Danger Close (Shadow Warriors)

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Are you sure Hayes didn’t tell anyone else?”

  “As sure as I can be.”

  “And she’s back in the bunker?”

  “Yes…”

  Lane turned, rubbing her brow. “This is a mess, Kay! If Hayes ever reveals her story to anyone, you and I are—”

  “You don’t have to say it! I know, I know. What should we do?”

  “Let me think, will you? Just shut up and calm down!” And she paced, her boots hard and flat against the rough floor timbers. Options. There weren’t many. Bottom line: Hayes had to be killed. But dammit, that meant another KIA for Delta! Louise jerked her head up and grabbed Kay by the collar, slamming her up against the desk. “You miserable bitch! I should never have let you talk me into letting Hayes stay in the WLF!” Louise released her and spun around. “One way or another it means Hayes has to die. You get your ass back over to the bunker and tell her I’m working on a plan so she doesn’t have to go out in the field often. Let her know she might have to go out once, that’s all. I’ve got to have time to plan some way of getting rid of her.”

  “All right.” Kay straightened out her collar, giving Louise a wary look.

  “After you’ve got Hayes settled down, you get your ass back over here on the double. You got me into this mess, you’re going to help get me out. Now move.”

  CATHY NOTICED a subtle change in Lane and Ingram the following four days. It wasn’t anything obvious to anyone except, perhaps, her. But then, Cathy was used to sensing things most people ignored in their daily lives. Janet Hayes was quietly transferred back to her clerk job in the CP and Cathy saw little of her. When she did, Janet acted jumpy and she was strained. So was Ingram.

  Cathy mulled over the prospect of contacting Jim about the incident. What did she have? No evidence except for a hysterical story told by Janet Hayes. And, yet, Cathy’s gut was screaming at her to make that contact. And what if she did pass on the information? What would Mackey do? Raise all kinds of hell? Point fingers? And what if Hayes denied she ever said or saw anything? Where did that leave her? In the middle, as usual.

  No, she had to have some kind of assurance from Jim that Mackey wouldn’t move on this yet. Janet appeared happy that she was back over at the CP, with the exception of the subtle tension around Ingram and Lane. They were tight-lipped as hell, even more abusive, and with a shorter fuse than usual. Especially Ingram. She was a fire-breathing bull just waiting to gore every hapless soul who accidentally crossed her path.

  Cathy finished washing her clothes down at the river, mulling over what should be done. She set out her soaking-wet utilities, spreading them out over a couple of plastic ponchos next to her hootch to let the late-afternoon sun dry them. Janet’s admission continued to eat away at her. What if Janet was right? What if Simmons had been murdered by Ingram? Cathy snorted softly and tore open a pack of MREs’, making herself comfortable in the shade of her hootch. After mixing the various items with water, Cathy continued to mull over Hayes’s story. If it was true, Ingram was capable of killing again. What if Janet spilled the beans and told Ingram that Cathy knew about Simmons?

  Again, a cold blade wound its way up her spine. Cathy’s hands stilled. She gazed across the shallow tributary dividing Alpha and Delta. An ache seized her. Cathy had no logical reasons for her decision. If she weighed the pros and cons, she’d be better off sitting on the information. Setting her mess kit aside, Cathy left her hootch to find a two-way radio. Some way, she had to contact Jim.

  THE WHITES of Chesty’s eyes showed as he came running toward Boland, who was directing Marines in the building of another bunker. The sun was close to setting, its rays long and brilliant, making everyone squint.

  “Cap’n! Cap’n!” Chesty called, waving his arm high above his head.

  Jim took off his helmet, wiping the sweat out of his eyes. “What’s up?” He met the African-American Recon a few meters away from the main construction activity.

  “Cap’n, Cathy just called!”

  Jim’s eyes narrowed. His heart dropped hard in his chest. He tried to cover his emotional reaction. “Does she need help?”

  “She said to meet her at these coordinates tonight at 2300.” He drew out the paper with the instructions scribbled hastily on them.

  He read the note and then looked toward Delta in the distance. “How did she sound, Chesty?”

  “Calm, sir. She repeated the message twice and then signed off.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “No, sir.

  He nodded. “Good work. Keep manning that radio closely, Chesty, just in case she calls in again.”

  A big grin covered half his face. “You can count on it, Cap’n. It was right nice to hear from her again.”

  Jim agreed silently, forcing himself to complete the work detail. He tried to smother all the emotions that had suddenly leaped to life within him. There wasn’t a day that she wasn’t with him in some way. The past month had been pure hell. Mackey was angry with him, punishing him by giving him more than enough to keep him busy twenty-six hours a day. If there was a shitbird detail, Boland knew he would get it. Hell had no fury like a senior officer scorned. That was all right with him; he’d put in his time and walk away a free man. Mackey could only do so much to him.

  Cathy…he was going to get to see her again. Boland laughed at himself as he directed another team to start filling the necessary sandbags. He was behaving like a nervous seventeen-year-old boy out for his first date with a girl. The laughter quickly died inside him. Why did she want to see him? Was she in danger? Was it personal? It didn’t matter, Jim told himself. Just getting to see her once again was more than he’d ever hoped for.

  CATHY REMAINED motionless, crouching down on one knee, her M16 resting tensely in her hands. She had chosen a deep, shadowy area between the hills of Delta and Alpha, a no-man’s-land. Lane allowed no hootches on the hill facing Alpha, and that gave her a modicum of privacy. Her heart was beating hard, her adrenaline high. What if Lane had intercepted that radio message to Alpha? What if she was lying in wait for her? Cathy had utilized every shred of her sense of hearing and keen eyesight to sneak undetected to her present location. She tried not to think about Jim in a personal sense. They had business to discuss. And she wasn’t at all sure she could discuss it with him without some assurances. Had he changed in the time since she’d last seen him? Cathy grimaced. If she was completely honest with herself, Jim was with her on a daily basis, and that had given her comfort despite the pressures mounting at Delta.

  She heard a faint sound, her head snapping to the left. There, across the trickle of water, she saw the shadowy outline of a man. Relief and then joy washed through her. She’d recognize Boland’s build anywhere—Cathy marveled at his stealth as he crossed the river and finally made it to her side. Her nostrils flared as she caught the male scent of him along with sweat mingled with dust. Perfume to her.

  He was carrying his rifle, the utility cap drawn down low across his eyes, wearing the frayed, familiar flak jacket and dusty trousers. She hungrily met his eyes, which glittered like obsidian in the darkness.

  “Jim?” Her voice was barely audible.

  He reached out, momentarily gripping her hand as he crouched at her side, their knees almost touching. “You all right?”

  A quiver moved through her and Cathy nodded jerkily. “Yes.” Just his fleeting touch sent an unparalleled ache through her heart. Fighting back the euphoria of seeing him, she quickly checked the ridge of the hill behind her, just to make sure no one was watching them.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, allowing his rifle to lie in his arms as he studied her. It took everything Boland had within him to stop from lifting his arms and dragging Cathy into them. How badly he wanted her, to feel her against him. To kiss her hello once more and, somehow, make up for what he’d done to her. Her eyes were narrowed and darting. He saw the tension on her shadowy face. He also saw the warmth in her eyes—for him. Regardless of everything, she still liked him, he s
ensed. Hope flared strongly in his chest. His heart ached for her.

  Cathy twisted back toward him and nervously licked her lower lip. “It may be nothing. I don’t know. First, I need assurances from you that you won’t tell Mackey or anyone else what I’m going to say.”

  He drank in her tense features. She had lost the weight gained over at Alpha, her skin stretched tautly across her cheekbones again. Jim bowed his head, fighting back an old anger over how Lane abused Cathy and all her troops. He fought the very real need to draw her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her.

  “This is between you and me,” he said in a low, husky voice.

  “And Mackey?”

  Jim allowed a hint of a grin to leak through his own tense features. “I’m on his shit list but good. Whatever father-son relationship we had is gone.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “I’m not.” Jim couldn’t help himself and he reached out, lightly grazing her cheek. Her skin was roughened from constant sunburn. “No tricks, no lies this time, babe. What you tell me stays with me until you tell me different. Agreed?”

  Cathy sucked in a breath as his fingers glided across her cheek. An overwhelming need sheared through her and she realized for the first time just how much she had missed Jim. “No promises?” she heard herself ask bitterly.

  Removing his hand, he stared those few inches that separated them. “I know how you feel about promises, Cathy. Justifiably so.” He smiled gravely at her, thinking how beautiful she was. “Instead, how about if I give my word of honor? Or maybe a pound of my flesh?” The urge to kiss her was overwhelming.

  “You deserve to have a pound of flesh taken from you for what you did.” Scowling, Cathy saw his expression soften. Once more, he was opening up and becoming vulnerable with her, something she enjoyed so much about him.

  His smile grew tentatively. “Want to take it now while you got the chance?”

  Cathy relaxed slightly. “I think we’ve both suffered enough. I know I have.” How badly she wanted to reach out and touch him. Kiss him. Never had she wanted to be held more than right now, because Jim made her feel safe. And loved. The last thought startled Cathy deeply. She didn’t have time to digest that word or the feelings toward him surrounding it.

  “We both have,” Jim agreed thickly, his voice filled with emotion. He wasn’t going to try to hide his feelings toward her anymore. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Convinced Jim was leveling with her, Cathy launched into the entire explanation. Every once in a while, she would stop and scan the hill. She saw his face grow tighter, his mouth a thin line by the time she finished. No one would come by her hootch to check on her—it was her only night off from patrol and they’d leave her alone to sleep. Jim was silent for a long time.

  “The only way to prove Hayes is correct would be to have Simmons’s body exhumed and autopsied,” Jim said.

  “That’s what I thought.” Cathy shrugged helplessly. “And Janet could be lying. This is why I only want you to know about it for now. She had a quarrel with Ingram. Now Janet’s over in the CP again where she’s safe and doesn’t have to do field duty.”

  “Have you had a chance to speak to her about this since?”

  “No, Hayes avoids me. She gives me this frightened-rabbit look and takes off every time I try and corner her.”

  Jim rubbed his jaw, staring darkly at the ebony water running near their booted feet. “What if she’s telling the truth and hasn’t told Ingram that you know about Simmons? Wouldn’t that make things seem normal right now?”

  “I suppose…”

  “Because, if that’s the situation and if either Ingram or Lane found out Hayes has spilled the beans, you’re both good as dead.”

  Cathy shivered. “That’s what I thought. If Ingram has murdered once, she could do it again. Major Lane wants the WLF to succeed and I don’t think she’s beyond supporting Ingram in getting rid of us so that the all-woman branch survives. We’re expendable.”

  He reached out, taking her slender hand into his. “I think we’re sitting on a time bomb, Cathy.”

  “If Janet was telling the truth, you’re right.” Managing a twist of a smile, Cathy met his gaze. “Did I ever tell you that’s one of the things I liked about you? You always made me feel as if I weren’t alone. You used the word ‘we’.”

  “I’ll never leave you alone, babe. That’s a promise I intend to keep whether you want me in your life or not.” Jim squeezed her fingers gently. “Delta’s due to leave in a month and I’m counting the days until you can get the hell out of here and go Stateside.”

  Touched, Cathy squeezed his fingers in return. “How can you be such a bastard and nice guy all rolled up into one?”

  Jim shrugged, having no answer. “Can I plead being human? I’ve made mistakes before, Cathy. And I’m sure I’ll make plenty in the future.” He glanced up at her. “I know I don’t deserve it…. More importantly, will you give me a second chance?”

  She slowly withdrew her fingers. “You don’t want much, do you?”

  “No.” Just you. All of you. Forever. I love you…. He ached to verbalize his thoughts, to share how he really felt about her, but Jim knew it was too soon. He’d hurt Cathy gravely by manipulating her. She had to heal on her own time and terms. The fact she’d even consider giving their relationship a second chance sent his heart skittering wildly with hope.

  Cathy closed her eyes, wrestling with a deluge of emotion. “I’m giving you a second chance right now, Jim. You’ve got information that you could use against me.” She opened her eyes, staring levelly at him. “I—I just wanted to pass this along to you in case anything happens to me or Janet. I don’t know how much importance to place on her story.” As badly as Cathy wanted to capitulate, to forgive Jim for everything he’d done, she couldn’t. Not yet, although her heart clamored for her to forgive him and allow him fully into her life—and heart—once again.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you,” he growled.

  She gave a slight laugh and shifted position again, checking the hill.

  “You’ve always made me feel safe, Jim. Even now. Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s me wanting to believe you can protect me. Reality versus idealism. Where does one end and the other begin?”

  “I’m as close as that radio you used today, Cathy. That’s reality.”

  “This is all one huge, unraveling nightmare, if you ask me.”

  Jim deliberately took her rifle, setting it aside and then pulled her into his arms. “This is reality,” he breathed.

  An explosion of fire ripped jaggedly through her as his mouth molded hotly and commandingly against her lips. A little cry leaped from her throat as he claimed her like a starving man, parting her lips, tasting her, drinking deeply from her natural sweetness. Her lashes shuttered closed and Cathy trembled in his arms, pressing herself against his hard, unyielding body, equally starved and needing him as fiercely as he needed her.

  She felt bereft as he tore his mouth from hers. She clutched at his flak vest, dizzy from his sensual assault upon her. He kissed her brow, her lashes and cheek, muttering thickly, “We’re real, Cathy. What we feel for one another is good and honest and it’s going to help us get through this hell.” His callused hands framed her face and he absorbed her vulnerable, upturned features. “You’re mine. You just don’t know it yet. I didn’t want to tell you how I felt in Hua Hin, because it was too soon. And then, when this whole mess erupted, there was no way to convince you what I felt and had shared with you was genuine.” His moist breath fell across her cheek and brow. “We’ve had time since then to think. To feel. To remember. Just keep taking what was positive about our relationship and hold it close to your heart, babe. Because I’m doing the same.”

  Reluctantly, Jim released her. He picked up her rifle, handing it back to her. He wanted to stay and talk. To make love with her. Neither was possible. Glancing around, he met her luminous eyes, which were drugged with desire in their depths. Her lips were
parted and slightly swollen from the power of his kiss and he felt contrite. He hadn’t meant to cause her pain—he’d caused her enough already.

  “I want you to leave first so I can keep an eye on you,” he told her quietly.

  Cathy nodded, a series of wild explosions still going off deep within her. “A-all right. Jim, I can’t call you whenever I feel like it.” Oh, how much needed to be said! The time wasn’t right. Cathy unconsciously touched her lower lip. She could taste him on her mouth. Her heart opened with a volcanic release of pent up feelings she held for him. Cathy loved him. It was that simple and that complex. She held his glittering, narrowed eyes. He loved her, too. In that second, she froze when she realized their love was mutual. How badly she wanted a future with Jim…and, yet, none could be guaranteed. Not with the threat hanging over them right now. Neither could admit it to the other.

  “I know that. We also can’t meet like this very often, either.”

  “God, no…if Lane ever catches me—” She choked back a sob.

  “She won’t. Look, stay in touch, but only as necessary. If things start looking bad, contact Chesty again.” Every shred of his being screamed out for him to protect Cathy. She was in real jeopardy. Boland loved her. He didn’t want to see her die. Helplessness sheared through him.

  Some of the haze of euphoria dissolved, leaving her more clearheaded. “What if things do heat up? What can you do?”

  Boland’s eyes glittered. “Whatever becomes necessary. I’ll pull the rug out from under heaven and hell if need be. Don’t worry—I’ll be there for you, Cathy.” His voice broke. “Do you believe me?” She had to! And he would—with the last breath in his body, the last beat of his heart—willingly give his life to save hers.

  Tears sprang to her eyes. “I shouldn’t believe you, Jim. My head is screaming at me that you lied to me once before. You used me. But my damned heart says to swallow everything you’re saying.”

  His smile tore at her senses. “Listen to your heart and your gut instincts. Neither will lead you wrong, babe.”