Operation: Endurance (When the Mission Ends) (8 page)

But that wasn’t meant to be. “Hey, is anyone here?” rang out over the expanse of the echoing hangar.

Chris bounded over to the front door of the office and peered out. Carter Simms, their back-up pilot, strode across the hangar floor coming toward them.

“Hey, Carter, how are you doing?” Chris stretched out his arm to shake the hand of the lanky, easy going guy.

“I’m good. I just wanted to drop by and check out the new office. I heard you guys finished painting today.” He glanced curiously through the office doorway, but more than curiosity shone in his eyes when he caught sight of Julie bent over a box. Pure male appreciation and interest glimmered as he watched her move.

A thread of hot green jealousy snaked up Chris’s spine. Oh God, he already had to sit back and watch her with another guy when she dated Aaron. He didn’t think he could do that again.

Julie swung around to the two guys, a smile on her face, a smile that once again didn’t reach her eyes. She dusted off her hands and came forward with her hand out. “Hi, I’m Julie.”

“I’m sorry.” Chris shook his head. “Carter, this is Julie, a friend who’s helping us get organized in here. Julie, this is our back-up pilot, Carter Simms.”

She frowned. “Back-up pilot?”

“Yeah, Carter works for one of the commuter airlines. His schedule allows him to contract with Mad Rob on the side and it helps to build his flight hours, while giving us an extra layer of personnel until I get re-qualified. Then after that we’ll continue to use him when there’s an emergency or someone’s sick. He’s a former Army warrant officer who flew while in the service. We’re lucky to have him on board.” Chris didn’t want them to have to rely on the new guy for the majority of their flights. That should be Chris’s job, but until he got re-qualified, the load would fall to Carter.

Her smile widened as she shook Carter’s hand and Chris tried to see the guy through Julie’s eyes. He was a couple years older than Chris, but single and very fit. He was as tall as Colton, but not near as bulked up with muscle. He had more of a runner’s body and an easy smile that most women would find attractive, even with the fact he was starting to bald.

There was a definite interest on Carter’s part as Chris watched him turn on the charm while chatting with Julie. She had offered to set Chris up and they were supposed to be friends now. Could he do the same for her? Watching her laugh at something Carter said, Chris realized something. If it meant that smile would actually reach into her eyes, the sacrifice would be worth it. Above all else, he wanted her to be happy again, no matter how that had to happen.

He watched her and
that man
walk out of the hangar together, laughing and smiling. They’d been in there over an hour alone since the other man had left.

His blood boiled as he took in her appearance. She’d gone in wearing a sweatshirt. That was gone and her hair was a mess. Surely she hadn’t been doing what it looked like she had. She was one of his special ones, the most precious besides Jocelyn. She wouldn’t do that to him, would she?

He scowled as he looked back over to the man. This was his fault. That man could never be allowed to steal his Julie, not when he was this close to having everything perfect, the way that fate meant it to be. He needed to take care of this, take care of him. But first, he had another special one to heal.

* * *

This was number seven. He looked down at the girl’s dark hair matted with blood. She’d fought hard and hurt herself in the process. He frowned as he gazed at the bruise blossoming across her temple. Why would she do that? Didn’t she know that he only wanted to free her from her pain? From Jocelyn’s pain? He was trying to help. Why did they always fight it?

He stroked the heart in the palm of her hand. Together forever. Him and Jocelyn. That was their promise and he was going to keep it. He would free her from her pain and then they could be happy together again. Only a few more until Julie. She’d be the one who’d set Jocelyn free. She was the one with the greatest pain, so she was the key. His perfect one.

The girl below him moaned. Fire raced through his veins and his cock stirred again, even though he’d just had the most amazing orgasm. He needed to stop daydreaming and take care of the rest of this one. He slid out of the girl, removed the condom, tied it off, and inserted it into the plastic baggie. He zipped up his pants and worked to secure her.

Closing the girl’s hands into fists, he used the duct tape and taped them shut before binding them together at the small of her back.

She was just beginning to come to when he rolled her over the debris-filled embankment into the ditch. Her mouth was duct taped shut, but someone would find her in a few hours. She might not think so now, but someday she’d thank him for helping her through this rough time in her life. He’d never forget her and the help she provided him and Jocelyn.

Lucky number seven. Anticipation zinged. Soon this would be Julie, his princess.

Chris stepped into the hangar juggling the bags of food and carrier full of drinks. “Lunch is here,” he called out. Mick, their mechanic, stepped from behind the fuselage of the De Havilland. Colton came down from the cockpit and Jake leaned his head out the door of the supply room.

“Take it into the conference room and we can eat in there,” Colton instructed.

Jake ambled across the length of the hangar and started grabbing for bags. “Does this grease mean Mesquite’s barbeque?”

Chris lifted one of the bags to look at the grease spots on the brown paper. “Should I be worried you knew that just from the fat showing up on the bag?”

Jake smiled. “Probably. We’ve got to stop eating junk like this or else we’re going to lose our girlish figures.”

“I don’t want to be anywhere around any girls that look like you three,” Mick groused in his age-roughened gruff voice.

They all laughed as they headed toward the office door.

Colton turned and surveyed the large hangar space behind them. “You do make a good point, though. Maybe we should find someplace in here to set up a weight bench. Now that we aren’t in the military anymore, it would be too easy to relax our workout routines, especially with how busy it looks like things might get.”

“Oh, God. You’re not going to start making us do PT in the mornings before we report in for work, are you?” Chris asked Colton with a smirk.

Colton smiled right back. “Only if you pansies start getting fat. Then I’ll put you on the Mad Rob weight management program.”

Both Chris and Jake groaned, while Colt just laughed at them evilly.

They crowded into the conference room, sat down at the table, and dug into the greasy barbeque sandwiches. Regardless of any of their kidding around, Chris knew none of these guys were in danger of getting out of shape anytime soon.

Even Mick who had to be pushing sixty years or older was in prime physical shape. A former Special Forces guy during Vietnam, he’d since become an airplane mechanic. They were lucky to have him and his experience working on Mad Rob’s planes. He had a couple of guys who would come in weekly to help him out, depending on the flying schedule for the company, but he was the guy in charge of the day to day maintenance on their three planes.

Mick glanced around the room. “This place is starting to shape up. You almost look like a legitimate company.”

Colton quirked an eyebrow at him. “Almost, huh? I guess we’ll have to try harder, but it does look pretty good.” He gave Chris an approving smile. “You got a lot done here last night.”

“It wasn’t just me. Julie helped.” It was nice to have Colton’s approval for once. It had been a while since he’d done anything worth earning it.

“We need to do something nice to thank her,” Jake said. “First, working here on the office and then with the extra defense training she’s giving the girls. No wonder she isn’t sleeping. She doesn’t have time.”

“What extra training is she giving the girls?” Chris asked.

Jake and Colton frowned, and Colton said, “Didn’t she tell you about the attacks?”

Immediately Chris’s heart rate sped up in panic. “Attacks? What attacks? Did something happen to Julie? One of the other girls?” Both the others had been attacked in the last year. They were all way too familiar with the terror of having one of their women in danger.

Colton immediately set to calming him down. “No, no, relax, Chris. It’s nothing like that. No one’s supposed to know, but there’s a serial rapist loose in Lubbock. Julie felt like it would be a good time for both the girls to brush up on their self-defense skills so she’s giving them some lessons this weekend.”

Jake scowled. “I don’t like the idea of this guy out there.”

“Honestly, who does?” Colton added. “I really don’t like that the cops aren’t warning the public. I should call Brian and see what he has to say about it. Penelope is always coming home after dark from the fitness center or the bookstore. I tried to talk her into letting me pick her up, but she threw a fit.”

Chris couldn’t help but chuckle at the confused look on Colton’s face. The poor guy just couldn’t understand why the rest of them didn’t like him bossing them around. “Um, Colt, you might have more success with that if you ask her, rather than just tell her.”

Colton looked thoughtful about that statement for a moment, and then a slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, it’s all right. I have other ways of convincing her.”

“Oh, man,” Jake moaned. “New rule for the office, you are not allowed to share things that could be construed as too much information.”

“You’re about to be a married man. In a few months, you’re
gonna be begging for juicy tidbits.” Colton smirked at him.

“Like you aren’t whipped and headed that direction yourself?”

Colton smiled wide. “As a matter of fact, I am. I know that we aren’t quite to the point of scheduling yet, but everyone should note this on their schedules. Mad Rob is closed for business June 19th-21st.”

They all watched him expectantly, but Colton just stacked the papers in front of him and didn’t add anything about why they were shutting down.

Jake looked at Chris and raised an eyebrow. “Okay, Colton, you can’t just say something like that and not tell us more. So why exactly are we shutting down that weekend?”

“Because,” Colton continued to shuffle the papers in front of him, “we’re all headed to Vegas so everyone is there for my wedding. Penelope and I are eloping.” He looked up with a blinding smile that radiated his happiness.

Jake let out a loud whoop but immediately quieted and quirked an eyebrow in question. “Hmm, is there a reason for the rush?”

Colton crossed his arms across his chest and gave a huge shit-eating grin. “Oh yeah, but you’re not allowed to say anything to anyone yet, especially the girls. We’re
gonna have a baby.”

Chris smiled, even though the news hit him like a blow to his solar plexus. It’s not like he hadn’t known this was coming, but wow, things were happening fast. Both of his siblings were about to get married and Colt was going to have a baby, a niece or nephew for him. Was it wrong that he wanted the same thing? His thoughts immediately flew to Julie. Once upon a time, he’d thought they would probably head toward this destination themselves. Some days, he really did wonder if Fate was a bitch who hated his guts.

* * *

Chris knocked softly on Julie’s door, light filtered through her blinds so he hoped it wasn’t too late. It had been another late night at Mad Rob working to get everything done in the office, and then the four of them had gone out for a celebratory beer to toast Colton’s news.

If Julie was already asleep, he didn’t want to interrupt that. He understood how frustrating it was to be awoken just after finally falling asleep. But she’d left her sweatshirt at Mad Rob the night before and he thought she might need it on these cool nights. He was about to step away from the door when he heard the chain lock disengage.

The door swung open to reveal a soft, sexy Julie that took his breath away. She was in sleep shorts and a tank top. Her face had been scrubbed clean and her hair had a rumpled look like she’d been running her hands through it or sleeping. Damn, he’d woken her up. But it didn’t seem to bother her as her eyes lit up with a smile.

“I’m sorry, Julie. I should have waited until morning. I’m so sorry I woke you up.”

“Oh, Chris, you didn’t. I was just lying in bed reading. I wasn’t asleep yet. Come on in.” She held the door open for him and stepped back so he could come in. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thanks. I just came from having a beer with the guys so I’m good.” He thrust her sweatshirt out to her. “I don’t want to keep you, but you left this at the office last night and I thought you might be missing it. By the way, the guys told me to tell you thanks. They were happy to see how much work we got done last night.”

“Thanks, but it was no problem. You know me. I love to do that kind of stuff. Oh, and speaking of Mad Rob. You all haven’t hired someone for the office yet have you?”

He shook his head ruefully. “No, I think we’re supposed to put out an ad over the weekend and start interviews next week. Why? Are you applying for the job? I could put a good word in for you with the bosses.”