Emma (Dark Fire) by Jodie B. Cooper Page A

grin as Lydia shifted just a bit closer to Keith. He seemed stunned over her constant attentive behavior.
    “Who beat you up?” Emma asked, forcing herself to interrupt their softly spoken words.
    Several moments passed before Keith pulled his eyes from Lydia’s face. Not long enough to be rude, but pointed enough that he flushed a light crimson.
    “General Thackwart’s Neanderthals,” Keith answered her question. He turned too quickly and tried to hide a grimace. Glancing meaningfully toward the jeep, he touched his ear.
    Taking the hint, Emma jumped up from her kneeling position.
    The small, hand-held gadget was exactly where Keith hid it earlier that morning. Sweeping the bug detector around the jeep, she found three button-sized bugs. Sighing, she dropped the listening devices in her half-full pop bottle and screwed the cap tight, before flinging it into the trees.
    “I thought that jerk was stationed on the east coast.”
    Of all people to be in charge, Brigadier General Thackwart was the worst. Emma had nothing but respect for the U.S. military, but ‘insane loose cannon’ didn’t come close to describing Thackwart.
    “He was. From what I found out before his thugs found me talking to Sergeant Lawrence, Thackwart was here for a surprise inspection of some sort. Now, his boss is too busy with a new wave of attacks in Texas and Thackwart’s using the confusion to take charge.”
    “No doubt he hopes to kill a few thousand monsters and look like a hero.”
    “Sounds about right,” Keith agreed, watching Lydia as she checked him for broken bones. Her gentle fingers reached his shoulder and he hissed in pain. “It feels dislocated. Can you put it back in?”
    Lydia frowned. “I’m afraid I’ll do more damage.”
    “It’ll hurt like fire, but just pop it back in. It’s happened before,” Keith said with resignation.
    Lydia shook her head. “Your body is too delicate. Too much pressure and I could easily snap your arm instead of fixing it,” she said.
    Leaning across Keith, she lifted the rear of the jeep with a single hand. Having made her point, she eased the jeep back to the ground.
    His mouth twitched with humor. “First time I’ve ever been called delicate. You’re going to do bad things to my ego, Dragon Lady. Just take it slow and pop it in.” When she frowned he said, “I’m not going to the doctor. So, it’s either that, or I slam my shoulder into a tree until it pops into place.”
    Lydia growled, but finally agreed. After she fixed his arm, she further dented his masculine ego by picking him up like a baby. He grumbled and grouched as they settled into the backseat of the jeep.
    Emma drove.
    On the way, Keith finished telling them what happened. It wasn’t much. One of Thackwart’s bullyboys recognized Keith and took him to the general.
    “Your military doesn’t sound very honorable,” Lydia said, snarling in anger.
    “Most of them are,” Emma insisted, flicking her fingers toward town, “but Thackwart is a bully. He nearly got Uncle Keith killed and was responsible for him getting kicked-out of the Special Forces.”
    Keith sighed. “There was more to it than that.”
    “Yeah, he screwed up and you took the hit,” Emma said, belligerently defending him.
    “Enough, Emma, no one could prove he did anything wrong,” Keith said, shaking his head. “The short of the story is simple. I knew what happened. I saw too much, but it was my word against his, and that wasn’t enough for a court martial. Emma’s partly right. I firmly believe his actions caused the death of several good men.” He glared out the window. “I was honorably discharged when I should’ve been court martialed for attacking a superior officer.”
    “At least your effort put him in a partial body cast,” Emma said with a grin.
    “Yeah,” Keith groaned. “That was one of his comments as his boys held me down and beat the crap out of me.”
    “Not that I want you to be hurt any worse, but why didn’t