Price Of Honor

Chapter Twenty-three

An hour before dawn, Jane turned off the narrow county road and onto the highway that had once been the old Santa Fe Trail. She drove for another hour, heading southeast toward Trinidad, passing a lone eighteen-wheeler whose lights appeared like UFOs out of the white curtain of snow, bearing down on them and then disappearing into the storm. The latest weather report said a break in the snowfall was expected near dawn, and already the visibility was improving. By daybreak, she’d have enough light for the mission.

Hooker dozed with his head leaning against the window. He’d spelled her for four hours, and she’d napped long enough to feel alert and sharp now. Pre-mission adrenaline pulsed through her blood. This time tomorrow it would all be over. Hooker was right, but she’d never tell him that. The mission was likely a suicide run, but every soldier needed to be prepared for death every time they deployed. She wasn’t afraid of dying, only of failing. Jenn depended on her, and Robbie was at risk. And she was head of the family now.

Following the route she’d mapped out on the nav con, she left the highway on a single track and climbed into the low foothills of the Rockies. During tourist season the winding road was heavily traveled, but only the few locals living in scattered pockets in the foothills risked it now. She shook open a topo map, laid it across her lap, and flicked on the map light. When she stopped at an overlook, she left the headlights on and looked down at the train tracks a mile below with a swell of satisfaction.

Hooker leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and grunted. “I didn’t think Amazon was selling surface-to-surface missiles. And unless you’ve got an SSM in those boxes back there, you’ll never hit a train from up here.”

“I don’t want to hit it,” Jane said. “I want to stop it.”

Between their position and the tracks, rocky snow-covered outcroppings littered the terrain. The hike down would be a challenge, but anything would be better than being cooped up in the vehicle for much longer. The welcome frisson of excitement in her belly burned brighter. After hours of driving, days of planning, she was finally going to be able to act.

“What about me?” Hooker asked.

“Your job is to secure the vehicle. All you need to know is the time and location of the rendezvous point.” She wasn’t convinced he’d wait for her to show up, but trusting him was a better option than her original plan of abandoning the Jeep up some snowed-in ravine. She couldn’t drive out of here. The feds would have birds in the air if the storm held off, and roadblocks everywhere.

“I could be more useful if you gave me a few more details.” He looked over his shoulder. “Like what you’ve got in the boxes.”

“First we brief the op.”

Jane climbed out, opened the back of the Jeep, and pulled out one of her knapsacks. She returned to the driver’s seat, opened it, and passed Hooker a radio.

“We’ll be on Channel One.”

“Where are you going to be?”

“About a hundred yards down the slope.” Jane gestured down the mountainside. She handed him a handful of MREs, broke one open for herself, and stuffed half a dozen in her jacket. She wasn’t hungry, but she’d need fuel for what was coming.

“How do you plan on getting at the train?”

Jane pulled out her SAT phone from the bag, powered it up, and searched for a signal. When she had it, she linked into her cell phone and searched for the train’s location. The White House website hadn’t been updated for a couple of hours, but the last blinking red dot indicating the train’s progress put her two hours ahead of the train’s arrival. Two hours would be plenty of time.

“I’m going to call them on the phone,” she said.

“And you think they’re gonna slow down if you make a threat?” Hooker grunted again. “You think they’re not prepared for that? They’ll blast through here so fast you won’t have a chance to hit them, no matter what kind of firepower you got.”

“I told you, I don’t plan on hitting them. I plan on talking to the president and making a deal.” Jane reached behind her and pulled forward one of the boxes she’d picked up at the FedEx office. She slid her utility knife off her belt, cut the tape, and opened the flaps.

Hooker peered in. “What the hell is that?”

Jane smiled. “That is our negotiating power.”

*

Dusty dozed in Viv’s cabin, naked beneath the light blanket, Viv curled around her. She didn’t sleep deeply under most circumstances, and she hadn’t wanted to, especially tonight. The newness of sleeping with another person would have been enough to keep her awake, but lying next to Viv kept her too excited to want to sleep. Their bodies fit in a way she’d never imagined possible. Viv’s hand rested between her breasts, a gentle, possessive weight that made her feel like she belonged in this place, with this woman, in a way she’d never belonged anywhere before. Viv’s leg rested across her thighs, Viv’s breath wafted across her throat, warm and sweet. Dusty stroked Viv’s hair, mesmerized by the softness. If she could stay here, just like this forever, she’d be happy. All she needed was Atlas snoozing by the door to make the picture complete. She laughed, hardly recognizing herself. Foolish fantasies were never part of her imaginings.

Viv murmured, a low contented sound, and her mouth brushed Dusty’s throat. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Some,” Dusty whispered. “Not tired.”

“Are you okay?”

“Better than I’ve ever been.”

Viv snuggled closer. “Oh, good. Because I feel incredible and I’d hate it if you didn’t too. I don’t think I ever want to move.”

“I wish I didn’t have to. I’ve got the morning shift, though. Another couple hours and I’ll have to get up.”

“I know. Later this morning we’ll be in Trinidad, and the president has meetings with three or four of the state’s biggest donors and then a town meeting. More speeches, more banquet food.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“When we’re all done with this train ride and your article is finished, and everything, what then?”

Viv raised her head, immediately captivated. The night-light in the corner cast just enough faint glow to see by, and she’d never get tired of looking at Dusty naked. She was the perfect image of female strength, sleek and honed and graceful in all the right places. Just now a frown line marred the space between her brows. Viv traced the line of her jaw and kissed her. The immediate surge of desire caught her off guard. She would have sworn she hadn’t an ounce of energy left in that area, but she was wrong. Dusty had taught her more about herself in a few days than she’d learned in a lifetime. “You know, you constantly surprise me.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t play games, and apparently you’ve never learned to protect yourself. You’re not afraid of being hurt, or you wouldn’t ask questions like that.”

“I’d rather know the truth.”

“Well, I’m going to do my best to be as brave as you are and answer your question, even though it scares me a little bit.”

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“You know, I want to. You make me feel brave.” Viv made sure Dusty could see her face before she answered. She wanted her to know she meant every word, from the heart. “I want to see you when we get back from this trip. I want us to spend time together, and I want us to be together like this again.” She laughed, feeling the desire rise swift and hard. “I want that a lot. And I would be very, very sad if you didn’t want the same thing.”

Dusty tightened her arms around Viv. “I want that too, more than anything. I should’ve told you that first, shouldn’t I? Before I asked?”

Viv kissed her, her heart so full she had trouble finding her voice. “Dusty, honey, you’re doing everything exactly right. Don’t change a thing. Please, not ever.”

“I won’t.” Dusty rolled them over, somehow managing the turn so Viv was on her back without dumping them on the floor. “I think I want to try something else.”

“By all means,” Viv said, gripping Dusty’s ass and pulling her tight between her thighs. Dusty’s weight gently pinning her down ignited tendrils of pleasure between her legs. “Anything you want.”

“I want all of you.”

Dusty kissed her way down between Viv’s breasts and onto her stomach. Viv spread her fingers into Dusty’s hair, needing to be grounded as her body threatened to fly away. She arched as Dusty stroked her hips and along the inner curve of her thighs toward her center. “Dusty, you feel so good.”

“I can’t wait any longer,” Dusty murmured.

“Don’t. I can’t wait either.” Viv tugged Dusty’s head closer, aching for the silky heat of her mouth. “Please.”

Guided by instinct and the memory of how Viv had made her feel, Dusty kissed her lightly. When Viv jerked and pressed closer, she covered her with her mouth, letting Viv’s soft cries set the pace, calling the rhythm.

“Inside me,” Viv gasped suddenly. “Fill me up, and you’ll make me come.”

Dusty obeyed, and Viv came against her mouth. When Viv quieted, she gathered her into her arms again and cradled Viv’s head against her chest.

“Don’t move.” Viv stroked the back of Dusty’s neck. “I love listening to your heart. I’ve never imagined being so close to anyone like this.”

“Neither have I.” Dusty closed her eyes, wanting to capture the rightness of the moment in her memory.

“Give me a min—”

Dusty’s cell rang in the pocket of her cargo pants.

“Sorry,” Dusty said.

“Damn,” Viv echoed.

Dusty grabbed her pants and found her cell. “Nash…Yes, sir. On my way.” She closed the phone and eased Viv to the side. “Sorry. Gotta go.”

Viv stroked her back as she swung out of bed. “I understand. Is everything all right?”

“I don’t know,” Dusty said, jerking on her shirt. “Could be just a change in the schedule.” She paused at the door. “Be careful, okay?”

“Of course. You too,” Viv whispered as the cabin door swung closed.

*

Hooker hunched in the wind next to the open rear of the Jeep, watching Jane work. The drones didn’t take much to assemble, the pair of them looking like oversized toys. Guess that was because they were. “Can you really direct those things?”

“The electronics are very sophisticated. You can set GPS coordinates and they’ll find their target without any other direction.” Jane carefully taped the payloads in place, balancing the weights so the aeronautics would not be compromised. She’d need to test them to be sure the guide paths were still accurate, but she had time. “Or you can direct fly them visually.”

“As long as they don’t come flying home and blow us up.”

Jane smiled grimly. “Don’t worry. I’ve had plenty of practice with these.” She ignored the cold wind, laced with the tapering snow, blowing through her hair and double-checked all the mechanics. After activating both and checking the camera feeds to her phone, she shut them down to conserve battery power. She’d been flying them in remote areas of the mountains in South Carolina for the past six months, ever since her father had decided these were weapons of opportunity. Opportunity once owned, he always said, was a powerful weapon, and this was a sweet one. She loved flying them.

She packed her rucksack with ammo, food, and backup batteries for her phones, radio, and drones and shouldered the forty-pound load. After sliding her sniper rifle from its case, she turned to Hooker. “There’s a little town twenty miles away. La Veta. Head back to the main road, find a diner in town, and wait for me until twelve hundred hours. If I haven’t checked in by then, you’re on your own.”

“How are you gonna get to me?”

“I’m going to hike.”

“Jesus, they’ll be looking everywhere for you.”

“Not off-road—not right away, and even if they do, they won’t find me.”

“They don’t have any reason to think I’m with you.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.”

Hooker frowned. “You’re letting me take the Jeep.”

“I can’t use it. You’ll have plenty of time to get there before any roadblocks go up. They don’t know the vehicle. They don’t know my face. Hopefully, they don’t know yours either.”

“What about the money?” Hooker peered into the back of the Jeep. “It’s not in here, is it?”

She smiled. “No.”

“Did you ever plan to pay me?”

“Of course. I just never said when.” Jane shouldered her rifle. “If you want it, you’ll have to wait for me.”

“Good luck,” Hooker muttered.

Jane set off down the slope in the semi-dark. Luck was for gamblers, not soldiers, but today she hoped for a little luck on her side.