The Christmas Lights Objective by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman [Buchman, M. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

Chapter 6

“I don’t want to feel decommissioned any more.” Kelsey slipped her hand off his arm and he missed it. He missed the comfort. He missed the connection.

“What?” Jason wondered where that had come from. He was still trying to shake off the memories of last Christmas, his dad already past being able to speak, but smiling as he wore his goofy hat. Meager presents opened on a hospital bed because no one could find the energy to shop for more.

“The lighthouses,” Kelsey pointed upward.

Jason hadn’t even noticed them. He could barely see anything other than the withered man who took up so little space on the vast bed.

“You think you’re a decommissioned lighthouse?”

“Can’t prove otherwise by me.”

He’d heard her story, about her idiot parents. Had they somehow pounded into this beautiful woman’s head that she wasn’t worth better?

Jason had asked Sofia about her, when it was clear they knew each other.

“Not much to tell. Brilliant, driven, the very best in very tough crowd. But she really keeps herself to herself, if you understand what I am meaning. She never talks about anything outside of the missions. So it’s not as if I’m giving anything away because neither will she.”

But Kelsey just had. To him.

“Kelsey?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How could you get something so completely wrong?”

“What? I know where Zavala is. I know the layout of the house. We are the perfect assets to do this fast and quiet.” She was back on the mission, and she was right. They’d rolled past the flashing lighthouse, leaving behind traffic, another cruise terminal, and once more were into the outskirts of the rapidly disappearing town.

“There,” she pointed. They dropped down onto the narrow shore road past the big resorts, the Chankanaab Beach Resort being the last of them. He had a quick glimpse of a quiet lagoon and thatched huts. It was the sort of place he’d imagined bringing a woman, though not with a load of weapons, rather with a bikini and a lot of time with nothing planned.

They continued south along the shore. The low beach and berm were usually close by, except when lush estates pushed the access road inland.

“Here,” Kelsey pointed again.

He turned off into a vacant lot. It made a gap through the scrub trees and palms connecting the road to the beach. He stopped before they reached the sand. The electric MRZRs were silent and he could hear the gentle splash of the waves picked out in the headlights. He and Kelsey here, together. It was very easy to imagine.

Duane and Sofia rolled up quietly behind them, but Jason ignored them.

Instead, he turned to Kelsey. Her face was randomly lit by the blinking Christmas lights on the roll cage. The shifting shadows made it hard to read her expression.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” he said, for lack of any better ideas.

“It is,” she looked down at her folded hands.

“Got a present for you.”

“Better than this hat?” Then he saw her bite her lower lip because she now obviously understood the importance of the hat.

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