Crystal Clear

by Serena Zane

  “I have a friend coming to take care of him. We shouldn’t be that long, but I don’t want him getting hurt in case something happens.” Jack rubbed Copper’s ears and opened the cabin door to let the dog back inside. “Let’s go.” He headed out and Cindy and Chase fell into step behind him.

  The path Jack chose was narrow. They walked single file. This didn’t give Chase the opportunity he wanted to talk with Cindy. He stared at her luscious backside and tried to think about the mission. Chase ducked as a branch snapped back almost hitting his head. He caught it just in time to stop it from slapping his face. Chase pushed it to the side and his gaze narrowed as Wilde glanced back.

  “You okay?” Wilde asked with an annoying grin on his face.

  “Fine.” He wasn’t about to let Wilde show him up. Chase didn’t have time for this. If Jaguar got to the satellite before them, all the information would be lost. They would be set back months in the investigation of the fanatics who created so much havoc in the States recently. Trying to avoid the roots and rocks littering the path, Chase tried to focus on the case at hand.

  The newest hit had been on the FBI building. Someone hacked into the security and corrupted hundreds of criminal files. They had a team of retrieval experts trying to repair the damage done before bad things happened.

  All the data was lost on several known terrorists in the States. Thoughts about the case helped Chase to keep his mind off what might be going on between Jack and Cindy. The last thing he needed to do was lose his temper.

  He pictured his sister laughing at him for losing a case over a girl, but Cindy wasn’t only a girl to him. She was special, talented, and had a sense of humor that could make him laugh when he didn’t want to. He needed that in his life. Where would he ever find anyone to measure up if he lost her?

  Cindy trudged along behind Jack, trying not to put too much weight on her injured leg. She didn’t want Jag to get the satellite. They already had a head start of about four hours. Jag didn’t have a guide of course, which would slow them down some, but it was still a likelihood they would get to the satellite before Cindy had a chance to destroy it. She didn’t know what kind of information it contained, but it had to be important. If Jag was willing to kill an agent of F.I.U.W. to obtain the data, it had to be something worth while.

  She felt Chase’s gaze on her back. He must be thinking the worst about her. He would have seen when Jack touched her cheek. She had to tell him the moment they had some time alone. Jack would hopefully understand her need to talk with Chase. She had to clear the air. She felt the tension between them, and she had a need to cut it out of the equation if possible. Cindy just wasn’t sure how Chase was going to take the news about Jack; or that she just didn’t want to be in a serious relationship with him.

  Stumbling over some roots, Cindy had to catch her balance for a moment. Jack glanced back at her, concern on his face. She smiled and he turned to continue on. She wondered what thoughts went on inside the gorgeous head of his.

  Jack continued to be an enigma. She didn’t have much information on him other than the fact that he was a trained guide and a reserve remote for the US Government. She knew that he had military training from the way he handled his knife. He was a SEAL, after all. He was efficient, and the government would make sure that anyone they sent would be competent enough to deal with terrorist situations.

  The trail became too steep and Cindy had trouble holding her footing. She watched as Jack angled his feet and went down the side of the incline. Rocks and dirt tumbled down the hill in front of him. Cindy saw the beginnings of the porous rock which made up the lava beds.

  The river rushed by and the water became wild as they moved on due to the rock it traveled over. Cindy winced. If she had gone any further downriver when she fell she would she would have been a goner, Filet Cindy.

  She tried to concentrate on the trail and kept reminding herself she could do this, even with a hurt ankle, “Sure no problem.” Cindy said mostly to herself as she took another step forward. “Just keep moving.”

  Jack looked back at her and nodded; his face impassive. She stumbled over a small root and Chase caught her elbow steadying her.

  “Thank you.” Smiling at him she gently, but firmly removed her elbow from his hand. She glanced back quickly and noticed Chase frown, but he stepped back and kept his distance. They traveled for about an hour, and Cindy’s foot throbbed in pain.

  Chapter 11Jack looked back occasionally noticing the frown on her face. He admired her for not complaining. He had first-hand experience that you could put the body through more than one would anticipate. Jack shook his head to clear the morbid thoughts that formed. Training for Special Forces was harsh by anyone’s standards. He absent-mindedly rubbed his knee as they climbed up a steep incline on the other side of the valley they’d crossed. He stopped at the top and put his pack down.

  “What’re we stopping for?” Chase demanded. He glared at Jack.

  “I need to take a breather. I have a bum knee.” If he felt the physical excursion, Cindy must be in terrible pain. The stony look on her beautiful face told its own story.

  She sat on a nearby log and flexed her foot. Her gaze met his and he saw more green than brown in her hazel eyes. He wondered if that had more to do with the pain she experienced or the conflicting emotions she must be going through. Jack knew Cindy and Chase had a history. He could tell by the way their body language spoke they were uncomfortable. She crossed her legs away from Montgomery, and his angled towards her where he stood.

  Cindy eyes kept shifting and he sensed she didn’t want him digging too deeply into her situation, yet. He didn’t blame her after all, they had just met. He wasn’t one to share too much information about his own personal life either, but he knew he wouldn’t hold too much back if she asked him.

  Cindy tried hard not to look at either man. She pulled a Snickers bar out of her pack and concentrated on reducing the pain in her foot by taking in copious amounts of chocolate.

  The problem lay in two areas, well, no, three. One, how she would explain to Chase she decided to be with a man who was virtually a stranger to her; two, how would she keep seeing a man who expected her to be “trouble”; and three, how would she stop Chase from killing Jack when she told him about her newly formed relationship? And to top that off, long distance relationships were no good, and she lived clear across the country. Life sucked sometimes.

  Cindy recalled all the problems Montgomery had getting together with Garrett. It had seemed strange how her best friend’s feelings changed so suddenly. At first, Montgomery hated Garrett because of reasons of her own. They were good reasons, but they were all blown out the window when Garrett revealed his true feelings.

  Montgomery gave it up without much of a fight, but Cindy figured she was within her rights waiting so long for the man to get a clue. Cindy didn’t want to become one of those women who got hitched for all the wrong reasons.

  Chase was the safe choice. She knew what he was about and they worked together so he already knew about her job, so no awkward moments, but there was just no spark, at least not for her.

  Jack on the other hand was a complete unknown. She didn’t have any information about him, with the exception of the fact that he helped her. He seemed to be very capable and he was a SEAL. There was also the spark, or rather the flame. The sexual tension between her and Jack couldn't be cut with a chainsaw.

  When they had sex in the woods it was completely unexpected. She’d never before felt so intense. Cindy wasn’t quite sure what to do with all her new feelings.

  The wrapper crunched empty in her hand and she looked up from her introspection to the two men surrounding her.

  “Well,” she stated holding up her empty wrapper, “I’m ready. It’s not like we have a lot of time to stop, we’ve got to keep moving. Jack how far do you think the site is from here?”

  Jack continued drin
king the PowerAde he was sipping on. When he was done his dark gaze met hers, “We have about a two hour hike from here.”

  “We’d better get going.” Cindy shifted and came to her feet she winced a little as the pain sliced up her leg when she put weight on her ankle. “It’ll take twice as long with my foot, but I don’t want to let an injury deter us. I’ll be fine.” She put up her chin when she noticed Jack start to protest.

  With a gesture he started off down a narrow deer trail they had been following. She quickly fell into step behind him, and Chase followed closely behind. It worried her that he hadn’t said much of anything since they started on the mission together. She knew he was angry with her and probably suspicious of Jack.

  Cindy wanted to strangle Montgomery for allowing Chase to take this particular mission on. She understood Montgomery’s desire to see her and her brother together, after all, Montgomery is her best friend and marrying Chase would make them sisters. The problem, as always, was the lack of spark. That’s what it always came down to.

  Cindy noticed a distinct change of landscape when the terrain became mostly basalt. She could tell they must be nearing the National Lava Beds Park located outside of the town. The National Moon Base Experiment was done there, and they still used the equipment for NASA, not a good area for Jaguar to become familiar with. The lava tubes alone could provide hundreds of caves and hideouts which could be used for strategic purposes.

  They continued hiking for some time, the basalt surface hard on Cindy’s ankle. She knew it was probably the size of a baseball by now. She wasn’t about to let her ankle slow her down though. The mission was too important to her at this point she just had to keep telling herself that.

  Chase was on edge. According to his GPS they approached the area where the satellite came down. He ran through different scenarios in his head about what might happen when they found the satellite. He stopped. “Hold up.”

  Cindy checked her GPS, and gave a little head nod. Jack came to a stand-still a few feet in front of them.

  Chase looked between them, and he felt a restless energy building.

  “Cindy, we’re almost to the target spot.” He glanced at Wilde, “we’d like to thank you for your services, but you’re no longer needed. We can take it from here.” He didn’t want the man to be around Cindy any more than he had to be.

  Wilde moved his head from side to side, “Sorry, as I’ve told Cindy I’ve been ordered to finish out the mission by Washington. It’s my understanding that you’re in cooperation with the US government, and you wouldn’t want to piss them off.” Wilde stepped closer to Chase and they stood toe to toe.

  “Just who are you anyway?” Chase narrowed his eyes.

  “Someone you don’t want to mess with.”

  Chase knew it would be easier to back down and let the man do his job, but Wilde irritated him. Wilde took another aggressive step toward Chase.

  Cindy jumped in between them her small hands up against their chests pushing them apart. Chase saw the confusion and apprehension in her eyes as they darted back and fourth between them.

  “Enough,” she tone was irate. How dare they go at it like a pair of Alpha wolves? She knew it was a mistake to involve both of them. “Chase, Jack has the clearance to be informed of everything, I have seen it. He’s part of SEAL Team 6. It’s on his ID if you’d even bothered to look. Not someone who you want to pick a fight with.” She turned her gaze on Jack, eyes silted, “and you! What do you think you’re doing? A simple answer would suffice, but no, you have to go all macho and act like a caveman. I don’t need this right now.” She glared between the two men. “I have a box to retrieve, now if you don’t mind, let’s go!”

  She limped off headed for the target site.

  Jack watched her go and cursed, “Cindy wait.” He jogged to catch up to her. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m not usually that bad. I’ll hang back and scout in case anything goes wrong. You and Chase take point. I think it’s a good idea if I get a little space between us right now. It’ll be easier to focus on the job at hand.” She reminded him of an angry pixie and he couldn’t help himself, he hauled her to him and kissed her deeply. The heat built rapidly between them and she ran her hands into his hair pulling him closer.

  Jack stopped, set her aside, and stepped close to Chase so they were only inches apart. He could feel the anger radiating off the other man.

  Jack’s voice as soft as a whisper, “Take care of her, if she comes to harm, I’ll find you.” His steel eyes held Chase until the other man nodded in assent. He stepped away, glanced at Cindy again and turned away disappearing into the tree line.

  Jack would stay back and follow, he had to make sure she stayed safe. The dense forest provided cover and he could keep an eye from a distance. He lengthened his stride and began to walk with a purpose he hadn’t possessed in many months, not since coming out of the service.

  Cindy watched Jack go her heart hurt like it was being ripped from her chest. She’d never felt this strongly towards anyone, and was afraid that she would lose what she found. Glancing at Chase to assess what he thought, Cindy noticed him watching her with an expression of disgust that she never thought to see from someone like him, especially not towards her, “I’m sorry.”

  Chase glared at her, his handsome face tense with anger. “It doesn’t matter right now; we’ll deal with this later,” he clipped. Even his sentences were short and precise. “Let’s go.” Just as Chase turned to continue down the trail he was thrown back.

  Cindy looked down at blood spray on her shirt. The next bullet slammed into the tree next to her head. It registered that they were under attack. Bark flew hitting her face.

  She grabbed Chase by the arm. “Come on, we’ve got to get behind cover.” There wasn’t much in the way of thick tree trunks around here. Cindy gave a quick prayer of thanks that she was skinny. She pushed Chase down the side of the trail; there was a small ditch where he could hide if he stayed still. Blood coming from his shoulder had to be stopped.

  Cindy threw her over shirt down to him. “Stop the bleeding.” She hissed. He grabbed the shirt and held it over the wound.

  Crouching low in the underbrush she made out dark shapes moving to the sides of the path ahead of her. Dusk, the shadows lengthened making neat little nooks for someone to hide.

  Cindy pulled the gun out of her pack, loaded it with a fresh clip and took off the safety. She looked around the side of the tree where she had found refuge.

  The shadows seemed still. She looked harder and saw the tree cancer, a faint outline of a person half concealed by a pine tree. Taking careful aim, she fired. The bark on a tree shattered and the man hiding there jerked away. The way he grabbed his arm looked like she scored a hit.

  Cindy grinned to herself. The many hours on the practice range back at headquarters paid off. No one but the attendant knew how much time she had spent shooting. She scanned the area and decided she would need to get closer if she would be effective in taking out the threat. Crouching in her position Cindy moved from tree to tree. The dark expanded and covered the forest in a blanket of dark.

  Her heart raced as she neared the spot where she winged her hidden enemy. There was blood on the tree bark. Her smile widened when she realized she hit her target.

  Something hard hit her from behind. Cindy went sprawling in the dirt, rough bark pieces dug into her palms. She was flipped over and a fist slammed into her face. Throwing an uppercut, it connected with a rock solid jaw. The guy grunted and shoved her back into the dirt. She tried to buck him off, but he held on slamming his other fist into her side. Her ribs burned. Large hands went around her neck, for a moment Cindy struggled to breathe. Suddenly, the pressure released.

  She rolled to the side and looked up. Jack had the man’s head between his hands and she heard the snap as he wrenched it to the side breaking the neck. Her assailant slumpe
d to the ground in a boneless heap. She stood up and opened her mouth to speak when another bullet slammed into the ground at Jack’s feet.

  Diving, Jack rolled out of the way, and came up with a .45 in his hand. He looked deadly, and downright pissed off. His gaze skimmed over her and then to the area around them. He took aim and hit something with a solid thud.

  She glanced behind her and noticed another assailant fall from a tree branch. Moving over to the man, she stepped carefully not to letting her guard down. He still breathed, but barely.

  She leaned over him, “Are you with Jaguar?” He back glared at her.

  “I’ll tell you nothing bitch.” She pressed her palm onto the bullet hole in the man’s shoulder. He screamed and thrashed about.

  “Tell me what I want to know, and we’ll end your agony. Do you already have it?” He thrashed his head from side to side. “Do you?” Her fingers went deeper into the wound and he screamed again.

  “Yes! Yes already! Please!”

  She released the wound. Stepping back Cindy started to pull away. The man sat up quickly, pulled a gun from his belt and aimed it at her. Within the space of a breath, Jack put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

  “Crap!” Her gaze clashed with Jack‘s as he stood off to the side watching her, adrenalin spiking in her system. “What was that?” She gestured to the man lying in a heap dead a few feet from where Jack stood. “You can’t do that kind of thing without some serious training. Who are you?”

  “I could say the same.” When she narrowed her eyes at him he reconciled himself to the fact that they weren’t going to get anywhere from here without complete honesty. “You already know who I am. I was part of a SEALS team with the Navy for several years. You don’t get onto Team 6 without being one of the top dogs. I haven’t even been out of the service for more than a year. I guess the training stuck with me.”

  Cindy thought for a minute and decided that she could trust him. She might get in trouble for it in the long run from the Agency, but the man had just saved her life. Plus, he was a great kisser.