Dream Shadow (32 page)

“Excessive conversation is a distraction.”

“Shutting the entire world out isn’t healthy either.”

A slow grin worked its way across her lips. “I know a few officers who would disagree with you. Besides, men don’t like women to talk.”

“Grace, Rangers don’t talk about women. They talk about…”

“The most effective method of getting laid without forming a commitment,” she said without hesitation.

“I didn’t bring you in here to get laid. I want to make love, and believe me there is a very big difference.”

Somewhere between them lay a companionship that she still found baffling. Reaching for her hairpins, she pulled them out of her hair.

“Show me.”

Another sunset, and it had been a beautiful one. Beth sat on a bench, watching as the first stars began to fill the darkened sky. They were dim compared to what she was used to. Here on base there was just too much artificial light.

“Ms. Stewart?”

Beth stood up to follow her escort. She had been out here a long time, but it wasn’t like she had anything better to do. The escort returned her to the secured wing that she was staying in.

Once back inside the building, her security bracelet was checked back into the main system. Beth had the freedom of the building. That wasn’t exactly saying much. At the moment, she was the only person here. Along with guards at every exit and even a few that simply patrolled the premises. Oh, yes. It had been explained to her that it was for her protection. Every effort was made to make her comfortable, but a cage was still a cage.

Beth settled down in one of the common areas and tried to read. She just wished someone would call her and tell her what was going on.

Not someone, Jacobs.

Beth was really trying to be patient, but she was so worried about Grace. Lord, she hoped that her friend wasn’t still out in the woods with that madman. The other alternative was so upsetting that Beth avoided thinking about it at all. She tried to take hope in the fact that she hadn’t heard from Jacobs, which meant that he was busy with Grace.

Right?

She hoped so anyway.

She wasn’t completely in the dark. Beth understood the seriousness of her position. She smiled slightly. Well, if General Slynn had failed to impress it upon her, her father certainly had. The only phone call that she had been allowed was with her father. Her father had been kind but firm. She had better not disgrace the family name by being difficult. Then he had turned into a father and demanded to know why he hadn’t met this young man. Half the county knew about it before he did.

Her father wanted to meet Jacobs? Well, she’d like to see the man herself. The last memory she had of him was when he’d slapped her to get her attention. The next time she’d woken up she had been here.

The only thing of note that she had done had been to pull Turvel out of a line-up. It had given her immense satisfaction to point her finger at the man. The general had kept asking her if she was certain. Beth had finally informed the general that when someone gave the order to have you shot, you tended to remember the face. She did in fact understand what it meant to finger the man. She may not be in the military, but she had been raised on a base and completely understood what the word
treason
meant.

General Slynn had finally nodded. Beth had been behind a one-way window for the line-up. She’d picked the man out of three different line-ups. There had been four in all, but Turvel had been excluded from the third one to see if she would finger someone else. Beth hadn’t. She knew who her man was. They could change his clothes, but she knew his face and would, without fail, remember it for the rest of her life.

Realizing that she had been reading the same page for the last half hour, Beth closed the book. Tonight she was just too restless. Beth walked around the common area for a time. It wasn’t very big. It consisted of a couple of sofas and a television. There was one corridor that led to her sleeping quarters and the opposite direction led to the kitchen. That was it. The only windows were immediately next to the doors. There were four entrances to the building. Beth wasn’t allowed within twenty feet of them.

Beth turned her wrist up and examined the silver bracelet that was currently strapped to it. It had a red digital screen that stared back at her. The device was used to track her and had an alarm that activated if she got within ten feet of any of the doors. This facility was just one step away from lock-up, both criminals and witnesses alike were held here. Anyone who didn’t quite rate the stark conditions of a cell was placed here. Beth supposed she should be grateful that this base had a facility like this one. Many Army bases didn’t. She didn’t really want to contemplate just where she would be laying her head in that event.

“Ms. Stewart?” Beth turned to find a fresh-faced young man looking at her.

“Yes?”

“Please come with me.”

Beth straightened her shoulders. It wasn’t like she had a whole lot else to do. The man was leading her back toward the main entrance of the building. Maybe her dad had called. Beth would welcome a friendly voice tonight. Beth wasn’t led to one of the telephones, instead there were four security personnel waiting at the front desk. Beth noticed that her jacket and duffel bag were already being held by one of the men.

The silver bracelet was removed from her arm by one of the security personnel. Beth barely had time to note its absence before another of the security personnel fastened a different one onto her wrist. As soon as the soldier finished, her coat was held out for her and she left the building with her escort. It looked like it was moving day. Not that anyone seemed to think she needed to know anything.

The door of a plain, gray-colored sedan was opened for her. Beth slid into the back seat. She had wanted something to do. It looked like she had gotten her wish. Even looking out the window of the car as it pulled away from the curb was something more interesting than what she had been doing. They seemed to be on their way to the opposite side of the base. Beth took in the equipment and aircraft as they passed.

The car made a stop and all the windows rolled down. The car was completely inspected and identification checked before it was allowed through a heavily guarded gate. Beth looked around with increased curiosity. This was a high-security area, extremely off-limits to civilians like herself. In fact, it was off-limits to three-quarters of the Army. Beth had been to similar places with her father a few times. There was less to see here because most of it was stored in hangars out of sight from the air.

The car passed through another gate before it came to a stop. Beth stepped out when the door was opened for her. They were on a huge landing pad designed for helicopters. There were in fact a number of them around. Several different models and colors. Beth was handed over to two Rangers. One of them took her bag before he started to lead her through the maze of machinery. They passed through another gate and Beth found herself looking at some of the meanest-looking machines that she had ever seen. Even her dad had never shown her this kind of stuff. There were four black helicopters directly in front of her. They were ultra-modern and coal-black. They just looked deadly.

Her escort halted. Beth watched as one of the Rangers left to make his way over to a group of men that stood between the machines. They were all clothed in black flight suits. When the Ranger got their attention, every single one of them turned around to pin their gazes on her. Beth felt like she had just been dropped into a den of wild wolves. They all moved forward in a pack. Beth held her ground only by sheer force of will. She had no idea what she had done to gain this group’s attention, but she reminded herself to never do it again.

Beth straightened her back and fought the urge to squirm. The entire group stopped just steps from her and boldly assessed her. Beth began to wonder if she shouldn’t turn around to make sure they didn’t miss anything. A second later, every last one of them snapped to attention including salutes. Beth turned around to see what had caused that reaction. Maybe it was General Slynn.

General Slynn was in his early sixties. The two men walking across the black top were definitely not in the same age group. Even in a black flight suit and mirrored glasses, Beth recognized the men.

Jacobs lifted his hand to return his men’s salutes.

He slowly pulled his glasses off and placed them in the front pocket of his flight suit. He reached for her arm next and pulled it out straight. Beth watched as Jacobs took a slim black control box of some kind and placed it next to the unit that was strapped to her wrist. A couple of high-pitched chirps issued from both units before he released her arm.

“Sorry, Ms. Stewart, general’s orders.”

She briefly considered arguing the point. Maybe she should save it for a battle that she had more chance of winning. Beth’s father was fond of instructing her to only charge in when she had a chance of getting her hands on the prize. The security bracelet had been on her arm when she had woken up here. Chances were it was staying right there until this whole thing was finished. At least she was out of that building.

Jacobs continued on to one of those black helicopters. Beth started to follow but then stopped. That was the best example of restricted hardware that she had ever seen. Beth had no intentions of getting close to it until she was told to do so. She was in this mess because she had seen too much. There was no need to stack the deck further against herself.

Pulling the passenger side door open, Jacobs was surprised to notice that Beth had not kept pace with him. He was too used to Grace knowing her way around the unit. Beth was standing almost exactly where he’d left her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was watching him with those blue eyes of hers.

“If you think I’m moving before being told to, you don’t know my daddy very well.”

Jacobs let a slow smile slide across his face. He did tend to forget that she was an Army brat. It was a very healthy attitude for his woman to have.

“Hope you like to fly.”

She relaxed and started walking toward the open door of the helicopter. Jacobs was wearing that lopsided grin of his. It made him much more approachable. Beth hesitated before she climbed into the aircraft. She needed to know about Grace. Jacobs’s face didn’t give her even a hint, but he clearly expected her to get into the aircraft without any information. A hard edge entered his eyes as her hesitation lengthened. Beth shook her head before she climbed into the seat. The door of the aircraft was firmly shut a second later. The interior of it was silent except for a slight electronic hum. Beth ran curious eyes over the various controls in the cockpit. The pilot’s door opened and Beth was delighted to see that Jacobs was climbing into that seat.

“Now,” Jacobs said as he pulled the door shut. He reached over to pull Beth out of her seat and into his lap. Capturing the side of her head in his palm, he firmly settled his mouth on top of hers.

Beth was a little shocked to find herself in his lap, but nothing mattered as he started to move his lips across hers. She just melted and wrapped her arms around his neck. This was the man that she had missed.

“This is going to be a long flight.” He growled, “Strap in.”

Beth pulled the shoulder harness on. The aircraft pulled off the pad. She listened as Jacobs spoke with the other craft in their group, but she just soaked up the rich tones of his voice. A hundred questions crowded her mind but she firmly kept them to herself. She had known that starting a relationship with this man meant uncertainty. Jason would talk to her when he could.

A large hand reached out to capture hers in a warm hold. Beth turned her head around and locked eyes with him. He gave her a smile. Beth felt herself returning it. He was happy to see her too.

“Flying bother you?”

Beth tilted her head a bit. They were flying smooth as a whisper. She surmised that he was keeping it slow and easy for her sake. In fact, he wasn’t even paying that much attention to controlling the aircraft. It was a bit annoying to discover that he thought she was so fainthearted. She was a little tougher than that.

“I’ll let you know when we start flying.”

Jacobs took in the expectant look on her face. So she didn’t care for the soft treatment. Desire snaked up his spine. He had forgotten the fact that Beth was all woman. She had been through a rough ride out there with Fredricks. Jacobs half expected her to be having difficulty dealing with it. He had purposely left her in a secure location this long to give her time to recover emotionally. It would appear that she was taking it all in stride.

Even the psychologist that had de-briefed Beth mentioned that she was very well adjusted. No complaints. Beth had asked very few questions. He could see the wheels turning inside her head. She had questions. For some reason she was keeping them to herself.

Beth wanted to see him fly?

“Hold on.”

Grace slowly moved her hand along Brice’s chest. They had been making love for hours. Yet she still delighted in touching the warm muscle that covered the man. Her fingers traveled up and among the soft hair on his skin. He wasn’t asleep. He wanted answers. Their rational thought processes may have been on different wavelengths, but their bodies were in perfect harmony.