Challenging Love

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Challenging Love Page 6

by KaLyn Cooper


  Realizing he had to make that file disappear, he leaned forward, fingers flying over the keys. He duplicated the information and placed it into one with the highest security files that only he could access. He then returned to the original audio department request to delete it. He hesitated with his fingers over the keyboard. No. He needed to keep track of Wolf’s activities, especially where Aleta Flores was concerned. At the slightest hint of infidelity, Katlin would dump him.

  Glancing up to be sure Timothy couldn’t see what was on the screen, Jack returned to the highly secure files. He scrolled down hundreds of video and audio files bearing Katlin Callahan’s name. There were even a few with her deceased husband’s name. He changed the passcode and backed out. He didn’t need to look at video, the living breathing woman was in the building, and he’d see her, smell her perfume, maybe even accidently brush against her to feel that smooth skin of hers. Soon. Very soon.

  In bold red letters, a message from Christine came across the right hand screen. I may have something.

  Standing, Jack ordered, “With me.”

  By two o’clock that afternoon, Jack’s mood hadn’t improved. Christine’s thread was thin, but trusting her hunches had paid off several times in the past. He’d given her permission to travel the circuitous path and hoped she’d stumble over something valuable.

  A mission in Nicaragua had gone to hell and had required Jack to be in the Operations Center for nearly two hours. He’d lost a good man to an ambush by a cartel that didn’t recognize any of the countries between Columbia and Mexico. To the team leader’s dismay, and embarrassment, they’d been forced to abort the mission.

  Just as they were discussing extraction possibilities, Katlin Callahan strode into the ops center. He felt her presence a second before she moved in on the other side of the tech handling the op.

  “Is that them?” She pointed to a map of Central America that filled one of the smaller screens. A faint whiff of her perfume drifted his way and his cock started to harden.

  “Yes,” several in the gathering answered at the same time.

  “They are heading toward Santa Cruz.” The tech at the desk clarified and expanded the map onto his largest screen.

  “Santa Cruz is too dangerous,” Katlin warned. “Tell them to head to El Castillo. The cartels don’t bother those folks because they barely have enough food to survive. There’s lots of fishing in that area. Have them steal a boat and head down Rio San Juan. If they have any MREs left, make sure they leave them in payment for the boat. Food is more valuable than cash to them.”

  Jack wondered how she knew so much about that area. He was quite sure he’d never sent her on a mission anywhere near there. Even while in training, he never recalled a mission to Central America. Yet she spoke as though she’d been there.

  “They’re going to have to be very careful when they get to this part of the river.” She leaned over to the tech’s shoulder and pointed on the map where the river widened before it separated into several tributaries through the marshy land of the delta.

  Jack’s gaze was immediately drawn to the tight fit of her slacks over her rounded derrière. More than once he had fantasized about bending her over, rubbing his palms on those tight butt cheeks before following the crevice to her center and thrusting deep into her body until they both screamed in pleasure.

  Fully aroused, Jack was glad he still had on his suit jacket from an earlier meeting with the director.

  “Have them follow the Rio Colorado down to Barra Del Colorado.” She pointed to a position near the ocean. “Have them get out right here, and I’ll have my people meet them.” She stood up straight.

  “Your people?” Jack sniped and all heads turned to face Katlin.

  “Yes.” She crossed her arms over her plump breasts and cocked her head. “My people. I own a compound in that area. I’ll have the caretakers meet the team. They can go to my place and get a hot shower, some good food and rest.”

  Jack didn’t miss the fact that Katlin was vague about where exactly she owned a home. Part of him was perturbed that information wasn’t in her file. He wondered what else from her background was missing.

  Timothy pointed to several sites along the river. “These are high-end fishing lodges. I’m sure we can find them a bed and a shower at one of these places.” As though to de-escalate the tension in the room, he pointed to a large structure on the ocean. “This looks like a hotel. We could also send them there.”

  “No,” Katlin insisted. “Too many tourists. They’ll be too exposed there.”

  “Zoom in,” Timothy commanded the tech. “There might be some smaller local establishments with rooms above where they could recover for a day or two while we arrange for a way to get them out of there.”

  “That small town is frequented by several subversive groups, mostly paramilitary looking to overthrow the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan governments.” Katlin went on to explain, “There are other American agencies involved in that area. I believe my original idea will allow us a quiet extraction.”

  Jack studied her for a long minute. She knew a lot more about that region than she was letting on. He filed that tidbit away, even though it made sense since she owned property there.

  She laid a manicured finger on a straight piece of asphalt. “I’ve landed Black Swan there several times. I’m sure we can get a company plane in and out of there with no trouble.” She looked at the other men in the room searching for their agreement.

  Perhaps she didn’t fully understand that as director of operations he was in charge. This wasn’t a democracy. But Jack had to agree with her. It was a good plan.

  He wanted to go over and throw his arms around her, feel her warm body next to his while he thanked her for the excellent idea and personal offer. Instead, he tore his gaze from her and ordered the tech, “Relay the new plan to the team. Traveling silently on the river at night should help in their escape.”

  Then it hit him. That’s where she and her team had gone to hide. USSOCOM hadn’t told him where the Ladies of Black Swan had been sequestered. He figured they were in one of the many safe houses the government had contracted around the United States.

  His gaze ran over her entire body. Her naturally blonde hair looked lighter, as though sun-bleached, and her tanned skin was unmistakable. Wanting to know more about her compound, he asked, “Are you sure you have enough room for the six of them?”

  “Positive,” she said without hesitation.

  He watched the calculation in her eyes as she thought through several alternatives, then she shrugged. “It has ten en suites, kind of like a bed and breakfast. My parents bought it as a retirement investment; income generating as well as a gorgeous place to visit. And before you accuse me of profiting from this plan, it’s no longer open to the public. The team will stay as my personal guests.”

  Timothy turned to her. “That’s extremely generous of you, Katlin.” Low murmurs of agreement filled the room.

  Leave it to the kiss ass to beat me to the thank you. Just as he was about to move closer to Katlin, she stepped back from the curved console.

  “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get hold of some people in Costa Rica.” She strode out the door on long shapely legs, her perfect ass swinging ever so slightly with each step.

  Jack wanted to follow her, but the phone in his pocket buzzed. Mrs. Ward was warning him that General Lyon and Tom Callahan were in the executive conference room chatting with the secretary of Homeland Security and it was urgent he immediately return to his office.

  Mrs. Ward met him just down the hall from the conference room and handed him a folder and his favorite pen. As he rounded the corner, Katlin approached from the opposite direction, quietly speaking on her cell phone. She hung up before she reached the conference room. He hurried his steps so he could hold the door open for her.

  Before stepping in, she turned to face him. “Everything is arranged in Costa Rica.” Katlin’s voice was a melody to his ears. To some men
she was brusque, but he preferred her no-nonsense approach.

  She took the seat between General Lyon and Tom Callahan, effectively blocking him from sitting next to her. But he had caught the light sent of her perfume as she passed him. As he seated himself at the head of the table, he had a perfect view to watch her.

  And watch her he did. For the next two hours the commanding officer of USSOCOM, the deputy director of the CIA, and the secretary of Homeland Security exchanged what information they had on the volatile situation in North and South Korea. Not only was there political bantering, but the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea were fast approaching.

  Jack barely followed the conversations as they wove through each agency. His total concentration was on the beautiful blonde woman he wanted more than his next breath.

  He didn’t miss a single side glance from his boss who watched him and his interaction with her. He had to be cool and very subtle, schooling his face not to react to her presence.

  At one point in the conversation, he wondered why he was even there, then he remembered the power play that had taken place two days ago. He had wanted Katlin Callahan back at Homeland headquarters and had finally pulled the trump card to force the issue. Section 7 had paid for the top-secret secret pilot program for women to be trained in special operations. In exchange for that funding, the Ladies of Black Swan were assigned to Jack’s covert operations.

  Those five women were his.

  Before he realized the meeting was over, Katlin was out the door. Jack hadn’t paid enough attention to be sure what her mission was, but he could find out with the click of the mouse and in his daily briefings once the operation was underway.

  In the meantime, he and Katlin were under the same roof and for ten to twelve hours a day, she was his.

  Chapter 7

  Traffic was light in the small hours of the morning, so Alex reached across the SUV’s console to grab Katlin’s hand. “I’m gonna miss you.”

  She bounced their joined hands. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

  “On a scale of one to five, how dangerous is this mission?” Alex wanted to know how much he should worry. She was excellent at her job and would never tell him classified information. He wouldn’t ask, either.

  “All our missions are dangerous.” She squeezed his hand. “You know that.”

  “Factions within Korea have been fighting for five thousand years. What makes Section 7 think that they’ve got the answer?”

  “They don’t, and admit it all the time. They just want to keep Americans safe by eliminating anyone who could cause another disaster like 9/11.” She squeezed his hand, again. “It’s not my job to question why—”

  Alex jumped on the rest of the proverb. “Don’t say that. I expect you to come back to me so that we can be together.” He sighed. “Costa Rica was like heaven to me. You know, we could be like that, together all the time.”

  “My military contract isn’t up for a couple of years, and I might just stay in…be a lifer.” Kat was getting very defensive.

  The last thing he wanted was to fight with her just before she left. “Well, I was just glad that we had that time together. Before that, it seemed like you were sent home on one mission after another, back-to-back, without any break. Your own standard operating procedures call for ten days downtime after the return from a mission. You never got that.”

  Katlin let out a burst that could’ve been at chuckle or a guffaw. “Jack Ashworth only plays by that rulebook when it’s to his advantage. Besides, I think the fact we found our way back to each other again has spurred him to do everything in his power to keep us separated. He doesn’t trust that you will remain faithful to me, but I do.”

  “If we weren’t running late, I’d pull over right now and kiss you.” He glanced at the dash clock. “It looks like we’re gonna make it there in time.”

  “It’s not like they can leave without me,” she joked. “Speaking of leaving, where you headed to next? I’m sorry, we really didn’t have much time to talk about your work.”

  “I’ve got to go to the San Francisco Center.” It was a cluster fuck but had unbelievable potential. Not something Katlin needed to worry about. “That manager doesn’t understand that we do things differently at Guardian than the last owners. I truly regret agreeing to keep their son-in-law on for one year. He’s as worthless as tits on a boar hog.”

  “Do you have someone you’d like to put in his place?” Katlin then quickly added, “Not that I’m interfering. Guardian Security is yours, but if he’s fucking up the business, we can buy out his contract tomorrow. Maybe that bitchy mother-in-law of his will find him a new job.” She laughed. “Or hire him to manage her real estate company so he can run that into the ground, too.”

  “Yeah,” Alex admitted. “If I had to hear one more time about his master’s degree in business from Stanford, I was going to throat punch the pin dick fucker.”

  “Don’t let him get to you,” she reassured. “You could buy and sell him three times over. If it weren’t for his wife, he wouldn’t have two dimes to rub together.”

  Alex laughed. “We did buy him, and I like your idea. I’ll take a look at who we have as assistant managers. We have a lot of good men to choose from.” Then the idea struck him. “Hey, if you get back quick enough, why don’t you to join me in San Francisco? We could drive on up and spend the week in Napa, like we talked about.”

  Her smile was almost girlish. “I’d like that.” He heard the warmth in her voice and knew she wanted the vacation as much as he did. She sighed. “But, as always, I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to find our tango, and figure out the best way to eliminate him. I’m afraid we’re going to have to put somebody on the inside, which means we could be there quite a while.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I know. I wish there was a way to stay in touch, but I understand. You need to stay safe.”

  “So, do you need to make the rounds or is there someplace in particular you need to go?” He recognized a diversion in the conversation when he saw one.

  Mentally, he ran the list of cities through his mind. Chicago. The city blared at him. Oh fuck.

  “So you’re going to Chicago after you get things straightened out San Francisco?”

  Fuck. Had he said Chicago out loud? He must have.

  Covering, he told the truth. “I have some personal business I need to take care of in Chicago. I haven’t been there in a while.” Very personal business and her name was Aleta Flores. He thought about the beautiful woman with black straightened hair that she wore curled under at her jawline, her skin the color of coffee sweetened with the drop of milk, and luscious curves he’d explored several times over the past two years. They’d never been an exclusive, but it had been a relationship nonetheless. Every trip to Chicago had included hours in her bed. He admitted that he’d visited the Chicago Center more often than any of the others. Rightfully, he should have ended their affair months ago, but in truth, Katlin had made him forget about any other woman, completely wiping Aleta from his mind.

  Katlin had become his world. He hadn’t even looked at another woman since he’d found her naked in the Miami penthouse of Guardian Security several months ago. Second-best day of his life, the first being the day they met sophomore year in high school.

  All too soon for Alex’s liking, they pulled up to the big green hangar on Marine Corps Base Quantico where their black jet was stored. Glancing at the armed Marine guarding the entrance, Alex knew the drill. He was not allowed to exit the vehicle. The Guardian limousine containing the other women pulled up beside him, and Katlin’s team emerged, moving like a well-oiled machine, unloading large black duffel bags from the trunk.

  Katlin got out of the vehicle and walked around to his side, opening the door, she stepped into his arms.

  She hugged him tightly. “Take care of my heart because I’m leaving it here with you.”

  “You’re taking my heart with you, so you’d better keep it safe and bring
it back to me.” The sentiment was one they repeated each time they were forced to say good-bye.

  Katlin reached across to the center console and grabbed a pen. She took Alex’s hand and flipped it over to the palm. She wrote a series of numbers and letters onto his hand then closed his fingers over it.

  “What’s that?” he asked, truly confused.

  “It’s my tracker. Give that to Bret,” she said of Guardian Security’s computer guru. “He’ll know what to do with it. You’ll know where I am, always. The bonus is you can hear my heartbeat anytime you want.”

  So many things ran through his mind. Why hadn’t she told him about this before? Didn’t she know how much he worried about her when she was gone? Who else had these codes or coordinates or whatever those magic numbers meant? Where was this tracker located? If it recorded every heartbeat, was it inside her body somewhere?

  The only thing he could manage to say was, “Thank you.”

  Their lips met, and lingered, as neither wanted to be the first to back away. As though by mutual consent, they separated and touched their foreheads together.

  “I love you, Alex Wolf.” Her whispered words grabbed his heart and gently held it.

  “I love you, Katlin Callahan.” He leaned back knowing she had to go. “Be safe out there.” Before she could step back, or say another word, he leaned in for one last short kiss.

  Her smile warmed his heart. He had to let her go do her job, this time without him covering her six.

  She stepped away and closed the door, then she leaned into the open window. “I’ll call you on my way back home.”

  “You’d better.” Although, now he’d know when she was headed back to the United States.

  She jogged over to the limousine and grabbed the last two bags from the trunk. A second Marine held the door open for her, but she stopped and turned to look at Alex. She mouthed I love you then disappeared inside the hangar.

  He heard the thump of the limousine’s trunk close and two slaps on the roof. The limousine backed up and left as Griffin walked toward the SUV. Without invitation, the man crawled into the front passenger seat.

 

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