Behind Enemy Lines (8 page)

Stop that!

Furious with herself, she yanked dry clothes from the scarred armoire in the corner and scrambled into them.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she was safely clothed once more. Restless, she moved out into the living room and straightened up. She carried Tom’s pack into the bedroom and set it on the chair beside the bed. Maybe tomorrow she’d have better luck keeping him in that bed where he belonged.

Her breath hitched and her body tingled all of a sudden. Tomorrow Tom might kiss her again in exchange for another day of bed rest. She craved the taste of him. Her palms itched to feel him, and her breasts ached for the weight of his body upon her.

She jumped as a sound intruded upon her fantasy.

Someone was knocking on the front door.

Her heart beat double time as she moved to the entrance. Without opening it, she spoke softly through the flimsy wood.

“What’s your handle?”

A drawl she could cut with a knife came from exactly opposite her ear. “Tex, ma’am.”

She opened the door and stepped back.

The man edged into the room fast, his back to the wall beside the door. Lean and darkly tanned, he closed it with a soft click and took a hard, assessing look around the apartment. Remembering Tom’s advice to move slowly, she eased away from the dangerous looking man.

“And who might you be, ma’am?”

“My name’s Annie.”

“Hey, aren’t you the lady from the hospital?”

“That’s right. I’m Tom’s cover. He’s in the bathtub at the moment. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go tell him you’re here.”

“No need.”

Startled, Annie looked up. She hadn’t heard him come into the room, let alone get out of the tub and leave the bathroom.

Her breath caught at the sight that met her eyes. Tom lurked in the doorway to the bedroom, a towel wrapped around his hips and a nasty-looking pistol held low in front of him. He looked every bit as dangerous as the man called Tex. With lethal grace, he waited, poised to do violence.

“Hey, boss, am I glad to see you!”

Tom’s posture relaxed and he stepped forward. “Ditto, Tex. Any trouble finding this place?”

“Are you kidding? I know every inch of this miserable hellhole—excuse me, ma’am—of this town.”

Annie noticed that Tom looked a little pale around the gills and was beginning to wobble. “Tom, why don’t you get dressed, and I’ll pour some iced tea for all of us.”

Tex’s eyebrows went up, but he made no comment as Tom nodded and retreated to the bedroom.

Tom emerged a few moments later, bare-chested and wearing green camouflage pants.

Annie groaned mentally. He probably couldn’t get a shirt on by himself over his cast and wasn’t going to ask for help in front of one of his guys. But how was she ever going to sit calmly in the same room with him semidressed like that?

Tex dragged a chair over from the kitchen table and plunked down on it while Tom eased onto one end of the sofa. Annie had no choice but to sit beside him.

“Where are the others?” Tom asked.

“Mac’s working in a government warehouse across town. Dutch is posing as an American journalist because he’d never pass for a local. Doc’s got himself a sweet job working as a medic for the rebels, and Howdy and I hang out here and there. I keep an eye on things and stay in contact with the other guys.”

“What’s the situation?”

“In a nutshell, the rebels are fixin’ to bust out and attack any second now. They’ve got most of the roads sewed up and they control the airport. Nothing’s moving in or out of the city without their say-so. There’s a major player out there backing them hard. They’ve got more equipment than they can possibly use, and somebody’s trained them on it.”

“What’s the government doing?”

“Sitting around with its thumbs up its—” he threw an apologetic glance at Annie “—nose. The army’s got tanks and howitzers rolling around for show, but it lacks the manpower to fight an urban guerrilla war. Desertion numbers are climbing fast. The government troops have lousy weapons, rotten training, and their morale’s the pits. Not to mention their leadership sucks. They outnumber the rebels about two to one, but that’ll be good for squat when it comes to a shootin’ war.”

“So the government’s going down?”

Tex nodded succinctly. Underneath his homespun vocabulary, Annie sensed a sharp mind at work.

“Timetable?”

“Like I said. Any second. There’s been some house-to-house fighting on the east side of town the last couple nights. Mostly drunks brawling, but tension is high.”

“So what have you guys been doing while I was out of play?”

Tex leaned back with an engaging grin and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Mostly whorin’ and drinkin’ and gamblin’ all night long.”

Annie was intrigued when Tom merely raised an eyebrow and Tex sat upright abruptly, the grin wiped from his face.

“We’ve been waiting for you to get out of the hospital so we can bug out of this damn country and leave it to its revolution. And we’ve been prayin’ for you, sir.”

“Thanks.”

Annie watched the silent look that passed between the two men. Yup, these guys had been through rough times together.

Tom asked casually, “Have you given any thought to how we go about leaving Gavarone?”

“Actually, sir, we were waiting to see how mobile you were before we finalized a plan.”

Annie suspected that if they had to carry him out on their backs, they’d do it.

“Any idea how soon you want to move out, sir?”

Tom answered quickly. “ASAP.”

Annie interjected. “Not so fast, Tom. I want Dr. Clark to have a look at you before you go running off into the middle of a war. And you still need some time to get your strength back.”

He shot one of those saber-sharp looks of his at her, and she glared right back at him.

“Tex, I don’t believe I’ve introduced you to my nurse-maid and resident fussbudget, Annie O’Donnell. She’s attached to the American Embassy here and has been helping me out since the accident.”

“We sort of met in the hospital. But it’s a pleasure to officially meet you, ma’am. Doc and Dutch said you took real good care of Major Folly, here.”

She smiled. “I did my best. But you know what a cranky patient he can be.”

“I can imagine, ma’am.”

She sighed, calculating her chances at getting him to stop ma’aming her every other sentence. The odds weren’t very good, but it was worth a shot.

“You can cool it on the ma’aming, Tex. It makes me feel like an old lady.”

“Yes, ma’am. I mean, all right.”

Tom grinned and Tex scowled at his boss.

Another knock sounded on the door, and Annie gaped at the instantaneous transformation of the two smiling men into deadly serious hunters.

One second they were sitting in their seats, and the next, Tex was plastered against the wall by the door while Tom melted into the shadows of the bedroom. A series of hand signals flashed back and forth between the two men, and weapons appeared in their hands.

Tom gestured Annie to get the door.

Scared so bad she shook, Annie walked over to the door. In Spanish, she asked, “Who’s there?”

The half-whispered reply was also in Spanish. “A friend, madam.”

In English, she tried, “What’s your handle?”

“Mac.”

She opened the door to a black-haired, blue-eyed Irishman with killer dimples.

He took a quick look down the stairwell, then leaped into the apartment, shoving Annie out of the way in the process. He closed the door fast, slowing at the last second to ease the latch shut silently.

“Sorry, ma’am, but I was being followed. I had to get in here before they saw where I went.”

Tex raced silently across the room, a pair of binoculars coming out of somewhere on his person as he moved. Annie lost sight of him in the darkened bedroom until she made out his silhouette half-hidden behind her freshly hung curtains.

As fast as Tex moved into the bedroom, Tom moved out of it and closed the door behind him.

Keeping her voice low, Annie asked, “What’s going on?”

Tom answered her emotionlessly. “Tex is trying to spot whoever followed Mac. I closed the door so he wouldn’t be backlit from the light in here. Don’t worry, Annie. Tex is the best spotter in the Air Force. He’s got the damnedest eyesight I’ve ever seen. He knows what he’s doing.”

She let out the breath she realized she’d been holding. On wobbly legs, she made her way to the sofa and sat down. Tom’s transformation into a Special Forces commander had been instantaneous and complete. Gone was the smiling, relaxed man from the bathtub. In his place was this cold, hard stranger who knew his way around guns and dark shadows.

When he spoke again, Tom’s voice was perfectly normal. It showed no signs of strain over the last few tense moments.

“Hi, Mac. Glad you could make it. Any reason you felt obliged to bring company to the party?”

“A government guy picked up my tail, and a rebel guy picked up his tail. I couldn’t dump them both without being obvious about it, so I had to wait till the last second to get rid of them. I think they’re following each other right now.”

The door from the bedroom opened. Tex strolled out, as unconcerned as Tom, as if this kind of thing happened every day.

“All clear. Your tails are running around in circles trying to figure out who’s chasing who out there. Nice misdirect, Mac. Not bad for a dumb, Irish kid.”

Mac flashed a fast hand signal at Tex, and all three men chuckled. She had to get Tom to teach her that sign language.

“Macready Angus Conlon, this is Annie O’Donnell. I gather you’ve met already.”

He nodded at her. “Yes. At the embassy and again at the hospital. Thanks for your help with our commander.”

“My pleasure.”

Annie wasn’t surprised when Tom wasted no more time on pleasantries.

“Tex has given me a quick overview of the situation, Mac. We were just starting to discuss egressing Gavarone. Any thoughts?”

“Yes. I’ve been working in a government supply depot the last month or so, and I pick up juicy tidbits now and again. In fact, we spent all day today issuing ammunition to the troops. Word has it the rebels are planning an all-out attack on the coast highway tonight.”

Annie gasped. According to her situation briefing at the embassy yesterday, that was the last major road into or out of St. George that the government still controlled. If it fell to the rebels, the city would be surrounded and effectively under siege.

Mac glanced at her and continued. “If you were a little stronger, sir, I’d suggest we leave this minute and head for the ocean.”

“If we’ve got to go now, I’ll manage.”

The Irishman frowned and his brogue abruptly disappeared. “Major Folly, sir. With all due respect, don’t BS me. I’ve been in this business nearly as long as you. You can’t handle the trip, and you sure as hell can’t swim twelve miles out into the ocean to get to international waters for a Navy pickup.”

Annie piped up. “I second that. I’ve been at your side for seven weeks, Tom, and you’re in no condition to move yet. You’ve only been conscious a couple days, and walking for less than one.”

Tex dived in. “Well, then. We’ll hunker down and wait this thing out until you’re ready to go, Hoss.”

Annie looked at Tom. “Hoss?”

“My handle. And don’t ask.”

Tex and Mac grinned widely, but said nothing. Annie knew a challenge when she saw one. Sooner or later she’d get one of them to tell her where “Hoss” came from.

The conversation drifted into small talk. A few war stories were swapped, and Tex updated Tom on how the other members of the team were fairing.

Annie went to the refrigerator to get refills on drinks and was surprised when Mac joined her in the kitchenette.

“How much morphine is the major taking, Miss O’Donnell?”

“Call me Annie, and he’s down to two pills every twelve hours.”

“Do you happen to know the status of his injuries?”

“His ribs and the left forearm aren’t fully healed yet, and he complained about his right collarbone a little while ago. But beyond that, he seems to be mostly healed.”

“Hallelujah. We may just make it out of here alive, then.”

“You mean that’s in any doubt?”

He gave her a long look and then answered, his voice candid. “You were holed up in that hospital a long time. The situation has gotten very bad in St. George the last few weeks. There’s going to be bloodshed and lots of it before this is over, and the rebels are fanatically anti-American.”

“What about the government? Won’t they help the Americans get out?”

“They’re trying to gain support from the population and have taken up a new anti-American stance. Besides, they’re too busy covering their own behinds to worry about ours. We’re on our own.”

Dread burst forth inside Annie. “We’ve got to get out of here before the lid blows, Mac. How much time do you think we have?”

“Hopefully a few days, maybe no more than hours. If this rumored rebel attack on the coast highway pans out, it’s probably going to draw an all-out response from the government.”

Annie stared, wide-eyed, at him. “I had no idea it was so close. What are we going to do?”

He shrugged and gave her a grim look.

“Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?”

Annie turned away. Hastily she poured a glass of iced tea and carried it to Tom. “Mac was just telling me the rebels don’t like Americans.”

Tom nodded slowly. “That’s a fact. They certainly tried their best to kill us in the jungle.”

Tex commented, “You’d have thunk there was a big ol’ reward for our scalps, the way they came after us. ’Coon hounds couldn’t have chased us harder. Speaking of such things, I hear the American Embassy’s pulling out all its folks day after tomorrow. You gonna be leaving us, ma’am…I mean, Annie?”

The embassy staff was pulling out? The gravity of her situation hit Annie so hard it knocked the breath out of her.

Tom answered for her. “She can’t leave with the embassy personnel. Annie gave up her diplomatic immunity when she yanked me out of the hospital. She’s coming out with us.”

Tom’s men were silent, but a dismayed look passed between them.