Flying High (17 page)

“A Lieutenant Colonel of the Army here to see you, sir,” his secretary said.

“Send her in.” He stood, and the first thing he noticed when she walked in was the difference in her demeanor: less officious now that she was on
his
turf. He stood, but he didn’t shake hands.

“I want to know why a man would attempt to steal my kid, why you’ve had a watch on me and my family 24/7, why you didn’t tell me the score this morning before I left here and why you impounded my car. Let’s have it.” His neck began to pain him, but his anger allowed him to ignore it.

“We were dealing with a group of crooks who steal military and commercial secrets and sell what they get to any person or government that will buy it. In spite of security, they learned that you draw up plans for guerrilla tactics and logistics, something they could make millions on. We impounded your car to see whether anyone had planted a listening device in it, because we began to suspect that as the reason Stacey wanted to visit Ricky. A five-year-old is the perfect person to hide something in your home.”

“And, failing their other tactics, they figured I’d give them anything they wanted in order to get Ricky back.”

“Right.”

“What you did this morning was unforgivable and unfeeling. You could have told me what happened and that Ricky and Lena were safe, but you let me sweat about it.”

“Sorry,” she said, hardly blinking He had to hand it to her; she must have gotten an advanced degree in composure. “I have to follow policy. If we don’t know the whole story, we can’t say anything, and I didn’t know how Lena was.”

He rolled his eyes to the ceiling, not caring if his impatience with her and the NSS showed. “Didn’t it occur to the geniuses over there that I could protect those secrets more effectively if I knew someone wanted to steal them?”

“It surely did, Colonel, but I only follow established policy.”

“What about the guards? Are they still tailing us?”

“Sorry, sir, but until we’re sure we’ve rounded up everyone in that cell, the guards have to stay. And please ask Dr. Powers not to try eluding them. She’s as good for blackmail as your nephew is.”

“What about my car?”

“In your assigned spot. It’s clean, but I suggest you park it in your garage or in Dr. Powers’s garage.”

Better let that pass. “Thank you for coming.” He stood and saluted, terminating the conversation.

Was it over?
He drove home past the house with the lion on the front lawn, and relief flooded him when he saw the boarded door and windows. At least they no longer camped in his neighborhood.

* * *

Audrey had just about reached her limit of tolerance with the assorted guards who followed her everywhere but to the women’s room. Indeed, she’d stopped using the one in the hallway because the guard would position himself by the door until she came out and then walk with her back to her office. And on that day, the man stood whenever the door to her office opened and watched like a hawk until he made sure the person who entered was a genuine patient. She didn’t bother to ask him about the extra precautions because she knew he wouldn’t answer. A late afternoon call from Nelson—who, after loving her out of her senses the previous night had managed to ignore her for the past eight hours—did nothing to improve her temper.

“It’s been a rough day,” he said after their greetings, “and I need to spend a few minutes with you. Would you have dinner with Ricky, Lena and me at my place? Afterward, we can sit out on the deck and talk. If that’s okay, I’ll be at your house for you around six, and I’ll take you home later.”

She wasn’t so irritated that she couldn’t hear the disquiet in Nelson’s voice and sense in him a need for a calming force. “I’ll be there when you come,” she said.

Later, she reflected that the words had all but flown from her lips, and that their meaning exceeded the simple fact that she would be at home when he arrived. He may not have understood it, but she knew then that she’d told him she was there for him and would always be.

“I’d better ask my Aunt Lena to send up some prayers for me,” she said aloud as she closed her desk and locked it. “I’m in deep here.”
Yes,
she thought, remembering an old song,
Chest-deep in the quicksand of love.

* * *

“Don’t try to cook dinner,” Nelson told Lena. “You’ve had a rough day, and I’m sure you’re tired. I’ll order dinner. I would appreciate it, though, if you’d set the table and include a place for Audrey.”

Ricky nearly fell down the stairs. “Audie is coming. We’re going to see Audie!”

“Yes, and try not break your neck. Watch it when you’re on those stairs.”

“It’s okay, Unca Nelson. The people said I’m very smart. They said so today, Unca Nelson.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t break your neck if you don’t pay attention to what you’re doing. You got that?” He ran his hand over the boy’s hair in a gesture of affection.

“Yes, sir, Unca Nelson. I got it.”

“I ought to be back by seven,” he said to Lena. “Meantime, decide what you’d like to eat.” He hugged Ricky and headed for Bethesda.

He parked in front of Audrey’s house and got an eerie feeling. Although it wasn’t near dark in mid-August, the closed blinds and absence of indoor lights gave the house a deserted appearance. Marilyn had cautioned him not to park on the street, but in his or Audrey’s garage. He couldn’t enter the garage and had no choice but to leave the car to ring Audrey’s bell, which he did with his hand on the bell and an eye on his BMW. He rang several times and waited. And waited. Finally, he went back to his car, got in, and waited there.

Six-thirty came and went, and then the shadows of trees and houses melted in the twilight. His heart began to race. Staving off fear, he used his cellular phone to call Marilyn’s office but, for his trouble, he got her voice mail. He hung up and called Lena.

He didn’t want to shock her by asking whether Audrey had called, so he said, “I’ll be a bit late,” knowing she’d tell him if Audrey had called.

“Don’t worry ’bout us, Colonel,” Lena said. “Ricky and me just finished some of that good old frozen peach yogurt I keep in the freezer. We ain’t hungry right now.”

That was the least of his worries. Lena could be counted on to feed Ricky and herself. He hung up and loosened his collar as sweat streamed from his pores. If anything had happened to her, it would be because of him, and he didn’t know if he could face that. Besides, she gave his life new meaning. She was... He shook his head. She was so important to him.

If only he had the security code, he could find out where she was or whether she was in danger. But non-NSS personnel weren’t allowed to have that code. He’d never felt so useless. Somewhere she might in trouble, needing him. He pounded the steering wheel with his fist.

In the rearview mirror he saw the headlights of a car approach, turned on the BMW’s ignition and locked his windows in case he had to move in a hurry. His anxiety increased when the car pulled to a stop behind him, and he prepared for a confrontation. A second car drove up and parked across the street, and when he saw the government seal on its side, he turned off the ignition, jumped from his car and headed for the one behind him.

As he approached, she unlocked her door. He didn’t wait for her to open it, but nearly yanked it from its hinges, lifted her from the car and into his arms. “I was on my way out of my mind because I thought they’d gotten you. Baby, I’ve been crazy.”

“I didn’t have your cell-phone number, so I couldn’t call you. I knew you’d worry, and I wouldn’t have put you through this for anything if I could have avoided it, but I had an emergency with a patient. Honey, the guard’s parked over there. Shouldn’t you put me down?”

“The hell with him. If he’d experienced what I went through this past hour, he wouldn’t give a damn about me, either. Besides, where’s the law that says you can’t kiss me if it’s what I want?”

At last she smiled. He brushed her lips with his own, then stared into her face. “I think we’d better leave it at that. They’re waiting for us at home, and I’ve got a lot to tell you, so let’s go inside. Do whatever you have to do, but I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”

“Am I coming back here tonight?” Her frank and open expression nearly unglued him. She would stay at his home if he asked her to, but he knew she wouldn’t sleep in his bed so long as her aunt slept in the adjoining room. And he’d been tested enough for one day.

“I’ll bring you home.”

* * *

After dinner and with Ricky asleep, he took Audrey’s hand and walked with her to the deck in the back of his house. If he had chosen that night, that time, and that place to declare his love to this woman, it couldn’t have been more idyllic, he decided as they sat on the sofa that rocked like a swing. And what an awesome place to make love.

“It’s beautiful here,” she said. “Lovely moon, stars, and this wonderful garden. Even the freshly mowed grass smells clean and fresh.”

“Don’t misunderstand me,” he said, “but, I was thinking, what a moment for lovemaking!”

“Hmm,” she said, and crossed her knee. “Nothing wrong with that.” She locked her hands behind her head. Open. Accessible.
I’d better straighten out my mind.

He sat closer to her. “I want to tell you about today.” After relating what he knew of Ricky’s and Lena’s experiences, along with the story of the cell of criminals and their fate, he added, “So you may imagine what I thought when you came home an hour late. It isn’t known whether there are any more members of that group, but in the meantime, we have to keep this vigil.”

“I’m stunned. The entire scenario had begun to annoy me. In fact, this gal was getting a mean streak, but what you’ve told me shames me.”

“Can’t say I blame you,” he said. “All I want is to know we’re together. I believe we are or can be, but sometimes, like right now, I don’t feel a real intimacy with you. I don’t quite understand it. Maybe it’s because we need to know each other better. I want that.”

Her voice, soft and very feminine, melted some of his hard spots, the something within him that had always resisted being understood. Yes, and loved. He was unprepared for her response.

She seemed to consider his words for a time before she said, “Secrets get in the way of intimacy. When we know each other well, maybe you won’t feel this way.”

So at ease with him. Relaxed and comfortable. He wanted to... He wanted to lose himself in her, to give himself to her. For a brief, poignant moment, she gazed into his eyes. Then she smiled, and his blood pounded in his ears and his belly knotted into a figure eight. Her lips, full and pouting, begged for his tongue, and he sucked in his breath. Desire washed through him with stunning force, and he told himself to get it under control.

However, her lips parted and, zombielike, she moved to him, wrapped her hands around his head and brought his mouth to her open lips. He heard his groans as he touched her and his tongue shoved into her mouth. He wanted to possess her, but she stroked his face with gentle hands while sucking on his tongue. Slow. Teasing. Letting him know what her body had in store for him. She placed his hand on her left breast, and he told himself to stop it right there, but when her fingers pinched his flat pectoral as a signal for what she needed, he thrust his hand into her blouse, released her breast, and bent to it.

“Oh, Lord,” she moaned as he tugged and sucked at it.

By some miracle, he remembered where they were, sat back, and breathed deeply for a few minutes. “I knew better than to start that,” he was finally able to say.

“I did, too, but I said, ‘What the heck, I need it.’”

He buttoned her blouse. “I don’t even want to think about that. We’d better go or you’ll have a second sleepless night.”

“Nothing’s guaranteed, especially not tonight, after what we’ve been through today. Ready when you are.”

He stood, held out his hand and, when she rose, he kissed her forehead. “You’re turning my life around, and the peculiar thing is that I don’t mind. I feel good with you.” When she said nothing, he asked her, “Do I bring anything special to your life?”

Both of her arms went around his waist, and she pressed her head to his shoulder. Her fingers stroked his back and she held him close. Through his jacket and shirt, with the most gentle of caresses, her lips warmed his shoulder. The tenderness. The sweetness. Pure joy raced through his every sinew. There was no desire, no passion in the way she held him. But what she felt seeped into his heart, and he knew without a doubt that no other woman had ever truly loved him, that to the woman who held him he was the essence of her life.

With his arm around her, he walked through the kitchen to the garage door. “I’m taking you home, but I want you to know that I’d rather eat crayfish. And, Audrey, the sight of crayfish makes me ill.”

Her laughter wrapped around him like warm spring breeze. “We’ll have our time, or at least I hope so. I left the exercises on the table in the foyer. Okay?”

“Thanks. I’ll start them as soon as I get back home.” After backing the BMW out of the garage and closing the door, he looked in his rearview mirror and shook his head. “If either one of us ever gets brought up on a morals charge, the Feds will be the first ones on the witness stand.”

She leaned back in the soft leather seat and folded her arms beneath her bosom. “In that case, let’s give them something to talk about.”

He checked out her house—though with the guards in constant attendance he didn’t think it necessary—kissed her quickly before the old demon desire could get a headway, and left her. Driving home, he realized that he was almost happy. He still faced some mountains, but right then, they didn’t seem so rugged or so high.

* * *

Audrey noticed the light flashing on her answering machine and pressed the replay button. “What’s the point in having a big sister if she’s not around when you need her? Call me when you get in, no matter what time it is, or whenever tall, tan and terrific goes
home.
”

She recognized Winifred’s distress signal and dialed her number. “What’s the matter, sis? Is it Ryan?”