Mercenary Trilogy - Willing Part 26

They returned the next morning after breakfast.

Tyler made coffee and served it on the brick patio, having pulled some chairs out of the storage area attached to the back of the house.

"I noticed you didn't stay here while I was gone," he said as he took his seat next to Josie. "I wouldn't have minded."

Josie smiled, looking so sweet Daniel wanted to lick her lips like a lollipop. "We knew that, but we thought staying at a hotel would be better."

"The bed was more comfortable. She'd have had to sleep on top of me in yours," Daniel added, winking at Josie and enjoying the way she choked on her coffee.

She was d.a.m.n cute when she got embarra.s.sed.

"You've staked a claim on my daughter."

"Yes, sir, I have."

The look Josie gave him was enigmatic, and Daniel wished he knew what she was thinking. She'd said she loved him and given him one of the most amazing experiences of his life, but he didn't know how she felt about the fact he hadn't repeated the words. He couldn't.

He didn't equate the way he felt about her with the way his mother had been devoted to his father in the face of her own compromised safety. He sure as h.e.l.l didn't see what his father called love as having anything to do with the way Daniel reacted to Josie. He wasn't sure what he did feel about her, except that he had no intention of letting her go.

"So what are your plans for taking the target?" Josie asked in the silence that had stretched after his declaration of intent.

Tyler looked from Daniel to his daughter as if he was trying to gauge what was going on between them. Daniel wished him luck.

With a small frown, the older man shrugged and focused on Josie. "I figured a small force of four to six soldiers would have the best chance of pulling it off. We go in at night when they've got two sentries patrolling the perimeter. The soldiers guarding the compound are pretty much weekend warriors, despite what they might think-even the four that have been through my training camps. They rely heavily on their not-so-incredible security system."

"So, we disarm the system, neutralize the sentries and follow through on our objective uninterrupted? It sounds too easy." And Daniel didn't trust easy on a mission.

"It shouldn't be, but sons of b.i.t.c.hes stupid enough to think they can use my training camp to develop domestic terrorism techniques are stupid enough to be brought down without a five-star effort."

Maybe his business partner was right, but Daniel planned to call Wolf and Hotwire in to be two on the team. He wanted the best with him because he knew Josie was going to insist on coming along, and he wasn't going to let her get hurt if he had to stop a bullet with his body.

She was the other half of his soul, and somehow he was going to have to come to terms with that truth, whatever it meant.

"I'm not sure about your plan to disarm them." Josie wrinkled her nose as if she'd smelled something bad. "That doesn't seem like a simple objective with an organization like this one."

"The armory is kept in an underground storage facility. We weld the doors shut, and it will be days before they can get the supplies in necessary to cut through the two-inch-thick metal. They're a real live-off-the-land type of group, and their transportation in and out of the compound is pretty rudimentary. "

"But what about their personal weapons?"Tyler grimaced. "That's going to take more doing. Everyone in the compound is armed, but they store their weapons in communal rooms when they aren't using them, and as far as I can tell, only the sentriestake firearms with them at night. We have to infiltrate the rooms and take out the arms.""The easiest thing to do would be to put them in the armory before we weld it shut," Josie said musingly as Daniel became more convinced this was one mission she should not go on.Tyler nodded. "I think so, too."But Daniel shook his head. "No way.""Why not?" Josie asked."We're good, but no matter how good we are, with the kind of invasive mission objectives your father has outlined, someone is going to wake up and raise the alarm."

"Not if we put a sleeping agent in their evening meal. They all eat from the same supplies. All we have todo is mix it in with the flour the women use to make the bread they serve every night.""Too risky.""I got in before; I can do it again.""There's no way to regulate how much of the agent they ingest. Enough to knock out an adult could kill a child." And Daniel wasn't willing to take that chance."What do you suggest?" Tyler asked."Change our objectives.""To what?""The four men who went through your training school are probably the same ones who set the bombs on the mountain. I a.s.sume you noted their sleeping quarters. We take them prisoner and deliver them to the FBI, along with copies of the extremists' files. Welding the armory doors shut is doable, but one level of risk higher than I think we should take."

"With the four soldiers gone, won't the others run?" Josie asked.

"Possibly, but with the evidence we'll provide them, the FBI can put a hold on their funds and confiscatethe property housing the compound under the Terrorist Act.""And unlike big-name terrorists, these men don't have a whole lot of financial resources at their disposal, " Tyler mused. "The feds will get them eventually. From what my investigator can tell, their alternative

ident.i.ties are pretty thin. Even the suits in Washington should be able to see through them."

Josie nodded, her expression saying she had a lot more confidence in the authorities than her dad did. "

And if they don't run, with the inside information you've acc.u.mulated, the FBI should be able to infiltrate

the camp without allowing a hostage situation to develop with the terrorists' families."

"I don't suppose there's any way I can talk you out of being on the team that goes in to take down the extremists?"Josie looked critically at the paint job she was giving her toenails. She'd never done this before, but itwasn't all that hard. Not for a woman who had been trained to hit a target before she'd learned how toride a bike.

The pink nail polish she'd picked up at one of the airport stores while they were waiting for her dadglistened with a pearly shine. She wiggled her toes. Nice. Very feminine.She raised her gaze to Daniel. "Why would you want to?""I don't want you hurt."

"I'm a soldier. This is what I do.""No, you aren't. You're building a different life for yourself. Maybe you should consider giving that life achance before taking on a mission like this."

"There isn't going to be another mission like this."His expression said that wasn't a bad thing.She went back to painting her toenails, giving them a second coat. "Wow, the color really changes when you add another coat.""Haven't you worn nail polish before?""No. There's tons of stuff I haven't done.""Like what?""I'd never been in a girls' locker room until I joined a health club near my house.""Did you join so you could go in one?"She finished her right foot and switched to her left. "Yeah. It probably sounds crazy to you, but there are so many normal life experiences I want to try."

"You can't exactly do stuff like go to dances, pa.s.s notes with your friends and have a crush on the mostpopular boy in school now.""I didn't go to school at all. The one time I tried in junior high, I felt so out of place I never wanted to go back. I like college, though. Claire and I have even pa.s.sed notes." Having finished her toenails, she closed the bottle of nail polish and put it on the nightstand beside the bed. "I wonder how long these will take to dry."

"What does the bottle say?""It doesn't. I guess they figure women don't need directions for this sort of thing."He came around the bed and sat down beside her, laying his long legs alongside hers. "I'd give it at least fifteen minutes."She wiggled her toes again, careful not to let them touch each other. "Sounds good.""Are you sure you're up to a mission right now?"She looked sideways at him. "Of course.""But you're having your woman's thing.""Woman's thing?" she asked and giggled.That was another thing she hadn't really done before, but her big, bad mercenary was looking distinctly uncomfortable, and she couldn't help herself. Considering how solicitous he'd been of her, this obvious

discomfort over discussing her monthly was hilarious.

"Well, men don't have them.""I guess not, and anyway," she said, dismissing the subject for a more important one, "I've gone on lotsof missions during that time of month."

"You were so fragile yesterday morning."

"I'm feeling better now. It's not a problem."

Daniel didn't look as though he trusted her current state of healthiness, but after the day before he couldn

't very well argue that she was still in a state of fragility."No more excuses. I'm going." She grinned at him, ready to talk about something else again.She'd said what needed to be said on the subject, which was that there was no reason for her not to go."Would you like to hear what else I want to try?" she asked with a wink, making her voice as provocative as possible.It worked. His eyes narrowed with interest. "Sure.""I want to be kissed on a first date, preferably by a guy I can't resist." She looked down at her hands, fanning her fingers out. "Do you think I should paint my nails, too? I don't know if it's conventional to

paint your toes and your finger-nails the same color. Do you suppose the fashion police will get me if I do

it?"

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. He'd been tense about her involvement in the

mission, but now he positively vibrated with obvious displeasure. "No way in h.e.l.l."

"You don't think I should paint my fingernails?"

He clenched his jaw. "No first date. No kissing."

"Why not?" she asked, all innocence.

"You belong to me."

"And that means I can't go out on a first date and get ki-"

"No other man is touching you with his lips or anything else," he growled.

"Did I say another man?""You said on a first date.""Since we've never actually been on a date, is that a problem? Don't you want to go out with me? We could see a movie, or go to a show, or go on a picnic in the park."

"We can go on a date." He sounded as if he was agreeing to take her on a tour of a mushroom farm theday they fertilized."That's magnanimous of you.""I mean, if you want to go out, I'll take you out." His voice was infused with slightly more enthusiasm.She c.o.c.ked her head back, giving him her best come-hither look. "And will you kiss me?""Are you saying I'm the irresistible guy you were talking about?""I haven't been able to resist you yet, have I?"His eyes dark with the desire that never seemed to diminish, he cupped her face. "Then I think I can take care of this first for you, but maybe we should practice a little just in case."

She didn't get a chance to answer because he was already starting.

Later that night Josie was snuggled against Daniel on the verge of sleep when he said, "We'll have to play

spin the bottle when your woman's thing is done, too."That would mean a lot of kissing between them if they were the only ones playing. She smiled around ayawn. "Sounds good."

Curling around her more securely, he settled his hand possessively over one of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "I bet younever played doctor either.""No.""We'll have to get a stethoscope.""Who gets to be doctor and who gets to be patient?" she asked after another yawn.

"We'll take turns."She thought of something else that would be fun with him. "Can we have a slumber party where we stayup all night, too?"

"I can guarantee when all this is over that I'll give you an all-nighter you'll never forget."She wiggled her bottom against him. "Sounds wonderful.""It will be." He groaned when she wiggled again. "And it can't come soon enough for me."

Chapter 18.

H otwire and Wolf arrived the next day. Lise came with them and gloated when she realized Josie and Daniel were a couple.

"I knew you two had a thing for each other. I told Joshua, but he didn't believe me," Lise crowed to Josie while they dangled their feet in the shallow end of the pool.

The others had checked in to the same hotel as she and Daniel. Over lunch, Hotwire had challenged

Wolf and Daniel to a compet.i.tion to see who could swim the most laps. They were all even at themoment."I was as clueless as Wolf," Josie admitted. "I thought Daniel couldn't stand me."Lise shook her head. "The guy practically spontaneously combusts every time you are around.""He's volatile, all right.""Is he really?"

"You mean you haven't noticed?""To tell you the truth, no. I've never seen Nitro even come close to losing his cool. Until I saw himaround you the first time, I didn't think he had any emotions to speak of."

"Is l.u.s.t an emotion? I thought it was more like a chemical reaction.""He feels a lot more for you than mere l.u.s.t."Josie watched Daniel slicing through the water, his powerful body rippling with muscle. "I hope so.""I'm positive. He's so possessive.""The male animal is s.e.xually possessive, but that doesn't mean his heart is engaged." She'd told Daniel she loved him again that morning when he'd woken her with a tender kiss that made her toes curl with emotion.

He'd kissed her again, but he hadn't said anything."Daniel isn't an animal. He's a man, and his heart is engaged or my name is Aunt f.a.n.n.y," Lise saidemphatically, her Texas drawl acute.

"Do you really think so?" Josie wanted to believe Daniel's silence meant more than tolerance of heremotional reaction. "I'm having my period right now, and he's been really affectionate and caring.""There, you see. That's a great sign."

"I thought so, too, but when I told him I loved him, he didn't say anything back.""Welcome to the club." Lise smiled wryly. "I told Joshua I loved him over and over again, and he neversaid a word. I thought he only wanted me for my body, but I was wrong, and I'm sure you are, too.More than any other woman, you should understand how reticent these guys are to admit to any kind ofweakness, love included."

"Love doesn't make you weak.""But it does make you vulnerable to hurt."Josie couldn't deny it. She had no defenses to hide behind when it came to Daniel. Her love left her heart open to him in a way it had never been to another person, not even her parents.

"What are you two talking about?" Wolf moved to stand beside his wife, his hand automatically making connection with the part of her body he could reach, her head.