Catch Her If You Can (23 page)

Authors: Merline Lovelace

BOOK: Catch Her If You Can

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“Thanks, but I can’t accept gratuities.”

“Gratuities, shamooities.”

Having thus disposed of at least seven volumes of Department of Defense regulations, he beamed while Josie filled the box with my team’s favorites and flatly refused to accept payment.

“Really, I can’t accept . . .”

Inspiration struck when I spotted a tin coffee can on the counter with a taped sign indicating this establishment supported the Summer Special Olympics. I stuffed a twenty in the can to appease my conscience and whatever DOD gods might be looking over my shoulder.

I say that in jest. Now. But I can state with utter truthfulness that my heart just about popped out of my chest when I learned not twenty minutes later that I had, in fact, a very powerful DOD god coming down on me.

I got the word when I dashed through the side door, clutching a soggy donut box and my wimpy umbrella. The first person I met was Dennis. His orangey hair stood on end and his eyes were huge, almost eclipsing his nerdo black frames.

“Techno Diva! Where the hell have you been?”

The near panic in his voice made me blink. “Mexico. Remember?”

“You got home yesterday afternoon,” he accused.

And yesterday was a duty day, I remembered belatedly. So I didn’t call in and let the team know I was taking the rest of the day off? What was the big deal?

“I was a little tired.” I injected just a touch of sarcasm into my drawl. “Being kidnapped, rolling a Hummer, whacking my head against its window, and taking down a syndicate kind of does that to me.”

“Never mind the syndicate. What’s wrong with your phones? We’ve been trying to reach you since you got home. So has Dr. J.”

Eeeeuw.

“I’ll call him as soon as I get squared away,” I promised Dennis.

“You don’t need to call him. He’s here.”

“Here?” I echoed faintly. “In El Paso?”

“In your office.”

Double eeeeuw.

“He got in late last night. Like I said, we’ve been trying to reach you.”

I seriously contemplated running back out into the rain, but that would only delay the inevitable. I wasn’t facing Dr. J with a box of donuts, though. He’d read the gratuity guilt all over my face.

“Here.” I shoved the donuts at Dennis. “Get rid of these.”

It said much for the state of O’Reilly’s mind that he upended the box and crammed it in a trash can. Ordinarily he would have concealed the goodies until the coast was clear.

I had my breathing more or less under control by the time I approached my office. Wish I could say the same for my nerves. I had to swipe my sweaty palm against my leg twice before offering it to my boss.

“Dr. J! So good to see you, sir.”

He set aside a cup containing a pale liquid that had to be one of Pen’s herbal concoctions. She was sipping one with him, as were Rocky and Sergeant Cassidy. Judging by the carefully neutral expressions on all three male faces, it wasn’t their first cup.

Dr. J rose and took the hand I held out. “I was very relieved to hear you’d come through that horrible ordeal in Mexico with no serious injuries, Samantha.”

“Thanks.”

He assumed a stern expression. Not an easy trick for a guy in a blue and yellow polka-dot bow tie. “I would have preferred, however, to hear it from you personally.”

“Yes, sir. The thing is . . .”

Ooops! Full stop. I couldn’t exactly explain the thing was Mitch’s thigh. Or that it was connected to other parts that had kept me humming and happy right up until the moment I walked in the door.

But I could tell him about Snoopy.

“I don’t know if the team had a chance to tell you about the field performance of the Self-Nurturing Find and Identify Robot, sir. They programmed it to track me down in the middle of the desert. The little sucker can sniff out anything.”

Dr. J’s stern expression gave way to a gleam of genuine interest. “Drs. England and Balboa have been filling me in on its capabilities. I see great potential there, Samantha. Great potential.”

Rain still hammered down outside, but inside my office was suddenly all smiles and sunshine. This is what FST-3 was all about! This is why we put up with each other’s idiosyncrasies. Why we endured all those long days out at our test site. We’d finally hit on something that might, just might, significantly improve the capability of our combat troops.

“I’m so glad you see Snoopy’s possibilities, Dr. J. If you’d like, we can clear the hallway and give you a demonstration.”

“Clear the hall?”

“We still have a few waterlogged computers stacked in the corridor,” Sergeant Cassidy explained. “They’re left over from the fire.

“Not to worry,” I added hurriedly as my boss gulped and tugged on his bowtie. “They’re going to computer heaven as so as I finish the paperwork.”

“Yes, well . . .”

“I’ll have it done this week. I promise. Barring any further visits from ex-husbands, electrical fires, or kidnappings, that is.”

My feeble attempt at a joke hit like the proverbial brick. Sergeant Cassidy gazed at the ceiling, Rocky smoothed a palm down his shirt front, Dennis grimaced, and even Pen had to work to summon a smile.

“Actually,” Dr J. said again, “obtaining a demonstration of, er, Snoopy’s capabilities is only one of the reasons I flew out to El Paso. I wanted to assure myself that you are all right . . .”

“Awwww.”

“And,” he continued, fighting what looked suspiciously like a smile, “present these.”

“These” I saw when he reached into his pocket, were two shiny silver bars sitting side by side in a dark blue velvet case.

“Congratulations, Lieutenant. You’ve completed the time in grade and met the requirements of honorable service to qualify for promotion to the rank of first lieutenant.”

“You’re kidding!”

His bemused expression said he sort of wished he was. But he made up for that momentary lapse with a firm shake of his head. “No, Samantha, I’m not.”

My team jumped in to offer congratulations. They ran the gamut. I got a fierce hug from Pen, a hoot and high five from Dennis, an awkward back pat from Rocky, and an unintentional bone-crunch of a handshake from Noel.

“By the way,” Dr. J let drop when the noise died down. “We need to make this official, so I asked the deputy post commander to assist me in pinning on your bars this afternoon.”

“Colonel Roberts?” I squeaked. “You asked Iron Butt Roberts to pin me?”

“I did.”

“What did he say?”

Dr. J’s smile widened to a full-fledged grin above his polka-dot bowtie. “Something along the lines of ‘God help the United States Air Force.’ ”

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Merline Lovelace

ALL THE WRONG MOVES

NOW YOU SEE HER

CATCH HER IF YOU CAN