Cherry Adair - T-flac 03 (36 page)

"And they all live near you in Sacramento?"

"Most of them, thank goodness. They're easier to corral that way. My mom's lived in Los Angeles for the last ten or so years. She's an actress. I'm really proud of her. She's had several bit parts in made-for-TV movies, some commercials. Lauren gets her looks from Mom, who doesn't look old enough to have adult daughters."

"And who do you take after?"

She felt the brush of his hand on her hair. "I'm a hybrid, I guess."

"No contact with your father?"

"Nope. He has other interests."

"What could possibly be more interesting than two beautiful daughters?"

"He already had a wife and family when he and my mother had their affair. Lauren and I didn't have any
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

impact on his life one way or the other."

"That must hurt," Kyle said softly. "I can't imagine what it would be like not having my dad around."

"I didn't miss what I never had."

There was a pause before he said quietly, "Such a tough cookie."

Delanie smiled sleepily. "They call me the Rock." Of Gibraltar. Always there. Always on duty.

Twenty-four/seven/ three hundred sixty-five.

His shirt smelled of rain, damp under her cheek; she could feel the heat of his skin through it. "What will you do when you get back to Sacramento?"

"Find another job. I never went back after spring break. They've probably replaced me by now. Take care of Lauren."

"Realistically you must know that's not going to happen," he said against the top of her head. He sounded as weary as she felt.

"Why not?"

"Look, this conversation can wait until we find—"

"Why not?"

He hesitated, "If she's alive, and if she's still up here—two big
ifs
—chances are she's already addicted to whatever Isabella forced on her. You're not the right person to help an addict. No matter how much you want to."

He pulled her farther up his chest, his arm tightening around her back. The night closed in around them.

Rain started again, thudding intermittently on the canvas overhead.

Delanie tried to relax.

"
Wherever
she is, we'll find her. My people have an incredibly good clinic where she'll be well taken care of, whatever her needs are when we find her."

"She's not dead."

"If she's got half your tenacity, I'd bet the ranch she isn't."

His mouth brushed across her hair, but his hold on her felt impersonal for all that they were practically on top of each other.

To her disgust she realized she was crying. It wasn't even a satisfying cry, she was just too tired to hold back the waves of emotion that had been building since she discovered Lauren's disappearance. The tears leaked from beneath her lashes, saturating his shirt and chest in a steady flow.

"It kills you that you can't fix this, doesn't it?"

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Of course I—"

"You need her that much?"

"Lauren will need me, and I'll be there. Just like I've always been there for her."

She felt his hand against her hair. "And I'll be there for you, jungle girl."

"I told you. I don't need anyone."

"Don't you?" His thumb brushed her mouth in a caress. "How many guys have you slept with in the past four years?"

"None of your business."

"That's where you're wrong," he said softly. "How many?"

"None," she admitted. "So what? I have a low sex drive."

Kyle threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Her cheeks flamed and she would have socked him if she'd had the energy. "It's not necessary to talk about this."

"Yeah it is. I think the reason you jumped into bed with me so quickly when we first met was because you
did
need someone. Desperately."

His finger pressed gently over her mouth when she started to protest. "Get some sleep, it'll be time to get up before you know it. I'll wake you when the others arrive."

She closed her eyes, too tired to protest. Just as she toppled over the edge of sleep she thought she heard him whisper, "What the hell am I going to do with you, jungle girl?"

«^»

The call of nature could be a real pain, Delanie decided, pulling up her pants quickly. Kyle had tried insisting he go with her. Lord, he'd seen everything there was of her to see, but she drew the line at him standing guard while she peed. His presence wouldn't have prevented the something that had bitten her bottom.

She scratched the welt as she walked, being careful where she stepped. The ground was squishy, the foliage leaked water overhead, and her pants were already wet up to her knees from the undergrowth.

She'd never realized how homesick she'd be for her own utilitarian white-tile bathroom and a light switch.

It was darker than pitch. The flashlight only illuminated about four feet in front of her, and she could feel things watching her as she passed. "Seven, eight," she mumbled under her breath, counting off the bits of white bandage she'd industriously tied to branches to find her way back.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Nine. Ten." The beam strafed a plate-size acid yellow orchid, which she pushed out of her way without admiring its beauty. She wasn't going to miss the rain forest one bit. The flowers were pretty, but the next time she saw an orchid she wanted it to be in a vase.

Darn. She could have sworn she hadn't gone that far—What was that? Pausing, she clicked off the flashlight. A twig snapping? A branch broken? She knew the birds were silent because she'd passed beneath their perches, but was there someone else out here? One of Montero's men? She froze in place, tilting her head to get a better look through the leaves. It was too dark to see
anything
. A residue puddle of rainwater tilted the leaf it was on, splashing her arm as she stood dead still, straining to see.

A frond moved off to the left. Suddenly an arm came around her throat, pulling her off balance and scaring the crap out of her. Her body was drawn against a hard male form. Not Kyle, she knew immediately. Whoever he was, he was bulkier.

"Let go, you son of a bitch!"

Delanie elbowed him in the stomach. He grunted, but held fast.

She let her body go limp for a second. His arm dropped. Springing away from him, she found her balance on the loamy earth and swung her leg in a high arc, aiming for his chin. She drew in a sharp hiss at the agony the movement caused her ankle.

With incredible speed the man grabbed her ankle as her foot came within inches of his temple. He barely glanced at her as he held her leg above her head for a moment and then tipped her slightly so that she fell on her bottom with an ignominious yelp.

God, he was quick. Before she knew it, he hauled her to her feet and imprisoned her against his chest, his forearm around her throat, an unforgiving arm around her waist. Her nails dug into his muscular forearm as he carried her wriggling into camp.

Kyle, standing in a dim circle of light made by a small kerosene lamp, greeted them with the business end of an Uzi.

The arm across her windpipe loosened somewhat. Delanie took the opportunity to kick back, eliciting a grunt and a muffled laugh. "Yours?" The amused tone behind her was gruff.

"Hiya, bro. Yeah." Kyle's eyes held an answering glint of humor as he dropped the weapon to his side.

"Mine." He reached out to snag her arm, drawing her to stand beside him.

Instead of moving away from his proprietary hold on her, Delanie shifted closer, keeping her eyes on the other man. She subtly wiped the perspiration off her face against her shoulder. The burn throbbed painfully. She gritted her teeth and ignored it, focusing on the two men instead.

Good Lord, a Kyle clone. Not quite. This one was more muscular, and he looked a little more civilized than Kyle, not that that was saying much. His dark hair was cut military short; he wore fatigues, heavy boots, and a big grin.

"Shoot him," she told Kyle pithily, rubbing a hand over the seat of her pants, which were now soaking wet from her fall.

"Nah." Kyle grinned. "He's a good guy."

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" She reluctantly moved away, then bent to pour herself a cup of coffee.

Freshly shaven, and with that buzz cut and spotless fatigues, Kyle's brother made Delanie feel like a bag lady who'd just emerged from her home in a Dumpster.

"Ah, hell." Michael groaned catching the look that passed between them. "You're sleeping with her."

Delanie almost choked on a sip of coffee. "I
beg
your pardon!"

"She's San Francisco," Kyle said flatly.

"Is she now?" his brother asked, glancing from one to the other with deceptively lazy eyes. "Serious?"

"Death and taxes."

"Rules?"

"Bangkok," Kyle said dryly, and both men laughed.

Michael glanced back at camp. "Where's the other one?"

"Haven't found her yet. Delanie, my brother Michael. Delanie Eastman."

"You two must have attended the same charm school," she said sweetly, coming up beside Kyle with a steaming mug of coffee in her hand.

Kyle took the cup from her, drank, then passed it back. "Others close behind?" he asked his brother as he laid a possessive hand on her nape under her hair.

"Right behind." Michael withdrew a mug from the small pack he carried and moved over to the burner and the coffeepot. "Want a cup, Tin Man?" he asked without turning as another man emerged through the gloom.

Lord
, Delanie thought as the man stepped into the light,
another big one
.

"Thanks," the new guy said quietly, looking strangely relieved to see Kyle.

"Hey, man. What're
you
doing here? I thought you were involved in training up in the Sierras these days."

Clearly surprised to see him, Kyle clasped the second guy on his broad shoulder and squeezed.

"Are you kidding?" Tin Man—
Tin Man
?—grinned. "Marnie insisted I be here for the curtain call. She was getting worried. Besides, you have a fairy princess waiting back home to meet you. Your new niece has to be seen to be believed. We wanted to be sure you got back in one piece."

"Nice to know everyone has so much confidence in my abilities," Kyle said dryly. "Delanie," he drew her into the group to introduce her, keeping his arm around her shoulders. "Jake Dolan. Friend, brother-in-law. Delanie Eastman." No qualification this time.

"Hey." His brother-in-law acknowledged the introduction without looking at her. "Doc, our confidence in you is rock solid. It's the other teams we're not so sure about."

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Several men entered the clearing, drifting in like shadows to stand just out of the feeble glow of the lantern. In camouflage and with their faces painted, they were almost invisible, their movements stealthy and sure as they moved about with purpose.

Delanie moved to the tarp on the far side of the clearing and sat down, watching the men as they gathered and silently separated into groups, checked equipment and weapons, and conversed in the kind of shorthand Kyle and Michael had used earlier, only this time, in deadly earnest.

Over the next hour a dozen more men slipped into camp. They moved about silently, using hand gestures as a form of shorthand.

Eyes burning with fatigue, Delanie dozed. It was only when the men started stripping off that she focused on what was happening around her. Holy Hannah. She'd never see so many naked, buffed men in her entire life.

Kyle came over and hunkered down beside her. His mouth twitched with amusement. "Close your mouth, jungle girl. They're off limits."

They also didn't care that there was a woman in their midst as they quickly drew strange, skintight black bodysuits over their naked bodies and started strapping on an arsenal of weapons. A shudder traveled up Delanie's spine.

"It's show time. I have to go ahead," Kyle told her. "These two will lead you back to the bomb shelter and stay with you." A couple of guys, a Mutt and Jeff team of tall and short, floated out of the darkness.

"Lynx, Savage, take good care of her."

They both wore black paint on their faces, which obscured their features, and formfitting headgear as part of the rubber suits. Only their eyes reflected what little light the lantern cast. Lynx was the big silent one who mock-saluted Kyle.

The little Savage gave Delanie a rude up-and-down glance. "If she hadn't screwed up in San Cristobal, we wouldn't have to play bloody baby-sitter."

Delanie's eyebrows shot up at the sound of a husky, feminine voice. "You're a woman!"

Narrow shoulders stiffened under the tight black suit. "And your point is?"

"If you can't handle the assignment, Savage," Kyle said coolly, "say so."

"I can handle it just fine," the woman said coldly, keeping narrowed eyes on Delanie. "But it would be easier to get rid of her here. I'll do it."

"You and Lynx will take her to the appointed drop-off and hand her safely off to the men stationed there. Then you can take your designated places," Kyle told her flatly. "Is that clear?"

"As a bell. Come on, Lynx." She gave Delanie a you-are-such-a-pain-in-the-ass look. "We'll be over there, ready to change your nappy before we go." She stomped off across the camp, her partner in tow.

"She's charming," Delanie said, watching the woman's narrow back disappear into the darkness.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I've seen Savage kill a man with her bare hands. She'll get you to the shelter safely," Kyle told her, wrapping her in his arms. "Stay put until either Michael or myself come for you."

His breath smelled of coffee, dark and rich. Delanie closed her eyes and felt the brush of his hair against her face and the warmth of his fingers curve against her cheek. "And don't try anything heroic, okay?"