The Stranger and I

The shimmering heat rose like seaweed from the desert floor. Justin, hands on hips, drilled the horizon with his piercing gaze. He carried himself with the loose-limbed grace of an athlete. He’d deceived her with his strength when he’d yanked her into his house, impressing her as a huge, powerful figure. He had power all right and stood over six feet tall. But even though his body was taut, he was no bulging muscleman.

As if sensing her scrutiny, he turned and grinned. “You ready for the last leg of the trip?” His smile banished all the pain and disillusionment from his face. What put it there?

“Yeah, I’m ready to say ‘hiya’ to hiya.”

He shook his head as he climbed back into the truck. “This heat’s getting to you.”

Their last stop had been in Twentynine Palms where they fueled up and downed a couple of sports drinks along with some sandwiches. Justin promised her a shower and some rest at the HIA facility. She needed both.

They hurtled over the blazing asphalt of Highway 62, leaving Twentynine Palms and civilization in the dust. Justin turned down a road heading south. A gated structure, the color of the encroaching sand, took shape in the glimmering heat.

Lila quipped, “Will you have to kill me after I see the secret compound?”

A shadow passed over his face. “Don’t joke about it.”

They inched up to the gate, and he inserted a key card into a slot. The gate rolled back on squeaking wheels. He parked the truck and stepped out onto concrete, glittering with particles of sand. The facility looked deserted, but most of the agents parked their cars in the back.

His jaw tightened, and a pulse throbbed in his throat. All his senses danced on the head of a pin. He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring at the faint, acrid odor of gunpowder. Range practice?

Lila chirped, “Is it always so quiet here?”

He felt for the gun he’d just shoved into his gun bag along with his backup and ascended the steps to the entrance. He punched the intercom. No answer. Swiping his sweaty hand across his T-shirt, he flipped open the print reader with his other hand. He pressed his thumb against the reader and said, “Lone Wolf 58634.”

The lock on the gunmetal-gray door clicked. He withdrew a badge and flashed it at the reader. A second click. Shoving the door open, he stepped over the threshold. The familiar whirring and buzzing noises filtered out from the data lab in the back.

Victoria Lang sauntered into the hallway holding a pink-frosted cupcake, an overnight bag slung over one shoulder. “Oh, it’s you. Prasad said you were coming in. Guess we didn’t hear the intercom.”

Justin expelled a breath and eyed the cupcake. Lifting one eyebrow, he asked, “One of your creations?”

Victoria scooped at the icing with a long, manicured fingernail and licked it. “Yeah, it’s Dave’s birthday. There’s more in the back.”

He gestured to her bag. “Are you off?”

She lifted the shoulder with the bag. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning, taking R & R in Vegas for a few days. Is this the witness?”

Before he could answer, she extended a sticky hand to Lila. “I’m Victoria Lang. Glad you came forward.”

Justin made a terse introduction. “This is Lila.” Victoria didn’t need to know Lila’s last name. Nobody did.

Lila said, “I don’t think I had a choice.”

Victoria shook her head so that her sleek black hair rippled over her shoulders. “We all have choices. Looks like Chad made a dumb one.”

Justin clenched his teeth. Was she blaming him for Chad’s failure? She couldn’t blame him any more than he blamed himself. “He was on the scent.”

Waving her cupcake in the air, Victoria said, “Yeah, yeah, but you’d never put anyone else in danger, Justin, except maybe yourself.”

He asked, “Anyone hear from Molina yet?”

She lifted her dark sculpted brows. “Nope. You think he’d know about Chad’s death. They were partners down there, albeit reluctant ones.”

Prasad joined them in the hallway, his face drawn and too gaunt for a man his age.

Justin nodded to the younger man. “You okay?”

Prasad shrugged thin shoulders that masked a tensile strength. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Chad always did take more risks than anyone else.”

The “except you” hung in the air.

Justin brushed it away with the sweep of his arm. “You learn from his mistakes and go on, but it can happen to any one of us, even you, Warrior Sheikh.”

Victoria snorted. “You still using that code name, Prasad? Dream on.”

He countered, “Yeah, okay, Amazon Goddess.”

“Wow, would you be S.O.L. if you were out in the field and needed assistance from me? I’ll have you know, I’m now Lady Hawk.”

Dropping a curve of long dark lashes over one eye, she winked at Lila and said, “Our boss has an exaggerated flair for the dramatic.”

Justin grumbled, “Or the ridiculous.” He gestured toward Lila, “Prasad, this is Lila, the witness I told you about.”

Lila’s cheeks grew pink under Prasad’s scrutiny, and Justin stepped between them. Prasad didn’t need to know any details, either. Justin asked, “Is Leo in?”

Victoria answered, “No, he hasn’t been around much. Phones in from San Diego, gives us orders. You know Leo.”

Justin knew his boss hankered after a promotion. More office work. More money. Less danger. Hell, the man had a family, two teenagers ready to start college soon. He deserved a breather.

Prasad said, “I called him about Chad. The news hit him hard.”

“Leo always has his favorites.” Victoria directed a pointed glance at Justin.

He turned his back on her. Leo had been his mentor in the early days, but Justin didn’t need him now. Just complicated things, like Justin’s own mentoring relationship with Chad and Prasad complicated things. His own father had failed as a role model, so what business did he have trying to guide others?

They all walked together into the data lab where three agents tapped away at keyboards in front of computer screens with one hand, balancing cupcakes in the other. They looked up at Justin’s entrance and crowded around him to glean the details of Chad’s murder.

He revealed only the basics as he intercepted Lila’s puzzled look and finished, “Lila’s going to show me the site of Chad’s execution on the interactive map in the back and I’ll go down to Mexico in the next few days to check it out.”

Dave, the birthday boy, asked, “So you think they followed her?”

Justin replied, “Haven’t figured that out yet, but if the Mexicans killed the two dirtbags who murdered Chad, their accomplices probably waited for Chad’s car at the border.” He felt Lila tense by his side and all his nerve endings tingled with a desire to touch her, smooth away the worry lines between her eyebrows.

He steepled his fingers and shot her a look from beneath his eyelids. “She needs to get home safely. Maybe a helicopter ride into Lindbergh Field.” She’ll be safe and I’ll be safe. The thought nibbled at the edges of his mind. Ridiculous.

Dave shoved his glasses back up his nose and pressed, “Are we debriefing her here? Did Chad say anything before he died?”

Justin quelled the agent’s curiosity with a cold glance from narrowed eyes. “I already did that. Chad said nothing.”

Dave stepped back, holding up his hands. “All right. Enough said.”

Before Justin took Lila to the navigation room, Prasad announced, “I’m going into Twentynine Palms for rations to get us through the rest of the night. Anyone need anything?”

Dave protested, “Hey, it’s not your turn. It’s my turn to go in. You just want to see Janet.”

Victoria explained, “Prasad met a cute Japanese woman who works at the shopping center in Twentynine Palms. A Muslim who practices Islam and a Buddhist. We keep telling him it’s doomed.”

Prasad laughed. “Lust conquers all.”

He began taking orders for beef jerky, microwave popcorn and lattes while Justin and Lila retreated to the back room. A long night loomed ahead of them all.

As he punched the code in for the door, Lila asked, “Is that it? Just the six of you?”

“It varies, depending who’s out in the field. The team’s bigger but some of the agents are on assignment. Danny Molina and I are stationed in Mexico right now. Chad was, too.”

“Why weren’t you down there with him?”

He shoved the door open. “Personal business.”

As they entered the lab, Lila stared, wide-eyed, at the collection of satellite images on the screens around the room. Justin pointed out Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Indonesia before leading her to a lighted map of Mexico.

He handed her the pointer. “If you touch the screen with the pointer and then touch another spot twice quickly, the number of miles between the two distances will flash. Or I can switch it to minutes.”

She held the pointer between two fingers. “Cool.”

“If you press down on a point on the map, the name of the town will flash on the screen, or the name of the nearest town and the distance.”

She caught her full lower lip between her teeth and studied the map. Talking to herself, she said, “Let’s see, I got to the border at around eight o’clock, stopped for forty-five minutes in Loma Vista before that.”

He leaned in, watching her pore over the map. Her musky scent, a combination of tangy salt and stale lilac, enfolded him, weaving a silky web around him. He stepped back to break the threads.

She needed to get home, back to her family and friends. He knew instinctively she had lots of friends. Her warmth would draw people to her, grateful to be included in the glow that floated around her like a cape. God, he was losing it.

She murmured, “I think the site is around this area. It’s south of this little town, Loma Vista. Some dense foliage marked the spot. The rest of the way to Loma Vista was pretty bare.”

Blinking his eyes, he focused on the map where she circled with the wand.

“I can’t be absolutely sure until I see the place again. It was dark, and I was sleeping when we got there and terrified when I left.”

Drawing in closer, he noted the general location but didn’t write it down. He frowned. “Are you sure this is the place?”

She nodded. “I’m figuring it out by hours not miles, and I’m sure I stopped in Loma Vista and it took me another forty-five minutes to the border. Why?”

Scratching his chin, he said, “It seems kind of far from the border to be tunneling in. I expected something closer to the border itself.”

He flipped a switch to erase the entire transaction. “At least it gives me a starting point.”

Handing him the pointer, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell your colleagues out there about the tunnel?”

He shrugged. “It’s only a supposition right now. Something Chad and I worked on, nobody else, except Molina, and I’m not sure how far Chad took him into his confidence.”

She sighed. “I thought government agencies were supposed to be working together now—”

“Shh.” He held up his hand.

She started to speak, and he hissed, “Quiet.”

A hollow puff. A soft thud. A quick footstep.

He prowled toward the door of the navigation room, lifted a chair and lodged it under the door handle.

Her eyes round with fear, a sickly pallor soaking into her skin, Lila choked out, “What’s wrong?”

He spun toward her, regretting his next words. “The facility’s been compromised.”

Chapter Three

A shot of adrenaline zigzagged up Lila’s spine, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. The blood pounded in her head. She squeezed her eyelids shut against the daggerlike pain that knifed behind them.

Justin gripped her shoulders and her eyes flew open. She twitched then sagged against him. He pressed her body to his, the warmth quelling the panic that rippled along her nerve endings.

Through their clothes, she felt his hard muscles already coiled for action. In contrast, she felt like jelly. If he let her go, she’d morph into a blob on the floor.

He looked down into her face, and she tried to soak up the strength she saw in his eyes. He ran his palms down her arms and squeezed her hands. “Follow me.”

His touch and words acted like an electric prod. She straightened up. The room sharpened into focus. Her nostrils flared. Her muscles tensed. She could do this.

Before grabbing her wrist, Justin swung around and killed the lights. He prowled across the floor, the satellite images casting a green glow over his taut body. He placed a chair beneath a vent, climbed on it and pushed the vent into the ceiling above them.

He beckoned to her to join him on the chair, and she teetered on its edge. Encircling her waist with his strong hands, he hoisted her up and into the vent.

He whispered, “Crawl to your right until you get to a dead end. I’ll be right behind you.”

Turning toward the blackness, she heard him scramble into the vent after her. She began crawling, her breath puffing out in short spurts, scattering the cobwebs tickling her face. The dark enclosure suffocated her, but she kept moving, afraid if she stopped, she’d die. Her head hit a wall. She gulped once, twice, to swallow the scream barreling its way up her throat.

Justin crowded in close to her, sweat dripping from his face. His hot breath, smelling of cool spearmint, bathed her cheek. He lifted out another vent and lowered himself through the square hole. As he disappeared, waves of panic engulfed her until she saw his face peering up at her.

He said, “Come down.”

She sat down on the edge of the hole and dangled her legs through the opening. Fear drummed against her temples until Justin wrapped his arms around her thighs. She slid down the rest of the way, and he held her close for just a moment. Could she stay here…forever? His heart thudded against her chest, willing her own skittering heart to mimic its steady beat.

His lips brushing her ear, he said, “We’re in a closet in the entryway. The front door is right outside. Do what I say. Once I open the front door, crouch down as far as you can and follow me out to the car. Don’t look up, don’t stop. The keys are in the ignition. If I don’t make it…”

Her strangled cry stopped him. He moved his hands up her arms to cup her face and swept the rough pad of his thumb across her lips. He dropped one hand and dug into his pocket. “If I don’t make it, call the number on this card and ask for Leo Caine.” He nudged the card into her stiff, damp hand.

Wrapping his finger around one of her curls, he bent over and pulled her face toward his, his lips brushing hers. “You can do it, Lila.”

Couldn’t they just stay in this closet and finish the kiss? All too soon, he released her, prepared his weapon and eased the closet door open. She peered out from behind his broad back. No one in the entryway. Two steps put them at the front door.

Pushing it open, he glanced back at her. “Let’s go.”

He hunched forward, folding his tall frame almost in half. She followed, her eyes darting around the perimeter of the compound.

The first shot split the hot desert air.

Following orders, she didn’t look up.

Justin moved faster, not bothering to return fire. Another shot. He dropped.

She stumbled over him. Just a few feet ahead, the car beckoned, promising safety.

Shoving her forward, he yelled, “Go.”

She took a few steps and then turned to see him gripping his leg, blood flowing between his fingers. “You’re hurt.”

He shouted, “Go, I can’t get up. It’s my leg.”

She charged back, stooping over and hooking him under the arms. “Move, damn you. You can’t leave me now.”

She felt a surge of power jolt his body as he staggered onto his good leg. She yanked open the door on the side away from the gunfire and pushed him into the car. He slumped against the seat, still holding his leg, and she scrambled over him to the driver’s seat.

A bullet smacked behind them, and a spiderweb of shattered glass spread across the back window. She punched the truck forward.

Speeding toward the closed gate, she screamed, “The gate. How do I open the gate?”

He responded through clenched teeth. “Push the red button.”

She pounded the button with her fist and the gates rolled open. The truck squealed through and raced back toward Highway 62. Away from the compound. Away from terror. Toward the unknown.

For several miles, ragged breathing and choked sobs filled the car until Justin swore softly and bent forward.

Lila glanced over, her eyes dropping to his thigh. Blood oozed through ripped denim. “Is it bad?”

He grimaced before answering. “It’s not too bad. Grazed me. Bullet didn’t go in.”

He peeled his T-shirt off his back and wound it around his leg.

Lila frowned. “You’re going to need better treatment than that.”

His lips tight, outlined in white, he pressed down on the makeshift bandage with two hands. “Can’t go to a doctor. I have a first aid-kit in the truck bed.”

Watching the blood seep through his T-shirt, she asked, “What just happened back there? How’d you know?”

Leaning back, he closed his eyes. “I heard some noises. A silencer.”

She stared hard at the road. “Who was it? Weren’t there just the seven of us at the compound?”

Feeling him tense beside her, she glanced over at him. He seemed chiseled in stone, his face etched into hard lines, the muscles in his bare chest and belly tight.

He grunted and answered, “That’s what worries me.”

“Y-you mean…?”

“I mean, it looks like an inside job. Dig into my pocket and get my phone for me.”

He shifted his hip so she could reach his front pocket. Keeping her eyes on the highway, her fingers skimmed the smooth skin above the waistband of his jeans, dancing over his hipbone to reach his pocket. The heat of her blood owed nothing to the ball of fire dropping into the desert. The warmth suffused her cheeks as she handed him the phone. If he noticed her blush, he gave no sign. Of course not, the man had the emotions of a robot.

He punched a few keys to speed dial a number and barked into the phone, “Leo, it’s Justin.” Pause. “Cut the code-name crap. The compound’s been hit.”

Lila heard only his side of the conversation, but it didn’t seem to be going well. When he finished, he dropped the phone and clamped down on his thigh with both hands again. He glared in front of him, his eyebrows drawn together.

She licked her lips. “Is there a problem?”

“Yeah, Leo said Prasad never called him with the news about Chad’s death. He didn’t know a thing about it…or you.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Prasad?”

Hunching one bare shoulder, he said, “I don’t know. Don’t even know if he left before the shooting started. We were in there for a good forty-five minutes before I heard the first bullet. If he already left, he’s still alive somewhere. If he didn’t, he’s dead like the rest or…”

Recalling the young agent’s open face and engaging smile, Lila shook her head. Couldn’t be. “Could it be someone from the outside? Honestly, the security didn’t seem that tight there.”

He shrugged. “I suppose. I didn’t notice any other cars there, but then we usually park them around the back of the compound. I didn’t notice if Prasad’s car was still there or not, either.”

“Where to now? Can we go see this Leo?”

“No.”

She swiveled her head to look at him. “Why not?”

He gave a harsh laugh. “From the sound of his voice and the things he didn’t say, I can tell he’s suspicious…of me.”

She exclaimed, “Of you? He thinks you opened fire on those people?”

“I’m still standing.” He adjusted the T-shirt on his thigh, his jaw tight. “Process of elimination.”

“That’s ridiculous. You’re the one who called the incident in. Couldn’t you just explain the situation to him?”

Shaking his head, he said, “Not if he thinks I’m involved. There’d be an investigation, they’d take my weapon. I’d be useless in following up on anything Chad found. I’m not too good at being useless.”

She eyed the contained energy in that hard body and could easily believe it.

“Look, Lila. It’s better to stay out of sight for now. I need to sort some things out in my head.”

“Better for whom?” she asked. “You need to rest and have that wound properly cleaned and dressed. I need to eat, and I’m sorry, I really need a shower.”

His grin ended in a gasp as he clutched at his thigh again. “I have camping gear in the back and that first-aid kit. That’s probably the safest way to go right now. I’ve been checking the mirror since we left the compound. Nobody followed us. That’s one advantage of the desert. You can see for miles. It’s no accident the HIA put the compound out here.”

She announced, “Okay. We’re going to stop at that shopping center when we get to Twentynine Palms. I’m going to pick up a few things, and then we’re going camping.”

An hour later they sat on logs around a fire at the Cottonwood campsite in the Joshua Tree National Park. Justin looked over at the woman poking at the flames. She amazed him. Instead of making her swoon, the sight of his blood bubbling through his jeans called her to action. For a moment at the compound he thought he’d have to haul her out over his shoulder. For a moment.

With little assistance from him, she pitched the tent, treated his gunshot graze and started a fire, humming a tune all the while.

While she cleaned and dressed his wound, her strong, nimble fingers trailing over his skin stirred a slow burn in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t need this complication right now.

The blaze from the campfire illuminated her fine features. She looked like an escaped wood nymph from the Black Forest, but her coloring resembled one of those Nordic heroines.

Noticing his scrutiny, she smiled, but those lush lips quivered with the effort. She plucked up stamina from somewhere to keep going, but the path to total collapse loomed ahead. He hoped to God he could catch her when she folded.

Against his better judgment, he shifted a little closer to her. “What kind of research were you doing in Mexico?”

She clasped her hands around her knees and rocked back and forth. “A group of us went down to dive and do research at La Bufadora. There’s a decline in the fluorescent strawberry anemone there, and we’re testing the water for toxins.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Strawberry what?”

Wiggling her toes at the fire, she laughed. “The fluorescent strawberry anemone. I swear, that’s what it’s called. We drove down in a caravan, and I decided to leave early. My car broke down, and the rest is history.”

Obviously she took life head-on, no shrinking violet, despite her ethereal appearance. “So as a graduate student, do you teach, too?”

She nodded and grimaced. “I spend half my time doing research and the other half as a teaching assistant in undergraduate marine-biology classes.”

“Have you always been interested in marine biology?”

She laughed again, the sound of gurgling water. “Is that your polite way of asking why a woman of my advanced years is still in school?”

He tilted his head, taking in the large, clear eyes set in a smooth face, a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. “I’d hardly call late twenties advanced.”

She leaned forward and winked. “Must be good genes. More like early thirties, and no, while marine biology is my first love, I made a detour for a while.”

Closing her eyes, a spasm of pain arched across her face. As much as he wanted to learn more about her, he respected others’ private demons. After all, he had his share.

She opened her eyes. “How about you? Did you want to be a secret agent when you were a little boy?”

The reference to his boyhood pinked his armor. He’d just wanted to survive his childhood, make it out in one piece. He schooled his face into a noncommittal mask. “Not exactly. I wanted to be a cowboy, then an astronaut, then a superhero.”

Nodding, she said, “I see, the quiet life. I know someone poured from the same mold.” Her expressive eyes misted over as she stared dreamily into the fire.