Desperate Situations (15 page)

The crowd went wild in applause.

Megan stood under the basket, bent and breathing very hard.

Jake stood,
then bent at the waist, in almost the exact position where she had left him with the quick crossover. He was smiling though. At her.

She smiled back.

He winked.

She winked back. Then they both stood up and received the crowd's congratulations as the two made their way over to the same table where the rest of the Cartwright crew was collecting on bets. Megan sat down on the table, taking the towel that Gunner handed her.

Jake sat next to her picking up his towel. Both were smiling and nodding at people, trying to catch their breaths, as men either paid or collected their bets. Within minutes, the crush ended and the crowd thinned out.

Megan hung her head almost between her knees with the towel over it. She was totally exhausted
, and not only from the game. That had been highly erotic too. His hands brushing her body. Bodies bumping. Groping.
So sexy.

Jake was lean
ing back on his arms, dripping sweat, head laid back, still mouth breathing. The towel lay nonchalantly across his lap.

Cowboy laughed at them. He looked around, but only Gunner was near. He spoke in a low voice. "Cigarettes anyone?"

Jake smiled.

Megan laughed softly. "How'd I do?"

"Let's see. Just from this game alone, you brought in thirty-five and some change."

Jake lifted his head. "No kidding? Thirty-five hundred dollars?"

"Yep. I made almost as much myself." Cowboy winked at Jake. "Never, ever bet against Meg. She's like a she-devil. Trust me."

Jake shook his head as he sat up and looked at Megan. "Damn woman, you play better
than most guys."

"You weren't so bad yourself, Cupcake." Her voice muffled by the towel.

Cowboy laughed again. He walked away shaking his head.

Megan sat up, pulling off the towel. "Thanks, Jake."

"No, thank you. You planned that, didn't you?"

"Revenge for teasing me. When did you figure it out?"

"When you jumped the first shot."

Megan chuckled. She stood up and walked away, heading toward the barracks. "I crack myself up."

His laughter followed her all the way.

***

Jake leaned on the wall outside the showers, waiting. The female stick figure was facing out and he could hear the shower suddenly shut off. Not long after, he watched as Megan exited the room, hair still very wet and only slightly messed up. Her cotton terry robe was looped closed; she had a towel over her shoulder and her sweating clothes in a bundle.

She adjusted the bundle and her shower bag. Stopping just inside the doorway like he had before, she gave him a grin. "Jake."

Jake chuckled. "That was some game. You've got good hands." His smile was wide.

"Yeah. I am good."

Jake pushed off the wall and glanced both ways down the hall. Then he moved closer to her, leaned in and whispered, "Yes, you are. We'll have to have a rematch."

Megan shook her head. "Not happening."

Jake narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"

"I already told you it wasn't happening." She walked away.

Jake followed her several steps. "I won't give up, you know. I will get revenge."

Megan laughed without turning. "Sure."

Jake watched her walk away, hips swinging slightly. When she got to her room, she kissed her hand and waved at him over her shoulder. Jake chuckled out loud so she could hear, then headed quickly into the shower room. He needed to get out of the hall before some one saw his reaction to her. He'd barely controlled himself on the court. Only the towel had saved him while he was sitting next to her on the table. This would have been way too obvious.

He started laughing as the water hit him.
Damn, she's a great tease.

The next week was another security week for Megan's crew. And as always, it was easy work. On their last day off, an earthquake hit in the
south mountains, and the next three days were spent transporting rescue teams, food, medical supplies, and other necessary stuff to the afflicted areas. It was hard work, but not dangerous.

The next morning Jake walked into the meeting room to find a note posted from Megan that the crew had the morning off. They were to meet back in the room at two o'clock.

He frowned but headed back to his room to finish a letter to his sister. After he mailed it, he went looking for Megan. She was nowhere to be found, nor were Gunner and Cowboy. No one had seen them since the night before. Puzzled, Jake checked out the hanger. Famine was gone. Putting his hands on his hips, he thought about that.
Odd.

"Hey, Corn," Jake called to the passing mechanic.

"Yeah? Oh hi, Jake. What can I do for you?" Corn wiped his hands with a rag. His fingertips were perpetually black from working on helicopters and other vehicles.

"I'm looking for Megan or Kelly." Jake gestured back toward where the helicopters were kept. "I see Famine's gone."

The mechanic looked. "Yeah. We got a prep order late last night. They took Famine out before daybreak."

Jake frowned. "Do you know where they were headed?"

"Nope. I don't ask such things." Corn shook his head. "I just do as ordered."

"I wonder where she flew to."

"Oh, she wasn't flying this time. Cowboy was in the right seat. Megan was on the left hand side." Corn waved at his boss who was calling for him. "Anything else, Jake?"

"Cargo?"

Corn shook his head no.

"Thanks." Jake watched him hurry away then looked back to the empty place where Famine always sat.
Why had Megan not been flying? She always flew. She hated it when someone else flew 'her' choppers. What is going on?

At two, he entered the meeting room to find Cowboy in Megan's chair. He sat with a puzzled look. Within minutes, the entire crew was assembled.

Cowboy smiled at them. "Megan asked me to lead this here meetin'. It'll be a short one. Today, your job is to restock all of the supplies. Should take ya'all about two hours, then you're done for the day. And tomorrow you may or may not have another easy day. I'll be lettin' you know in the morning. Tiny, make sure we have enough ammo on board Famine. And Fisher check out the medical supplies on each aircraft. That's all, guys."

The crew left with smiling faces at the unexpected easy workday
―all except Jake. He waited, still staring at Cowboy.

"Yeah?"

"Megan said I would be involved with each mission."

He nodded. "This was a last minute kinda thing. Late last night. She didn't feel the need to wake ya'all."

"Where are they?"

Cowboy gathered up some papers.

"Is this a covert thing?"

"Just leave it go, Jake. You need to learn when to be lookin' the other way. Follow orders."

Jake stood. "Is she in danger?"

Cowboy smiled. "She said that ya'
d bitch about this."

Jake made a noise in his throat. "When are they due back?"

"Leave it go." Cowboy left the room.

"I don't like it," Jake said to the empty room.

The next evening Jake was sitting on the roof at sundown when he noticed a helicopter returning to base. He took a drink, watching it get closer. Sure enough, it was Famine. He waited until it landed then headed to the edge of the roof. Jake watched as the helicopter shut down. Still no one exited the aircraft.

His frown deepened.

Finally Cowboy jumped out of the cockpit, from the right side, Megan exited the left side. The back door opened and out jumped Gunner. All were dressed for a hot mission. Gunner and Megan each grabbed a large duffle bag from the back and after shouldering them, the three walked into the hanger.

Jake stared at Famine for another minute then moved back to the chair. He sat with a puzzled look on his face, rubbing his chin. Tomorrow he'd ask Megan about it, but he knew better
than to think that she'd give him an answer.

He took a deep breath and sighed.
Why can't I get involved with a normal woman?
His last three 'adventures' were with woman who any normal man would have shied away from.

A senator. For God's sake what was I thinking? Then the General's wife! Thank God, I found out about that before actually doing anything with her. That would have been a career-ender. And lastly, Tisha. I really liked Tisha
. That was until he found out that her line of work was hard on her feet.
A stripper on vacation
. That two-week romance fizzled out fast.
Now here I am getting all bent over a woman who hates men, who loves to one up them, and worst of all, probably can on most days.

Jake smiled. For all he knew
, she was a spy. That would be all he needed, to be in love with a CIA agent. Jake laughed at that as he poured himself another drink.
No, Megan is a good pilot. Strike that. She's the best pilot I've ever seen, but she's too opinionated and stubborn to be a spy.

Damn, she can kiss though.
And the way her hands brushed my… Damn.
He shook his head. Too much more of this thinking and he'd have another hard on. And he definitely didn't need another of those right now.

***

At eight sharp the next morning, Megan was doing paperwork as Jake walked into the conference room. She glanced at him but said nothing. The tension mounted as he stared at her. "Yes?" she asked looking up.

Jake didn't answer.

"Today's job." She pushed the file at him and went back to paperwork. Again she noticed he didn't move, just stared at her. "You got a problem, Cupcake?"

"Nope."

"Then look at the file."

Jake reached out but didn't open it. His eyes were locked with hers. "I thought I was to be in on every mission so I could learn the routine. The faster I learn, the faster I'm out of your hair. Kill my own crew. Wasn't that what you said?"

"I did."

Jake's finger tapped the file folder.

Megan glanced down at her paperwork. "Sometimes Cupcake, it's better to be ignorant."

"And this is one of those times, Chief?"

She met his eyes again. "Learn."

"Look Megan
―"

"No you look, Cupcake. Do what I tell you
, and I guarantee that you'll get the nod from me soon. Hell, you'd think with your training and all your military stuff, you'd have learned when to keep your mouth shut."

"Consider it shut, Chief," Jake said and
opened the file folder.

Megan huffed once and went back to her paperwork. The tension in the room could be the new storm moving into the area, it was so cloudy.

"Easy task. Ride shot gun with a military unit," Jake said looking at her. "Deliver food to the villages. Act and look military."

Megan nodded.

"What is our illustrious Chief doing during this?"

"Flying high support. Is that okay with you, Cupcake?"

"Whatever you want, Chief."

Masood stuck his head in
, then walked in and sat down with a thunk.

"What's wrong, Fahim?" Megan asked.

"My third cousin Emmer was killed yesterday. Shot."

Megan leaned closer. "Is this the same area where we picked up the child
?"

Masood was already nodding. "He was the warlord in the area. The child was his grandson. Tragedy visited too many times on my tribe. First the Russians. The Taliban. The child. Now Emmer."

"Who did it?" Jake asked.

Masood shrugged. "No one knows, but I can guess." When no one spoke, he continued, "Emmer was negotiating with the U.S. government. He was opening the area up to better ways for my tribe. He was angering some of the…" Masood took a breath and rubbed his face. "I know it was bin Laden. I know he arranged the killing."

"What happened?" Jake asked sitting back, glancing at Megan. She seemed to be very sad. Her eyes had a look that he couldn't identify.

"No one knows. Emmer was gardening, as he does every day before the midday meal. He slumped over. A bullet in the chest. No one heard anything. Nothing. No one saw anything. One minute alive, one minute dead."

"What's going to happen, Fahim?" Megan asked.

"Emmer's brother will take over. Hammed will continue. The tribe wants revenge. We have long memories. We will get bin Laden. We will." He looked up at the two with a determined look. "It may take years, but he will pay for my tribe's sorrow." With that, he stood up and left the room.

Cowboy passed him as he entered. He turned a puzzled look back to the empty door then toward the two sitting there looking his way. "What's up with Fahim?"

"The warlord of his tribe was assassinated yesterday," Megan said.

Jake watched as she stared at the open doorway. The two pilots exchanged a look; some sort of nonverbal communication passed. Megan immediately glanced down and shuffled papers.

"Not good," Cowboy said sitting down, still staring at Megan.

Jake shook his head.
What is going on now? And what was that look?
"Such a volatile area. Will it ever settle down?"

"I doubt it. Damn, I hate this," Megan said softly as she went back to work. She shook her head. "Kelly, we
have a fairly easy day today." She motioned to the file still in front of Jake. "Fly cover."

Cowboy nodded, taking the file from Jake. "Sounds good, Darlin'. Are we goin' in Famine or Death?"

Megan's head came up with a snap. "The part made it?"

"Yep," Cowboy said with a smile. "I made sure that Corn finished it yesterday. Rush rush, just for ya. I even took her up for a quick flight."

A bright smile flashed on her face.

"Even pre-flighted it for you this day break. Thought you might want to give the little filly a quick flight to check her out before work t'day." He winked at Megan.

Jake hid his smile.

Megan shuffled her paperwork into a pile. She turned the bright smile on Jake. "Earn your pay today, Cupcake. Run the pre-mission meeting. You organize the crew. We'll be back in an hour to pick you up for the short trip to the military base."

***

Three hours later Megan and Kelly were flying lead
in the convoy, checking out the road in front. Both were silent as they flew. It was a nice silence.

"So, Meg," Cowboy smiled. "When are you givin' the nod to Cupcake?"

"He was ready when he got here. Management wanted him tested." She shrugged. Letting go of the collective, she flexed her hand briefly before gripping it again, her eyes never leaving the ground in front of them as she flew. Instinctively, she knew Cowboy was doing the same on his side and watching the other instruments.

"That didn't answer my question, Darlin'."

"They said at least one month, so anytime. In actuality, they'll say when I'm to give him the nod."

"And the other people?"

"Don't know. Don't ask. Don't tell."

"Same old policy." Cowboy sighed. "Sure would be nice to know the players. Well, well. What have we got here? Three o'clock on the road." Cowboy pointed to a small group of white Toyotas. The trucks looked beat up and abandoned. Of course, most of the vehicles in Afghanistan looked like that, even the ones being used.

Megan banked Death to get a better look. "Interesting." She looked at Cowboy. "Let them know."

Cowboy switched to the pre-arranged channel. "Razorback, this is Death," Cowboy called to the military helicopter flying with the convoy.

"Go ahead, Death."

"We got ourselves a little welcoming committee up ahead. Come on up for a look
-see," he said as she banked again swinging in a much bigger arch to search for anyone in the area. It seemed that the whole place was deserted, especially along the stretch of road with the trucks. The road just happened to narrow where the trucks were 'parked.'

"Meg, Razorback coming up hard." Cowboy's head was cocked back to look in the direction of the oncoming convoy.

"Got him."

He hit the channel button. "Razorback, see the parking lot of Toys near the road. Looks mighty suspicious." They hovered
farther away watching the other helicopter swing in for a closer look.

"Could be an old accident, Death," the pilot said back.

"Do you want to take that chance?" Cowboy asked.

"What do you suggest, Death?"

Cowboy looked at Megan.

"Blow it."

Cowboy nodded and relayed the reply.