“Four of them?”
Shrugging, Mike said, “BJS has reported four in the area and they ought to know. They’re the ones who play cat and mouse with these mercenaries, who would just as soon shoot them out of the sky.”
Morgan nodded slowly as terror ate away at him. If Kathy was at that villa, she could be dead. He didn’t want to go there. He just didn’t, but the military strategist in him had to. The fear that she could have died in that attack shattered him. Wiping his mouth, he avoided Mike’s hooded gaze. Mike knew. He knew exactly what Morgan was thinking.
“I’m trying to get an eyewitness snitch of mine that lives in Agua Caliente to call me,” Houston said sympathetically. “Right now, we have no satellite reconnaissance of the attack. I’ve asked the U.S. Air Force for a fly-by on one of their spy satellites so we can get pictures, but they aren’t going to be able to position it for another two hours.”
“Jesus, Mike. I’m worried. My daughter…”
“I know.” He grimaced.
“I haven’t told Laura what we suspect. I just couldn’t do that to her. She’s been through so much, with the kidnapping and the rapes. If she realized Kathy was down there trying to get even with Garcia…”
Mike reached out and patted Morgan’s slumped shoulder. “You said yourself you had no idea Kathy was going on such a mission.”
“No.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, tears burning in his eyes. “I mean, she came home unexpectedly, but that was all. I should have suspected something, dammit. I just should have, but I didn’t.”
“She normally comes home after completing a black ops assignment,” Mike pointed out. “And she gave nothing away on what she was going to do when she left again.”
Rubbing his eyes, Morgan sat up. “She came home to say goodbye to us. I realize that now.” His voice broke. Oh, God, his daughter was trying to settle a family score with the drug lords! Missions just didn’t work that way, but his daughter must not have realized it. Kathy had very likely bitten off more than she could chew. The fact that the U.S. Navy had stonewalled him and not given him any info on her mission enraged him.
Luckily, Mike’s contacts and his own combined had found a way around the red tape. They’d learned that Kathy had gone on a revenge mission, pure and simple, and now she could be dead, a victim of the attack on Garcia. What hellish irony.
Clenching his hands into fists, Morgan stood up. What was taking so long? Generally, a scramble connection with BJS happened in minutes.
“Take it easy,” Mike said as Morgan began to pace the office. His boss’s face was pale, his eyes narrowed with pain and grief. “There’s been a lot of satellite traffic today, so Jenny may be having trouble getting a connection.”
The phone rang. Morgan hurried back to his desk and snapped it up.
“Morgan here. Maya?”
“Hi, Morgan.”
She sounded sleepy, and he realized there was a five-hour difference between them. “I’m sorry to wake you, but this is urgent.”
“No problem.” She laughed huskily. “I’ve got Dane making me coffee as we speak.”
U.S. Army Major Dane York was Maya’s husband. He helped her run the squadron, although she was the commanding officer and creator of the black ops.
“Great. Listen, I need to know if my daughter, Kathy Trayhern, is with you.” He held his breath, his heart bursting with anguish. What if Maya said no? What if she knew nothing about Garcia’s villa being leveled?
“Yes, she is. I thought you knew she was down here.”
Groaning, Morgan covered his eyes with his hand for a moment and sat down in the chair. Looking up, he gave Mike a thumbs-up. Houston grinned. “No, I didn’t. That’s why we asked for those photos from your pilots. Is she okay? Unharmed?”
“She’s fine. We just rescued them—around 1100 today, our time. They escaped Garcia’s villa just as four of Manuel Navarro’s Black Sharks attacked it. From what we can piece together, there were two other drug lords, one from Ecuador and one from Colombia, who conspired to destroy Garcia and get him out of the picture. Navarro made the attack for all of them.”
Relief, sharp and deep, sheered through Morgan. “Thank God she’s okay. My daughter’s really all right? No wounds? Any problems?”
Laughing, Maya said, “Right now, she’s at the barracks sleeping like a rock, Morgan. The doctor checked her over earlier and she’s in excellent shape. A little thin, but that’s all. They rescued little Sophie. You remember her?”
“Yeah, I do. That’s great news!” Morgan felt shaky inside. “Maya, what’s the drill on this one? When is Kathy coming home and where will she be?”
“I don’t know, Morgan. An ATF agent who was working undercover at Garcia’s is calling the shots now. It’s his assignment to clean up. I’ll know more tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, I’m flying down to your base, Maya. I don’t care what this ATF agent has in mind, I want Kathy to stay there until I arrive. Okay?”
“Sure. I don’t think it will cause a problem. You want me to tell her you’re coming?”
Grimly, Morgan said, “No, I don’t.”
“She’s lucky to be alive. The ATF agent and she stole a Blackhawk and managed to evade the Sharks that chased them as they headed our way.” Satisfaction filled her voice. “I know you’ll be happy to hear that there are four less Black Sharks in the skies around here. For a little while my pilots are going to be safe.”
“That’s good news,” Morgan declared. “But you know the drug lords will buy more.”
Sighing, Maya said, “Yeah, we’re aware of that. At least for a couple of weeks, though, the skies over Peru will be more friendly as we continue to interdict drug shipments. Give my women a breather of sorts. Okay, listen, send me an e-mail on your arrival time. I’ll have one of my pilots fly into Cuzco with our civilian helo to pick you up at the airport and bring you back here.”
“Sounds good, Maya. Thanks for letting me know that Kathy’s okay….”
“HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING about Tiki from your handler?” Kathy sat with Mac in the busy mess hall the next morning. All around them, crews coming on for the day shift and the others coming off the night shift milled about, hunting up breakfast. Her heart twinged at the sight of Mac. He had showered and shaved recently, and his damp dark hair gleamed beneath the fluorescent lights. How handsome he looked in his army-green trousers and a T-shirt that showed off the expanse of his chest and broadness of his shoulders.
“No, I haven’t heard anything. My handler’s in Lima. I was on the phone with her after I got up this morning and she’s flying here. Until she arrives at Garcia’s villa, we won’t know anything.” He saw the grief in Kathy’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Kathy. I’m sick about this, too. Tiki was an innocent.”
Nodding, Kathy muttered, “I tossed and turned all night. I kept dreaming about her, Mac. Hearing her scream. I wanted her to survive that attack but I don’t see how she could have.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Have a little faith. She’s not on the latest DOA list.” Mac gave her a slight, lazy smile meant to distract her from her worry.
He was trying to make her feel better.
“Okay, you’re right. You’re the spy, I’m not. I have no idea how things like this are handled.”
“While we’re waiting, you might want to ask me some questions?”
“Okay, dude, it’s twenty questions time. Who are you, really?” Kathy demanded, smiling back at him.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Slathering strawberry jam on his toast, he said, “My real name is McKinley Chandler. My friends have always called me Mac.” He gazed into her soft blue eyes, which had lost all that darkness. Mac wished he could have shared her bed last night, but it was impossible under the circumstances. His heart wanted to be with her, body and soul. His head knew different. “How about you? I’ve heard tell that you’re Kathy Trayhern, daughter of the famous Morgan Trayhern. Is that true?”
Kathy felt heat
flood her cheeks. Her time with Mac was drawing to an end, and they hadn’t had any privacy since coming to the busy squadron. She had nothing to lose by telling the truth. “Yes, that’s right.” Tilting her head, she asked, “How did you learn that bit of information?”
Mac set the knife aside. “I have ears, Ms. Trayhern. That’s what spies do—keep their ear close to the ground.”
Her heart thumped once, hard, in response to the smoky look he gave her. Kathy knew Mac wanted her. And she wanted him. But how could they ever get together, in this impossible situation? Kathy wasn’t sure. She was surprised to realize that, in the turmoil of the past months, she had quietly laid Curt’s memory and their love to rest. Kathy felt the need to move on. Mac was responsible for that desire in her.
She nervously fingered the flatware on her aluminum tray. “You’re a good spy, no argument from me.” When his mouth curved deeply in response, Kathy ached to be in his arms. Throughout the last day and night Mac had been a solid, stable rock in a horrific storm. He didn’t get rattled by anything, not even Black Sharks breathing down his neck, trying to take him out of the sky. The guy was incredible, in her opinion.
“I hope you’re my friend, Kathy,” he said, putting the toast aside. “And yes, call me Mac. Can I still call you Kathy?”
“Yes, we’re friends.” And more, she wanted to add.
Mac looked around the bustling, noisy mess hall. People were coming and going, their laughter and joking filling the air. He turned back to Kathy and said, “Look, we need some quality time to sit down and talk, some place quiet.”
“Tell me about it.” Her body responded hotly to the stormy look in his gray eyes.
“Do you want time alone with me?” Mac wasn’t sure. He could tell Kathy was nervous. Or maybe because she was no longer undercover, he was seeing the real Kathy and not the nanny, Ms. Lincoln. In his heart, he wanted time with her more than anything in the world.
“Yeah, I’d like that, Mac.” Kathy wasn’t sure where their friendship was going. What she wanted and what she got could be two different things, and she tried to prepare emotionally for that reality.
Mac toyed with his knife and frowned. “For the next three days I’m going to be busier than hell. I have a lot of stuff to coordinate with the ATF from here. I have to go back to Garcia’s villa, or what’s left of it. The Peruvian police are already on site and so are a couple of CIA operatives from Lima. I’ve put a call in to one of them and I’m hoping to get info on Tiki if they find her. But cell phones don’t work there, and getting time on an Iridium satellite phone is like trying to move fast in Los Angeles freeway traffic. But, I keep trying to get through.” He looked directly into her eyes. “You’ve got pertinent info, too. You helped me get that CD of files from Therese’s computer. The ATF will be wanting to debrief you back in Washington as soon as I can wrap up things at Garcia’s villa. I don’t know who you’re working for, and I need to query them on this and get permission to take you back to D.C. with me once we’re done down here.”
Nodding, Kathy said, “This was done under a U.S. Navy SEAL mission. I’m sure the commander who helped me will give me TDY orders to follow you to Washington with no problem.”
“A SEAL ops?” That didn’t make sense. He saw Kathy raise her brows and give him a one-cornered smile.
“It’s a long story, Mac. Something I’d like to save for a quieter time.” If there was going to be one. Her stomach knotted even more over that thought. Nothing was for certain here—not him, not her. Right now, Kathy felt as if she’d been tossed upside down and wasn’t sure where the hell she was going to land.
Mac turned and looked toward the door of the mess. The X.O., Lieutenant Dallas Klein, was standing there.
“I think Dallas is looking for you.” He tipped his head in her direction.
Kathy saw Dallas beckon to her. “Gotta go, Mac.” She rose from the picnic table. “See you later?”
“That’s a promise, bright angel.” He saw her lips curve in a brilliant smile. “I’ll find you….”
“I bet you will. You’re a spy, after all.” Kathy laughed as she picked up her tray. After handing it to a server, she joined the lieutenant.
“Is Sophie okay?” The little girl had slept in a cozy room in the barracks, and one of the women had given her an old, well-loved teddy bear to sleep with last night. When Kathy looked in on her earlier, Sophie was sleeping deeply and soundly, her arms wrapped around that old, nearly hairless bear.
“She’s fine. Still sleeping, probably. Don’t worry about her for now. I have Angel, our paramedic, keeping an eye on her. When she wakes, Angel will bring her over here for a meal.”
“I thought you might be here because Sophie needed me. Or because you had word of Tiki.”
Shaking her head, Dallas said, “No, sorry. I’ve got my communications people on top of any info that might come to us about Garcia’s daughter. You’ll be the first to know, I promise.”
Relief ate at the knots in Kathy’s stomach. “Thanks, Dallas. That means a lot to me and Mac. We both really love that little tyke.”
Kathy followed the officer out onto the smooth, black lava floor of the cave. The place was busy as crews performed routine maintenance on the huge Apaches.
Electric cars zoomed quietly back and forth, in and out of the tunnel at the back, which Kathy learned led to a mining operation on the other side of the mountain. It used to be a mine, anyway, so it made a good cover. When Maya Stevenson had been hunting for a place to put an Apache squadron she’d seen this huge cave and the defunct mining operation and figured all they needed was a tunnel connecting the two.
To outsiders and tourists, the mining operation appeared to be up and running. There was machinery and equipment, plus many company houses on the other side of the mountain. The two civilian helicopters had the name of the mine, Condor Mining Company, on their fuselage, and via them BJS was able to ferry in personnel, supplies and ammunition without raising suspicion. Yes, Maya Stevenson had been an incredible visionary. She’d brought an all-woman U.S. Army Apache helicopter team down here and built the cave complex from scratch.
As they walked toward H.Q., which was positioned on the left side of the mouth of the wide, deep cavern, Kathy was overwhelmed with how Maya’s vision had come to fruition. Dallas had explained to her that at first the U.S. Army was glad to get rid of Maya because she wasn’t about to be relegated to second-class citizen status. She’d been one of the first women to train and graduate as an Apache helicopter pilot but they’d refused to give her a combat slot. Maya said to hell with that.
Her father, a U.S. Army general, had pushed through her plan. Everyone said it wouldn’t work, Dallas had told Kathy. Everyone expected Maya to fail, and wanted her to, this upstart woman in the U.S. military. But she was a combat pilot and, by God, she was going to fly combat or else.
Dallas had chuckled and explained how Maya recruited women from other foreign services to fly with her. Dallas was from the Israeli Air Force, and there were three Peruvian women helicopter pilots on their team. The rest came from the U.S. Army. And in five years the Black Jaguar Squadron had taken a sixty percent bite out of all drug running in Peru. Half of all the cocaine shipments hadn’t made it across the border.
No one was laughing at Maya Stevenson’s ideas now. Instead, they were trying to duplicate them in other South American countries. She had gone from being a troublesome bitch to being hailed as a visionary woman who had the moxie to carry out her goal. At some point, Kathy wanted to meet Maya. After all, it had been Maya and her copilot who had saved them from being killed by that last Black Shark.
“What’s up, then?” Kathy asked as she walked at Dallas’s shoulder. “Why did you come get me?” Perhaps to meet some of the women officers?
“You’ve got a visitor,” Dallas said.
“A visitor?” She arched her brows in surprise. Who could know she was here?
“Yes. Your father.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
>
KATHY TRIED TO PREPARE herself to meet her father. What was he doing here? She hurried down the busy hall on the second floor, her heart pounding with dread. How had he found out about her mission? Frowning, she headed for room 202 and tried to gird herself for the coming confrontation. What she really wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck and be held by him. Her father had always been a bulwark of strength for her. Not protection—no, not that. But strength. She opened the wooden door and entered.
Nothing could have prepared Kathy for what she saw. Her dad, the legendary head of the Trayhern dynasty had red, swollen eyes, was unshaved and wore a severely rumpled dark gray suit. Stunned, Kathy quietly shut the door, a lump forming in her throat.
“Dad?” Her voice was low and trembling as she hesitated by the door, hands at her sides. A desk separated them.
Morgan tried to smile but failed. His daughter looked incredibly well. Fit. Confident. She looked fine. Such relief flowed through him that he thought he was going to faint. Instead, he gripped the back of the chair he stood behind.
“I found out,” he said.
“I can see that.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, fine.” She felt torn inwardly. Her father looked like hell, and Kathy realized the suffering he’d gone through was because of her. That stung. “Dad,” she said haltingly, lifting her hand, “I didn’t mean to get you involved for this very reason. Look at you. Look at the hell you went through.”
“When you have children, you go through hell, Kathy.” Morgan saw the suffering, the guilt, in her huge blue eyes. Her lower lip trembled. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me like this, but I had to know what was going on,” he said. Running a hand through his hair, Morgan gave his daughter a pained smile. “You know me. I love my kids and I have more than a little vested interest in wanting to keep them safe. I can’t help it, I love you….”
The words, so sweet and poignant, so filled with emotion broke Kathy up. “Oh, Dad, I never thought I’d see you again. I thought I would die on this mission.” She rushed forward and launched herself into her father’s arms. Morgan Trayhern was a giant in her eyes, no matter what he’d done to hurt her and the family. When she felt his arms sweep around her, hold her tightly against him, she buried her cheek against his broad, solid shoulder and shut her eyes. A sob escaped her as she clung to him.
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