Point Of Departure. Lindsay McKenna

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СКАЧАТЬ Doctor. All I want to do is go home and rest. I’m very tired. Exhausted, if you want the truth.”

      “I understand,” Dr. Lipinski said soothingly as she rested her hip against the gurney. “But this is a serious offense, and I’ve got to report it.”

      Callie’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at the grim-faced doctor, whose pen was poised above the form. “What do you mean, report it?”

      “Lieutenant, at the least, you’ve been sexually harassed. At worst, the shore-patrol officials would say you’ve been assaulted. Now, I’m legally bound to report this kind of thing. If I don’t, I’m in hot water. Besides, these pilots think they’re a gift to women and I’m sick and tired of seeing these kinds of cases come through my doors. It’s time that it stopped.”

      Her heart pounding, Callie stammered, “B-but I don’t want this reported! Doctor, I have a career to think about. It was my boss that did this to me! I’m up for an early promotion to lieutenant commander, and I don’t want to lose it. You can’t report this!”

      Lipinski’s lean face softened slightly. “I’m sorry, Ms. Donovan. I have to do my duty, and you, more than most, should understand that. I have to note your injuries, the fact that your blouse has been torn. I have to provide a written report of your abrasions and the presence of several red marks on your chest between your breasts from their groping.” She shook her head adamantly. “Believe me, this is best.”

      “For who?” Callie cried, her voice cracking. Wildly, she looked to Ballard for support. He stood, dark faced, his arms folded tightly across his chest, his eyes filled with anger. Probably at her—or the doctor? She wasn’t sure which.

      “For you,” Lipinski said calmly, beginning to fill out the form. “And for every woman on or off this station who is sexually harassed by men who think they can keep getting away with it. Well, they can’t.”

      Panic spread through Callie and she gripped the doctor’s arm. “Please, you can’t do this! I don’t want to press charges against them! I just want to drop it and let it go. My career is more important to me than this!”

      Dr. Lipinski lifted her chin, her eyes assessing. “Lieutenant, it isn’t a matter of whether you want to press charges or not. I’m bound by law to report this to the shore patrol and the legal department. And I’m tired of seeing women coming in here too frightened to testify before either a civil court or a navy board of investigation. Don’t worry, you’ll have me as a corroborating witness.”

      “That isn’t going to help me and you know it!” Callie rasped. “My career will be ruined! The navy will slot me into some dead-end job and then force me to resign. I’ve seen it done too many times. You can’t do this to me, Dr. Lipinski!”

      Ty moved forward, his hand coming to rest on Callie’s tense shoulder. “The doctor doesn’t have a choice, Callie,” he offered, trying to soothe her.

      Angrily, Callie shrugged his hand off her shoulder. Filled with a fear that made her more vocal than usual, she insisted, “Commander, that’s easy for you to say. You’re a man in a man’s world.”

      Ty retreated, realizing that Callie was right. He saw the tears in her luminous eyes and wanted somehow to comfort her. But there was no comfort. “I can’t deny it,” he murmured apologetically.

      “You’ll see the wisdom of this,” the doctor said gently, “after you get over the shock of being attacked, Ms. Donovan. Right now your senses are heightened, along with your feelings. I understand your concerns, but if women don’t stand up and fight back, more women are going to be hurt. Do you want that?”

      Breathing hard, Callie wiped the tears from her cheeks. “My sister Maggie is just like you,” she answered angrily. “But I’m not like her, and I’m not like you! If this gets reported, my career is gone! Finished!”

      “Lieutenant Maggie Donovan has been very influential,” Lipinski murmured, continuing to fill out the forms. “I admire her very much. She’s done a lot to help women in the military be seen as equals.”

      Callie felt the doctor’s gaze, felt the accusation in her voice at Callie’s weak stance. Well, that was too bad, because she didn’t have Maggie’s guts. All her early confidence had been taken from her back in her plebe year at Annapolis. Once she’d been the kind of fighter that her sisters were, but she wasn’t anymore. She’d learned the hard way. It didn’t pay to fight back.

      Bitterly, she sat, quietly answering the doctor’s pointed, specific questions, hands clasped tightly in her lap. Callie thought the inquisition would never end. Finally, forty-five minutes later, Dr. Lipinski released her.

      “I’ll take you home,” Ty volunteered. With her right ankle injured, she wouldn’t be able to drive her car.

      “Good idea,” Dr. Lipinski agreed. “I’m issuing you a pair of crutches for the next two weeks, Ms. Donovan. Commander, perhaps you’d be kind enough to go down to Supply, on the right, and pick them up for her?”

      “Of course,” Ty said, and he left with the chit authorizing the crutches.

      Callie remained on the gurney, feeling very much alone in a way she had hoped never to experience again. Dr. Lipinski had given her a mild sedative to take tonight in case she couldn’t sleep. Stuffing the pills into her purse, Callie squeezed her eyes shut in the silence of the now-deserted examination room. How could this have happened? It was her fault. Somehow, it must be her fault. Had she dressed too provocatively, bringing on Remington’s unwanted attention?

      Burying her face in her hands, Callie tried to get a grip on her roiling feelings. If Dr. Lipinski turned in that report, her career was as good as dead. She had no other training. There were no intelligence jobs in the civilian world. It was all she knew. Job security meant everything to Callie—much more than it did to her three sisters. They moved through life with a freedom that she envied. But then, her freedom had been taken from her long ago.

      Feeling like a trapped animal, Callie slowly eased off the gurney. As torn up as she felt, she needed Ballard’s company on the way home. A part of her wanted his continued support, even as another part—the part that distrusted men—wondered what his ulterior motives were. Ballard was a Top Gun—he was an instructor at the station. Someone like him didn’t get that plum assignment unless he was the very best at what he did—aggressive, arrogant and selfish.

      No, Ty Ballard was a pilot—and she’d be wise to remember it.

      Chapter Three

      “For whatever it’s worth,” Ty said as he drove the car off the station, the darkness surrounding them, “I’m sorry about what Remington and those two other pilots did to you.”

      Callie sat tensely in Ballard’s car. She’d been silent since leaving the dispensary. Wearily now she said, “You don’t need to apologize. It’s not your fault.”

      His mouth barely pulled into a one-cornered smile. “In a way, it is.”

      Callie stared at his rugged profile for a moment. There seemed to be a vulnerability about him, although it was carefully closeted, and that appealed to her.

      “What do you mean?” she asked.

      “Well, before I got married, I caroused around a lot, too. I spent plenty of weekends drunk at the O СКАЧАТЬ