thought quickly on her feet.
“Give a guy a warning next time,” he said, his voice hoarse from the coughing.
“Sorry.” She giggled and took another bite of her meal. Shortly after that, they left their empty plates and drifted out into the night.
“It is simply breathtaking here,” she said. She sat down on the edge of the pool and dangled her feet in the water. Jammer settled behind her and did the same.
He wrapped his arms around her, and she sighed wistfully. “Have you thought about what you will do after this deal with Fuentes is done?”
“Do more deals,” he lied.
“Why? I mean, you must have amassed a fortune, and arms dealing is such a risky and dangerous profession. It would be smart to get out. I can tell how much you love this place. Why not make wine?”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. The fact that she was so intuitive about him made him both happy and sad. He wasn’t going to be able to stay here once Fuentes was arrested.
He kissed the nape of her neck. She sighed and leaned her head back, resting it on his shoulder.
It gave him better access to her throat. He slid his lips along the column and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. She shivered in his arms and twisted her head, presenting her mouth to him for a kiss.
“Hey, you two lovebirds. We’ve got work to do.”
A heavy bag dropped on the pool deck. Callie and Jammer turned to find Drew Miller and three other men standing behind them-one Asian, one blond and a man with dark hair drawn into a ponytail.
Callie got up and rounded on the newcomers. “Drew! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?”
Miller glanced at Callie for only a brief moment. Without broadcasting his intentions, he walked up to Jammer and socked him in the jaw. Coldcocked, Jammer took the blow that drove him back and into the pool.
When he surfaced, he could hear Callie cursing the man out, but Jammer calmly walked up the stairs and faced Miller.
“Jammer-” she said, glaring at Drew.
Jammer held up his hand. “No, I deserved that.”
“You’re a slick bastard, Jammer. I’ll give you that. But I owed that to you for Tina,” Drew said, his eyes narrow and filled with vindication.
“I get it.”
Drew did quick introductions. “This is Kyoto, Michaels and Frost. Well, let’s get going. We only have a few hours to get this show on the road. Midnight is the bewitching hour, my friends,” Drew said, picking up the black bag and looking at Callie. “The gear you wanted is in here.”
They went into the kitchen and cleared off the table. Drew pulled out the map of the base.
“The front part of the facility is heavily guarded, but the approach to the airstrip isn’t as bad and the guard rotation changes at twelve midnight. It’s the best time to infiltrate the base and hijack the airplanes. Do you need me to fly shotgun, Gina?”
“Yes,” she said. “The rest of you hightail it out of there once we rev up those engines.”
The three men nodded.
Just then the doorbell rang and four more steely eyed men dressed in black entered Jammer’s residence- courtesy of Director Stanford.
Jammer made the introductions and said, “Gear up. Let’s take our merchandise back.”
CALLIE SAT NEXT TO JAMMER in the black SUV as they rode to the water, where they would switch to boats. She already had her scuba gear on. She’d memorized the map and was thankful that Gillian had pinpointed exactly what hangars the planes were in, as well as the type of plane.
Callie could fly just about anything, but it was nice to know in advance what she was up against.
She glanced over at Drew, who was driving. He was an extremely capable agent, but a bit of a rogue. When he had hit Jammer, she thought she was going to faint. But Jammer had taken it, and he had the bruise darkening his jaw to show for it.
She was being a fool. She
She dropped her hand and tensed as they approached the area. It didn’t take long to inflate the boats and speed to the point where they had to go into the water.
They swam around all the obstacles until they were able to make landfall. Once they hit the beach, all scuba gear was discarded and one of the men bundled it up and swam back out.
Drew automatically took point, heading for the hangars dead ahead. He whispered, “Watch out for guards. They should be thin, but it’s best not to take any chances.” With hand gestures, he made his intent well known: move forward.
They stayed low, and Callie was happy to see that clouds had obscured the moon as they made their way up to the gargantuan hangars. Frost did his magic to disable security, and they all ducked in.
The cargo planes were sitting side by side in the hangar. Callie started to move toward one, but Jammer grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He kissed her soundly and then let her go.
“Be careful.”
“I will. You, too.”
“I’ll see you both in Colombia.”
Drew nodded and whispered to Kyoto, “Find the controls and get those doors open as fast as you can. Let’s get these birds ready for takeoff.”
Jammer jerked his head at one of his men and Callie watched as they disappeared into one of the planes. Callie and Drew entered the other.
Settling herself in the pilot’s seat, she went through a preflight check very quickly. Just as they started the engines, the doors to the hangar opened.
“Here we go,” Drew said softly.
As soon as the engine was ready, Callie eased the plane out of the hangar and wasted no time pointing its nose toward the runway, her mind on takeoff.
Just then alarms sounded, and men came running. She saw Kyoto, Frost and Michaels put their hands up.
“They’re great at playacting, aren’t they?” Drew said as they gunned the engine and took off into the sky.
She could only hope that Jammer was close behind her. It wasn’t long before his voice came over the radio and she knew they were free and clear.
“This was all a ruse to fool Jammer?” asked Callie, making sure their radios were off so Jammer couldn’t hear the conversation.
“Yeah, the base commander took care of the details and our guys were released as soon as the planes were safely in the air.”
“Wow, that took some pull.”
“Gillian has it, my friend. She went straight to the president.”
“All I care about is that these weapons will soon be in Colombia and this deal with Fuentes will happen. We can move in on the Ghost once the DEA gets the leaders of the Libertad.”
“Yeah, Gillian wants me to rendezvous with the head DEA agent in Colombia once we get there. Will you be all right alone with this guy, Callie?”
“I can handle the Ghost,” Callie said, trying to keep her tone neutral.
“Yeah. Isn’t that a kick in the pants? He was right under our noses the whole time.”
“You have to admire that, though. He hid in plain sight.”
“Didn’t say I didn’t admire it, but how are
So much for neutral. She sighed. “As best I can. I won’t lie to you, Drew. He’s a lot different from the man I thought he was.”
“That’s the trouble with working undercover. Nothing’s black and white. I’ve liked quite a few guys I’ve had to take down. Didn’t make it easier, but I didn’t hesitate,” Drew said.
“I won’t, either. I promise.”
