Crystal Clear (14 page)

She
sensed
the heat of his hand and her nerve endings began to hum, “If they needed a place to hide, that would be the perfect place.”  His finger moved to the lava tunnels, “These are closed for renovation.  They’re large and several miles long.  Being closed they would be inaccessible to the public.  They have generators already in place for the equipment and lights.  It would be the perfect place.  The tunnels have been closed for several months now.  They’re telling the public they need reinforcements built to stabilize the tunnel walls.  They’re not due to be finished until next season.” 

Cindy nodded. 
“We can check out
the tunnel
.  We’ll
need
to be careful not to raise any suspicion.  J
ack,” Cindy turned her head,
just inches
separated
his mouth and hers.  “Um…
you know the terrain.  Do you think you could get us close enough to find out what is going on?” 

His eyes skimmed her face and he nodded.

“I might.  The tunnel itself is a one way in deal. 
It's located in
a small canyon area
where
you hike down to the entrance and stairs that actually take you into the tunnel.  It’s dark, and
we will
need light. 
L
anterns
are
at the guidepost
. W
e could use some of those, or pick up some flashlights on the way over.  You’re going to want something that will light your immediate area, but not penetrate too far into the tunnel.  We don’t want them to know we are coming.”

Halverson
studied
map from Cindy’s other side, “One of us
will
stand as scout while the other two go in.  Do two way radios work in the tunnels?” 
He looked at Jack in question.

"Yes."

“Then we use those. H
awke, do you have some in your pack?”

“No, I packed with the idea that I would be traveling alone so two way radios were not on my list.  I do have a flashlight though.” 

“It’s okay,” Motioning to the packs left by the chopper, Halverson spoke up, “I have everything we are going to need.  Montgomery got a hold of us just before we took off, and I grab
bed
provisions. We have flashlights, radios, flash bangs, concussion grenades,
and three
automatic rifles, fully silenced of course, and equipped with
AVP
4 tactical lights so we can see in the dark if we need to, which I’m g
uessing is a possibility if we'
re going down tunnels.”  Halverson looked at Jack for confirmat
ion of the location.

Jack nodded in the affirmative. 
Rubbing Cindy’s shoulder, he
stood up. 

She gathered the map and followed suit
.
S
he didn’t like feeling towered over. 

Halverson watched the two of them with interest.  He had ne
ver seen Hawke take to anyone this fast.  I
t was months before she and Chase hooked up, and he could tell
she wasn’t really into their
relationship. 

He wondered what Chase thought of the whole situation, he had seen the look on his face when Chase had climbed into the chopper.  That agent was one unhappy man.  He wasn’t sure if it was from the loss of Agent Hawke’s companionship, or the bullet in his shoulder, but he knew anger when he saw it.  He was fa
miliar enough with the feeling.

Cindy packed up her gear and slipped the gun she’d recently used into the waistband of her pants.  Hefting her pack onto her shoulder, she went over to the new stash of weaponry and resupplied herself, running an appreciative hand over the automatic rifles.  She turned to Jack. 

“Which way?”

“We’re closer to the National Lava Beds than to where we started.  I have a friend there.  We can borrow his truck.  It’s outfitted and ready for use.  He leaves it at the Forestry building.  We work Search and Rescue together.  I’ve known him for years.”  He watched as Cindy processed the information. 

“I need to talk with Agent Halverson for a moment.  Pardon us.”  She took Halverson by the arm and led him a distance away.  “I believe he has a point.  We need a vehicle.” 

Halverson took a moment to answer.
“The secrecy of the mission hasn’t b
een compromised as of yet.  Wilde
’s been brought onto the team, and if his friend has a vehicle we can use without involving the other man I think that would be perfect.  Let’s go.” His tone held a note of arrogance that rubbed her the wrong way, “We don’t have much time to lose if they already have the information.  Let’s not give them time to use it.”

Cindy bristled.  He was right, but he didn’t need to act like a jerk. They needed to get going before Jaguar could utilize any of the information from the satellite they had gathered.  If
Jag
were hiding in the tunnels it
would
take some tricky work to flush them out. 

It was dark, twilight had long since passed.  Cindy walked over to where Jack waited for them.

“It looks as though we go with your plan for now.  Halverson and I agree that if you can borrow the rig without your friend getting involved that would be the best scenario.  How far is it from here?”

“About an hour, I can give him a call.  The ranger station will be closed at this hour, they close at dusk.”  Jack turned and pulled out his cell from it’s holder on his belt. 

Cindy noted that he als
o wore a nasty looking military-
issue knife.  His eyes met her
s
and held them, instant heat rolled over her as his eyes turned to milk chocolate.  She recalled how he had used that knife earlier and felt herself dampen. 

He spoke into the cell
, “Patrick.”  He waited, “I have a situation
.” 

There was a pause. 

“I know.
I need to borrow your truck at the station.  It’s important.  No, we don’t need you right now
. Y
ou can finish your date.  Sorry man.” 

Cindy’s eyebrows raised and his mouth went up in a slow grin as he continued to talk his friend into helping. 

“So, can I count on you?” 

Cindy shifted restlessly, he w
aited his eyes not leaving hers.

“Of course.  Later and thanks.”  He hung up the phone.  “He’ll help.  Let’s get started, the station may be about an hour from here, but it is a rough hike, and your ankle must be killing you.”

Cindy couldn’t agree more, “Which way is the fastest?”

“We can stay on the same trail it branches off and leads to another path that is manmade.  I take it sometimes when I am hiking from the cabin to the station to see Patrick.  We will want to stay off the lava fields as much as possible.  We’re entering National protected lands, and we need to respect that even if we are on an important mission to save the world.”  He grinned at his own joke and turned towards Halverson, “You ready?”

Halverson picked up his pack in answer.  Jack started off down the trail the moonlight bright enough at this point to see where they were
going
and
he
didn’t seem to have any trouble following the path they were
on.  Cindy stumbled
a couple of
times;
but
was generally able to keep pace.

As Jack predicted,
the hike
took them about an hour to get to the station.  A Toyota 4
-
Runner
parked
outside and a light shone out from the buildings windows.  They approached carefully.
It
appeared no one but Jack’s
friend
remained
inside
at this time of night
. T
hey walked up to the back door of the station.  Jack opened the unlocked
entrance
without any
hindrance
.  Cindy looked at him with a raised brow, and cocked her head to the side.

His
smiled wide. Jack
went to push open the door, “We don’t have much theft in the area.”
He s
hrugg
ed his broad shoulders, and
continued into the room followed quickly by Cindy and Halverson. “Hey Patrick, I thought I told you we didn’t need you on this one,”
Jack
called to his friend.  The place was stacked with bookshelves. 

“Well, I ca
n’t very well let you have all the fun.”  Patrick strode around the corner and stopped in his tracks.  “Ms. Huntington, I didn’t expect to see you here.”  He looked at her
with an appreciative gleam in his eye.

Jack placed a poss
essive hand on Cindy’s shoulder, and
glanced
from her to his friend.

“You two know each ot
her?” he inquired of them both with an edge to his tone.
 

Cindy
shrugged her shoulders and grinned at Patrick
.  She didn’t take her eyes off
him
and the fact start
ed
to grate on Jack. 

What the Hell was she doing making eyes at his best friend?

Her gaze finally land
ed back on Jack
, “Patrick was my guide back at the Inn.”  Her hazel eyes seemed to silently thank him, but
Jack ground his teeth as her gaze
slid back to look at Patrick. “So
,
you two are friends. That’s interesting.  I should probably let you know that my name is not Alice Huntington,
it
'
s
Cindy Hawke.  Agent Cindy Hawke
,
and this is Agent Brett Halverson.  We want to thank you for the use of your vehicle.” 

Patrick stepped forward and shook
Halverson
’s hand as they were introduced
. 
“I hope you don’t think I’m going to let my best friend run off and have another adventure without me.  I mean, he left me behind last time and now look at him.”  Patrick stated as Jack glared at him.

“That’s not fair.  I’m doing just fine.  You don’t need to babysit.”  Jack growled out.  He cut his friend with a glare and
looked beseechingly at Cindy.

She laughed out loud.  They were a pair.

Cindy couldn’t believe it. Fate had a funny way of dealing w
ith her life.  It seemed she would
not
be
destined for field work.  One thing after another kept stopping her from succeeding.  The Agency would never agree to let a real civilian like Patrick in on the case.  She grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him to the side. 

“We can’t do this.  Pa
trick can’t come along.  There'
s too much at risk to involve a civilian.  He’s a liability.”  She aimed her e
yes full force on Jack, and
smiled when he stirred.  She stepped close. “We can
’t
endanger the mission.  Your friend could get hurt.” 

Jack winced.

“Look,” Patrick approached them, “I know that
I'
m not part of your special ops team, or whate
ver is going on here, but Jack's my friend. We'
ve been working as a team these last few months on search and rescue missions.  I can help you.  At least let me get you to wherever you’re going and I will leave it at that.” 

Cindy held his gaze firm and made the decision.  She was the leader.  Patrick would probably just follow them anyway. 

“If he wants to die then fine, who am I to stop him?” Cindy waved a hand giving her assent. 
She was so getting assigned to a desk after this.

Halverson
stood
in the corner, a strange smile
on his face.  Did he think
she couldn’t handle the situation?  Not likely.

“You
'
r
e
Jack’s responsibility.  This is a need to know only, and you don’t need to know much.”  Patrick shrugged and she continued, “We need to get to the lava tube. 
I
t’s under renovation and we
will
need to app
roach from a direction that would
allow us to come in undetected.” 

Patrick moved over to the nearest bookshelf.

“Come on.
..
” He search
ed
the shelves. “There’s a map in here somewhere and we can determine the best route to the tube.”  Patrick pulled a map off the shelf and unfolded it laying the paper out on the table next to Halverson.  “Unfortunately
,
there’s really only one entrance in and out of the tube itself.  I’m assuming this is going to be da
ngerous.”  He glanced up at her.