Medusa Seduction

by Cindy Dees

“I’ve never thought about it. But I’d like to travel someday.”

  “Have you ever been out of this country?” he asked.

  The hostess brought in a plate of calamari and pickled vegetables. Neither floated Sophie’s boat and she pushed the plate toward Brian.

  “If you could go anywhere just for fun, where would you go?” he asked.

  What was he avoiding talking with her about? “I don’t know. I’d like to see New Zealand. And the Great Wall of China. And the Swiss Alps.”

  “Ah, mountainous places. The skier in you is showing. Tell me about your ski-racing career.”

  Okay, fine. She’d play along with this small-talk game for now. He’d already confessed that he needed to talk to her about something serious. He could choose the time for his talk.

  But with every casual topic he brought up, the more her alarm grew. What could be so scary to him that he was avoiding it this hard?

  Vanessa and Karen finally dropped out of a run as the egress point drew near. It was just over the next ridge in a small valley. Panting, Vanessa flashed a hand signal to Karen to approach cautiously and take a look around for hostiles. Karen nodded, her chest rising and falling about as hard as Vanessa’s. The Marine had set a blistering pace, and held it, almost as if she were out to prove that she was back in top form.

  On their bellies, they slithered to the top of the ridge and peered over the rim. A black, shark-like shape squatted in the valley. Silent. Waiting. The helicopter.

  Karen murmured, “Wanna scare the pilots?”

  Vanessa grinned over at her teammate. “You want the captain or the co-pilot?”

  “You better take the aircraft commander. You’ve got more rank to stand up to a butt-chewing than I do.”

  Vanessa nodded, her grin widening. They traded quick hand signals and moved off quickly. Karen, who’d worked in helicopter maintenance before she became a Special Forces officer was familiar with a narrow, radar-blind area to the rear of the birds and had shared that little tidbit with her teammates.

  Squatting beside the bird’s belly, Vanessa and Karen made eye contact underneath the ’copter. Then, on a finger count, they sprang up as one and banged on the pilot’s windows with their fists. The two men inside jumped with gratifying violence, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess what their moving mouths were saying.

  The pilot’s door opened. “Very funny. Get in. We’re in a hurry.”

  As the rotors started to turn overhead, Vanessa ran around to the other side and climbed in. Karen slid the heavy rear door shut behind them. The bird leaped off the ground before she’d even buckled her seat belt. Vanessa pulled on a headset while Karen dug around in her pack.

  “Ah hah! The good doctor didn’t fail you,” Karen announced. She held out a pair of little white pills to Vanessa.

  She took them gratefully and swallowed them dry. She was tremendously prone to airsickness, but Aleesha—a physician—had found these pills for her. They would shut down the digestive track of an elephant.

  The Medusas were in Bhoukar with the permission of the emir of that country, so the helicopter was able to pop up to altitude and fly swift and straight to the south—out to sea, Vanessa noticed out the small window. It was less than an hour until they swooped in for a white-knuckle landing on an aircraft carrier. The pilots getting a little revenge for her and Karen’s surprise arrival at the egress point, no doubt.

  The door slid open and a deck officer shouted a greeting to them. He motioned them to follow. Vanessa grabbed her pack and climbed out into the noisy chaos of the flight deck. Guiding each of them by the upper arm, the officer hustled them across the deck to a pair of waiting F-18’s. Vanessa’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Wow. Wittenauer really was in a hurry. She climbed the ladder into the back seat of one jet while Karen climbed into the other.

  A crew chief followed her up the ladder, helping her don a helmet and strapping her seat and shoulder belts for her.

  “Welcome aboard, Major,” a voice said in her ear.

  She replied into the microphone inside her mouthpiece, “Thanks.”

  “Ever been in an F-18?”

  “No. I got some training in an F-15, but that’s as close as I got.”

  The navy pilot scoffed. “Old-fashioned Air Force jet.” He broke off to answer some sort of takeoff clearance over the radios. Then to her again, he said, “Here we go. Hang on to your hat.”

  They taxied briefly and came to a stop. Then the carrier’s mighty, steam-driven catapult flung them off the ship and into flight so fast she didn’t have time to get airsick. The jet climbed steeply, roaring up into the sunset sky. In a few seconds, lights pulled up beside them. Vanessa looked out at another F-18 sliding into position just off their wing. Karen waved to her from the back seat of the other jet and flashed her a thumbs up. Vanessa returned the gesture.

  “Where are we headed, Lieutenant?” Vanessa asked.

  “My orders are to make all possible haste for Spain. We’ve got a couple air refueling points set up along the way. Speaking of which, we’re about to level off. If you watch the mach indicator by your right knee, you can see when we go supersonic.”

  Supersonic didn’t quite cover it. The jet passed by Mach 2 before the needle stopped climbing.

  “Sit back and enjoy the ride, ma’am. We’ll have you there in no time.”

  “How many miles per hour are we going right now?” she asked.

  “We’re balls to the wall. Fifteen-hundred miles per hour over the ground.”

  Holy mackerel. What was so bloody urgent about picking up Sophie Giovanni? Vanessa purely hated having to wait for information like this. Despite Aleesha’s magic pills, her stomach gave a warning gurgle. The answer to her question had better be good.

  Sophie pushed away the remains of the scrumptious tempura and propped her elbows on the low table. If Brian stayed true to form, he’d drop his bomb on her after supper. Sure enough, he started to squirm under her steady gaze.

  “All right, Brian. Out with it.”

  “So here’s the thing. Over the course of working with you these past few weeks, I’ve developed a more than academic interest in you.”

  She laughed aloud. “More than academic? Gee whiz, that’s some compliment, big guy. I feel more than academic toward you, too.”

  He rolled his eyes, a suspicious redness creeping across his face. “You know what I mean.”

  She reached across the table and patted his hand. “Time to let me teach you a thing or two. When you’re going to tell a girl you like her, you definitely want to take her someplace romantic and private. You got that part just right. And you ply her with fine food and drink. You get an A on that score, too. But then you have to follow up with a romantic declaration of your feelings.”

  Brian half-scowled through the reluctant grin tugging at his mouth.

  “‘Feeling more than academic’ doesn’t cut it. You have to say something classy like, ‘Hey baby. I wanna jump your bones.’”

  A chuckle escaped him.

  “Or, you could take the sappy route and say something like, ‘I can’t live without you. I want to carry you off on my white horse to my enchanted castle and wait on you hand and foot for the rest of your life. Oh, and you can have all my credit cards.’”

  “All my credit cards?” he exclaimed. “Never!”

  She tsked reprovingly. “If you’re not prepared to fork over cash to the girl, you can pretty much forget true love and happily-ever-after.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got to go overseas and get me some communist girl with no capitalist ambitions whatsoever.”

  “Honey, all girls are capitalists. Love of shopping is genetic. It’s attached to the Y chromosome.”

  They grinned at each other for a moment, and then the smile faded from his eyes. He said quietly, “A romantic declaration, huh? How’s this? I have come to realize that I have deep feelings for you and I want to get to know you much better.”

  Waves of hot and cold
rushed over her, setting her atingle from head to foot. “Well, okay then,” she stammered, “That’s not bad as declarations go.”

  “I may be an ignorant slob, but I think this is the part where the girl makes a romantic declaration back to the guy.”

  Oh, my. She picked up the dessert menu and fanned herself with it. “No, no. I’m supposed to play coy first. So what brings on this sudden declaration?”

  Every vestige of playfulness abruptly evaporated, leaving Brian as grim and serious as she’d ever seen him. “And that brings us to the heart of the matter,” he muttered.

  Huh? She frowned, alarm screaming through her like fire engines with sirens blaring.

  “Major Hollister has ordered me to ask you a question. This isn’t my idea and I don’t like it one bit. But, here goes. Will you consider continuing with the mission, even in light of this afternoon’s incident?”

  Continuing…after the shooting…but Sollem knew she was working for her government…he’d kill her on sight…and Hollister still wanted her to approach Sollem and stick a marker on his clothes…but…

  But…

  Oh my God. Hollister was asking her to die.

  Chapter 12

  “Phone for you, Major Hollister.”

  He was way too damned busy for interruptions, but something in the way Scottie announced the call made him look up. “Who is it?”

  “National Security Agency.”

  He frowned. What did they want with him? He picked up the receiver. “Major Hollister, here. What can I do for you?”

  “We have a status change on the vehicle you asked us to track this afternoon.”

  Brian and Sophie. A GPS tracking device was installed inside their vehicle’s rear bumper, and their progress north toward San Francisco was being tracked. It was a routine procedure. “What’s the status change?”

  “Since our last satellite pass eighty-two minutes ago, the vehicle has not moved. It is stationary.”

  “Are they caught in a traffic jam?”

  “No sir. The last telemetry we have shows the vehicle exiting the Highway 405 onto Highway 105 westbound at 5:22 p.m.”

  “And where does Highway 105 go?”

  “Most notably, LAX Airport, sir. Although it also leads toward El Segundo and Playa del Ray.”

  LAX? Hollister swore under his breath. He asked tersely, “Did the vehicle enter the airport?”

  “No sir. It made its way north, toward the Loyola Mary-mount campus. It parked on a surface street at 5:58 p.m. and remains parked in that location.”

  “Are the occupants inside the vehicle?”

  “Infrared imagery indicates they are not.”

  “What’s the address?” Hollister asked. He copied down the street address the NSA agent gave him. “Are there any businesses nearby?”

  “A number of them. It’s a commercial area with plentiful shops and restaurants.”

  “Thanks. Call me if the vehicle moves.”

  “Will do, sir.”

  Hollister hung up the phone and shouted to the outer office, “Scottie, get me the L.A. FBI field office!”

  “Already dialing, sir.”

  Sophie stared at Brian in shock. Dismay. Dawning horror. Did he want her to continue with the mission? To die? How Brian got around the table and swept her into his arms, she wasn’t sure. But she burrowed into his comforting strength like a terrified child. This was a real nightmare though, not something that could be comforted away by a hug and a glass of water.

  “What do you think I should do, Brian?”

  He drew back a little to gaze down at her. His voice rough, he asked, “Do you understand what Hollister’s asking of you?”

  “You did your job far too well. I understand exactly. He’s asking me to knowingly go on a suicide mission in the name of killing Freddie.”

  Brian’s arms tightened around her. “We can leave,” he murmured. “Take off. I have the money Stoner gave me and I have a fair bit put back in the bank. We’ll go to Paraguay. Get new identities. And then we’ll disappear. Go someplace you’ve always wanted to see and start a new life.”

  Abject relief flooded her. Brian had already taken care of the situation. Of her. She could count on him to keep her safe from all harm. Wonderful, thoughtful Brian.

  “How about the South Pacific? There are gorgeous little islands all over down there with pristine beaches and plenty of privacy,” he murmured.

  What in the world could induce Hollister to ask this of her? The guy might not be the friendliest soul she’d ever run across, but he was an honorable man. Of that she had no doubt. What did he know that she didn’t? Freddie must have done something new and outrageous to drive Hollister to such a decision.

  Brian continued, “Maybe we could start up a bed-and-breakfast. Something small. Quiet. Just enough to keep us from getting bored. Do you like to cook? I’ve always enjoyed fixing stuff up. And I could give scuba lessons and run fishing trips for our guests.”

  And what about Brian’s career? He was proposing to abandon it. To become a fugitive for her. To turn his back on everything he believed in, on everything he was. Being a Special Forces soldier was much more than a job to him. It was his passion. His calling. Such an offer from him was touching. Humbling. But to see him give up everything he’d worked for, to walk away from his job, his friends, his most fundamental values…was it really worth all that to keep her from doing Hollister’s mission?

  “And kids. We can raise a family. How many do you want? Please say you want a houseful. Let’s get started on them right away.”

  Kids? For a second, a vision of dark-haired children with their daddy’s blue-on-blue eyes derailed her thoughts. Ahh, that future was tempting. But could she do it? Could she let Brian do it?

  “If we leave first thing in the morning, we’ll have a solid head start before anyone comes looking for us. And Paraguay’s a bitch to track anyone through. We’ll be out of there before the Americans even find a trail to follow.”

  She half-listened in disbelief. She couldn’t let him do it. She cared for him too much—heck, loved him too much—to let him do this to himself. There had to be another way.

  Whoa. Rewind. She loved him?

  The thought was a perfect rosebud unfurling in spring. A sweet-tasting snowflake landing on the tip of her tongue. It made her want to sigh with pleasure. Sing with joy. Curl up on a sofa with her best friend and tell her all about the amazing man who’d burst into her life and swept her off her feet. Her heart expanded until it felt like it might float right out of her chest. She was in love.

  “Brian?” she interrupted as he launched into a discussion of where exactly would be out of the way enough for their privacy, but not so isolated as to make them feel like prisoners.

  He broke off. “What?”

  “Stop talking.”

  Brian stared down at her. Emotions danced through his beautiful eyes too fast for her to identify. And then his mouth was on hers, his lips moving across hers, his arms drawing her up tight against him. His hand plunged into her hair, cupping the back of her head, and he angled his head just right for her to inhale him while he did the same to her. He bore her down to the floor, cushioning her in his arms, kissing her face, her neck, her shoulder. She arched up toward him, aching for the feel of his hard body against hers, his masculine heat covering her.

  “Does the door lock?” Sophie murmured.

  “Unfortunately, no.” Brian lifted his mouth away from her and stretched out beside her, his head propped up on an elbow as he smiled down at her. “All my credit cards, huh?”

  She laughed up at him. “Yup. You have to choose. Bachelorhood or bankruptcy.”

  “Hmm. Tough choice.”

  She knocked his elbow out from under his head, and he collapsed on top of her. She grabbed his hair and tugged his head the rest of the way down to her and kissed him with all the boundless joy bursting inside her.

  “No fair,” he complained against her mouth. “You’re trying to distrac
t me from thinking logically about my choice.”

  Her lips curved against his. “I’ll let you know if I ever meet a woman who fights fair. You men are completely outgunned in that department.”

  He gazed down at her. The blue fire blazing in his eyes melted her from the inside out. “Well, then, I guess there’s only one thing to do,” he murmured, his voice sliding over her like black velvet. “I surrender.”

  Delight built low in her belly, curling upward and outward until she was so filled with it, she had no voice left to give it wings. She reached up with both hands, placing her palms on either side of his face. Completely robbed of words, she settled for letting her eyes do the talking, letting every ounce of her love for him shine forth.

  “Ahh, sweet Sophie,” he sighed. “That hostess had better be on the ball and take notice of our shadows on the walls before she bursts in here, otherwise, she’s in for a shock.”

  A new quality entered their lovemaking tonight, a new tenderness, a sweetness that made it so poignant Sophie cried. Brian kissed away her tears and then loved away all thought at all.

  But when it was all said and done and she rested boneless against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart, something niggled at the back of her mind. The voice of doubt was so small she barely heard it, but she intuitively felt its presence. Over and over during the past weeks, Brian had stressed the importance of listening to her instincts. In spite of an overwhelming urge to close her eyes and her heart against it, she allowed the niggle to drift forward into conscious thought.

  She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let Brian throw himself on his sword for her. He might be willing, even eager, to do it now, but what about later? One day, down the road, when the crisis of this moment had faded into the past, he would look back and question his decision. He would repent of abandoning his beliefs and his buddies, and would keenly feel the loss of honor. And in his regret, he would resent her.

  She’d die if he came to hate her. If he looked at her with remorse and blame. Or worse, if he soldiered on with her, unhappy but too honorable to leave. There had to be another way to resolve this dilemma. She didn’t know what it was, but between them, she and Brian would find it. They had to find it. Their future happiness depended on it. She sat up reluctantly. One of these days they’d have to try making love in a bed. Maybe with a whole night stretching before them in which to sleep in each other’s arms. But in the meantime, they were in a restaurant, and the hostess could walk in any second.