Meant to Be (26 page)

Rad’s thoughts turned to Lauren as the
others continued their conversation about the mission. She would be
starting her day, pretending she knew nothing about what happened
across the street. But would they believe her?

“
Yo, Rad. You still with
us?”

Rad looked up at Wynn who was staring
at him. “Crock wants to know if you carry a good luck
charm.”

“
If I did, do you think I
would tell you losers and risk getting all the luck rubbed off?”
Rad smiled, but he was thinking about the gift from Lauren he
always carried. He only wished it really was time in a bottle—that
he could open it up right now and be transported to that day on the
beach. He knew one thing for sure. He was never going on another
mission without it.

Chapter 23

Angela Powers heard the
doorbell ring, and then the sound of the door opening and closing.
“I’m out by the pool,” she yelled. She assumed it was Jackie, who
knew it was the housekeeper’s day off.

A few moments later Jackie opened the
sliding screen door and stepped out on the patio. “Nice office,
Cuz.”

Angela laughed but barely looked up
from her computer. “Yeah, nice view, huh. Gerry re-did everything
for my birthday.”

Jackie stood with her hands on her
hips taking in the scene of the small pool surrounded by a
professionally designed garden. The patio was lined with lush
potted plants and extravagant furniture, designed to feel like a
room in the outdoors. “Not bad.” She turned back to Angela. “What
are you working on?”

When Angela didn’t answer, Jackie
glanced at the computer screen and leaned down for a closer look.
“That’s the girl from the beach.”

Angela’s head popped up and turned
around in one movement. “Wait a minute. What?”

Jackie grabbed a grape from the center
of the table, and then pulled out a chair as she put it in her
mouth. “The girl from the beach I was telling you about. What’s she
doing in your picture?”

“
Are you sure?” Angela
turned the computer screen toward her so she could see.

“
That’s her. Don’t tell me
she traveled all the way to Afgannyland to see Rad.”

“
I think she was there in
connection to whatever is going on.” Angela leaned in closer. “If I
can figure out what she’s doing, maybe I can break this story after
all.”

“
Oh, so you’re an
investigative journalist now?” Jackie snorted as if she found that
amusing.

Angela shot her an angry glance. “I’ll
do what I have to do to break a story no one else has. Wait and
see.” She sat back and took a long sip of wine. “What’d you say her
name was?”

Jackie closed her eyes. “Laura, maybe?
No, Lauren.”

“
Lauren, what?”

“
Heck if I know. I never
heard anyone say her last name.” Jackie looked around. “What does a
person have to do to get a drink around here anyway?”

Angela waved her hand toward the bar.
“Help yourself. I don’t have wait staff.”

“
Really? You have to make
your own drink?” Jackie laughed as she stood and poured some of
Angela’s husband’s expensive scotch into a glass. “How are you and
the senator getting along these days, anyway?”

“
Who?”

“
Your
husband
, the senator.”

“
Oh, fine.” Angela leaned
back over her computer, her mind obviously still on the
images.

With a drink in her hand, Jackie
walked back over to the table and glanced again at the photos
Angela was skipping through. “This for a legitimate story, or are
you practicing your bitchcraft again?”

“
Bitchcraft?” Angela
turned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
You should know what it
means, since you’re the queen of it.” Jackie chuckled
good-naturedly. “I figured you would take it as a
compliment.”

Angela stood and poured another glass
of wine at the bar. “People have the right to know what their
military is doing.”

“
While they’re doing it?”
Jackie took a sip of scotch and grimaced. “Seems like it might be
better to wait and do a story after the fact.”

“
You don’t know much about
the journalism profession.” Angela sat back down. “It’s all about
being first.”

“
I stand corrected.”
Jackie gazed at her sideways. “And here I thought it was about
being fair and objective.”

“
Like I said, you don’t
know much about the business.” Angela leaned back over her
computer, focused once again on the photos. “These shots make it
appear fairly businesslike to me.” She clicked through a couple of
pictures, and then turned the computer toward Jackie. “Except maybe
for this one.”

The photo captured the moment when the
helicopter was descending and the two subjects were shaking hands.
The body language was professional and detached, but the
expressions on their faces were not.

“
Hmmm.” Jackie continued
to stare at the photo. “Rad’s looking damn good. Can’t believe you
gave that up.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed
angrily. “If I hadn’t given
that
up, you’d be drinking Bud Light from a can instead
of expensive scotch from a lead crystal glass.”

Jackie rolled her eyes in such a way,
she made it obvious she’d rather have Rad in her bed every night
than an expensive house and a glass of scotch.

“
Now that I have a name,”
Angela said, rubbing her hands together, “I should be able to get
somewhere. This is going to be fun.”

“
Seriously, Angela.”
Jackie leaned forward with a hint of concern in her eyes. “Is this
a real story or are you doing it because of Rad?”

Angela’s smile disappeared. “What do
you mean?”

“
You’re acting like you’re
jealous.”

The glass of wine Angela
held hit the table with a loud
clank
. “Jealous?
Me
?”

Jackie leaned back and crossed her
arms. “Okay, maybe you’re not jealous. Maybe it’s more like, you
can’t have Rad anymore so you don’t want anyone else to have
him.”

That elicited a loud round of laughter
from Angela. “Believe me honey, if I wanted Rad, I could have
him.”

“
Really? You didn’t stay
very long on your trip to Afghanistan, and as far as I know, you
don’t have anything more for a story than you did before you
left.”

Angela shot her a look of disapproval.
“I didn’t stay because military people are fanatical patriots who
won’t tell me anything. All my contacts are here.” She put her hand
on her glass but never picked it up. “And besides, you wouldn’t
believe the god-awful accommodations. No civilized person could
last long there.”

“
Well, it doesn’t sound
like Rad was much help either.”

“
Then I gave you the wrong
impression.” Angela’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Sure he was
busy doing whatever it is he does, but he found the time to
introduce me to his commanding officer.”

“
I don’t suppose you
threatened him with anything—like doing a story on what’s going on
over there.”

“
Maybe.” She finally
picked up her drink. “So?”

“
So-o-o the subjects of
your story are in a war zone.” Jackie leaned forward and put her
arms on the table. “Someone could get hurt.”

“
I can’t be a babysitter
and a journalist at the same time.” Angela snorted. “Something big
is getting ready to happen over there, and I need to report on it.
It’s not my job to worry about things like that.”

“
It’s not your job to
destroy lives either,” Jackie said under her breath.

“
What did you
say?”

“
Look, Angela.” Jackie
took a deep breath as if trying to choose her words carefully. “Why
don’t you pick another topic to make a name for yourself and leave
Rad alone?”

“
First of all, this isn’t
about Rad—it’s about getting the biggest story of my career,”
Angela replied, her eyes flashing with anger. “And second of all,
I’m beginning to think you have something for Rad.”

Jackie laughed out loud. “I guess I’d
have to be blind or dead not to. Why should you care? You’re a
married woman.”

Angela merely shrugged as if she had
no interest in the conversation.

“
He’s unattached, isn’t
he?” Jackie did not let her off the hook.

“
I’m not sure.” Angela
leaned forward and stared at the photo she had cropped and enlarged
to just the two faces gazing into each other’s eyes. “I’m beginning
to think maybe he’s not.”

Chapter 24

Rad sat in the operations
center finishing up details from the after action review, grumbling
over the amount of paperwork his job involved.

“
Hey, Radcliff. Just the
man I wanted to see.” McDunna walked into the room and sat down at
the table opposite him. “You guys are heading home tomorrow, I
hear.”

“
Yeah, gotta get this shit
done.” Rad kept working, but when McDunna didn’t say anything else,
he looked up. “Anything wrong?”

“
No, not
really.”

Rad slid the papers into a
folder and pushed it to the side. Despite his CO’s words, he could
tell something most definitely
was
wrong.

“
I don’t know how much you
keep up with what’s going on back home.” McDunna pulled a pack of
cigarettes out of his pocket. “You know, with politics, I
mean.”

“
Not much.” Rad looked at
him quizzically. “Politics are the least of my
concerns.”

“
Well it’s an election
year.”

“
I do
happen to know
that
much.” Rad leaned his chair back on two legs, glad
now for the break. “This got something to do with me?”

“
Well, the White House is
bragging about the mission.” McDunna lit a cigarette and took a
long drag. “You know, how the president ordered it and
everything.”

Rad could feel his blood pressure
rise. “Ordered it? The idiot delayed it every step of the way. He
couldn’t have done more harm if he’d tried!”

“
Yeah, well, you know how
politicians are.” McDunna stared at the ceiling and repeated the
words he’d apparently read in a paper. “With the
commander-in-chief’s authority and under his direct command, a
classic mission was conducted and brilliantly executed. This
surgical operation, which showed precision, courage, and skill,
could not have taken place without decisive decision-making from
the White House.”

“
Wow. What a bunch of PR
bullshit.” Rad laughed. “Is that what you came to tell
me?”

McDunna’s face turned slightly red,
and he moved restlessly in his seat as if he didn’t know exactly
what to say. “No, actually there’s more.”

Rad let his chair fall forward with a
loud thump, his heart seeming to do the same. From the look on
McDunna’s face, this wasn’t going to be good news..

“
They ah, I mean, they
didn’t just leak a story that the president authorized and
commanded the raid.” He paused and stared at the smoke rising in
the air for a moment as if trying to decide how to proceed. “I
guess they wanted to give out some really juicy stuff for the news
because they leaked that they authorized a spy in Pakistan who was
responsible for identifying the target and the ultimate success of
the raid.”

Rad leaned forward and spoke in a low,
grave voice. “But they got her out first.”

McDunna stared at the folder on the
table and shook his head.

“
She’s still in there?”
The whooshing in Rad’s ears made it almost impossible to
concentrate or think. “Where?”

“
That’s the problem.”
McDunna tapped his fingers nervously on the desk. “No one
knows.”

Rad slammed his fist on the table and
stood in one movement. “What do you mean no one knows?”

“
They’ve lost
communication.” McDunna took a deep breath. “Look, calm down. You
know it happens. It might not mean anything. I just wanted to tell
you before you heard it somewhere else.”

“
Like on the
news?”

McDunna stared silently out the
window. “Yeah, like on the news.”

“
How many check-ins has
she missed?”

“
Three.”

Rad started pacing. Missing one check
wasn’t too out of the ordinary. Things sometimes happened that made
it better to lie low than communicate. Sometimes missing two was
necessary. But three? With pulse-pounding certainty he knew. She
was in trouble.

“
I get the feeling you’re
in a little deeper with her than you let on to me.”

Rad sat back down and leaned his
forehead into his hands. “You asked me how long I knew her, and I
told you I’d just met her once. That’s the truth.”

“
Okay. Good,” McDunna
said.

“
You didn’t ask me if I
planned to spend the rest of my life with her—but I do.”