Why was she thinking about getting married anyway? She was self-sufficient, able to do whatever she wanted on her own. She had her own money. She didn't even need to work unless she wanted to. She could go anywhere she wanted, do almost anything she wanted to do. She could have her pick of intelligent, handsome and educated men from about any walk of life. So what was so damned attractive about a battered, stubborn man whose principal goal in life seemed to be jumping in where angels feared to tread and whose primary skill was shooting at people and blowing things up?
When Nick asked her to marry him, she'd barely hesitated. Maybe it was the context of a Caribbean night, the moonlight, the afterglow of sex, the warm strength she felt radiate from him as he stood next to her. Maybe it had been the knowledge that the next day meant one or both of them had a good chance of getting killed.
Or maybe you're just a closet romantic, she thought. Moonlight, flowers and guns.
She smiled to herself. Not too many people would put those three things together and think of romance. Nick would. Things like that were why she loved him.
The thought rippled through her. It was true, she really did love him. She wasn't sure that was enough of a reason to marry him. Too much had happened over the last few years.
She walked from the bathroom to the closet and picked out a bra and panties, then a pale lavender silk blouse that went well with her eyes. She added black slacks and low heeled, comfortable black shoes. She dressed, went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee and sat at the counter.
Love. Once before, she'd thought she was in love. His name was Ted. He was rich, educated, and sophisticated. They'd been on vacation in Greece, spending a week on Mykonos. He'd gotten drunk and they'd gone back to their room overlooking the harbor. An argument had started and he'd hit her, hard enough to send her staggering backward. She hadn't even thought about it. She'd decked him and kicked him where it hurt. It hadn't taken long to pack the few things she'd brought with her. She'd walked out and never looked back.
After that there'd never been anyone serious. Not until Nick.
Selena glanced at the clock on the counter. It was time to get going over to Virginia for the morning briefing. She and Nick could go out for coffee together afterward. They needed to talk.
CHAPTER 11
Elizabeth looked over her team and felt a vague sense of unease. Selena and Nick were sitting together but they might as well have been in different rooms. Something was off between them.
Lamont looked tired. His coffee colored skin was pale. The scar crossing his face seemed more vivid than usual. Elizabeth reminded herself to ask him if he was still taking meds. This wasn't a good time to have things getting in the way of the team's usual high level of performance. At least he was back in the mix. That counted for a lot.
Ronnie sat next to Lamont. He wore one of his many Hawaiian shirts, an endless scene of surfers at Waikiki done in unnatural colors that looked dreamed up by a mad chemist on an acid trip.
Elizabeth began. "There's been an attack on the Indian Embassy in Manila," she said. "They cut the night guard's throat, planted Semtex and did their best to blow up the building. The ambassador and his wife were killed in the explosion."
"Who did it?" Nick asked.
"Nobody is certain, yet. Possibly ISOK."
"That could explain why Abu Khan was on Mindanao."
She looked at Nick. "President Rice is trying to get new base agreements in the Philippines. With the Chinese claiming islands right off their coast and building bases in the China Sea, Manila is getting nervous. It's important that nothing disrupts those negotiations."
"The Filipinos kicked us out and now they need us," Lamont said. "Why am I not surprised?"
"American bases and our nuclear weapons are a sensitive subject over there," Elizabeth said. "There's a demonstration scheduled two days from now to protest any new agreement, with a planned march on the Embassy. Demonstrations like that have turned violent in the past. After the Indian Embassy bombing, Rice is worried the terrorists may use the march to create an incident. He wants me to send the team to Manila."
"What do you want us to do there?" Nick asked.
"Think of it as a preventative mission. See what you can find out. If Abu Sayyaf or ISOK is planning an attack, head it off at the pass."
"You want us to go in blind, sniff around for terrorist activity and then prevent an attack that might or might not happen?"
"Is that a problem?"
Nick sighed. "Anything else?"
"That's about it. Try to stay out of the way of the demonstrators."
"Mob, you mean. How do we get there?"
"Clark Air Force Base is open to us again. You'll go in on military transport. That puts you about forty miles from Manila and avoids the complications of civilian travel. Take weapons but keep it light and easy to conceal. We don't want to upset anyone. Take a comm package for the satellite uplink back here."
"When do we leave?"
"Wheels up at 0200 tomorrow from Andrews. "
"What about Langley?" Ronnie asked. "They've got to have a man in the embassy looking into the same things we are. Do we let them know we're there, or keep our distance?"
"Keep your distance," Elizabeth said. "I don't see any need to involve the agency. I'll decide if we need to bring them in."
"I know the U.S. Ambassador in Manila," Selena said. "Not well, but she attended a series of lectures I gave at Stanford a few years ago and we got to be friends. I could arrange to see her. She might be helpful."
"Good," Elizabeth said. "Definitely, go see her." She turned to Lamont. "How are you feeling, Lamont? Are you ready to go back in the field? You haven't had an easy time of it the last few months."
"I'm fine, Director. I'm going crazy sitting around doing nothing. Yeah, I'm ready."
"All right then," Elizabeth said. "Any other questions?"
No one had any.
"I'd better get going on the gear," Ronnie said. He got up and left the room and headed downstairs to the armory.
"I'll give you a hand," Nick called after him. He stood and went after Ronnie.
So much for a quiet talk over coffee, Selena thought.
CHAPTER 12
Selena decided where they would stay in Manila. Most of the time they were in places where accommodations were lousy or nonexistent. She tried to upgrade whenever they had a choice. She had the money and she was damned if she was going to be uncomfortable just because they were on a mission in some foreign country.
She'd picked one of the large chain hotels with a five star rating, a modern businessman's hotel within easy walking distance of the American Embassy. There was nothing particularly unique about it. It was clean and you could drink the water. It was a slice of commercial America set down a block and a half from Roxas Boulevard and the waterfront on Manila Bay.
She was sharing a luxury suite on the twentieth floor with Nick. It had two bedrooms and separate bathrooms, which would come in handy if things didn't smooth out between them. There'd been no opportunity to talk when they were getting ready for the mission and trying to hold a conversation in the aluminum belly of a C-130 was a lost cause.
Ronnie and Lamont were down the hall. Nick looked out the window at the impressive view of the bay and the eight lanes of Roxas Boulevard and thought the wide, modern highway along the waterfront made a perfect route for marchers and protesters. It would also work well if the government had to bring in the tanks and water cannons.