Chapter Seventy

The night advanced slowly. Rory had gone to sleep in his own bunk bed, but somewhere along the way Nina had managed to join him under the blankets without him noticing. Still, she had been the cause of his awakening, because her proximity had sent his subconscious into a fever pitch of erotic dreams. He wouldn’t have let her have her way if she’d been awake, but asleep…what was the harm? Other than to his constant arousal.

Doing the right thing sucked royally.

In his arms, Nina slept the sleep of the innocent. There was a content look about her as she sprawled half on top of him. Her leg was hooked over his, and her fingers were tangled in the hair at his nape.

He stroked a soft curl from her cheek. Despite everything, her nearness, his arousal, he felt strangely invigorated. The mix of feelings made it impossible for him to sleep and had him staring at the ceiling instead.

A storm raged outside, sweeping trees back and forth against the walls of the bunkhouse. Leaves scattered on fierce gusts of wind, slamming into the high windows overhead, making them rattle in their frames.

Tension crackled in the air. And it didn’t have anything to do with the storm. It was something else…an ominous feeling of disquiet that started somewhere in his gut and spread through his entire body.

A shuffle of heavy boots outside brought him to alert. Carefully, he extricated himself from the tangle of limbs and got up. Gun in hand, he padded across the floor, his bare feet soundless. In comparison, the short rapping on the door seemed extremely loud. A quick look through the side window showed a unit of marines in full gear. They had taken up position in front of the bunkhouse, weapons up and ready.

Rory recognized the man in charge as Jack Simms. He was one of the marines Joey had befriended. Lowering his weapon but not his guard, Rory opened the door.

“Sir,” Simms said by way of greeting, “Colonel Johnson sent us as a precaution. There’s been a breach in the perimeter. Communication lines are out, as is the main power. The facility is running on generators now. We are to guard you until further notice.”

“What’s up?” Nina’s voice asked from behind.

Rory looked back. She’d been sleeping in a knee-length shirt that at least covered the essentials. Eyeballing the assembly of six men at their door, she buttoned it up modestly. Speculative didn’t quite describe her expression, but from her body language, he was pretty sure he was dealing with Lena.

“Perimeter breach, ma’am.” Jack was all business, the informality of lunch’s banter in the mess hall gone without a trace. “Better get dressed. The colonel wants you both at headquarters until we figure out what’s going on.”

Instant excitement flashed in her eyes before she spun to grab her clothes and headed for the bathroom. “Finally, some action.”

Rory and Jack exchanged a look. “Don’t ask,” Rory warned at the other man’s surprised expression. With a sigh, he turned to pull on his jeans.

Ten minutes later, they entered Colonel Johnson’s office and found him facing down a young woman in civilian clothes.

“Ah, there you are, O’Donnell. My men just caught this trespasser sneaking around my base.”

“I keep telling you,” the woman said in exasperation. “I wasn’t sneaking around. I was—”

The colonel cut through her explanation without raising his voice, “She claims to be a freelance reporter from New York. Sergeant Hoffman is checking out her credentials as we speak.”

The reporter had dark, shoulder-length hair highlighted with blond streaks that denied the Latina roots evident in her face. She wore khaki slacks, a black T-shirt, and a fisherman’s jacket over her slender body. A state-of-the-art camera with a night scope lens lay on the colonel’s desk.

Rory took it all in with a single glance. His eyes locked with the rebellious brown-green ones of their uninvited visitor.

“My name is Christina del Valle. You must be Rory O’Donnell. That her?”

“That her, what?” he asked, frowning. For some reason del Valle looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. There had been plenty of reporters back when ATDF was exposed. Had they met then?

Her attention was fully on a bored-looking Lena. “One of them—the former child-soldiers?” the reporter specified.

Either she was a really good reporter who’d, by some stroke of luck, managed to track them down, or she was something else entirely.

“What makes you think that?” he asked blandly.

“My source tells me you found one of ATDF’s missing agents. What’s your name?” The question was fired at Lena. Del Valle’s searching eyes spoke of determination and, if he wasn’t mistaken, a hint of desperation.

But that didn’t make sense. What was wrong with this picture?

Lena propped her hip against the desk and raised a brow. “Lena Alvarez. What’s it to you?” She measured the other woman up with rude accuracy and, if her expression was anything to go by, wasn’t impressed with what she saw.

“Right. I’m Chris. So, Lena—”

“You can call me Ms. Alvarez, Duvall,” Lena cut in belligerently.

“It’s del Valle,” the reporter corrected. “But you can call me Chris.”

Although she hid it well, Rory thought he detected an underlying nervousness he doubted had anything to do with the fact that she’d been caught trespassing. Was she just anxious to get the scoop, or…? There were too many what-ifs for comfort.

Whatever her motivation, she did have the air of a journalist about her. She was acting like a bloodhound on a fresh scent.

“Whatever.” Lena yawned. “This is boring, O’Donnell. I’m going back to bed.”

The colonel held up a hand. “Better stick around, Ms. Alvarez.” Johnson didn’t sound happy.

She paused on her way to the door. “Why?”

“Because Ms. del Valle told me she found the fences cut. With a hole big enough to let through an army—her words.”

That caught Rory’s full attention. “Any sign of other intruders?” he demanded.

“I sent men out to confirm the breach and search for others.”

If Creed had managed to find them again and was indeed working for Rising Sun, he’d have virtually limitless resources. But could he truly be insane enough to attack a guarded military facility?

“Corporal Simms said something about the power being out?” Rory said.

“As of midnight. We thought it was because of the storm, but obviously it wasn’t. To be on the safe side, we’ve contacted the Little Rock AFB to send a transport for you. The storm won’t make it easy, but a chopper should be here within the hour.”

Rory nodded. He would feel a lot better getting Nina far away from this potentially volatile situation.

Suddenly, from behind them came the sound of a weapon being cocked, and a startled gasp from Chris del Valle.