Freefall (26 page)

Seth had the phone to his ear, but he motioned for Brent to come in. “Just make sure it gets here before ten thirty,” Seth was saying. “I'll be here, thanks.”

Seth hung up the phone and stood up. “So do you want to move or do you want me to?”

“It doesn't matter.” Brent felt himself give up the fight. He was emotionally drained and he didn't want to make any more decisions today, especially about Amy Whitmore.

“In that case, let's get your stuff moved over here,” Seth suggested. “I've got a desk and computer coming this morning, and the phone guys will be here this afternoon to take care of the phones while we're out.”

“Fine.” Brent turned back to his office and prepared to pack up his desk to make room for the woman he thought he had already shut out of his life.

* * *

Amy showed her new ID at the main gate, followed the guard's directions to the building where she would be working, and parked her car in the employee lot. Now that she was working on a secure military base, the Secret Service agents assigned to her had scaled back their hours with her. On work days they would merely follow her to the front gate and then return to escort her home at the end of the day, when their surveillance would continue as usual.

Threatening clouds loomed on the horizon, a few sprinkles hitting the windshield as she grabbed her briefcase and did a quick search for her umbrella. Realizing that she must have left it at home again, she pushed open the car door and headed across the parking lot. She was still twenty yards away from the building when the heavens opened up and the rain started sheeting down around her.

She hastened toward the door, thankful she wasn't wearing heels. Still she managed to get drenched as she made her dash inside. She pushed her wet hair out of her face and glanced down at the water pooling at her feet. Self-consciously, she stood on the doormat and let the water drip off of her for a minute while she considered what to do next.

When three more people rushed in behind her, all of them in a similar state, including the one holding an umbrella, Amy decided that some things just couldn't be helped. Turning to the woman standing beside her, she asked, “Can you tell me where the ladies' room is?”

“Down that hallway on the left,” she said, wringing out her hair. “Just don't use all of the paper towels.”

“Deal,” Amy laughed and moved in the direction the woman had indicated. She found the restroom and used a combination of the hand dryer on the wall and some paper towels to help her go from drenched to merely wet. She tried not to think about the time she had spent that morning putting on her makeup and fixing her hair. Instead, she wiped off the mascara that had pooled under her eyes and went to find her new office.

She found Kel in his office, his door hanging open. She knocked on the doorjamb, and he immediately stood. “Welcome aboard.”

“Thanks.” Amy shook his outstretched hand, noticing his subtle assessment of her now-soaked clothing.

“Come on.” Kel stepped out into the hallway and motioned to the door next to his. “We made room for you in here.”

She stepped inside, her shoes squishing as she walked, and looked at the simple furnishings. A computer sat on top of a plain wooden desk, and an empty set of shelves was across the room next to a file cabinet. Two mismatched chairs were in the room, one behind the desk and the other situated across from it. Amy set her briefcase down on the desk and turned to face Kel. “Where do you want me to start?”

“First, I'm going to scrounge up some fatigues for you. You're going to be miserable if you have to sit in those wet clothes all day,” Kel said. “Then I'll get a copy of our office procedures and training schedule so you can get familiar with what we have planned for the next few weeks.”

Amy just nodded as he disappeared back out into the hall. Rather than sit down and soak her chair, she moved to open the file cabinet. The first drawer held only two files; one contained the training schedule Kel had mentioned, and the other a list of contact numbers.

She turned when Kel rapped on her door and stepped inside holding out some dry clothes. “Here you go. These should fit you.”

“Should I ask where you got them?” Amy asked tentatively.

Kel grinned. “Let's just hope Quinn doesn't get caught in the rain, too.”

“Thanks,” Amy laughed. She motioned to the filing cabinet. “I found a copy of the training schedule. I'll read over it after I change.”

“Good,” Kel replied. “We're going to be out of the office this morning, but I should be back around lunchtime. If you run out of things to do, go ahead and run over to the exchange and the officers' club and familiarize yourself with the base.”

“Don't worry about me,” Amy assured him. She made her way back to the ladies' room. By the time she returned, Kel was long gone and there wasn't any life in any of the offices near hers.

She settled down behind her desk to start her first day and decided that maybe she could handle this after all.

* * *

Brent rushed down the hall and glanced at his watch. He had less than fifteen minutes to report to the helipad, and suddenly it was his job to find a copy of the flight authorization he had faxed in personally the day before. He rounded the corner, stepped into his office, and stopped short.

Sitting behind the new desk in his old office was Amy Whitmore dressed in army fatigues, her damp hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. She looked up, at once completely professional. “Hello, Brent. Did you need something?”

“Uh, sorry.” Brent started to back out of the office and uttered a simple explanation. “I was just looking for a copy of our flight authorization.”

“I already faxed it in.” Amy stood and picked up a paper from her desk. “But here's a copy for you just in case they lose it again.”

“How did you . . .”

“Someone called looking for it.” Amy glanced at her watch and put the paper in his hand. “You had better get going.”

Brent took the authorization from her and calculated how long it would take him to drive back to the helipad. Awkwardly, he nodded at her. “Thanks.”

He raced down the hall, out of the building, and into the Jeep he had commandeered to make the trip across base. The helicopter was ready on the pad when he pulled up. Kel was waiting, motioning for him to join the rest of the team on board.

“Amy already faxed it over,” Kel told him, jogging alongside him.

“Yeah, I know.” Brent climbed in and took his seat. As they took off, he closed his eyes and tried not to think about just how good Amy looked in uniform.

The first three weeks went by smoothly—unexpectedly so, in Brent's opinion. Of course, they had spent two and a half of those weeks in the field for a training exercise. Still, he hardly saw Amy at the office, and when he did see her she was professional and casually polite. If he didn't know better, he would have never guessed that they had spent days together alone in the desert or that they had spent hours talking before he left for his last assignment, not to mention sharing some unforgettable kisses.

He had just finished showering after a five-mile run when Kel walked in.

“Grab your gear. We're heading out in an hour,” Kel told him. “Everyone's meeting at the helipad.”

Brent nodded, wondering where they were headed this time. Forty-five minutes later he walked over to the helicopter, where Quinn and Seth were already storing their gear. Brent started to get on when he heard another vehicle pull up. He turned to see Kel and Tristan getting out of a car followed by Amy. Once again she was wearing military fatigues instead of one of the business suits or dresses that she usually wore to the office.

Brent turned to Seth. “What's she doing here?”

“Coming with us.”

Kel moved in quickly. “Everyone on. It's time to go.”

Brent started to voice his objection, but Kel silenced him with a single look. There wasn't time, and like it or not, Amy was coming with them to wherever they were headed. Whether it happened by coincidence or design Brent wasn't sure, but somehow he ended up sitting next to Amy.

He saw her close her eyes as they started to lift off, heard her control her breathing the way he had taught her when she needed to relax in tense situations. Instinctively, he reached over and laid his hand over hers, his stomach somersaulting when she turned her hand over and linked her fingers with his.

He could only imagine what she was thinking, whether she was remembering her first trip up in a helicopter, the one in which she ultimately landed the hard way, or if it was the way the helicopter jerked and evaded when they had finally gotten picked up over the ocean. The breathing techniques seemed to be working, and gradually he could feel her beginning to relax.

“Are you going to tell us where we're heading?” Quinn called out to Kel as they headed southeast.

“I don't know yet.”

* * *

“Kel, you can't let her come with us,” Brent insisted, fighting to keep the panic out of his voice. “She's a civilian.”

They were already on board the aircraft carrier USS
Harry S Truman
and were expected to set sail in less than an hour. Quinn and Tristan were storing their gear, Seth was showing Amy around, and Brent was now praying he could talk some sense into his commanding officer. Kel checked something off of the list he held before looking up at Brent.

“Relax, kid. We're not taking her into a combat zone,” Kel insisted. “She's not going to leave the ship.”

“Right. She'll stay on an aircraft carrier that could be deployed at any time,” Brent clarified, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “That's so much better.”

Kel stood a little straighter, taking on an air of authority he rarely found necessary. “Like it or not, she's the best intel officer we've ever had in this unit. One of the objectives for this training mission is to see if a civilian can function effectively as an intel officer on board ship. Like it or not, your girlfriend is coming with us.”

“She's not my girlfriend.”

“That's your problem,” Kel stated simply. “One way or another you'd better get your head on straight. If you don't think you can do your job with Amy around, tell me now.”

The muscle in Brent's jaw twitched. “I'll do my job.”

Kel simply nodded. “Tell everyone to meet in the briefing room in an hour. Amy too.”

With a nod, Brent turned and went in search of his team.

* * *

Amy sat quietly near the back of the boardroom. She was one of only a few women in the room crowded with Navy personnel. She was also the only civilian, though the uniform she wore helped disguise that fact. Beside her, Seth pointed out the key personnel she would be working with. He had already introduced her to the commander of the air group and promised to show her how to find her way to the main areas on the ship she would need access to.

Brent slipped into the room just as the briefing was beginning. Amy didn't see him but rather sensed him taking the seat behind her that Quinn had saved for him. They had been working together now for weeks, and still her heart beat a little faster every time he was around. He generally avoided her, so they weren't together often, but every once in a while she saw something in his eyes that made her wonder if he still had feelings for her.

Of course, she was probably just imagining it. She knew she should try to move on, let herself go out with other guys in the hopes that she would get over him. The more she told herself to do just that, the more she realized that she was too far gone. Despite her best intentions, she didn't know how to fall out of love with this man.

She tried to focus on the words being said, the mission they had been called here to do. Her eyes widened as she realized that this training mission would put them in the Mediterranean Sea, just a few hundred miles off the coast of Abolstan. This time the SEALs weren't here to rescue hostages but rather would spend their time updating their qualifications for their flight status and conducting a number of other training exercises in the area. The ship's positioning was simply a matter of precaution in case hostilities in the area once again required U.S. intervention.

Behind her Quinn asked a question. Amy glanced back at him, instead finding herself looking into Brent's eyes. She felt her cheeks flush and quickly turned back to the front of the room. She closed her eyes for a moment, annoyed with herself. Somehow she had to find a way to get over him, or she really was going to have to put in for a transfer.

When the briefing wrapped up, Kel moved from the front of the room to where the rest of his team was sitting. “I want everyone to meet in our boardroom so we can go over our schedule and make sure we have everything we need.”

They moved down the narrow hall to their temporary office. When Amy stepped inside, she looked around, surprised by the duality of the room. Computer terminals were set up on opposite ends of the room, three on each side. In the corner near the door, a television sat on a high platform. A couch stretched across the back wall, and a round table was set off to the side. Amy imagined it could be used as either a work table or as a place to eat if the need arose. A couple of other chairs were situated facing the television.

As soon as they were all inside their boardroom, Kel gave them their specific assignments. “Quinn and Brent, work up the mission plans for next week. Seth, make sure Amy knows how to access the cable traffic and the latest intel reports. Tristan, check the training schedule and make sure everyone gets enough flight time to stay current on their qualifications.”

Amy and Seth moved to one side of the room, while Quinn, Brent, and Tristan each claimed a computer on the other side of the room.

“Can I ask a stupid question?” Amy asked Seth as she sat down at the computer on the end. She glanced over at Seth and continued. “Why did we only get an hour to get ready to leave? Obviously the Navy planned this exercise days ago.”