Untamed Wolf

She logged off the computer and left it on the small table in the kitchenette in her quarters. Then she checked herself in the mirror. Almost time to go wait for the general.

She’d decided to meet him right away, before he had time to talk with anyone else.

Soon she headed down the stairs in the BOQ and out the door. She walked toward the front gate.

And got waylaid by Jason. What was he doing out here?

He soon told her. “Hello, Lieutenant. I’m the general’s unofficial greeter from Alpha Force. Is that why you’re out here? I’m supposed to call Drew—er, Major Connell—and let him know when the general arrives.”

“Won’t the security guys notify the major?” Sara asked.

“Probably. But those were my orders.”

“Okay. We’ll both wait for him, then.” She didn’t want to wait with Jason. He would be a big distraction. He would keep her from asking the general questions right away, too. But she nevertheless walked with Jason toward the base’s front gate.

She saw a few other soldiers walking around and some cars cruising the nearby roads. But she was extremely aware of Jason’s tall, masculine presence beside her.

Especially when he said in a voice tinged with suggestiveness, “How are you enjoying Ft. Lukman so far, Lieutenant?”

“It’s fine, Sergeant. I intend to get a lot accomplished here. Learn a lot, too.”

“About Alpha Force?”

“That’s right,” she said. “I have some ideas already about how it can be improved, and I intend to let the general know.”

She sensed Jason’s hesitation beside her, but she wiped the grin off her face before she turned to him. His expression now was grim, not suggestive of anything but worry.

Good.

She looked again toward the guard gate, just in time to see the general’s old, classic Jeep stopping. His ID was apparently approved right away, since the large gate opened inward and the general drove through.

Continuing to drive slowly, he approached the area where Sara and Jason stood.

And then Sara spotted smoke pouring out of the car’s back end.

Chapter 4

What the hell? Jason didn’t need Sara’s frantic shouts of fear, magnified by his canine senses, to spur him to dash to the burning vehicle that suddenly veered off to the side.

He assessed the situation as he ran toward the front of the car. He kept all assumptions and fears, all emotions, in check. Now was only a time for action.

He had worked on the general’s Jeep a couple of times when the old man had come to Ft. Lukman for meetings since Jason’s recent enlistment. It was an early 1990s model Jeep, not quite old enough to be a classic, but still an admirable aging vehicle.

The gasoline tank was in the back—near where the smoke was pouring from, but down low, beneath the axle. That model’s gas tank was built well, to prevent catching fire from sparks off the road or otherwise. Everything should be fine.

Except that the tires were flammable. So were the seats, the carpeting, the safety belts...

And right now, there was plenty of smoke. What remained of the canvas cover could confine a lot of it inside, enhancing the danger of smoke inhalation by the general.

Plus, depending on the location and intensity of the fire...well, despite the built-in precautions, there were no guarantees that the gas tank wouldn’t explode.

Jason aimed for the driver’s door, shoving his hands in his pockets as he ran to check for anything useful. Despite his dedication to working on cars, he didn’t coincidentally happen to carry tools that people were supposed to keep in their glove compartments to shatter windows in emergencies. All he had were keys. A pocket knife. His cell phone.

Nothing likely to be helpful.

Was the general still conscious? The haphazard way the car now progressed suggested otherwise. Yet if he was, maybe Jason could get him to turn off the engine and take the thing out of gear. Push the button to unlock the driver’s door.

For now, he would assume the commanding officer remained alive. He had no evidence he wasn’t...at least not yet.

The stench of burning rubber and more grew even ranker as he arrived at the vehicle, but Jason ignored it. He also ignored the shouts of other people. All behind him? He saw no one closer to the car than he was.

Unsure what was searing hot and what wasn’t, he yanked off his camo shirt and wrapped it around his right hand.

He reached the door and looked in. Smoke. Lots of it. But in the middle of it all, Jason could see that the general appeared conscious—barely. His eyes were open. His hands? Moving, but not in the right direction to get him out of there.

Jason first tried to yank the door open, to no avail. He pounded on the window to get the general’s attention. “It’s locked!” he shouted as Yarrow’s head jerked toward him. Had he heard? Was he aware enough to understand?

Yarrow, one hand at his mouth as he coughed, turned toward the door. In a moment, Jason heard a click that probably wouldn’t be audible to someone with normal human hearing, but with his acute senses it sounded nice and loud. He again tried the door.

This time it opened.

He coughed, too, as smoke smothered his face and his ability to breathe. But it didn’t completely mask visibility.

“Let me help,” said a familiar female voice from behind him. Sara McLinder. The lieutenant had kept up with him.

“Stay back,” he said as he leaned inside.

But she apparently wasn’t used to obeying orders from lower-ranking soldiers. As Jason leaned in and grasped the now-limp body of the general, he was suddenly glad that was so.

He needed to get the CO out of there fast. In moments, as he thrust his hands under the general’s armpits and heaved him out, he found Sara, despite also coughing, grabbing the legs and swinging Yarrow even farther from the frying car.

Others who’d caught up with them, Lieutenants Seth Ambers and Grace Andreas-Parran, also helped to form a stretcher of human—well, somewhat human—arms.

Grace was a doctor as well as a shifting member of Alpha Force. It was still too soon to have her check the general’s condition, though. Awkwardly but quickly, Jason helped the group maneuver the general’s barely conscious body far from the car and within a parking area near the base’s entry kiosk.

The harsh smell of the fire suddenly multiplied, and so did the background odor of oil as the flames apparently reached the engine. How secure was the gas tank now?

Jason swiftly noticed that he wasn’t the only Alpha Force member helping here whose eyes had widened as their noses lifted.

And then, kaboom! As loudly and completely as any explosion in an action movie, the general’s car detonated.

* * *

“Sir? Are you okay? Greg?” Sara wasn’t certain where the tarp had come from on which they gently laid the general down on the hard parking lot surface. Maybe from one of the vehicles parked nearby. It didn’t matter.

What did matter was how her boss, commanding officer to many of those present at Ft. Lukman, was doing.

Was he still alive?