Oath of Honor

by Radclyffe

  lifeline, and we could’ve hauled her in. Then you and I could have

  gotten the president into the chopper, just the way it reads in the

  rulebook. Instead, I went over the side without a thought to POTUS.”

  “Jesus, Evyn, it was a training exercise and we had a team member

  overboard. I would’ve gone after her myself if you hadn’t already done

  it.” “Would you? That’s not the protocol and you know it. Our

  responsibility is first to the president, and then to the team. We took

  Wes through the same scenario with the shooting sim, expecting her to

  leave wounded agents on the ground.”

  “Oh, come on.” Gary snorted. “Sure, there was an element of

  uncertainty during that sim, but she knew somewhere in her mind those

  agents weren’t really in danger of bleeding to death. That makes it a

  whole lot easier than having someone get pulled into a riptide.”

  “Maybe,” Evyn said, appreciating his efforts to make her feel

  better but not buying the excuse. She’d broken protocol—instinctively

  and against all her training.

  “I’m telling you,” Gary said, “I would’ve done exactly what you

  did.”“I didn’t do it consciously, Gary. I didn’t even register we were

  in the middle of a training exercise. My instincts are supposed to be

  different than that.”

  “You know what—we can hash this all out when we debrief. Right

  now you’re standing there blue as a Smurf, shivering all over. You need

  to get in the shower. You can beat yourself up back in DC tomorrow.”

  “Look, I’m sorry,” Evyn said. Taking her anger at herself out on

  Gary wasn’t fair. Not his fault she’d abandoned her training—it was

  • 151 •

  RADCLY fFE

  Wes’s. Every time Wes Masters figured into anything, she totally went

  off the rails.

  “Forget it—it’s been a hell of a day.” Gary thumped her shoulder.

  “Go shower, will you?”

  “Yeah.” Evyn grabbed her go bag and Wes’s, and pushed off the

  wall. “You better get started for the airport or you’re not going to make

  it. Storm coming.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’ll get us checked into a hotel, call Tom, and bring him up

  to speed.”

  “Okay. But I want to see you when you get back to DC before we

  debrief on this mission.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can make sure you don’t fall on your sword when it’s not

  necessary.”

  Evyn laughed. “Deal.”

  She waved Gary toward the door and headed down the hall. She

  wouldn’t fall on her sword, but she needed to get herself back on track.

  She needed to do the job and forget about Wes going into the water,

  forget about the panic that had hit her hard and filled her with terror

  when she thought she’d lost her.

  v

  The locker room was unisex and small—a ten-by-ten-foot room

  with three narrow gray lockers against one wall, a few open shelves for

  gear and supplies above a bench opposite the lockers, a tiny closet with

  a toilet in the corner, and another slightly bigger closet with a doorless

  wooden shower stall. The water was still running in the shower when

  Evyn walked in, and the single horizontal foot-high window above the

  lockers was frosted with steam. She shed the canvas pants and hooded

  sweatshirt she’d pulled on out on the patrol boat, dropped them next to

  the bench, and grabbed a couple of white terry cloth towels from the

  shelf. By the thinness of the material, they’d been washed a lot of times,

  but they were clean and dry, and that was all she needed. The shower in

  the other room turned off.

  “Need a towel?” she called.

  • 152 •

  Oath Of hOnOr

  “I got one, thanks,” Wes called back.

  Evyn wrapped a towel around her torso and waited for Wes to

  leave the shower. The already small room shrank further when Wes

  walked in, her wheat-gold hair bronzed by the water, hugging her scalp

  and fingering along her neck. Sparkling droplets beaded on her chest

  and rained in thin rivulets over the muscles of her upper abdomen. Her

  skin was goose bumped.

  Evyn unfolded a towel and held it out. “You’re cold. Cover your

  shoulders. You’ve got a pretty good bruise going there.”

  “Thanks. Looks worse than it feels.” Wes rubbed her hair and

  draped the towel around her neck. “There’s still plenty of hot water.”

  “Good, I’m ready for it. Your bag is over there.” Evyn gestured

  to the bags she’d left at the end of the row of lockers. “I’ll be out in a

  second.”

  She edged past Wes, a foot of space between them. Despite the

  lingering cold that had taken up permanent residence in her bones, she

  was anything but numb. Being close to Wes charged her muscles and

  flooded her blood with heat and expectation. She tugged off the towel,

  draped it over the side of the shower stall, and stepped inside, twisting

  the hot tap all the way open. She added a little cold but kept the water as

  close to steaming as she could stand, immersing her head, turning her

  face into the spray, desperately hoping to purge the image of Wes’s body

  outlined by the thin cotton towel. Strong shoulders, sculpted arms, the

  swell of firm breasts, the stretch of abdomen and slight flare of thighs.

  She shuddered and braced her arms against the smooth tile wall. She let

  her head hang down while the heat beat against her neck and shoulders.

  She stayed there until the water started to cool and then twisted the

  taps closed. Briskly, she toweled her hair dry, finger-combed it, and

  wrapped the last dry towel around her chest. She strode back into the

  locker room, not looking in Wes’s direction, and quickly pulled on dry

  jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. After donning thick wool socks and

  kicking into her boots, she turned to Wes, who had stretched out on the

  bench with an arm over her eyes. She might have been asleep.

  Evyn smiled to herself. Wes was like every other first responder

  she’d ever known—able to sleep anywhere, anytime, under any

  conditions. She eased her emergency kit out of her go bag and crouched

  next to the bench. “You asleep?”

  • 153 •

  RADCLY fFE

  “No,” Wes said quietly. “Just enjoying being warm.”

  “I know what you mean.” Evyn pulled out a blood-pressure cuff

  and a stethoscope. “I want to check your BP.”

  Wes moved to unbutton her cuff, and Evyn brushed her hand

  aside. “I’ve got it.”

  She unbuttoned Wes’s cuff and folded the sleeve up to her mid-

  upper arm. Wes’s skin was lightly tanned, soft and smooth, the muscles

  beneath firm and finely etched. She didn’t look at Wes’s face as she

  wrapped the blood-pressure cuff around her biceps and checked her

  pressure. “Ninety over sixty. Is that usual for you?”

  “A little low,” Wes said, “but nothing worrisome.”

  “Uh-huh.” Evyn wasn’t about to argue, but she wasn’t going to

  let Wes self-diagnose, either. She checked her pulse. Sixty, slow and

  steady, full and strong. Wes
didn’t just look to be in good shape, she

  was. “Do you run?”

  “I row.”

  “It shows.” Evyn pulled out a digital thermometer. “Put this under

  your tongue.”

  Wes moved her arm from over her eyes and turned her head to

  look at Evyn. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she eyed the thermometer.

  “I’m okay.”

  Fatigue shadowed her eyes, darkening the green to nearly black.

  Her lips were pale. She looked exhausted.

  “Your vital signs are good, but you need fuel and rest.” Evyn

  wagged the thermometer. “Under your tongue.”

  Wes grinned wryly and opened her mouth.

  Evyn slid the thermometer in, and Wes slowly closed her lips

  around it. Her eyes held Evyn’s, and Evyn felt heat rush to her face. Her

  thighs suddenly trembled, and she dropped onto her knees to steady

  herself. Hell, she couldn’t even do something as simple as take Wes’s

  temperature without starting to lose it. Well. She might be able to keep

  her cool if she didn’t look at Wes’s mouth and imagine those moist,

  sensuous lips closing around her. Wes put every one of her fantasies

  to shame—and scared the hell out of her. She swallowed hard and

  wondered if Wes could hear the tightness in her throat. Her heart nearly

  froze when Wes’s hand moved toward her face.

  Evyn stilled, feeling a little bit like a rabbit paralyzed at the sight

  • 154 •

  Oath Of hOnOr

  of a predator drawing near. Wes’s fingers grazed her cheek, slid down

  to her neck, and Evyn’s breath caught in her throat.

  “You’ve got a bruise,” Wes murmured.

  Evyn slipped the thermometer from between Wes’s lips and

  pretended to stare at it. “Ninety-six. You’re too cold.”

  “And your pulse is racing.” Wes’s fingertips rested over Evyn’s

  carotid. “I bet if we took your blood pressure, it would be all over the

  place. You need some rest too, Agent Daniels.”

  Evyn wanted to move away from Wes’s touch. And she wanted

  more of it. She wanted the fire streaming from Wes’s fingertips to

  scorch through her, burning away fear and uncertainty and caution. She

  wanted to explode. Her stomach trembled. She licked her suddenly dry

  lips and eased away. “We both need a meal. Sit up, I want to check your

  pressure while you’re upright. I’m not letting you walk out of here and

  have you fall down halfway to the vehicle.”

  “I appreciate your concern,” Wes said quietly, “but I’m not a

  squid, you know.”

  Evyn laughed. “I know. But I bet it’s been a long time since you’ve

  had that kind of dunking.”

  Sighing, Wes pushed upright. “True.” She closed her eyes. “And I

  do have a little orthostatic hypotension.”

  Instantly, Evyn forgot about everything except making sure Wes

  was stable. She took her pressure again. “Seventy over fifty. You’re a

  little dizzy, aren’t you?”

  “Just a little.”

  “Okay.” Evyn rose briskly. “We’re spending the night in Kitty

  Hawk. You’re going to get some hot food into you and twelve hours’

  sleep.”

  Wes frowned. “I can sleep in DC. The trip back isn’t that long.”

  “Sorry, I’m not taking a chance on you decompensating on an

  airplane. Food, sleep, home tomorrow.”

  “Should I ask who left you in charge?”

  Wes sounded grumpy, which only proved she wasn’t at the top of

  her game. Evyn had never seen her disgruntled by anything.

  “I’m only in charge by default, Captain,” Evyn said softly. “I set

  up that exercise. It’s my fault you went in today. I’m going to see you

  make it home, safe and sound.”

  • 155 •

  RADCLY fFE

  “That’s bullshit. The cable snapped. It was an accident.”

  “It could’ve been worse.” Evyn shuddered inwardly. Wes had

  been on her way down when she’d reached her. She couldn’t even think

  about that without feeling as if pieces of her were going to tear apart

  and shatter like glass on the rocks. “No matter what you think, I need to

  take care of you right now.”

  Wes drew a sharp breath. “I’m not sure how good I’ll be at that—

  being the patient, I mean.”

  “Not used to being taken care of?”

  “Not really, no.”

  “No one special?” The silence stretched and Evyn waited for the

  shutters to close again. But Wes just searched her eyes, and Evyn was

  too tired and worried to hide whatever might show.

  “No, no one.”

  “Then I guess I’m it tonight,” Evyn said, trying for lightness.

  “It might take some getting used to,” Wes said softly. “I might not

  be any good at it.”

  “I doubt there’s anything you aren’t good at.” Evyn packed her

  gear and bagged their wet clothes. She held out her hand to Wes. “Let’s

  start practicing and see how you do.”

  Wes rose slowly from the bench, wavering ever so slightly. Evyn

  slid her arm around Wes’s waist. “Okay?”

  “Don’t quite have my land legs yet.” Wes let out an exasperated

  sigh and draped her arm over Evyn’s shoulders. “Just give me a

  minute.”

  “Take all the time you need. We’re not on a schedule tonight.”

  Wes’s hand curved around Evyn’s shoulder, the pressure of her

  fingers shooting tendrils of excitement through Evyn’s chest. Her heart

  hammered and her legs quivered. She braced her muscles, hoping

  Wes couldn’t feel her tremble. She planned on taking care of Wes and

  nothing more.

  “Ready to get out of here?” Evyn asked.

  “More than ready.” Wes dropped her arm and stepped away. “I

  think I can make it on my own.”

  Evyn missed the contact instantly and said casually, “Never

  doubted it. Let’s go find a room for the night.”

  Wes laughed softly. “More practice?”

  • 156 •

  Oath Of hOnOr

  “Uh…hell. You think maybe you could cut me some slack? My

  brain is a little numb here.”

  “Well, let’s go get you warmed up.”

  Wes reached for the door and pushed it open, and Evyn wondered

  how the tables had been so neatly turned.

  • 157 •

  RADCLY fFE

  chapter nineteen

  The neon sign announcing the Bayside Motel blinked

  erratically, illuminating the L-shaped motor court in flashes

  of holiday red and green. A mud-spattered black Ford pickup truck

  and a low-slung eighties Cadillac convertible with big patches of rust-

  colored primer on the fenders were the only vehicles in the gravel lot.

  A light burned in the room closest to the road. A hand-painted sign

  propped in the streaked window proclaimed “Office.”

  “Looks like a hot-sheet motel,” Wes said, laughing softly.

  “Cord swears this place is clean and makes decent coffee,” Evyn

  said. “That’s all we need, then.” Wes didn’t care where they bunked—

  she’d slept in worse places, including a tent in the Afghan mountains.

  Compared to that, this rated five stars.

  Evyn pulled the rented Jeep into the
lot just as the sun went down

  and the wind came up. “I’ll run in and register.”

  When Evyn pushed open the door, the wind clattering through the

  branches of the red oaks surrounding the motel filled the Jeep with a

  sound like machine-gun fire. Wes jerked and her stomach lurched. She

  had been posted to a field hospital close enough to the front to hear the

  firefights ranging in the hills at night, her tent a poor shield against stray

  rounds. She’d rarely slept deeply, her body always primed to duck and

  cover. Even now, eighteen months later, she instinctively looked for

  cover when a car backfired or a door slammed. She hadn’t been this

  jittery since she’d returned stateside. The afternoon’s brief unscheduled

  swim shouldn’t have thrown her equilibrium off so much—maybe her

  • 158 •

  Oath Of hOnOr

  agitation was due to the lingering chill the steaming shower hadn’t

  dispersed.

  Leaning out the open door, Evyn peered up at the sky. “Cord

  said we might get snow, and I think it’s arrived—blowing in fast. You

  should stay in the car until I get back. The last thing you need is to get

  wet again.”

  Wes reached across the seat and grabbed Evyn’s sleeve, stopping

  her from climbing out. “You need to stay dry too.” She handed her

  North Face jacket to Evyn, who had left the rescue station wearing only

  jeans and her T-shirt. “This has got a hood. Go ahead, take it.”

  “You sure?”

  “The heater’s blasting in here. I’m plenty warm. Plenty hungry

  too.”Evyn grinned. “Excellent prognostic sign. What do you think

  about pizza? There’s a place across the street, and I doubt we’ll get

  anything delivered out here tonight if a storm is coming.”

  “Sounds great. Since I already know you’re not a vegetarian, I’ll

  take pepperoni.”

  “Perfect. Mushrooms?”

  “And black olives.”

  Evyn nodded approvingly. “Nailed it.”

  Wes laughed. “How about beer?”

  “Sam Adams if I can’t get any kind of microbrew?”

  “You nailed it.”

  Laughing, Evyn jumped out, shrugged into Wes’s jacket, and

  flipped up the hood. She slammed the door, shoved her hands in her

  pockets, and ran through the icy mix of rain and snow, her form briefly

  outlined by the headlights before she disappeared into the dark. Wes

  watched a few seconds longer, a strange foreboding churning inside