Jungle Inferno (7 page)

“Take a long, hot bath when you get into the house,” he ordered, before giving her another of those drugging kisses.

She’d done just that, lying in the tub with the feel and taste of him still on her body.

He’d gone back to A&M to finish college, and while they’d emailed all the time, there hadn’t been another opportunity for them to be together. A situation that dogged him as much as it did her.

“We’ll keep in touch,” they’d told each other.

“I’ll always be here for you,” he’d told her.

“Me, too.”

“One of these days the time will be right and we’ll be together again.” They didn’t need a phone to send each other messages, only their minds. And some of his messages made her blush. Then right after graduation he’d left for basic training.

She was a junior at Texas Tech University and hot to graduate. To pursue her
career.

There’d always be time. Later.

But they’d never stopped their messages. For the four years after that, when she least expected it, his voice would echo in her head and he’d be there. It was better than Instant Messenger or a telephone, because they could be anyplace and still communicate.

Even when he was first deployed they’d managed to keep the thread in place. It was like an invisible pipeline, immutably intact.

Trying to hold on…

The words pierced her foggy brain like a knife.

Was she still dreaming? Faith sat bolt upright, shaking off the images that had danced through her mind. She had fallen asleep dreaming of Mark, then thinking about the night of her prom. So did she now just imagine his voice or was he sending her a message again?

You there?

There! She heard him!

The sound was sharp and his voice had a painful edge to it. The unexpected white-hot pain in her leg slammed her again, taking away her breath. She grabbed her leg, rubbing it and tried to still her pulse.
I’m here, Mark. Please tell me where you are.
Silence.

She shook off the heavy tentacles of the dream and forced her mind to focus.

Come to me, Mark. Answer me.

Can’t…

Mark? Can you tell me where you are? I know you’re in pain.
Her throat tightened
.

Please give me more.

Silence again. Her stomach knotted with fear and anxiety but she knew she had to block her emotions or she’d never get a message through.

Help!

The word was almost a scream and an intense feeling of pain racked her entire body.

I will. Oh, Mark. Help me find you.

But instead of hearing his voice a sense of menace swept over her, of unrestrained evil. Fear pressed down on her with a heavy weight.

The other telepath. The menace. Whoever he was, he knew Mark was reaching out to her. He was not only blocking her but sending her his own message. Malevolence and death. Suddenly she felt as if hands were squeezing her throat, choking her.

She leaped up, the chair crashing to the floor, sweat pouring from her in rivulets.

Her heart raced and she shook all over. Then, as suddenly as it came, it was all gone and she collapsed in a heap on the nearby armchair.

God. What horrible things were happening to Mark? She had to find out where he was. And quickly. Her inner senses were telling her loud and clear there wasn’t much time left.

Faith swallowed two aspirin and dragged herself off to bed. She finally managed to fall asleep but it was fitful and anxiety-ridden. She tossed and turned, now awake, now barely asleep. One minute she recaptured bits and piece of her dream about the prom.

She could almost feel Mark’s mouth on hers, his hands on her skin. The whisper of his breath against her mouth.

But then that awful scream would intrude and a red mist would hover over her, carrying evil and danger. Her mind would be invaded by such visions of horror they’d frighten her awake. A warning, she was sure but one she had to ignore if she were to find Mark.

When she finally pulled herself out of bed, her body ached as if she’d been pummeled and her head throbbed. She stumbled into the kitchen, brewed a pot of lotus tea and dialed Aunt Vivi’s number.

“I need help.” She failed to keep the trembling from her voice.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Vivi’s warmth reached out to her through the phone connection.

“I was afraid of this. Come right over. I’ll call Sarah and Emily to come at once.” Faith showered only enough to wake herself up, threw on jeans and a t-shirt and headed for Vivi’s. The women were waiting when she arrived.

“The stranger is assaulting your mind,” Vivi guessed.

Faith nodded. “Not with words but with…his presence.”

Vivi sighed. “We never taught you to build shields because we never thought you’d need them. The connection was only between you and Mark so it wasn’t a problem. But now, if other people can attack you…” She gave Faith a reassuring smile. “We’ll see what we can do.”

The session was energizing. Faith couldn’t believe how much better she felt when she finally left. During the process she’d visualized building a wall brick by brick to block out the intruder. At once she’d felt the pressure ease. And the energy that flowed from the other women had strengthened her determination. She would get this done.

She would.

“Oh Mark. I know Delta Force is your life, but I’m going to be part of it, too. We can make it work. I know we can.”

The thought popped into her head unbidden. Even when they’d had their long weekend together they’d never talked about the future, what might have been or what might be. The danger was what brought it all to a head, made her take an honest look at her feelings for him.

South America…terrorist camp…moving…

Faith swerved the car, jolted by Mark’s voice. Steadying herself, she pulled off onto the shoulder of the road.

Í hear you, Mark. I’m right here.

She waited but nothing else came through. The feeling of evil returned bringing the same pressure on her chest as the night before but she closed her eyes and brought up the image of the brick wall. The menace began to recede.

Mark?

Then Mark’s voice came through to her again.
Mission…all killed, except…

Except who? Someone besides you? Please tell me more.

But this time she was sure he was gone. The sense of his presence faded away.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Tia. “Hi. Just wondering if you’ve had a chance to pull anything together yet.”

Tia laughed. “This must be some book running around in your brain. Usually you give me at least twenty-four hours.”

“Yes, it is. I’m really anxious to get started on it.”

“Well, lucky for you I couldn’t sleep last night, so I’ve made serious inroads in what you asked for.”

“Great.” Excitement nipped at her. “Could you meet me at my house? I…had to run an errand but I’ll be home in about fifteen minutes.”

“Sure.” Tia chuckled. “What else would I do with my life?”

“You are a gem and a treasure,” Faith told her. “See you in a bit.”
Chapter Five

Tia was waiting at the house, sitting on the porch swing, when Faith pulled into the driveway. She picked up her briefcase and followed her into the garage.

“I’ve been busy, boss,” she grinned. “Just like I said.”

“I didn’t mean for you to stay up all night,” Faith told her. “Come on in. I’ll make tea for me and—ugh—coffee for you. I’ve had enough to last me for a while. I’ve switched to tea. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Tia sat at the kitchen table while Faith set everything to brewing, then opened her briefcase and took out a thick folder of printouts. “I swear, I don’t know why anyone goes to jail in this country for leaking secrets. Most of it is on the internet for anyone to find.”

“I guess it’s the secret secrets they’re guarding.” Faith gave her a wry grin. “Come on. Let’s see what you found.”

Tia’s hands stilled over the papers for a moment. She let her gaze roam over Faith, taking in her strained face and disheveled hair. “Are you all right? Because you look like the devil’s chasing you and he’s waiting right outside the door.”
Not so far from right.

“I’m fine. Really. I just needed to run out in a hurry this morning.” She pulled a rubber band from her pocket and smoothed her hair back into a ponytail. “All right.

Let’s have what you’ve got.”

“I started with Special Ops, first, because believe it or not, that was the easiest.” Tia pulled out four sheets of paper and spread them in front of the two of them. “I found some good information on how SpecOps, as they call themselves, operates.” She giggled. “They even have their own website.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “There really are no secrets, are there? But good for me.

Everything we find helps.”

“That’s the truth.”

Faith dug deep for patience. Tia was thorough in her research but then took a long time getting it all out. “So what did you find out?”

“If you’re looking for an exciting background for the book this is it. SpecOps, according to their website, ‘plans, synchronizes and as directed, executes global operations against terrorist networks. They use men from the Army, Navy and Air Force, all working together.’ That should give you plenty of latitude for framing your plot.” She shuffled one of the sheets of paper. “Oh and all missions are planned and executed from there.”

Faith tried not to let her voice show the panic she felt at the mention of terrorists.

“Bad stuff there.” But then, what had she expected. She knew Mark hadn’t joined the Army to sit around somewhere in safety. “All right. Go on. What else does it say? What kinds of missions are they assigned?”

“Actually the site has quite a history of some of the things they’ve done. They’ve been assigned to break up terrorist cells out in the mountains or the jungle. They’ve captured people like Noriega in Panama and taken down key government people in Haiti when it was overrun with corruption. Stuff like that. Dangerous stuff.” Tia fanned herself and grinned again. “Man, I could really get my arms around one of these alpha men after reading what all they do.”

Faith had to grit her teeth to keep from shouting at Tia. This was Mark’s life they were talking about. Then she reminded herself as far as her assistant was concerned this was fiction. A story conjured up out of her mind. The research was to try to give her a clue where in South America Mark might be held. And what his mission might have been about. But as far as Tia was concerned, this was merely to give her book the accuracy for which she was famous. She needed something to keep her focused.

“While you’re salivating, I’ll pour our drinks. But keep talking.” She busied herself at the counter. The remnants of last night’s dream and the red menace still clung to her. She was sure the more she learned the more afraid for Mark she’d be. She filled one mug with coffee for Tia and another with tea for herself, stirring sweetener into her drink.

“Can’t I drool just a little?” Tia teased. “Never mind. I know you. When you’re in book mode all fun goes away.”

Faith couldn’t help chuckling. “I didn’t realize I turned into such an ogre. I’ll try to do better.”
But I need to find Mark, so let’s get on with it
.

“Okay.” She pushed her papers to the side and accepted the coffee from Faith. “You could say they’re the stealth force of the military. They get the stuff no one else can do.

Or probably is capable of.”

Faith already suspected that. The last time she’d seen Mark he’d looked like the poster boy for the battle-hardened warrior. And he’d had a look in his eyes that frightened her. When they’d made love the last time—long, erotic, exciting love—Mark had had a sense of desperation about him, as if he wanted to fill himself up with as many intimate memories as he could. While their time together thrilled her, it also frightened her, a fear that had nested in the back of her mind ever since. And now was coming out full blown.

“I know they operate in units,” she commented. “I’ve read up on it some in the newspapers and a little bit for my other books.”

Tia nodded. “They do. Each unit reports to a commanding officer, either a captain or a major, depending on the rank of the unit’s senior officer. Their missions are handed down from headquarters at MacDill.”

“Good work.” Faith took a sip of her tea. “I, um, don’t suppose you had a chance to search any newspapers? Maybe see if there’s something particular the media is lusting after?”

“As a matter of fact…” Tia shuffled through another stack of printouts and pulled out what she wanted. “There’s a lot of ink right now on Peru and Argentina.” Faith nodded. “But mostly Peru, I think, because Shining Path has both terrorist and cartel ties.”

“You got that right.” Tia flipped through her notes. “Okay. Here it is. There’s a lot of chatter on the blogs about missions failing because information leaks out. Or because someone sells it. But you’ve come across things like that for your other books.”

“I guess that corruption just keeps spreading.”

“Well, the news services have people digging around in Peru right now and I’m trying to find out what kind of tips they got. What they’re actually focusing on.” She dropped her notepad back on the table and leaned back in her chair. “But about that time I decided to spend what was left of the night trying to get some sleep. I’ll keep on it, though.”

“Tia, you’ve done a great job.” Faith gathered up all the papers on the table. “I’ll start a file with these, maybe do a little poking around myself. Why don’t you go home and take a nap?”

She started to rise from her chair, when the stabbing pain hit her leg again and it buckled under her. This time it was so sharp it stole her breath.

“Faith?” Tia was beside her at once. “Faith, you look like shit and you’re white as a ghost. I’m calling the doctor.”

No!” Faith nearly shouted the word. “No, don’t. It’s just that spasm again.”

“Uh-huh.” Tia’s eyes were filled with concern. “Tell me another one.”

“Really. If you can just help me over to the couch so I can lie down a minute I’ll be fine.” Sweating, she managed to hobble to the sofa and stretch herself out. But just as the pain reached manageable proportions it hit her again, like a knife slicing through flesh.