Lucilla--NaNoWriMo2014

Chapter Eight

Lucilla leaned over and kissed Mark.

"Good morning, Mark."

Mark rolled toward the middle of the bed.

"Lucy, this wasn't supposed to happen between us."

"My powerful American friend doesn't think I'm exciting?"

"Lucy, you're most pleasurable at night, like you warned me."

"Is there something wrong?"

Mark sat up and pulled the sheets around him. He motioned for Lucilla to cover her ample breasts. He walked across the room.

"I can see, Lucy, how you could get any man you wanted back when Rome ruled the world and you ruled your husband." For the moment Mark was all business. "I can't say that a guy like me would never have feelings for you."

"So why can't we just make love as we travel as husband and wife?"

Mark leaned forward. "This is war, Lucy. Our mission in Italy comes first. There are times you could like me or even love me too much."

"What's wrong with that?"

"We could in the coming months get ourselves into a situation in which one of us is wounded during our mission."

"If it happened to you, I would come back and get you. Treat your wounds."

"That's just it. If you or I let our feelings for each other get in the way of our mission, we could fail."

Mark let his sheet fall. "It's not that I would never want you. But were I wounded and the success of our mission was hanging in the balance, I would order you to leave me."

"I could never do that."

"Then, as I suspected, we're not ready yet. There's more training ahead of us. You have got to be better trained. Hardened. Ready to kill and walk away from it all."

"What do we do, Mark?"

"I was asked if you were ready yet, or if I should take you through more training. Last night showed me we both need more. So we begin today."

Mark arranged for Lucilla to practice hand-to-hand combat. For this Lucilla faced soldiers much larger than she was. They practiced so hard that Lucilla learned to disarm attackers coming from the front and from behind.

Once she mastered dealing with one opponent at a time, they trained her to face two attackers at a time. She would disarm one with lightning speed and slam her fist onto a vulnerable spot on their bodies and learn to kill when necessary.

At last Lucilla faced Mark himself. She felt it ironic that she would have to practice trying to kill a man that she was beginning to have feelings for.

Nevertheless, Lucilla fought hard to get the better of Mark as he came at her with a rifle and bayonet sheathed for safety. Keeping her wits, she sidestepped him with ease and managed to twist the rifle out of his hands and knock him to the ground.

Then she turned his own bayonet on him. She had bested him at least once.

Mark stood up with a smile. Laying his hand on her shoulder, he said, "You're ready, and I've just volunteered you and me for a dangerous mission."

Lucilla and Mark were dressed in desert camouflage as they loaded their radio, weapons, backpacks, and mission-essential equipment aboard their rubber dingy. Their submarine surfaced. The captain went over their evacuation procedures with both Mark and Lucilla.

Their mission was to report on troop deployments, vehicles, equipment, and weapons available to defend the beaches near Ancient Carthage.

The submarine would surface in twenty-four hours the next night and once more on the next night. After that they would presume that Mark and Lucilla were dead or captured. There would be no more justification to risk a submarine and crew on their mission.