Crossing the compound, she noticed Pappy and two of the instructors heading her way. Her eyes swiveled to take in everything at one time. She had two choices. She could simply walk past them, making no eye contact, which would appear strange, or she could break into a hard run and head for the bushes, where she would pretend to be sick. She opted for the latter, knowing the men wouldn’t follow her. Who wanted to see a woman throw up her dinner?

Sooner or later she was going to have to figure out why she was letting the Greek get under her skin. Yes, he thought he was almighty, but the instructors at the Academy were the same way. Mean, lean, and hard. No one at the Academy had turned it into something personal, though. Either you cut it, or you didn’t. Maybe knowing she’d married Douglas like the others and had been dumped made him think less of her. Maybe he hated women, her in particular. And then there was the real biggie. She’d turned the tables on him, stood up to him in front of the others. Then again, maybe the man was attracted to her. The thought was so ludicrous she started to laugh and couldn’t stop.

Inside the barracks she let her mind wander back to the PT and DT tests. All four teams had been given three days to tend to their feet. Just when the blisters had crusted over, on the fourth day, Pappy had called a night march. Everyone had shown up except for two women and one man from each of the other three teams. On the sixth day, the helicopter had lifted off before dawn, and although no explanations were given, and no one asked questions, everyone knew those recruits had washed out.

Sam kicked off her boots to rub cocoa butter on her still-tender feet. She followed it up with a menthol rub that made her feet tingle. The first thing she was going to do when she left there was to burn the damn boots. From that point on, she made a promise to herself she’d never wear anything but canvas sandals.

Sam leaned back on one of the chairs and started to think about their game plan. One thing she’d learned at the Academy was always to take the initiative, to be bold, to think quickly, and to consider the consequences but not dwell on them. In other words, as Hawkins said, if it feels right, go for it. This felt so right, so perfect, she was almost certain her team wouldn’t fail.

And, this time, it was personal.