For a split second, Vanessa didn’t react, noticing only the throbbing in her elbow. Then reality struck. They were going to crash. She shoved Zimmerman back in his seat and reached forward to take over the controls. With some effort, she leveled out the plane and opened up communications once more. Her voice was shaky as she managed to say, “Thanks for the distraction.”
Seth responded immediately. “What happened?”
“I can’t believe that worked.” Vanessa let out a nervous laugh. “I guess an elbow to the windpipe really can knock someone out.”
“Good job, Vanessa,” Seth said, relief sounding in his voice. “I’ll get the coordinates for the nearest airport, and we’ll escort you there.”
“Seth, this plane is loaded with explosives,” Vanessa told him, a new kind of panic rolling through her. “I told you before. I was taught how to fly a plane. I never learned how to land.”
Despite her panic, she could almost picture Seth rubbing a hand over his face, trying to figure out what to do to save her. But there wasn’t anything to be done. With the plane filled with explosives, she couldn’t try to land near a populated area. And unfortunately, airports weren’t exactly common in unpopulated locations.
She heard Seth’s sigh over the radio, followed by his voice. “Check the plane for a parachute.”
“Right, Seth. Like a suicide bomber would have a parachute on board.” Vanessa’s voice edged toward sarcasm, but beneath it was pure fear.
“Humor me and check anyway.”
Vanessa uttered a prayer as she searched beneath both seats and then shifted around in her seat to search the back of the plane. The silence stretched for several seconds until she spoke once more. “Nothing.”
“You’re going to have to land the plane.”
“Seth, I can’t land.” Vanessa’s voice rose with panic.
Seth’s voice was steady, reassuring. “You can. I’ll talk you through it.”
Vanessa shook her head even though there was no one to see her do it. “You aren’t hearing me, Seth. If I try and fail, I’m going to leave a crater the size of the Grand Canyon.”
“I’m not giving up on you,” Seth insisted.
Before the argument could continue, Tristan broke in. “Vanessa, there’s an old airstrip about thirty miles west of here. We’ll have you try to land there.”
“You won’t have time to evacuate an airport and the surrounding neighborhoods before I run out of fuel. It could take hours.”
“We’re not going to an airport. This is the airstrip where those drug smugglers got caught last week. There aren’t any houses or anything else for a good fifteen or twenty miles.”
Vanessa considered what Tristan was saying, weighing her options. Finally logic broke through her panic. She didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t give up—she had to try. Her voice was shaky and uncertain when she spoke into the radio once more, but she knew she was saying the words Seth wanted to hear. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“Thatta girl,” Tristan said as he changed their heading.
Then it was Seth speaking to her once more. “Okay, Vanessa, we’re going to take a nice easy descent.” He had her adjust her airspeed and altitude, keeping her completely focused on the mechanics of landing a small aircraft.
As the strip of pavement came into view, Vanessa felt another flash of panic. Even though Seth was speaking as though nothing could go wrong, she knew better. She also knew that she couldn’t wait any longer to make sure Seth knew how she felt. She took a deep breath and interrupted him. “Hey, Seth. In case this doesn’t work, I just want you to know that I really do love you.”
“I love you too, but I’d rather hear you say that in person,” Seth told her. “Don’t think that an attempted terrorist attack is going to get you out of marrying me this time.”
Vanessa couldn’t help but smile. “Is that your idea of a proposal?”
“I’ll give you a real one when we’re both safely on the ground,” Seth assured her. “Now, remember what I told you. Nice and steady.”
Vanessa took in a sharp breath and let it out. “Okay. Here goes.”
“You can do this,” Seth reminded her, his voice reassuring as she approached the airstrip.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tristan shift the helicopter to the north so they could have a better view of her approach. Then she heard Seth’s voice again. “That’s it. Keep your speed steady.”
Vanessa tried to focus on his voice, on the constant flow of encouraging words. She knew that once she touched down, the hard part would be over. But what if she couldn’t get through the hard part? Every previous failed attempt, every insecurity rushed through her as the ground approached.
She was too high on her approach. She knew she was too high. Still, she followed Seth’s instructions, watching the ground blur in front of her. Then she felt the wheels touch down briefly, felt the plane bounce and lurch. And she pulled back on the stick to put the plane back in the air.
Her breath rushed out of her as the last little bit of runway disappeared out of her view.
“What happened?” Seth asked sharply.
“I couldn’t do it.” Vanessa’s voice hitched, and she fought back the tears that threatened. She took one shaky breath and then another. “There wasn’t enough runway.”
“It’s okay, Vanessa,” Seth told her. “Circle around and we’ll try it again.”
Several minutes stretched out as Seth and Tristan guided her to try once more. No one spoke of her failed first attempt or what would happen if she came in too low.
“Okay, I can do this,” Vanessa insisted, though she wasn’t sure if she was talking to Seth or to herself.
As she approached once more, silence filled the air. She watched the ground approaching, feeling a little more confident that her position to the runway was greatly improved over her previous attempt. Her breathing was still ragged as she closed in on the runway, but she was determined to try this time. She had to if she wanted to see Seth again.
As she felt the panic bubbling up inside her once more, she heard Seth’s soothing voice. “Come on, honey. You can do this.”
The plane caught in the wind, tipping a bit to one side, and insecurity rushed through her again. Then she heard Seth’s voice. This time, instead of assurances, she could hear impatience and challenge in his words. “Would it be easier if I dared you to land that plane?”
“That’s not funny, Seth,” Vanessa insisted, but the edge of irritation his words invoked helped push away the worst of the fear. “Okay. Let’s try this again.”
The wings straightened out, the plane dropped to within ten feet of the ground, and Vanessa drew in a sharp breath. The wheels bounced once, twice. And then she heard an alarm ringing over the radio.
37
The proximity alarm sounded in the Apache’s cockpit, forcing Seth to tear his eyes from Vanessa’s plane. He shifted his concentration to the instrument panel in front of him and immediately shouted, “Incoming!”
Tristan turned the helicopter abruptly as the missile came into view. He banked hard right a split second before the missile whizzed by and exploded on the ground below them.
“No!” The word erupted from Seth, and his eyes fixed on the flames spearing into the sky. He struggled to see if Vanessa’s plane had been hit, but the smoke was too thick. Logically he knew that the missile might have missed the plane, but fear and shock paralyzed him as he assumed the worst.
Beside him, Tristan spoke in a clipped tone. “Come on, Seth. Work with me here. We’re no good to her if we’re dead.”
Trying to fight the numb feeling that swamped him, Seth turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. He managed a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “New radar contact.” He rattled off the location, a mere fifteen miles away. “I’ve got intermittent contact. It looks like the missing Z-10 is trying to stay under our radar.”
Tristan gave a quick nod of agreement. “Preparing to intercept.”
<
br /> Seth glanced back at the smoke rising from the ground behind them before forcing himself to shift into combat mode.
* * *
Vanessa scrambled out of the plane and looked up. Her eyes burned from the smoke, but she could see the Z-10 overhead positioning itself against where she had last seen Seth’s Apache. When the missile had hit the ground a short distance from the runway, her amazement that she had safely landed had been quickly overtaken by terror. Whoever was in that enemy helicopter was shooting at Seth, trying to steal away the future she had just begun to hope for.
She couldn’t fathom that she had managed to get away from Zimmerman only to find Seth in immediate danger. She had to do something to help him, but what? Gunfire sounded above her as the two helicopters engaged. Vanessa stared into the sky, her mind racing, when she heard the voice coming over the airplane radio in Arabic. “Is the aircraft damaged? I repeat, can you take off?”
Vanessa ignored the voice as an idea began to form. She climbed back into the airplane and reached for the C4 that was attached to the detonator. With the bomb in her hands, she hurried to the side of the runway where a makeshift shed was located. She set the bomb down and studied the wiring.
If she could set some kind of timer, just maybe she could create a distraction to help Tristan and Seth. Drawing on all of her explosives training, she drew a deep breath as she bypassed the remote access. She then managed to set a timer. A moment later, she activated the detonator and then turned and sprinted away from the runway.
* * *
“This guy is good,” Tristan conceded as he evaded another burst of gunfire. “Can you get a missile lock on him?”
“Negative. He keeps dropping off of our radar.” Seth rested his finger on the trigger, waiting for the right moment. The smoke was clearing below them, but he didn’t dare look down to see if Vanessa’s plane had indeed landed safely. If he broke concentration, he and Tristan might not survive the next few seconds; however, if his worst fears were realized, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Seth watched bullets spark from the enemy again. “Break left!”
Tristan responded, shifting up and left to avoid the incoming fire.
“Returning fire,” Seth announced as he sent another spray of gunfire hurtling through the air. “I’m getting tired of this guy.”
“What’s the ETA on our backup?”
“Two more minutes.”
“Might as well be an eternity,” Tristan muttered.
An explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Seth and Tristan glanced briefly at one another as the Z-10 elevated to clear the explosion beneath them. A moment later, the radar lock beeped.
“Missile away!” Seth announced, seconds before the Z-10 exploded and broke into pieces.
Tristan backed away as the wreckage rained down to the ground. He then headed back to the airfield. Beyond a small structure that was fully engulfed in flames, the Cessna was parked on the runway.
“Take us down,” Seth instructed, even though Tristan had already started to descend. The moment the helicopter settled onto the runway, Seth flung open the door and jumped to the ground. He hurried to the plane only to find the pilot unconscious. He didn’t know what to think when Vanessa wasn’t where he expected her to be. His heart raced as he looked around, seeing nothing but the fire in front of him.
He couldn’t fathom that she had safely landed only to have fallen prey to a stray missile strike or whatever had caused this fire. She had to be okay. She just had to. The words repeated over in his mind, a kind of chant that turned into a pleading prayer.
Tristan stepped beside him and motioned to the fiery shed. “You don’t think . . .”
Seth shook his head, but he wasn’t sure what to think. He could smell wood burning and could see pieces of debris scattered all over the edge of the runway and onto the brown dirt that surrounded it. The smoke continued to assault his senses, burning his eyes and nose, but he couldn’t turn away.
Then he saw it. A glimpse of movement.
Squinting, he took a tentative step forward. The smoke was so thick that he couldn’t make out much of anything, but after a moment he saw the movement again, and this time he could see the vague form walking toward them. “Vanessa!”
He rushed into the smoke as she stumbled forward. Then she was in his arms. Seth scooped her off of her feet and moved away from the fire to where the air had cleared. He held her cradled in his arms, staring down at her, afraid to speak.
“You’re okay,” Vanessa managed, her cheeks streaked with soot and tears.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Seth nodded, his voice hoarse. He touched his lips to hers. “We’re both going to be okay now.”
38
The debriefings were over, the mission reports completed, and the word was in from the hospital about Kel. They were all hoping for good news, but they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. The doctors had basically told them that Kel would be in recovery and physical therapy for the next several months. Only after he completed his treatment would the Navy decide whether he was fit to return to duty.
The whole squad was still struggling with this blow—and the fact that a replacement would be showing up any day to fill in for Kel. For now, Seth wasn’t ready to worry about the new guy. He needed to put his own life in order. And that included tracking down Vanessa and spending some time with her. Alone.
He had already put in for a few days of leave so he could drive from Virginia Beach up to Northern Virginia to see Vanessa. She was temporarily working at CIA Headquarters in Langley until they decided where to send her next. His stomach clenched at the thought of the Agency reinserting her as Lina Ramir in Akil’s organization. He knew it was a very real scenario, and a risky one, especially since she was the only person who had ever successfully infiltrated his organization.
Seth wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to convince Vanessa to turn down an overseas assignment, but he prayed he could find the right words. He didn’t know if he could stand to go another six years without her. He couldn’t stand to go another six hours without her.
“Are you all set?” Brent asked from his seat beside Seth in the office they shared.
“Yeah.” Seth nodded, scooping his cell phone off of his desk and slipping it into his pocket. “And you don’t have to tell me to keep my phone turned on.”
“Hey, guys.” Amy stepped through the door, followed by Quinn and Tristan.
“What’s up?” Brent asked.
“I just got the latest intel reports,” Amy told him as everyone crowded into the office.
“And?” Brent asked.
“All of Ramir’s training camps in the Caribbean have been shut down.”
Quinn’s dark eyebrows shot up. “Did Ramir shut them down, or did we do it for him?”
“Oh, we helped.” Amy gave the team a cocky little grin.
“What about Ramir?” Seth asked, hoping that Vanessa would never have to go undercover again, at least not in Ramir’s organization.
Amy’s grin faded now. “He’s still at his fortress in Nicaragua.”
“I should have found a way to take him out when I had the chance.” Seth shook his head, wondering what he could have done differently. He hated knowing that Vanessa might be the government’s only weapon against Akil, and possibly the only way to prevent his next attack. “Who knows what he’ll plan next.”
Tristan spoke now. “Hey, at least you helped us figure out what he was planning this time before it was too late. We’ll get him eventually.”
“I hope so,” Seth said.
“There is some good news out of all of this,” Amy told them. “Even though Ramir is still out there, the reports indicate that he not only lost a lot of his manpower during our raids, but he’s also hurting for money.”
“Yeah, until Morenta decides to help him out again,” Quinn commented irritably.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.” The corner of Amy’s mouth lifted once more. “
Apparently the CIA identified and seized two of Morenta’s offshore accounts. It’s going to take a while before he’ll be able to recover from the lost funds. Besides, Akil Ramir has shifted to the top of our most wanted list. The minute he leaves the fortress, he’s likely to end up in prison right beside his brother.”
Brent managed a little smile of his own. “Let’s hope.”
“I also heard from Kel’s wife this morning,” Amy added. “Apparently Kel is already up out of bed and has started physical therapy.”
“Do we have any idea how long until he’ll be back?”
Amy shook her head. “I thought maybe we could all go pay him a visit in the hospital this weekend and see how he’s doing for ourselves.”
“Sounds like a great idea.” Brent nodded in agreement. Then he looked over at Seth and grinned. “After all, Seth is already heading up that way. I’m sure he won’t mind if we tag along.”
Seth immediately shook his head. He recognized the humor in Brent’s voice, but he wasn’t about to take any chances when it came to his plans for the weekend. “You can all go up and visit Kel. I’ll make sure I stop by before I head back.”
“Oh, come on, Seth,” Brent pressed. “Don’t you want to spend all of your leave with us?”
Seth chuckled and shook his head. “Not a chance.” He stood up and grabbed his keys. Then he heard movement and turned toward the sound. And his jaw dropped open. Vanessa was standing in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
“I’d think that would be obvious.” Humor lit her eyes as she slowly smiled. “I came to see you.”
“I mean, how did you get here—in my office?” Seth stepped out from behind his desk, now ignoring the other members of his squad who were watching in amusement. “This is a secure military base, and we’re in a classified wing.”
“Seth, I work for the CIA. Do you really think you boys have any secrets I don’t know about?”
Now Brent stood and moved toward the door with a little smirk on his face. “I think we’ll just leave you two alone for a few minutes.”
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