Ready for Danger (5 page)

The team was in a half-moon formation
when they emerged from the jungle and ran toward the camp. The place was made
up of a series of old tents and shabby huts and at the moment everything was
still. Nevertheless, Palmer had his men outfit their weapons with sound
suppressors.

“This is Skyscraper, you have a straggler
on the northwest corner. I don’t have a shot from here.”

Palmer couldn’t speak for fear of being heard
so he clicked his radio twice to acknowledge. He shouldered his rifle and
rounded a pig pen. Just as predicted, there was a short Burmese man in the
process of lighting a cigarette.

His eyes grew wide when he saw the
intruder and he dropped his smoke as he reached for his AK-47. He didn’t even have
time to put it against his shoulder when Palmer shot him twice in the chest.

“Good shot, Hiker 1. You’re clear.”

From there, they went two by two. There
were only a few rebels left at the camp and they were easily disposed of. Time
seemed to stretch forever, Palmer’s heart thumping madly at the prospect of
seeing Kathleen again.

The more time passed, the more nervous he
became. It wasn’t just fear that she was dead – she was much more valuable
alive – but rather that it forced him to confront his feelings.

He was flabbergasted when he realized he
was actually in love with her.

This discovery did nothing to settle his
nerves or slow down his heart rate. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone in so
long. In fact, he had never felt so strongly about a woman before. It was
catching him by surprise and he didn’t know whether to rejoice or bemoan the
situation.

He blinked twice and told himself to get
his head back in the game. They continued clearing the camp, walking stealthily
through the night. The sniper directed the mercenaries to a building in the
back. It was sturdier than the rest of the structures. This had to be the
prison holding Kathleen.

“You have one tango in front,” Skyscraper
said. “He seems more alert than the others.”

By now, all four men were together. They
were kneeling behind a dark tent. Palmer pointed at his SAS friend and did a
series of hand signals. The Englishman nodded and scurried to the other side of
the tent.

He fired a few shots into the ground, the
sound muffled by the suppressor, and the guard spun on its heels, startled and
afraid.

At exactly that moment, Palmer and the
two other men came out of hiding from the other side and shot the distracted
man dead.

“You’re clear, guys.”

Palmer was the first to reach the
makeshift jail cell. There was a padlock on the door and he busted it with the
butt of his rifle. He pulled the door open and quickly entered.

“Kathleen?”

He clicked his flashlight on and pointed
it at a figure on the ground. Only the person had dark hair and was a man.

“Who are you? Where’s Kathleen?”

The man was in his early 20s and he
reeked of alcohol. Palmer understood he had been put in the drunk tank.

“Answer me, you cocksucker! Where’s the
woman?”

He kicked him in the stomach and put his
gun in his face. When the bandit was done wincing and moaning, he smiled
defiantly.

“You too late.”

“What do you mean, too late? Talk or I
blow your fucking head off.”

“Too late. Woman dead.”

The guy started laughing, obviously still
drunk, and Palmer knocked him out with a punch in the face.

“I’m sorry, mate,” Hiker 3, putting a
hand on his shoulder.

“We’d better evac before these jokers
come back.”

Palmer wasn’t listening, merely shaking
his head. “She can’t be dead, that’s impossible.”

“I know it’s hard to accept, but we can’t
help it. Come on, we gotta go.”

“No,” Palmer said, straightening up and
turning toward his men. “You don’t understand, she
can’t
be dead. She’s
a billion-dollar hostage, they wouldn’t just kill her. She has to be somewhere
else.”

He lowered the G36 and produced his
satellite phone. He didn’t call headquarters this time, he called a buddy at
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

“Charlie, it’s Palmer Fash.”

“Palmer! How’s it going, man? Long time
no see, we should go out for a beer sometime. Are you in town?”

“I’m on an op, actually. Are you at your
desk?”

“Yeah, I was just about to head out. What
do you need?”

“I need tactical intel on a group called
the Leopard Brotherhood, in Myanmar. We’re currently at their main camp but we
need to know if they have other installations.”

“Sure, give me a minute…”

Charlie didn’t work for the Air Force; he
was an Army major working for SOCOM – the United States Special Operations
Command. He had at his disposal the world’s most impressive array of high-tech
tools and resources needed for the Global War on Terrorism. Ever since Palmer
had saved his life in Afghanistan, he had been inclined to help Palmer whenever
possible.

“Okay,” he said after a few minutes. “Satellite
imagery shows that they’ve been using a secondary location.”

Palmer noted the coordinates, thanked his
friend for the information, and hung up. Immediately, his men pulled out a map
and searched for this second camp.

“It’s in a mountain,” the Canadian said. “Do
we have what we need to climb it?”

It was suddenly clear to Palmer and he
grinned. “It’s a cave, maybe a tunnel.”

Although they could still hear gunshots
in the distance, undoubtedly aimed at their helicopter, it was time to move
out. The sniper gave them a safe route and they scampered out of the camp and
into the jungle to the north.

They made good time and reloaded for the real
rescue. Palmer was certain Kathleen was alive and now it was only a matter of
getting her back. His anxiety returned, he couldn’t wait to see her face. He
didn’t know what he would do, how he would react, but he knew never seeing her
again wasn’t an option.

They’d been in the thick foliage for half
an hour, no longer covered by their sniper, when they spotted movement ahead. Palmer
made a fist and everyone took a knee. He switched to night vision.

“I see the cave entrance,” he whispered. “Two
tangos standing guard.”

“How do you want to play this?”

“We don’t have time to fuck around
anymore.”

He outlined his plan, everybody objected,
and he overruled them. He just couldn’t wait any longer.

A minute later, Palmer started walking
toward the cave, his weapon hanging down as if he didn’t need it. He intentionally
took loud steps, stepping on branches like an oaf. As predicted, the sentries
turned toward him.

“
Min ga lar par
!” Palmer greeted
loudly. “
Nei kaon la
?”

This confused the two guards long enough
for his men to shoot him in the head from their concealed positions in the
brush. While they fell, Palmer ran forward and entered the cave.

He switched on his night vision again.
The place was a typical grotto with stone walls and damp air. He walked slowly
but didn’t see the jar on the ground. It broke under his foot and the sound was
positively deafening as it echoed inside the cave.

He sped up and when he turned the corner,
two rebels appeared, disoriented and panicked by the intrusion. Fortunately,
their green forms were clearly seen with his image intensifier device. He
shouldered his rifle and killed them on the spot.

The other mercenaries were joining him
when he ultimately made out a person crouching in the complete darkness. The
face was turned away, the individual obviously scared.

“Kathleen?”

Just as the face rotated, Palmer removed
his night vision goggles and cracked some glow sticks. Immediately the cave was
bathed in pale yellow light.

“Palmer? Palmer, is that you?”

Stunned that it was her, that she was
actually alive, he fell to his knees and dropped his gun.

“Are you hurt? Are you okay?”

“I am now.”

“I thought I’d lost you, Kathleen. Don’t
ever do that to me.”

Unable to resist, he took her in his arms
and hugged her tight. He didn’t care what anyone thought, his instincts were
finally overriding his brain.

The events cascaded rapidly after that.
The chopper made its way back to them while they found high ground for an
extraction. They didn’t encounter any opposition and within minutes they were
in the air again.

They flew to Yangon while the team
carefully inspected Kathleen for injuries, and then quickly boarded a private
jet for Thailand. Palmer wanted to be out of Myanmar as soon as possible in
case the bandits had political connections. Once they reached Bangkok, they
took Kathleen to the hospital and the mercenaries were dismissed.

“I’m fine,” she kept saying.

And Palmer kept ignoring her. He didn’t
want to suffer the wrath of her father, she needed to be in perfect health. No,
that was deluding himself. The truth was he was the one who was worried. There
was no more hiding his feelings now.

“You’re going to the hospital and you’re
not coming out until you can run a marathon.”

“I don’t want to run a marathon.”

“Please, Kathleen. Just indulge me.”

Seeing the earnestness on his face, she
humored him. She hadn’t had someone look at her this way since her very first
serious boyfriend.

*   *   *

Palmer had changed clothes on the plane,
but that wasn’t enough. When a group of doctors and nurses took over, he snuck
into a nearby room – the occupant seemed to be out for some tests. He took
advantage of the privacy to take a shower. He kept it brief but it was one of
the most relaxing moments of his life.

His mind was at ease for the first time
in months. Kathleen was safe and in good hands, his mission was over, and he
was finally honest with his feelings. He hadn’t felt this serene in years. He dried
off, got dressed again, and returned to Kathleen’s room.

The door was closed and he waited
outside. He needed to call her father – there was no reason to hide the
kidnapping from him because Greenbrier Global Security would bill him for the
unforeseen expenses. Still, he decided to wait until later, until he was
certain there was nothing wrong with Kathleen.

He paced down the corridor for what
seemed like an eternity. The hospital was air-conditioned but Palmer was
boiling. His talent at waiting was what had made him such a good special
operator but at the moment he didn’t feel patient. What was taking so long
anyway?

At long last, the door opened and the
medical staff filed out. Palmer rushed forward and faced the senior physician.

“Tell me, doctor. How is she?”

“A few cuts and bruises, nothing
important. Mild case of dehydration so I have put her on fluids for 24 hours.”

“So she’s okay? She’s not hurt or
nothing?”

For the first time, the doctor smiled. “She
is fine. She is only here for observation. Are you Palmer?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“She has talked about you. She says you
saved her. She says you are a hero.”

Palmer had heard that before but had
always dismissed it as traumatized people babbling. However, having Kathleen
say that about him made his heart swell.

“Can I go in?”

“Okay, but not long. She needs rest.”

“Thank you.”

He shook the man’s hand and then rushed
into the room. It was small by American standards but the air was cool and,
most importantly, it was private.

Kathleen was in the bed, the head raised
about 30 degrees. She was wearing a faded pink hospital gown and the sheet
covered her legs. There was a bandage on her forehead and an IV plugged into
her left hand. In spite of all this, she appeared healthy.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, really. I feel great.”

“Are you being honest with me? You’re not
soft-pedaling just so I won’t tell your father?”

“I swear, I’m fine. They had me take a
shower before and that did more to help me out than the aspirin they gave me.”

“Good then,” he said, finally reaching
her bed. “Do you need anything? Water or pillows or candy bars?”

“What I need, Palmer, is to say thank
you.”

“Please, don’t…”

“No, I need to do this. You were there
for me like no one before.”

She reached for his hand and grabbed it
tightly. Without knowing he was doing it, he intertwined his fingers with hers.
They stared into each other’s eyes.

“Kathleen, there’s something I need tell
you.”

“Does it involve the way you hugged me
when you rescued me?”

He gulped. “Yes.”

“Good, because I’ve been wanting you to
do that for weeks.”

“You have?” he asked in a whisper that
revealed his uncharacteristic insecurity.

“Yes. Haven’t you been catching my
signals?”

“Never been good with those kinds of
signals. But given this could be our last time together, I want to say that the
idea of losing you was tearing me apart. I wouldn’t have been able to live with
myself if I’d lost you.”

“Because you would have been fired?”

“No, because I would have lost the love
of my life.”

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “Why
didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Because
that
would’ve gotten me
fired.”

She chuckled. “No, Palmer. I feel the
exact same way.”

He gasped and she pulled him down to her.
When their lips touched, Kathleen nearly fainted. She took in air sharply and
at the same time pressed her head into Palmer’s. She never thought he would
taste this good. For such a muscular man, someone she had once called a meathead,
he was quite delicate and soft.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and
pulled him down further to her. She wanted to feel every inch of him against
her body. She needed him like she had never needed anyone. Up until this
moment, she had always thought of herself as fiercely independent but now she
knew it was wrong.

She had craved someone to love her passionately,
yearned for the other part of her soul, and she’d had to be kidnapped in the
Burmese jungle to find it. This never would’ve happened, she never would have
met him if she hadn’t in effect run away from home to become an aid worker.

What’s more, Palmer kissed her with the
same hunger. She could feel that it wasn’t merely physical. He needed to
possess her completely. She recognized that they needed each other beyond
words.

He cradled her face and she practically
swooned from his strong, warm fingers. She extended her tongue and explored his
mouth. That made him moan and she found that adorable. Now it was his turn to
take the reins. He danced with her tongue and pushed his inside her mouth
before licking her lips and inhaling deeply.

Steeling her resolve, she grabbed his
free hand and brought it to her chest. His breath caught in his throat and it
told her she had made the right decision. That meant that as much as he wanted
her he wasn’t taking her for granted.

They continued kissing and she focused on
the sensation of his hand on her breast. The hospital gown was so flimsy that
she might as well have been naked. As seconds ticked on, he became bolder and
moved his fingers.

“Hmmm…”

He kneaded her breast, digging into the
flesh and lighting a fire between her legs. She sighed again and kissed him
even more enthusiastically, her mouth wide open. He got the message and moved
to her nipple. He circled it through the thin fabric before gently pinching it.

“Ugh!”

Her reaction made him smile and he did it
once more. He moved to the other breast and repeated the process, massaging the
flesh and squeezing the nipple. Kathleen was squirming with delight and
instinctively opened her legs.

“I need more, Palmer.”

He hovered over her face, gazing into her
wide, demanding eyes. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in
my life. Go lock the door.”