I
t was a good afternoon, too.
Back at the outpost, in honor of her assistance in rescuing them, the men gave her dibs on the shower. While they stood lined up outside, waiting for their turns, not one of them so much as murmured a wish that she’d hurry.
Though they did seem hell-bent on chatting with her the entire time she stood in the stall. Not that she minded. She could talk about explosives and arsenals for a week nonstop.
Figuring they’d been patient long enough, she hit the crank and grabbed a towel. She started to just wrap it around her and head out, but remembered that Nathan had taken serious exception to that. Now, he’d likely be even worse. She took the extra time to tug on clean fatigues and then stepped outside, carrying her boots.
“What? No towel stroll today?” Douglas, of course.
The dozen men in line let out a collective boo.
Kate laughed. “Maybe next time.”
Nathan rounded the tent corner just in time to hear that remark. “I’d bet against it.”
The men sobered, went silent.
Kate ignored Nathan’s stern expression and wrinkled her nose at him. “What would you bet?”
The guys were listening. “Your rank.”
She smiled. “I’m not under your command, Major. Would you really petition headquarters to take my rank?”
“Come on, Commander.” Kramer jumped to her defense. “That’s a little harsh. She was just…”
Nathan silenced him with a scathing glare. “I know exactly what she’s doing.” He turned to the men. “She’s in love with me, and she wants me to let you all know it.”
She stretched her eyes wide. “Excuse me?”
“She also wants you to know that I’m in love with her.”
“Actually, I didn’t want either.” She stared up at Nathan, certain he’d lost his mind. “What in hell are you doing?”
He clasped her hand and pulled her to him. “Staking my claim.”
He kissed her hard, then released her, before turning and walking off toward the command tent, leaving Kate standing there feeling like…well, torn. Part of her wanted to pop his ass, and another part wanted to kiss him again.
“Arrogant, cuss, isn’t he?” she asked the guys.
They responded with a lot of amused smirks and noncommittal babble. “Wimps,” she said, knowing they were anything but.
Walking his way, she shouted after him. “Forester!”
He stopped.
She walked on, then paused about ten feet from him and crooked her finger. “Come here.”
He hesitated, frowned, blushed—totally charming, that—grumbled and muttered, but he came over. And when he did, she curled her arms around his neck and whispered, “Fair is fair.” Then she jumped up into his arms and wrapped her legs around his hips.
“Damn it, Kate,” he muttered against her mouth.
He had to hold her or drop her. And if she went down, she wasn’t going alone.
The guys behind her laughed hard and loud. She broke their kiss, looked into Nathan’s eyes, and saw a twinkle of pure joy.
“You’re undermining my authority with my men.”
“No, I’m not.” She kissed the tip of his nose. “I’m not one of your men—and don’t bullshit me, Forester. You wanted them to know about us.”
He sighed hard and heavy. “You’re going to give me hell for the next fifty years, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” She rubbed their noses. “I think I am.”
Riley came out of the command post tent. “Captain Kane?” His owl eyes stretched wide.
Nathan lowered her to the ground. “Yes, Riley?”
“It’s…it’s a phone call, ma’am,” he said, still sputtering. “Secure line. A Captain Maggie Holt.”
“Thanks.” She walked into the tent and took the call. Nathan looked damned happy with himself.
She hoped he was at least as happy as she felt. “Bluefish, here.” Even though the line was supposedly secure, Kate wasn’t taking any chances. GRID was too powerful.
“It’s Home Base.”
“Right. What’s up?” She had already filed the mission summary report on the rescue, and overt units had taken over the cave excavation. She was essentially done.
“You’ve been ordered back to Providence.”
S.A.S.S.’s new headquarters in Florida. “Now?”
“Right now.”
“What’s going on?” Worry filled Kate.
“It’s Intel.”
Darcy. Darcy Clark. One of the best S.A.S.S. operatives in the history of the unit, but because of a freak accident, a woman who had no choice but to remain isolated most of the time. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Maggie sounded tense, like a spring wound too tight. “The colonel is sending her out on a mission.”
Shock stormed through Kate. “She’s what?”
It has to be that damn red hair dye.
It’d frazzled Colonel Drake’s brain. She knew Darcy couldn’t withstand the sensory input of being around people.
“I knew you’d be pissed,” Maggie said. “I tried to make Amanda call you, but she said, ‘No way.’ So I got stuck—”
“Oh, stuff it, and tell me what this is about.”
Seemingly not offended, she answered. “GRID, of course.”
Kate resisted an urge to jump through the phone and jerk out the woman’s vocal cords. “What about GRID? Why Intel?”
“I can’t tell you—even on a secure line.” She blew out a sharp breath. “Don’t kill the messenger, okay?”
She had a point. Worry for Darcy had her ill-tempered. Normally she’d put a little more effort into being civil. After all, it wasn’t Maggie’s fault that she was new. They had all been new to S.A.S.S. at one time or another.
Yeah, and the senior operatives had been impatient as hell with them, too, Kate recalled. It had forced her to wise up faster and work harder.
“When do I leave?”
“Transport is arranged. Actually, in about thirty minutes. Chopper pilot will give you the details.”
“Travel civilian or military?”
“Military. Noncombat.”
“Okay, then.”
“I’ll pick you up on this end.”
The end without Nathan. Her spirit sank. “Thanks.” She put down the receiver, then looked over at Nathan.
“You’re leaving.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway. “In half an hour.”
“My orders came through, too. They’re moving the unit. Tonight.”
“Where to?”
He smiled his regrets.
“Sorry.” She shrugged, realizing she shouldn’t have asked. “So what happens now, with us?”
He walked around the desk and clasped her by the shoulders. “It’ll work out.”
“How?” They were in different parts of the world. Even their permanent stations were across the country from each other. Nathan in Washington, her in Florida. With their colliding careers keeping them on the move, how would it work out?
“Trust me.”
“Nathan, trust doesn’t have a damn thing to do with this.” She backed up. “This is reality. This is fact. Ours can’t be even just a long-distance relationship. It’s a remote long-distance relationship.”
“It is whatever it is, Kate. That doesn’t change a thing.” He looked at her hard. “Unless you didn’t mean…Is that it? Were you just playing a flirting game with me, and now that the mission is over, we’re over, too?”
“Nathan Forester, I can’t believe you said that. Are you crazy?”
“Maybe.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “I won’t lose you, Kate.”
“No, you’ll put me in the position of losing myself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Maybe not today, but soon, you’ll want me to give up my job.”
“No, I promise.” He flatly denied it. “That’s one thing I’d never ask you to do.” He stepped back. “You just saved the lives of sixty men.
My
men. I know the value of what you do, and I swear to you, I’d never ask you to give it up.”
The backs of her eyes burned. “I don’t want to lose you, either, Nathan. It took me my whole damn life just to find you.”
“Not possible.” He dragged at his lip with his teeth. “I’ll be at Providence in three weeks. We’ll work it all out then.”
“Okay.” It was wise. They were exhausted, their emotions supercharged. Waiting to make important decisions would be the best thing all around.
Riley cleared his throat from behind them. “Ma’am. Your chopper’s here. Douglas already on-loaded your gear.”
“They’re early.” She sniffed. “Thanks, Riley.”
Nathan smiled. “I’ll walk with you.” He curled an arm around her waist.
Outside, the men stood in two lines, leading to the chopper pad. They’d formed an honor guard for her to walk through?
Overwhelmed, Kate felt tears spring to her eyes, burn and slide down her cheeks. “Damn it, guys. This isn’t fair.”
A few chuckled, but the others stood stern-faced and at attention, holding on to discipline, while she and Nathan walked through. Near the chopper she turned. “Stay safe.”
They broke ranks and gathered around. “Hey, Captain. Can we call if we need a bailout?”
She smiled. They’d taken her in and claimed her as one of them. “Absolutely, Carlisle!”
Nathan dropped a quick kiss on her lips.
Kate smiled at him. “Three weeks.” When he nodded, she turned, then stopped and swung back around to face him. “Don’t make me hunt you down, Forester.”
Douglas grunted, ribbing him. “Yeah, that’s one woman’s heart you don’t want to break. She knows seven hundred and fifty ways to kill you!”
Nathan laughed.
Kate hiked a cryptic brow. “He’s right, you know. Not that I would, but I could.”
Nathan sobered.
Kate laughed. “I’ll miss you, Nathan.” He was so easy to razz. “You know I will.”
She climbed into the chopper and took her seat.
On the ground outside, Nathan held up three fingers and winked.
T
he last leg of the long flight home was on a commercial charter flight. Kate had slept a great deal of the way and arrived at the Okaloosa Regional Airport feeling grungy and grouchy.
Apparently it was under major expansion construction. The airport shared runway space with Eglin Air Force Base, which was about twenty-five miles to the southeast of Providence and its closest military facility.
Kate had missed the S.A.S.S. unit’s move from Washington, D.C., thanks to the mission, but she agreed with General Shaw and Secretary Reynolds that putting some distance between S.A.S.S. and the political heavyweights in Washington was a good idea. If out of sight, maybe S.A.S.S. would be out of mind and avoid interference that could jeopardize effectively dealing with GRID. Everyone in the business knew there were more leaks in Congress
than in a sieve. Leaks, in addition to doubles on the inside, S.A.S.S. didn’t need.
Personally, she’d like living in a rooted community again. In D.C., everyone was from somewhere else, brought there because of the job. She’d been curious about the new digs, of course, but every time she had asked Maggie about them, she’d avoided answering. Only now did that concern Kate. And only now did she wonder if that avoidance had been deliberate.
She departed the plane and hiked a good quarter mile into the terminal under white tarps stretched over metal-pipe frames. When she left the secure area, she saw Maggie waiting.
“Hi.”
“Hello, Kate.” Maggie fell into step. “Welcome home.” She motioned to the right. “Baggage claim is this way.”
Maggie filled her in on area attractions—the reigning king and queen were the sugar-white sandy beaches and emerald green water—and then told Kate that Amanda had rented her an apartment to hold her over until she decided whether or not to buy a house.
Kate appreciated it. She had a home to go to rather than the visiting officer’s quarters. Nice.
Maggie walked down the narrow hallway, alight with neon signs. “I got your household goods delivered, and bought perishable groceries. I wasn’t sure exactly what you needed, but I got two containers of chocolate ice cream. Amanda said Blue Bell’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie is your favorite, and I figured if you had that, you’d be human until you could get whatever else is missing.”
Kate was stunned. She’d been bitchy to Maggie and yet the woman had gone a long way out of her way to make things easy for Kate. “That was very thoughtful. I’ll reim
burse you, of course.” She couldn’t reimburse the kindness, but she would certainly remember it.
“No problem.” Maggie smiled. “Glad to do it.”
They got Kate’s bags and soon dumped them in the car. “Home, right?”
“If you can spare the time, I’d like to see the new office.”
Maggie looked away.
“What?”
“I was afraid you would say that.” She looked over at her. “It’s a good hour from here.”
“It’s a workday, you’re in uniform, it’s—” she glanced at the digital clock on the Honda’s dashboard “—one in the afternoon. What’s the problem?”
“Nothing.” Maggie let out a resigned sigh. “No problem at all.”
It was a pleasant ride. Tall pines, twisted by former hurricanes, lined the road north. It was all divided highway, easy traveling. Kate relaxed and enjoyed it.
“You did a great job over there, Kate,” Maggie said, signaling to pass a slow-moving truck. “The detainees have been reintegrated into their lives, and four doubles are now in jail, with more on the way. Dr. Foster is at the facility giving them treatments to reveal the truth about themselves, and to see what they know.”
Joan had been through this before. Hell, she’d programmed six months’ worth of doubles while Kunz held her hostage. “She knows exactly what to do.”
“Yes, bless her heart, she does.”
Maggie drove right past the sign that read Providence Air Force Base.
“You missed your turn.”
“No, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t. That’s the Base. We’re not stationed on the base.”
Kate frowned. “Then where are we stationed?”
“Unfortunately, the pissing contest between Colonels Drake and Gray rages on.”
Drake had gotten the command of S.A.S.S. and Gray had wanted it. They were sworn enemies. But that was old news.
“Since Gray’s the commander at Providence, he assigns us our office space. And he’s holding a whopper of a grudge.”
“Oh, great.” Kate cringed. This wasn’t looking so good. He’d probably stuffed them into a condemned building somewhere.
“It’s not as bad as it would have been. Amanda’s Mark, Captain Cross—”
“I know him.”
“He’s worked wonders out there.”
“‘Out there’?” Kate didn’t like the sound of that.
Maggie sent her a sympathetic look. “You’ll see.”
They drove for another twenty miles. Maggie finally hooked a right onto what could generously be called a dirt road. Not a thing in sight except for tire treads in the dirt, potholes and trees and underbrush along both sides of the path.
Her stomach sank deeper. “Is there anything out here?”
Maggie grimaced and hunched a shoulder. “Us.”
Soon they came to an area enclosed by a six-foot wire fence. Every eight feet, there was a sign: Use Of Deadly Force Authorized.
“What is that all about?” Kate asked. This wasn’t Roswell, for pity’s sake.
“It’s a dormant bombing range.”
“Gray stuck us out on a bombing range?” Kate shouted; she couldn’t help herself.
“A dormant range,” Maggie clarified. “But, yeah. More or less.”
“Well, which is it, Maggie?” Kate frowned. “It’s a simple question.”
“It’s not so simple.” She turned and went through the gate, then hit a remote on her visor to close it behind her.
A mile in, a second wire fence blocked their path. This one was topped with razor wire. “What in heaven’s name are they protecting?” Kate asked.
“An artillery battery.” The same remote opened and closed this gate.
“Is it dormant, too?”
“No.”
“Great. Just great.” Kate looked out the windshield, focusing on nothing. She wished Nathan were here to listen to her bitch. He was a really great listener, and if he were here, she’d been in a far better mood.
Maggie stopped near a dilapidated shack. “Well, this is it.”
Kate just stared, her jaw hanging open. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks, Kate.”
Yeah, right. She wasn’t blind. “The damn thing’s falling apart.”
“It has its fair share of leaks, all right.”
Why wasn’t she irritated? How could Maggie take this crap from Gray and not be bitter or angry? “Do we have water?”
“There’s a well to the right, near the inner fence. It’s potable.”
“Well, then. We’re all set.” Kate grumbled. Living in
field conditions every day at work wasn’t her idea of a healthy work environment. “What about our equipment?” The place was awfully small. It was going to be impossibly tight working conditions. Darcy must be going nuts! “How’s Darcy handling this?”
“Handling what?”
Kate looked at Maggie as if she’d lost her mind. “The tight quarters. For pity’s sake, Maggie, you do know she can’t deal with a lot of sensory input, right?”
“Of course.” Maggie shrugged. “Darcy loves it here. She says it’s good for her.”
How had that happened? “Being crowded doesn’t bother her?”
“Mark took care of that. He took care of everything.” Maggie smiled. “You’ll see.” She cranked open the door and slid out of the car.
Kate got out and followed Maggie to the shack. Above the door someone had hand-carved a sign on a two-by-four: Regret.
“What’s the significance of this?” Regret that they’d moved the unit from D.C. most likely. “I have to say, on this round in the pissing contest, points definitely go to Colonel Gray.”
“Colonel Drake was totally frosted,” Maggie confided. “At least, she was at first. But she was better after she saw the sign, and better still when Mark showed her what else he had done.”
“Who did the sign?”
“Mark.” Maggie grinned. “He said if Colonel Gray thought sticking us out here was going to get to any of us, he’d regret it.”
Typical Mark. Making lemonade. He’d done it his whole life.
She and Nathan had, too. Damn it, she missed him. Was she going to think of him all the time for the next three weeks?
More likely, for the next fifty years. “I’m sure looking for something to make me feel better about this place. So far, it’s ranking right down there between pond scum and bottom-of-the-pit scrapings.”
“Keep the faith.” Maggie stepped inside.
Kate followed. It wasn’t any better. The outer shell of the shack. Dirt floor. Rays of light beaming across the floor through the cracks in the wall that the termites hadn’t eaten through, and the holes in the roof. That was it. “Where is everyone?”
“This way.” Maggie walked to the right shack wall and pressed a board more gray and aged than the others.
A split door slid open. “An elevator?”
Maggie nodded, cut her a sly look. “Come on.”
“We work underground?”
“The whole unit is a vault. Surrounded by earth, Kate. Isn’t that cool?”
Kate responded by rote. “Probably about 70 degrees. Once you get below six feet, the temperature is fairly constant.”
Maggie rolled her eyes back in her head. “There’s only one level down.” A chime sounded and the door opened.
Kate stepped out and nearly dropped from shock. Private offices lined the walls. An amazingly well-equipped operations center occupied the east end, and broad doors beyond it marked it as Darcy’s private domain. She could open or close the doors at will, giving herself all the isolation—and company—she wanted. Broad screens covered the common walls. On them were photographs of the FBI’s most wanted, Homeland Security’s high alerts and S.A.S.S.’s watch list.
Kate kept looking, kept seeing new things she’d missed. “We have a full kitchen?”
Maggie giggled. “Yes, and a place to crash, and a living room—complete with a gas fireplace, if you can believe it.”
“I can’t.” She saw Colonel Drake’s office door, situated to the right of the elevator. “I
know
Colonel Gray didn’t do all this. How’d we get it?”
“Mark Cross.”
Mark. Engaged to Amanda, Kate’s surrogate family, an awesome military lawyer, covert operative and a damn good man. He’d made a fortune creating the “Dirty Side Down” computer games that were all the rage—not that he mentioned it. Kate admired only one man as much. Nathan.
Her heart lurched a little. What was he doing now? Did he miss her? Would he really be here in three weeks?
“There’s a catch.”
Wasn’t there always? Kate looked at Maggie. “What?”
“Gray can’t know any of this is here.”
“Excuse me?” Hadn’t he authorized the funding for it? He was the Providence commander, so this was definitely his domain.
“He’ll jerk us out of here and toss us in the swamp, and call it an office, Kate. Gray has to think we’re working out of a hell house.” She motioned to the shack above them.
“It’s empty. That’s not apt to convince him we’re working here, is it?”
“We’ve got a trailer parked behind it. Gray knows the shack is depilated. He hoped Colonel Drake would go running to General Shaw to bitch, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He thinks we’re all jammed in the trailer, trying to work.” Maggie frowned. “That seems to be sufficient misery to satisfy him.”
“A real charmer, isn’t he?” Gray had a bad case of little/big-man syndrome. That Colonel Drake won S.A.S.S. over him ticked him off enough that he put in his papers to retire. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do it until next fall. So between now and then he was playing the “retired on active duty” jerk, getting his kicks out of making Colonel Drake miserable. The rest of the S.A.S.S. unit was just along for the ride.
“He’s a lovely human being.” Maggie spread her lips in a fake smile that showed every tooth in her mouth.
“So when we know he’s coming, we hit the trailer, right?”
“Right.” Maggie walked on into the main hall. “There’s an alarm.”
If Mark designed it, it was irreverent. “Will I know it when I hear it?”
“Oh, yeah.” Maggie nodded to confirm her claim. “Think bodily function sounds—and be grateful this one carries no scent.”
A huge fart. Kate gave Maggie a wicked grin. “Got it.”
Colonel Drake stepped out of her office. “Kate, glad you’re back.”
“Thanks.” If she hadn’t left Nathan behind at the outpost, she’d be glad to be back, too. She set down her gear. So far, regret was proving interesting.
For some reason, Colonel Drake looked back into her office. “Come on out.”
A man’s voice carried into the hallway. “You sure she isn’t armed?”
Kate thought she recognized the voice, though she couldn’t tag from where. Yet it struck her as both chilling and familiar, and that made her uneasy.
Colonel Drake hiked an eyebrow, silently putting the question to Kate.
Curious, she shook her head that she wasn’t armed—but she had the instinctive warning that, if she was smart, she would be. Definitely wary, she darted a glance at Maggie, who stood stone-faced.
Colonel Drake stepped aside. The man walked out of her office and stopped beside her. “Hello, Kate.”
She was looking into the smiling face of Marcus Sandross.
Kate couldn’t move. She looked at Maggie—still stone-faced—then at Colonel Drake, who looked back at her as if she’d lost her mind.
He’d duped them!
Wild-eyed, Kate attacked, going for his throat, his eyes.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Colonel Drake interceded, pulling Kate off him. “He’s on our side!”
Her chest heaving, she stopped throwing lethal jabs and backed off, reaching for her bag to get her gun. “He is
not
on our side. He was killing people left and right inside the compound!”
Sandross’s face bleached white. He clamped his mouth shut and said nothing.
Kate got her gun in hand and drew down on Sandross. “Don’t move, you son of a bitch.”
Colonel Drake looked from Kate to Sandross, then back to Kate. “What the hell are you talking about?”