Crystal Clear (8 page)

She tried not to give herself away, but closed her hand over the gun and began a stretch. Stopping midway, she pretended to notice the intruders for the first time. 

She took aim, “Who the hell are you?”

Jack alr
eady had his gun trained on her.
“I’d ask you the same question, but I can see you’ve run into a bit of trouble and I wouldn’t want to be rude.”  Her eyes widened at his gall, “I assume you’re Agent Hawke.  Why don’t we both put our weapons aside, and talk like reasonable people.” 

He made a gesture like he would lay his gun down.  Cindy eyed him warily, caution still in her eyes, she relaxed her pose. 

“Now,” he said, “I’m Jack Wilde; I have a cabin not far from here.  The government called me in to help you, as I’m sure you’ve been apprised.”  He nodded toward to
phone on the ground next to her.
“Copper caught sight of your raft.  It snagged on a fallen tree not far from here.”  He moved in a little closer, slowly, so
she w
ould barely tell he mov
ed
. “Would you care to tell me why bullet holes
are
in it?” 

Cindy’s breath hitched a little, if he wasn’t watching her so closely, he might not have noticed.  She quickly recovered.

“Do you have clearance?”  She waited.

“They filled me in.”

“How do I know you’re who you say you are?  Do you have identification?”  Her hand bec
a
m
e
heavy from holding up the gun so long, but she kept steady.  He nodded that gorgeous head and a piece of dark black hair fell towards his eyes. 

Jack r
each
ed for his pack,
placed his gun in the shoulder holster he w
ore,
and moved to get out his ID.  “Here,” he extended the ID, “I’m supposed to help you complete your mission.  Just let me know what needs to happen and I’ll make sure it gets done, and see it through.”  He handed her the papers and she reached out to take them. 

Their fingers brushed and she felt a jolt of electricity at the contact.  She sucked in her breath at the contact but she regained composure. 
Cindy l
ook
ed
over
the papers and scanned the document
. 
She nodded her head, and r
egrett
ed
the action
. S
he laid her gun on her lap and placed both hands on her head.  It
throbbed
.

“I lost my computer in the fall.” 

He held out her pack which seemed to be in surprisingly good condition.

“You mean this thing?” 
Jack laid it in her lap, and
stepped back, “Looks far more sophisticated than your average hiker would bring with them, I figured it was yours.”  He moved it in front of himself and shook it a little. “Come on and get it then, I won’t hurt you.” 

Cindy glared at him and
rose, bracing
herself on the tree. H
er foot burned like hell, and she stumbled as she took her first step toward him. 

“Whoa, easy.”  His arms went around her and caught her as she
began
to fall.  

She inhaled as she felt the brawn of his biceps under her hands.  Looking up into those
dark chocolate
eyes she felt the jolt again, this time clear to her toes.  This man spell
ed
trouble for her.  She licked her lips.  He on the other hand seemed unaffected.

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” stumbling over her words, Cindy tried desperately to regain her composure. She never had this reaction to men.  What an inconvenient time for hormones to rear their head, she smothered a laugh with a groan.  The timing sucked. 

Jack glanced at her with concern
in his eyes.
“Looks like you need more help than you want to admit.  Come on, my cabin is close, and it appears as though you’re going to need attention for that foot.  I have supplies there.  I promise to be the perfect gentleman.” He turned up the wattage on his killer smile, and she crumbled.

Cindy
remembered Agent Halverson
had told
her about someone in the area close by, and she was really in no shape to argue.  Despite her injuries, she
go
t turned on, and that didn’t happen to her.  She looked at him curiously as he gathered her pack.  He came over and exten
ded her an arm. S
he leaned into him.  Letting him have a killer smile back, his quick intake of breath told her he wasn’t expecting her to take him up on the offer
.
M
aybe he wasn’t as unaffected as he led her to believe.

“I’ll go with you, but remember that I’m heading the mission.”  She just wanted to keep that clear. 

He nodded. 

Cindy allowed herself to practically be carried, and felt the immediate release of pain when she took the weight off her injured foot.  Some ice and a few pain killers would probably see her through, but she didn’t have the ice on hand, and a nice chair sounded really good right about now.

Jack wasn’t going to promise anything.  When he got her back to his place, he could take all the time he needed to get information out of her.  He supported her weight with his own, and started off.  She was small, and it was no hardship having her curvy body pressed up against him.  Thoughts he shouldn’t be having filled his head. 

Through her bruises and scrapes, she was quite a bit more attractive than her picture indicated.  She had dark hazel eyes that he could drown in, and her chestnut hair
flowed
long and wavy
down her back
.  He could only imagine what she would look like cleaned up.  It was
difficult
to keep his focus as he helped her back to the cabin. 

Cindy struggled along, but kept a firm grip on her gun.  She
would not
let someone get the drop on her again.  She didn’t realize the danger aspect of the mission.  Derek Killroy, her boss, and head of F.I.U.W., had told her that it should be a breeze, the big fat liar.  Okay, well maybe he wasn’t fat. 

They were supposedly days ahead of the terrorist group
who
wanted the information contained in the black box of the satellite.  Killroy was being
misled;
either that or someone within the organization was most likely involved with feeding false Intel.  Cindy couldn’t imagine anyone on her own team doing so.  There was too much at stake, and the loyalty with which they all served was faultless. 

Chase had even sacrificed himself for the good of the cause.  Cindy felt a t
winge when she thought of Chase. S
he should call him and let him know everything was okay, but she didn’t want to deal with him.

Jack’s small cabin came into view and Cindy breathed a sigh of relief.  Finally, she could sit down again.  They entered the tiny space, and he sat her down on the bed against the far wall. 

After setting down the packs as well, Jack came back to her side.  The bed shifted as he placed himself next to her, and she sucked in her breath at the sharp pain slic
ing
up her
calf
. 

“Careful,” he said as he eased her leg onto his lap, “now, let’s have a look at that foot.”  He
cuffed
up
her jeans
, and noticed the swelling immediately.  He also noticed the slim structure of her bones and the soft skin as his rough hands held her.  The area around her ankle
already turned
purple with a bruise.  “Looks like you have a sprain.” 

She sucked in her breath again as he slowly moved her foot around in a circular motion. 

“Try to bring it towards you.” 

Cindy
strained and moved her foot slightl
y towards her upper body. 

“Now... a
way.
..
” 

She forced her foot downward. 

“Definitely a sprain, you’ll need to stay off your foot as much as you can.”

“I can’t, I don’t have that kind of time.”  She glared at him.

“Hey now, this isn’t my fault.  I’m
only
letting you know what the doctor will say.  I think I have something around here that’ll help ease the pain and the swelling.”

“We need to get moving.  Jag already has a lead on us, and if they get to the sight before we do then all this will be for nothing.”  She groaned and leaned back against the pillows.  Her foot still cradled in his hand, he massag
ed
the muscle in her calf. 

She couldn’t help but feel as though she
was failing
, and the thought raked on her.  She didn’t fail, it wasn’t an option
.  S
he
wouldn't
fail her first solo mission.

“They don’t have that much of a lead on you.  With my help you should make it there before them.  And if you don’t, there are always other ways of retrieving the info you need.”   

“What are you talking about, if they get their hands on the Intel then who knows what they are going to do with it?  We don’t even know what the box contains.  It could be anything.  We need to get moving soon.”  Her eyes flashed, “You can put my leg down now, I’m sure it will be fine in a few hours.” 

He held her gaze.  She watched as his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t let go of her leg.

“I said you can let go of my leg now,” Cindy stated firmly.  She glanced down at the offending hand and gestured for him to move it off her. 

Jack couldn’t help himself he took
her words
as a challenge.  He moved his hand up higher on her thigh
and jerked her toward his body. His other hand moved
so suddenly behind her head she didn’t have time to respond.  His face was mere inches from hers, and
her breath hitched
.  He
intentionally intimidated
her, and
by the flare he noticed in her eyes,
she liked it. 

“Look the way I see it right now, you need someone looking out for you, and right now that guy is me.  You’re just gonna have to deal with that.” 

The urge to kiss
her
was strong.
Jack’s mouth hovered above hers just a breath away. 
His muscles
tensed
as
she placed a hand on his chest.

“Okay.”  She said it so softly
he almost didn’t hear her
.

“What?”  He didn’t move.

“I said, fine, thank you.” 

He moved away. 

Cindy let her breath out, but she couldn’t tell if it was in relief or not.  The tension still strong, but it eased back just a bit. 
She c
ross
ed
her arms over her chest
and
turned away from him
,
her head flopping on the pillow. 

Cindy knew she was being an ungracious oaf, but she couldn’t afford to get involved with this man, even if he did have exceptionally nice features, and broad shoulders.  She always had a thing for men with nicely muscled physiques. 
So, call
me
shallow
, she didn’t want just any old slob off the street.  Her libido needed something strong to cling to when things got wild, and she did like things wild.  Jack fit the bill perfectly.

Damn
.

“Fine,”
She felt the bed shift as h
e got up and walked across to room. 

She turned back to watch him.  Nothing stopp
ed
her from getting a little eye
-
candy time in before he retired for the evening
. A
lthough
,
where he planned to sleep was a mystery since he had placed her on the only bed in the room. 

He walked into what she assumed was the bathroom, and came out a moment later with a cold compress and a bottle of pills. 
Jack s
et the pill bottle
down by the bedside table,
popped the compress
,
and placed it on her ankle.  She sucked in her breath at the instant cold as it settled into place. 

He s
tr
ode back across the room,
took a glass from the cupboard in the kitchen
,
and poured some water.  Passing back over to where she lay on the bed, he handed her the glass, opened the pill bottle
,
and passed her a tablet. 
She took it from him wordlessly. H
e nodded when she had finished taking the pill. 

“Rest, once the pill takes effect we can talk about what we’re going to do next.  Your backup is on the way.  Their plane evidently
got
delayed for a few hours.  Take the time to relax
. I
t’s going to be hard on you with that foot for the next couple of days.”