by Geri Krotow
Keith took over from there, holding her hand and leading her to a more secluded area that appeared to be part of the rock outcropping but the flip side. Not a cave, per se, but a sheltered area with pine needles as cushion and tree trunks, bushes and ferns as protection from unwanted eyes. Not all of the summer foliage was in full bloom yet but there was enough to feel safe. Keith’s arms did the rest.
“Come here, Abi.” He sat on the ground with his back against the stone, his legs stretched in front of him.
She hesitated. “Are you sure your back can handle this?”
He didn’t answer until she was seated on his thighs, which forced her to wrap her arms around his thick neck for balance. The heat and strength of his quads under her ass was beyond arousing. “My back will be fine, Abi. I’m not going to make love to you for the first time, not here. But we’re going to have some fun with a little old-fashioned necking.”
“‘Necking’? I haven’t heard that since my grandmother told me she and Grandpa used to neck in the back of his Oldsmobile when they took drives in the country.”
“Stop talking, Abi.”
Their mouths met with equal hunger and insistence. Keith’s kiss was expert; his hands had to have a certification for the way he stroked her back, her ass, her breasts. And his lips were the pure definition of firmness meeting sensuality. When their tongues touched, Abi squirmed with want. If there wasn’t a rock wall behind Keith, she would have pushed him backward; to hell with not making love out here for their first time.
* * *
Keith couldn’t get enough of the woman in his arms. He wished they were naked in his bed instead of fully clothed on a public hiking trail. “Abi, you’re so damned beautiful.” He kissed her throat, her chest, cupped her breasts in his hands. “Your breasts are amazing.”
“I thought you said to stop talking.” She tugged on his earlobe with her teeth and his erection verged on painful.
“It’s time to start talking again or we’ll both be naked on the AT.”
“So?”
He reluctantly lifted his face from hers, cupping her head in his hands. “I told you, I want you in my bed, your bed, any damned bed, the first time we make love. I don’t want to have to worry about bruising you, or having you get Lyme disease from a damned tick.”
“Bruises? Are you trying to tell me something? You don’t have a special room in your place, do you?”
He grinned. “I don’t need a special place. I’ve got my hands, babe. And, for the record, no, I’m not into the kink stuff so much. I’m just letting you know now that we’ve waited so long to finally give in to our attraction that I can’t promise to go slow or be gentle the first several times.”
“I’m not some feeble maiden, Keith. I can handle whatever you’re up for.”
Her eyes were pools of sinful chocolate and he loved that she was so totally focused on him. As he was on her. It was rare, for them to have a time when work faded away and they were faced with only each other. He loved it.
“Keith? You’re drifting.” She sat up and turned to face him, kneeling carefully on the hard ground. She took his hands. “What are you thinking about?”
“You have to ask?” His cargo pants had a freaking tent at the crotch. He felt like he looked—as if he were seventeen and his hottest fantasy had come to life.
She reddened, already flushed from their kisses.
“You’re something, Abi. You are the toughest person I know, but you’re also so sexy and feminine. Is it okay that I say that?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” She looked genuinely puzzled. “Do you think I check my girly-ness at the door when I go in to the station?”
“You kind of have to, don’t you?”
“I never stop being a woman, Keith. Do you stop being a man when you walk into a female-dominated space, like a lingerie shop?” She blushed and he couldn’t stop his grin.
“Not at all. Point taken.” He licked her earlobe and she arched against him before pulling away.
“Abi, stop fighting it. Or at least tell me why you’re holding back.”
“I wouldn’t call letting you kiss me like that ‘holding back.’”
“Hey, you were kissing me just as hard. And that’s not what I meant. Sometimes it’s like you’ve got something more to tell me. I could never know enough about you.” He knew he was pushing her but he found that the more he was around Abi, the more he wanted.
She stood and offered her hand, which he ignored, preferring to get back on his feet on his own steam.
Abi’s eyes were bright as she looked up at him. “There’s always something people don’t tell each other, isn’t there? Otherwise, what’s the point in being together, trying to figure each other out?”
“You’ve got a lot to learn, Abigail.”
* * *
She watched Keith head toward the trail and followed him out of the place she’d forever remember as the hottest make-out location in Silver Valley. The same man she’d had that instant physical attraction to, the man who’d saved his teammate and her house, had held her in his arms and kissed her as if she was the only woman in the world.
“There are some things that couples don’t have to discuss, Keith.” Had she just called them a couple?
“Leave it for now, Abi.”
His tone was firm but he didn’t deny her “couple” comment and she fell into step behind him for the last few turns of the trail before they reached the top of the mountain. The freedom and pure enjoyment of the last moments were shattered by her guilt. There was no way to be completely honest with Keith. Not unless she was done being a Trail Hiker.
And duty trumped her desires.
They ate their packed lunch on a battered but sturdy picnic table not far from the trail shelter that had bunks for hikers who needed a place to overnight. Halfway through, both of them received texts from Rio.
New intel. Team meeting at 2pm.
“It’s ten o’clock now. We’ll make it back in good time, right?”
Keith put his phone away. “Yeah. It’ll only take about an hour to get down. You want to go in earlier?”
“Yes.” Abi wanted to check out any information Claudia had from Trail Hikers. Another reminder of the gap between her and Keith.
“Any idea what it’s about?” Keith looked at her with trust. Guilt raised its ugly head.
“No, but I’m guessing it’s about where they think the cult will strike next. They know we’re onto their track, and we’ve arrested enough suspects to keep the county jail busy for a while.”
Keith nodded. “Where do you think they’ll hit next?”
“I have no idea. That’s why I’m up here with you, remember? To let my brain rest.” But while she was taking a break someone had beat her to the punch, apparently. And for the first time in her professional career it didn’t bother her. Her competitive edge was still there, she wanted to be the best at what she did, but she no longer had to have all the answers.
“What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Keith wrapped his napkin and lunch crumbs into a tight ball, which he put in his pack. A big rule on the Appalachian Trail was to leave no sign you’d been there. Hikers were supposed to take out whatever they brought in, including waste when possible.
Abi thought about what he said, about how her life seemed to have changed overnight. Certainly her priorities were in upheaval. “Not a ghost, so much. More like a flash of my future.”
“And you find it scary?”
“No. Maybe too good to be true.”
Keith didn’t reply and they hiked down the mountain in shared silence. Abi knew her thoughts needed to refocus on the case, but her heart relished the intimacy of being in such profound natural beauty with Keith. As if she’d traded in her FBI badge and agent persona for a woman falling in love.
Another first.
Chapter 15
Colt walked into Trail Hikers headquarters ten minutes after Claudia called—she never called him from her secret job unless it was urgent. He was granted access and ushered into her office with no fanfare and no argument, a testament to how important it was that she see him.
She looked up from her desk and stood as he walked toward her, the thick, heavy door clicking shut behind him as her receptionist left them alone. Worry lines were evident in her usually smooth forehead, and her mouth had only a hint of the usual smile she gave him. Her eyes betrayed her joy at seeing him, and he hated to admit it but he was relieved. Her feelings for him hadn’t changed.
“I came as quickly as I could.”
“Thank you. I’m so sorry to be so abrupt on the phone, but you know the reason.”
“I do.”
“Sit.” He eased into the comfortable chair in front of her desk and leaned forward.
“What have you found out?”
Claudia rapped an unsharpened pencil against her desk, a habit he’d noticed when he’d first met her. “There’s intel from our sources and others that Taylor isn’t the only guy who’s been in touch with the True Believers.”
“That isn’t surprising, is it? There’s an element of any society that is attracted to the kind of evil rhetoric spouted by Wise and his cronies. The military is a microcosm of that—there were bound to be more, Claudia. The Army War College is no exception.”
“Yes, but this time they’re foreign. And have direct links to a terrorist organization.” When she didn’t name one specifically, he knew that she couldn’t. And he didn’t need to know, frankly.
“So they’re students there?”
She shook her head. “No. You’re aware of the annual summit that’s held at the Army War College on international relations? We have good reason to believe there are imposters coming from at least three different countries, posing as delegates to the conference.”
“Then let FBI head them off at the pass and arrest them when they arrive. You do know when they’re arriving, right?” Colt couldn’t take on more than necessary. SVPD was strained with their current caseload.
“That’s the problem. They obtained visas to come to the summit, which isn’t until next month. They left early and...it appears they’re already here. They’ve been here for three months.”
Colt’s stomach sank. “Do we know where they are? Do you think they’re sleepers?”
“No, and yes. That’s my biggest issue right now. They are ‘en route,’ yet no one has seen them since they touched down at JFK this winter.”
“Have you told Rio this yet?”
“No, of course not—I wanted to talk to you first. Why?”
“He’s called a big meeting of everyone on the arson team for two o’clock today. We’ve had this lull over the past couple of weeks, and I wanted everyone rested while they could. But our vacation from the cult appears to be over.”
“I got the same text. Has he told you what it’s about?”
“Yeah. It’s what I think you’ve already figured out, and where I think we’re headed with this op.” Their eyes met. Claudia was so much more to him than a retired Marine Corps General or the CEO of a top-secret government shadow agency. She was the damned love of his life.
“Colt, we can’t let our personal life get in the middle here.”
“We can’t ignore it, either, Claudia. I’m not asking you to quit your job or to blow off this mission.”
“But will you let me do what’s needed, for the good of Silver Valley and most likely our nation?” Claudia knew what she asked of him. To allow her to do what she had to do, regardless of the risk. And she called upon his most basic instincts, the reason he was in law enforcement.
She drove a hard bargain, his woman.
“What do you need from me? From the police department?”
“SVPD and the entire county are going to have to go on full alert, the length of time unspecified. And I’m going to read Keith Paruso into Trail Hikers. He has to know what’s coming next.”
“You’re not doing it because you think there’s something between him and Abi?”
“Are you questioning how I run my shop, Chief Todd?”
“No, ma’am. But we’ve all seen the way they are around one another.”
“It takes one to know one.” Their gazes collided and Colt wished like hell they weren’t in her office.
“Indeed it does.”
* * *
Abi sat at the conference table as the officers working the case piled into the room, filling the folding seats set up against the back wall. She hadn’t seen Keith since he’d dropped her at her house, agreeing to meet her here. He’d gotten a text and told her he had to stop somewhere before the meeting, but didn’t specify where.
Colt walked in, followed immediately by Claudia and Keith. Claudia slid into an open chair at the table, while Keith opted to stand at the side of the room. As she looked at them, Abi wished Claudia would read Keith into Trail Hikers. Then she could come clean about what she was doing here—it was purely selfish on her part. But it wasn’t her call.
And even if she could tell him, what difference would it make? It wasn’t going to make their budding relationship last any longer than the few additional weeks she expected this case to last. Keith was an avowed player and showed no indications of being ready to quit the hound-dog show. She wasn’t ready to make any kind of big commitment, but she didn’t want to get seriously involved with a player, either. And her first choice would never be a firefighter. It was too close to her deepest, most awful memories. She’d shared the worst with Keith, yet she knew she’d never be able to let go of how she’d ruined her best friend’s life and her father’s career.
Colt cleared his throat and the room went silent.
“Thanks for coming in, everybody. Rio’s about to brief us all on the latest developments in the True Believers case and, more specifically, what the arsons have all been about and what we think they’re leading up to. Let me say that we wouldn’t be here without the hard work of Abi, and the support we’ve had from Keith and his department these last several months.
“As you all know, the cult’s arrival into our town, when it started to cause trouble, began earlier than we first thought, as far back as the Silver Valley Community Church fire two Christmases ago. There isn’t time to run down the list of all you have accomplished since.” Colt paused long enough to make eye contact with each officer present. “You’ve made a big difference. I couldn’t be prouder at how we’ve attacked this issue. But there’s more ahead, probably the worst of it, over the next week or so. It’s easy to be anxious to get it all done, and quickly. But I don’t want any heroics out there. All levels of enforcement from local to national are involved at this point. We will give deference to whomever gets it, no backwash. Got it?”
A few groans, a shuffle of feet, but nothing hostile against the Feds coming in. Abi had never been prouder to be working with SVPD. Like the man in charge of it, the department was a class act.
Colt went on to explain a few more details and tactics, then turned it over to Rio.
“After looking at the locations of the last several fires, and combining that with intelligence we’ve received from several sources, it’s come to our attention that the cult is somehow trying to target TMI.”
The room was as silent as Abi had ever heard it. Everyone in the room knew what TMI meant: Three Mile Island—the nuclear reactor plant that provided electricity for the entire surrounding area that included Silver Valley. It had been made famous due to an almost-nuclear accident in the late seventies. As with all nuclear power plants, it was always a concern, security-wise.
“We think that Wise is somehow expecting to successfully break into the facil
ity or, at the very least, stage some kind of explosion outside of it, to gain national media attention. So far we’ve kept him off the airwaves by apprehending suspects as the crimes occur, and the media has been cooperative in emphasizing his history and criminal record, not bringing his current rhetoric into the spotlight.”
What Rio wasn’t mentioning was that no cult member had come forward from Silver Valley to tell what happened in the True Believer/New Thought meetings. The New Thought meetings took place exclusively in the trailer home compound Wise had purchased for the sole intent to house his community of brainwashed converts. SVPD had managed to infiltrate the meetings last Christmas, but that was it. It had been too risky to send anyone else in since. He placed his hands on his hips as he continued. “I’m confident that TMI can and will handle its own security, with help from federal agencies. We’ll go in only as requested, of course. I don’t want us underestimating the cult, but let’s face it, they’re not going to get into the nuclear facility proper. There are too many tripwires. They may want to get caught, and that would make our job easier.” A wave of soft laughter, then more silence. “We’re on a 24/7 watch schedule, beginning at eighteen hundred hours tonight. Let your families know that you’re on call for the foreseeable future. The FBI, ATF and others have their best people on this, folks. Hopefully our job will be limited to surveillance and apprehension, but be prepared for anything. I don’t want anyone going anywhere without full body armor. Chief Paruso and his department will keep doing what they’re best at—putting out fires. Any questions?”
Rio approached her after he adjourned the meeting. “Abi, stay here for a minute.”
“Sure.” She sat back down and noticed that Keith had sat beside her. Claudia and Colt remained in the room, too. After the last officer filed out, Rio shut and locked the door.
“The good news, folks, is that we’re close to ending this and getting Leonard Wise locked up for the rest of his life.”
“The bad?” Abi couldn’t resist.