One of the Boys

by Merline Lovelace

  “Let me go.”

  “For crying out loud! Don’t be such a baby.”

  Tony held her by both arms. Even in the dark shadows, she could see his slick, bare chest. An odor of beer assailed her nostrils as he tried to gather her close against him.

  “Let me go!”

  Lisa twisted frantically to avoid his kiss. His lips left a wet trail across her cheek. Furious now, she forced herself to remember her father’s repeated instructions on the various ways to extricate herself from just such a situation. When Tony grabbed her hair and held her head still for another kiss, she bit him on the lip. Before his yell had even finished echoing among the pines, Lisa was off and running.

  She dashed around the cars, praying she could follow the faint dirt track in the darkness. Her long legs carried her swiftly down the trail, until Tony’s shouts receded in the distance. Panting, she stopped at an intersection in the track. A narrow trail led straight ahead, while another bent to the left.

  Her eyes swept the darkness for some familiar landmark, some sign of the way they’d come. To her dismay, both tracks seemed to carry recent tire marks. She knelt in the dirt, swallowing tiny sobs of fear. Suddenly the thought of being lost in the dark on Eglin’s vast range loomed larger and more frightening than Tony and his friends. She’d just turned to head back when twin slashes of light cut the darkness. Straightening slowly, she waited as the car pulled up.

  “I’m sorry, Lisa. Honest to God.”

  Tony left the lights on and the engine running to come stand before her. He’d pulled on his shirt, but had no shoes. A faint trickle of blood dribbled down his chin from his cut lip.

  “Please, don’t be scared. I’ll take you home. I borrowed one of the guys’ cars and told him we were leaving.”

  Lisa swallowed her fright and stood her ground as he advanced. Imitating her father, she met Tony’s anxious, pleading look with a deliberate lift of her chin.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again. “Really.”

  After a long moment, she nodded curtly. “All right.”

  Without another word, she walked around him and slid into the passenger seat. The atmosphere in the car was blacker than the wind-whipped night as they drove slowly through the towering trees. Dark clouds hid the moon, and the first fat drops of rain on the windshield obscured their vision even more.

  Tony kept the pace to a slow crawl as he leaned over the steering wheel, trying to see ahead. He gave a low grunt of relief when the car finally swung sharply to the left and their headlights arced across the wide clearing they’d crossed through on the way in.

  “Oh, no!”

  Lisa jumped at Tony’s frightened exclamation. “It must be the Range Patrol.”

  He pointed a shaking hand toward a frozen tableau just within the arc of the lights. A minivan with its rear doors open was parked at one side of the clearing. Three figures in dark clothes bent over some equipment just outside the van. For a long, timeless minute the trio stood frozen in the glare of the headlights. Lisa had a glimpse of a vaguely familiar white face before a blinding spotlight cut across the clearing and illuminated their car. She turned her head, trying to blunt the force of the glare, and brought her hand up to shield her vision.

  “We’re outta here,” Tony muttered, gunning the engine.

  Lisa kept her hand up as the spotlight flooded in the passenger window and followed her across the clearing and onto the main road. Above the crash of the wind, she heard the welcome whine of rubber on asphalt. Tony glanced fearfully in the rearview mirror as they tore down the road, but the van didn’t follow them. The subdued and shaken twosome finally pulled into Maura’s driveway.

  Chapter 10

  Maura frowned at the pounding on her front door. She’d just poured herself a glass of wine. After this awful week and even worse day, she needed it.

  What she didn’t need this late at night was company. Unless it was Jake, of course, and she knew it couldn’t be him. He wouldn’t be finished with the debrief for another hour, at least. Even a mission canceled because of weather had to be picked apart.

  As she headed for the door, Maura rubbed her temples to ease the headache simmering there since they’d begun setting up for tonight’s test. Almost everyone had stayed late, huddled in the Central Control Facility, eyes glued to the screens and the increasingly ominous weather forecasts. When the range safety officer scrubbed the mission just an hour before the planned launch, disappointment swept through the CCF in palpable waves.

  Maura combated her own crushing chagrin by promising herself wine, comfortable sweats and an evening stretched out on the couch in total, mind-numbing inactivity. Until Jake arrived, anyway.

  Grumbling under her breath at this disruption to her plans, she padded through the house in her bare feet and opened the door on the chain guard just enough to recognize a wet, dripping teenager standing on her doorstep.

  “Lisa! What in the world happened?”

  She threw the door wide open and stared at the girl in astonishment. Her surprised glance encompassed an equally wet and bedraggled Tony waiting beside his car, seemingly oblivious of the rain now pelting down around them.

  “Oh, Maura, I had to come here.”

  Lisa pushed past her into the cottage. Still holding her wine in one hand and the door in the other, Maura glanced in confusion from the girl to her soggy date.

  “Is Tony coming in?”

  “No! And I don’t want to see him again, ever.”

  A fresh gust of wind almost whipped the door out of Maura’s hand. She grabbed it again and tugged it shut. Through the narrow windows on the side of the door, she caught a last glimpse of Tony as he got into his car and began backing down the drive.

  “Lisa, are you okay?”

  Setting down her glass, she wrapped an arm around the shivering girl to lead her into the living room.

  “Yes. I guess.” Lisa lifted a shaky hand to push back the dark curls plastered to her forehead. “I’m so glad you’re home. Dad’s flying tonight, and I just had to talk to someone. I knew you would help me get myself back together.”

  “Together from what?”

  Alarmed, Maura ran her eyes quickly over Lisa’s dripping form, but other than one scraped knee, she couldn’t see any physical signs of distress. Grabbing a sweater from the hall closet, she wrapped it around the shivering girl.

  “Tony’s a jerk. A first-class jerk.” Lisa’s hands clutched the fleece material into tight, wrinkled folds.

  “Uh-oh. I gather the first date wasn’t quite a roaring success.”

  “It was a disaster!”

  A fleeting memory of her own first date with Lisa’s dad flashed through Maura’s mind. Too bad there wasn’t some way to skip the initial courting scene and get right to the real people underneath, she thought wryly. It sure would save everyone a lot of time and misunderstandings.

  “Let’s get you into some dry clothes,” she said. “Then you can tell me what happened.”

  With the teenager in comfortable sweats and munching her way through a bowl of hot, buttered popcorn, Maura left a message on Jake’s recorder that Lisa was with her and snuggled down on the rattan sofa to hear all the details. Outside, the night whipped into a howling frenzy of rain and wind, but inside the small, cheerful cottage, they felt safe and cozy. Lisa quickly recovered her poise and was able to relate the night’s events with a blend of rueful humor and heartbreaking disillusionment.

  “Oh, Lisa, I’m sorry Tony was such a creep.” Maura scrunched an indignant Bea up higher in her lap and folded her legs under her on the couch.

  “Me, too,” the girl sighed.

  With her feet tucked up under her and Maura’s Stanford sweatshirt enveloping her slight body, she looked young and vulnerable. After a moment, however, a mischievous smile lit her blue eyes.

  “He really was kind of pathetic. He shook all the way home. I don’t know whether he was more worried about the Range Patrol following us or having to face Dad. You should have seen
the relief on his face when I told him to bring me here.”

  “He’d better not feel too relieved,” Maura commented dryly. “I imagine your father will want to have a little man-to-man discussion with him. Or rather, man-to-jerk.”

  Lisa’s delicate black brows drew together. “I…I don’t think I’ll tell him about tonight.”

  “Oh, honey, do you think that’s wise? He’ll be proud of the way you handled yourself, but he should know what you’ve been through.”

  “I’m all right. Nothing really happened. I just hate to bother Dad any more right now. He’s been so busy with this project you guys have been working on. And lately he’s been, um, sort of distracted. I can tell he’s worried. Even though he can’t talk about it to me, I know something’s wrong.”

  They’d all been worried, Maura admitted silently. Absently she toyed with Bea’s front paws, extended straight into the air as the animal lolled on her back in Maura’s lap. Her loving cat lifted one eyelid, showed a quarter inch of claws in a sign of displeasure at having her rest interrupted, then settled back into slumber.

  “Did you and Dad have a fight?”

  The soft question brought Maura’s head up. “No, we didn’t. Why would you think so?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems like both you and Dad have been so tense lately. Last night, when you went to the dining-out, was the first time you two went anywhere together in a while.”

  “We’ve just been so busy. All of us. Everyone’s worked late, just about every night.”

  Lisa teased some popcorn kernels with one finger, plainly unconvinced. “Are you sure that’s all?”

  When Maura nodded, the girl added hesitantly, “Dad likes you. A lot.”

  “I like him, too. A lot.”

  Two huge blue eyes fixed Maura with an unwavering stare. “Are you two going to get married?”

  “I don’t know. We, ah, haven’t exactly gotten that far yet.” Maura drew a knuckle down Bea’s tummy. “Would you mind if we did? Get married, I mean.”

  “Shoot, no! I think it would be great. Dad’s been alone too much and—”

  A steady knocking on the front door interrupted her.

  “Maybe that’s Dad now.”

  “Could be, although I’m surprised he’s done so soon.”

  Maura hurried to open the door. To her amazement, Pete stood on the front stoop. Using two hands to hold the door against the force of the wind, she gestured him into the hall. He slid past in a flurry of rain, leaving Maura to drag the door shut behind him.

  “What are you doing here, Pete? I thought you were with your in-laws.”

  His windbreaker and dark slacks were as wet as the hair plastered to his skull. He looked very much like she had the one and only time she’d tried to give Bea a bath.

  “I decided to watch the test after all.”

  “You did? I didn’t see you at the control facility.”

  “It was crowded, and I got there late. Just about when they canceled the mission.”

  Still confused about why he’d shown up on her doorstep, she refrained from any more questions until her unexpected guest sponged off the worst of his dampness.

  “Come on in and I’ll get something to dry you off. You know Lisa, don’t you? Jake McAllister’s daughter?”

  Maura nodded to Lisa, who gave him a shy smile. “Hi, Mr. Hansen.”

  Pete turned slowly to Lisa. His face lost all expression as he stared at her for a moment, then he managed a slight smile and a “Hello.”

  Maura hurried to gather the towels. Rushing back, she sensed imminent disaster. Pete had moved to stand just beside the couch where Lisa sat. Water ran off his navy windbreaker and dark slacks to pool in spreading puddles on the hardwood floor. With her ingrained good manners, Lisa was trying to carry on a polite, one-sided conversation.

  Bea, however, made no bones about her feelings toward the uninvited guest. Her back was arched, and every orange hair stood on end. A low, deadly hiss vibrated in the air.

  Maura rushed into the room and thrust one of the towels at her guest. He blinked at the towel as if it were a foreign object. His strange behavior only added to Maura’s worry.

  “Pete, what’s wrong? Did some word come from Operations after I left?”

  She sucked in her breath as a shaft of pure, unadulterated terror lanced through her. Something must have happened to Jake. That was the only reason she could think of for Pete’s strange visit.

  Trying desperately to control her fear, Maura shot Lisa a quick look. She couldn’t ask Pete to blurt out bad news in front of the girl. She was just about to grab his arm and yank him into the kitchen when he shook his head.

  “No, nothing happened at work.”

  His voice sounded so strained that Maura’s heart sped up once more. He still hadn’t taken his eyes off Lisa, who was surveying him with a puzzled look. Suddenly, the teenager’s brow cleared and she gave a merry laugh.

  “I saw you tonight, didn’t I? Out on the range.” She turned toward Maura with a gamine grin. “This is great. Wait until I tell Tony he shook in his shoes all the way home because he thought the Range Patrol was after us, and it was just Mr. Hansen and his friends.”

  Pete took a quick, jerky step toward the sofa. Bea rose up on her toes. In an effort to subdue the hissing animal, Lisa gathered her against her chest.

  A look Maura could have sworn was regret passed across Pete’s face. His shoulders slumping, he put one hand in the pocket of his dark, wet windbreaker. Totally bewildered, Maura turned back to Lisa.

  “You must be mistaken, honey. Mr. Hansen wasn’t on the range. He was with his in-laws, then at the control facility.”

  “No, I’m sure it was Mr. Hansen I saw. I only caught a glimpse, but I knew the face was familiar.”

  She turned to Pete for confirmation. After a long, tense moment, he nodded slowly.

  “I thought you’d seen me. I recognized you as soon as the spotlight hit the window.”

  “Why were you out on the range? I thought you said you were at the control…”

  Maura’s voice trailed off as an insidious, dangerous thought flashed into her mind. The test. Good God, the test.

  No, her brain screamed. No! Surely Pete wouldn’t be involved in the suspected sabotage. He couldn’t!

  Her growing dismay and suspicion must have shown in her face. Pete’s mouth curved in a tight, strained smile that never made it to his eyes.

  “Have you figured it out, Maura?”

  “The test?”

  He nodded slowly. “I hoped Lisa hadn’t recognized me.”

  “Why?” she whispered. “Why did you do it?”

  “Do what?” Lisa asked.

  “I needed the money.”

  “Do what?” Lisa interjected again.

  Shaken, Maura tore her eyes from Pete to stare down at the girl. “Mr. Hansen…” She had to force the words through a throat gone tight and dry. “Mr. Hansen is sabotaging the special project your dad and I are working on.”

  She stumbled over the words, not believing them even as she said them. Her gaze flew back to Pete. “My God, if you needed money, I would have helped. So would Jake. You didn’t need to do this.”

  He swept her small cottage with a look of derision. “You couldn’t have made a dent in what I owe. I was so far over my head with the condo and the boat and trips to Acapulco, I was going under for the last time. Besides, it started long before you got here.”

  Maura gaped at him, aghast. “Are you saying you’ve been selling secrets for a long time? Before this project? How could you?”

  “When you’re desperate enough, you discover you can do just about anything. Carol was going to leave me. I was frantic. I couldn’t go to my father-in-law for help. The son of a bitch never wanted Carol to marry me in the first place. I had so many loans out at the bank and with less-reputable lenders, I was about to go under.”

  “But the security screens… The safeguards…”

  “Easy enough to get ar
ound when you’re on the inside.”

  Numb with shock, Maura tried to absorb his bitter yet strangely gloating words. Pete sounded as if he derived some twisted pleasure from what he was doing, aside from just the money. Eerily, his next words validated her guess.

  “Once I sold the first set of plans, I was trapped, of course. My contacts kept demanding more goods, more deliveries. After a while, when Ed Harrington passed me over for promotion, my little side deals gave me a chance to get even with the system.”

  Maura stared at him, not seeing his rain-plastered hair or taut body. It was the defiant look in his eyes that held her mesmerized. She couldn’t believe she’d worked next to this man for months and not seen the evil in him. She’d sensed his weakness and some of his frustration, but not this implacable hostility.

  “Don’t look so damn horrified,” he admonished. “I’m not doing anything half the defense-industry corporate-marketing departments aren’t doing. They all try to beat the competition by selling a new prototype to foreign markets on the side. The only difference is, they get their buddies in the State Department and Congress to ratify the sales after the fact.”

  “Don’t you dare try to excuse what you’re doing with that political bull,” Maura spat out. “Aside from the fact that you betrayed your country, you could have hurt someone with those rigged tests. You could have killed Jake!”

  Her voice gathered both intensity and volume. She wanted to scream at the man standing so arrogantly before her. She clenched her hands into claws, ready to rake down his face.

  Pete took an involuntary step back. “The missile wasn’t supposed to arc back like that! It should have fallen straight.”

  “Well, it didn’t. Jake’s lucky he survived.”

  “It wouldn’t have broken my heart if the bastard went down in flames. He couldn’t keep his hands off Carol from the first day he got here.”

  “That’s not true!” Lisa cried.