Crystal Clear (15 page)

Cindy nodded in confirmation, the words
well duh
forming in her brain.

“I also assume that you have all the equipment needed to handle any sort of fire power that you may come up against.” 

Cindy ran a hand through her hair; at least he wasn’t dumb, even if he was a player.  “We’re s
ufficiently supplied.”  She had
a little trouble
concentrating because Jack had
moved up behind her and she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck as she looked over the map. 

“Give me a minute.” 
As she r
each
ed around, Cindy
pulled
off her backpack and set out the
laptop.  Opening it up
,
she quickly dialed in the coordinates and a virtual map popped up in the screen.  She felt the heat from the bodies pressing close
behind her. Electricity arced between
Jack
and her as he stood
on her left.  Shaking her head, she focused. 

“It looks as though
we can approach from the topside of the cave.  There’s likely to be a guard up there, but I’m sure he will pose no problem.  We can use the flash bangs for anyone inside the cave itself.” Halverson pointed at the screen as he spoke
,
creating tactics on the fly.

“Um, no.”  Patrick interrupted him.

Cindy glanced back at him, “Excuse me?”

“I said no, that tube is one solid length of lava.  The guides aren’t even allowed to bring lanterns with flame in them down there.  The whole area’s unstable with flammable gaseous fumes.  We can’t use anything that’ll cause even so much as a spark.” Patrick paced away from their huddle and shook his head emphatically as he spoke.

W
ell shit, that just blew all my
plans
, Cindy was not used to being so unprepared. 

She g
lanc
ed over at Halverson and
read the frustration on his face as well.  He liked to blow things up
. H
e was the explosive expert on the team.  She smirked, good, she didn’t like his way of doing things anyhow. 

“Well Jack,” she s
tood up and turned around. Jack leaned on the table
only inches from her and didn’t move back.  She placed a hand on his chest, “It looks like all that special
hand-to-hand
training of yours is going to come in handy.  All the ammo that Halverson brought along isn’t going to be of much use unless we encounter Jaguar at the entrance.  They’re not going to want any lookouts where the local rangers are going to see them though.  They don’t want people nosing around down there.”

Jack agreed. 

“We are here.”  Jack pointed to a spot on the map in the middle of a la
rge reddish tan area. A
s
mall dot with letters signified
they were at the National Lava Beds tourist site.  He moved the curser and tapped on the spot, a diagram of the lava tube walk showed up.  He pointed to the top of the cave area.

“We could come in from here.”  Jack’s finger moved to the screen and his arm brushed along her breast, heat flared instantly and she sucked in a breath.  He turned toward her, his breath fanning her cheek. 

“If you want to stick around for a few days afterwards, Patrick gives a f
abulous tour.”  Jack’s voice fi
ll
ed with
amusement as he brushed a finger down her cheek.

Cindy gave Jack a heated look, but shook her head.  Now was not the time.  They needed to focus.

“I don’t really think
that’s going to be possible
.  Once the mission is over we’re going to have to debrief and then we’ll likely be assigned to another mission.  That’s the way it works most of the time.” Cindy sighed in resignation.  That really was the way the department worked.  She’d be lucky if she saw him in the office every once in a while afte
r they were done
. 

Jack understood missions, but everyone needed some down time now and then, and it didn’t sound like Cindy took any for herself at all, but Halverson was nodding his head in agreement.  Maybe they were all like that.

“Let’s get down to business,” Halverson ordered
in a gruff voice.

“Of course,” Jack audibly sighed
. He moved away from Cindy. I
t was har
d to concentrate when they
st
ood
too close.  He pulled out a tourist pamphlet.

“This is a map of the tube itself.  It’s a mile long formation that descends steeply at the mouth of the cave and then graduates to a softer downward slope.  There are two basic sections where they could possibly set up a temporary base.  The first is here, just past the low bridge area into the sand gardens.”  Jack pointed to a spot on the map located about three quarters of the way down the tunnel.  “The other is the area down by the sand plug.  Both are fairly spacious and
the
area
is
powered by lights from generators.  Those generators can possibly sustain electrical equipment such as computers and communication devices.  The other impo
rtant thing to remember is
the air temperature in the caves
which remains around thirty-five to forty-two
degrees Fahrenheit
. S
o
,
it will be cold.  I hope you packed a sweater in that thing.” 

Jack glanced at the packs sitting close by and gave both Cindy and Halverson a pointed look.  His heated gaze fell on Cindy’s b
reasts as she inhaled.  She
squared her shoulders at
his comment and her nipples
strain
ed
against the tight material of her t-shirt.  He felt his groin start to harden and he quickly looked back at the map.

Ha
lverson hadn’t noticed. He intently studied
the map in front of them. 

Pointing to the first area,
Halverson spoke up, “I know you stated
we can’t use any kind of firepower in there, but is the whole thing going to go up in flames if the other guys start shooting at us?” 

Patrick shook his head.
“I don’t know. N
o one had been down there with anything that might se
t off the fumes for a long time. Y
ears.” 

“So
, we go in silently. N
o guns unless absolutely necessary,” Cindy licked her lips.

Ja
ck got
distracted for ju
st a moment with the thought that for
the first
time he’d rather be kissing a woman
than hunting the bad guys.  He closed his eyes for a moment.  He needed to refocus on the mission.  No point dwelling on something he may ne
ver have again.  Not that he would give
up, but it had to be put on the back burner for at least the next few hours. 

“We can use stack tactics here, and here.”  He pointed to the areas in the tunnel that narrowed right bef
ore the opening to the two spots
designated for possible infilt
ration. 

Cindy studied the spaces he
talk
ed
about.  He was right, stack tactics would work well there.  They would line up against the sides of the wa
lls and move forward as one unit
.  If they came upon trouble they would be able to handle it with an element of surprise.

Both Patrick and Cindy
nodd
ed
in agreement.  Halverson looked on stoically.  Jack didn’t know what it was about the man, but he didn’t trust him. 

Halverson had the appearance of a mercenary.  Someone who would
hire out for any reason,
Jack made the decision to stick close by Cindy.  She needed someone tru
stworthy in her life, and he stood
ready to fill the job.

Jack continued, “After we file in on the first area, Patrick can scout ahead and let us know what possible obstacles we face in the main cavern.  I assume you have standard communication equipment with you.” 

At Cindy’s nod he continued, “Patrick, do you have anything other than your truck that can get us there?”

“I have the ATV’s
we use when we cruise the back areas looking for poachers.  We can use those.” 

Jack grinned at his friend, leave it to Patrick.  “Good, then we can get down to business.  Patrick can take the lead and scout ahead.  He has the Ranger’s uniform so it won’t look that suspicious if he is poking around looking for answers.” 

Cindy brightened.
“Of course, that’s the perfect cover.”  She looked over at Patrick, a sudden gleam in her eye. “Do you have any more uniforms here that would fit us?”

“Sure, we have a locker room in the back.  Most of the Ranger’s tend to keep stuff around in case they’re called in.  I’m sure you can all
find things there.”

Cindy
practically glow
ed
and Jack was more than a little irritated that he didn’t have anything to do with it.  He didn’t know his jealous strea
k ran so deep.  He would
have to get a handle on that.

“Jack,” She beamed, “We can use the uniforms as cover.  It’ll throw anyone wondering what we are doing around there.  It’s perfect!” 

Jack couldn’t disagree with her.  They went to the lockers kept at the station and grabbed uniforms. 

Cindy found a locke
r labeled Jill across the front. S
he smiled as s
he picked up the tan outfit, and
glanced over at Jack who had taken one for himself and was putting it on. 

He eve
n looks good in that nasty kacki-
color that washes everyone else out,
she thought as
she pulled the uniform she’d picked on and snuck another glance at Jack. 

Jack
watch
ed
her as she buttoned up the shirt.  She hooded her eyelids and gave him what her friend’s like
d
to call ‘the bedroom look’.  He sucked in his breath and took the
few steps over to where she
st
ood
. 

“You keep that up and we might be a little late
to our meeting.”  His voice g
ruff with constrained passion
,
he kept his tone low so the others wouldn’t hear.

Cindy felt warmth spread in her breasts as they yearned for his touch.  She started to lean into him, his natural smell of fresh water and woods invaded her head, and suddenly decided that was a bad idea.  She moved back. 

Her head smacked the locker behind her, “Damn it.”  Rubbing her head where it had banged on the locker. “That wouldn’t be the best idea, would it?”

“No, we’d better get going.”  He stated as he leaned in with a hand on the lockers behind her.  His other hand covered hers, “Maybe just a taste before we go.”  Sculpted lips settled on hers.  The room seemed to fade as his tongue cut a path past her lips and she lost herself in the moment, her hands curling up around his neck to bury in his thick dark hair.

“Wow!  Jack, you found yourself a hot one!” Patrick’s voice interrupted from the front of the room
,
followed by a whistle. 

Jack broke off the kiss and leaned his forehead against Cindy’s to steady him and stop the urge to kill his best friend.

“Come on!  We don’t have much night left, if you want to use the darkness for cover we have to get moving.”  Patrick left the locker room and Jack let out a sigh of relief. 

“He’s right.  We need to get moving.”  His hands went to the front of her shirt and he briskly buttoned up the front.  It
would be
safer if she was covered.

“There, we look like proper Rangers.  Should we be discovered, they’ll never know the difference.  Let’s go.”

Cindy nodded her head.  Still overwhelmed by the intense emotions that she felt for Jack, she gathered her gear and went to meet them out front. 

By the time she got outside, and had composed herself, Patrick had all the ATV’s ready to go.  There were only three.  She glanced at Patrick and cocked her head to the side in question.  He just shrugged and motioned for her and Jack to get on the last one with a mischievous glint in his eye. 

Halverson was loaded down with equipment on his.  The laughter on Patrick’s face told her he had planned this as she climbed on behind Jack.  Her arms went around his torso, and she could feel the hardened muscle bunch under her hands.  Again she felt flushed.  She had the sudden thought of cats in heat.  Her body pressed up against Jack’s and she would swear his muscles tightened even more.

They took off heading down side paths used by the Forest Rangers.  She was glad they had Patrick along if only for that reason.  She didn’t know if they would survive the day, but she knew that by the time the sun set again, the mission would either be a success or failure depending on what happened in the next twenty-four hours.