Dead Alert (5 page)

Authors: Bianca D' Arc

BOOK: Dead Alert

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“Stop flirting with my girl, lieutenant,” came Matt’s disgruntled reply. It had become a somewhat standard joke between them since Matt and Sandra had become a couple. Sam didn’t have any romantic interest in Sandra, but he liked and respected her as much as he did the commander. It was harmless teasing between friends.

“Sir, yes, sir,” Sam replied crisply to Matt’s disgusted grunt.

“Call me when you have news. And Sandy says to take care of yourself. She doesn’t want to have to patch up your bleeding ass again.”

Sam heard a commotion in the background and realized he’d probably either woken the couple with his phone call or interrupted something a little more intimate.

The commander hung up before Sam could make a smartass reply but it was just as well. Matt was still his commander, for all their easy camaraderie. It was important to keep that boundary, even as their friendship deepened. Someday, when this was all over, they would probably hang out together, but for now there had to be a slight demarcation line between commander and those he commanded.

Meanwhile, Sam had work to do and time was not on his side. There was little he could do about it tonight. He decided to rest up. He’d have another chance for action again tomorrow and he wanted to be at his sharpest. Emily wasn’t a fool and he had to be on his toes around her—whether she was on the good side, or heaven forbid, the bad.

Chapter Four

S
am dreamed of Emily. Hot dreams. Bothersome dreams. Dreams that had him taking a cold shower the moment he got out of bed and working to suppress memory of them when he met her in the lobby.

It did no good. The sight of her fresh face and creamy skin brought back the heated, sweaty imaginings of his overactive mind from the night before. That single kiss they’d shared outside her door had fueled his fantasies in a way no woman ever had before. To Sam, Emily was the stuff dreams were made of.

Erotic dreams, mostly. Although in other dreams they simply were together, laughing and enjoying their time together. Those dreams were almost as sweet as those that featured a heavy, sexual beat of them making love. At least in his mind.

Sam found himself grateful that she wasn’t able to read his mind as he greeted her in the lobby of the hotel. She’d called briefly to say she was heading downstairs and he’d barely been able to grunt in response. He was doing better now but she still turned him on. He’d have to deal with it. They both had jobs to do and walking around with a woody wasn’t going to help his cause—either with the woman or with the task he’d come here to perform.

“Are you feeling adventurous this morning?” Emily greeted him with a mischievous smile.

Oh, yeah. His dreams had definitely been adventurous, but somehow he got the feeling that wasn’t what she was referring to. Still, best to be cautious. He leaned back on his heels and regarded her.

“Depends what you have in mind.”

“Breakfast,” she replied quickly. “But not here. This place has the standard eggs, bacon, and heart attack on a plate menu. I was thinking of something a little different. Question is, are you up for it?”

That daring edge in her voice was a siren’s call to him. The more he got to know of her, the more he both dreaded and delighted in the fact that they seemed to be kindred spirits.

“I’m up for anything you can dish out, captain.” Hell, he’d eat bamboo shoots and alfalfa sprouts if it made her happy. Lord knew he’d eaten worse in his time.

“I got us both set up for late checkout so as long as we’re back here by noon, our stuff can stay in the rooms. What do you say we head out to parts unknown, get breakfast at a little bistro I’m thinking about, then head straight to Saturday Market from there?”

“Sounds like a plan.” He nodded and followed her out of the lobby and down the street.

She was downright bubbly this morning and he wondered what had brought about the subtle change in her energy. Yesterday she’d been a cautious, calm professional. The day before she’d been slightly harassed and wary. Today she was open and free. Had he done that? Had their kiss brought out her lighter side as it had brought out the sexual perv in him?

Well, maybe not perv. But some of the things he’d dreamed about last night were definitely pushing the envelope. He wondered if she’d be interested in testing the kinkier side of life with him as he watched her sashay down the sidewalk slightly in front of him.

She turned suddenly and caught him staring.

“Do my eyes deceive me or was my first officer just ogling my butt? I could have you keel hauled for that, mister.” The twinkle in her eye told him she was definitely kidding.

“Good thing we’re not in the Navy, then.” He caught up to her and took her hand in his.

He didn’t know why he’d done it. He hadn’t held hands with a girl since high school. Somehow, though, this felt right. Sort of old fashioned and good. Pure.

Unlike the steamy sexual thoughts he’d been having about Emily since last night. Better to tamp those down so he could function today. At least a little.

Being with Emily was proving harder on his self-restraint than he would have believed just two short days ago. She was a dynamo in a size petite captain’s uniform and more competent in the cockpit than he’d have credited. Boy, had he been wrong about her. From the get-go, he’d had the wrong impression, gleaned from the thin personnel file and lousy photo he’d been given as background information before he went undercover.

She was nothing like the serious, harassed looking woman in the photo. There was something almost vulnerable about her at times that appealed to his protective instincts. At other times, she was fierce. A good partner to have at your back in battle. He’d never thought of any other woman in those terms. Not even the women warriors on his new team. Sure, he respected them all, but he didn’t know them half as well as he thought he knew Emily after only a short acquaintance.

Of course, he’d never kissed any of them. Or had naughty dreams about them. No, that was just Emily. A woman who was working her way under his skin without even trying.

They walked toward the downtown area where the market was located. Emily stopped short of the busy market area and ducked into a small bistro.

Emily surprised him with her choice of restaurants. It had a fun ambience and eclectic menu. Lots of health food dressed up in appetizing ways. If she thought he’d be put off by the choices, she was sadly mistaken. He ordered fresh cinnamon wheat toast and a big portion of something called rice and raisins.

It was served hot and was basically a bowl full of seven or eight different kinds of rice that were mostly of the brown and long grain varieties, dotted with plump raisins. The waitress brought a bunch of fussy little dishes along with it, including a small carafe of milk and his choice of brown sugar, molasses, honey, or maple syrup and with a few different choices of chopped nuts and other things he could use to dress up the rice. He went to town, much to Emily’s amusement, decking out his bowl of steaming rice and raisins with a little bit of everything.

“Nothing fazes you, does it?” She shook her head as he dug into his bowl of unconventional breakfast.

“Not much. I’ve eaten worse in the service, Em. If you want to stump me you’ll have to try harder than this.” He winked at her and they shared a grin as she buttered her whole wheat toast.

“Duly noted.”

She nibbled daintily on the toast while he chowed down on the unexpectedly good concoction in his bowl. He’d have to remember this and try it sometime when he got back to base. He liked experimenting with different foods though he wasn’t much of a chef.

“So what was your rank in the Army?” she asked out of the blue.

“Lieutenant. Wasn’t that in my file?” He wondered if she’d read his file. Was she testing him or fishing for information?

“I only glanced at your file before they put it in the drawer. Officially, Buddy hired you. He’s the one who read through all the statistics and reports. We do background checks on all our flight crew. You can’t be too careful these days with all the smuggling and illegal goings on.”

“Have you had problems with that kind of thing before?”

“No. Nothing like that. But I like to think our careful hiring practices are the reason we’ve been problem-free to this point.”

“You did have a couple of fatal crashes in recent months, though. See, I researched you guys before I accepted the position.” He tipped his imaginary hat to her belying the seriousness of his words. Hopefully if he kept everything in a friendly tone she’d continue to be open with him.

A frown wrinkled her brow. “Yeah, we had some bad things happen recently.”

“A friend of mine said weather was most likely to blame for one of the crashes, and scuttlebutt had pilot error down for the other one. I asked around before I signed on the dotted line. I have a vested interest in my own safety, after all.”

She chuckled but he could see she was still troubled by the reminder of the personnel they’d lost. Her tone was somber when she continued.

“The final reports aren’t in yet but the NTSB cleared us of responsibility on a preliminary basis. The toxicology report on Ernie Young’s body—he was the pilot involved in last October’s incident—said he was drunk as a skunk. I knew Ernie liked to party in his off duty hours but I never would’ve thought he’d be stupid enough to fly in that condition.”

“What about the other one?”

“There wasn’t enough left of the plane or the pilot to do an autopsy. At least that’s my understanding. There hasn’t been a lot of information forthcoming on that investigation. I guess if we were implicated we would’ve heard about it by now.”

“I suppose so.” Sam chomped on his rice, allowing space if she wanted to continue. Sometimes silence was a useful tool to get others to talk. Sure enough, it worked with Emily.

“Still, it’s strange we haven’t heard much. I got the other information through a leak. One of the investigators knew my mother and was willing to give me a hint as to their findings. That’s normal in this kind of situation where the airline isn’t really to blame, or they’re fairly certain that’s the way the final report will turn out. If they think the airline is on the hook, you usually get a cease and desist order to stop flying or a bunch of inspectors show up to rifle through the books and interrogate personnel. None of that has happened. Either way, it’s strange. I think we should’ve heard something by now.”

“When is the final report from the NTSB due?”

“Who knows?” She rolled her eyes in frustration. “I don’t think they’ve given themselves a cutoff date, which is also strange. The whole thing makes me wonder what’s going on. Usually, they’re more efficient.”

“Could it have something to do with politics? I’ve heard sometimes the shift in political parties in Washington can affect how certain government agencies are run.” He put that out there as a red herring. He wanted to see where she’d lead the conversation.

“No, I don’t think so. The NTSB is usually safe from the worst of the political machinations. At least the investigative arm is. Most of those guys have been in the business for years. There’s very little turnover in those ranks. They’re all top notch in the field and they have connections all over the industry.”

Once again, Sam waited to see if she’d continue, chewing his surprisingly delicious breakfast and trying to project his interest in her words. Once again, she didn’t disappoint.

“I think it’s more a case of someone being paid off or warned not to leak any information. I don’t know who and I had no clue that anyone could really have that sort of power or why they’d use it in our case, but I’m leaning more and more toward that belief.”

“That sounds serious.”

“It is.” Her expression was grim for a moment before she deliberately changed the subject. “But it’s only a suspicion. How’s your breakfast? I love this place. They have an inventive menu.”

He let the conversation drift as they both finished eating and headed for the door.

“Do you feel like walking to the market? It’s not too far and it’s not raining, which can be rare in Portland.”

“I’m up for a walk. Lead on, MacDuff.” He opened the door of the restaurant for her and she preceded him out.

After days of comparative inactivity, Sam needed more than a little stroll, but it would have to do. He wasn’t used to going days without a heavy workout or two, but he was in the civilian world now and most regular folks didn’t keep themselves at the peak of readiness at all times. He’d had to lay off the more public workouts, like taking long runs with heavy weights, in order to fit in a little better. Plus, he just didn’t have the time. The mission was on.

It might be a long-term assignment so he had to figure out ways to keep himself in shape while he did his job. He had a set of weights in his condo and was able to spend a few minutes here and there lifting iron to keep his muscles from turning to flab. That would have to do.

He began to notice more activity as they approached the market area. Looked like a good number of Portlanders and tourists were out in force, enjoying the uncharacteristically sunny weather.

Emily stopped abruptly as they were walking past a small dress shop. Sam was surprised. She seemed completely entranced by the Bohemian styles on display.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a gypsy.”

“You’d be surprised.” A flush stole over her face before she turned away.

Sam caught her arm and coaxed her back around to face him. “Wait a minute. I think we should go in and take a closer look. I might be able to pick up something for my sisters. I’m a lousy shopper but those scarves look like stuff they’d like. I need your input, Em, or I’m sure I’ll pick the wrong thing. You’d really be helping me out. What do you say?”

“You have sisters?” She looked like she was debating the idea.

“Two of them.”

“Older or younger?” Yeah, she was definitely leaning toward giving in.

“One of each.”

One delicate eyebrow arched as she looked up at him then relented with a sigh.

“Okay. So what’s the occasion?”

“Vel’s birthday is coming up and Ty’s having a kid. I’ve been meaning to pick up some presents.”

“Your sisters’ names are Vel and Ty?” She walked with him into the shop as he broke out in laughter.