Fatal Honor: Shadow Force International (21 page)

I was
. “What did you say to him?”

“Nothing much.”

She started humming again as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and secured it.

“Charlotte…? Tell me.”

A grin split her face as she looked over at him. “I said I was going to dump you after Transylvania and I’d see him when I got back. That I’d take all of your money and have it for him when I returned. But if he touched me again without my consent, his balls would turn black and fall off. He got the message. Sometimes playing the role of Gypsy has its perks.”

“Like back in San Diego with Ted.”

“Yeah, like that.”

The sun sank below the horizon in the rearview. A new song came on the radio. Charlotte sang along softly and, this time when she reached for Miles’ hand on the gearshift, he didn’t shake her off.

Chapter 13

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Romania

T
HE
C
ABIN
W
AS
shrouded in darkness, difficult to see from this far away, even with their night vision goggles. Nestled into a bend halfway up a mountain, it was hidden from normal view by a grove of trees and overgrown vegetation.

Charlotte had a moment of deja vu. Everything looked exactly the same as when she’d left the old horse trainer’s cabin nearly ten months ago except for a little more overgrown vegetation covering the barn and creeping into the main yard.

The locals didn’t consider the spot where the cabin nestled a true mountain—not compared to the surrounding Carpathians—but it was still a dangerous trek up that winding road to where the cabin sat.

“No lights,” Miles said, his face hidden behind his binoculars. “No tracks up that road that I can see. Looks deserted.”

Hopefully, it had been since the day she’d left. “We should still be careful. If Nico figured out that’s where I was living, he might have set up surveillance or a trap to catch me if I returned. My handler knew the place, too, so MI6 could have planted cameras and or listening devices.”

“We’ll initiate a full sweep when we get closer.”

“I’ll initiate a sweep.” She handed him a handheld radio. “You stay here and keep an eye out for visitors. Warn me if you see anyone. Once I’m sure the place is clean, I’ll let you know.”

“Good idea, except you’re staying here. I’ll sneak up to the cabin and sanitize it if necessary. Then you can join me.”

“Are you going to do this every time?”

He lowered the binoculars. The moon overhead gave her a clear view of his face, the planes and ridges, the light growth of beard along his jaw. “Do what?”

“Argue with me about taking the lead on my mission.”

“I don’t know what the big deal is.”

Of course he didn’t. “You kidnapped me from my motel room, then inserted yourself into my mission. You drove the boat, flew the plane, drove the truck. You insisted I stay behind in the plane last night when I saw Jaxon sneaking around outside.”

His dark brows lowered. “You drove the truck back from the bar. I let you come with me into the forest last night.”

“I got to drive for two whole miles. Yippee. And I only got to go into the forest as your backup after I insisted.”

“What’s the problem?”

“The problem is you’re calling all the shots about everything. All I wanted was my necklace back. Now I have this full blown…I don’t know what.”

He shrugged. “You’re used to working alone. I get that.”

“It’s not just that, Miles. I can’t…I don’t… Ugh!” Men. How to explain so he would understand? “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, but I feel like I have to keep reminding you that this is
my
mission. I call the shots. I take the risks.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “And I have to keep reminding you that I’m your bodyguard. My job is to keep you safe.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.” She saw flecks of the moon reflected in his eyes. “This isn’t a safe mission, no matter which way we look at it.”

No, it was definitely not safe, not when he was standing so close the heat from his body engulfing her. Not when he was holding onto her and staring down at her under a silvery moon.

And not when the cabin where she’d fallen in love with him was only a few hundred yards away.

It was if he felt it too…that tug to get there, to see it again. “There were nights after I made it back to the States,” he said, “when I wondered if I’d dreamed it. The cabin. If I’d dreamed you up and what happened between us in there.”

His lips lowered and brushed across hers, their breath mingling in the night air. “It was no dream,” she whispered.

He rubbed a thumb along her jawline. “Then let’s do our sweep. The faster we clear the place, the sooner I can get those pants off you.”

She rose on her toes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “It still makes sense for one of us to be lookout while the other sanitizes. You’re the Evasion God from all accounts, so you should be lookout.”

He grinned down at her. “Is this the plan, then? To seduce me into doing things your way?”

“Is it working?”

“Hell, yes. Get your ass up to that cabin, Agent Carstons, before my hard-on makes it impossible for me to walk.”

She laughed and started to take off on foot when he grabbed her and pulled her back. All the joking was gone. “Be careful.”

She planted another kiss on him. “You too. No getting hurt or dying before I get you alone.”

“Don’t worry.” His grin broadened. “I’m allergic to death.”

T
HE
T
ERRAIN
W
AS
rocky, slippery, and her travel made more difficult because she was staying off the trail that led directly to the cabin’s front door. The night vision goggles helped her see where she was going, but fog had moved in. The woods were so thick, little snow covered the ground. Dead pine needles crunched under foot, releasing their scent into the air as the maze of tree trunks forced her to serpentine her way up the mountainside. At times, the fog was so thick, the trees seemed to pop up out of nowhere, reminding her of the boat ride.

The idea that someone had used a drone to track her kept nagging at her brain. Nico liked his toys, but generally his toys were women. Not that he didn’t enjoy big screen TVs and cell phones, but he was more likely to buy a case of vodka and a rocket launcher than a drone.

The gray market dealt in everything under the sun and so did Nico. Perhaps he’d branched out to drones or ended up with one after a bartering session.

Most likely, however, the drone came from her employer.

Who and how? How did they find her in America when they couldn’t apparently find her in Nico’s compound?

They weren’t looking for you then
.

She heard a branch behind her snap and she froze. There are things in these woods besides the occasional human. Bears, who should be hibernating by now, but some wouldn’t until deep winter. Wolves. She didn’t want to use a flashlight or her weapon. Either could give away her position. But if push came to shove, she’d rather give up her position to the bad guys than die from a bear mauling.

Peripheral vision was limited by the goggles. She stayed put, waiting, like she’d patiently waited when she’d been watching Miles. Counting her breaths and keeping her body pinned against a tree, she saw a faint movement off to her right a minute later. She waited, holding her breath, then saw the reflection of a mammalian retina as it checked her out before skittering away. The size and movement suggested a possum.

Hopefully there wasn’t a big, bad bear chasing it.

The concentration of brown bears in these mountains was the largest in the world. Just her luck, she’d run into one. Nico and MI6 would both get cheated.

The crazy irony—or maybe the bone-deep chill spreading in her veins—nearly made her laugh out loud. Instead she took a fortifying, icy breath and continued her journey.

The cabin’s nearly invisible footprint helped whoever was inside stay hidden. Sneaking up on it without being seen wasn’t the easiest, but the overgrowth helped her keep her presence a secret. She scanned the area for trip wires or sensors of any kind. No cameras hanging in the trees, no appearance that any human presence had been there in a long, long time.

Nine months, perhaps?

Still, she took her time, retracing her steps around the place multiple times. When she was sure there were no security hurdles outside, she shimmied up to one of the cabin’s windows, removed her night vision goggles and peered inside.

Squares of moonlight shone on the living room floor. The couple of pieces of furniture were right where she and Miles had left them, logs still stacked next to the fireplace. Because the cabin was little more than two rooms and a bath, the bedroom and living room were one. She could just make out the corner of the bed, the edge of a sheet draping down to the floor.

The last time she had been here, she had been with Miles. Now she was back and he was with her. They couldn’t climb the mountain and explore the cave until daylight. Thank God the cabin was still here so they had a place to warm up and sleep.

And maybe do a few other things.

She edged around to look in the kitchen window and saw the same tableau as the living room. Everything frozen in time. Mugs she’d washed out and left to drain on a dishtowel on the counter. A couple pieces of dried kindling piled on the floor near the wood-burning stove. It looked exactly the way it had when she left it.

The best part of this scenario was that she was almost done with this mission. Maybe, just maybe, unlike last time, she and Miles actually had a chance at a future together.

Charlotte jimmied the lock on the back door and let herself in. A quick survey of the rooms revealed no hidden cameras or bugs.

She grabbed her two-way radio and hit the button. “All clear, Miles.”

She hoped that after this mission their future was all clear too.

A
LL
C
LEAR
.

Miles heard the words but for him nothing was clear. The snow, the cold, the mountain towering over him…

He couldn’t breathe. Memories flashed through his mind. The screams, the explosion, the fire. Men he knew and loved gone in a ball of flames.

SEALs didn’t refer to each other as brothers for no reason.

His memories of that night were sketchy. He’d been positioned to lead his team, first man out of the helicopter. When the warning came from the pilot that a missile was headed their way, he hadn’t had time to react before the helo tilted.

He was tossed out, his next memory that of falling, the snow below and the sky above becoming a single blur of white and gray. He remembered hitting the ground, bouncing, hitting again and rolling, eating snow as he went. Before he came to a stop, the helicopter exploded. Shock and pain roared through him, his vision blinded by the explosion, the sudden loss.

The memories continued in full blown high-def. Debris rained down, screams bouncing off the side of the mountain. His world had turned upside down.

“Miles?” Charlotte’s voice woke him from his reverie, concern lacing her tone. “Are you there?”

The memories were still thick as the fog rising from the trees as he clicked on his radio. “Copy that,” he said, his voice ragged. “On my way.”

“There’s a tree down across the lane that leads to the cabin. You’ll have to leave the truck there and walk the rest of the way.”

Nothing could be easy with this trip. Shaking off the memories of the past, he drove the truck to the spot, eyed the tree intersecting the lane. It wasn’t your normal sized pine. This thing was an ancient behemoth that appeared to have toppled down the mountain. There was no moving it.

He grabbed his backpack and started hiking the last quarter mile to the cabin. Physical movement helped keep the memories at bay, but the sucking black hole in his chest burned with every breath. His ankle—the one he’d broken in his fall that day—ached with every step up the mountainside. At least his route to the cabin was more direct than Charlotte’s had been since he didn’t have to worry about avoiding surveillance.

She opened the cabin’s front door upon his approach. She was smiling from ear to ear, like a 1950’s housewife greeting her husband after he’d had a long day at work. “Everything is just as we left it. We can sleep in an actual bed tonight.”

He nodded, following her inside.

She’d lit an oil lamp that gave off a soft glow, chattering about how much she loved the cabin. When he didn’t respond, she turned to face him. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Dropping his backpack next to the fireplace, he glanced around. The place seemed like it had been stuck in a time warp. It was smaller than he remembered, smelled less like Charlotte and more like musty linens and old wood.

His hands shook as he removed his gloves. “I’ll get a fire going.”

Which was the last thing he wanted to do. The cabin was freezing, so they needed heat, but the flashbacks had left him jittery. Starting a fire would only trigger the memories again.