“This Indian fellow just got our frisky Russian oil minister to agree to sell a whole bunch of oil futures to India that were slated to go to the United States. The folks at H.O.T. Watch say the State Department has been wondering how the Indians pulled off the deal. It was apparently quite a coup for India and a big blow to the U.S.”
Jeff interjected. “So, the Indian guy blackmailed the Russian guy. Why was the video in Chinese, then? If the Chinese took the footage, why wouldn’t they have used it themselves to blackmail the Russian into selling them the oil?”
Aleesha shrugged. “Could be they got a ton of money by selling the footage. Could be our Indian guy acquired it by doing a private deal of his own. Could be he stole the video. Hard to tell.”
Kat interjected. “So we still don’t know who the commandos are.”
Aleesha nodded. “Correct.” She threw an apologetic glance over at Jeff as she continued, “Cobra, I floated your idea of impersonating the Ghost to the gang at H.O.T. Watch Ops.”
“And?” Kat asked with ill-disguised interest.
Another apologetic look at Jeff from Aleesha. “They loved the idea. General Wittenauer has already greenlighted the op.”
Jeff’s jaw went rock hard, and Kat thought she detected a hint of redness around his ears. Without a word, he pivoted stiffly and walked out of the room. The back door slammed. Hard. She might have kept her face still and calm, but she flinched all the way down to the bottom of her soul.
The Medusas looked over at her expectantly.
Aleesha asked gently, “You gonna go after him and talk to him?”
Kat sighed heavily. “It wouldn’t do any good. We’ve both said all we have to say on the matter. He can’t stand watching me take risks, and I can’t give up what I do or who I am.”
Aleesha studied her long and hard-until Kat had to actively clamp down on an urge to squirm. Finally, the Jamaican said, “This op isn’t going to be a picnic. You sure you’re up for this mission? It’s going to take one hundred percent of your focus and concentration.”
Kat knew exactly what Aleesha was asking. Was she too emotionally involved with Jeff to give the job her full attention? Kat sighed. Who knew for sure? One thing she did know. She couldn’t possibly back out on this mission now and live with herself. She’d drawn her line in the sand with Jeff. He had to accept her career, or there’d be no future for them.
Belatedly, she answered, “I’ll be okay. Let’s just get on with it.”
But in her heart of hearts, she wasn’t so sure things were going to be okay at all. She and the Medusas had steamrolled right over Jeff, and he wasn’t going to take kindly to that. At the end of the day, he was exactly what he’d said he was-traditional, protective and used to being in charge. It had been too much to ask him to accept her profession-heck, her true identity.
Likewise, she’d made her choice. She was a warrior first and a woman second.
But, God, it hurt to see him go.
Chapter 17
Kat was still awake when Jeff came back to the cottage as dawn broke outside. She’d given up on sleeping soon thereafter and gotten up. He made no effort to speak to her all day. He participated professionally enough in the planning of the night’s mission, but when she tried to talk to him in private, she got exactly nowhere with him.
Each time he gave her a closed, stony look-the classic thousand-yard stare of a hardened soldier-her heart broke a little more. By suppertime, she was a complete mess. So much for being able to hold it together no matter what life threw at her.
She went out to the beach where she swayed and stepped through the slow motion dance of an ancient gigong ritual designed to calm and center the chi. Twice. It didn’t work. She resorted to the more violent Shaolin kung fu forms next. Better. At least working up a good sweat burned off a little of her urge to burst into tears. But she still felt like crap.
“You okay?” Aleesha murmured for at least the tenth time that day as Kat let herself back into the cottage at dusk.
“No, I’m not,” she snapped, her fragile calm already wrecked.
Aleesha laughed quietly. “Welcome to the world of wallowing in emotions like the rest of us.”
Kat threw her a bitter look. “Yeah, well, it sucks.”
“Ahh, but when it’s good, it’s great, isn’t it?”
Kat squeezed her eyes tightly shut. That was just sweat making them burn like that. Just sweat, dammit.
Aleesha sighed. “I really ought to pull you from this mission.”
Alarmed, Kat blurted, “You can’t. I’m the only one who can do it.”
A reluctant nod. “True. But we can postpone it a few days until you’re feeling more like yourself.”
Kat winced. She was starting to be genuinely afraid that from here on out this was herself. How was she supposed to close the floodgates and re-contain all that emotion that Jeff had let out? It would be like trying to empty a lake with a teaspoon.
“I’ll be okay, Aleesha. I promise. Once I get into the flow of the mission, my training will take over.”
Aleesha looked at her hard. “Make me a promise. If you get in that house and your concentration isn’t perfect, you’ll call it off and back out.”
“But-”
“No buts. Either you promise, or I’m pulling the plug. We’ll find some other way to draw these guys out. The way I hear it, those folks in the H.O.T. Watch can do surveillance on the entire island of Barbados at once.”
Having seen the Ops center, Kat could believe it. She glanced up to see Aleesha staring at her expectantly.
Kat sighed. “Fine. I promise.”
“On your honor?”
“Yes, mother.”
Aleesha nodded firmly. “All right, then. Now go take a little rest and we’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.”
Kat crouched in the bushes outside the mansion that was her target. It was a massive lump of brick and stone, generically Caribbean colonial. And a hell of a tough nut to crack. The place had banklike security, and in the guise of being built hurricane-proof, had also been built practically burglarproof as well.
To the credit of the home’s designers, it had taken most of the staff of the H.O.T. Watch, a team at the Pentagon, and several high-powered civilian electronics and security consultants to come up with a way to breach the place. And were it not for the H.O.T. Watch’s high-tech satellite systems and an orbiting electronic counterwarfare chopper nearby, she wouldn’t have had a prayer of getting inside undetected.
Wherever he was right now, hidden in the trees, was Jeff worried about her? Or was he just mad? Or maybe he felt nothing at all. He certainly seemed to have shut down his emotions earlier. And how ironic was that? She was the one with the legendary self-control while he wore his feelings on his sleeve, and now she was a blithering idiot and he was a rock.
She checked her thoughts sharply. She ought to be reviewing the plan, running it one last time in her head, not to mention keeping an eye out for movement that didn’t belong out here. Good thing Aleesha wasn’t beside her right now, or this mission would already be over.
Jeff’s voice crackled over her earpiece, crisp and emotionless. “H.O.T. Watch and Bravo 51, report when ready.” Bravo 51 was the helicopter with the equipment that would jam several electronic portions of the mansion’s security system. She didn’t hear the chopper yet, but it would move in close when she started her run at the house.
Did he have to sound so cold and uncaring? Stop that. He was transmitting on a frequency that close to a hundred people were listening to. How else should he sound?
“You ready, Cobra?” Aleesha prompted.
Kat started. Crud. She was supposed to report when she was ready, and then Jeff would give the green light, and she’d forgotten to do it. Aleesha’s transmission had been a subtle kick in the pants to get her head in the game. And Aleesha was right.