by Tia Fanning
She trudged into the third room, finding the bright blues and tropical fruit colors refreshing and relaxing, the decor reminding her of California. Posters of women in bikinis hung on the walls along with more family pictures showing the brothers doing exciting sports like bungee cord jumping and hang gliding.
“And you must be Jonathan McMathan. The fun baby brother.”
She sat down on the full-sized bed, trying to summon the strength to proceed on to whatever lay hidden behind door number four. However, the temptation of sleep was strong, and the pillows looked so inviting... Her eyes closed on their own accord.
She shook her head. She needed to stay awake and find the guest room.
Oriana tried to get up, but her legs gave out and her ass fell back upon the comfortable spring mattress. She attempted to rise again, but to no avail. She just didn’t have the energy to go any further.
Perhaps if I rest for just a second...
Not wanting to ruin Jonathan’s sheets, she removed her shoes and tugged her soiled clothing off, tossing them into a pile beside the bed. Sporting nothing but her bra and underwear, she lay down and covered herself with the warm comforter that smelled of sunshine, fresh air, and citrus trees. She closed her eyes.
Her sensibilities tried to offer a feeble protest to her decision. What will the brothers think if they come home and find you lying half-naked in Jonathan’s bed?
If this room—with the scantily dressed women covering the walls—was any indication of the youngest brother’s personality, she didn’t think any objection would be coming from Jonathan.
Jon stood next to his brothers, staring the front entrance of the bunker and the steel door that had been left ajar.
Shit. They’d been infiltrated and he was to blame.
“This is my fault. If I hadn’t lost the keys—”
“No, it’s mine.” Jack rubbed his forehead. “I was the one who said it would be fine if we left—”
“Will you two stop?” Jordan said. “Be reasonable. Even if we had secured the door, if someone really wanted in, they would have just broken the lock. Locks are only deterrents, nothing more. The problem is that our location has been compromised. How did they know where we were? How did they find us? How did they arrive and leave the area without us noticing?”
Jon looked to Jack. “Wait. Didn’t you say you smelled a female?”
“Yes, but there are female spies in the world.”
“She was alone?”
“I believe so.”
“Do you think she’s still in there?”
They all turned back to the door.
The eldest placed his hand on the handle. “I guess we should find out. Are you ready?” When Jon and Jordan nodded, Jack swung open the heavy steel. The tunnel was empty. “Let’s go”
As they navigated the dim passageway, Jack leading the way and Jon bringing up the rear, an interesting thought came to Jon’s mind. “Hey, if she has a weapon and our lives are in danger or something, we can shift into bears and eat the bitch, right?”
“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Jordan responded with blatant condensation. “That would make us cannibals. No, we’ll just kill her and be done with it.”
“We’re not killing anyone,” Jack muttered. “We disarm, restrain, and detain—preferably without shifting. Then at the first opportunity, we turn her over to the US government. I’m sure our clients will know what to do with her.”
“I just hope she’s still here,” Jordan said. “I hate to think she got away with a copy of our files. We don’t know who she’s working for. Or how they’ll use the information, and what our clients will say when they hear about the security breach.”
“You both encrypted all your files, right?” At their nods, Jack then asked, “And you both have the fail-safe program embedded in all of them?”
Again, they nodded. The fail-safe was a computer program invented by Jordan that worked hand-in-hand with the encryption. If someone tried to bypass the encryption, or used the wrong key in their attempt to decrypt the files, then the fail-safe program would switch on and corrupt the information within the files, thus making it unreadable. And then, as an added bonus, the files would delete themselves.
“And you both remembered to add the tracer program?”
“Yes,” they both replied in unison.
For once in his life, Jon was actually glad that his eldest brother had been such a stickler about security, insisting that they all apply the extra protective measures—even if it meant extra work. Jack’s paranoia might have just saved their asses.
“Then we have time,” Jack continued. “Encrypted or not, if she so much as sticks our files on a computer with even one outside connection, we’ll be able track her down. Once we’ve zoomed in on her location, we’ll tell the clients where to find her, and they can send someone after her.”
They rounded the corner only to find the second door also ajar.
“Was the woman raised in a barn?” Jon whispered. “How hard can it be to close a door?”
“Shush,” Jordan hissed.
Jack stuck his head in. “I don’t hear anything. I think she’s gone.” He pushed the door open wide.
The three entered the living room.
Everything appeared normal. “She must have gone straight to the office,” Jon offered. “She obviously knew what she was looking for.”
“The hell she did.” Jordan moved toward the dining room.
Following close behind, they all gathered around the table, staring in disbelief. Damn, the woman must have been hungry. She had helped herself to the fruit and cheese platter, nearly finishing it off, and there was nothing but crumbs left in the breadbasket.
Jack picked up his dirty spoon. “It looks like she tasted my stew.”
“I think she sampled mine as well,” Jordan remarked dryly, studying his dish.
“Well, at least she only tried yours.” Jon held his bowl in the air, then turned it over and shook it for emphasis. “She ate all of mine.”
The strange sensation of déjà vu swept over Jordan. He felt like he had lived this moment before, or dreamt of living it. Paramnesia. While his mind tried desperately to grasp a fleeting memory that wasn’t there, Jordan willed the analytical part of his brain to mentally record the phenomenon. He wanted to remember every detail of the experience so he might effectively log the incident in his journal for further study.
“Let’s check the office,” Jack said.
Pulled from his musings by the suggestion, he followed his brothers to their work area.
Jordan was pleasantly surprised to find that the room hadn’t been ransacked. The only thing that seemed out of order were the—
“She moved my chair,” Jack grumbled, rolling it back onto the floor mat before his desk.
Poor Jack, he didn’t like anyone sitting in his chair. “Well, she sat in and adjusted mine,” Jordan offered, indicating that the seat to his chair was higher than usual.
Thump!
They swung around to find Jon’s chair tipped over backwards—with him in it, his feet dangling uselessly in the air.
“Fuck,” Jon growled, rolling the toppled chair over to its side and crawling out of it. “First she eats all my lunch, then she breaks my chair. What’s next?”
Again, that eerie feeling of déjà vu assaulted Jordan. “Does this seem vaguely familiar to any of you?”
“Perhaps it’s one of my psycho ex-girlfriends,” the youngest continued as he climbed to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head. “One who’s tracked me down to dish out petty revenge by booby-trapping all my stuff.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Go check the rest of the bunker while Jordan and I finish up here.”
“Gladly.” Jon moved toward the exit. “Be sure to check my computer for rigged explosives. I don’t want to hit the space bar and lose a finger.”
Jack waited until Jon left the room before approaching the large safe in the corner. He looked over his shou
lder as he began twirling the dial. “I’m going to run an inventory. You can start checking the equipment.”
“What? So I’m the one who loses a finger?”
Jack smiled. “Take it as a compliment. You’re a genius when it comes to technology. You’d know better than I if something’s been tampered with.”
Jordan was just about to offer a smartass retort when movement in the doorway caught his eye. He turned to find the youngest sibling standing there with the most perplexed expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked Jon.
“Um…not to sound all mother goose or anything, but there’s some blond chick in my bed.”
Chapter Three
Had Jack not been standing there witnessing it for himself, he would have never believed it possible. He still couldn’t.
There really was a gorgeous, nearly naked woman sleeping Jon’s bed.
“She’s pretty,” Jon whispered. “Can we keep her?”
Jordan smacked Jon’s chest with the back of his hand. “She’s not a stray animal, you dimwit.”
Jack gently shook her shoulder, but she didn’t wake up. Is she unconscious? The poor woman looked a little worse for wear.
Noting the leaves in her hair and the pile of dirty, tattered clothes laying on the floor, he guessed she was lost tourist... a really, really lost tourist. She’d probably been wandering the wilderness for days before stumbling upon their bunker.
“Like the story,” Jordan remarked. “That’s why I kept feeling the déjà vu.”
“What story?”
“Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”
Jack drew his eyes away from the sleeping beauty and frowned. “The fairy tale?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jon concurred with a chuckle. “Think about it. In the story, a little blond girl comes upon the home of a family of bears who are away, taking a walk in the woods. The little girl goes inside their house and finds three bowls of porridge. She tries them all, and ends up eating all of the baby bear’s porridge. She then sits in the three chairs, and breaks the baby bear’s chair. She lies down in three beds, and the bears find the little girl sleeping in baby bear’s bed”
“She’s no little girl.” This woman was a man’s dream come true.
“Come on,” Jon exasperated. “It’s so clear. You’re the papa bear, Jordan’s the momma bear, and I’m the baby bear.”
“Hey! Why do I have to be the momma bear?” Jordan complained.
Jon continued, “This woman has golden locks, and we have the ability to shift into bears. While we were at the stream, in the woods, she stumbled upon our bunker and came inside. She tried the beef stew we left out on the table, and ate all of mine. She sat in all our office chairs, and broke mine. Now she’s sleeping in my bed. And I guess I should tell you both, your bedspreads are wrinkled.”
“It’s just a coincidence.” Jack gently tugged the covers away. Her hands were dirty and scratched, and bruises marred the skin on her arms and legs. “She’s probably a very lost hiker. And we need to get her out of here before the local authorities come looking for her.”
“Oriana Ricci,” Jordan read off a laminated card, then gestured to the pile of tattered clothes. “I found this in her pocket. She’s a pilot.”
“Do you think she has a plane nearby? Do you think she crashed?”
“Her plane might be near, but I don’t believe she crashed.” Jordan’s gaze roamed over. “She’d be in far worse condition than this, and there would’ve been some indication if a plane had crashed in the area. We would have heard or felt an explosion, seen or smelled smoke. Plus, we monitor the radio chatter. There’s been no mention of a mayday coming in, of a plane going down, the need to form a search and rescue party, or even the mention of a plane missing.”
“Lost hiker or lost pilot? What’s your theory?”
“Pilot. Plane malfunctioned, she was forced to land. Radio is out, and she got lost looking for help. No one’s reported her missing yet.”
So she had a plane. All the easier. They would help her get back to it. The faster she was out of their lives, the better for them all.
“Hey, lady. Wake up,” Jack said, poking her arm. “We’re going to take you back to your plane.”
“What are you doing?” Jon bit out.
“What does it look like?”
“Even if you can wake her, she’s in no condition to fly.”
“Fine, she can stay here and rest.” Jack poked her again. “But we still need to know where the plane is so we can fix it and send her on her way, preferably before someone sends a search party looking for her.”
And more importantly, he needed to know how much of a security threat she was. How lost was she? Or if she wanted, could she find her way back to their bunker to pay them a visit at a later date?
“You don’t have to be a dick about it,” Jon muttered, nudging Jack and Jordan out of the way. “Move. I’ll wake her up.”
When Jon knelt beside the bed and gently took one of her hands in his, Jordan chuckled. “What are you going to do, prince charming? Kiss her awake?”
Jon scowled. “No, you ass.”
Jack lifted one hand in a gesture of impatience. “Whatever you’re going to do, just get on with it.”
Jon used his free hand to smooth the hair away from the woman’s face before lowering his lips to her ear like a lover trying to rouse his partner after a night of passion. “Oriana, honey, wake up.”
She whimpered softly.
“Oriana? Please wake up for me.”
Her eyelids fluttered open for a brief moment, then fell close again. “Jonathan,” she whispered.
Jack felt his jaw go slack. How in the hell did she know his brother’s name? Did she know them?
“Are you okay?” the youngest asked.
“Tired. Cold,” she mumbled.
Jon pulled the covers back over her body.
She snuggled deeper into them. “Sorry. Your bed.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
“Didn’t think you would.” Though her eyes remained closed, a small smile touched her lips. “The nice one. The fun brother and...” she trailed off.
A large grin crossed his face. “The best looking?”
Jack rolled his eyes.
“All three brothers...” She yawned. “…great looking.”
The mattress dipped as Jordan sat down. “How do you know us? Have we met?”
“Sleep now, talk later.” She then rolled over again, giving them her back.
Jack walked to the other side of the bed. He crouched down and smoothed the matted curls back so he could see her face. “How did you get here? Where’s your plane?”
Her lips began moving, but he couldn’t understand anything she was saying.
“What?” He shook her shoulder. “How did you get here?”
“Stop, Jack,” she grumbled. “The plane broke in the lake and fell down the hill.” She then pressed her face further into the pillow.
He shook her again, harder this time. “How do you know my name?” he demanded. “Who sent you? Why are you here?”
Oriana lifted her head and looked at him—but not. “I know you. You’re the asshole brother. My plane broke.” Suddenly, her head dropped back down and her eyes fell closed, her breathing again soft and steady in slumber, as if the outburst never happened.
Jordan erupted into laughter. “She seems to know you very well.”
“She didn’t mean it,” Jon offered. “I think she’s so exhausted she doesn’t know what she’s saying. You know, like when you’re talking to someone in your dream, and someone in real life is also trying to talk to you, so you mix the conversations up?”
“There you go, Jack,” Jordan chimed in. “If that’s the case, even in her dreams you’re an asshole.”
Jack ignored the taunts and rose to his feet. “We’ve never met this woman before, yet she knows our names.”
“Use a bit of logic, please,” Jordan said. “She was in ou
r office, and in our rooms. We have all sorts of things around here with our names on it—pictures, paperwork, etcetera. I’m sure she made an educated guess on who was who based on a cursory examination of our personal items.”
“Let’s hope we’re not giving her too much credit,” She fell down the hill...lake. “Jon, you know this area better than anyone. She couldn’t have wondered far from her aircraft. Search the nearest lakes that are large enough for her to land on. Jordan, go with him, just in case the plane is found. You two try to fix whatever is wrong with it. Don’t forget to bring your tools and camping supplies, in the event that you have to stay out over night.”
“What are you going to do?” Jon asked.
“You mean in addition keeping an eye on our guest? I’m going to finish checking the bunker, and then I’m going to do some research and see if our guest is really the person her ID says she is.”
* * * *
The sun was setting by the time Jordan and Jon found the lake in question, the plane drifting aimlessly a few meters off the shore.
Jordan looked at his brother and made a fist.
Jon did the same.
“One, two, three,” they chanted in unison, pounding the air.
Jordan smiled widely. “Rock beats scissors. Have a good swim.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jon muttered and started undressing.
“And make sure you tie the rope tight. It would really suck if the rope came undone while we were pulling the plane in. Then you’d have to swim out there all over again.”
“Thanks for the advice, brother.”
Once naked, Jon looped the rope around his shoulder and waded into the cold water. While he made for the floating aircraft, Jordan left to collect fire wood. They would camp for the night and take a look at the plane in the morning.
Suddenly, the sound of an engine coming to life filled his ears.
Jordan made it to back to the shore just in time to see the plane take off into the air.
Jon circled around a couple of times, then landed the small amphibious aircraft, pulling it up along the shore. After shutting it down, his brother climbed out, with a big grin upon his face, still naked as the day he was born.
