Aleska is on night duty together with Captain Chris Edgar who is in charge of artillery. He also doubles as a pilot. She is keeping to her section of the tower, patrolling south west of the base camp. Captain Edgar is guarding north east of their camp site. She is wide awake, on edge...pacing about furiously. All because of him. It had taken her more than a year to forget Stone Bretton. And now after one hour in his presence, all the memories came flooding back...She can't stop thinking about him. She should have requested a re-assignment. But that would mean submitting a motivation as to why she wanted to be deployed elsewhere. She sighs silently, thinking she should have opted for the last shift. If she goes to bed she's probably going to lie awake till the sun comes up.

As Aleska patrols, she senses she is not alone. A rush of adrenalin kicks in. She hears a sound behind her, soft almost inaudible. She strains her ear to detect exactly where the sound is coming from. Cautiously her right hand hovers over her Kizlyar knife in its sheath. It's Aleska's weapon of choice for close combat attack. She is able to accurately pierce its spear point to the heart of an opponent. Her left hand curves over the Beretta at her hip. She likes the power of this semi-automatic pistol. She can whip it out, have it firing in less than five seconds. Not that she would fire it tonight.

Back home her fellow ground force comrades prefer the Makarov pistol but she prefers her Beretta's impressive firepower. She only needs one or two bullets at most against any threat even though her pistol boasts a fifteen round magazine. Aleska turns around calmly, comes faces to face with the shadowy figure.  Her hands relax away from her weapons. She narrows her eyes in annoyance.

'You're only up for duty in an hour's' time, Captain McDouall!'

He is disappointed. He had wanted to unpleasantly surprise her. Even though he'd tried to move with stealth, she'd become aware of his presence.

'Couldn't sleep,' he shrugs nonchalantly.

'Captain!'

'Major?'

'The next time, announce yourself,' she warns.

His eyes measure her with an air of defiance. 'Why? Because you are red beret spetsnaz and I should feel intimidated?' He is seemingly unimpressed that she belongs to the elite, and many would regard legendary, deadly and feared Russian Special Forces.

Her ice blue eyes lock with his fiercely. 'The next time, I will eliminate the element of risk, then ask questions.'

McDouall tries to contain his rage. The scowl on his face is visible even though he is standing in the shadow of the broad beamed artificial lights. He does not dare respond to her threat.

'Seeing you're here Captain, you can commence your shift.' She descends the stairs of the portable metal observation tower.

'I still have fifty minutes,' he counters.

'That's an order, Captain,' she does not bother to make eye contact.

Her tone is forceful enough, not inviting any rejoinder.  McDouall glowers in silence as he assumes his shift.

Aleska does not retire to her quarters; instead she opts to visit the communication room. She wonders if Stone is sound asleep. Lucky for him, Commanding Officer and all, he does not get to do guard duty. That is left to the lowly minions below him, including herself. She finds Captain Jane Nicol on duty. Comms officers are on duty twenty four hours. There's always classified communication coming in from Britain at all hours and the unit here is transmitting reports and following all due processes at all hours as well.

'Major!' Jane Nicol hops of her chair in surprise.

Often the Commanding Officer strolls in. Captain McDouall the previous second in command almost never visits the Comms Room.

'As you were,' Aleska instructs softly, unsmilingly.

'What ---what can I do for you Major Maric?'

'My mobile is integrated with the closed circuit monitors here, yet I am unable to pick up any visuals on the early warning system we installed. Why is that?' Aleska demands.

'Eh--- eh,' Jane Nichol stammers clumsily.

Aleska is a trifle irritated. Surely an operator in the Comms Room should have the expertise to run that centre efficiently! She supposes the geek lady will only come on duty in about four hours.

'Where is Captain Scott's quarters?'

'He -he only comes on duty in four hours' time?'

'Where is it?' Aleska repeats softly, but her tone is assertive.

'First tent after the Colonel's,' Jane answers.

'Captain Scott, get up!' She speaks softly. He is sharing his quarters with a fellow soldier.

'What ---?' Scott tries to raise his weapon from under his pillow with sleepy eyes.

Aleska kicks his pistol out of his hand. She squats close to him. 'I would have killed you already Captain,' she maintains the soft tone.

'God help me.' He groans tiredly. She is so close he can get the scent of soap ... her skin. She is also so close he is tempted to reach out and touch her porcelain like face.

'Why are you here?'

'Let's talk outside,' she looks over at his mate who is sound asleep.

'Can I brush my teeth?'

'We are not going on a date. Get outside now,' she instructs.'

Date--- I would be so lucky!

Luckily for modesty sake he is wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Scott slips on sweat pants and a jacket and joins Aleska outside.

'Yes major?' He questions unnervingly.

'The optical sensors you installed is meant to translate visual images readable by the main system, right?'

'Yes,' Scott nods, rubbing his eyes.

'So I'm not seeing it display any influence from vibrations. How can we monitor any change in motion, in that case?'

'Can I see your mobile, Major?'

He checks the app. It is installed correctly. He turns the power off and on again. The app is still not integrating with the main system. Scott shrugs. A look of doom fills his face.

'Captain Scott, those sensors cannot have been sabotaged. They are supposed to detect any sudden increase in energy in close proximity of the sensor. And they are not immune to electromagnetic interference. The infrared motion sensors would have detected any body heat and emitted a warning signal in the event of sabotage.'

Scott stares in amazement. 'Is there anything you are not knowledgeable about?'

'My culinary skills are questionable,' Aleska confesses.

'Wait a minute! Is that a smile I see?'

She dishes him the Ice Maiden look. 'I need my comms working Captain!'

'Umm...yes Major. Maybe I should take your phone ---.'

'No!' She pulls it away as he is reaching out for it. What if he damages it? It is her only link to her beloved dedushka. 'This is not state issue. This is my private ---.'

'Is there a problem, Major Maric?'

Aleska looks up to see a suspicious looking Stone studying them curiously. She stares in a rare moment of distraction. He is in a vest and grey shorts. Her eyes lower to the bare flesh of his thighs. Exquisite definition ...bulging muscles.

Focus Aleska

'I wanted clarification on the system we installed. We're done. Sorry to have disturbed you,' she turns away and hurries to her tent.

'Good night Colonel,' Scott mumbles and scurries into his tent.

Stone watches as Aleska disappears into her tent.
Is she and Scott ---? I saw a smile on her face. Are they ---?
Stone can't sleep. He looks up at the tower, sees McDouall on duty and climbs the stairs.

'Colonel!' McDouall smiles broadly.

'I'm sure the roster has you on duty at two am,' Stone smiles back at McDouall. He shares a more than cordial friendship with his previous Number Two.

McDouall shrugs. 'Couldn't sleep, came to check on the team on duty and that --- Major just decides she is going to turn in early and instructs me to commence my shift!'

Stone helps himself to some of the coffee from the refreshment station. The expression on his face does not change when he hears McDouall recount his version on why Aleska is not on duty. Stone knows she would never shirk her duty for any reason. She is a Red Beret. Discipline was instilled into their blood. He wonders if the sensors has picked up any interference. Perhaps that's what she was in discussion with Scott about. He wants that to be the reason why he found the two deep in conversation.

'I don't trust her Colonel,' McDouall claims. 'She's up to something.'

Stone's eyes fly to McDouall. 'Major Maric was vetted, John.'

'Sir, I am telling you, she needs to be watched. Perhaps she is in cahoots with out targets.'

Stones empties his coffee mug. 'Nonsense, John. She got security clearance from our highest office.'

McDouall still keeps focus on his duty. His eyes do a quick scan about. 'I heard her talking in Russian on her mobile, sir.'

'Why were you eavesdropping on her private call?' Stone grins.

McDouall shifts uncomfortably. 'I was not being intrusive.' Good thing its dark, the colonel can't see his flushed face. 'I was walking to your station and overheard her talking in Russian.'

Stone laughs. 'She is Russian, John. Why does it surprise you that she would speak Russian on the phone? Perhaps she is talking to family,' Stone averts his eyes away from McDouall. He knows Aleska has no parents.

'We should put a tap on her sir.'

Stone's eyes meets McDouall's levelly. 'That's my call John. And we will do nothing of the sort.'

'Sir---yes sir,' McDouall dutifully salutes his superior. 'I beg your pardon sir.'

'No worries John. Focus on your own function,' Stone nods and departs.

'Yes sir,' McDouall complies respectfully.

When Aleska is certain Stone has disappeared, she leaves her tent again. It's pointless hopping into her sleeping bag. She can't sleep now. She needs to do something physical. Her mind wanders. She trashes her wayward thoughts.

She wonders about in the forest in search of strong sturdy wood to create a salmon ladder. Aleska cannot believe her luck. She happens upon a discarded length of sturdy Mahogany. It's little less than a metre in length. Perfect. She designs a free standing bar. Now she just needs to find two trees that have natural shaped rungs. There has to be two trees in this vast jungle of tree paradise. After some laborious searching, she finds her spot.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Aleska gears herself to perform some serious pull ups. Using her own sheer strength and dexterity she raises herself higher and higher with the horizontally held Mahogany pole between the two trees. It requires considerable upper body strength. The fear factor alone dissuades many an extreme sport enthusiast from attempting it. Not Aleska. She can effortlessly manage fifty pull ups in a heartbeat. She does this for an hour until she feels the muscles in her arms, upper body and abdomen burning from exhaustion. After that killer workout and a cool refreshing shower, Aleska feels the hour is respectable enough to knock on Lieutenant Nancy Stuart's door.

'Major ---good morning,' Nancy rises to her feet.

Aleska is surprised to see she is not alone. Stone is sitting rather closely next to his geek lady. It is still ridiculously early, like after five in the morning. Why is he awake so early?

'Morning, Lieutenant --- Colonel.' Aleska greets them formally.

'You're up rather early Major?' He questions unsmilingly.

Correction. I have not been to bed.

'Should I come back later?' Her accented voice questions Stone. 'I want to look at some data on the system.'

'No.' Stone stands up. 'I'm leaving, go ahead,' he leaves the room.

Nancy shifts awkwardly. She wishes the colonel had not left her alone with the Russian soldier. She does not know what to say to her.

'Show me how your system links to the early warning system Captain Scott installed,' Aleska instructs.

'Okay.' The geek lady nods and goes through a lengthy, technical explanation of how the tracking sensors integrate with her main system. All of which Aleska is fairly au fait with.

'The terminal emulator on those sensors access the system remotely, same way your mobile is able to browse. All our systems are integrated via satellite, but --- your mobile needs an interface installed to link to our mainframe. It --- will take me five seconds,' Nancy stammers.

Aleska is silently relieved that their hard work the previous day was not in vain. She immediately hands her mobile to geek lady.

'All done,' geek lady returns the mobile. 'Now your device is as mainstream as all this,' she points to the elaborate and intricate network server humming behind her.

Aleska is sitting on a rock in front of a waterfall. She is studying some photographs of the drug lord Omar Nazario and the intel transmitted to her, when a shadow falls over the papers on her lap. She looks up and finds herself gazing into Stone's slate grey eyes.   He sits down next to her, extracts the pages from her lap and studies them.

'I understand they have departed via the Mariel Port.'

Aleska knows Stone was copied into the intel transmitted to her. 'He favours transportation by water,' Aleska provides. 'That's how his last three narcotic shipments left South America.'

'The drug problem here is so widely broadcasted all over the world. How is it that the local authorities are not on top of these syndicates?'

She feels the heat of his body so close to her. Aleska can't believe Stone is sitting so close to her and they are having a normal conversation. It requires much effort for her to drag her eyes away from his hypnotic eyes.

'The Cuban border police initially had enforcement focused on Havana. But is seems these cartels favour Mariel, as it's the nearest port to the United States. There has been road blocks set up at border points,' Aleska informs him, 'but these drug lords are always finding ingenious methods of transportation. They send mules through the road blocks. The mules get apprehended, but the volume of narcotics they are smuggling is insignificant.'

Stone listens attentively. Her English is eloquent, but her accent is enthralling to his ears.

'The high volume shipments are transported in water tight barrels via the river,' she provides. 'It's invisible to spot from the land surface. The barrels are remote controlled. They are heavy, submerged beneath the water surface, are unmanned and therefore not detectable by law enforcement.'

'Ingenious indeed!' Stone replies. 'So how where these remote controlled barrels discovered?'

'Two years ago a barrel was discovered, by a life saver on an island in Peru. It had hit a cluster of rocks. It split open and heavily sealed plastic bags with cocaine were floating about on the island. The circuit board found inside one of the panels of the barrel was taken to local narcotics agents for investigation and is was concluded that a very high tech remote control system was transporting the narcotics to an awaiting charter yacht that was destined for Europe.'

'So what makes you think Nazario will travel via the Amazon?'

'He was spotted here three times in the last two months.'

'When do you think they will return?' Stone asked.

'I suspect within the next month, but we will wait for him to make the first move.'

Time and patience are a soldier's most valuable and greatest weapons. Aleska will not be rushed and Stone understands that strategy perfectly well. He did not make colonel, by making rash decisions as Commanding Officer in the field.

Stone nods. He stands up. 'Captain McDouall believes your services can be utilized to conduct training exercises for our unit.'

'He does?'

'He tells me he observed you doing some pretty rigorous strength training very early this morning.'

Stone omits to tell Aleska of McDouall's very descriptive details of her skimpy training vest and shorts, she had been training in, in the early hours of the morning.

How the hell had Aleska not been alert to McDouall watching her? He can only have done so with binoculars from the tower.

'It's no problem,' Aleska stands up as well.

'Good. I think my soldiers are indulging in too much good food and not enough exercise. I would hate if they are not firing from all cylinders as they should.'

'I can split the group in half and commence the first training session this afternoon,' she offers.

'Yes. Thank you,' he salutes and walks away.

Aleska stares at the broad shoulders retreating. Various emotions rip through her,  confusion ... disappointment...desire ...lust

-           end chapter three-