CHAPTER THREE

Overnight surveillance—done remotely via cameras and sensors Carter and the guys had placed around Hannah’s property—showed no activity, so Captain Haliwell gave the go ahead for the mission the next day. Carter was thrilled, though he did his best to contain his enthusiasm as he loaded up with the other guys on the boat that would take them to a private dock near Hannah’s hometown that had been secured for their use.

They had several landing options all along the coast of Long Island, which allowed them to cross over from the tiny island on which they were stationed to just about any area of the much bigger island off the coast of New York, at almost any time. They had water supremacy in the area due to all sorts of sensors placed on buoys surrounding the island. They also had nature itself, helping out, in the form of dolphins.

They really were highly intelligent creatures. Some of the guys in the unit could sort of speak to higher-level animals now, but only Carter could truly understand their language. On the rare occasions he’d been around dolphins who were making vocalizations, his new ability to understand every language ever spoken had kicked in, somehow, to let him understand what the dolphins were saying to each other.

It had freaked him out. He’d tried it since with other animals, but most didn’t have the higher brain functions that allowed for true language. He was able to get single words from time to time, but not complex sentences. The guys had teased him, calling him Doctor Doolittle for a while, but thankfully, they’d dropped that particular nickname when his ability didn’t really produce results with other animals.

He was a linguist. He understood languages. If the beings didn’t have a true language, his new skills weren’t really activated. That’s the conclusion he’d come to with the help of the specialists that had been flown in to evaluate the entire unit.

Most of the keepers were gone, for now, off to report directly to brass in Washington about the strange happenings with their unit. It was just as well. Everyone was sick of being monitored and tested. They seemed to have leveled off, for the time being, and they were slowly gaining mastery over their new abilities.

Carter was glad to have time out from under the microscope. He and the other guys were getting antsy, being stuck on the island, and a little time off gave them opportunity to do things for themselves. His mission to help Hannah was one of those things Carter had pushed for the group to take on ever since their paths had crossed during the mall shooting.

Luckily, Jeeves and his new lady, Rose, were in agreement. They’d met Hannah first, when they’d taken cover behind her kiosk, with her, during the shooting incident. When they’d made a run for it, Hannah’d had to stay behind because of her bum foot, and that was when Carter had been detailed to keep an eye on her. He’d already been shot, so staying behind made sense, but the moment he met Hannah, he’d felt an attraction that only deepened the more he was around her.

Carter was driving Rick in one vehicle. Jeeves was driving the car behind them with Jake. They were just about to pull up to Hannah’s house when Jeeves pulled over unexpectedly. Carter saw it in his rearview mirror, so he pulled over, as well.

“What’s up?” Rick asked, looking behind them.

“Jeeves stopped,” Carter said, watching the other vehicle in his mirrors.

“Guys? Jeeves is doing his trance thing,” came Jake’s voice over the tactical radios they all had in their ears. “Stand by.”

Carter waited impatiently to hear what the newly-clairvoyant member of their unit might have to say. When Jeeves finally spoke over the radio, the news wasn’t exactly what Carter wanted to hear.

“Hannah’s place is bugged,” Jeeves said quietly. “Inside. Cameras and audio. She doesn’t know. Someone put her under high surveillance a short while ago. Probably right after the mall incident,” Jeeves reported. “And there’s one troubling image I saw of Hannah installing at least one of the cameras herself.”

“Damn,” Jake said, accompanying his thoughts with a low whistle over the radio.

“We can’t go in,” Rick said unnecessarily.

“And we should probably remove our cameras and sensors from the yard before anyone else notices them,” Jeeves put in.

Carter saw the wisdom in the suggestion, but he just couldn’t get over the idea that Hannah had put up cameras in her own house to catch him out. There had to be some other explanation.

“This is your op, Carter,” Rick reminded him.

Rick was an officer, but Carter knew they were all off the clock, doing this on their own time. He wasn’t going to pull rank because he knew this mission was important to Carter, personally.

“I think we’d better get to the bottom of this. Either there’s some innocent explanation for your vision of her bugging her own home, Jeeves, or she’s on the wrong side of all this. Either way, we need to know. If she’s innocent, we need to protect her. If not…” it pained Carter to say it, “…we might be able to use her to get to the enemy.”

“Call her,” Jeeves advised quietly. “Tell her to come out of the house. That you’re taking her to the doctor.”

“That could work,” Carter agreed. “But where do we take her?”

“Back to base,” Rick said. “We don’t really have any other choice.”

“Hal’s not going to like it,” Carter mused, but knew he had few options. “Okay. Rick, get in the chase car. Maybe you could draw straws and the loser calls the captain to give him a heads up? I’ll call Hannah while you’re repositioning.”

Rick got out of Carter’s vehicle and jogged back to get in with Jeeves and Jake while Carter dialed Hannah’s number. She picked up on the third ring.

“My doctor friend has an opening this morning. Do you still want to see him?” Carter asked after they’d exchanged greetings.

“Sure, I guess so,” Hannah replied, not sounding entirely enthusiastic. “What time?”

“I can pick you up in about fifteen minutes, if that’s not too soon for you, and take you there,” Carter offered.

“Um. Okay. I guess that could work. Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit.”

She didn’t sound like a traitor, Carter mused to himself as he ended the call after saying goodbye. There had to be an innocent reason for her to put surveillance in her own house. Maybe she was putting in a security system or something. But most people aimed the cameras around the property, not in the actual house. There had to be more to what Jeeves had seen. Had to.

 

Hannah was excited to see Carter again. She knew she should curb her enthusiasm. Nothing would probably ever come of anything between them. She had little doubt that he was on a very different life path than she was. Her injury had sort of stopped her in her tracks, and she didn’t know how things were going to work out with that, much less how it might impact any romantic liaisons.

When her doorbell rang, she was ready. She made her way to the door on her crutches and opened it to find him on the other side.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked after exchanging greetings.

“All set,” she told him. She locked the front door behind herself and followed him down the front walk to his car.

It was a different vehicle today from the staid sedan he’d driven yesterday. This was a four-wheel-drive utility vehicle, similar to ones she’d driven in the Army. It was higher off the ground than a regular car, which made it a little easier to get her bad leg inside, though she needed a bit of help getting up high enough to get her butt on the seat. Carter was courteous, helping her into the vehicle and putting her crutches in the back. He also made sure she was buckled into her seatbelt before he started the car.

“Nice Jeep,” she said, meaning it. The dark green vehicle was a civilian model, but it wasn’t all that much different from the military version she had gotten used to overseas.

“Thanks,” Carter replied easily, pulling into traffic. “I thought it would be a little easier on your foot.” That was so thoughtful of him. She was really touched. “It also has some other great features, as you probably know. This one has a permit to drive on certain beaches.”

“It’s a dune buggy?” She knew some people got bigger tires and special permits to be able to off-road their vehicles on certain beaches where such activities were allowed. She’d just never seen one up close.

“Somewhat,” Carter admitted. “It’s got the larger all-terrain tires and some suspension modifications. It’s a lot of fun on the sand.”

“I’ll bet.” She had enjoyed driving the Army vehicles over rough terrain overseas. It was a powerful feeling to know you could drive over most things that would give a regular car pause. “I can hear the hum of the tires on the concrete,” she observed as they rolled down one of the North-South highways, heading toward the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Yeah, they have big treads,” he told her conversationally. “The noise is a trade-off for the utility, but it’s not too bad, right?”

“No, not bad,” she agreed, though the faster he went, the louder it became inside the cab of the vehicle. She let the conversation die down as he concentrated on driving and that humming sound filled of the passenger cabin.

When he didn’t take any of the exits, but kept heading south, she started taking note of where they were. They were getting awfully close to the shore, and traffic on the highway was down to just two lanes.

“Where are we going?” She realized she should have asked that question before ever leaving her home, but it was too late now.

Panic wanted to rise, but she tamped it down. Panic wouldn’t help her in this situation. If Carter was intent on kidnapping her or accosting her in some way, she wasn’t really in a position to oppose him. He was too big and strong, with undoubtedly lethal skills. She might’ve at least fought back before her injury, but as things were, she didn’t really stand much of a chance against him.

Carter looked at her, his expression pained. “I really am taking you to see my friend, the doctor, but we’re going to have to do it a little…unconventionally.”

“Why?” she demanded. At least he wasn’t looking at her as if she was his next meal. That had to count for something, right?

“Because your house was bugged,” he said, flat out, sounding angry. As if he had a right to be upset about the fact that she had a security system in her home. “I was going to bring him to you, but not with cameras all over the place.”

“First of all…” She tried really hard to keep her calm and put her thoughts in order. “There are only three security cameras inside the house on my new system. I installed them myself. There’s one in the living room, pointed toward the front door. One by the back door, and one in the basement.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Second, how the hell do you even know about them?” She glared at him. Better to be righteously angry than scared, she figured.

“I know because it’s my business to know these things and not bring my friends into danger,” he replied, as if that was any kind of real answer. She puffed out her breath and rolled her eyes at him. “And there are way more than three cameras inside your home. There are audio pickups, too.”

“I repeat: How the hell do you know that? And are you serious? I only put up the three measly cameras that came with the alarm system. There were no audio pickups. Nothing else besides the sensors for the doors and windows and a motion sensor I had Lulu put in the upstairs hall for me. She also put the camera in the basement, since I can’t really do stairs right now.”

He kept driving steadily, taking them all the way to the end of the highway and off onto side roads. He pulled into one of the many beach entrances—this one looking private, rather than public. He didn’t stop in the lot but went right onto the sand, shifting the vehicle easily into four-wheel drive.

Sand flew, and she reached for the handhold above her door while the vehicle rocked on its off-road suspension. She could see the water now, and he was heading straight for it. Was he going to stop? Or turn? Or something!

Then, she saw it.

“You’re kidding, right?” She blinked, but it was still there. Off to the right was a military landing craft, sitting, waiting, with its ramp down.

“Hold on.” He turned the vehicle and lined up with the ramp, taking it at a higher speed than she thought safe.

He bounced off the sand and onto the treads of the ramp, then onto the wide deck of the landing craft. Holy crap. She’d been abducted by the military. No way did civilians have these kinds of craft. This was a military op, and somehow, she was right in the middle of it. Again. Like she had been in the mall.

Or, perhaps, this was all because of the mall incident. Yeah, that made more sense. She’d seen through the men in civilian clothing for what they really were, and though she’d agreed not to say anything about them, somehow, she was still under surveillance by them. Much closer surveillance than she’d thought possible, considering they seemed to know the contents of her house. She didn’t see how they’d know about her cameras—and the alleged others—unless they’d had someone actually break into her home and take a look around.

Damn.

This was just getting too complicated for her. She was only a sergeant. A run-of-the-mill infantryman. She didn’t mix with Green Berets. She’d never, in her life, been on an assault craft like this one, but she recognized it, even as men appeared on deck and secured the ramp in its upright position. Someone in the wheelhouse got the thing moving, and before she knew it, they were underway, heading out into the Atlantic.

 

“Where are you taking me?” She turned an accusatory gaze on Carter. He didn’t like that look, but he supposed he deserved it.

“Just getting you away from any possible surveillance for a little chat.” Carter tried to sound nonchalant. Friendly, even.

“This is all because I recognized what you were at the mall?” she asked.

“That and the surveillance in your home. We need to nail down which side you’re on.”

“Which side I’m on?” Outrage filled her tone, and she looked ready to spit nails as she turned her head to stare out the window, silently fuming.

Carter found it almost amusing, though he would never let her know. The more he was around Hannah, the more he felt in his bones that she was on the right side of things. There was no way she was working with the enemy. No. Way.

He’d stake his life on it.

But… He wouldn’t risk Rick or any of the other guys on his own gut feelings. In order to get her the help she needed for her foot, she needed to prove herself trustworthy to the rest of the unit. Only then, would she be brought into the circle. There was really no other way to have Rick do his thing without bringing her into their confidence—at least a little.

Carter still wasn’t sure how they were going to pass off Rick’s abilities. They’d discussed strategy on that, but Rick wouldn’t know for certain how to proceed until he examined her in person. The current hope was that she could see him a few times over a period of weeks, and he could zap her with his healing vibes—or whatever it was—a little bit at a time, over a longer period, so the healing wouldn’t seem quite so miraculous. Rick had never really done that before, but he thought it might be possible. Again, he’d made no promises until after he had a chance to examine Hannah’s foot in person.

“I am not a traitor,” Hannah said in a low, almost deadly voice.

Carter looked over to meet her gaze. Indignant fire burned in her eyes.

“I’m inclined to believe you,” he told her honestly. “But I hope you’ll understand that the other guys, who haven’t interacted with you, have their doubts. I can’t put any member of my unit at risk, even if I, personally, think you’re on the level.”

“Small comfort after you’ve already abducted me and are taking me God knows where.” She harrumphed and looked away again.

“We’re going to an island just off the coast of Long Island. Not too far away, actually. I can have you back home in time for dinner, if things work out,” he told her.

“If your friends decide I’m not working for the enemy, you mean.” Yeah, she was pissed. Her words were sharply cut off, as if with a knife.

“Yeah, that. And if Rick gives you the all clear on your foot.”

“Rick is the doctor you mentioned?” She seemed interested, despite her anger.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And he’s a member of your unit?” She scowled. “What can a Special Forces medic do for my foot that a specialist can’t?”

“Rick’s an M.D., not a medic, though he serves that purpose when we’re in the field,” Carter admitted.

“What kind of Special Forces unit has its own doctor?” She turned to look at him again, the anger in her expression tinged with curiosity.

“We’re a very specialized unit,” Carter replied, unable to hide his grin.

“A linguist, I sort of understand,” she told him. “But a doctor?” She shook her head. “I don’t really get that at all. Doctors aren’t special operators. They stay behind the lines, out of combat, if at all possible.”

“Not this one,” Carter said, cocking his head to the side. “Our unit is a bit different from most others. We’re all specialists of one kind or another. We were brought together because of our unique abilities, and they’ve only sharpened since the formation of our unit. We go in to both fight and investigate. To get to the bottom of what’s going on in a particular area, using all our skills.” He couldn’t say much more than that without saying too much, so he left it there.

The landing craft was well on its way to the island on which there was a highly classified military base. Bringing Hannah there was a concession. They needed to ask her questions, but none of his unit was really safe off-base at the moment. They were being hunted, and though it wasn’t ideal to bring more people to the secure facility, they’d made an exception for Hannah.

She’d already seen them in action once, though she hadn’t seen much, really. Just a bunch of big guys escorting a woman out of the mall under fire. They hadn’t showcased any of their unique abilities, but her military experience had led her to draw her own conclusions—correct conclusions—about what kind of unit they were. Though, there was no way for her to know exactly how special they were. Not yet. Probably, not ever.