Five
hours later, Dean woke with a pounding headache. She
slowly maneuvered into a sitting position. “Everyone
okay?” she asked groggily. From the
moans and groans she realized that they were all accounted for, but still somewhat
disoriented. After a few minutes, they all
seemed to return to the land of the living. “Anyone
have an idea what time it is?”
“Step
over here Dean, and we’ll check your dive watch.”
Dean slid over to Katie who blindly felt for the watch on Dean’s wrist,
depressing the light button once Bill was in position to read it.
“It’s
0530,” Bill informed the group.
“All
right,” Dean began, “here’s what were going to do. First, we need to get out of here.”
“Um,
Dean. Haven’t you forgot something? Like our hands are bound?” Katie reminded
her.
“No
problem. I have…” she stopped
talking as she heard the key turn in the lock. The
lights went on as the door opened, admitting Gentry, Stockton, and three other
mercenaries.
“Well,
well. What do we have here? Everyone have a nice nap?” Gentry spoke as he
entered, surveying the prisoners. “We
waited to see if anyone else was going to pop out of that blue hole, but no one came. Pity, I do so love an audience. So, which country do you belong to? Not that it’s going to matter.” He walked over to Bill and looked him up and down,
then went over to Tiny, before checking out Katie and then Dean. “Ah, you two must be the ones that Jerry and
Joel were worried about.” He started to
walk away then turned back, quickly raising his hand and striking Dean with a vicious
backhand across her face, splitting her lip in the process.
The guards held Katie, Bill, and Tiny back, as they all attempted to lunge at
Gentry. “I really don’t like
it when someone messes with me… or my men,” he growled. “And I especially don’t like it when
they kill one of my men.” He reached out
and grabbed Dean by her wet suit, and struck her across the face again. Dean’s head snapped to the right with the
impact, but she turned her head back around slowly to face Gentry with a feral sneer.
“And
I don’t like it when a piece of shit like you thinks he can mess with my
country,” Dean countered in a low menacing tone.
Gentry
laughed at the insult as he stepped back. “Oh,
let me guess, an American, huh? Too bad,
because about ninety minutes from now I’m gonna fuck with the United States really
good. You see, I’m going to take over a
flight of ballistic missiles as soon as they leave their ships, then send them off on a
different set of target coordinates. Care to
know where they’re going?” He
released Dean, laughing once more, as he walked over to Katie and ran his hand down her
face and under her chin. This time, Dean had
to be held back, as he continued to caress Katie’s face with a gentle touch. Katie tried to move her head away from his hand,
only to find his fingers sliding behind her neck with his thumb pushing her chin back. “Wish I had some time to play with you,”
he whispered in Katie’s ear, before letting her go, “but, I have to get to work
now. No time to dawdle, maybe later.” He
winked at Katie as he turned to leave, pausing to look back at Dean. “Oh, do you think the Cubans will like a
missile or two landing in their country?” Shaking
his head he smiled at Dean. “Hmm,
probably not, but then, the President won’t like any landing on his vacation either. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll make it look like a retaliatory strike
from the Cubans.” He laughed again as he
headed for the door. “Saddam is
just going to love this. He just wanted the
President and Vice-President out of the way so he could carry out his little plan, but
I’m feeling generous, so maybe I’ll scatter a few more missiles about.” The guards followed Gentry and Stockton out of the
room, locking the door behind them.
“At
least they left the lights on this time,” Tiny observed, as he took in his
surroundings in the artificial light.
“Good,
all the better to get my knives out of my wet suit.”
Dean walked over to Katie and held her hands out away from her back. “Along the inside of the wet suit by each
wrist you’ll find a throwing knife. Be
careful taking it out, it’s razor sharp.” Katie
turned around and reached for Dean’s wrists.
“Um,
could you bend down a little?”
Dean
did as requested and soon Katie was in possession of one of the knives, carefully cutting
at the plastic restraints of Dean’s wrists.
“Just
a bit more,” Bill suggested as he watched. The
next stroke cut through the tough plastic and released Dean’s hands. She removed the second knife and cut through
Katie’s bonds, then the two women freed the men.
“Now,
let’s see if there’s anyone outside the door.” Walking to the door, Dean kicked it with her
foot and yelled that they need to go to the bathroom.
There was no response. She kicked it
again and again, with the guys joining in to give her neoprene booted foot a respite. Again, there was no response.
“Hmm,
guess they’re all busy,” Katie surmised.
“Yeah,
they all probably have duties to perform during the operation,” Dean agreed. “Okay, let’s see if we can jimmy the
door.” She reached down first and
extracted the other two throwing knives from the slim ankle pouches and gave one apiece to
Bill and Tiny.
“Allow
me,” Katie offered magnanimously, as she stepped up to the door and unzipped the
front of her wet suit. Reaching into her
cleavage, she removed a small bottle containing four black earrings.
“That’s
my girrll,” Dean purred as she watched Katie remove one and crush its contents onto
the knife blade.
Katie
slipped the tip of the blade between the door and the frame, tapping the powder onto the
bolt. Looking around the room, she shrugged
then turned back to the door and spit on the powder.
“We’d
better talk loud just in case there is someone out there.
We don’t want them to hear the sound of the powder working.” They followed Dean’s directions and began
yelling for the bathroom again. It took two
doses of powder to eat through the sturdy bolt before they were ready to leave the
storeroom. “We’ll need to get our
weapons first. Let’s hope they’re
still in the hangar. Ready?” Three heads nodded, knives held at the ready. Dean shut off the room light and slowly opened
the door. Only emergency lighting fixtures at
each end of the corridor dimly lighted the hallway, and no guards could be seen. She silently waved her team to follow as she
noiselessly retraced their earlier steps. “Better
check the tower for any watchers.” She
motioned for Bill and Tiny to ascend the stairs and accomplish this assignment while she
and Katie waited below. After a span of
three minutes the two men returned, sporting a pair of 9mm Glocks, a two-way radio, and a
set of keys. Dean raised an eyebrow in mute question, and received a shrug and a guarantee
that no one would be watching from the tower for a while.
Dean checked her watch. “It’s
0556. We don’t have enough time to get
the C-12 and set the charges on the radar array. If
we blow the array after he’s reprogrammed the coordinates, we won’t be able to
regain control. We’re gonna have to take
over the control room. Let’s get to the
hangar and get our weapons,” she whispered as they quickly but cautiously left the
tower building.
*
* * * *
Chapter
22
0600
Hours, 16 November
“Five
minutes to launch,” the mercenary called out.
“All
right everyone, you know what to do.” Gentry
surveyed his makeshift control room as he finished entering the target coordinates. “That little trip to see our prisoners just
gave me a few new ideas.” He tapped the
keys a few more times as he entered the coded password for the operation. “There.
No turning back now.” He turned
to face his security commander, Jerry Stockton. “So,
have you figured out who we have in that storeroom yet?”
“Four
minutes to launch,” came the warning.
“No. Not yet. I’ve
got Ted over in the control tower trying to access all the files he can. So far, they’re not FBI, CIA, NSA, or any of
the military we’ve accessed so far. We’ve
got the Navy and Army left to go, plus a few other agencies like Treasury, DEA, Secret
Service, and the like.”
“Well,
no matter. In three minutes we’ll have
control. We can eliminate them after the op
is underway.” He turned back toward his
computer screen.
“Two
minutes to launch.”
“Sal…
get ready. Everything’s loaded in the
computer. Just watch your screen. Remember, at an altitude of five thousand!”
Gentry reminded his replacement radar man.
“Yes,
Sir. I can do it in my sleep,” Sal
replied.
“One
minute to launch, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…”
As
calm as Gentry tried to appear, sweat was beginning to show on his brow. He concentrated on his computer screen, tension
building in his shoulders, fingers poised over the keyboard, ready for action.
“Missiles
launched. Sixteen birds are airborne. Climbing to one thousand feet, fifteen hundred
feet…”
“On
my mark, Sal,” Gentry commanded.
“Thirty-five
hundred feet, four thousand feet…”
Gentry
waited anxiously, finally giving the ‘mark’ signal at five thousand feet. Fingers expertly tapped the keyboard in a flurry
of activity, as Scott Gentry and his technician entered the final keystrokes taking over
the flight of the launched missiles. It took
less than sixty seconds for them to complete the transfer of control and lock in the Ares
Array.
“Missiles
locked, new coordinates accepted,” Sal informed his superior.
“How
long before impact in Havana?” Jerry inquired.
Scott
looked at his watch and mentally estimated the time.
“It’s 0606 hours now, impact in Havana will take thirty-four minutes,
then, a ten minute delay before the birds land on the President and Vice-President in the
Keys. The main missiles will have delivered
their payloads by 0640 and 0650, the others at 0710 and 0725.”
“Just
out of curiosity, where did you target the others?”
“Besides
the four to Havana and four to the Keys, there are four heading to Pensacola Naval Air
Station, and the last four are headed to Red Stone Arsenal in Alabama. Rather poetic, don’t you think?” Gentry, laughing at his last minute decision to
send four missiles into the heart of the Missile Defense Command Center at Red Stone, did
not hear the automatic weapons fire at first; when he did, the laughter was cut short. “Get out there and see what that’s all
about,” he ordered Stockton. “The rest of you, stay on task, but get your
weapons ready.” Gentry stood and
surveyed his men as they each concentrated on their task--monitoring the flight of the
missiles, then he ducked into his private quarters just off the main room. Once in his room, he armed himself, grabbed a set
of keys, and headed out his side door. Slipping
unnoticed past mercenaries running into the fray, he entered the vehicle hangar.
*
* * * *
Dean
and the rest of her team made it to the hangar without incident, unfortunately, their
weapons bags weren’t beside the blue hole where they’d left them. “Damn. Where
the hell did they take the stuff?” she mumbled to herself.
“Over
here,” Katie called quietly, pointing to a locked cage area. “Our stuff is in there.”
Flipping
through the keys he had taken off of the mercenary in the tower, Bill started trying all
the Master lock keys he could find. With the
fifth key, the padlock opened. Tiny was first
into the cage, retrieving the silenced Glock he had brought, along with several clips of
ammo. Bill, Katie, and Dean retrieved their
weapons too, and two of the com units.
“Team
One is in need of assistance. Go to plan
Beta,” Dean whispered into the unit.
“Roger,”
came the barely audible response. “ETA
approximately fifteen minutes.”
“Too
long. Make it sooner,” she replied
while checking her watch and noting that it was already 0600. “Birds are probably in the air.”
“Copy
that. Will do our best to comply.”
“All
right, let’s see if we can find that control room,” Dean growled as they quietly
and swiftly left the hangar.
The
morning light was going to make it more difficult to keep their search unobserved. Staying to the perimeter of the tarmac, they
began a scan of the buildings, looking for the radar array they had pinpointed on the
pictures Katie had taken during the ultralight flight.
“There.” Tiny pointed at a low cinder block building that
was partially visible while the rest of the building was hidden behind another hangar. “There’s the top of the radar
array.”
“Got
it. Bill, Tiny… you two circle around
from the north. We’ll swing around from
the south.” The two men nodded and
quickly sprinted back the way they had come, before heading around to the other side of
the tarmac. “Ready?” Dean looked into Katie’s emerald eyes hoping
that this wouldn’t be the last time she gazed into them.
Katie
nodded, then reached up and brushed Dean’s cheek with her left hand. “Be careful, love.”
Dean
quickly reached up and held Katie’s hand to her lips, giving them a quick kiss before
responding, “Always, my love; you too.” Dean
looked across the tarmac and caught a glimpse of Tiny and Bill slipping behind a barracks
building. “Let’s go.”
The
two women kept to the fading shadows as they made their way towards the control building. There were two buildings left to go when they
turned a corner and ran into two of the mercenaries heading towards their barracks from
their night duty. For a split second, no one
moved, then Dean darted forward and caught the taller one’s arm with a vicious kick
as he raised his weapon toward them, sending the weapon out of his hand. Katie, following Dean’s lead, went after the
second man, deflecting his weapon but not before he was able to release a spurt of
automatic weapon fire into the air. She
followed through with a series of punches and jabs that sent him to the ground for the
rest of the engagement.
“That’s
the second surprise party spoiled,” Dean mumbled as she finished dispatching her man.
“Sorry,”
Katie replied as she kicked the weapon into the brush.
“Just
makes things a little more interesting,” Dean responded with a grin as they continued
toward their target, scanning the areas around them and expecting more adversaries along
the way. “Better get on each side of
that door. We’re about to have more
company.”
The
gunfire alerted two other guards in the barracks building.
Grabbing their weapons, they ran out of the barracks door and right into two fists,
the impact causing them to stumble backwards into the building.
“Oww. That hurt,” Katie called shaking her hand as
she followed Dean into the building. The two
men were trying to get up, but soon found the butt of Dean’s pistol connecting with
their heads.
“Grab
that uniform and slip it on,” Dean ordered as she did the same. “Maybe we can save time, and just walk in the
front door.”
Within
sixty seconds, the two women were exiting the other end of the barracks and fell into step
behind three other mercenaries headed toward the control room. When they were at the building’s door, Dean
tapped the shoulder of the man in front of her while Katie did the same. As the two men turned, blows to their abdomen,
followed by knees to their heads, leveled them. The
third man, turning as he heard the grunts, was taken out by a chop to his neck delivered
by Bill.
“Nice
work, Lieutenant.” Dean complimented the
young man as she opened the door. “Now,
put your hands behind your head and pretend you’re a prisoner. You too, Tiny.”
The
men complied, effectively hiding their captors behind their bodies, as the foursome
entered the control room. As they walked down
the corridor, Tiny whispered that they took out Stockton and four more guards on their way
over. “Good. Let’s hope the cavalry gets to the rest,
before they get to us.” Turning the
corner, they came into the control room and were met by Sal who had a pistol aimed at
them.
“Whoa,”
Tiny called out. “We’ve already
been had.”
Sal
put his weapon back in his holster and sat back down at the console, eyes intent on the
radar images once more. “Good work,
Jerry.”
Tiny
and Bill stepped to the side, allowing Dean to step up to the console and place her H
& K at Sal’s temple. “Sorry,
but the name’s not Jerry.” The
young mercenary froze as he felt the cold steel at his temple. Tiny, Katie, and Bill trained their weapons on the
rest of the technicians, ordering them to place their weapons on the floor and their hands
behind their heads.
“Now,
where’s Gentry?” Dean asked in a low growl.
Gulping, the man barely shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know. Dean responded by turning Sal’s chair around
to face her, pinning him with a cold, steel blue stare.
Again, the young mercenary gulped and shook his head once more.
“I...
I don’t know. When he heard the gunfire
he told us to arm ourselves but stay with our tasks.
Then he got up and went to his room. Haven’t
seen him since.”
“When
do the missiles impact?” Dean asked urgently as she grabbed a handful of the
man’s uniform.
“The
first ones will land in Havana at 0640, then the Keys at 0650.”
“Damn
it! The President and Vice-President are in
the Keys. Can you recall those birds?”
Dean asked as she checked her watch. It was
now 0612.
“Not
by my myself. Gentry has the other set of
code numbers.”
“Can
you send the destruct signal?”
“Not
without the codes to release it.” The
young man was now visibly shaken by the fact that he would be spending the rest of his
life in Leavenworth, if not worse. “Look, I’ll help, but I have to have the rest
of the codes. I didn’t know Gentry was
sending them to Cuba and the States. No one
did. We all just found out a few minutes
ago.” The heads of the other
mercenary’s nodded in affirmation. “We
thought he was trying to ruin the joint exercises by taking them over. You know, playing games with them.”
Dean
looked around the room at seven other men who were now sweating profusely at the prospect
of life in prison, all nodding vigorously in agreement.
All eyes suddenly turned to the doorway as they heard running steps coming down the
hall. Turning her weapon toward the door,
Dean and her team readied themselves for the attack.
“Colonel!”
Tom shouted as he turned the corner. Lowering
their weapons at the sound of a friendly voice, they retrained them at their control room
captives who were still sitting with their hands behind their heads in complete
cooperation. “It’s Gentry! He’s headed out to sea.”
Tracy
and Colleen entered the room right behind Tom. “The
Delta Force unit saw a submarine about ten miles out.
He’s headed for it,” Tracy informed them.
“Colleen! Grab that com unit and sit at that console. You!” Dean pointed at the young technician,
“tell her what has to be done. I’m
going after Gentry. I’ll radio in the
codes.”
She
grabbed another com unit and Tracy, as she ran out of the room. “C’mon, you’re gonna fly me out
there.” The two women ran to the hangar
next to the control room where Dean had seen a small helicopter. “You said you could fly one, right?”
“Right!”
Tracy answered out loud as she mentally scolded herself, but only on the simulator
program on the computer. Tracy got into
the pilot’s seat strapping herself in, while Dean did the same in the co-pilot’s
seat. Scanning the instrument panel, Tracy
went through the motions to put the helicopter into the air. Taking a deep sigh, she began concentrating on the
techniques that she’d learned from the simulator program. After a jerky start that had Dean’s eyes
wide, Tracy barely lifted off, slipping the copter out of the hangar, then powered the
craft upward, heading over the treetops towards the bay.
From their aerial vantage point, in less than two minutes they spotted Gentry
speeding towards open sea.
“There
he is!” Dean shouted as she pointed to the boat.
“Get me down low enough so I can jump in.”
“Are
you trying to kill yourself?” Tracy asked as she tried to maintain the minimal
control she had over the copter.
“No
choice!” Dean shouted again, indicating to Tracy to lower the copter.
Gentry
did not hear the approaching helicopter over the roar of the speedboat until it was almost
on top of him.
Oops,
a little too low,
Tracy thought as she bumped the side of the boat. Before
she knew it, Dean was hanging from the landing runners, ready to jump into the boat. When the mercenary realized that she was about to
board, he turned to face Dean and aimed his Glock at her, squeezing off a round as she
released her hold on the runner and stepped neatly into the boat. The round missed her, entering the fuselage of the
copter instead. He fired again as Dean
reached him, kicking his weaponed hand upward with the shot. The bullet ripped through the cockpit of the
copter hitting Tracy’s left shoulder before it continued through the roof, lodging in
the main rotor. The helicopter pitched and
swerved before hitting the ocean, bobbing helplessly in the water as it slowly began to
sink. Dean grabbed viciously at the hand with
the gun, slamming it into the frame of the windscreen, causing it to jar loose and slip
into the ocean. She grabbed the collar of
Gentry’s uniform with her left hand, cocking her right hand and delivering a blow to
his head. As it snapped back, his head hit
the dash, sending him unconscious to the floor of the boat. Dean slipped into the driver’s seat and
turned the boat around, aiming it at the sinking helicopter. As soon as the boat reached the spot where the
copter was barely visible below the surface, Dean cut the engine, slipped off her com
unit, and dove into the water. Swimming to the sinking machine, she could see Tracy
struggling to open the pilot’s door with her one uninjured arm. Aiding her friend in opening the door, she grabbed
Tracy by the collar and kicked hard to reach the surface, breaking through in time for a
sputtering Tracy to catch her breath.
“Damn. You really know how to show a girl a good
time,” Tracy sputtered as Dean towed her to the boat.
Dean
secured Tracy’s hold on the ladder. “Do you think you can hold on while I get
the codes out of Gentry?” she asked, conscious that time was slipping away. At a brief nod from her friend, Dean climbed into
the boat, replaced the com unit on her head, and grabbed the bottled water from the drink
holder. Next she threw the water on the
unconscious Gentry. As he blinked himself
awake, she grabbed fistfuls of the mercenary’s collar and pulled him up to within an
inch of her face. “Now tell me the
codes, you piece of shit!” she growled, “before I hurt you some more.” Gentry refused to talk, so she reached down with
her right hand and snapped his left wrist back, effectively breaking it. He screamed in pain as she changed grips and
grabbed his right wrist.
“No,
no. I’ll tell, I’ll tell. It’s 4A37066Z989C001.”
“You
better be telling the truth, or so help me…” Dean shoved him back on the floor,
then called in the code to Colleen. She tied
Gentry up, pulled Tracy onboard, then attended to the wound in Tracy’s shoulder. Waiting anxiously for a reply, they headed the
boat back toward Free Town. Her watch read
0632 hours.
*
* * * *
As
the codes were repeated aloud by Colleen, Katie jotted them down on the pad next to the
computer. Sal quickly directed Colleen
through the process of gaining manual control over the sixteen missiles. With the clock ticking towards impact, the two
computer technicians entered their codes in the required alternating series, finally
regaining control at 0636. Next, Sal led
Colleen through another series of commands to program the missiles to soar to an altitude
of forty-five thousand feet before self-destructing.
A collective sigh of relief went through the room as the sixteen blips on the radar
screen disappeared.
"That
was too damned close," Katie said as she picked up a com unit to inform Dean. "Dean, we got them in time. The Delta Force team has everyone rounded up, and
the base is secured. Everything okay with
you?"
"Yeah. Lost the helicopter, but Tracy is okay. We'll need to get her some medical attention
though."
"What
happened?" Colleen interrupted impatiently.
"Just
a couple of stray shots that hit the copter. One
hit Trace in the shoulder, but she's okay, don't worry.
We'll be at the dock in about ten minutes. Have
a medic standing by.
"Roger. We'll meet you there." Katie and Colleen removed their com units and
stared at each other for a brief moment before breaking into wide grins, relief washing
over them.
"Just
like those two. Getting to have all the
fun," Bill said as he walked over to the two women.
"C'mon, I'll get the medic, and we'll go meet them at the dock."
As
they drove over to the tiny village of Free Town, Katie asked Colleen how long Tracy had
been flying helicopters.
"She's
never flown one to my knowledge. Well, not an
actual, real one, that is."
"What
do you mean?" Katie questioned. “She
told Dean she could fly it.”
"She's
only flown computer simulations, not real helicopters.
And, she can fly the simulated ones… she just can't land them. She can get them up, and fly them around, but
crashes every time she tries to land."
"Does
Dean know that?"
"Guess
not, or she wouldn't have grabbed her to be her chauffeur.
I had no idea where they were going in such a rush until I heard the thing taking
off."
"How
did you manage to sit there so quietly then?" Katie asked, completely astonished.
"Katie,
sometimes, you just gotta have faith." Colleen
reached over and squeezed Katie's hand, smiling at the flabbergasted look on the young
agent's face.
*
* * * *
Chapter
23
1300
Hours, 16 November
The
U.S. Army transport plane was taxiing to a stop on the tarmac at the eastern edge of the
tracking station. Waiting on the border of
the tarmac were the Delta Force insertion team, twenty-two handcuffed prisoners, Ned, Art
and Gwen, Matty, and Dean’s small island contingent.
Tom and Tiny were waiting with Colleen and Tracy, who was protesting being
relegated to a wheelchair. Ned, Art and Gwen,
and Matty were standing with Dean and Katie going over the clean-up tasks left for the
arriving Delta Force unit.
“We
really appreciate your government’s cooperation, Matty. I’m sure the mop up detail will have
everything taken down and off the island by the end of next week. One of our intelligence officers will be in charge
of the operation,” Dean was explaining as Major Fellows stepped off the rear ramp of
the C-130 and headed in her direction. “This
is Major Fellows, he’ll be in charge of the clean-up unit.” Introductions were made, then Matty and the major
walked back over to the C-130 as his troops lined up.
Art
reached out to shake Dean’s hand. “I dare say, that was quiet a bang-up job you
did.”
Ned
duplicated the gesture with Katie’s hand, “Yes, our governments are grateful for
your timely intervention. We could have had
quite a bit of trouble trying to explain that it was all part of a terrorist plot and not
a botched exercise.”
“My,
yes,” interjected Gwen. “Imagine
Saddam wanting to assassinate the President and Vice-President. I can’t picture for the life of me, what he
hoped to accomplish by that.”
“Well,”
Katie began, “it seems he wanted to invade Kuwait before the New Year, and he felt
that if he did that with this sitting president, he would wind up in another Desert Storm
situation.”
“Why
not wait until the new president is sworn in then?” Art questioned.
“He’s
an unknown as far as what his political response would be.
Saddam figured with these two out of the picture, he could count on the temporary
successor waiting until the new president was sworn in.
By then, he’d be firmly entrenched and the chances of the U.S. routing him out
would be slim.”
“Faulty
thinking if you ask me,” Ned put in. “After
the last time, other countries, England especially, would be at the top of the list
working to get him out again.”
“Ah,
but that’s why he chose the combined forces exercises to make his move. The chaos and political fall-out that would have
resulted would have decreased the Brit’s ability to lead. At least that seems to be what he was
thinking,” Katie concluded as heads shook in disgust.
Dean
reached up and gently grabbed Katie’s elbow to lead her away. “Excuse us, but we’d like to say
good-bye to Tracy and Colleen.” They
walked over to where Tiny was pushing Tracy’s wheelchair towards the waiting C-130. As he saw them approach, he stopped. “Hey, Trace,” Dean smiled as she spoke
to her old friend. “You take care now,
and do what the docs say, all right?”
“Yeah,
yeah.”
Colleen
placed her hand on Tracy’s good shoulder and gave it a gentle tug. “Don’t worry, Dean, she’ll
behave.”
Dean
smiled at Colleen in complete understanding. Bending
down to be face-to-face with her friend, Dean said, “I’ve got to hand it to ya,
Trace. I never knew you could handle a
helicopter so well. Where on earth did you
learn that dipping maneuver that let me just step on board?
That was sweet.” In answer, Dean
heard three people clear their throats and cough.
“Umm,
well, I… oh, hell. You’ll find out
eventually,” Tracy stammered. “Today
was the first day I flew a real helicopter.”
“Huh?”
The dumbfounded look on Dean’s face was a true Kodak moment, and Katie wished she had
the digital camera in her hands to capture it.
“Yeah. I’ve only flown computer simulations before
today.”
“You…”
Dean’s wide-eyed look was interrupted by giggles coming from Colleen.
“Yeah,
and she always crash-landed them,” Katie managed to get out before she burst into
laughter too.
“Damn,”
Dean whispered softly as she stood. “That
was amazing.”
The
four women finished their good-byes, and Tiny wheeled Tracy on board the C-130. Within fifteen minutes, the small cargo plane was
lifting off the runway, heading back to the States.
“She’ll
be all right, Dean, won’t she?” Katie asked as they walked toward Tracy’s
SUV.
“Yeah,
no problem. The bullet went straight through. When I called General Carlton with my report, she
said she’d take care of Tracy personally. She’ll
be admitted to Walter Reed as soon as they can get her there. The general said she knows just the doctor for her
case.”
“Oh?”
Katie raised an eyebrow in question.
“She
didn’t say. She also commended us on our
success and said that she’s really enjoying watching the Joint Chiefs eat crow. Um, she also said something about having to see
the President when we get back from the rest of our vacation. She’ll expect a full report when we get back
after Thanksgiving.”
“Hey,”
Katie perked up at the vacation word. “You
mean to say we don’t have to do the clean-up, or rush back, or…”
“Nope. We have the use of the condo, the SUV, and the
yacht for the next eight days.”
“Whoo
wheee!” Katie shouted. “Well, what
are we waiting for?” She grabbed
Dean’s hand and ran for the SUV.
EPILOGUE
5330
Hours, 24 November
Seven
days had gone by, and the old missile tracking station was devoid of any indications that
Scott Gentry and his group of mercenaries had been there at all. The Delta Force unit had made a clean sweep of
the base, even to the point of securing the blue hole that had developed in the floor of
the hangar. Dean and Katie had checked in on
the progress from time to time, but left Major Fellows to do the dirty work, while they
took advantage of the rest of their vacation time. Bill’s
partner, Dirk, had flown down a day after the round up of Gentry and his men, and the
foursome toured the island from one end to the other.
There wasn’t a cove, or bay, or little fishing village that they did not
explore. They even spent a day at some of the
local wreck diving sites. Their evenings were
spent enjoying the bands that played nightly at Count Basie Square in Port Lucaya, and in
long peaceful walks on the islands’ beaches.
Today, they had helped with the final loading of the last C-130, and said goodbye
to Bill and Dirk, as they hitched a ride back to the States on the cargo plane. Tonight, Dean and Katie were left to themselves
for their final night on Grand Bahama Island, and they were looking forward to it.
“So,
where or what would you like to have for dinner tonight?” Katie asked as Dean drove
the SUV back to the condo. It was starting to
get dark, and Katie’s mind was now on feeding her grumbling stomach.
There
wasn’t any traffic on the road, so Dean took the opportunity to take her eyes off the
road and allowed them to roam seductively over her partner’s beautiful body. “Hmm, you mean I have a choice?” Eyebrows lifted and lips curled into a crooked
grin.
Katie
felt a blush creep up her neck and color her cheeks as she reprimanded, “Keep your
eyes on the road, Colonel.
“Oh,
I have great peripheral vision,” Dean replied in a sensual voice, as she resumed her
normal driving position. “In fact, right
now, I can see your blush deepening.”
“C’mon,
Dean. Seriously. I’m a bit hungry, especially since we
didn’t stop to eat lunch today.” The
young blonde squirmed, as Dean raked her body with another disrobing look.
“Okaaay,”
she drawled out. “And, what are you
hungry for?” Dean asked relenting a little as she focused her eyes back on the road.
“How
about we take a run into Port Lucaya and hit that great Greek restaurant one last
time?” Katie was nearly drooling at the thought of the gyro sandwiches they had two
days ago. “I can almost taste one of
their gyros right now.”
“What,
no veggies?” An eyebrow raised in
question.
“Oh,
yeah … and one of those Greek salads, and umm, don’t forget the yummy
desserts!” The mention of the Greek
desserts got Dean’s interest, and the SUV picked up some speed as it took the turn
heading for Port Lucaya. Ten minutes later,
they were walking through the marketplace with their destination in sight, oblivious to
the covert gaze of a tourist hiding her eyes behind a gnarled hand as she watched the two
women through a jewelry store window. As the
duo passed the store, Dean felt a shiver go up her spine, but shook off the feeling as she
attributed it to a cool breeze that slipped from the opened door of an air-conditioned
shop.
* * * * *
Gustatory
appetites satisfied, Dean pulled the SUV into the parking lot at the resort and turned off
the engine. “Interested in one last walk
on the beach?” she asked as she removed the key from the ignition.
“Sounds
good to me, but let me run up to the room first.”
Katie exited the vehicle and jogged to the room.
She returned in a matter of minutes carrying a beach blanket, a bottle of wine, and
two wine glasses. Smiling at Dean’s
questioning look, Katie offered her excuse with a beaming smile and a twinkle in her eye,
“Thought we’d finish the cabernet from last night’s Thanksgiving
dinner.” They walked in silence to the
beach, slipping an arm around each other’s waist.
As they came to the beach, they slipped off their Tevas to enjoy the feel of the
warm sand.
The
night was exceptional. A light breeze played
in the air and the temperature was a very comfortable eighty degrees. The moonless sky was perfect for star gazing as
they settled into the sun-warmed sand in front of a large driftwood log. There wasn’t a soul on the beach in the
resort’s private cove. The majority of
the guests were either packing for their trip home, or getting in one final dose of
nightlife in town.
“This
is a perfect ending for our vacation,” Katie sighed, as she poured a glass of wine
for Dean and herself. “I really prefer
vacationing on a beach. How about you?”
she asked her lover as she sipped her wine.
“Mmm,
I really don’t care as long as it’s with you.” Dean looked over the top of her wine glass at her
young lover, drinking in her beauty. “You
are the most beautiful thing in my life Katie. Everything
else is muted next to you.” She reached
up with her right hand gently caressing Katie’s cheek before slipping her hand behind
the golden head, pulling the young woman into a soft kiss.
Even in the darkness of the night, Dean could see and feel her lover’s blush,
as the heat of it rose to her face. Lifting
her head from the kiss, lips barely touching, Dean added, “I’m so lucky to have
found you.”
“I’m
the lucky one,” Katie insisted, as she leaned in for another kiss that was gentle but
more passionate. As they broke from this
kiss, Dean set her wine glass down, and pulled Katie into an embrace as she settled them
back on the blanket. Katie likewise, set her
glass to the side, preferring the intoxication of her lover over the fruit of the vine. Her hands now free, she began an earnest
exploration of her lover’s body. “I
can’t think of a more perfect ending for these last few days, than to make love to
you here on this beach.”
Katie
straddled her lover, lowering her head to meet parted lips, as her hands slid along
Dean’s sides garnering a soft moan from the woman beneath her. The kiss lingered as tongues explored the soft
wetness of each other’s mouth, finally submitting to gentle nips as Katie pulled on
Dean’s lower lip before moving to her neck. The
searing kisses were working their magic as Dean moaned again, before beginning her own
exploration of her lover’s peaks and valleys. Hands
danced over muscled backs, flowed along ribs, and sought sensitive breasts, stopping to
tease alert nipples before repeating the ballet once more.
On the next trip, Katie slipped her hands down to Dean’s shorts, skillfully
unbuttoning them and lowering the zipper. Dean
responded with a feral growl as Katie eased questing fingers past the bikini underwear,
sliding them down along with the shorts. Next,
Katie lowered her head to Dean’s abdomen as she placed kisses on every inch of
exposed flesh, while her hands were nimbly removing the clothing that was covering the
upper torso. Achieving her goal, Katie sat
up, slipping off her tank dress to expose her naked body.
She took in the beauty of her lover lying nude beneath her, caressing her with her
eyes. “I love you, Dean, with all my
heart and soul,” she whispered as she lowered herself once more to begin her
ministrations in earnest. She began at
Dean’s earlobes, lightly kissing and sucking them before running her tongue across
her ear. She trailed kisses across
Dean’s long neck as she moved to the other ear, giving it the same tender attention,
and concentrating on her actions as Dean’s hands roamed her body. Her breasts gently slid across Dean’s,
eliciting a moan from both women and lighting a fire that reached to their very core. Katie continued her kisses across each collarbone,
slowly making her way down towards Dean’s firm breasts. Reaching the right breast, she allowed her tongue
to tease the nipple taut, as her hand massaged the left breast in synchronization. Dean purred Katie’s name through clenched
teeth, as her lover steadily moved south, stopping at the crest of each hip before making
the final dive for her lover’s sex. As
Katie pleasured her partner with deep thrusts, she heard Dean cry out to her, begging to
be taken. Heeding this call, Katie poured her
soul into her actions and took Dean to the brink of her orgasm, pushing her over the edge
with one final thrust. As the waves of
pleasure coursed through Dean’s body, Katie’s body reacted in kind as she held
on to her lover with strong arms, sliding up easily along sweat soaked skin to rest her
head on Dean’s chest.
Minutes
passed as the lover’s remained in each other’s embrace, enjoying the after-glow
of their lovemaking. Katie reached over and
covered their intertwined bodies with the beach towel that was wrapped in the blanket,
lest someone stumble upon the naked lovers in the starry night. “Hmmm, definitely a nice way to end a
vacation,” Katie whispered as she kissed Dean’s neck, enjoying the salty tang of
her lover’s skin.
“Good
thing you brought a blanket. It would take us
forever to get the sand out of, um, all our exposed places.
Needless to say, it could have hurt a bit too,” Dean acknowledged as she
cupped Katie’s chin, placing a kiss on the young blonde’s lips.
“Oooo. That would have definitely hurt.” Katie shuddered at the thought. Looking up and down the beach and seeing no one in
sight, Katie suggested they go for a quick swim before going back to their room.
“You
mean, without our suits?” A raised eyebrow teased the young woman.
“Nah,
we’ve got suits on… at least the ones we were born with,” Katie giggled.
“Yeah,
and I really like yours,” Dean teased as she ran her hands over the naked body lying
next to her.
Katie
flipped off the blanket and pushed up to her feet. “Last
one in is a rotten egg!” she shouted as she sprinted for the water. Dean just shook her head as she stood, then raced
to catch up with her partner, best friend, and lover.
The
End (To be continued in “Deadly Challenge”!)
* * * * *