Strictly Need to Know

by MB Austin

  “And Sirko’s agents are good. They could actually end up here.”

  “It’s a possibility. So let’s prepare the others. Tap Rose first.”

  Rose turned pale at the news, but took her instructions calmly. “Why not just hide now?” was her only question.

  “Waste of our last day, if they don’t show. This place isn’t advertised. And it looks like a normal house for a reason.”

  “But still, people in town must know. Oyster Cove is a small place, and lots of families act as hosts.”

  And Sirko’s guys might ask good questions, not just knock on doors. “We’ll be all right. So will the kids.”

  “Of course,” Rose agreed, looking as uncertain as Maji felt.

  Lunch was held entirely indoors, for the first time during this year’s camp. The whole group sat on the mats, except for two in the kitchen to act as sentries for the rear door.

  “Goldberg to Rios.”

  “Go go.”

  “Eyes on the rear door. Mrs. Altadonna says hi.”

  Maji smiled and whispered to Rose, who leaned over to Hannah and relayed the message. Hannah sent a nod back to Maji.

  Of the rest of the group, only Iris seemed to notice any communication had occurred. She gestured impatiently toward Maji, then hissed, “Ri.”

  “What?” Maji said in a mock whisper. A few sets of eyes followed the interchange. “It’s all cool. Relax.”

  As the students began standing up and clearing their plates off to the kitchen, Bubbles clapped twice and gave one of the orders the girls were prepared for. “Mill about!”

  Hannah walked calmly toward the front door and looked at the two men in Army fatigues quizzically. Then she pointed to the sign on the door telling visitors to go around back. As they turned and started walking down the steps, she barked, “Now!”

  Maji pulled Rose out of the milling throng and opened the side door to the parkour climbing tower. “Back to the wall,” she said, and followed Rose in, stepping backward so that they would both be facing the door. Then she secured the door from inside, and waited.

  She couldn’t make out the knock on the back door through the clatter of dishes in the kitchen and the tumultuous voices of the students. Then a double clap broke through the noise, and Hannah’s voice rang out. “Girls! Quiet please. We have visitors, and I can’t make out a word they’re saying. Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

  “Ma’am, we’re looking for this woman.” There was a pause. “Is she here?”

  “May I ask why?”

  “Sergeant Rios is absent without leave. If she comes in voluntarily, discipline will be light. We’re here to give her that opportunity.” The man pitched his voice as if trying to reach someone in another room, someone hiding.

  “Well, I haven’t any soldiers for students, I’m afraid. Why would you think she was here?”

  “She might not have told you she was a soldier, ma’am,” he replied without actually answering. “We’ve heard she’s in the area with another woman. Do you know this woman?”

  “No. Tanya—this is my lead instructor, Tanya. She’s here some days that I’m not. Tanya, do you recognize either of these women?”

  “Nuh-uh, Sensei. Sorry.”

  “Are they dangerous?” Iris’s voice piped in.

  Maji closed her eyes. Iris would go off script.

  “We’re not at liberty to say, ma’am.”

  “Then why would we help you? I’m a reporter, you know. For the Herald. And if you don’t want to see your faces in tomorrow’s headlines—”

  Hannah clapped twice. “That’s quite enough,” she interrupted. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help, gentlemen.”

  “Could we take a look around the premises, ma’am?” the second man asked. “I’m sure we won’t find anything, but your compliance would let us complete some Patriot Act forms in your favor.”

  “Are you threatening her?” Iris sounded believably irate. Hell, she probably was. “I can’t believe this. I’m going to call my editor.”

  The locker room door slapped as it opened and closed. “I’m so sorry,” Hannah said. “Go get her and send her outside.”

  “Gladly,” Bubbles responded. The locker room door made less noise that time and muted the voices behind it. Shortly after, though, footsteps stomped across the hallway and the exterior door slammed.

  “We don’t usually allow adults in class,” Hannah said in the silence following Iris’s departure, sounding apologetic. “Why don’t I give you a tour? It won’t take long.”

  Maji listened to Hannah narrate the nickel version of the dojo tour. She felt Rose’s hands slide onto her hips, and she put her own over them. Rose’s breathing was a little shallow, but sounded otherwise normal.

  “I see you have a Rios,” the first man’s voice reached them, slightly echoey from the locker room. Door must be propped open, Maji thought. And the girls were keeping beautifully quiet. Acing the scenario, so far.

  “I’m a Rios,” came Soledad’s voice. The only Hispanic-looking student. Way to step up, hermana. “So? Can I see the picture?” After a brief pause, she commented, “I got three sisters and eight girl cousins. She’s not one of them.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Rios,” the second man said.

  “All right, girls, it’s time to get back to lessons,” Hannah said. “If you need to wash up, please do so now.” The sound of movement and teenage chatter started immediately. “I’ll show you out,” she added over the noise.

  No more men’s voices reached them. Class resumed with mat drills, and moments later, there was a brief rythmic tapping on the tower door. All clear. “They’re gone,” Maji said.

  Rose exhaled, her breath tickling the back of Maji’s neck. “Can we get out then?”

  “Sorry,” Maji answered. “Not yet. Rios to perimeter.”

  “They didn’t touch or drop anything at the back side of the building,” Dev reported.

  Tom’s voice came next. “Nobody watching the front from the street. I borrowed a dog, gonna take a leisurely stroll and look closer.”

  Maji wanted to ask where he’d gotten a dog, but held the question. Time to debrief later.

  Rose’s eyes adjusted to the tiny bit of light inside the big wooden box that held them. She hadn’t even known the hiding place was there; but since it locked from the inside, that must be what it was there for—to keep unwelcome visitors out. And now it felt like it was keeping them locked in. The stuffiness had increased since she and Maji had stepped in and starting breathing all the air. She took her hands off Maji’s hips and started feeling out the interior dimensions.

  “You okay?” Maji asked.

  “Mostly. When do we get out of here?”

  “When class breaks, we blend in and head for the locker room.”

  “How soon?”

  Maji’s hand brushed down the back of her shoulder, along her arm, and finally found her hand. “Ten, fifteen minutes. Piece of cake.” Her hand lifted Rose’s. “Close your eyes and stretch. Up, up, tall as you can.”

  Rose reached high, straining for the ceiling. Nothing. She followed Maji’s soothing commands and was able to just press out on both sides of the box. Then she found the inside of the lower landing, about shoulder height, and the slight slope of the front wall they usually leaped at to scramble up. “Bigger than it seems.”

  “Plenty of room. You could do a whole yoga class in here. Okay?”

  The memory of Maji asking Okay? several times over the course of their first night together startled Rose. Every touch had been more than okay then, the question only serving to remind Rose that she was in control, no matter how wild the wonderful stranger’s bold physicality made her feel. No wonder they weren’t supposed to do that again. Rose had worked hard to stuff those memories into a safe corner of her mind, to behave so that no one could tell how much more she wanted. And not just really delicious, searing intimacy in bed. She wanted more of Maji the sly wit, the encourager, the quiet prep chef, the sexy danc
e partner, the easy company. Hell, she wanted to cook that woman something delicious and feed it to her by hand.

  “Rose.” A hand closed on her arm, small and strong and very warm. “Rose!”

  Rose opened her eyes in the near dark and put her hand out, finding Maji’s shoulder. She slid her fingertips along Maji’s collarbone, up her throat, and onto her cheek. “Yes,” she said, and closed the small distance between them.

  Four fast knocks on the door brought Maji to her senses. She pulled her hands out from inside Rose’s T-shirt, gasping. “Jesus! Come on.”

  Taking Rose by one hand and flipping the toggle lock with the other, Maji led them into the relative brightness of the mat room. The interior of the room was shadowed, the overhead lights off. The tactical part of her brain kept her focused on reaching the locker room through the milling screen of students.

  “You guys okay? You’re pinker than Amber after burpees.” Bubbles didn’t wait for an answer, just popped into the sink area and ran them two cups of water.

  Maji drank hers down gratefully, willing her pulse to slow down while peeking over the cup’s edge at Rose. She’d lost control again, hadn’t even tried to stop Rose. Being alone was too dangerous. She was going to need to rotate duties with Dev and Tom if she couldn’t keep her head anymore.

  They hugged all the students who buzzed in and out of the locker room, checking on them and reliving the excitement while they changed to go home. When the room was empty of all but Rose and Bubbles and Maji, Hannah entered. “Whose car did you borrow today?”

  “Suarez family.” The recycling truck had paused long enough to let them out by the driveway.

  Hannah raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Address? Parking instructions? Dogs or other hazards?”

  “1024 Maple, three-quarters into driveway, facing out, hand brake on. No hazards but friendly neighbors.” Maji looked at Bubbles hopefully. “You gonna drive us?” The sedan had a small trunk, but they could manage for a short ride.

  “No,” Hannah answered. “I’ll get the car back. You two will stay put.”

  Maji had missed the change of plans, despite having her comm on. She frowned. “If we’re missed at the estate, there’ll be other trouble to deal with.”

  “Angelo is handling that,” Hannah assured her. “Now, you two will leave tomorrow with the students, if we have confirmed there is no ongoing surveillance. I’ve already unscrewed the refrigerator light and turned on the IR blocker. Brief Rose on the protocols, please.” She turned to go.

  “But…”

  Hannah turned back and surprised Maji with a hug. “Love is nothing to be ashamed of. Just protect Rose’s privacy, eh?” she whispered before pulling back.

  Maji could only gape at her.

  Bubbles gave Rose a quick squeeze and followed Hannah out. She caught the door just before it swung closed. “There’s stuff in the fridge. And, um”—she winked—“don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Maji looked at Rose, still slightly flushed and a bit disheveled, and stepped over one of the benches to give herself some distance. “Protocols. Right.”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “So now what?” Rose asked.

  “We stay away from the windows, don’t turn on any lights. Is your phone off?”

  “Yes. For how long?”

  “Right now, it looks like tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Oh. So we…sleep here?” Fear clouded her expression. “Not knowing when those men might come back?”

  Maji shook her head. “I’m sorry. I should have said. There’s a team watching the building, perimeter sensors in the lawn and on the roof. Nobody’s coming in.”

  “Well, then. Anything else I should know?”

  “Yeah. It’s going to get pretty warm around sunset.” Seeing that Rose was waiting for her to explain, Maji did. “In case somebody’s out there using thermal imaging to see if we’re in here, the building has infrared blocking. Basically, the walls warm up to mask our heat signatures. So we don’t have to spend the night hiding out in the shower stalls.”

  A wicked glint appeared in Rose’s eyes. “Are we allowed to run the water?”

  Maji stone-faced her. “You can use the locker room if you need to.”

  “Wow,” Rose said. “You really lose your sense of humor when you’re scared.”

  “I’m not scared,” Maji snapped. “I’m on duty.” A cough that sounded suspiciously like bullshit sounded in her ear. “Dev,” she said, “shut it or lose it.”

  “May I use Hannah’s computer?” Rose asked.

  “No. No electronics, including the microwave. I can find a pack of cards.”

  Rose did not look amused. “Really. We have fourteen hours alone, and you want to play cards?”

  Maji ignored the comments coming through her earpiece, not wanting to tip Rose to their encouragement. What did they know? “Yes. Let’s sit in Hannah’s office.”

  Rose indulged her in a game of gin rummy. Maji asked her about life in an Ohio college town and smiled and laughed in the appropriate places, while monitoring the comm and trying not to think about how she’d manage to keep her distance the entire rest of the night. Maji wasn’t sure Rose understood that if she made a serious move, her resolve would shatter.

  “What about you?” Rose asked after about an hour. “Can you work for Hannah while you’re a Reservist?”

  Maji raised a finger to her lips and switched her transmitter over to listen only. “What do you mean, work for Hannah?”

  Rose looked taken aback, by her tone if not the question. “Well, you clearly work for Paragon sometimes. Don’t you?”

  Maji closed her eyes. The CD—dammit. “Just the once. And I’d rather not discuss it with the guys. Actually, I plan to finish my master’s. That’s as far ahead as I can handle, right now. And I’d like you not to talk about that when they can hear, either. School is under my real name.”

  “God, it’s complicated to be you.” Rose sounded sympathetic, not snarky.

  Maji sighed, accepting the unpleasant truth stated with such diplomacy. “Not usually. Work and home never bumped into each other like this before.”

  “Right,” Rose said. “You can turn that thing back on if you like. We can talk about me all night—I’m an open book.”

  Maji nodded and made a show of turning the transmitter back on. “There might be a paperback in one of the lockers if you’re sick of talking.”

  “I don’t get tired of talking with you,” Rose said. “But I am thirsty. Is it getting warm already?”

  Maji checked her watch. “Starting to. Follow me.” She got up and led them across the hall in a quick, low crouch. Until it got a bit warmer, they should probably stay in just the office and the locker room.

  They gulped down a series of little paper cups of water. “Just how warm will it get?” Rose asked.

  “Perfect for hot yoga. Not so much for sleeping.”

  Rose stripped off her gi top and hung it in her locker. She handed the tracking fob to Maji. “Here. I’m going to wet down.”

  While the water was running, Angelo came onto the comm. “Rios. Just FYI—I came out to Ricky. So you’re off the hook. Knock yourself out.”

  “What the fuck, Ang?” Was he trying to get himself killed before the Fourth?

  “I needed to get Sander out of here. If Papa Bear gets wind of today’s attempt, he might do something rash. So I’m on a mission, but you—you just take a night off.”

  “Ang—”

  “We’re putting you on alarm-only, Rios. See you tomorrow. Out.”

  “Wait!” But it was too late. Dead air.

  “Everything okay?”

  Maji turned and saw Rose, wrapped in a towel but glistening all over with droplets. “Um, yeah.” She swallowed. “Fine. Here,” she handed Rose her T-shirt and gi pants. The bikini underwear fell to the floor, and she blushed.

  “I’m not putting those back on,” Rose said, holding out one arm as if to catch a breeze. “Evaporative
cooling. Do you think it’s dark enough yet to chance the kitchen?”

  To hell with staying in the locker room. “Yes. If we stay toward the wall.”

  Rose stopped in the kitchen doorway. “Should we close the blinds?”

  “No. No changes to how the dojo looks every night. We don’t know if they had it under surveillance before today.”

  “Oh. But what about the windows? Surely they aren’t heated.”

  “Nope. An IR device can’t get a good reading through glass. Just don’t turn on any lights.”

  They gathered a picnic-worth of food by the glow of the streetlights and carried it into Hannah’s office. There they could eat without concern for anyone registering their movements through a window. Rose retucked her towel several times before the desk was set for supper. “You should try this,” Rose said. “It really helps.”

  Maji nodded mutely. Rose in just a towel was interfering with her speech center. “Stay here,” she managed.

  The tepid water washed away the day’s sweat. Despite Rose’s advice, Maji pulled on a clean T-shirt and workout shorts. She felt too exposed as it was.

  Rose gave her a smile and popped a cold grape into her own mouth. “Try these,” she said. “No, wait.” She plucked one from the bunch and stepped close to Maji. “Close your eyes.”

  Maji didn’t.

  “I promise not to grope you. Come on.”

  Maji closed her eyes and felt the chilled grape brush her lips. She opened them and sucked the grape in, catching just the tip of Rose’s finger with it. She waited until Rose had all her digits safely back in her own control and crunched down. The sweetness filled her mouth as she watched Rose watching her.

  “Another?” Rose said with a wicked smile.

  Maji shook her head. Her legs trembled from adrenaline, taking the cue from her brain to run. If Rose touched her again, she was done for.

  “Are you okay?” Rose’s eyes shifted from teasing to concern. “Oh,” she added, touching her ear with a questioning look.

  Maji fought the urge to lie, to let Rose believe they had an audience, to play to her sense of propriety. Instead, she took a deep breath and slid behind the desk, safely out of reach. “Alarm-only,” she replied.