Crystal Clear

by Serena Zane

  “They filled me in.”

  “How do I know you’re who you say you are? Do you have identification?” Her hand became heavy from holding up the gun so long, but she kept steady. He nodded that gorgeous head and a piece of dark black hair fell towards his eyes.

  Jack reached for his pack, placed his gun in the shoulder holster he wore, and moved to get out his ID. “Here,” he extended the ID, “I’m supposed to help you complete your mission. Just let me know what needs to happen and I’ll make sure it gets done, and see it through.” He handed her the papers and she reached out to take them.

  Their fingers brushed and she felt a jolt of electricity at the contact. She sucked in her breath at the contact but she regained composure. Cindy looked over the papers and scanned the document. She nodded her head, and regretted the action. She laid her gun on her lap and placed both hands on her head. It throbbed.

  “I lost my computer in the fall.”

  He held out her pack which seemed to be in surprisingly good condition.

  “You mean this thing?” Jack laid it in her lap, and stepped back, “Looks far more sophisticated than your average hiker would bring with them, I figured it was yours.” He moved it in front of himself and shook it a little. “Come on and get it then, I won’t hurt you.”

  Cindy glared at him and rose, bracing herself on the tree. Her foot burned like hell, and she stumbled as she took her first step toward him.

  “Whoa, easy.” His arms went around her and caught her as she began to fall.

  She inhaled as she felt the brawn of his biceps under her hands. Looking up into those dark chocolate eyes she felt the jolt again, this time clear to her toes. This man spelled trouble for her. She licked her lips. He on the other hand seemed unaffected.

  “It’s okay, I’m okay,” stumbling over her words, Cindy tried desperately to regain her composure. She never had this reaction to men. What an inconvenient time for hormones to rear their head, she smothered a laugh with a groan. The timing sucked.

  Jack glanced at her with concern in his eyes. “Looks like you need more help than you want to admit. Come on, my cabin is close, and it appears as though you’re going to need attention for that foot. I have supplies there. I promise to be the perfect gentleman.” He turned up the wattage on his killer smile, and she crumbled.

  Cindy remembered Agent Halverson had told her about someone in the area close by, and she was really in no shape to argue. Despite her injuries, she got turned on, and that didn’t happen to her. She looked at him curiously as he gathered her pack. He came over and extended her an arm. She leaned into him. Letting him have a killer smile back, his quick intake of breath told her he wasn’t expecting her to take him up on the offer. Maybe he wasn’t as unaffected as he led her to believe.

  “I’ll go with you, but remember that I’m heading the mission.” She just wanted to keep that clear.

  He nodded.

  Cindy allowed herself to practically be carried, and felt the immediate release of pain when she took the weight off her injured foot. Some ice and a few pain killers would probably see her through, but she didn’t have the ice on hand, and a nice chair sounded really good right about now.

  Jack wasn’t going to promise anything. When he got her back to his place, he could take all the time he needed to get information out of her. He supported her weight with his own, and started off. She was small, and it was no hardship having her curvy body pressed up against him. Thoughts he shouldn’t be having filled his head.

  Through her bruises and scrapes, she was quite a bit more attractive than her picture indicated. She had dark hazel eyes that he could drown in, and her chestnut hair flowed long and wavy down her back. He could only imagine what she would look like cleaned up. It was difficult to keep his focus as he helped her back to the cabin.

  Cindy struggled along, but kept a firm grip on her gun. She would not let someone get the drop on her again. She didn’t realize the danger aspect of the mission. Derek Killroy, her boss, and head of F.I.U.W., had told her that it should be a breeze, the big fat liar. Okay, well maybe he wasn’t fat.

  They were supposedly days ahead of the terrorist group who wanted the information contained in the black box of the satellite. Killroy was being misled; either that or someone within the organization was most likely involved with feeding false Intel. Cindy couldn’t imagine anyone on her own team doing so. There was too much at stake, and the loyalty with which they all served was faultless.

  Chase had even sacrificed himself for the good of the cause. Cindy felt a twinge when she thought of Chase. She should call him and let him know everything was okay, but she didn’t want to deal with him.

  Jack’s small cabin came into view and Cindy breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she could sit down again. They entered the tiny space, and he sat her down on the bed against the far wall.

  After setting down the packs as well, Jack came back to her side. The bed shifted as he placed himself next to her, and she sucked in her breath at the sharp pain slicing up her calf.

  “Careful,” he said as he eased her leg onto his lap, “now, let’s have a look at that foot.” He cuffed up her jeans, and noticed the swelling immediately. He also noticed the slim structure of her bones and the soft skin as his rough hands held her. The area around her ankle already turned purple with a bruise. “Looks like you have a sprain.”

  She sucked in her breath again as he slowly moved her foot around in a circular motion.

  “Try to bring it towards you.”

  Cindy strained and moved her foot slightly towards her upper body.

  “Now... away...”

  She forced her foot downward.

  “Definitely a sprain, you’ll need to stay off your foot as much as you can.”

  “I can’t, I don’t have that kind of time.” She glared at him.

  “Hey now, this isn’t my fault. I’m only letting you know what the doctor will say. I think I have something around here that’ll help ease the pain and the swelling.”

  “We need to get moving. Jag already has a lead on us, and if they get to the sight before we do then all this will be for nothing.” She groaned and leaned back against the pillows. Her foot still cradled in his hand, he massaged the muscle in her calf.

  She couldn’t help but feel as though she was failing, and the thought raked on her. She didn’t fail, it wasn’t an option. She wouldn't fail her first solo mission.

  “They don’t have that much of a lead on you. With my help you should make it there before them. And if you don’t, there are always other ways of retrieving the info you need.”

  “What are you talking about, if they get their hands on the Intel then who knows what they are going to do with it? We don’t even know what the box contains. It could be anything. We need to get moving soon.” Her eyes flashed, “You can put my leg down now, I’m sure it will be fine in a few hours.”

  He held her gaze. She watched as his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t let go of her leg.

  “I said you can let go of my leg now,” Cindy stated firmly. She glanced down at the offending hand and gestured for him to move it off her.

  Jack couldn’t help himself he took her words as a challenge. He moved his hand up higher on her thigh and jerked her toward his body. His other hand moved so suddenly behind her head she didn’t have time to respond. His face was mere inches from hers, and her breath hitched. He intentionally intimidated her, and by the flare he noticed in her eyes, she liked it.

  “Look the way I see it right now, you need someone looking out for you, and right now that guy is me. You’re just gonna have to deal with that.”

  The urge to kiss her was strong. Jack’s mouth hovered above hers just a breath away. His muscles tensed as she placed a hand on his chest.

  “Okay.” She said it so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

  “What?”
He didn’t move.

  “I said, fine, thank you.”

  He moved away.

  Cindy let her breath out, but she couldn’t tell if it was in relief or not. The tension still strong, but it eased back just a bit. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him, her head flopping on the pillow.

  Cindy knew she was being an ungracious oaf, but she couldn’t afford to get involved with this man, even if he did have exceptionally nice features, and broad shoulders. She always had a thing for men with nicely muscled physiques. So, call me shallow, she didn’t want just any old slob off the street. Her libido needed something strong to cling to when things got wild, and she did like things wild. Jack fit the bill perfectly.

  Damn.

  “Fine,” She felt the bed shift as he got up and walked across to room.

  She turned back to watch him. Nothing stopped her from getting a little eye-candy time in before he retired for the evening. Although, where he planned to sleep was a mystery since he had placed her on the only bed in the room.

  He walked into what she assumed was the bathroom, and came out a moment later with a cold compress and a bottle of pills. Jack set the pill bottle down by the bedside table, popped the compress, and placed it on her ankle. She sucked in her breath at the instant cold as it settled into place.

  He strode back across the room, took a glass from the cupboard in the kitchen, and poured some water. Passing back over to where she lay on the bed, he handed her the glass, opened the pill bottle, and passed her a tablet. She took it from him wordlessly. He nodded when she had finished taking the pill.

  “Rest, once the pill takes effect we can talk about what we’re going to do next. Your backup is on the way. Their plane evidently got delayed for a few hours. Take the time to relax. It’s going to be hard on you with that foot for the next couple of days.”

  Cindy would have protested, but Jack held up a hand.

  “Enough, we’re going to wait for your backup. Then we’ll decide what to do.”

  She started to say something, but he kept up his hand and turned away from her. He walked over to the bookshelf where he grabbed a Tom Clancy novel, and sat down to read.

  One hand absently went down to stroke his dog on the head.

  It was going to be a long few hours. Cindy’s head plopped on the pillow.

  Damn men anyway.

  Chapter 9It seemed like time stretched before he finally banked the fire, grabbed a blanket and stretched out on the floor next to the bed.

  “If you get cold tell me. I’ll get you another blanket.” He tersely turned toward the door, and closed his eyes.

  Cindy lay in the bed and wondered how light a sleeper he really was. She needed to call Lucy and let her in on the fact that things were still in motion, not to mention the need she had to tell her best friend all about Jack. Listening for his snores Cindy lay still in the bed. His breathing eventually deepened, and she knew he was asleep.

  Damn, he doesn’t even snore. Maybe she would need to make a trip back to Bend after this little excursion was over.

  Cindy swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Silent, she found her shoes and gingerly placed her injured foot down. Braced for the worst, she involuntarily let out a small hiss when the sting of the sprain hit her full force. Training stopped her from letting the pain take over. She had a job to do.

  With stealth, Cindy got her things and crept to the door to let herself out of the small cabin. The dog didn’t even perk his ears. Once she reached the relative safety of the trees, she bent and put on her shoes. Treading through the forest at night without shoes was not a smart idea for anyone.

  Especially an injured someone, she thought as pain shot through her leg with each step, figures, sabotaged on my first mission. Suddenly, the reality hit her. Jag had gotten to the area before she did. She stopped and dug into her backpack. Everything was still where she’d put it.

  Cindy pulled out her TAC phone and prepared to listen to her friend rant. She flipped open the screen and smiled. God bless technology. She giggled a little as she dialed Montgomery’s personal number feeling like a girl who snuck out of the house, then Cindy remembered where she was. Far enough from the cabin not to be heard, she still needed to be careful. Who knows what was lurking around in the shadows at this time of night? It was damn dark in the woods.

  Cindy dialed Montgomery. As she waited for her best friend to pick up she leaned against a tree. The rough bark scratched her back, and with her luck she probably had a head full of sap in her hair, but at the moment she didn’t care.

  “Hello, Hawke?” Montgomery sounded worried.

  “Yeah, sorry I haven’t checked in yet, but there’s a complication.” Cindy took a moment to let that sink in.

  “I heard. Chase is already on his way.” Cindy didn’t even hesitate.

  “NO! I mean, no thanks. I can do this. I just need you to know that Jaguar is already in the area. They sabotaged my raft.” Cindy heard Montgomery’s intake of breath.

  “What? How’d they get past the tour guide? Those rafts are inspected daily.”

  “I know. They didn’t. Someone with a sniper rifle took out two of the raft sidewalls. I fell out and went over a waterfall.”

  “WHAT? I’m calling Chase. He’s getting his ass down there to help you this instant. I don’t understand why he’s not already there. He left hours ago.”

  Cindy had to stop Montgomery before she got too far ahead of herself. She didn’t want Chase around, especially with someone like Jack nearby who was Alpha male enough for any girl. That would not be a good idea.

  “No, wait. I’m okay. I just have a slightly sprained ankle. I can still walk, I have my gun, and now that I know they’re here I’ll be more vigilant. I wasn’t paying attention before. I am now.”

  “Chase’s plane grounded due to bad weather. He’s stuck at an airport somewhere. He’ll be there soon.” Montgomery’s voice sounded urgent on the other end of the line.

  “I have help. The government sent in a remote agent to assist me with finishing the case.”

  There was a long pause before Montgomery answered.

  “We know about the assist. I still want you to be careful. Give me a minute, I’m going to talk this over with Garrett. If he and I are of the same mind, you’ll be getting company soon. We don’t mess around with things like this just for the sake of pride. I know from experience backup is invaluable.”

  Cindy sighed resigned. Of course Garrett would agree with Montgomery. He had a thing against female agents anyway with the exception of Montgomery, his partner and wife.

  “Fine, just don’t get Chase too riled up. You know how he is. Don’t want a big scene here out here in the woods, it might scare the squirrels. I’m getting my bearings from the GPS in my pack, and will be headed toward the satellite. Chase can just catch up if he’s coming.” Cindy knew she would reach the crash site before Chase had a chance to even land. He was several hours away stuck at an airport God only knows where. Bend was clear across the country from headquarters in New York. She didn’t want to wait for him.

  “Don’t be surprised if he shows up sooner than you think.” A distinct click sounded as Montgomery hung up the phone. Her best friend knew her better than anyone else, and understood that she didn’t want to wait. Heck, Montgomery probably wouldn’t have waited herself, but Cindy wasn’t as experienced in the field and Montgomery concern was justified. Still, Cindy was angry at Montgomery for jumping the gun and sending in Chase before she called for him.

  “Luce, you backstabbing, dirty dealing double agent! If you weren’t my best friend I would stick a knife in you.” Cindy glared at the phone.

  “Now, that’s no way for a lady to talk.” The deep masculine voice behind her sent shivers of pleasure up her spine, “Now, would you like to tell me why you crept out of the cabin in the dead of night, or would you r
ather I just made my own assumptions?”

  Cindy turned. Jack leaned against a massive pine tree, one hand raked a path though his thick hair, and the other rested by his side holding a gun. He was so sexy Cindy could almost taste it. The bulge in his bicep when he flexed created a tingle of yearning deep in her stomach.

  “Well?” The irritation in his voice acted like a bucket of cold water.

  “Well what? I’m not a prisoner am I? I can go when I please. I have a job to do. So, with or without your permission I am going to do it.” He didn’t have to know that she was just out making a phone call. His assumption irritated her. Hefting the backpack onto her shoulder Cindy turned to leave, but the moment her foot touched the forest floor she was ill prepared. She started to fall. Jack caught her before she could hit the ground.

  “Looks like you’re getting help whether you want it or not. You can’t even stand on your own two feet.”

  “Well it just so happens that I don’t want your help.” She tried to wrench herself out of his arms, but those strong muscles she had so freely admired earlier held like steel bands. Heat radiated from him, and she felt the same jolt she had earlier, only this time it was three times more powerful.

  “You’re one of the most stubborn, pig-headed women I’ve ever known.”

  She tried to look up at him and her breath caught. His eyes were blazing like an inferno, and she suddenly realized she had made him mad.

  “You’re angry,” Cindy took in his gorgeous eyes and her loins caught on fire from the heat in his gaze.

  “Damn right I am. I help you, and you take off without so much as a, bye your leave. Then, I find you out here with your gadgets ranting at a phone. You’re trouble. I know that. But I have orders not to let this go, so you are stuck with me until you’re back in civilization where you obviously belong and are done with this mission.” By the time he was done, he was yelling at her.

  She stood there in his arms just shaking her head, which only served to infuriate him further.

  “And one other thing--”