Crystal Clear (12 page)

Cindy recalled all the problems Montgomery had getting together with Garrett.  It
had seemed
strange how her best friend’s
feelings changed so suddenly.  At first
,
Montgomery
hated Garret
t because of reasons of her own. T
hey were good reasons, but
they were all blown out the window when Garrett revealed his true feelings.

Montgomery
gave it up without much of a fight, but Cindy figured
she
was within her rights
waiting
so long for the man to get a clue.  Cindy didn’t want to become one of those women who got hitched for all the wrong reasons.

Chase was the safe choice.  She knew what he was about and they worked together so he already knew about her job, so no awkward moments, but there was just no spark, at least not for her.

Jack on the other hand was a complete unknown.  She didn’t
have any information
about him, with the exception
of the fact that he helped her. H
e seemed to be very capable
and he was a SEAL
.  There was also the spark, or rather the flame.  The sexual tension between her and Jack could
n't
be cut with a chainsaw. 

When they had sex in the woods it was completely unexpected.  She’d never before felt
so
intense.  Cindy wasn’t quite sure what to do with all her new feelings. 

The wrapper crunched empty in her hand and she looked up from her introspection to the two men surrounding her. 

“Well,” she stated holding up her empty wrapper, “I’m ready.  It’s not like we have a lot of time to stop, we’ve got to keep moving.  Jack how far do you think
the site
is from here?”

Jack continued drinking the PowerAde he was sipping on.  When he was done his dark gaze met hers, “We have about a two hour hike from here.”

“We’d better get going.”  Cindy shifted and came to her feet she winced a little as the pain sliced up h
er leg when she put weight on her ankle
.  “It’ll take twice as long with my foot, but I don’t want to let an
injury deter us.  I’ll be fine.”  S
he
put up her chin
when she noticed Jack start to protest. 

With a gesture he started off down a narrow deer trail they had been following.  She quickly fell into step behind him, and Cha
se followed closely behind
.  It worried her that he hadn’t said much of anything since they started on
the mission together.  She knew
he was angry with her and probably suspicious of Jack. 

Cindy w
ant
ed
to strangle Montgomery
for allowing Chase to
take this particular mission on. She
understood Montgomery’s desire to see her and her brother together, after all, Montgomery is her best friend and marrying Chase would make them sister
s.  The problem, as always, was
the lack of spark.  That’s what it always came down to.

Cindy noticed a distinct change of landscape when the terrain became mostly basalt.  She could tell they must be nearing the National Lava Beds Park located outside of the town.  The National Moon Base Experiment was done there, and they stil
l used the equipment for NASA,
not a good area for Jaguar to become familiar with.  The lava tubes alone could provide hundreds of caves and hideouts
which
could be used for strategic purposes.

They continued hiking for some time, the basalt surface hard on Cindy’s ankle.  She knew it was probably the size of a baseball by now.  She wasn’t about to let her ankle slow her down though.  The mission was too important to her at this point she just ha
d to keep telling herself that.

Chase was
on edge.  According to his
GPS
they
approached
the area where the satellite came down.  He
ran
through different scenarios in his head about what might happen when they found the satellite.  He stopped.
“Hold up.”

Cindy checked her
GPS
, and gave a little head nod.  Jack
came to a stand-still
a few feet in front of them.

Chase looked between them, and he felt a restless energy building. 

“Cindy, we’re almost to the target spot.”  He
glanced
a
t Wilde
, “we’d like to thank you for your services, but you’re no longer needed.  We can take it from here.”  He didn’t want the man to be around Cindy any more than he had to be. 

Wilde
moved his head from side to side, “Sorry, as I’ve told Cindy I’ve been ordered to finish out the mission by Washington.  It’s my understanding that you’re in cooperation with the US government, and you wouldn
’t want to piss them off.”  Wilde
stepped closer to Chase and they
stood
toe to toe.

“J
ust who are you anyway?”  Chase
narrowed
his eyes
.

“Someone you don’t want to mess with.”

Chase
knew it would be easier to back down and
let the man do his job, but Wilde irritated him.  Wilde
took another aggressive step toward Chase
.

Cindy jumped in between them her small hands up against their chests pushing them apart. 
Chase
saw the confusion and apprehension
in
her eyes
as they
darted back and fourth between them. 

“Enough,” she
tone
was irate.  How dare they go at it like a pair of Alpha wolves?  She knew it was a mistake to involve both of them.  “Chase, Jack has the clearance
to be informed of everything
, I have seen it.  He’s part of SEAL Team 6.  It’s on his ID if you’d even bothered to look.  Not someone who you want to pick a fight with.”  She turned her gaze on Jack, eyes silted, “and you!  What do you think you’re doing?  A simple answer would suffice, but no, you have to go all macho and act like a caveman.  I don’t need this right now.”  She
glared
between the two men.  “I have a box to retrieve, now if you don’t mind, let’s go!”

She limped off headed for the target site. 

Jack watched her go and cursed, “Cindy wait.”  He jogged to catch up to her.  “Look, I’m sorry.  I don’t know what’s happening to me.  I’m not usually that bad.  I’ll hang back and scout in case anything goes wrong.  You and Chase take point.  I think it’s a good idea if I get a little space between us right now.  It’ll be easier to focus on the job at hand.”  She reminded him of an angry pixie and he couldn’t help himself, he hauled her to him and kissed her deeply
. T
he heat built rapidly between them and she r
an
her hands into his hair
pulling
him closer. 

Jack stopped, set her aside, and stepped close to Chase so they were only inches apart.  He could feel the anger radiating off the other man.

Jack’s voice as soft as a whisper, “Take care of her, if she comes to harm, I’ll find you.”  His steel eyes held Chase until the other man nodded in assent.  He stepped away,
glanced
at Cindy again and turned away d
isappearing into the tree line.

Jack would stay back and follow, he had to make sure she stayed safe.  The dense forest provided cover and he could keep an eye from a distance.  He lengthened his stride and began to walk with a purpose he hadn’t possessed in many months, not sin
ce coming out of the service. 

Cindy watched Jack go her heart
hurt
like it was being ripped from her chest.  She’d never felt this strongly towards anyone, and was afraid that she would lose what she found.  Glancing at Chase to assess what he
thought
,
Cindy noticed him watching her with an expression of disgust that she never thought to see from someone like him, especially not towards her, “I’m sorry.”

Chase glared at her, his handsome face tense with anger.
“It doesn’t matter right now; we’ll deal with this later,” he clipped.  Even his sentences were short and precise. “Let’s go.”  Just as Chase turned to continue down the trail he was thrown back. 

Cindy looked down at
blood spray on her shirt. T
he next bullet slammed into the tree next to her head
. I
t registered that the
y were under a
ttack. B
ark flew hitting her face
. 

She grabbed Chase by the arm.
“Come on, we’ve got to get behind cover.”  There wasn’t much in the way of th
ick tree trunks around here. 
Cindy gave a quick prayer of thanks that she was skinny.  She pushed Chase down the side of the trail; there was a small ditch where he could hide if he stayed still.  Blood coming from his shoulder had to be stopped. 

Cindy t
hrew her over shirt down to him.
“Stop the bleeding.”  She hissed.  He grabbed the shirt and held it over the wound. 

Crouching low in the underbrush she made out dark shapes moving to the sides of the path ahead of her. 
Dusk,
the shadows lengthened making neat little nooks for someone to hide. 

Cindy pulled the gun out of her pack, loaded it with a fresh clip and took off the safety.  She looked around the side of the tree where she had found refuge. 

The shadows seemed still.  She looked harder and saw the tree cancer, a faint outline of a person half concealed by a pine tree.  Taking careful aim, she fired.  The bark on a tree shattered and the man hiding there jerk
ed
away.  The way he grabbed his arm looked like she scored a hit. 

Cindy grinned to herself.  The many hours on the practice range back at headquarters
paid
off.  No one but the attendant knew how much time she had spent
shooting
.  She scanned the area and decided she
would
need to get closer if she
would
be effective in taking out the threat.  Crouching in her position Cindy moved from tree to tree.  The dark expand
ed
and cover
ed
the forest in a blanket of dark. 

Her heart rac
ed
as she neared the
spot
where she winged her hidden enemy.  There was blood on the tree bark.  Her smile widened when she realized she hit her target. 

S
omething hard hit her from behind.  Cindy went sprawling in the dirt, rough bark
pieces
dug into her palms.  She
was
flipped over and a fist slammed into her face.  Throwing an uppercut, it connected with a rock solid jaw.  The guy grunted and shoved her back into the dirt.  She tried to buck him off,
but
he held on slamming his other fist into her side.  Her ribs
burned
. Large hands went around her neck, for a mo
ment Cindy struggled to breathe. S
uddenly
,
the pressure released.

She rolled to the side and looked up.  Jack had the man’s head between his hands and she heard the snap as he wrenched it to the side breaking the neck.  Her assailant slumped to the ground in a boneless heap.  She stood up and opened her mouth to speak when a
nother
bullet slammed into the ground at Jack’s feet.

Diving, Jack rolled out of the way, and came up with a .45 in his hand. He looked deadly, and downright pissed off.  His gaze skimmed over her and then to the area around them.  He took aim and hit something with a solid thud. 

She glanced behind her and noticed another assailant fall from a tree branch. Moving over to the man, she
stepped
careful
ly
not to let
ting her guard down. H
e
still breathed
, but barely. 

She leaned over him, “Are you with Jaguar?”  He
back
glared at her.

“I’ll tell you nothing bitch.”  She pressed her palm onto the bullet hole in the man’s shoulder.  He screamed and thrashed about.

“Tell me what I want to know, and we’ll end your agony.  Do you already have it?”  He thrashed his head from side to side.  “Do you?”  Her fingers went deeper into the wound and he screamed again.

“Yes! Yes already!  Please!” 

She releas
ed the wound.  Stepping back Cindy started to pull away
.
The man sat up quickly, pulled
a gun from his belt
and aimed
it at her.  Within the space of a breath, Jack put a gun to his head
and
pull
ed
the trigger.