by David Archer
Noah looked at her, his expression as blank as always. “I came to realize that, no matter how different they might be, I do have some kind of genuine feelings for Sarah. I can’t stand the thought of not being with her, and anytime she’s in danger, it’s like I can’t breathe properly until I get her back and know she’s safe. I don’t know what love is supposed to feel like, but I think that description might fit, at least to some degree.”
Lacey’s smile got wider. “Don’t think you’re different because you don’t know what love is supposed to be like,” she said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that none of us know that until it slaps us in the face and says, ‘Here I am,’ you know what I mean?”
“I think I do,” Noah said, noticing that Lacey didn’t look at Neil as she made the comment. A quick glance at Neil showed Noah that the skinny kid was keeping his own eyes averted from her.
Noah’s intimate familiarity with human nature told him instantly that this was a relationship that was coming to its end. Lacey had been very good for Neil, but the young man had been going through some changes over the last couple of months, and Noah had noticed that he seemed more confident, more independent. Maybe he didn’t need the emotional security of having a girlfriend as badly as he once had.
“Well, anyway,” Neil said, “it’s time to get on the way. I know it’s only a quarter of three, but it’s probably a good idea for you to get there early, let the preacher tell you what all you have to do and everything.”
Noah nodded. “I agree. By the way, Sarah and I will be going to Cancun after the wedding. We’ll be gone for two weeks, and I’m hoping it’ll do her some good.”
“It will, Noah,” Lacey said. “I know it will.”
Noah walked back across the yard and got into the Corvette while Neil and Lacey climbed into the Hummer. The big SUV followed the sports car out the driveway and down the curving road to the highway, and then Noah turned toward Kirtland and the next big change in his life.
CHAPTER THREE
“It was a beautiful wedding,” Allison said as she hugged Sarah. “Sorry I broke down and cried, but you’re about as close to being a daughter as I’m ever likely to have, and I hope you know just how lucky you are to have found so much happiness despite the line of work we’re all in. I never had time for a personal life, myself. I’ll probably end up dying old and alone, with a house full of cats.”
The wedding had gone quickly, and the reception had lasted only an hour and a half. By the time the toasts and roasts were over, and everyone got a chance to congratulate the happy couple, it was just six o’clock. Allison, Marco, and Neil were the last three in line, and the two men were shaking Noah’s hand as if they were trying to keep it from going with him.
“Molly caught up with me at the reception,” Neil said. “She’s already got some ideas on this dummy file we want to feed the mole, so I’ll start working with her on that tomorrow. It should all be done and ready by the time you get back, and maybe we can find out just who it was that… Well, you know.”
“I do,” Noah said. “I’m looking forward to finding out just who it is, but I want to bring him or her in, not kill them. I’ll be counting on you guys to help me do that.”
Both Marco and Neil nodded. “We’re in,” Marco said. “Whoever it was, they need to pay.”
Allison shoved the two of them toward Sarah and reached out to pull Noah into a hug. He accepted it gracefully and even managed to return it to some degree.
“Don’t be thinking about the mole while you’re gone,” Allison whispered into his ear. “Concentrate on her. Parker and I both agree that will be the best possible medicine to give her at the moment.”
“I’m planning on it. As far as I’m concerned, this place doesn’t even exist for the next two weeks. Of course, should anything happen, you know how to reach me.”
“Yes, but I also know how to handle things without you. This is your honeymoon. I don’t plan on interrupting it, not for anything.”
With the farewells all said and the good wishes of everyone they knew, Noah led his new wife out of the church and to the Corvette. She had managed to change out of the wedding dress a few minutes earlier, and Noah had traded the tux for his usual jeans and polo shirt. Some of the girls had taken care of getting Sarah’s new clothing into the suitcase for her, so they were ready to go.
It wasn’t until they got around the corner of the church that Noah saw the strings of tin cans and the big “Just Married” sign that were affixed to the back of his car. Sarah started giggling, but Noah simply raised an eyebrow and opened the passenger door for her. Once she was inside, he walked around the front of the car and slipped in behind the wheel, started it up, and let the cans rattle along behind as he headed toward the interstate.
The sign and the strings lasted just long enough to make it through town before falling away, and then Noah let the Corvette have its head as he turned onto I-70 toward Denver.
“Your hair looks fantastic,” Noah said. “I can’t even see how they put it on.”
“One of the personal benefits of the miracles of modern science,” Sarah replied with a smile. “I’m glad Jenny thought of it. It hadn’t even occurred to me that extensions might work, but the girls she took me to knew what they were doing.” She looked over at him and shook her head, as if in wonder. “Noah? If I’m dreaming, don’t pinch me. I don’t want to wake up.”
“It’s not a dream,” he said. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you? It’s a little late to decide you don’t want to be married.”
“Bite your tongue,” Sarah said. “Noah—you don’t realize just how much this has meant to me. I understand you’re not like other men, but just the fact that you admit to having feelings for me at all, that’s amazing. For you to say you love me and actually ask me to marry you? To me, that’s almost a miracle.” She chuckled. “Did you know that I used to have these mental arguments with myself, where I would pretend that I was trying to talk you into getting married? I must’ve come up with a thousand logical arguments, good reasons why us getting married would be a good idea, but I never told you any of them because I never believed you’d really want to.”
Noah smiled at her, and her own eyebrows went up as she realized that the smile was genuine. Seeing Noah Wolf with an actual smile on his face that wasn’t contrived was something that didn’t happen often.
“I think I had to figure it out for myself,” he said. “And this was definitely the right decision for me.”
They made it to the airport without any problems and in plenty of time to get through security for their flight. Noah had repeated to Sarah his intent to leave E & E behind them for the next two weeks and required her to promise to do her best to do the same. It hadn’t been difficult to get her to agree.
The flight itself was uneventful, and both of them slept through almost all of it. They woke as the plane was descending and were surprised that it took them only a few minutes to collect their baggage. The handlers in Mexico seemed to be more on the ball than the ones back in Denver, and Noah carried all three bags from the carousel to the car rental counter.
The Jeep Noah rented was nice, and the GPS on his phone directed him to Omni Cancun Resort, where he had booked their rooms. After the flight and time involved renting the car and driving, it was just after 7:00 a.m. when they arrived. The desk clerks happily checked them in, and they went up to their room on the fourth floor to get some rest before setting out to enjoy the activities the resort offered.
They did go to sleep, but it was more than an hour later. Sarah was determined to make love to her husband for the first time before sleeping again.
For the next two weeks, Noah and Sarah Wolf felt like they were in paradise. Between time on the beach and the many activities available, Sarah saw Noah’s genuine smile several times. Noah rented a personal watercraft, and they went out to explore the islands off the coast. They went scuba diving several times and marveled at the incredible variety of beautiful fi
sh, took a drive down the coast to visit a Mayan pyramid, swam in the wild with dolphins, and spent a fair amount of time shopping for souvenirs.
Sarah, it seemed, had a list. She had found a pad and paper in the hotel room and made a list of all the friends back home she wanted to bring a gift for, and she enlisted Noah’s assistance in choosing them by taking him into the biggest tourist mall she could find.
“Okay, first is Neil. What on earth could we bring back for Neil?”
“Neil? I’m trying to think of what sort of thing he might like. I mean, his big thing is technology and gadgets.”
“Good point,” she said. She looked at the brochure she had been given when they entered the mall and suddenly smiled. “They actually have a store here called Spy Gear, can you believe that? Let’s go see if there’s anything there he might like.”
They spent an hour looking through all of the high-tech gadgets available in the store and finally settled on a small flying drone that held a camera that could transmit video back to a smartphone. It had a number of special features that included infrared, night vision, and other things, and Noah agreed that Neil would have a blast with them.
For Lacey, Renée, and Elaine, Sarah chose items of clothing that she thought each of them might like. Lacey got something that looked like an incredibly long scarf, but when it was wrapped and tied just right became a jumper. When a salesgirl demonstrated it on a mannequin, Noah’s eyebrows went up half an inch, and he ordered a second one for Sarah.
Elaine and Renée each got a simple Mexican skirt with a peasant blouse, the type of thing that many of the local women were wearing. Sarah thought they would love them, and Noah thought she was probably correct.
Jenny, on the other hand, proved to be a bit more difficult to buy for. Sarah looked at a lot of different clothing, but then Noah took her by the hand and led her into a different store, one that specialized in edged weapons. He pointed at a set of blades that looked like the ones Wolverine had in his hands, but Sarah shook her head.
A moment later, however, she announced that she had found the perfect gift. It was a necklace with a large carved turquoise cross, but when it was twisted just right there extended a three-inch, double-edged blade made of some sort of superceramic material. The edge was guaranteed forever, and the label assured the buyer that it could be worn right through a metal detector without setting it off.
Allison got a silver desk set, and they bought Donald Jefferson a set of silver cuff links, since most of his shirts seemed to need them.
Finally, they were down to Marco. “I don’t know him well enough to even guess what he might like,” Sarah said. “Any ideas?”
Noah thought about it for a moment and then led her into another store. After browsing for a few minutes, the two of them agreed on a large beer mug that commemorated the Mexican hero Pancho Villa. At some point in the past, Noah had heard him mention an admiration for the former bandit who helped to liberate his country.
Some of their best times, however, were spent just lounging at the pool at the resort. There was actually a bartender set up at the level of the water, so they could swim right up to the bar and sit on a submerged stool to enjoy a margarita or a cold Modelo, and it didn’t take long for Noah to realize what Allison meant about Sarah being a lightweight. By the time she finished the second margarita, Sarah was ready to tell everyone in earshot just how happy she was to have married the love of her life.
Both of them were taking video with their phones, and Noah hired a local photographer a few times to capture footage of them at various activities. While he could personally remember almost every detail of each experience, he knew that Sarah would like to look back on these days at some point, and he already planned to have Neil compile all the video into some home movies they could watch from time to time.
Nothing, however, lasts forever. Two weeks can seem like a lifetime when you are just beginning it, but the last day always seems to have come too quickly. It was finally time to head back to the real world, and Noah and Sarah said goodbye to the new friends they had met. This included a couple from Australia, another from England, and their favorite waiter at one of the in-house restaurants, who had actually invited them to come to his home and meet his family one evening. They had taken him up on it and spent several hours gathered around a simple fire pit while Roberto, the waiter, playfully scolded his nine children for the antics they were using to catch the attention of the gringos. Sarah thought the children were adorable, especially the two smallest ones who were still in diapers, while Noah seemed to be a source of excitement for the older ones. The boys thought his tall, blond, muscular frame must mean he was some sort of hero, while the girls simply thought he was gorgeous.
It had been a wonderful trip, and the memories they were taking away from it would be cherished forever, but it was finally time to leave. Noah drove them back to the airport and turned in the Jeep, and an hour later the plane lifted off to bring them home to Kirtland.
When they arrived at Denver International, Noah was quickly reminded of his observation about Mexican baggage handlers being more efficient. It took almost an hour and a half to retrieve their bags, and then the Corvette refused to start; apparently, one of the doors had not shut all the way and a light was left on, so the battery was dead. Noah caught one of the security officers, who was willing to give him a jump, and they were finally headed for home.
It was almost midnight by the time they got there, but Noah wasn’t quite finished yet. He told Sarah to wait in the car for a moment while he checked something, then went to the front door and opened it before going back to the car and swinging her door open. She took his hand and stepped out, and then he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the house and across the threshold.
Once they were inside, he set her on her feet and turned her to face him, and she threw both arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
“Welcome home, Mrs. Wolf,” he said.
CHAPTER FOUR
Noah was up the next morning with the sunrise, and Sarah was up by the time he finished his shower. He opened the bathroom door and was immediately pulled into a hug, and that turned into a kiss. A few minutes later, Sarah went to get her own shower while Noah dressed and headed for the kitchen. By the time she joined him, he had managed to make quite a mess by spilling coffee grounds on the counter.
“You want to let me take that over?” Sarah asked.
Noah looked at her and actually managed a small grin. “Neil says my coffee isn’t as good as yours, anyway,” he said. She giggled at him as she pushed him aside, cleaned up the mess, and dumped out the coffee he had made. A few minutes later, the coffee maker was happily purring away, and she waited until it was almost done before pouring a cup for each of them.
Then, it was time for breakfast. “I was thinking,” Noah said, “we might run down to Charlie’s for breakfast.”
“No way, José,” Sarah said. “You’ve gone and made an honest woman of me. The least I can do is make breakfast for my husband, right?”
Noah wasn’t about to argue, and it wasn’t long before waffles and eggs were sitting on the table in front of each of their chairs. They sat down to enjoy breakfast together, and even though they had done so many times before, it seemed like a first.
“I suppose we need to check in,” Noah said. “Let’s face it, the Dragon Lady knows we’re back by now. We need to see what’s on the agenda.”
Sarah nodded, and Noah picked up his phone from where he had laid it on the table. He dialed the number for Allison’s office and asked for her when it was answered.
“About time you got back here,” Allison said as she came on the line, but he could hear the smile in her voice. “Remember what I said about being able to handle things without you?”
“Yes,” Noah said hesitantly.
“Well, I did. Unfortunately, it meant sending two other teams out to do something you could handle alone, but that’s life. How’s Sarah doing?”
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“I’m fine,” Sarah said. “He’s got you on speakerphone, so don’t try to finagle him behind my back.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Allison said. “Seriously, Sarah, how are you feeling?”
“If you’re asking whether I’ve gotten over being captured and tortured, the answer is yes. Honestly, Allison, I think I’m ready to go back in the field whenever you need us to.”
“Noah?” Allison asked. “What’s your take on that comment?”
“She seems like the same old Sarah to me,” Noah said, “but I’ll admit to the possibility of being biased, or only seeing what I want to see. I think it wouldn’t hurt for her to spend some time with Doc Parker, just to be sure.”
“Oh! Noah, you traitor! Allison, don’t listen to him. I’m fine, I really am.”
“Hrumph,” Allison said. “This is one time I’m going to take his advice. Parker is available this morning, so take her on out there, Noah. Drop her off and go have some coffee or hang out with Jackson or something, but give them a couple of hours together. After I hear back from him, then I want both of you to come by my office this afternoon. Let’s say around two o’clock, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Noah said. The line went dead, and he turned to Sarah. “Babe, don’t get upset. This is just a precaution, nothing else. Remember, you went through some pretty serious trauma. The last thing we need is for you to be holding stuff in that might come back to haunt us later.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Sarah said grudgingly. “I don’t feel like there’s any real problems, though. I mean, I can think about what happened without feeling like I want to cry anymore.”
“Yes, but that could simply be a matter of getting used to the memories. Talking to Doc Parker isn’t going to hurt a thing.”
“Fine,” Sarah said. “Then let’s go get it over with. And if he says I have to start therapy, I might just shoot the old man myself.”