Time Sensitive Target

Part 49 - Desire

"Hey," Ant grinned warmly, his infectious smile inspiring my own as we embraced. "You look great, how are you feeling?" 

"Good," I smiled and greeted Rob with a hug I had grown to feel comfortable with. 

"Jase made it sound like you were dying," Rob held my shoulder and looked at me carefully, inspecting for any lingering signs of illness. 

"It was a flu, a two day thing," I rolled my eyes with nonchalance, concealing the true sickness that had plagued me. "I didn't know you'd be meeting me," I glanced around quickly, looking for signs of Jase's tall, hulking body. 

"Jase said he might meet us later, he told us where to pick you up from. You need to eat, don't you?" We piled into their truck and pulled on to the service road, the bar only five minutes away by car. 

"They do pizza there, I think," I mused. "I've heard there are some rules..." 

"Yeah thanks- I already bought two rounds for everyone when we went in last week," Rob groaned. 

"What did you do?" I chuckled.

"I put my phone on the bar, and touched one of the model planes they have hanging from the ceiling. You can't wear a hat in there either, I can't remember the others. Good laugh though," he smiled. 

As dusk fell, more and more personnel began to drip in to the base's only watering hole, some of whom I recognised from seeing them around, some who had dropped in paperwork with a smile to the office, plus a familiar face in Jack surrounded by a couple of other shirt wearing agents. He nodded to me briefly from across the room, prompting an influx of questions from Ant. 

"Who's the suit?" He frowned suspiciously. 

"Who, Jack? He's my 'liaison'; he took care of everything at the beginning basically. I think he's like Lorres' lackey," I spun the coaster around on the surface of the varnished table with my index finger, ignoring the increasingly frequent looks from that side of the bar. Jack was drunk, they were all drunk. Their laughs had become jovial roars, animated conversation notched up loud enough for everybody to hear. 

"Think Rob's having fun?" Ant smiled and gave his friend a sideways glance. Rob was deep in conversation with a pretty servicewoman; whilst she fluttered her lashes he clenched his biceps, the mating ritual very entertaining to watch. 

"It's like watching National Geographic," I giggled and took a sip from the sweating bottle of beer I'd just started. It was the first alcoholic drink I'd had, and I was a little nervous. Would I have lost all of my capability to hold my liquor? When inhibitions were all I seemed to have, what would I be like if I let some of them go for an evening? 

"And here we have the typical Alpha Male specimen; this large male raises his sleeves before he approaches the female, showing his impressively carved muscles," Ant narrated as David Attenborough, watching carefully as the woman stroked the tattoo on Rob's arm. 

I took a swig from the beer, enjoying the hoppy taste and snickering privately as Ant continued his repertoire. 

"Oh- she's leaving!" I exclaimed in a whisper. "No, she's going to the ladies' room. I'm going to go and put in a good word," I hastily stood from the table, ignoring Ant's hissed protests. 

I walked across the bar, shooting a mischievous smile back to Ant, and nearly bumped into somebody as they whirled round.

"Whoa- sorry!" The familiar man stumbled back and grinned. "Hey, I recognise you." 

"Oh, yeah you dropped some paperwork in to 91 a couple of weeks ago, I think," I squinted my eyes as I placed him. He was very recognisable; tall, built, with a deep tan and a classically handsome face. His eyes were brown and framed by thick black lashes, his hair dark chestnut that looked soft even from afar. His features were so symmetrical they made looking at him a pleasurable experience.