DeliciousDanger (10 page)

“And what’s that?” his wife wanted to know.

“You’ll never guess where she grew up. Where her farm is
located.” He looked around the table. “Any takers? No? Okay. She’s about fifty
miles from Bangor, Maine, maybe ten minutes from the road to the cabin.”

Everyone stared at him.

“Her folks didn’t really farm,” he went on. “The place had
been in the family for generations. Her father was a guide for hunters. He flew
them into camps in northern Maine, then picked them up again. Sometimes her
mother went along and they’d go into New Brunswick or over to Prince Edward
Island. The border patrol knew him very well.”

“How come we never saw her before?” Dan asked. “Or noticed
her place when we were up there?”

Mark pulled an aerial photo from his stack and passed it
around the table. “Andy emailed this to me from the satellite imagery we had in
stock. I marked the road to the cabin. If you look here…” he retrieved the
photo and pointed, “you’ll see there’s a barely visible road in this heavy
stand of pine trees. It’s practically hidden from the road.”

“Practically?” Faith shook her head in amazement. “It’s
totally invisible. You’d have to know where you were going to even find it.”

“Has she ever reported Psi incidents with her dog?” Mia
asked.

“No,” Mark told her. “She’s pretty close-mouthed. A loner,
from what I can tell. But the weird thing is the way her dog linked with Rick.
That’s unheard of with Ovcharkas.” He looked at both women. “Her name, by the
way, is Xena.”

Mia and Faith grinned back and high-fived each other.

“From what Harry tells me, each of the dog’s episodes since
everyone left the airport has happened at an exact moment when Rick was in
danger. It’s almost as if she smells it.”

Faith lifted an eyebrow. “Smells it?”

“I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But you can’t believe what
I’ve been reading about these dogs. They are truly amazing.”

“Does she train any of them in her program?” Mia asked.

“No. Just shepherds. But Andy found an article about her in
the
Bangor Daily News
that said she’d trained Xena to guard the other
dogs in her care.”

“I got some information from Aunt Vivi that might be
helpful,” Faith told them.

“Is The Lotus Circle aware of this kind of thing?” Dan
wanted to know.

“You bet. In fact four of the members who post regularly on
the website are owners and have reported incidents where their mind linked with
their dog’s. Where the dog not only protected them from danger but signaled
them about other things.”

When Faith had been researching her own psychic abilities
her aunt had introduced her to The Lotus Circle website that had participants
from all over the world with every type of psychic ability imaginable.

“Are you going to tell me these women communicate mentally
with their animals?”

Faith nodded. “Sometimes the dog even enters their dreams
and sends them messages that way. Two of the women have actually documented
specific instances on the site.”

Mark shook his head in amazement. “I don’t know why I should
be so surprised, considering the link Faith and I have. I just can’t get my
mind around the same kind of connection with a dog.”

“One more thing,” Faith said. “Aunt Vivi says instances of
an Ovcharka bonding with someone other than the owner are very rare. If we can
talk to Kelly Monroe and get her to become involved, they’d like to make both
her and the dog members of the Circle.”

Mia finished her coffee and set her cup down. “I have got to
call this woman.”

“While you’re talking to her,” Dan said, “see if it’s
possible for us to come up to visit her. Dogs are something we haven’t thought
about for the Psi department and we also may want to add them to Rick’s Iraq
setup. We should ask her about it.” He looked at each person in turn. “And
about going to Iraq.”

Faith wrinkled her forehead. “Are you sure it would be safe
for her? She may need more than that dog to protect her.”

“I would never put an untrained person in harm’s way,” Dan
promised. “But we may be able to work something out.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Mark held up a hand. “Shouldn’t we talk
to Rick about this first?”

“Absolutely. Let’s have Mia call her and sound her out. I’ll
talk to Rick. He should fly up there with us too.” He looked at the other
three. “Okay, people. Let’s get busy.”

* * * * *

Kelly Monroe hung up the telephone and sat back in her
chair, Xena in her semi-alert state at her feet.

“Well, girl,” she said to him. “What do you think about
that? Your new best friend has friends who want to come up and see us. We don’t
get many visitors, you know. Think you can handle that?”

Xena rubbed her head against Kelly’s leg and let out a tiny
bark.

“You can, huh? Well, I guess I can too.”

She hadn’t exaggerated that visitors to the farm were rare.
The vet. Her two assistant handlers. Her clients, all of whom came via
referral. She resisted most publicity. Her clients demanded total anonymity and
that meant the same for her.

It also didn’t make for a very active social life but that
hadn’t bothered her since her last disaster of a date. She hadn’t realized Dane
Lomax, the local attorney she’d sort of had a relationship with, had only
wanted to show her off to his friends as an oddity. A weirdo. A woman who had
no one but dogs for company and talked to her personal animal as if she were
human. Worse than that, he’d expected payment in bed for “all the dinner and
beer I shelled out”.

That had been her last foray into a social life.

She was better off with her books, her CDs, her computer and
her dogs. Many days, after the dogs had been worked, fed and kenneled, she and
Xena took long hikes, sometimes as far as the cliffs over the Atlantic Ocean.
It was five miles each way but she always felt exhilarated. And it gave Xena as
well as herself a great opportunity to work off their excess energy.

She felt a curl of anticipation at the prospect of seeing
Rick Latrobe again. Unexpected lust curled in her belly and her crotch
dampened. Not that there was a chance in hell of anything happening between
them what with this trip coming up. And besides, he’d be with others. But at
least she could dream about him. Which lately she tended to do more than she
liked.

But she had an uneasy feeling that the arrival of her
visitors was about to somehow change her life.

Xena stood up, leaned against her leg and whined.

Kelly scratched his head. “Yeah, I know. You feel it too,
don’t you?”

She looked into the dog’s eyes and swore she saw an image of
Rick reflected there. “Quit thinking about him,” she scolded. “I’ve got enough
troubles with my own thoughts.”

Sighing, she headed for the kitchen. Maybe a leftover bone for
Xena and some tea for herself would settle them both down.

* * * * *

Zarife faced Gabir across the table in the dingy little
restaurant where they’d chosen to meet.

“Did you get rid of the van the way I told you to?”

“Yes. We stripped it and pushed it off a hillside. Then we
climbed down and covered it with branches and anything else we could find.”

“Good. Even if they manage to locate it, it will be too late
for them to do anything. Besides, when I gave it to you, I made sure it
couldn’t be traced back to us.”He let his gaze roam from one man to the other.
“Time is running out,” Zarife said, stirring his coffee. “Latrobe must not be
allowed to get on that plane.”

Gabir looked at him with his mouth turned down. “You said
you wanted something that didn’t look obvious. What do you suggest? Short of
shooting the man or blowing him up, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop
him.”

“
I’m
not the one who needs to make suggestions,”
Zarife pointed out. “When I hired you for this you assured me you and your
idiot friends could handle this with no problem.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Gabir sipped nervously from his own cup.
“And so it seemed. “But this is no ordinary man. These are no ordinary people.”

“If they were, I wouldn’t need you.” He looked at his watch,
which had a tiny calendar clipped over the wristband. “We have less than five
days. Figure something out. I don’t care who gets on that plane as long as it’s
not him. You understand?”

Gabir nodded, his fingers fiddling with his cup in a nervous
dance. “I understand. We will figure something out.”

“Our only other option, if we can’t resolve it here, is to
get rid of him over there. But remember, that way you get no money.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Gabir promised. “Right away.”

* * * * *

Rick had finally agreed to pop two of the pain pills before
getting on the helicopter.

“I can only hold the vibrations down so much,” Ed Romeo told
him. He, rather than Mike, was the designated pilot today.

“I’m no stranger to pain,” Rick reminded him.

“Let’s just say I don’t want to add to your discomfort,
okay? Humor me.”

Once they were airborne, Rick had to admit Ed was right.
Even
with
the pills his body was protesting at the treatment he was
giving it, although it could have been worse. Today they were flying their
brand-new baby, a Bell Helicopter 206L4 long-range, seven-passenger bird. In
addition to Ed and Rick, the chopper carried Mia, Dan and Mark. Faith,
unhappily, was locked in her den with galleys to proof that had arrived just
that morning. But she had given Mia her list of questions.

Unbelievably Rick found himself dozing off, waking only when
Mark touched his shoulder.

“I think this is the place.” He pointed ahead and below.

From the air they could see a rambling farmhouse with only a
small area mowed around it. The rest was acres of tall grasses and wildflowers.
Thick stands of pine trees and maples clustered here and there and about two
hundred yards beyond the perimeter a heavy forest of pines rose up out of the
land. Behind the house was a rectangular building with long, cyclone fencing
running perpendicular to it. Rick assumed that was the kennel. To one side of
the house was a huge barn, with a concrete strip the same length as the
building running up to it.

Probably where her father had kept the plane, Rick thought.

Not far from the strip stood Kelly Monroe with Xena at her
side, waving and pointing to the concrete.

“That’s where she wants us to land,” Ed said. “Looks good to
me. I’m going down.”

With his usual practiced and easy smoothness at the
controls, Ed set the bird down precisely on the concrete strip and cut his
ignition. Mia, Dan and Mark were out of the helicopter even before the rotors
stopped spinning. Rick moved slowly behind them, trying to conceal his
discomfort. Still, he couldn’t mistake the look of worry in Kelly’s eyes. An
unfamiliar feeling twisted through him at her obvious concern. Most of the
women he spent time with wouldn’t even think of sending a card, much less
worrying. He decided he’d been hanging out with the wrong kind of women. But
that was definitely going to change. He wondered what she’d think of the
proposal they had for her.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Xena left Kelly’s
side and plunked herself down next to Rick, a low rumble escaping her throat as
she looked at the others.

“Shake hands with everyone else,” Kelly told him. “Let her
see that they aren’t enemies.”

“But they got off the helicopter with me,” he commented.

She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. She’ll sense everyone
as a danger to you until you show her differently.”

Rick went through the process as Kelly dictated, making sure
to smile at each person and introducing them as he did so.

I can’t believe I’m making introductions to a dog
, he
thought, swallowing a smile.

Kelly also shook hands with them. The rumble died away but
Xena still held her position.

Rick looked at Kelly and again remembered the feel of her
naked body under his. Her mouth on his cock. And embarrassing wonder of
wonders, despite all the drugs in his system, said cock hardened.

Shit! That was all he needed. His chances of being alone
with her were slim to none. He was here on business and he didn’t want to
embarrass her in front of his friends and partners.

“Well.” Kelly walked over to them, the expression on her
face unreadable. “My curiosity is killing me. I know you and I spoke, Mia, but
I can’t imagine anything we discussed would have brought you all the way up
here. And so quickly.” She looked at Xena. “This is a rarity for us. We don’t
usually have much company, as I told you.”

“Could we go inside so we can sit down and talk?” Dan asked.
“This will take more than a few minutes to explain.”

“Of course. Excuse my manners. I have iced tea waiting and I
even made cookies.” She looked at Xena, locking her eyes on the dog’s and
signaling her with her hand.

She rose but still didn’t move.

Kelly reached her hand out to Rick. “Come with me and keep
holding my hand. She’ll follow along.”

And that was what she did, wedging herself close to both
Kelly and Rick as they all trooped into the house.

As soon as their hands touched Rick felt the same tingle of
electricity that had started the whole thing. Hours of incredible sex two
nights ago hadn’t diminished it one bit. Heat had streaked through his body and
his groin tightened even more.

He took a moment to study her in the sunlight. Between
missions, when he sought female companionship, Rick’s taste ran to petite yet
well-endowed blondes, with curves in all the right places. Women who dressed in
flirty clothes—or no clothes at all, depending on the situation. Kelly Monroe
was tall and slender, her long red hair again in a neat braid. Her curves,
covered in jeans and a tailored blouse, were subtle rather than lush. Yet he
remembered how she felt in his hands and every hormone in his body stood up and
took notice.