Midnight Heat (14 page)

“You just got back from your honeymoon.
I didn’t think you’d appreciate the interruption. How is my sister anyway? Did she survive the trip?”

Zach laughed. He was more than a little overwhelming—in size and sheer presence. Adria imagined Dara had to be some woman to have captured the heart of this man.

“She was amazing. Almost killed me.” He waggled his eyebrows. “And that was before I got her to fly the glider.”

Dane went on alert. “Dara flew? A glider?”

“I know how much she missed it as a kid, after your dad died,” he said quietly. “I guess I figured something without an engine might be less scary.”

Dane shook his head, obviously amazed. “Only you would use that kind of logic. How’d she do?”

“She loved it, man. I’ll never forget the instant she pulled the tow release and she was on her own. She was like an eagle.”

“I owe you for life for giving that back to her,” Dane said. “Thank you.” He faltered for a moment, then added, “Welcome to the family.”

Adria teared up when the two men embraced briefly.

“Where is she, anyway?” Dane asked. “You didn’t tell her about this, did you? I don’t want her to—”

Zach waved a hand. “Not to worry. She’s
on a three-day trip with a group of the Dream Foundation kids. Disney World.”

“And you didn’t go along?” Dane taunted. Zach cleared his throat and with mock manly swagger said, “Nah, too amateur for a pro like me. Actually, she was afraid I’d get them all kicked out of the park for doing something crazy.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Dane deadpanned.

Zach laughed. “Yeah. I miss her like hell, though. I’ve got Scotty handling most of the trips and I’m interviewing to bring on another guide.” He slapped Dane on the shoulder. “In the meantime you get to provide some entertainment.”

He turned to Adria.

“You ready to rock-and-roll, Rapunzel?”

Adria couldn’t help herself. She had to say it. “How in the world did you two hook up as kids? You’re as different as Dumas’s Musketeers could ever hope to be.”

Zach stared at Dane, who looked distinctly uncomfortable under the scrutiny. “You told her about us as kids?” He looked like a bad boy who’d just been handed the perfect snowball. “So, it’s like that.”

“Zach—” The warning in Dane’s voice was edged in cold steel and would have sent other men stumbling over themselves in apology. Not Zach.

“Beaudine just scored another bonus. She
figured it just from one phone call. I had to see it to believe it.” He shook his head. “The woman must have voodoo in her family tree.”

Adria looked back and forth between the two men. She’d understood that Dane didn’t share his personal life, much less his past, with just anyone. But it was clear that Dane hadn’t realized how obvious he’d been to his friends. Should she waste a moment trying to deflect Zach’s interest in the exact nature of her relationship with Dane? The fact of the matter was, she didn’t really know what the nature of their relationship was at this point.

Zach spied her backpack on the floor near the door and crossed the room to scoop it up. “Where’s the rest of it?”

There wasn’t anything else, but Adria didn’t answer immediately. She’d caught Dane watching her in that intent way of his that made her forget about the rest of the universe.

He didn’t move and neither did she. They simply held each other’s gaze, communicating silently.

Seconds later—or it could have been hours—Zach cleared his throat. “We’d better get this show on the road. Jarrett, er, Athos, is waiting.” Dane glared at him. “What made you dredge up those nicknames anyway?”

Dane shrugged. “I had to get a message to Jarrett and I wasn’t sure how secure my phone lines were, so I improvised. Hey, I’m not the
secret-agent man of the trio here. I did my best.”

“And a fine job it was,” Zach responded, doffing an imaginary hat and bowing in the best Musketeer tradition. Adria was thoroughly amused.

When Zach straightened, she shoved her chair back and stood. “I guess I’m ready.” She nodded to the backpack that looked tiny in Zach’s big hands. “That’s it.”

Zach’s eyes widened. “Dane, where did you find this rare gem?” He turned back to Adria. “His sister packs for a weekend camping trip like she’s outfitting a major expedition. Maybe you two could get together and—”

“Hey,” Dane said, “why don’t we worry about getting her safe before we plan the future.”

Adria tensed at his sharp tone. Before she or Zach could comment, Dane blew out a sigh. “Sorry.”

Adria didn’t want him to worry about her, but she couldn’t deny how glad she was that he did.

Dane’s gaze stayed riveted on hers, but his next words were for Zach. “Take care of her for me.”

Zach sobered. “You know I will. Jarrett will contact you when she’s in.”

Adria asked Dane, “You’re not coming?”

“Zach can get you out of here a hundred
different ways I’d never think of. If anyone tailed you here, they won’t know you’ve gone.”

“But that leaves you—”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m going in to work early tomorrow as usual. Anyone watching me will be bored senseless by nine
A.M
. If they decide to come here, hoping to find you alone, they’ll be disappointed. I’ll stall Forster as long as I can without making it obvious I have no intention of filing that report. Let’s hope Beaudine comes through before it gets that far. If I can get something tangible linking this woman to the incident, Forster has to let me stay on it. Information like that can be leaked and he knows it.”

Heedless of Zach’s presence, Adria crossed the room until she stood right in front of Dane. “I really hate being taken out of this. But even more, I hate leaving you in it.”

“We agreed that it’ll be easier to figure out what’s going on without you looking over your shoulder every second. At this point I’m the only one who can get any information. I need to know you’re okay, that you’re safe.”

Her heart was like a fist lodged in her throat. “You told me you were the best and that I should trust you. So I’m going to trust you and do as I’m told.”

“I thought you gave that up along with what’s-his-name?” he said quietly.

Tenderness from this very tough, very private man who guarded his emotions so carefully, was a very special gift indeed. “Maybe I just didn’t like what he was telling me.”

“Kiss me.”

“See what I mean?” Her hands trembled as she lifted them up to frame his face. Rising to her tiptoes, she kissed him on the mouth, pouring into him all the turbulent emotions the weeks’ events had wrought inside her.

He took them all, as fully and deeply as he did her kiss. And gave equally in return. Adria let herself go, reveling in the security she’d found in the circle of his arms. Reveling perhaps because this time she suspected he drew the same comfort from hers.

“Don’t do anything macho,” she said in a rough whisper against his neck.

“Not unless you’re there to witness it and be properly impressed.” His voice was as choked with emotion as hers had been, which made his attempt at humor all the more sweet.

“There is hope, Colbourne.”

“Yes,” he said soberly. “There is. Hold on to it for me, okay?”

Dane was at his desk bright and early the following morning, typing up the beginnings of a formal report that he planned to add to the collected data files. If Forster dropped in,
all would look as if Dane was following orders. But Forster hadn’t dropped in or called or contacted him in any way since their phone conversation yesterday. Dane had a bad feeling about that.

He tossed his second empty Coke can of the day into the trash can and tried to convince himself that Forster’s absence gave Beaudine more time to dig.

Jarrett had sent Zach back in person with the information on Adria’s location, which, to Dane’s distinct discomfort, turned out to be Jarrett and Rae’s mountain cabin. He didn’t like having his friends put themselves all out for him. But he had to admit, no one was probably safer than Adria at this moment with two of the finest intelligence minds watching over her.

His phone buzzed. He scooped it up before the second ring. “Colbourne.”

“Hey, this is Eliot. I got something I think you might be interested in.”

Dane immediately went on full alert. Eliot had been on the team recovering the fuselage. “What’s up?”

“Someone phoned in about another piece of fuselage yesterday afternoon. Two pieces actually. It wasn’t close to the Indian Head site. Couple found them when they had one of their big tree’s pruned.”

Tension crept into Dane’s every pore,
along with hope. Hope had been the first emotion he’d learned to subordinate long ago. Adria had been the one to bring it to the surface again. And he felt helpless against its power. “Can you tag it as AirWest or Liberty?”

“Definitely came off the Liberty.”

The disappointment was so keen he had to swallow a groan of frustration. “Send it over to the warehouse to be cataloged with the rest. I appreciate the call.”

“That’s not all,” Eliot said. “There’s some foreign coating on both pieces that didn’t come from the AirWest or any other commercial aircraft I know.”

Adrenaline kicked in hard like a punch to his entire system. Dane welcomed it. “Describe it.”

“It’s a flat black, some sort of titanium base, I think. My money would be on military. Though I can’t say I’ve ever seen this particular material before.”

“Anything else?” Dane asked.

“Well …”

“What’ve you got?” Dane ordered, that bad feeling coming over him again.

“I called your office with this the moment I found out yesterday, but you weren’t in. I was going to page you, but I was rerouted to Forster.”

“Forster?” The dread grew.
“Yeah, I thought it was bit odd too. He told me you’d finished the report and had gone back to the Cairo thing. He said he’d pass along the information to you after getting a look at the fuselage himself. I guess he didn’t call you.”

Dane was beginning to suspect Forster never would have. “You turned the piece over to him?”

“No. I just now got it into the warehouse.”

Dane released a deep sigh of relief. “Good, hold on to it for me.”

“Uh, well, Forster is due in here any minute to look at it.”

That explained why Dane hadn’t heard or seen the man today. “Did you tell him about the foreign coating on the pieces?”

“Yes. I asked him if they’d reopen the investigation if this proved to be anything and he said he’d assign someone to it. I got the impression he didn’t think it would get that far.”

Dane frowned at the news. Even if he made certain word got out about this new evidence, Forster would just reopen the case and assign it to someone else, a green agent he could intimidate into doing whatever his personal agenda dictated. It would be very believable that Dane had been pulled off because his expertise was needed on more crucial matters.

Why had he been given the case in the first
place? Forster must have assigned it before he realized what had happened. Which brought up more questions. What, exactly, was Forster’s personal agenda in this matter? Just who was involved in this? And, most important, what really
had
happened in the sky that night over D.C.?

“I really appreciate the heads-up on this, Eliot.”

“Sure.”

Eliot obviously realized something was fishy, but Dane was reluctant to pull him in any deeper. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that luxury. “I need you to do something for me. Send one of the pieces to the lab before Forster shows up. Put my name on the request.”

Eliot didn’t hesitate. “You got it.”

“Let me know the instant you get any word. Page me, don’t call.”

A slight pause followed this time, but Eliot didn’t ask any questions. He just said, “Sure, I’ll do my best,” and disconnected the call.

“That’s all any of us can do,” Dane muttered as he hung up.

Just as quickly he lifted the phone again and dialed a familiar number. It was picked up after the first ring.

“The Great Escape.”

“Beaudine, it’s Dane. I have some information that might help you out.”

“Well,
chère
, I can use all the help you got to give. I’m comin’ up a total blank on this woman.”

“How are your military connections?”

There was a low chuckle. “You don’ want to know that for real,
chère
. Which branch?”

“I’m not sure, but I figure the air force is a safe bet. We found some fuselage of the AirWest with some interesting paint on it. Flat, black, made out of material not used on commercial planes.”

“I hear you. I’ll page you when I know.”

“Thanks, Beaudine. I owe you one.” He paused. “Even if you did tell Zach.”

“And let the boy miss his fun?” She made a tsking sound. “Besides, since your sister left for Florida he’s been pouting and moaning around here driving me crazy. And that was just the first fifteen minutes. You think I was going to pass up a chance to get him outta my hair?”

Dane couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, well, I appreciate it no matter why you did it.”

“No problem,
chère
. You just invite me to the wedding, you hear?”

By the time Dane had recovered enough to answer, the line was dead. He hung up and pushed back his chair. If Forster was going to be out for the next hour or so, then it was the perfect time to pay a little visit to the man’s
desk. Perhaps something there would shed some light on exactly what was going on.

Wedding, he thought as he locked his door and headed for Forster’s office. The image of Adria walking toward him down the aisle, white gown flowing, arms full of flowers, her blue eyes shining, her smile wide with anticipation of becoming his wife …

His wife
.

He felt almost embarrassed by the intense rush of pleasure and pride that filled him at the very idea.

What would it be like to wake up with her in bed beside him every morning? Almost as fine as going to that same bed with her the night before.

Life with Adria … Their life. Together. He couldn’t think of anything more important or a goal more worth pursuing. There would be no going back into his emotionless void, only forward to freedom. Who would have thought he’d find it by falling in love?