They were in the middle of an empty field.
They lay there for a second. Kate rolled over stared up at the sky. It didn’t register. She was buzzing. Every muscle felt tense and wired. She felt as though she had been shot full of adrenaline. Kate propped herself up and turned to Archer.
He was laying next to her. He looked as flushed as she felt. They locked eyes and she felt herself pulled into those deep pools of calming green.
Then Archer grabbed her, cupping her face with his cuffed hands and pulled her on top of him. She didn’t resist. It happened too quickly. And there was a part of her that didn’t want to resist.
He kissed her. Their tongues swirled together in a release of unbridled passion. Kate moaned, feeling her body uncoil against him and melt into his embrace.
She pulled away abruptly.
They said nothing, just stared at each other. Both of them breathing heavily as they fought for control of their bodies. It was a battle that Kate feared she was going to lose.
She felt him stiffen beneath her.
She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up, kissing him even harder. Their mouths engaged in a duel of heated passion. He struggled against her, wanting to embrace her, but unable because of the cuffs. Instead his bound hands slipped beneath her T-shirt, desperate to touch to her.
Kate inhaled sharply at the cold metal touching her abdomen. It snapped her back to reality. She violently pushed him back to the ground. Then slapped him across the face for good measure.
“Don’t ever do that again,” she said and got to her feet, straightening her shirt and hair.
Archer held a hand to his stinging check. “You kissed me back.”
“That was mistake,” Kate said. “We’d just jumped out of an airplane. I wasn’t thinking clearly.
“And now you are, ten seconds later?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Her cheeks were still flushed red. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Kate turned her back to him, trying to catch her breath. She had too many feelings, too many desires, battling for control of her body and close to winning that battle was the urge to turn around and tear the clothes from Archer’s body. She looked to the sky again.
“Have you ever skydived before?”
“A couple of times,” she replied. “I haven’t done any solo dives yet.”
“I’m thinking you can probably get signed off on that now,” Archer said. His tone had a dry humor to it. Kate smiled. “Did Stevens make it?”
“Not unless he learned to fly,” she replied. Kate was starting to feel in control of her body again.
Archer looked to the sky. “Good. I won’t be shedding any tears. He’s had it in for me for a while now. I think it’s because he felt threatened by my good looks.”
Kate looked at him. She agreed. He was good looking. No, she couldn’t go back down that path again. Not now. She needed to stay focused. Other women, her mother specifically, might disagree, but a man would only distract Kate. Especially this one.
Kate took another deep breath. “Are they going to do anything to the passengers now that you’re gone?”
“Shouldn’t you have asked that before we jumped out of the plane?” Kate glared at him. “No, to answer your question. A dead body or two is acceptable, they’re not going to want the heat that comes with killing a plane full of passengers.”
“Good,” she picked a direction and started walking towards the nearest treeline.
“Where are you going?” Archer asked, not moving.
“We are going to Miami,” she said.
“Well, you don’t have your sidearm anymore,” said Archer. “And I did nearly get killed on your watch. Why should I go with you?”
Kate stopped and turned around. She pulled the handcuff key from her pocket. “Because I have this and because you didn’t die up there.”
“There are other ways to get out of handcuffs.”
“Any of them less conspicuous than using a key?”
Archer watched the dangling key for a second. “No.”
“Then I guess you are coming with me,” she turned and started walking again.
A moment later Archer followed.
“Where do you think we are?” he asked after several minutes of walking in silence
“Last time I spoke to the pilots we were flying over Tallahassee,” she said. “I figure we’re in the Orlando area.”
Archer checked the tree line. “I don’t see any mouse ears. Do you think we could stop at Disney? I don’t think they let the prisoners out on field trips in minimum security.”
“What a coincidence,” Kate said. “I don’t conduct field trips.”
“So are you going to take these off?” Archer asked her, shaking his handcuffs.
“Sure,” she said. “When we get to Miami.”
“Don’t you think these are special circumstances?”
“No.”
Archer sighed. “Don’t you think you’re being just a little hard on me?”
“No.”
“I did save your life back up there.”
“And I saved yours. So we’re even.”
He grabbed her arm. “Will you stop for a second?”
She looked at his hands on her arm. It felt good. She wondered what it would feel like to have his hands all over her body. “That’s battery on a law enforcement officer right there.”
He let go, but his hands lingered above her arm. “Well, we wouldn’t want to add to my sentence now, would we.”
She continued walking.
“I’m sorry about your partner,” Archer said after a moment. “He seemed like a nice guy,” then he added, after a moment’s thought, “For a cop.”
“He was. Let’s not talk about it.”
“It’s understandable if you’re upset,” Archer said. “He was your partner. Obviously you were close.”
“What part of ‘Let’s not talk about it’ did you not understand?”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Well, stop.”
“Fair enough,” he looked around at the trees. “Why are we walking?”
“Because we can’t fly.”
“No, I mean, don’t you have a radio or something?”
“I have a cellphone that’s up on the airplane because I didn’t think to grab my purse before we jumped to get away from the killer with the machine gun.”
“Ah,” was all Archer said. He ducked to avoid a low hanging branch. “Have you given any thought as to how they found me?”
“Yes I have,” she answered. They could make out the sounds of the highway as they drew closer.
“Have you come up with any answers?”
“Only bad ones.”
Chapter 7
The motel was a tiny horseshoe-shaped building with two levels and a pool in the middle. It was early evening when they checked in. The guy behind desk was short and greasy. He eyed Kate like a starving dog eyeing a piece of juicy meat.
Kate went to the payphone across the street to make her call.
“This had better be good,” the man on other end of the line growled. “I was in the middle of a meeting with the Secretary of Defense.”
“It’s Kate,” she said.
The voice on the other end turned to surprise. “Kaitlyn?” he swore up a blue streak. “Half the agency thought you were dead!”
Assistant Department Director Gregory Bullings was a gruff man not prone to emotional outbursts. Kate had no problem imagining him almost falling out of his chair.
“Yeah, well, don’t throw any celebrations just yet,” she said, watching the roadway. Traffic was light. “What were you told?”
“It was a terrorist highjacking,” Bullings said. “We’ve got two of them in custody.”
“It was not a highjacking,” Kate. “Bragan tried to take Archer out.”
“On the plane?”
“Yes.”
Bullings swore. �
��What happened?”
“Pretty much what you were told. Except, you’re missing two suspects. It was a four man team headed up by,” she checked her notes, “Richard ‘The Hammer’ Stevens. Does that name ring a bell?”
“A bell tower full of them,” he said. “Stevens is Bragan’s head assassin. In the last year alone the man’s responsible for killing at least three top level CEO’s that refused to work with Bragan. Saying no to him is essentially saying no to your life. Reportedly, Stevens also took out several undercover agents that had managed to infiltrate Bragan’s operation. He’s a cold-hearted bastard. He’s also the primary suspect in less than twenty unsolved murders across the nation.”
“You might want to start using the past tense in reference to the good Mr. Stevens,” Kate said. “I had to take his parachute and he didn’t bring a spare.”
“I see,” Bullings said after a minute. “Well, I can’t congratulate you, but I don’t think anyone is going to be shedding any tears.”
“Chief,” Kate began.
“Yeah, I know,” Bullings said. “We’ve got a leak.”
“That’s putting it mildly. These guys were pretty well armed,” she paused. “They killed Ray.”
“I know. The plane made an emergency landing in Tampa. We’ve got people on the way to collect his body.”
“And what about me?”
“Archer’s still alive?” he asked.
“Oh, he’s alive and well,” she replied, placing an unintentional emphasis on the word ‘well.’ Kate found herself thinking about the kiss again.
“Get him to Miami,” Bullings said. “It’s the safest place for him right now.”
“Are you sure about that? The mission’s obviously compromised.”
“Where else are we going to take him?” he asked. “Besides, you have a plane full of passengers who say that the two of you jumped out mid-flight and half of them can’t remember if you had a parachute. The assumption is that you’re dead which can only help you at this point. And even if they do think otherwise, there’s no way to tell where you landed. You should be fine.”
“And what about the leak?”
“I’ll take care of it. There’s only ten people that knew about this.”
“When can I expect some back-up?”
“When you get to Miami.”
“What?” Kate didn’t bother to disguise her shock and annoyance.
“You can’t tell me your location and I can’t send anyone to you until we know who the leak is,” Bullings said. “I’m sorry, Kate. But until you get to Miami, you’re on your own.”
Kate hung up, setting the receiver down with a heavy hand.
“Great,” she muttered. “I’m stuck with a man who I’m irresistibly attracted to and there’s no one around to make sure I don’t fall in love.”
_____
“It’s about time you’re back,” Archer said as Kate stepped into the motel room, her arms filled with three plastic bags and two drinks. “I’ve had to use the bathroom for the last forty minutes,” he was handcuffed to the headboard of the bed farthest from the door. He clicked the button on the remote and the TV went dark. “I thought you were just going to make a phone call?”
“I did,” she said, setting the bags on the other bed. She pulled out her keys and unlocked Archer from the bed and cuffed his hands back together.
“You can’t expect me to go to the bathroom like this,” he said, looking at his cuffed wrists. “It’s humiliating.”
“No, using the bathroom with the door open is humiliating,” said Kate. “Which is what you’re going to be doing. Think of it as practice for prison.”
“Right. Practice,” Archer turned and walked into the bathroom. His back was to Kate. She started to empty the food from one of the bags but got distracted by the sight of his bottom framed by his tight jeans. “That must have been some phone call. You were gone almost two hours,” he said over his shoulder.
Kate shook head, trying to clear her thoughts, and turned back to the food. “Here’s the deal. I’ll tell you what’s going on and you’re going to stop annoying me.”
He zipped up and flushed. “Just so we’re both on the same page, what’s your definition of ‘annoy’?,” he asked, stepping back out into the room. “It’s been my experience that women usually find my annoying nature charming.”
“You didn’t wash your hands,” said Kate, appalled.
“Are you serious?”
“You’re still my prisoner. You do whatever you want once you’re a guest of the State, till then, you’re staying hygienic while you’re with me.”
He went back and washed his hands.
“So there’s a leak,” she said when he came back.
“I could have told you that.”
“And we’re not getting any help.”
“Excuse me?”
“Until we know who ratted us out, the Assistant Director isn’t sending me any back-up,” Kate explained. “It’s a reasonable decision. Best case scenario, Bragan thinks we died when we jumped off the plane.”
“Worst case?”
“They think we’re alive. But they don’t know where we landed.”
Archer sat on his bed. He picked up his sandwich and stared at if for a second. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
Kate pulled a new gun from the third bag and set it on the bed next to her. “Neither do I.”
“One gun?” he asked.
“I have every intention of getting you to Miami,” she assured him.
He held up his cuffed hands. “Please. You have my word. Take these off.”
Kate looked at his hands and suddenly she ached to have those hands caress her body. They were strong hands, she knew. In their grip she would feel safe and secure.
Instead she said, “No,” and sat back against the head of her bed.
Archer watched her as she folded one leg under the other. He thought back to the kiss.
“It was a good kiss,” he said.
“And we’re definitely not talking about that,” Kate said as her pulse quickened.
“Why not?”
“Because it was inappropriate.”
“I’m a man. You’re a woman. Seems pretty appropriate to me.”
“I’m a cop, you’re a bad guy.”
“You don’t really know what kind of guy I am,” he replied.
“I know that if you’re in those cuffs you’re not the kind of guy I can be with.”
“So take the cuffs off.”
Kate’s heart skipped a beat as she considered doing just that.
“Funny,” was all she said. It was all she trusted herself to say.
“They say women love a man who can make them laugh,” Archer said. “The way to a woman’s heart is through laughter.”
“Somehow I don’t think it’s my heart that you’re after,” Kate said dryly.
“And if it was, would that be so wrong?” he asked.
“Yes, it would be.”
“Why?”
She looked at him. “You talk too much. I think know why Bragan wants to kill you.”
Archer frowned. “Bragan wants to kill me because I ratted him out. He has a skewed sense of honor and loyalty.”
Kate finished her sandwich. “And you don’t?”
“There’s loyalty to a point,” said Archer. “And Bragan crossed that point.”
“Do you make it a habit of crossing your friends when you decide their interests and yours don’t match up anymore? That doesn’t sound much different from what Bragan’s doing.”
“You’re painting this with some very broad strokes,” Archer said, starting to get frustrated.
“From where I’m sitting things look pretty black and white,” she said.
“My life is a little more complicated than black and white.”
“It’s not like you didn’t have a choice,” said Kate. “Nobody held a gun to your head and said you needed to turn to a life of crime.”
> “That may be, but there wasn’t anyone there lending me a helping hand,” he replied.
“Ah, so it’s blaming the world for your failures then.”
“Like I said, it’s not that black and white.”
“Fine. Whatever. You’re the one going to prison,” she said. “After this, I’m going back home, where I live a free and clear life.”
Archer got to his feet and stepped over to her bed. He towered over her as she sat there.
“You better sit back down, Archer,” she warned, despite the sudden thrill she felt at him standing over her like that.
“Is that all you see?” he asked, his voice softer now. “Just a bad guy?”
She swallowed, her throat gone dry. Being this close to him, it was intoxicating. His scent, she could smell it so clearly right then. She wanted him. “What else is there?”
“Maybe you should try looking past the surface,” he said.
“It’s not worth the effort,” and with great effort she turned her head forward to face the TV. “Turn it back on or give me the remote. I need to watch something stupid.”
He stood there for a second. Every instinct in him screamed to hold her down and kiss her again, to take her right there. His blood burned with arousal. It was a sensation like no other. With an effort, he turned and sat back on his bed.
Kate let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
It was going to be a long trip.
Chapter 8
Kate woke to sunlight burning through her closed eyelids.
“What time is it?” she mumbled, rubbing her face.
“Time for you to get up,” Archer said. “I have to go to the bathroom and shower. I smell like brownies.”
She rolled her head away from the window and opened one. Through her blurry, sleep-addled vision she could see Archer sitting on his bed, handcuffed to the headboard again. “Brownies?”
He pulled on his cuffs. “We need to do something about this arrangement.”
“You could stop drinking so much,” She sat up, rubbing her face again. They still wore their clothes from the previous day. She caught part of her reflection in the mirror and made a face. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest.
Outlawed Love Page 3
