White Jade

Chapter Thirty-Three

Selena looked up from her computer. The decibel roar and vibration of the engines was something she couldn't tune out. She looked down the hold of the huge aircraft, all functional steel and aluminum, exposed struts, the orange strap benches, everything utilitarian and built for the purpose of war. It wasn't much like first class to Paris or Rome.

The others were used to it. The airmen were bored, that was easy to see, but this was a regular job for them. Ronnie was reading something, Nick had his eyes closed. His face looked strained and tired. He and Ronnie had probably been on hundreds of flights like this.

She was nervous and they hadn't even gotten to Texas yet. She was damned if she'd let the others see it.

She looked at the broken green and gray and black patterns on her uniform, touched the pistol strapped on her chest. The shape of her knife dug into her leg. The hard molded radio helmet was an unfamiliar intrusion on her head. She was encased in armor.

She felt like she'd fallen through the looking glass into the fantasy world of a video war game, but this wasn't a game. This was real.

Three weeks ago she'd been standing at a podium at Stanford, giving a lecture on Indo-European languages. Life was predictable and safe, if a little boring. Now she carried enough weapons to take out a small village. There was a reason for that, namely that she might have to use them, which meant someone might be using weapons against her. She wasn't at all sure she could handle it.

If that wasn't enough, she was about to jump into the Himalayas to look for a two thousand year old emperor and the elixir of immortality.

How did she end up here?

She looked over at Nick. She didn't know what to do about him. She wanted him, but she knew herself. She could fall for him. She knew enough about him to know he was wrapped in emotional armor a tank couldn't get through. She could try to break through it and the only thing that would happen was she'd hurt herself.

He was still in love with his dead fiancée. She'd be an ass to let herself love him. But damn it, she wanted him.