Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,78

personally, Commander?”

“She is what she seems. A dedicated, skilled officer, willing to protect and serve. Those were the words she used. She seems to see this mission as an extension of her oath as a police officer.”

“That’s good, but what were your impressions of her? You talked to her. Give me a feel for her character.”

Sam was surprised by the request but willing to try. “She’s smaller than I expected. Very petite. She’s also fierce and has a lively sense of humor, even under the circumstances. She saw right through my poor attempts to ingratiate myself and called me on it.” The admiral chuckled on the other end of the line, but Matt didn’t pause. “She seems to like plain talk and honesty, which is something I respect. All in all, I think she’s a good addition to the team.”

“The fact that she’s female isn’t going to be a problem?”

“The men seemed to accept her as a member of the team. They all seemed to respect her and I think Beauvoir has taken her under his wing. She told me he’d been teaching her how to work in the field and she’d been sharing her investigative knowledge with him. They’ve already turned up more evidence than the military personnel has at Bragg. I think having her on the team will cause more good than harm in the long run.”

“She looks like a pretty young girl in her file photo. No hormone issues among the men?”

Matt had to stifle a laugh at the way the admiral phrased his question.

“As I said, sir, I think Captain Beauvoir has taken her under his wing, so to speak.”

“Do you think they’re involved?”

He could hear the admiral’s frown in his voice. Matt wasn’t prepared to cause trouble over something that might or might not be going on. He didn’t really care what his people got up to in their private time, but he knew there were a lot of older officers especially who weren’t so lenient.

“It doesn’t appear so, sir. Captain Beauvoir has a reputation for protecting underdogs. In Ranger School, he helped another candidate who had fallen ill with a twenty-four-hour virus until he was over the hump and able to compete again. Beauvoir’s been known to give extra training on off-hours to those in his command who don’t perform up to his standards. The men flock to him. He seems to inspire loyalty and the desire to perform at peak ability in his men. From the conversation I had with Sarah Petit tonight, he’s had the same effect on her.” Matt privately thought there probably was something romantic going on between Sarah and Xavier, but nobody would hear about it from him.

“What did she say to lead you to this conclusion?”

The admiral sounded skeptical to Matt’s ears.

“She told me she thought she’d performed poorly in her first two encounters with the creatures but that, with Beauvoir’s help, she was doing better. Her tone was clearly one of admiration when she spoke of the captain and his skills in the field. He’s definitely had an effect on her.” Matt had seen the way Sarah and Xavier had looked at each other. He’d also noticed the way Beauvoir protected her without being too obvious about it. The man was probably already halfway in love with the pretty policewoman.

Matt almost envied him. Sarah was a fine-looking woman and had a big heart. She also understood duty and honor. Such a woman would be a good match for a man in Xavier’s line of work. Matt’s line of work, too, for that matter. Too bad he hadn’t met Sarah first. Maybe if he had, he’d have had a chance with her. As it was, she’d only had eyes for Xavier.

“All right.” The admiral regained Matt’s attention with his decisive tone. “Now, what can you tell me about the situation at Bragg? Any new developments come out of your meeting in New York?”

Matt made a face, glad the admiral couldn’t see him. Frankly, he was disgusted by their lack of progress in identifying the source of the outbreak. Luckily, the number of zombies at Fort Bragg was minimal compared with what had been unleashed so far on Long Island.

“We still haven’t been able to locate the source of the contagion at Fort Bragg, sir. I’ve downloaded a lot of information from the New York investigation to my people in North Carolina and we’re scheduled for a group debrief tomorrow at 0600. You’ll have the results of that session