Code Name: Baby (2 page)

W
OLFE DIDN
'
T MIND
the tarantulas. Even the rattlesnakes left him with only minor discomfort.

It was the naked women, with their bloodred lips and leather masks, who really annoyed him. They studied him like tigers facing raw meat, then scraped their long nails across his chest.

He didn't move, wouldn't give them the pleasure of a response.

Which only made them dig harder. Tattooed skin brushed his arms. When their breasts teased his mouth, Wolfe Houston decided enough was enough.

He drove everything out of his mind—tarantulas, rattlesnakes and tattoos. With stronger focus, he picked up the slap of liquid against metal walls, the only sound in his darkened containment area. Here in the bowels of the building, there was no time and no light. In these insulated compartments, collectively called the pit, fiberglass walls sealed out noise, smell and external vibration.

A high-tech digital tomb.

After one day inside, most men lost their bearings. After three days, most men lost their minds. Only a few had the ability to endure the silent death of the containment unit.

Wolfe Houston was one of them.

He was well into the fifth day now, and his hallucinations were intense. Sensory deprivation amped up all his senses until he could have heard a fly walk across the ceiling near his head—if a fly could have breached the security of the pit. At the same time Wolfe was acutely aware of the other men floating in nearby units. Men from different backgrounds, each with different training and skills, over time had come to form one finely honed tactical team.

If the public knew their skills, they would have been called supermen—or monsters. Each of them had the power to read energy or transfer images into apparent reality with the sheer force of the mind. Most of them had never suspected their unusual skills before the government identified them through arduous testing. After long months of sweating and swearing and fighting together, they had become a silent, deadly team called out when everyone else—from Rangers to SEALs—had failed. They were tougher than tough, trained to deploy when the government's highest security was threatened, and so far they had never failed on a mission.

Wolfe wondered how long their record would remain unbroken.

He closed his eyes, rocking gently on the cool gel inside the hermetically sealed unit while ghostly tattoos writhed above him. As the images grew sharper, he slid into level-three hallucinations, feeling his psi ability shoot beyond all his previous limits.

The naked blonde trailed crimson nails toward his groin. Distantly, he felt his body respond and wondered if she was a hologram projection or whether she'd been pulled from the deeper recesses of his mind, stirred to life by the extended sensory deprivation.

Wolfe, are you there?

The silent question swam into his thoughts, sent by his second-in-command. Trace O'Halloran had guarded Wolfe's back more times than either man could count, and Wolfe had always repaid the favor.

Right next to you, O'Halloran.

One question. You got the same woman in there as the one that's crawling all over me? Platinum blond, probably five-seven?

What's she wearing?

Nothing but oil and tattoos, looking damned fine.

Wolfe felt the brush of naked thighs. So the blonde wasn't his own private fantasy. That meant she was one of the new training constructs, designed by Lloyd Ryker, the facility's civilian chief, to test mental focus and physical response. No doubt Ryker's sensors were picking up every detail of his team's heart rates and body temperatures right now. The man had made surveillance a high art form.

Sounds like you've got her pegged, Trace.

I'd like to do more than peg her, boss.

Not allowed.

Wolfe felt the energy of Trace's laughter.
Hell, I've never seen tattoos on a woman's nipples before. Wouldn't that hurt? I mean, think about getting tattoos on your—

You know the drill, Trace. Put all the details in your report—nipples and everything else. Don't leave anything out or they'll ram it down your throat in the follow-up evaluations.

I always thought sex was supposed to be private.

Wolfe grinned into the darkness.
Welcome to Foxfire, Lieutenant. In here your thoughts are noisy and sex is as public as it gets. Don't tell me you're complaining about having a knockout babe with her hands wrapped around your joystick while she test-drives your cruise control.

Complaining? Who, me?

Wolfe felt his thoughts blur. When his own illusory companion licked her way expertly toward his belt, desire sucker punched him hard. He knew there were no rules, no fouls, no time-outs when Ryker set up the game. Dark and twisted training scenarios were his specialty. Some people said they reflected Ryker's own fantasies.

Wolfe didn't have an opinion one way or the other.

Hell, boss, this one is too hot to handle. That mouth of hers is doing real damage.

Red lips closed with unerring skill. Wolfe felt his brain oozing out his ears. Closing his eyes, he slipped deeper into theta, blanking out the construct of the blonde with the velvet mouth.

You feel that, boss?

Wolfe picked up a faint vibration from outside the pit. The blond vision faded pixel by pixel as he shaped his concentration into a tight line and slammed it toward the distant intrusion.

I make it Sector Three, Trace.

That's just what I'm reading.

Alarms on Levels Four through Seven. Ryker's on his way down here right now.

Any idea why, Chief?

Not a clue.

Drifting in the darkness, Wolfe considered the images he'd just picked up. Training sessions down in the pit were never interrupted—not for any reason. To Wolfe's knowledge, three men had cracked during their training because of too-abrupt transition. If Ryker was headed downstairs to interrupt a psi immersion, all hell must have broken loose.

Since hell happened to be Foxfire's specialty, the team would be the first called out.

Wolfe assessed possible options and explanations. If the country was under attack, Foxfire would go active immediately—whether the team was in the pit or not. Ryker's movement indicated that was a real possibility.

In war you fought with whatever ammunition was at hand. Some ops called for ICBMs; some used remote surveillance drones. Foxfire used human energy as a tactical weapon in highly controlled scenarios, and the success rate of the secret seven-man team was unmatched anywhere in special operations.

Wolfe intended to keep it that way.
Trace, do you read me?

Loud and clear.

I need more data. Set up a level-two energy net while I follow Ryker.

Can do.

The silence rippled and grew heavier.

Done, Wolfe.

Ryker's almost here. Do we have a threat situation upstairs or is this an exterior attack, something large-scale?

I'm picking up fear—lots of it. There's something else, Chief. Hell if you're going to believe it.

Hit me.

It's Cruz.

Wolfe felt his hands clench.
Impossible.

It's Cruz, all right. I scanned up, down and sideways, and his energy signature is leaking everywhere I look.

Wolfe knew that Trace didn't make mistakes when he spread a focused energy net. Each member of Foxfire had a different specialty, and Trace's skill was to set energy nets and carry out controlled psi sweeps, with his mind rather than with his eyes.

Both men knew that Gabriel Cruz, the Navy SEAL who had paved the way for Foxfire, had snapped under pressure. But he couldn't be anywhere near the secret New Mexico facility. He had died over two years ago, killed when his cargo plane crashed somewhere north of Juneau.

Trace and Wolfe had stood point together at Cruz's military funeral. They had walked cold vigil as part of the honor guard that long night, and they had seen the casket lowered into the ground.

Negative, Trace. You were there beside me. Cruz is gone, so you must be reading something else up there.

The vibrations grew louder. Wolfe picked up the faint hammer of feet, along with the tense energy of shouted commands. Ryker was steaming about something, that was certain.

I'm dead right about this. Whatever's going on upstairs has Cruz's energy wrapped all over it.

Wolfe forced his body to relax, forced the anger and stabbing uncertainty from his mind.
Be sure, Trace. That's an order. Do you copy?

After a brief pause Wolfe felt an affirmative response. Then he sensed Trace's thought flow change. It drew up hard, like a wire snapped tight.
What?

Ryker's right outside. You don't think he'd be stupid enough to override the codes and burst in here, do you? Without time for psi terminus and transition, we'll be fried. The last poor SOB they did that to….

O'Halloran didn't finish. Both men had seen the mass of nerves and self-inflicted wounds carried screaming out of the pit after an immersion was cut short without warning.

No way.
Wolfe managed to project total confidence.
Ryker knows the rules. He wrote most of them. It's too damned risky.

He had barely finished the thought when boots hammered above his head. Automatic weapon fire punched through the silence, and Wolfe realized that he'd been dangerously wrong.

Brace for containment breach, Trace. Open a net and send the order down the line immediately.
Wolfe snapped out the command, determined to protect his unit. Ryker was going to get his ass chewed royally once this incident was over.

The containment unit shook, tilting sharply.

Trace, are you psi shielded? Do it now, because they're coming in!

Metal grated on metal.

Light cut through the darkness. Instantly, Wolfe was slammed headfirst into an angry wall of pain.

Lost Mesa

Northeast of Taos, New Mexico

One week later

 

K
IT
O'H
ALLORAN STARED
at the canine teeth inches from her throat. A low, throaty growl shocked her out of a lazy sunset swim in the warm waters off Belize.

Blast it.

Just
once
she'd like to finish a fantasy….

The growl stretched into rising notes and ended with a bark loud enough to snap the deepest concentration.

Kit pushed up onto one elbow and stared at the sixty-pound black Labrador puppy pressed against the sofa. “Drop, Baby.”

The next growl ended in a whine. The Lab dropped and went completely motionless.

So much for Kit's nap. The dogs weren't used to her taking a rest after the predawn chores were finished, and Baby, her smallest Lab, was especially relentless when it was time to play. And it was playtime
right now.

Because they were smart and very determined, her puppies usually had the last word.

“Good girl. Good, sweet girl.” Kit reached to the floor for her treat bag and held out a pea-size liver snack, Baby's favorite. “What's all the fuss? Are you ready to practice?”

Baby downed the treat and turned her head toward the door, too well trained to rise from her down position until Kit gave the freeing command.

“Outside?” Kit fought a yawn. “You want to go outside and work?”

Baby's keen chocolate eyes narrowed intently. As she had before, Kit had the singular sense of being probed, measured, almost trained.

Which was beyond funny, considering that she had eleven years of experience training service dogs for law-enforcement and military units. Never before had she felt one of the hundreds of dogs try to train
her.

Fighting another yawn, she ran a hand down the Lab's lustrous coat, pleased to feel its thickness. The feed mix she had developed seemed to be a success.

Kit wondered what new kind of chaos awaited her downstairs. With four puppies currently in training as military service dogs, upheaval was the norm, not that she minded. In her experience, dogs gave far more than they took.

“Up,” she said firmly. Instantly, Baby shot from the bed, twisted at the doorway in a blur of fur and skidding feet, then looked back. Kit could have sworn there was a silent command in those clever brown eyes.

Hurry up.

Of all the dogs she had trained, these were definitely the smartest and strongest. The breeder who had placed the litter with Kit had told her their parents were extraordinary, and from the very beginning, Baby and her littermates had run harder, jumped higher, learned faster. They were also larger than the average Lab puppy.

Kit ran a hand through her tangled hair. The dogs would run her ragged if she let them. Labs were notoriously exuberant and playful, just as they were focused and intelligent. Already Baby had the energy of a fully-grown dog. It was no wonder Kit usually felt exhausted at the end of the day.

She knew she invested too much of herself in each training group. She also knew that letting go was a necessary fact of life in her work.

On a good day, she could accept that.

Still seated near the door, Baby looked back, her voice rising from snarl to soft whine, like conversation in some unrecognized language.

“Okay, okay. Just don't expect me to make sense until I grab my sweater and tank up on coffee.”

Baby nosed under the big chest and appeared with Kit's oldest blue sweater dangling from her head. Laughing, Kit tugged the hooded cardigan over a white cotton T-shirt that had seen better days.

Not that her underwear mattered.

She lived forty miles from the nearest town. Since her closest neighbor was eighty-two and lived on the far side of a six thousand foot mountain, she didn't receive many spontaneous visitors. Whatever she wore made no difference to anyone but her—and that was exactly the way Kit liked it.

Stretching her arms over her head, she watched sunlight flood through the big bay windows. Judging by the sky, it was a little after six. She had brought the dogs in from their kennel and checked some medical references on her computer while they ate. Her nap had lasted all of twenty minutes, and now it was time for training.

“Stay,” Kit said firmly. Baby didn't move, her big velvet eyes shimmering with intelligence.

Since the stay command was one of the hardest things for a puppy to master, Kit was delighted. “Good dog. Good Baby.” She pulled an old leather glove from the pocket of her sweater, making a low hiss, and Baby's ears rose sharply at this cue to pay attention.

“Come,” Kit ordered, holding out the glove.

In three excited strides Baby crossed the room, sniffing the leather with a back-and-forth motion of her head.

“Find,” Kit ordered.

Like a shot, the puppy put her nose to the floor and raced down the stairs, skidded at the front door and started sniffing.

Kit checked her wristwatch.

Four seconds later she heard Baby bark once from the back of the laundry room, where Kit had buried the glove's mate under a wicker basket and a pile of dirty laundry.

Find complete.

“Good dog.” Jotting a note in her spiral pad, Kit headed downstairs, where Baby was waiting. Baby's head pointed straight to the spot in the laundry basket where Kit had hidden the matching glove.

The puppy had just shaved three seconds off her most recent record.

“Good, good girl.” Another pea-sized treat appeared from Kit's bag. Baby nuzzled the reward delicately off Kit's wrist and swallowed it.

Abruptly the dog's ears pricked forward. Looking up at Kit, she gave a low series of snarls.

“What? What's wrong, Baby?”

The dog shot around in a blur, out the dog door and across the courtyard. Kit made a stop at the locked gun cabinet in the hall, then raced after her. Near the side door, she heard low male voices drifting across the outer wall of the compound.

This time there were two of them.

Baby hadn't barked, so the intruders wouldn't yet realize they'd been discovered. When Kit cracked the patio door silently, she could make out low whispers.

“I told you this whole idea sucked, Emmett. If she had the box, she wouldn't leave it all the way out here. Hell, she probably sleeps with the thing under her bed. She's crazy like the rest of her family.”

Kit inched up beside Baby. “Stay,” she whispered. “Stay, Baby.”

The dog's position didn't waver, though her eyes glinted with wary energy.

Kit swung open the gate and leveled her father's old Smith & Wesson revolver at two men in dusty jeans peering down the well beneath a huge mesquite tree.

Fear prickled at the back of Kit's neck. The speaker was a big, sullen man she'd seen hauling feed at the local tack store or drinking from a brown paper bag outside several different bars.

“You're trespassing here, gentlemen.”

The smaller man spun around with a surprised curse. “You said she was in town, Emmett. Why'd you lie to me?”

“Because you're too damned stupid to know better.” The man named Emmett stood up slowly, his gaze locked on Kit. “Tell us where it's hidden. We'll just keep coming back until you do.”

There was no point in asking what they meant. This man was just like the others, hoping to find the famous treasure supposedly hidden somewhere on the ranch.

Except there
was
no treasure.

Kit's hands tightened on the grip of the revolver. It had been her father's gun, and he'd taught her how to handle it safely and well. “There's no treasure here, fellas. You think I'd be driving a ten-year old Jeep with no air and bad brakes if I was sitting on a fortune? With that kind of cash, I'd be living the high life down in Santa Fe.”

Emmett appeared to think this over for a long time before spitting on the ground beside the well. “I figure that's exactly what lie you'd tell us, but we both know there's Apache treasure hid somewhere in this damned well. Bones Whittaker saw it with his own eyes. That old Injun gave it to your father.”

Kit kept her expression calm despite the anger burning in her throat. “Bones was seventy years old and a drunk to boot. Why believe him?”

“Because he saw it,” Emmett said tightly. “So did his best friend and they was sober when they told my uncle. No way they'd lie about that gold your father got out on the mesa.”

“Bones Whittaker was drunk and sick,” Kit said flatly. “He wanted to be important so he made up the whole thing, right down to the story of the box he supposedly saw my father lower into the well. He even admitted it to my mother when he came up here a week before he died.”

“Your ma told you that, did she?” Emmett's eyes narrowed. “Well, I guess she would. Best way to quiet things down and keep your nice nest egg hid. But that's mesa gold, and it belongs to anyone that finds it. That's exactly what I'm fixing to do.”

Kit took an angry breath. The rumors of buried treasure had begun when she was a girl, fed by the tales of an old, lonely man desperate to feel important before he died. When her parents had come into extra money after the death of Kit's maiden aunt, they'd bought a badly needed truck and built an addition to the kennels, adding fuel to the flames of local suspicion. Unfortunately, more than a few people still believed Bones Whittaker's crazy story.

When Kit's brother was at home, no one came sniffing around, but Trace had been gone for over a year now, and this was the second set of trespassers in the last month.

Kit felt a sharp tension at her neck. She glanced up and saw something move up on the ridge. A coyote?

Emmett continued to watch her, frowning when Baby barked inside the courtyard. “That your dog?”

“Yes, it is. And she—”

A callused hand shot around her shoulders from behind. “Got her, Emmett. What do we do now?”

A third man. She should have realized Emmett had an ace in the hole.

Kit dropped her revolver into the pocket of her baggy sweatpants, out of sight. Unable to break free, she pivoted and drove her boot heel down against her captor's instep.

She fought to stay calm, to wait for her moment.

A second arm locked at her waist.

She caught the smell of aftershave and old sweat as she tried to jam her elbow into his solar plexus, but he was fast, constantly twisting out of range.

“Get her gun.” Emmett's voice was strained. “Damn it, Harry, do I have to do everything?”

Her captor slammed her forward and pinned her against the courtyard wall, driving her cheek into the rough stucco.

She blinked back tears, refusing to show weakness or pain to these lowlifes. “My brother will kill you for this.”

“But your brother's not here, is he? Maybe he won't be coming back.”

Kit kicked viciously, felt her boot strike bone.

“Ben, where's her gun? You see her drop it?”

“I don't see no gun here, Emmett.”

Low growling drifted over the wall. “It's those dogs of hers again.” Ben sounded frightened. “You said they wouldn't be here, Emmett.”

A mass of dark fur and angry feet shot over the courtyard wall. Missiling down, Baby struck Emmett's shoulders. Moments later two other furry shapes crossed the wall. One rammed the back of Ben's legs, knocking him to the ground, and the third landed in front of Kit, teeth bared and menacing.

Then she was free, her revolver trained on the intruders who were circled by her snarling seventy-pound puppies. The dogs had waited for their moment to strike, working together.

“Get moving, you three. And spread the word that the next man who comes up here will be dodging my bullets.” She sighted down the length of her revolver, glaring at Emmett, who was clearly the instigator of this harebrained operation. “But first take off your shoes. Do it now. All of you.”

Three sets of eyes measured Kit, then cut back to the snarling dogs.

“Do what she says, Emmett. Never knew a woman could handle a gun worth shit. She'll kill all of us in a second.” Ben pulled off his boots and tossed them to the ground. “Can I go now?”

Kit waved her hand and the man immediately took off over the dirt. “What are you waiting for?” she snapped at the other two.

“Dogs don't scare me.” Emmett crossed his beefy arms. “Especially puppies.”

Baby bared her teeth while Butch and Sundance, Kit's other dogs, moved into a tight line next to Baby, the three ranged together as one unit.

Kit stared coldly at Emmett. “They could break your arm in a few seconds. Probably chew up your face pretty bad, too.”