Bound by Danger Read online

  They yanked their blue vests off, and Deidre said to the man that was to stay behind, “You remove your vest, too. Just the sergeant and I’ll go forward.”

  This time when she scooted across the ground only the sergeant accompanied her and bullets fired at random but fell short kicking up the dirt. She and the sergeant rolled into a low ditch.

  “Ma’am, if you’ll crawl into the open, I could try to rush the guy—”

  “He must’ve gotten one of our military rifles and probably didn’t site it properly. But even so, rushing him would be suicide.”

  Crunching footsteps on the soil nearby made Deidre close her eyes. It wasn’t Red. It was someone else, blond, male, wearing BDUs. The nametag said Smith.

  How original.

  They waited until he was only inches from their location, then Deidre jumped from the ditch and swung her rifle at him. The force knocked his rifle from his grip. Before he could recover, she swung her leg and kicked him in the abdomen as hard as she could with the heel of her boot.

  The sergeant scrambled to his feet and grabbed the rifle loaded with live ammo as the killer collapsed to the ground. Their attacker still gasped for air when she kicked him in the side of the face, knocking him out cold.

  She waved behind her and reached for the loaded weapon. “Go get our other men.”

  “Don’t you think I should stay here with him, and you should—”

  “No, I can handle him.”

  The sergeant ran back for the men as Deidre studied the killer. His eyelashes fluttered. Her heart skipped a beat. Before she could step away from his feet, he kicked her with his size-eleven combat boots.

  Deidre fell to the hard-packed soil with an “oof.” She didn’t want to kill the attempted murderer. The agents needed a live one to question.

  He lunged for the rifle. She fired. The slug in his chest didn’t slow him. He shoved the rifle up. She fired again, the bullet propelled heavenward.

  Still holding onto the rifle, he yanked her to her feet. She thrust her left foot between his legs and wrapped it behind his right leg. He shoved the weapon toward her face. She pushed him forward, knocking him off balance as her leg anchored behind his. He fell with a thud, then he pulled a gun from his boot.

  The remaining members of her team pounded the rocky soil behind her as they ran to her aid. It was too late. She fired again. The killer dropped his head and gun to the ground.

  “Damn!” one of the privates said as he kicked the gun away from the killer’s hand. “Something to write home about.”

  The sergeant shook his head. “They told me they were sending a woman to lead our staff section. Figured we’d get captured right away. Never thought we might have really been killed by the enemy.”

  “Well, truly, I’m sorry about all of this. I had no idea the guys behind this were still at it.” She tried to calm her rapid breath.

  The noise of vehicles headed for them made them turn. Three jeeps full of enlisted personnel and one officer bounced over the rough terrain heading straight for them. The vehicles sent the dust flying as they screeched to a halt in front of the dead man.

  The lieutenant jumped from the jeep. “Ma’am, are you all right?”

  She handed the rifle to him. “The safety’s on, but it’s loaded with live ammo.”

  “The general’s on his way.” The lieutenant rubbed his brow. “Division safety officer’s going to have to file a report on the dead soldier.”

  “He’s not one of ours.” Deidre headed back across the valley to the staging area. Her body trembled as adrenaline still pumped through her veins, the recent fight still vivid in her mind.

  “Where are you going, Ma’am?” the lieutenant asked.

  “The FBI will handle this one. I’m going home to take a hot shower.” She pulled off her helmet and poked her finger through the hole. “Don’t even get combat pay for this.”

  “Ma’am, you can’t leave the exercise!” the lieutenant hollered.

  She smiled. She could and she would. “Sorry, lieutenant, I’ve had enough exercise for the day.”

  Several of the men chuckled.

  “But, Ma’am, the general’s coming.”

  “He’ll be in charge then.”

  “Cpt. Henderson from the enemy unit was coming to see you, too.”

  Deidre turned. “What?”

  “The captain had to find someone to run his unit, but he told me to tell you he was on his way here right after that.”

  “Ah, well tell him, I’ll talk to him at the end of the week.” She continued to walk, but turned as footsteps ran toward her. She glanced over her shoulder. “What’s up, Sergeant?”

  “You’re our personnel commander in the field.”

  “I release you from my command.”

  She smiled broadly as the other members of her team ran over the uneven terrain to catch up to her. “Ma’am,” one of the privates she’d sent for help first said, “I’m sorry, I told the lieutenant that you were crazy.”

  She raised her brows. “I wish I had been, truthfully.”

  “Well, he said even if you were crazy, he had to check out the allegations or get his butt in a sling if someone was really firing live rounds, and he did nothing to stop it.”

  “Good notion on his part.”

  “Then the other team members you sent to gather help finally arrived, and they said the guy really was firing live ammo.”

  “What took you all so long then?”

  “You weren’t headed straight for the encampment. We searched for you along that path first, then detoured when we couldn’t find you.”

  “Ah, my orienteering was always a little off. But then I think if I could have stayed on my feet while heading in that direction, my orientation would’ve been more accurate.”

  “Won’t you be in trouble for leaving the training exercise, Ma’am?”

  “Nah. I’m back on special duty with the FBI.”

  “Cool.”

  The dirt stirred up in the distance ahead of them, and Deidre smiled at Dave sitting in the front seat, weapon readied. “The FBI to the rescue.”

  Dave looked furious though. She’d never seen him so angry.

  “No way,” the private said.

  “Yep. Listen, before they whisk me away, I wanted to tell you, you all did a great job. Not a one of us got captured by the enemy, real or otherwise.”

  One of the privates rubbed his chin. “Well, I have to confess, Ma’am, Private Smedley and I got captured when we tried to reach headquarters. They sort of chewed us out for losing our team, and we had a devil of a time explaining about the guy firing the live ammo. All hell broke loose when the enemy drove us into friendly headquarters. I thought there was going to be a real fight until the lieutenant broke us up. The 2nd Armored Division guys really play their roles to the hilt and us 1st Cavalry Division guys won’t be pushed around either.”

  Deidre smiled. “Boys will be boys.” She waved to Dave leaning forward in the jeep, two men carrying rifles with him, and she wondered if their weapons had live rounds or blanks. “Good luck on the exercise.”

  “Best of luck to you, Ma’am,” the sergeant said, then turned the men back toward the headquarters again and they all stalked off.

  “Hey, Dave, good news. I don’t have to play tactical maneuvers the rest of the day.”

  He grabbed her arm and helped her into the jeep. “Return her to her office,” he said to the driver. He turned to Deidre. “Bill and Johnson will be waiting for you there.”

  His was so red-faced with fury, she hoped he wasn’t angry with her. She hadn’t anything to do with it!

  She raised her eyebrows, slightly surprised he wouldn’t accompany her back to the office.

  He let out his breath and watched until the driver took her away.

  ***

  Dave couldn’t have been more incensed. He hadn’t even gotten the damned approval from headquarters when word reached them that some soldier was firing live rounds. And who was lead
ing the party being fired upon? None other than Captain Deidre Roux!

  Hell and damnation. He’d even commandeered the commander’s jeep and driver, threatening the staff with an FBI inquiry into the whole damned mess. He said anything that he could think of, whether any of it was true or not, to get what he needed so he could come to Deidre’s rescue.

  “Who are you?” the lieutenant asked, who was standing over the dead man, rifle in hand as Dave stalked to the scene of the crime.

  “FBI Special Agent Dave Carter.” He flashed a badge. “Tell me what happened.”

  A sergeant began to tell him what had occurred, how Deidre knew before any of them could know that the man was firing live rounds, which was the only reason they were all alive and not shot up none. That chilled Dave’s blood as he recalled the other times she seemed to know things before anyone else did. Had she had a vision then?

  He didn’t believe in them, he told himself again. But hell, what if she could?

  Still, he was certain she would have told him she was going to run into trouble if she’d seen some vision of an upcoming event. She wouldn’t have wanted any of the men with her in the line of fire.

  He waited until the Feds arrived to take the dead man into custody.

  The sergeant said, “She did damned good, for a personnel officer not really trained in warfare.”

  Dave grunted. She’d been fighting these guys for how long now? And she shouldn’t have had to!

  Getting in one of the newly arrived jeeps, Dave ordered the driver to take him back to where he’d left his vehicle. Time to ask Deidre more about how in the hell she had known the man was shooting live rounds before anyone else knew and believed her.

  Now he was certain, she was still on some damned hit list.

  ***

  The specialist driving the jeep that was taking Deidre back to her workplace, shook his head as two sergeants with rifles loaded with live rounds rode shotgun. The driver glanced back at her. “Heard things got a little rough out there.”

  “Just a tad.”

  “The word is you shot the man.”

  “Dead.”

  “They say he’s a hired killer.”

  “Was.”

  “Nobody’s saying what it’s all about.”

  Deidre considered the disk she hadn’t been able to access yet. “Nobody really knows.” Had Johnson fixed her hard drive? She hoped so. And she hoped it would reveal the truth so they could end this.

  When they drove into the parking lot of the G-1, her boss stood in the doorway with his arms folded. No, glad you could make it…sure sorry you were almost killed.

  She saluted him.

  “You have escort duty tomorrow.”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  She was certain Dave would say no to the assignment, but that was one duty she really wanted to perform. She hurried for her office. Johnson and Bill jumped from their seats and herded her right back down the hallway. “Are we going somewhere, fellas?”

  “Home,” Johnson said. “Boss says you’re to stay there the rest of the day.”

  “Did you get my computer fixed?”

  “It’s hooked up in your bedroom. It just needed a new drive.”

  “Thanks a bunch, Johnson. I’ll write you a check when we get home.”

  ***

  Deidre fought the urge to check out the disk when she returned home and showered instead. Refreshed, she retired to her bedroom and shut the door. When she pulled the disk out, a knocking at her door made her turn. “Yes?”

  “I need to speak to you, Deidre.”

  “Dave.” She shoved the disk back under the mattress, and then opened the door for him. “Yes?”

  He walked her back into the living room. “The call I received earlier said there were some discrepancies in the report about the lieutenant and his black marketing weapons.”

  “Oh?” Deidre collapsed on the couch.

  “Nobody can verify any weapons were missing.”

  “A falsified manuscript perhaps?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “And?”

  “That means both you and Charlie are still at risk.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I feel awful about this latest attempt on your life. I should’ve known that something like this could happen.”

  “Yeah, but you tried to stay with me. If they hadn’t stopped you at the beginning of the exercise, you would have been there. Gun firing, putting the bastard out of his misery instead of me.” Deidre ran her hand over the couch. Would Dave be angry with her for concealing the disk? What if there wasn’t anything on it anyway that had to do with a manuscript? She had to see what was on the disk first.

  “The boss is considering moving you again.”

  She shook her head. “I have to escort two civilians at work tomorrow.”

  “Deidre.”

  “You can move me after that. Let me do this, Dave. I promised. Besides I get to wear a skirt tomorrow. I never get to do that.”

  Dave shook his head. “A skirt, eh? You can wear a skirt all the time you’re in a safe house with me. Or a string bikini, or less. Anything or nothing is fine.”

  He was being cute, but she was serious. She patted his hand. “I really want to do this. Then afterward, it’s your call.”

  “I know I shouldn’t let you get away with this.”

  “Can one of the guys get a movie for us to watch?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  When Dave pulled his phone from his belt, Deidre smiled at him, then hurried back to her bedroom and shut the door.

  Dashing over to the computer, she punched the on button. While the computer warmed up, she ran to her bed. There was a tap on her door.

  “Yes?”

  “What kind of a movie?”

  “Anything. Another Jackie Chan.”

  He laughed. “Okay.” To Johnson he said, “Another of Jackie Chan’s movies.” He rapped on the door again.

  She pulled the disk from the mattress and dropped it. “Yes?”

  “What are you fixing us for dinner? I don’t have much in my freezer.”

  “Baked chicken.”

  “Sounds good. What are you doing in there?”

  “Checking my emails.”

  “Oh. Need some company?”

  “Be out in a second to fix the food.”

  “All right.”

  Deidre shoved the disk in. She clicked on the drive. The disk was empty. She took a deep breath. “Okay, only junk mail.” She shut down her computer. Was the disk a red herring? To throw off the FBI if they happened to get hold of it? Opening her door, she smiled to see Dave leaning against it. He smiled slightly and stood a little straighter. She poked her finger into an empty button hole and gave a small tug. “Need something, cowboy?”

  He leaned her against the wall, his large hands caressing her shoulders. “Hell yeah. After what happened out there today, I think I lost at least ten years. It’ll take a lot of snuggling tonight to make me feel better.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Certainly. Before Johnson gets here with the movie, we could cuddle for a little while.”

  The front door creaked open, and Bill walked into the apartment. “Hey, Boss, what’s for supper?”

  Dave groaned.

  Deidre wrapped her arm around Dave’s and walked into the kitchen. “Baked chicken, Bill. We’ll get right on it.”

  ***

  When they finished dinner and the guys headed to Dave’s place, others having been called on to do perimeter watch, Dave and Deidre cuddled on the couch. She was sitting between his legs, and he had his arms wrapped around her tight, not wanting to ever let her go.

  They hadn’t even gotten to the credits when he asked the question he couldn’t let go of. “How did you know the guy was firing live rounds, Deidre? Before anyone else did? Before anyone believed you?”

  She watched the movie as it began, not saying anything, taking a deep breath and exhaling it as if she was having to do
something odious, like explain something she really didn’t want to have to talk about.

  “I...told you already, Dave. I have future visions.”

  “Tell me about it. Exactly what happened.”

  She explained how she had the vision and knew the man was a killer, not a soldier. Then he asked about all the other incidents—the swimming pool, the car accident, the dance club parking lot, the washed out bridge, and more. She explained how she’d seen everything beforehand, baffling him. He just couldn’t get a handle on the notion.

  But if she had this early warning system in her head, that could be a good thing. Except from the sounds of it, it wasn’t always timely as far as warning her enough ahead of time for him or his team to prepare for it.

  “But sometimes, you get an earlier warning about someone, just something more vague. Do you have any about the men who wish you harm?”

  “The redheaded guy.”

  “Hell.”

  “I don’t know where. A restaurant, I think.”

  “Okay. We’re not eating out.”

  “Suits me fine. Although I’d love to nail this bastard and not worry about him ever again.”

  They lapsed into silence as they watched the comedy movie, hoping she could relax and get her mind off the horror of today.

  Halfway through the movie, Deidre ran her fingers over Dave’s hand, and he tightened his hold on her as his arms wrapped around her body. Her touch was sending him over the edge. Every fiber of his body yearned to take her into the bedroom where he could enjoy her fully again.

  Still, though the case hadn’t been resolved, he had to make some headway with her about his marriage intentions toward her. Kissing the top of her head, he said, “You know, you have to marry me, Deidre.”

  She chuckled, her gaze still focused on the movie. “You know what I want, Dave.”

  “Yeah, me. And you can have every bit of me, anytime.”

  “I thought you said once that you weren’t an easy catch.”

  His fingers tickled her waist in retaliation. She giggled uncontrollably until she wrested his fingers away from her stomach.

  “You know you can’t live without me.”

  “There’s Josh.”

  He tickled her again and she twisted around until she was on top of him. She pinned his wrists against the couch as she straddled him. He grinned. “Hmm, this is nice.”