No Turning Back – Excerpt 2

After her morning class, Dare was finishing up packing the intubation mannequin used to teach her ten Ukrainian medic students how to insert a tube into a human throat. She hauled the bulky piece of luggage to the closet at the back of the large room. The last student from her class had departed ten minutes earlier and she was almost finished with her duties before she left for the day. This was her classroom, with large windows showing the turbulent weather outside. Fondly, she looked around, loving her job, loving being in Ukraine. Since she spoke their language like a local, it was sheer enjoyment for her, as well.

Her students were surprised on the first day of class when she told them she had dual citizenship with the US and Ukraine. Her ability to speak their language was flawless, plus she knew a third language, Russian. She wore her US Army uniform, mottled gray, white and black camouflage fatigues, during the winter season.

Turning, she hauled the huge suitcase to the open closet, sliding it in, pushing it to the rear. There were many other medical cases piled high with apparatuses. Straightening, she was satisfied the case was where it needed to be.

There was a light knock at the door. Frowning, she backed out of the closet, looking toward it. Her lips parted. Her heart dropped and pounded in her chest as she stared right into the gold-brown eyes of Captain Ram Kozak. She moved from the closet, shutting it and then looking at where he stood in the partially opened door, his gaze as implacable and unreadable as usual.

She grinned. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” and she smiled fully, dusting off her hands as she walked toward him. A powerful warmth, much more than casual friendship, sizzled through her unexpectedly. Ram always made her feel feminine in the male world of the military. As CO and officer of his Black Wolf team, he had a powerful draw for her. Dare knew the military would never allow an officer and enlisted person, such as herself, to have a personal relationship with one another. It simply wouldn’t happen. Swallowing her disappointment, she smiled in welcome as she drew near to him.

Ram entered the room “You look well, Dare. Is everything going right in your world?”

She halted a few feet from him, speaking in Ukrainian. “Everything is fine,” and then she grimaced. “Well, no, not everything. The Russians are coming,” and she sighed. Pointing to a metal desk and chair, she said, “It’s good to see you again. Come and sit down? I’ve been on my feet for three hours and my puppies are howling.”

He managed a slight lift of one corner of his mouth, taking a seat at a desk that was opposite of where she sat, a few feet separating them. “You Americans have more crazy sayings than I can keep track of, Dare.”

She felt her face heating up. She was blushing just getting to sponge in Ram’s always unreadable face. But his gold-colored eyes telling her he was happy to see her made her relax. “I know, we love our memes and sayings. How long has it been since we’ve last seen one another? Two years now since our last face-to-face?”

Nodding, he looked around the light, airy room. “I know you were teaching in Lviv, but I didn’t know you had been transferred here to Kyiv six months ago. Seems like so long ago. Does it to you?” He met and held her softening gaze.

“Sometimes it seems like yesterday and sometimes much longer than two years. I missed all of you,” she admitted, losing her smile. “I talk to Adam often, and he fills me in on your team who just came back to Kyiv from many months of US training. He said they’re awaiting a new assignment being given to you. Is that true?”

“We missed you, too. And yes, we’ve got a new assignment.”

“I never know when you’re around, Ram. Every time I tell Adam I should come over and see you, you’re gone again. He’d told me you live in a village south of Kyiv.”

“My apartment is an hour’s drive from the city center. My team just spent twelve weeks in the US,” he admitted. “While I was learning tactics and strategy at the Pentagon, the rest of my men went to a couple of other nearby Army bases. There was a group of field-grade officers who went on this training and education program, and I was selected to be one of them.” He sighed. “With the Russians going to attack, the US Army offered to train us up on some things we were either rusty on or didn’t know about, giving us the latest tactical advantages that they are sharing with us as a country. It was a useful time we spent in the States.”

“Adam went with you,” she said, nodding. “Lera, his wife, and I would spend weekends with the girls at their home in Bucha. She kept me updated on all of your travels to the US for special, ongoing training.”

“Yes, some of my team were learning how to handle a Javelin tank killer that the US has. We received the intel and received the training we needed. It worked out well.”

“I haven’t spoken to Adam since he got home a few days ago. I’m sure he did well?”

“Yes. All my men passed their field tests. They are the best.” He frowned and unbuttoned his shirt pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “You know Adam—he’s smart and catches on to new information fast. We have six men in our team who are now qualified to use the Javelin shoulder-carry weapon, and that’s a relief to me. Our two snipers refined their skills at another base.”

“Everyone thinks Putin will send tanks first into your country.”

“In February of 2022. That’s what our intel people say as well as what the Pentagon is confirming. Their intel people have been picking up a lot of unprotected cell phone chatter from the Russians,” he admitted heavily. “They’re coming in the dead of winter so that the soil is frozen and Putin’s tanks can roll swiftly across the countryside to get into Ukraine and destroy us. If he tried to do that in January, the ground is still freezing.”

“In March,” Dare said, “it begins to thaw and his tanks will sink up to their drive sprocket in mud and the treads will come off and they’ll be sitting ducks for those Javelins your guys have been trained on.”

“Exactly right.” He opened the paper and frowned. “I’ve got some news that may be very upsetting to you, Dare.”

She sat up, frowning. “Are those orders?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t tell me they’re sending me back to the States, Ram. I won’t go. My place is here. My adopted parents are Ukrainian. I feel this is my homeland, too, and I don’t want to be sent away when the going gets tough around here.”

He gave her a painful look and handed the paper to her. “I have no say in this. Read?”

She reached for the extended papers, her fingertips brushing his. The ache in her heart for this man, who was incredibly closed up, remained an enigma to her. How badly she wanted to know him on equal emotional footing, having been drawn to him since she met him in Afghanistan so long ago. The officer/enlisted issue always surfaced. She saw his eyes darken and he looked away for a moment, his mouth thinning and tightening.

The orders were written in Ukrainian and she could easily read them. Gasping, she managed in a strangled tone to say, “I’m being ordered back into your team? As your combat field medic?” She stared at the orders, reread them several times and then drilled a look into his unhappy looking gaze. “These are legit?” and she waved the papers in his direction. “Seriously, Ram? You’re not playing a joke on me, are you?”

“I wish it was a joke,” he answered heavily, pushing his fingers through his short, dark hair after taking off his cap. “It’s for real, Dare.”