Still Mine (6 page)

Her captor tilted his head and considered her momentarily. There was an unmistakable question in the man’s eyes. Jo perversely refused to provide him with any information. He had loaded her into that Hummer without so much as an introduction. The least she could do was return the favor and leave him guessing what she was thinking too.

One eyebrow rose slightly in response to her set features.

“How’s the shoulder?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Great. I think you pulling on my arm is quite helpful. The stitches need to come out sometime, right?”

Her sarcasm gained her immediate release. The man aimed a hard look at her before he turned to address a nearby man. Now that there was plenty of light, little details snared her attention. Jolene looked at the ankle-high boots laced over the bottom of these men’s pants. While they were wearing only nondescript black clothing, the personnel surrounding them wore green and brown fatigues. The generic plates on the Hummers caught her eye as she scanned the area for more. A neat row of cars two hundred feet in front of her were marked with the same plates. There wasn’t a sign in sight with any words, only numbers with hyphens and punctuation marks that didn’t make sense to her.

All the trappings of some sort of military base. Jo considered the few men moving around and their sharp attention to their tasks. A row of huge white hangars stood across the street. The doors were closed, concealing whatever aircraft they housed.

But it was the field of helicopters that drove home the fact that she was in a restricted area. Stretching out in front of the Hummer that had brought her was a blacktop divided into landing pads with wide circles painted in reflective white paint. There were multiple aircraft sitting at rest. Several different models of helicopters in every shape and size.

“This way.”

He extended a hand and part of her rebelled, but her shoulder protested that impulse. Getting pulled along again by his larger hands wasn’t something she was eager for.

So she kept pace with him as he walked towards a long building. Doors were set every ten feet like a motel, but there were no windows. He gave a doorknob a twist and pushed it inward.

“We’re taking a few hours downtime.”

He pointed to the open door, clearly expecting her to walk across the threshold. Movement caught her eye and she turned as two men snapped salutes and stood at attention.

“Your doormen. Behave yourself.”

The pair of soldiers considered her. Her attention shifted to the guns holstered on their hips and the high-power rifles slung over their shoulders. They carried the deadly firepower with a normalcy that was eerie. At least it was for her civilian eyes.

The major cleared his voice. “I hope they meet with your approval. In.”

She stepped forward because there didn’t seem like any other option. Frustration kept her teeth clenched. Her captor reached in and punched a light switch. He caught the doorknob and pulled the door closed leaving her inside.

Turning around, Jo surveyed her cell. It was a step up from a prison, but only one. The right side of the room was occupied by a double bed. A chair sat next to it. The lamp was an overhead one. To her left was a doorway without a door. It led to a bathroom that was so small she could touch both walls at the same time by reaching her hands out. A single bar of soap lay on the tile next to the sink along with a plastic disposable cup. Unwilling to relax enough to take her clothes off, she wandered back into the outer room.

Her mind worked at a steady pace, turning the events over and over, but without any new insights. She sat on the bed, her body far from relaxed enough to sleep.

But she needed to.

The first rule of surviving any abduction was to make the most of the resources at hand. Sleep was one of those things that you needed if you were going to be sharp enough to help yourself escape.

She lifted her feet to unlace her boots, then lined them up next to the wall. She settled back onto the bed, closed her eyes and ordered her brain to shut off.

It took a very long time before she slipped into slumber.

Someone laid their fist on the door hard enough to shake it. She jumped, and cussed when her shoulder complained bitterly. Pain ripped through her, kicking every last bit of slumber out of her brain. Taking a harsh breath, she indulged in another few words of profanity as her wound settled into a dull throbbing ache.

The door swung in. “Five minutes, ma’am.”

It couldn’t be much past dawn because there still wasn’t much light. The solider left the door open. Reaching for her boots, she snarled as her arm burned.

The morning was fresh, the horizon scarlet. Normally she would have loved watching the day break, but stepping out onto the tarmac didn’t feel nice today.

The closest helicopters were being checked for preflight. Jo watched as several of the men who had ridden in the Hummers sat in the cockpits of the military craft and made their way through the checklist of safety procedures.

“Load up, Benate. We’ve got some ground to cover.” This time, Goliath’s voice held an edge of personality. Like she’d risen from being a “package” to the exalted station of being a “person” sometime in the last few hours.

“Excuse me?”

Goliath smiled at her. The man lifted his hand and pointed his thumb at one of the waiting aircraft. “Your seat is up front, ma’am.”

“Do I want to know who you are?” It was as much an honest question as a sarcastic reply.

The man let his gaze shift to her shoulder. “You want some pain medication before we lift off?”

“I tend to avoid taking drugs from kidnappers.” Her lips twitched into a wide smile that she completed with a few eyelash flutters. “Just one of those good habits a girl needs to survive in this big old world.”

He angled his head down to glare at her. His lips pressed into a firm line of disapproval. Jo considered his stance. It was perfect, his feet shoulder-width apart. She’d bet his boot tips were lined up within millimeters of each other. His face was set back into an ironclad military mask that didn’t betray a hint of his personal opinion. There was nothing but pure mission objective. “I’ve secured you, ma’am.”

Secured opposed to kidnapped? By whose authority? She had already been in the custody of the marshals office—not many agencies could pull rank over that.

“Secured by whose authority?”

Goliath slowly crossed his arms before replying. His action caused his chest to look even more massive. Somehow she got the impression that he knew exactly what his movement would do. His face never changed, but something flickered across his eyes for a brief moment as he considered her question.

“That’s classified.”

“How convenient,” Jo remarked. Her opponent simply raised an eyebrow in response.

“That’s the way the army likes to operate.” His voice wasn’t as cold or clipped as it had been. Leaving off the ultrapolite “ma’am” somehow changed the tone of the conversation. He was actually talking to her, instead of pushing her through the steps of some plan. She considered his comment. Although brief, to her, hungry for any hint as to what was happening, it was like a piece of meat tossed in front of a starving dog. Grasping that single clue, she frantically began to digest the logic of it.

Just what had she become involved in that would warrant this response? She saw a good number of lawbreakers with Locke. Her gaze slid over the man who had calmly informed her she was in his custody. Goliath knew who was calling the shots, which meant she needed to trip him up if she wanted to uncover it before running into the person behind her current unplanned travel.

“So, you’re just the errand boy? No problem. I get it. You’re like a FedEx guy only wearing a different color shirt.” She hit a soft spot—the giant’s gaze hardened, his body stiffening in reaction as the mark hit home.

“Major Nolan Durant.” Each syllable was delivered with a measure of ice. “You fall under my jurisdiction where we’re headed.”

“And that would be?”

“Classified.”

Of course it was! “We are planning to arrive just about…when?”

Jolene watched as the major’s face became pensive. She had expected him to answer back with another “classified”. The fact he hadn’t left Jolene thinking she was going to be enlightened at some point. Her only question was, did she really want that information? Sometimes it was a whole lot better not knowing stuff. She’d watched enough witnesses get shuffled off to protective custody because knowing too much could get you killed or wishing you were dead as you were locked down tighter than a convicted felon.

“Not bad, Benate. Maybe you do have a right to wear that badge attached to your name after all. But it’s not my place to fill you in. That’s someone else’s job. Sorry, you’re going to have to wait for the information.” Nolan reached into his shirt pocket and pulled a small plastic pouch from it. He sent it sailing across the space between them with a flick of his wrist. “You’ve got exactly five minutes.”

Temptation urged her to chuck the little plastic bag of painkillers to the asphalt out of sheer frustration. Common sense overcame her more immediate impulse. Helicopters tended to vibrate a whole bunch. The only one her shoulder was going to hurt was her. She turned on her heel and, on quick steps fueled by her temper, headed towards the room she’d just left.

“Benate, don’t think my men are too busy to notice where you are. Behave if you don’t want to discover what being shot really means. I need you alive, not necessarily comfortable. My men hit their target every time.”

Jo growled under her breath. “Oh, I bet they do.” She’d be back because there wasn’t a better option. But that didn’t mean she was going to pipe up with a “yes, sir” for the man.

Although making an enemy of him wasn’t the brightest idea she’d ever had either. Jolene grumbled as she pushed the door to the tiny room open. Life certainly stunk today.

Emerging from the bathroom a few minutes later, Jo scanned the area, searching for, well, anything that might be useful. A phone, out of eyesight of Durant, would be a gift from heaven.

Nolan didn’t give her much of a chance to search. The man covered the distance between them, clearly intent on keeping her within reach.

“Let’s go.”

“You’ve got a real talent for short, clipped statements.”

The major didn’t even blink. “Load up. Your seat is up front.”

He pointed towards one helicopter, firm command molding his expression.

Jo started moving towards the aircraft.

Twelve men were waiting for them. They snapped to attention the second they got close and it took less than thirty seconds before the helicopters were loaded and lifting off.

The major’s statement was foremost in Jolene’s thoughts for the majority of the flight. There was little else to occupy herself with, but it was his tone that had snared her attention. Something about his expression warned her she was on a track heading towards disaster.

Despite her troubled thoughts, Jolene found herself enjoying the flight. The aircraft itself was a mean piece of machinery. Major Durant sat beside her, piloting the craft, and it was almost an art form the way he controlled the black beast. Besides, it was a civilian’s dream to catch a ride in an aircraft only the elite of the military ever got to sit in.

Her brain slowly examined each small bit of information she had. She knew very little about the army. Why they had suddenly taken such an interest in her was very perplexing. The only connection was Paul.

A shiver shook her. While memories of her husband kept her company, there was one moment she’d banished from her thoughts. That last image of the man she’d loved was forbidden to cross her mind. It was something no woman in love should ever see, the sight of her partner splattered in his own blood.

She shouldn’t have seen it, but the base they’d lived on was remote and the blast had rattled the windows in her front room. Stepping outside, she’d stared in horror at the black smoke rising from a hangar. Unlike the other civilian wives, she hadn’t been around the military her entire life. She didn’t know or even care about the rules. She’d charged into the hangar and witnessed firsthand the body of her husband being carried away.

That was the one memory that she would not allow in her dreams. By sheer will she refused to think about that moment. Paul might haunt her with passionate kisses but she would not replay his death.

It came to mind now, in spite of her efforts. The only link she had to the military was Paul. She couldn’t help but consider that there might be a connection. Her lips twitched up into a small grin. Locke had trained her well. Looking at details that most people would dismiss as irrelevant was often the key to discovering the truth. There was always a reason. No one did anything without motivation. Somewhere in her past was a clue that would unlock the mystery of her helicopter ride. She just had to be crafty enough to dig it up.

They flew east for the entire day. The only exception was a precise half-hour stop while the aircraft was refueled. Jolene climbed out of her seat, grateful for the chance to stretch her legs. If she hoped for an opportunity to escape her captors, she ended up nursing disappointment. An armed escort followed her every move, even escorted her to the airfield’s restroom and stood just on the other side of the door. It would appear that wherever she was bound for, Nolan intended her to arrive there. That wasn’t any surprise. The man did have the look of one who hit hard and fast. You’d never know what had taken you down until you stared up into his grinning face.