Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (27 page)

She pushed off the rock and glared at
him. “Well, to hell with you then!”

He hopped down and reached for her.
“Hanna....”

She whirled out of his reach as he
came after her. “I’m already deeply involved! You aren’t going to exclude me
now, or tell me to sit home and wait like a good little girl. I want to find
Lance as much as you do. He wouldn’t have gotten abducted if I’d gone diving
with him.”

“Then you both would have ended up
enjoying Li Chen’s hospitality,” he responded angrily.

She refused to entertain that
possibility. “I want to go with you to find Lance.” With her hands on her hips,
she stood her ground, staring at him determinedly.

Nick was reminded of how stubborn she
had often become, as a girl, trying to hold her own with three older boys. She
could be tenacious when she wanted to be, and she looked like she was digging
those lovely feet of hers in now.

“You’re more than capable of keeping
us both safe,” she said to him. “And I won’t be useless. I can watch your back.
Remember that time we all went backpacking up behind Hurricane Ridge? When we
came across that big brown bear that looked like a grizzly? You guys all
thought it was funny to make me carry the rifle. But I saved your hides when
that bear came after you, and I scared it off with several shots. In fact I
nearly hit it.”

Nick grinned, recalling the incident.
She’d been thirteen, and he’d had no idea she had known how to shoot the rifle
they’d made her carry as a joke. But she was right. She had literally saved
their hides when they had come upon that bear suddenly.

“I know you’re capable of a lot of
things, Hanna,” he said, stepping close enough to gently take her by both arms.
“But these guys in the drug trade, in the Triad, are much more dangerous than
any bear. They’re cold-blooded killers. They wouldn’t care that you were a
woman, either.”

“Are you going to find out where Yancy
is meeting Li Chen tomorrow and follow him?”

“Yes. I’m going to stick like glue to
Yancy tomorrow, only invisible glue.”

“I can be invisible, too. I want to
see what this Li Chen looks like.”

“No, you don’t,” he argued. “You won’t
be going.”

His tone was as uncompromising and
adamant as his handsome face. Hanna wanted to hit him, she was so angry that he
was now excluding her. But she also knew she wasn’t going to win this argument,
not with words anyway. In the past, when the boys had tried to prevent her from
participating, she had learned other ways to get around their obstinacy. She
hadn’t taken two weeks off of work to sit home uselessly, while Nick took all
the risks to find his brother. Lance had tried to help her clear Dylan’s name
and find his murderer, and he’d spent four weeks in captivity paying for that
assistance. She owed him her help. And, damn Nick, she would not be a
distraction! She could take care of herself.

Angry energy coursed through her. She
turned to Nick and challenged him to a race home, then tore off before he could
reply. Down the beach and up the narrow trail, she ran full speed through the
tall sand grass, jumping over some of the rocks, dodging others, then doing the
same through her grandmother’s fruit trees. Taking a short-cut she knew he
didn’t know, she beat him to the house.

At her grandmother’s back porch, she
turned to taunt him as he ran up the steps half a minute behind her. “You’re
out of shape, old man!” she called out to him. “I beat you!”

“The hell if I am! You cheated.”

“What a complainer, big tough Marine.
Face it, you got beat!” Laughing at him, she swung back around, pulled open the
door, and slammed it on him just as he stepped up onto the porch.

“Damn it, Hanna! You’re being
unreasonable!” His voice growled with anger at the closed door, but he didn’t
try to pursue her inside.

Petulantly, from her second floor
bedroom window, Hanna watched him as he headed to his mother’s house through
the trees. When she emerged from a shower twenty minutes later, Christine was
waiting for her, sitting in the center of her bed, holding up a bag from a
local lingerie store in Port George.

“I see you went shopping,” Hanna
commented. “What did you buy?”

Christine smiled mischievously.
“Nothing for myself. I got a couple of things for you, though.”

Hanna laughed. “For me? I don’t need
any lingerie.”

“You most certainly do,” the petite
dark haired woman responded. “You have the most utilitarian underwear I have
ever seen.” Hanna raised an eyebrow at Christine, and the woman shrugged. “I’m
sorry. I went through your drawers to see what you had and needed.”

“It’s not my birthday.”

“No, but you can’t catch a husband and
convince him you have more to offer him than the Marine Corps, if you don’t
have some sexy lingerie.”

Christine pulled the first item out of
her bag. It was a black lace demi bra that looked as if it would push up her
breasts and make them look larger. Then she held up the matching black silk and
lace panties, which were equally as sinful.

Hanna rolled her eyes, and yet it was
a beautiful set. It wasn’t too hard to imagine Nick’s or any man’s reaction to
such provocative underclothes.

Next, Christine took out a sleep set.
The camisole was sheer ivory silk, edged in baby pink roses and delicate lace. The
bottoms were short lace-edged boxer shorts. She’d never worn anything like it
to bed. Her attire usually consisted of pajamas or a long tee. Nothing too sexy
about either one, just utilitarian, like her sister-in-law had said.

“So, do you like them?” Christine
asked hopefully.

“Yes. They’re beautiful,” Hanna had to
admit. “But at least let me pay you back for them.”

Christine shook her head. “No. They’re
my gift. Call them early birthday presents. You need them more now than you
will when your birthday rolls around next year. By then, you’ll be married and
living in San Diego with a handsome colonel.”

“Yeah, right.”

“You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?”

Hanna fidgeted, then nodded. “Yes,” she
admitted quietly. “Three years ago, then over the weekend again.” She dropped
her eyes and felt the need to tell Christine how important the man was to her.
“Nick was my first and only lover.”

“Wow! That’s romantic.” Christine
looked dreamy-eyed. “I just knew the two of you must have gotten together
physically this past weekend. You both seemed... well... different today.”

“Yeah, we’ve been irritating the heck
out of each other.”

“Well, of course,” Christine said,
waving that away as if it was unimportant. “The two of you are just so right
for one another. I can see that you’re soul mates.”

Hanna wasn’t so sure about that. “Nick
Kelly’s soul mate is the Marine Corps.”

“No way,” Christine argued happily.
“He looks at you like he wants you as close as he can get you.”

“Ha!” Hanna countered. “He just told
me I couldn’t go with him anymore to look for Lance. He said I was a
distraction.”

“Well, of course you are. That’s
great!” Christine gave her a sly smile. “But then you’re going anyway, right?”

“I sure am!”

“Well, be sure you pack these things
the next time you go anywhere overnight,” her sister-in-law advised her, giving
her the handful of black lace and ivory silk. “That way, if he does get mad at
you, you can distract him out of it.”

Hanna shook her head skeptically, but
silently thought Christine’s suggestion just might work, especially if he
caught her following him tomorrow.

CHAPTER
18

THE NOON FERRY TO VICTORIA, CANADA
from Port Angeles, Washington was nearly ready to depart by the time Hanna
parked her car and rushed up to the ticket booth. She had no intention of
taking her car onboard the ferry. Once she got to Victoria, she’d follow Nick
in a taxi. She had failed at following him earlier. Her surveillance skills had
been no match for his. She’d lost him early this morning.

If it hadn’t been for him calling his
mother to tell her that he was taking his motorcycle on the noon ferry from
Port Angeles to Victoria, she wouldn’t have known where he was. But she’d
gotten a lucky break when Jessie had told Colleen and Christine had overheard
them, and then told her.

Now that she’d found him, she didn’t
intend to lose him again. Luckily it was a weekday. On a weekend, during the
busy summer tourist season, getting a ticket so close to departure would have
been impossible.

She entered the ferry from below,
where the vehicles were parked. She spotted Nick’s heavily chromed Harley much
farther back from Yancy’s flashy Cadillac. Luckily, neither man was anywhere in
sight.

This ferry had three levels. Hanna
wasn’t sure how wise it was to go up on deck, but she figured she’d be okay as
long as she was careful.

On the second level, she looked around
carefully, took a deep breath of the salty ocean air, and flipped up the hood
to her hunter-green, GoreTex sailing jacket. It was a cloudy day, threatening
to rain. It was also cold and windy for mid-June. She was wearing pale blue
jeans, boots, and a navy blue turtleneck under her jacket. All in all, dressing
warmly provided something of a disguise. She was sure Nick hadn’t seen her hooded
jacket before, so hopefully he wouldn’t recognize her. She’d also brought her backpack,
with a few overnight things, just in case, and her cell phone, which was turned
off for the moment, in case it rang and gave her away.

She decided to brave getting an
espresso from the second level lounge, but before she entered, she made sure
Nick and Yancy weren’t inside. Once she was outside on deck again, she made a
careful circuit of the second level to assure herself that the two men weren’t
ahead of her or behind her, or inside, looking out through one of the big dark
tinted viewing windows.

Feeling braver and more confident, she
decided to go upstairs, to deck three. It was the highest point passengers were
allowed. She traveled one side of the deck slowly, sipping her coffee as she
went, searching the promenade and peering into the uppermost lounge windows as
she proceeded.

At the end of the walkway, she finally
spotted Yancy, standing at the railing of the foredeck, staring out across the
Strait of Juan de Fuca. Immediately, she wondered where Nick was. He had to
have Yancy in his sight.

Oh boy, she must have missed
something!

She spun around, intending to get out
of such a visible vulnerable spot, and bumped right into Nick. She hadn’t even
heard him approach!

Her eyes traveled up his tall imposing
figure. He was dressed like she was, in faded blue jeans, a black knit shirt,
and his brown leather bomber jacket. When her gaze reached his darkly tanned
face, she winced at the glint of anger she saw in his heavily lashed, hooded,
gray eyes. There wasn’t much she could say. She’d been caught. She had proved
to be a lousy spy, after all.

“We better get the hell out of the
open, before Yancy spots you,” he said with disgust as he took her by her elbow
and steered her inside, to the third level lounge, causing her coffee to slosh
over the top.

There was an alcove under an inner
stairway where he had apparently been standing. The concealed location gave him
an excellent position from which to observe everyone all around him without
being detectable.

After guiding her to his hiding spot,
he cornered her under the stairwell with his big body. She’d never felt their
difference in size as much as she did at that moment.

“So, are you going to send me back on
the next ferry when we get to Victoria?”

Nick laughed derisively, not
particularly surprised to see her. He’d guessed she’d follow him. He just
hadn’t expected her to find him. “You wouldn’t go if I did try to put you on
the next ferry back to Port Angeles,” he stated. “Did you bring your car?”

She shook her head no. “I left it in
Port Angeles. Do you have an extra helmet for me?”

“Of course.” She smiled. He didn’t. He
still had her trapped into the corner. He wasn’t ready to let her move away
from him yet. “How did you find out where I was?”

“Christine overheard your mother tell
Colleen.”

Nick ran five fingers through his hair
and cursed under his breath. “Good thing I’m not up against you women when I
really want to keep something secret. I don’t think my mother knows the meaning
of the word.”

“Well, did you tell her to keep your
whereabouts a secret?”

“No, I didn’t. I just wanted to let
her know where I was going, so she wouldn’t worry. With Lance missing, she does
that a lot.”

“I can’t blame her.” Hanna tried
another smile. “I’m not a very good spy, am I?”

“Actually, you’re not bad. Yancy
hasn’t spotted you yet. I just expected you because I know you.”

He stared down at her. She was a big
distraction, but becoming a necessary one he was discovering. He had actually
been hoping she’d follow him. The soldier in him knew it wasn’t smart to let
her come along now that he knew Li Chen was involved. The whole matter could
get very dangerous very fast. But the man in him really wanted her with him.

It had been two nights since he’d lain
with her, and he ached for her— a hell of a lot! She looked so damn beautiful,
hooded and cloaked in her dark green jacket, her cheeks flushed from the cold
wind, her big green eyes locked with his, shining with fierce determination,
her wonderfully kissable mouth so stubbornly set.

She looked just like he remembered she
had a hundred times in the past when she’d wanted to tag along with the boys,
and they hadn’t wanted her to. But she’d always won the battle. He suspected—
no he knew now— it was because they had all loved her and had never really
wanted to hurt her feelings.

Reluctantly, he turned away from her
to return his attention to Yancy Masters. Hanna peered around him, and in the
process, brushed the back of his hand with hers. He grabbed it and held it
firmly in his.

“So, with my hood up, how did you know
it was me?” she asked from behind him.

“Hanna, I could find you in the dark.”

“You could? How?”

He heard the incredulity in her voice,
and grinned. “The way you walk. The way you tilt your head. The way you move
your hands. The way you smell.”

“Gee....”

He turned his head to glance down at
her. Her expression reflected her astonishment. He chuckled and pointed to the
backpack over her shoulders. “What’s that for?”

She tried to look nonchalant. “I
wasn’t sure if you were going to spend the night, so I brought a… few little
things… just in case.”

His half-cocked grin was wickedly
sexual. “That’s not a bad idea… about spending the night.”

HANNA HAD BEEN TO THE VERY ENGLISH
CITY OF VICTORIA many times. It was a beautiful, quaint city that had thrived
since the mid-nineteenth century, when Hudson’s Bay Company had built Fort
Victoria at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Great Britain, not wanting to
lose the territory to the land hungry United States, had settled the region
with British settlers. Esquimalt Harbor became a major port for British ships.
The gold strikes on the mainland had brought thousands of miners through the
harbor and the city.

It was now the capitol of British
Columbia, and a major, major tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest.
During spring, summer, and early fall, the daffodil decorated streets of
downtown Victoria were crowded with tourists from around the world. Many
visitors came over on the numerous ferries that sailed from Port Angeles,
Seattle, and Vancouver, plus a few spots in between.

After docking at the ferry terminal,
along the waterfront at the southern edge of downtown Victoria, passengers
exited to awaiting taxis, horse-drawn carriages, double-decker buses, their own
vehicles brought over on the ferry, or on foot to the many sights of the
charming city.

The weather hadn’t changed since
boarding. It was still overcast, windy and cold, although the whole of
Vancouver actually had fairly mild temperatures for such a northern body of
land because of the warm Japanese current and the stabilizing Pacific Ocean.

Nick and Hanna drove off the ferry on
Nick’s Harley. Yancy was a block ahead of them in his Cadillac. They could see
him, but with their black motorcycle helmets on and their dark tinted visors
pulled down, they were well disguised. Beneath their helmets, each had a
two-way radio for communication with one another.

Nick also had packed a GPS system on
his bike, and in his saddlebags, he had brought along his infrared video
camera, his SATCOM phone, a small pair of powerful infrared binoculars, and his
laptop computer.

His toys. Hanna knew he had lots of
them, and if he needed something, he didn’t seem to have any trouble getting it
from somewhere. Sitting behind him, clinging to him for dear life as usual,
Hanna could also feel the rather large handgun he had tucked into the back of
his Levis. She dearly hoped he wouldn’t have a reason to use it.

Staying several cars behind Yancy,
they followed him north along the wharf, next to the picturesque Victoria
marina. Big expensive pleasure yachts and tall-masted sleek sailboats bobbed on
the tide. Traffic was heavy enough to keep both the Harley and the Cadillac at
a slower pace. This pleased Hanna, but irritated Nick. She heard him curse the congestion
several times.

When they came to the entrance of
Victoria’s Chinatown, Yancy drove under the pagoda archway, continued for a
block, then pulled over and parked. Nick quickly followed suit, parking his
Harley well enough behind Yancy to avoid detection. With his video camera slung
over his shoulder, Nick grabbed Hanna’s hand and hurried after Yancy’s
departing figure.

Victoria’s Chinatown was one of
Canada’s oldest enclaves. It was small, but colorful, and had been the center
of a thriving opium trade in the 1800's. The aroma of Chinese restaurants
wafted on the air. Little shops that sold fragile paper lanterns, intricately
carved chests, silks, exotic spices, and fresh vegetables and meats lined the
narrow twisting street and side alleys. Hanna had been here before, but this
particular time, it seemed a little more exciting and mysterious, even a bit
forbidding and dangerous.

The adrenalin pumping through her
blood made it easier to keep up with Nick’s longer legged stride. Finally, off
the main street of Chinatown, Yancy turned down a narrow alley, towards the
water. At the end, he turned the corner and entered a two-story building that
housed a restaurant and teahouse. Hanna walked in beside Nick.

The young Chinese woman who met them
at the door was going to seat them, but Nick asked her if they could choose
their table. She hesitated a moment. He handed her a bill, and she nodded her
assent.

Nick surveyed the room, spotted Yancy,
then directed Hanna to a table in a far corner of the dining area. Potted
plants decorated the room, placed to provide a semblance of privacy and partition
between the tables and booths. Latticed archways and Oriental screens also
separated sections of the room.

Though partially concealed behind two big
leafy palms, Hanna and Nick had a narrow, but direct view of Yancy’s table. The
low lighting in the room also aided their concealment. Nick set up his camera. It
looked like any a tourist would carry while sightseeing. Set casually on the
table, it was inconspicuous. So was the small directional mike, he set down and
covered with a cloth napkin. He had told Hanna that it was strong enough,
despite its size, to record whatever was said, even amid background noise.

When the waitress arrived, they both
ordered tea and a plate of the restaurants’ special Chinese almond cookies.
Hanna had scooted her chair close to Nick, and while they waited for their
order, he slipped one arm around her shoulder and casually rested his free hand
on the table, between his camera and his mike.

They were nibbling on their cookies and
sipping their tea when a group of Chinese men entered from a back door on the
other side of the room. There were four of them. Three separated from the
fourth to sit at two tables on either side of Yancy.

Nick discreetly pointed out Li Chen to
Hanna. Once he sat down, he had his back to them. Hanna caught only the
briefest glimpse of the man. He appeared to be Nick’s age and was fashionably
dressed in a dark expensive three-piece suit. His hair was black and straight,
long enough to hang to his shoulders.

The three men on either side of him
were another matter, though. They were all heavily built and menacing-looking.
The way they kept an eye on the room indicated they must be bodyguards. One of
them swiveled sideways, just enough for Hanna to see the handle of the gun he
carried in a shoulder holster. She soon discovered they were all carrying
weapons.