by Rachel Lee
Two minutes later Dare, wrapped in his terry robe, opened his front door and peered through the storm door at a not-very-large figure in anonymous survival garb. Andrea? he wondered.
“Andrea!” Flinging open the storm door, he grabbed her unceremoniously by the arm and tugged her inside as he swiftly closed both doors behind her. “What’s wrong?”
Pulling back her hood, she smiled uncertainly up at him. “I got lonely,” she admitted in a small voice.
God, he looked good, she thought. Had it only been twelve hours since she’d left him in his office? His short dark hair was tousled, and there was a crease in his stubbled cheek from his pillow. His eyes were wide awake and alert, however, those wonderful blue eyes that seemed to see right into her heart.
“I was too lonely to sleep,” he told her, a smile deepening the creases at the corners of his eyes. Reaching out, he began to unfasten her parka, buttons first and then the zipper. “That damn bed feels so big and empty without you. I keep wanting to roll over and put my arms around you. Are you here for the night?”
“Nick’s coming back for me at a quarter to four.” She pulled off her mittens so he could tug the parka down her arms.
Dare hung her parka carefully on the coat tree, but then he turned and gathered her into his arms, lifting her from her feet and burying his face in the curve of her neck.
“My boots,” Andrea protested weakly as he carried her down the hall to his bedroom.
“I’ll get to them,” he laughed, raising his head and looking down into her eyes. “I intend to get to every damn thing you’re wearing, one piece at a time.”
“You don’t mind that I just dropped in like this?”
“Mind? How can you even think that?” Still smiling, he lowered her to the bed, leaving her feet dangling over the edge. He paused to drop a kiss on her lips before turning his attention to the laces of her boots. “Come and go as you like, sweetheart.” He pulled her boots off and dropped them beside the bed. Next he went to work on her snow pants.
Andrea’s response was little more than a whisper. “I don’t want to go.”
Slowly his eyes rose to meet hers.
“I’ve never felt like this before, all confused about what I want to do and where I’m going. Everything seems all mixed up.”
“Maybe you’re just making things too complicated.” Grabbing the cuffs of the snow pants, he pulled them off and then sat beside her, reaching for the button of her slacks. “It’s really not all that complicated, Andrea, unless you get bogged down in the details. You just have to look at the big picture.”
“What’s the big picture for you?”
He paused in the act of removing her slacks. “Enjoying what we have together whenever we’re able to be together.”
“You make it sound so simple.” And so terminal, she thought miserably. Whatever they had for however long they had it. Until next week was all they had.
“That’s because it is, when you get down to what really matters.” He stripped away her slacks and reached for the fastenings on her blouse. “Like this. Once you get past all the games, all the worries and doubts, all the false starts and hesitations, it’s really quite simple—two people wanting and needing each other. Me needing to feel your arms around me, your skin against mine. Me needing to hear your sighs and needing to please you as much as you please me. What could be simpler, Andrea? Yet how much did you agonize over this?”
A whole lot, she thought as he cast aside his robe and stretched out beside her, gathering her into his warmth.
“Make love to me, Dare,” she begged. “Just make love to me, please.”
So he did just that, loving her with his lips, his hands and finally his whole body. Andrea felt the silken threads of his caring tighten about her, but that was all right, for now. His caring made her feel safe, and then it drove all the worries from her mind until the only reality was the gentle one he created for her.
“Reveille, Andrea,” said a deep, husky voice in her ear. “It’s 0300. The coffee’s brewing, and the eggs’ll be ready by the time you dress.”
Andrea was lying facedown. With a groan, she rolled over onto her side and pried one eye open. As many times as she’d been rousted out of bed in the middle of the night, she’d never gotten used to it. Invariably her stomach and eyes burned, and there was a sense of unreality to everything.
“Did you say coffee?” she mumbled.
“Hot and black.”
“Nobody ever woke me up with coffee before.” She yawned and pushed herself up onto one elbow. “God, I hate getting up in the middle of the night.”
“We all do. Are you really awake?”
“I won’t go back to sleep, if that’s what you mean.” She shoved herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes, unleashing another groan.
Dare thought she made a fetching sight as she sat there, blinking herself awake, completely unaware that the sheet had fallen to her waist, exposing the tempting white globes of her breasts. He damned Halliday for making it impossible for him to succumb to the temptation. No way would he ever get enough of this woman.
“I’ll go start the eggs,” he said, wrenching his eyes from her and standing up. “Ten minutes, Captain.”
Stifling another yawn, Andrea looked over at him as he walked out of the bedroom and realized he was wearing battle dress. “How come you’re dressed?”
“I’m going with you,” he said over his shoulder.
“Oh.” It was nice, she thought as she tossed back the blankets and climbed out of bed, to wake up in the middle of the night to find breakfast and coffee waiting. He had the damnedest way of making her feel cherished.
He was going with her?
“You’re not going with me,” she said ten minutes later, facing Dare over a generous breakfast. She refused to touch it until this was settled, but her stomach gave a betraying growl.
Dare grinned. “Eat up, Andrea. I know your appetite.”
“I said you’re not going.”
“I heard you.”
She regarded him suspiciously. “And?”
“And I’m still going.”
“You’ll get in the way.”
“No, I won’t.” He spread marmalade on a piece of toast. “Save your breath, kiddo. My mind is made up.”
“Nickerson and I know what to do,” Andrea argued. “We’ll split up and check things out. You’ll just make it more likely that somebody will spot us.”
“Did I ever tell you about the time I evaded insurgents for six weeks?”
Andrea ground her teeth. “There isn’t anything out there to provide cover.”
“The same principles still apply. Eat, Andrea. I promise I won’t mess anything up.”
“But—”
He looked at her, and all the gentleness was gone from his face. There was a steely, implacable look to him now, a glimpse of the man who’d made general. “Don’t make me pull rank, Andrea,” he said quietly.
“But why?” She had to know that, at least.
Dare shoved his plate aside. “The last time you went after this guy you got shot. He was armed, and he used that weapon on you rather than be caught. He tried to kill me. In the expert opinion of some people who examined my hydraulic system after it was tampered with, the holes were a very cunning way of leaving no trace, because if I’d augered in from forty thousand feet, it would have been impossible to tell what caused them.”
“When did you hear that?”
“The report came in this afternoon. The investigators concluded that it was an attempt to kill me and I was damn lucky to have survived it. He’s no sick little mind trying to ruin my career, Andrea. This guy means to kill, and he’s not particular about who. You get in his way, you get killed. You accused me of not being able to accept the fact that somebody wants to kill me, but you’ve been treating this the same way, babe. You haven’t really believed it, either. Not really.”
Sickened, shaken, Andrea looked down at her untouched pla
te. Here he’d gone to all the trouble to make sure she had breakfast and she wasn’t even eating it. “If he’s trying to kill you, you should stay away as far as possible.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not letting you go out there alone to face a killer.”
“If you weren’t involved with me—”
“Damn it all to hell, woman. That makes absolutely no difference in what I’m doing! Do you think I’d let anyone go out to face a bullet that’s meant for me?”
Looking into the icy blue chips his eyes had become, Andrea knew she’d said exactly the wrong thing, made exactly the wrong assumption. As well as she felt she knew him, she knew him not at all. She kept making assumptions about him and what he was doing based on something that wasn’t Alisdair MacLendon at all. The realization shook her.
“We need to clear the air on something, Andrea,” he said sternly. “I may care about you, but that has absolutely no bearing on my judgment. I didn’t clear this operation of yours with the brass hats because I’m fond of you. I did it because, in my judgment, it’s a good plan and stands as much chance of success as we could hope for. I would have done the same if you were Captain Joe Blow. I’m going out with you tonight because, whether you like it or not, I’m your CO and I’ve got oversight on this operation, and because I never send anybody else where I won’t go. This is my usual mode of operation, and I’m not changing it for you or anyone else.”
“I’m sorry,” Andrea said. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
He frowned. “You’re too damn defensive. You’ve got to stop filtering everything I do through your idea of how men treat women. I trust you to do your job right. Give me the same respect. Trust me to do mine.”
He relaxed and smiled. “Now eat, damn it. It’s cold out there, and you need the energy.”
Instead she reached across the table and covered his larger hand with hers. “I’m a pain in the neck.”
“Sometimes, but that was one of the first things I liked about you.” Turning his hand over, he squeezed her fingers briefly and then released them. “Now are you going to eat, or do I get to be a pain in your neck?”
Nickerson arrived promptly at three forty-five, and Andrea sandwiched herself between the two men in the cab of the truck. If Nick was surprised to see Dare, he betrayed no sign of it, merely greeting him with a laconic, “Morning, sir.”
Nick had barely pulled away from the curb when the radio crackled to life. “Bravo Bravo One, this is Tango Four Two, do you read?”
“Roger, Tango Four Two, this is Bravo Bravo One. What’s wrong? You guys got frostbitten toes? Over.”
“Ah, Bravo One, we’ve got a breach at Zulu Delta three-oh-one. Request backup and suggest you alert the duty officer.”
Andrea yanked her radio off her belt and broke into the conversation. “Bravo One, this is Alpha Tango Niner. Tell those yokels to get on a secure frequency and then patch me through. Over.”
“Roger, Alpha Tango Niner. Tango Four Two, do you copy?”
“This is Tango Four Two. I copy. Changing frequency, now.”
Andrea punched in the new frequency on her radio in time to hear, “Alpha Tango Niner, this is Bravo One. We’ve got you patched. Go ahead, ma’am. Over.”
“Tango Four Two, this is Alpha Tango Niner. Tell me what you’ve got.”
“The perimeter fence has been breached about four hundred yards from the guard shack at the west end of the strip, ma’am. There’s a boot print in the snow on the other side, but after that the ground’s frozen and there’s no more snow. We’re waiting for backup, but if we go in there, we’ll trigger all the alarms.”
“Are you mobile or on foot?”
“On foot, ma’am. It was only going to be a short walk. Man, it’s cold.”
“We’ll get a truck out to you, Tango Four Two, but you stay put in case the intruder tries to exit the same way.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Bravo One?”
“Bravo One, I read you, ma’am. Mobile backup is on the way to Tango Four Two. Anything else?”
“Notify all units to go to secure frequency and be alert. I’m on my way to the strip to check things out.”
“Damn,” said Nick. “Maybe this is it.”
Andrea wondered the same thing as tension coiled in the pit of her stomach. “Still not a betting man, Nick?”
“Maybe this time, skipper. Maybe this time.”
Yes, maybe this time. Andrea glanced up at Dare and found him looking steadily at her. He seemed to be waiting for her next decision, and nothing could have impressed upon her more clearly that he considered this to be her show. It was as if blinders fell from her eyes and she finally saw him unshadowed by memories of other men. Dare MacLendon looked at her as an equal.
“Where to, ma’am?” Nickerson asked as he neared the flight line.
“The guard shack near the alert planes,” Andrea responded. “If the intruder’s on the flight line, he’ll be less alarmed to see a truck pulling up there.”
When she stepped out of the truck, a gust of wind blew up the snorkel of her parka and stung her eyes to tearing.
“Damn, it’s cold,” Nickerson muttered as he caught her arm to steady her. He reached back into the truck and pulled out two M-16s, then handed her one.
Andrea felt the familiar heaviness of the rifle in her arms but looked at it as if she’d never seen it before. Was this really necessary? Looking up, she felt as if Dare were staring intently at her, but his snorkel shadowed his eyes completely, and she couldn’t be sure. For a long moment she stood utterly still, and then she squared her shoulders, hefting the rifle more securely.
“Let’s find out if the sentries have seen anything,” she said briskly.
The guard shack was heated, allowing them to dispense with their hoods. In the dim red night lighting, Andrea could see that her troops were sleepy looking but alert.
“No, ma’am, we haven’t seen anything,” the senior airman answered her question. “After we heard the fence was breached, me and Lewis went out to look around, but we didn’t see anything unusual. Sergeant Nickerson said we weren’t to go close to the planes, though.”
“That’s right.” With a dog and its handler on each plane, the bombers should be secure. Even if the handler fell asleep on the job, the dog would be guard enough, alerted by the faintest of noises.
“Has there been any trouble with the electronic systems?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. Not since we came on duty. Maybe earlier, though. Want me to check the logs?”
“Please.”
While she waited for the sergeant to scan the logs by the illumination of a penlight, Andrea turned to look out at the bombers as she had the night Halliday claimed to have found the fault in the system that had caused the intruder alert. The night Alisdair MacLendon had arrived on base. No way could she have guessed then just how much he would shake up her life. Apart from small whirlwinds of blowing snow, everything looked just as it had that night four months ago, yet Andrea felt the woman she’d been then was a complete stranger. What had she thought as she stood here that night so long ago? What had been uppermost on her mind then, except the loss of sleep?
“Ma’am?” said the sergeant from behind her. “Sergeant Halliday was out here at nineteen-thirty hours. The log shows he did some work on the system. There was an intermittent circuit failure.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Andrea mused aloud, remembering that Halliday had used those same words four months ago. “Nick—” She broke off and leaned forward. “Nick, something’s moving out there.”
“Douse that light, Kavitch,” Nickerson said sharply to the sentry. “Where, Captain?”
“Three planes down and to the right. I could swear I saw something.”
It was gone, though, and after thirty seconds of staring intently into the night, Andrea gave up.
“Let’s go, Nick. Kavitch, get on the radio and tell everyone to look alive. Our man is out there, and he’s going
to be trying to get away very shortly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Andrea.”
Dare’s voice drew her up short just as she was about to go out the door. Wheeling, she glared at him as she struggled to zip her snorkel with one hand.
“Damn it, Colonel, stay here,” she said shortly. “Don’t get in my way.” She heard Nickerson draw a sharp breath, but she was past caring. The intruder was out there, and every moment’s delay increased the chance he would escape.
Dare’s voice reached her, deceptively mild. “I was just going to say that I saw a shadow moving under the fourth plane down. Take it easy, Captain.”
“Damn fool thing to say, skipper,” Nickerson remarked near her ear as they stepped out of the guard shack.
“I’ll apologize later. Stow it, Nick. Let’s split up and move in on the third and fourth planes from opposite sides.” She kept her voice low even though they were downwind from the planes and their voices shouldn’t carry.
“I’ll take the left side,” Nick said. “Likely he’ll try to make a break toward the perimeter, and I’m bound to be at least as big as he is.”
And I’m not, Andrea admitted silently, bowing to reality. “Okay. Let’s move out.”
Just then the door of the guard shack opened and closed quickly. Turning, Andrea recognized Dare’s large shape. In his gloved right hand was his pistol.
“Not a word, Burke,” he said flatly. “I’m pulling rank.”
She should have known, Andrea thought. Right from the start he’d been the kind of CO to stick his nose everywhere and get involved where he wasn’t wanted. She should have known. She wanted to get angry, but she couldn’t, because part of her warmed to the fact that somebody in the world wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her. “How do you want to proceed, sir?” she asked stiffly.
