Crystal Clear

by Serena Zane

  Cindy shrugged her shoulders and grinned at Patrick. She didn’t take her eyes off him and the fact started to grate on Jack.

  What the Hell was she doing making eyes at his best friend?

  Her gaze finally landed back on Jack, “Patrick was my guide back at the Inn.” Her hazel eyes seemed to silently thank him, but Jack ground his teeth as her gaze slid back to look at Patrick. “So, you two are friends. That’s interesting. I should probably let you know that my name is not Alice Huntington, it's Cindy Hawke. Agent Cindy Hawke, and this is Agent Brett Halverson. We want to thank you for the use of your vehicle.”

  Patrick stepped forward and shook Halverson’s hand as they were introduced. “I hope you don’t think I’m going to let my best friend run off and have another adventure without me. I mean, he left me behind last time and now look at him.” Patrick stated as Jack glared at him.

  “That’s not fair. I’m doing just fine. You don’t need to babysit.” Jack growled out. He cut his friend with a glare and looked beseechingly at Cindy.

  She laughed out loud. They were a pair.

  Cindy couldn’t believe it. Fate had a funny way of dealing with her life. It seemed she would not be destined for field work. One thing after another kept stopping her from succeeding. The Agency would never agree to let a real civilian like Patrick in on the case. She grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him to the side.

  “We can’t do this. Patrick can’t come along. There's too much at risk to involve a civilian. He’s a liability.” She aimed her eyes full force on Jack, and smiled when he stirred. She stepped close. “We can’t endanger the mission. Your friend could get hurt.”

  Jack winced.

  “Look,” Patrick approached them, “I know that I'm not part of your special ops team, or whatever is going on here, but Jack's my friend. We've been working as a team these last few months on search and rescue missions. I can help you. At least let me get you to wherever you’re going and I will leave it at that.”

  Cindy held his gaze firm and made the decision. She was the leader. Patrick would probably just follow them anyway.

  “If he wants to die then fine, who am I to stop him?” Cindy waved a hand giving her assent. She was so getting assigned to a desk after this.

  Halverson stood in the corner, a strange smile on his face. Did he think she couldn’t handle the situation? Not likely.

  “You're Jack’s responsibility. This is a need to know only, and you don’t need to know much.” Patrick shrugged and she continued, “We need to get to the lava tube. It’s under renovation and we will need to approach from a direction that would allow us to come in undetected.”

  Patrick moved over to the nearest bookshelf.

  “Come on...” He searched the shelves. “There’s a map in here somewhere and we can determine the best route to the tube.” Patrick pulled a map off the shelf and unfolded it laying the paper out on the table next to Halverson. “Unfortunately, there’s really only one entrance in and out of the tube itself. I’m assuming this is going to be dangerous.” He glanced up at her.

  Cindy nodded in confirmation, the words well duh forming in her brain.

  “I also assume that you have all the equipment needed to handle any sort of fire power that you may come up against.”

  Cindy ran a hand through her hair; at least he wasn’t dumb, even if he was a player. “We’re sufficiently supplied.” She had a little trouble concentrating because Jack had moved up behind her and she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck as she looked over the map.

  “Give me a minute.” As she reached around, Cindy pulled off her backpack and set out the laptop. Opening it up, she quickly dialed in the coordinates and a virtual map popped up in the screen. She felt the heat from the bodies pressing close behind her. Electricity arced between Jack and her as he stood on her left. Shaking her head, she focused.

  “It looks as though we can approach from the topside of the cave. There’s likely to be a guard up there, but I’m sure he will pose no problem. We can use the flash bangs for anyone inside the cave itself.” Halverson pointed at the screen as he spoke, creating tactics on the fly.

  “Um, no.” Patrick interrupted him.

  Cindy glanced back at him, “Excuse me?”

  “I said no, that tube is one solid length of lava. The guides aren’t even allowed to bring lanterns with flame in them down there. The whole area’s unstable with flammable gaseous fumes. We can’t use anything that’ll cause even so much as a spark.” Patrick paced away from their huddle and shook his head emphatically as he spoke.

  Well shit, that just blew all my plans, Cindy was not used to being so unprepared.

  She glanced over at Halverson and read the frustration on his face as well. He liked to blow things up. He was the explosive expert on the team. She smirked, good, she didn’t like his way of doing things anyhow.

  “Well Jack,” she stood up and turned around. Jack leaned on the table only inches from her and didn’t move back. She placed a hand on his chest, “It looks like all that special hand-to-hand training of yours is going to come in handy. All the ammo that Halverson brought along isn’t going to be of much use unless we encounter Jaguar at the entrance. They’re not going to want any lookouts where the local rangers are going to see them though. They don’t want people nosing around down there.”

  Jack agreed.

  “We are here.” Jack pointed to a spot on the map in the middle of a large reddish tan area. A small dot with letters signified they were at the National Lava Beds tourist site. He moved the curser and tapped on the spot, a diagram of the lava tube walk showed up. He pointed to the top of the cave area.

  “We could come in from here.” Jack’s finger moved to the screen and his arm brushed along her breast, heat flared instantly and she sucked in a breath. He turned toward her, his breath fanning her cheek.

  “If you want to stick around for a few days afterwards, Patrick gives a fabulous tour.” Jack’s voice filled with amusement as he brushed a finger down her cheek.

  Cindy gave Jack a heated look, but shook her head. Now was not the time. They needed to focus.

  “I don’t really think that’s going to be possible. Once the mission is over we’re going to have to debrief and then we’ll likely be assigned to another mission. That’s the way it works most of the time.” Cindy sighed in resignation. That really was the way the department worked. She’d be lucky if she saw him in the office every once in a while after they were done.

  Jack understood missions, but everyone needed some down time now and then, and it didn’t sound like Cindy took any for herself at all, but Halverson was nodding his head in agreement. Maybe they were all like that.

  “Let’s get down to business,” Halverson ordered in a gruff voice.

  “Of course,” Jack audibly sighed. He moved away from Cindy. It was hard to concentrate when they stood too close. He pulled out a tourist pamphlet.

  “This is a map of the tube itself. It’s a mile long formation that descends steeply at the mouth of the cave and then graduates to a softer downward slope. There are two basic sections where they could possibly set up a temporary base. The first is here, just past the low bridge area into the sand gardens.” Jack pointed to a spot on the map located about three quarters of the way down the tunnel. “The other is the area down by the sand plug. Both are fairly spacious and the area is powered by lights from generators. Those generators can possibly sustain electrical equipment such as computers and communication devices. The other important thing to remember is the air temperature in the caves which remains around thirty-five to forty-two degrees Fahrenheit. So, it will be cold. I hope you packed a sweater in that thing.”

  Jack glanced at the packs sitting close by and gave both Cindy and Halverson a pointed look. His heated gaze fell on Cindy’s breasts as she inhaled. She squared her shoulders at his comment and her n
ipples strained against the tight material of her t-shirt. He felt his groin start to harden and he quickly looked back at the map.

  Halverson hadn’t noticed. He intently studied the map in front of them.

  Pointing to the first area, Halverson spoke up, “I know you stated we can’t use any kind of firepower in there, but is the whole thing going to go up in flames if the other guys start shooting at us?”

  Patrick shook his head. “I don’t know. No one had been down there with anything that might set off the fumes for a long time. Years.”

  “So, we go in silently. No guns unless absolutely necessary,” Cindy licked her lips.

  Jack got distracted for just a moment with the thought that for the first time he’d rather be kissing a woman than hunting the bad guys. He closed his eyes for a moment. He needed to refocus on the mission. No point dwelling on something he may never have again. Not that he would give up, but it had to be put on the back burner for at least the next few hours.

  “We can use stack tactics here, and here.” He pointed to the areas in the tunnel that narrowed right before the opening to the two spots designated for possible infiltration.

  Cindy studied the spaces he talked about. He was right, stack tactics would work well there. They would line up against the sides of the walls and move forward as one unit. If they came upon trouble they would be able to handle it with an element of surprise.

  Both Patrick and Cindy nodded in agreement. Halverson looked on stoically. Jack didn’t know what it was about the man, but he didn’t trust him.

  Halverson had the appearance of a mercenary. Someone who would hire out for any reason, Jack made the decision to stick close by Cindy. She needed someone trustworthy in her life, and he stood ready to fill the job.

  Jack continued, “After we file in on the first area, Patrick can scout ahead and let us know what possible obstacles we face in the main cavern. I assume you have standard communication equipment with you.”

  At Cindy’s nod he continued, “Patrick, do you have anything other than your truck that can get us there?”

  “I have the ATV’s we use when we cruise the back areas looking for poachers. We can use those.”

  Jack grinned at his friend, leave it to Patrick. “Good, then we can get down to business. Patrick can take the lead and scout ahead. He has the Ranger’s uniform so it won’t look that suspicious if he is poking around looking for answers.”

  Cindy brightened. “Of course, that’s the perfect cover.” She looked over at Patrick, a sudden gleam in her eye. “Do you have any more uniforms here that would fit us?”

  “Sure, we have a locker room in the back. Most of the Ranger’s tend to keep stuff around in case they’re called in. I’m sure you can all find things there.”

  Cindy practically glowed and Jack was more than a little irritated that he didn’t have anything to do with it. He didn’t know his jealous streak ran so deep. He would have to get a handle on that.

  “Jack,” She beamed, “We can use the uniforms as cover. It’ll throw anyone wondering what we are doing around there. It’s perfect!”

  Jack couldn’t disagree with her. They went to the lockers kept at the station and grabbed uniforms.

  Cindy found a locker labeled Jill across the front. She smiled as she picked up the tan outfit, and glanced over at Jack who had taken one for himself and was putting it on.

  He even looks good in that nasty kacki-color that washes everyone else out, she thought as she pulled the uniform she’d picked on and snuck another glance at Jack.

  Jack watched her as she buttoned up the shirt. She hooded her eyelids and gave him what her friend’s liked to call ‘the bedroom look’. He sucked in his breath and took the few steps over to where she stood.

  “You keep that up and we might be a little late to our meeting.” His voice gruff with constrained passion, he kept his tone low so the others wouldn’t hear.

  Cindy felt warmth spread in her breasts as they yearned for his touch. She started to lean into him, his natural smell of fresh water and woods invaded her head, and suddenly decided that was a bad idea. She moved back.

  Her head smacked the locker behind her, “Damn it.” Rubbing her head where it had banged on the locker. “That wouldn’t be the best idea, would it?”

  “No, we’d better get going.” He stated as he leaned in with a hand on the lockers behind her. His other hand covered hers, “Maybe just a taste before we go.” Sculpted lips settled on hers. The room seemed to fade as his tongue cut a path past her lips and she lost herself in the moment, her hands curling up around his neck to bury in his thick dark hair.

  “Wow! Jack, you found yourself a hot one!” Patrick’s voice interrupted from the front of the room, followed by a whistle.

  Jack broke off the kiss and leaned his forehead against Cindy’s to steady him and stop the urge to kill his best friend.

  “Come on! We don’t have much night left, if you want to use the darkness for cover we have to get moving.” Patrick left the locker room and Jack let out a sigh of relief.

  “He’s right. We need to get moving.” His hands went to the front of her shirt and he briskly buttoned up the front. It would be safer if she was covered.

  “There, we look like proper Rangers. Should we be discovered, they’ll never know the difference. Let’s go.”

  Cindy nodded her head. Still overwhelmed by the intense emotions that she felt for Jack, she gathered her gear and went to meet them out front.

  By the time she got outside, and had composed herself, Patrick had all the ATV’s ready to go. There were only three. She glanced at Patrick and cocked her head to the side in question. He just shrugged and motioned for her and Jack to get on the last one with a mischievous glint in his eye.

  Halverson was loaded down with equipment on his. The laughter on Patrick’s face told her he had planned this as she climbed on behind Jack. Her arms went around his torso, and she could feel the hardened muscle bunch under her hands. Again she felt flushed. She had the sudden thought of cats in heat. Her body pressed up against Jack’s and she would swear his muscles tightened even more.

  They took off heading down side paths used by the Forest Rangers. She was glad they had Patrick along if only for that reason. She didn’t know if they would survive the day, but she knew that by the time the sun set again, the mission would either be a success or failure depending on what happened in the next twenty-four hours.

  Chapter 14Even the air stilled as the team pulled their ATV’s to a stop at a trailhead not far from the top of the cave entrance. Far enough away that the sound of the ATV’s wouldn’t alert the guards, but they could see work lights shining on the path that led down in the mouth of the tunnel. One guard stood at the top holding what looked like a semi-automatic. The team partially covered by the pine boughs of the thick trees, they observed without being observed. Cindy got off her ATV, and grabbed her .22 with a silencer.

  “Be right back.” Halverson nodded and the other two followed his lead. They watched as she disappeared into the shadows, blending in with her environment. After a few moments, they saw the guard jerk and silently fall to the ground.

  Patrick gave Jack a look, “Silent, but deadly. I like it.”

  “Hands off, she’s mine.” Jack quietly shot back.

  Cindy appeared next to them as if from thin air.

  “’Kay let’s go. Guard one down. Looks like there is another one at the tunnel entrance, who wants it?”

  Halverson grinned, and got off his machine. “My turn, if I can’t blow things up; at least I can get some kill time in.” Halverson patted the knife at his side and started off.

  She shivered. That man liked to kill things too much.

  The team gathered guns and knives strapping them on to pockets and straps. They followed at a discrete distance, giving Halverson all the room he would need to do his job.
The man was cocky for sure. Instead of sneaking up on the guy, he walked right up to him and engaged him in conversation.

  Cindy couldn’t tell what he was saying, but the guard nodded and turned to go inside. Halverson didn’t hesitate. He reached around and slit the guard's throat. He placed the man at the side of the tunnel entrance and motioned to the team.

  All clear...

  They moved up sliding along the cliff wall to the entrance. Cindy grimaced as bits of debris fell down the collar of her forestry officer uniform.

  Definitely not battle gear, she thought.

  The entrance to the cave sent a chill down her spine as they neared the stairway. The rickety appearance of the wood added to Cindy’s apprehension. Getting out of this alive would be tricky.

  The main cavern was dusky at best. As they descended into the tube Cindy noticed ice spears that formed above and below them. The sharpened points shone in what light was available. They seemed to scream danger, and Cindy was ready to listen.

  Patrick walked just ahead of her. As they neared the first stretch of tubing he pulled out his Maglight. Aiming it near the floor closest to him, he gestured for them all to do the same. Darker than midnight in this part of the cave; there was no way for them to aim their lights higher to see further than five feet in front of them, without giving away their position.

  Too bad, she thought.

  Cindy tried not to shiver from the cold. The stretches of tunnel they passed through seemed clear other than some cement bags and scaffolding that made it appear as though the tunnels were actually being worked on.

  Jaguar had a good set up here. It was a shame they had to take out such a cool super-secret base. Cindy grinned to herself. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all. The dim light ahead indicated that they approached the sand gardens where the first set of generators was located. They could hear grunts and commands coming from the cove just ahead.

  Turning off their flashlights, Jack silently moved to the front of the line and indicated they all position themselves against the wall. Cindy, familiar with this tactical method, quickly formed up. Her frown returned when she felt the cold wall behind her. Goosebumps rose on her arms and the hair on her neck stood up. It was an unpleasant sensation.