Match Play

by Merline Lovelace

  “True. We’re going with our collective gut here, backed up by the masseuse’s stuttering assertion.”

  “And your gut says Dr. Wu has arranged his wife’s escape and is using us to make it happen.”

  “Exactly. We’re guessing the doc and his daughter will hedge their bets and demand proof she’s safe before they climb aboard a plane at this end.”

  Lightning shoved back his suit jacket and thrust his hands in his pockets. He’d attended a meeting at the White House only a few hours ago. Relations between the U.S. and North Korea had gone well past strained and were edging toward hairy over Pyongyang’s determination to build a nuclear arsenal. The President was determined to put a spike in North Korea’s program by aiding Dr. Wu and his daughter to defect. Now, apparently, they’d added a third person to the equation.

  “We can relay a radio transmission if and when the chopper crew picks her up,” Lightning assured his field agent. “But I have to say, everything about this op gets more squirrelly by the hour.”

  “No kidding! Can I confirm with the Wus the chopper will be at the designated rendezvous point?”

  Squirrelly or not, Nick didn’t hesitate. The U.S.—hell, the world—had too much at stake.

  “You can.”

  Across the Atlantic, Dayna ended the transmission and faced her three coconspirators. Empty cups and Pellegrino bottles littered the coffee table. Hawk, Jilly and Luke’s expressions reflected the same combination of doubt and cautious optimism she suspected hers held.

  “So we stick to the game plan?” Luke queried. “Hawk and Jilly take the doc, you and I escort Kim Li?”

  “Unless you think you should be the one to show Dr. Wu around the base.”

  “Colonel Anderson has that covered. I do need to head back to Leuchars tonight, though. I want to hear how Alan Parks’ visit to the pub went and make sure everything is a go for tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow was taking on more twists than a boa with rickets, Dayna thought. After looking at their scheme from every angle, however, she was still convinced they should go through with it. If Dr. Wu’s real intent was to spy for his country, he’d absorb and—hopefully—feed his cohorts completely false information. If he did plan to go over to the West, he could still feed the North Koreans false data right up to the moment he boarded the plane to the States.

  It sounded, smelled and tasted like a win all around for Dayna and her team. She’d feel a lot more confident if they didn’t have to contend with so many damned “ifs.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Hawk said. They’d hashed and rehashed the game plan so many times every detail was burned into their brains. They all needed a break. More to the point, he needed to put some distance between himself and Gillian. Three solid hours in her company had brought him too damned close to forgetting all the reasons he was wrong for her.

  “My car is in the parking lot behind the hotel.” Luke shepherded the women to the door. “I’ll see the ladies to their room and meet you downstairs.”

  “We can probably make it up one floor on our own,” Dayna commented at the elevator.

  “I’m sure you can.” Unperturbed, he hit the button. “We need to settle another issue before I hit the road.”

  “Another issue?” She wracked her mind while the elevator winged up one short flight. “What string did we leave dangling?”

  “This one’s personal.”

  The offhand comment was enough to trigger a swift mental leap from fifty-year-old invasion tunnels and plasma separators. That, and the hand Luke hooked around her arm to detain her when they entered her suite.

  “You mind, Jilly?”

  “Not at all.”

  Waggling her fingers, Gillian steered a straight course for the bedroom. Dayna’s heart was thumping before the door closed. She had a good idea now what issue he wanted to settle. Luke confirmed her guess with a gentle stroke of his thumb along the inside of her arm.

  “We may not have time tomorrow, so I thought we’d better reopen negotiations tonight.”

  “We don’t have much time tonight, either, with Hawk waiting for you downstairs.”

  “It won’t be a complicated negotiation. I lost you once, Pud. I don’t want to lose you again.”

  The simplicity of it took her breath away. And left no room for anything but the truth.

  “I don’t want to lose you, either.”

  “That’s all I needed to hear.”

  Tugging her into his arms, he covered her mouth with his. Dayna returned the kiss, holding nothing back. She had no idea where they’d go from here. For the moment, this was enough. More than enough, she thought when Luke raised his head and smiled down at her.

  “My active-duty service commitment is up in four months. If I take terminal leave, I’ll be back in the States in three.”

  “Terminal leave?” Startled, she blinked up at him. “Are you talking about quitting the air force?”

  “We tried long-distance love once. It didn’t work. I’m not taking any chances this time around.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. We can’t make a life together on separate continents. End of negotiations.”

  His mouth descended on hers again, more fiercely this time, before he left with a parting admonition. “Lock the door behind me.”

  She did as instructed, feeling more than a little shell-shocked. And she thought Wu Kim Li had dropped a bomb in her lap!

  Luke and her, making a life together.

  On one continent.

  After he separated from the air force.

  All these years Dayna had resented the fact that Luke had put his military career ahead of her. So why did his abrupt decision to hang up his uniform produce this ridiculous spurt of guilt?

  He could serve his country in other ways, she argued fiercely. A whole alphabet soup of governmental agencies in Washington would snap up someone with his smarts and experience. The Pentagon could put him to work, not to mention the FAA, the CAB and the NTSB.

  And not just to fly a desk. Luke could still strap on an airplane if he wanted to. Okay, maybe not a sleek bomber designed to penetrate unseen to the heart of any conflict. But flying was flying.

  Yeah, right. Like taking a rowboat out on a small, placid pond was the same as crashing through a rocky gorge on a swollen river.

  Well, hell! Why did love have to be so complicated? Lips pursed, Dayna stalked into the bedroom. Jilly paused in the act of slathering cream on her face and blinked.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Luke just told me he loves me.”

  Not in those exact words, but close enough.

  Jilly blinked again. “And that pisses you off because…?”

  “Because I love him, too, dammit.”

  The next morning, Luke rapped on the door to Dayna’s suite just as she geared up for the final round of the Women’s International Pro-Am Charity Tournament.

  He’d swung by his flat first to shower and shave. His dark hair still glistened and he’d splashed on a woodsy aftershave that smelled nothing like gardenias. In khaki slacks, a sky-blue V-necked sweater and his leather jacket, he looked good enough to eat.

  Dayna almost did just that. She’d had all night to mull over their renegotiations. Glee had vanquished guilt. Her heart flaming with a fiery mix of love and lust, she hooked her arms around his neck and dragged him down for a kiss that left her gasping and him groaning.

  “What time do you tee off?”

  “Too soon for what either of you have in mind,” Jilly drawled from behind them.

  “Later,” he promised, rubbing Dayna’s nose in an Eskimo kiss.

  “Later,” she breathed, knowing that could mean three long months if the Wus went through with their triple deception and if Dayna boarded the plane to the States with them and if Luke followed through with his plans and if…

  Oh, hell! She’d had enough ifs to last a lifetime. What she needed now was action!

  “Ready to implement the final phase of Operation
Wu?”

  Grinning, Luke slung her gear bag over her shoulder. “Let’s go get ’em.”

  When Dayna and her partner, Allison Kendall, joined Joan Ryson-Smith and Kim Li on the first tee, the Korean barely glanced their way.

  Nervous and skittish as a racehorse at the starting gate, the teen turned her back on the others and sliced her driver through the air in repeated practice swings. An eager fan edged too close once again and—once again—earned a sharp rebuke. The green-coated official who had the effrontery to suggest she move off the tee box to practice her swing received an icy glare. When her drive went into gorse to the right of the fairway, Kim Li let loose with a spate of angry Korean and stalked off without waiting for the others.

  “And this is just the first hole,” Allison murmured.

  “Should be a fun round,” Dayna agreed.

  Contrary to expectations, she and Allison soon discovered Kim Li’s nervous energy presaged an absolutely brilliant game. After the first bungled drive, the girl hit magnificent shot after shot and sank unbelievable putts. Almost, Dayna thought as they rounded the turn and started the back nine, as though Kim Li had decided to make her final appearance on the circuit as a North Korean golfer one to remember.

  The game would certainly stick in Dayna’s memory. Every nerve in her body snapping, she managed to hold her own on the links while keeping tabs on the gallery. She connected silently with Luke before every drive. She also recognized several of the undercover British operatives salted through the crowd, or thought she did.

  A signal from Hawk confirming the chopper the Wus had requested was in place almost made her whiff her approach shot on number twelve.

  Okay. All right. One Wu about to be accounted for. Maybe. Now, for the other two.

  Watching from the corner of her eye, Dayna saw Hawk and Jilly edge closer to Dr. Wu.

  They moved in on seventeen, then got lost with the doc amid the whooping, surging crowd when Kim Li sank a birdie putt on eighteen to win the round.

  Dayna’s pulse kicked up several notches. Hawk and Jilly were on the move with their target. Time to do the same with hers.

  Except Kim Li looked as though she was having a serious bout of cold feet. The girl stood stone-still on the eighteenth green, accepting the cheers of the crowd with none of her usual verve. Her expression wavered between bravado and apprehension. Dayna could almost smell fear emanating from her.

  Disguising her own mounting tension, she hurried across the green and extended her hand. “Congratulations, Kim Li. Fantastic game.”

  Damp sweat filmed the Korean’s palm. Her face had lost every trace of color. “I—I—”

  Whatever she was trying to say was lost when a TV crew stuck a camera in her face. A shudder rippled through her, but she pulled herself together and flashed one of her trademark victory grins.

  The interview took only a few moments.

  Dayna’s mind churned the whole while. Had the girl lost her nerve? Or had she and her father staged this whole scene, from start to finish? If so, what was the deal with the chopper? And where were Hawk and Jilly and Dr. Wu?

  The sudden, silent vibration against her wrist answered that. The pulsing lasted for ten seconds. Stopped. Began again. Stopped.

  Yes! They were in the car and on their way.

  Trailed at a discreet distance, she guessed grimly, by Wu’s watchdogs. They, too, had disappeared. They wouldn’t interfere, though, as long as the scientist played his assigned role of supposed defector.

  Craning her neck, Dayna spotted Luke making his way toward her. He stood at her side while Kim Li accepted the trophy and, in turn, presented a check for the funds raised during the tournament to a representative of the International Red Cross. The presentation complete, the girl searched the crowd.

  The crunch point was at hand. Was she, too, playing a role? Did she intend to accompany Dayna or retreat to her own country?

  As it had on the eighteenth green, her glance locked with Dayna’s. The message was unequivocal, if scared as hell.

  Dayna keyed her watch to relay a voice signal.

  “It’s showtime.”

  That was the cue for highly skilled MI-6 operatives to move into place. Two amiable Scots in tartan vests blocked the path of Kim Li’s burly trainer. A tall, svelte blonde waylaid her manager, begging for an interview with the golf star.

  Luke, Dayna and Kim Li bypassed the hordes of reporters waiting in the media center and ducked into a nondescript vehicle driven by a cheerful Brit.

  “Off we go, then.”

  With another vehicle in the lead and one behind, they maneuvered St. Andrews’ narrow streets. Disaster struck mere moments after Dayna had congratulated herself on a neat extraction.

  Chapter 16

  The first indication of trouble was the traffic jam the motorcade hit mere blocks from the golf course. The second was the sudden crackle from their vehicle’s radio. A disembodied female voice identified herself as field control and requested the driver pick up immediately.

  “Duggan here. What’s up, luv?”

  “We’ve got reports of a crowd forming quayside. A gathering of antiwar protestors, complete with ban-the-bomb signs and banners.”

  “The Dumfries Gazette group?”

  “That’s our initial reading.”

  “Ach, they’re harmless.”

  “Harmless, but noisy. They’re attracting quite a crowd.”

  They were also holding up traffic. Seated beside Kim Li in the backseat, Dayna gave no indication that her nerves were crawling. When their lead vehicle slowed to a near stop, however, she had to notify Hawk. Kim Li watched, white-faced and scared, while Dayna signaled her partner.

  “This is Rogue. We’ve hit traffic. There’s a demonstration down by the river.”

  “We saw the crowd forming when we crossed the bridge.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Just approaching RAF Leuchars. Keep me posted on your progress.”

  “Roger.”

  Kim Li’s frightened eyes and trembling hands begged for reassurance.

  “We’ll get you to the base,” Dayna told her calmly.

  One way or another.

  The traffic tangle grew to a snarl. Their vehicle inched forward for another few minutes, then came to a dead stop along with those ahead and behind. Windows opened for impatient drivers to stick their heads out and crane to see the obstacle. Horns honked. The blare of a loudspeaker sounded above the din, amplifying a strident female voice.

  “Do ye want this plasma separator in yer backyard?”

  “Sounds like our friend, Ms. Brodie,” Luke said. “Alan Parks did his work well last night.”

  Too well, Dayna thought as Eileen Brodie worked the crowd.

  “Do ye care if yer government has lied to ye? Again!”

  A rumble of Nos filled the air.

  “We’ll tramp the hills until we find this storage facility,” she shouted into the mike. “Are ye with us?”

  Ayes boomed across the car roofs.

  “She’s gaining steam,” the driver commented.

  “And we’re going nowhere,” Dayna muttered, twisting around to check the rear window.

  “Rogue, this is Lightning. Come in, please.”

  She fumbled for her watch. “Go ahead.”

  “Pick up complete. Madam Wu is aboard the chopper and has just spoken to her husband.”

  Beside her, Kim Li gave a shriek of joy.

  “I have Ms. Wu on the net. She wants to talk to her daughter.”

  “She’s right here.”

  Static filled the air. While Luke and the driver divided their attention between the bridge just ahead and the logjam behind, Dayna extended her wrist.

  “Mama?”

  More static. Kim Li’s voice spiraled into a desperate cry.

  “Mama?”

  A spate of Korean shattered the gut-wrenching tension. Laughing, crying, almost incoherent with joy, Kim Li replied in kind.

  Before she�
�d finished, one of the MI-6 operatives in the chase car jumped out and sprinted forward. Wrenching open the passenger door, he gave them unwelcome news.

  “We’re picking up chatter on the radio.”

  Code for the bad guys knew something was up and were closing in. Dayna didn’t have to interpret for Kim Li or Luke. The operative’s tone said it all.

  “We’ve called for another car,” he informed them. “It’s waiting on the west side of the river. I suggest we cross the bridge on foot.”

  Luke was out of the car before the British operative finished. Kim Li scrambled out with Dayna.

  They almost made it.

  With the Brits as escort, Dayna, Luke and Kim Li plunged past the stalled vehicles and down the steep street leading to the bridge. Once there, they discovered access to it was completely blocked. Ms. Brodie and her band had begun their march. Signs bobbing, banners fluttering, they tramped by en masse.

  “We’ll have to go through them,” Dayna said, searching for a break in the phalanx.

  It came a moment later. She grabbed one of Kim Li’s arms, Luke the other. Together, they shoved a path through the protestors and burst onto the old stone bridge.

  The marchers had backed bridge traffic up, as well. Engines idled and growled. Exhaust fumes stunk up the air. Halfway across, Luke jerked to a halt.

  “Uh-oh. Looks like trouble.”

  The Brits weren’t the only ones with a vehicle on the west side of the river. The team trailing Dr. Wu to the base must have gotten word something was up.

  That became obvious when they spotted Kim Li. Pouring out of their car, the four Koreans shouted at her in their language as they raced for the bridge.

  Dayna could never say afterward who fired the shot. All she knew was that it created instant chaos. Women screamed, men shouted and a wild stampede ensued.

  “What we do?” Kim Li’s voice was shrill with terror.

  They had mere seconds to decide. The Koreans were forcing their way through the stalled vehicles dead ahead. The stampeding crowd battered at them from behind.

  Dayna had her weapon out but hesitated to fire for fear of hitting someone in the panicked mob. Luke and the two Brits faced a similar dilemma.