arm and whirled her around.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Duke." Her green eyes widened in feigned surprise and disbelief.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. What are you thinking with that Russian Colonel." Duke growled out. "Let's not even admit the man is a Soviet" He ground out . "The enemy, but, you're making eyes with him in front of Flint? Are to you trying to piss him off? If you are, you're doing a damn good job of it."
"Listen, Hawk told us to make nice with the Soviet team, that's all I'm doing. If it just happens to get beret boy off his ass and realize he can't keep treating me like a dirty little secret that everyone else knows about, well, then, fine!" She spat out.
"You know the regulations.."
"The regulations don't say diddly about fraternization if the commander signs off on it. And Hawk has. Several times, in fact." With that, she stomped away.
"What's going on?" Flint walked up behind Duke who was still staring after the operative.
"You need to do something about that girl of yours." Duke said simply.
"Why? What did she do now?" Flint narrowed his eyes at the First Sergeant and one of his oldest friends.
"She hasn't done anything yet. But, clearly, neither have you. And that's what you need to do something about. Or you're gonna lose her." Duke stared at his friend. "Listen, she's angry that you keep treating her like a secret." Flint's eyebrows shot up. "We all know what's going on and we're all for it. Hell, the two of you fight better together than apart. When we put you two together on a mission, we know it's going to get done. Before that, well, we questioned the success. Not that both of you aren't great soldiers on your own, but together, because of your relationship, you two work perfectly together."
"Secret? Is that what she thinks? That I treat her like a secret?" Flint stammered.
"That's exactly what she thinks, it's what we all think." Duke said simply. "Listen, we all know you love her. And she loves you. But, you're gonna lose her if you don't stand up and act like a man." Duke walked away.
[i] That is perfect, My beauty. You will join me for dinner, yes?
[ii] It would be my pleasure, Colonel.