Hard Target (3 page)

And right now he was striding forward to meet her.

Tay saw her instantly.

For one insane, inappropriate moment, he allowed himself the luxury of remembering the few, stunning minutes they'd shared in his staff car.

Heavy petting, the hormone-driven teenager inside of him would have called what they did. Too bad it hadn't been more.

Was that why he'd grabbed the opportunity to see Dawna one more time? It couldn't have been to somehow right the wrong done to her, the wrong
he'd
done to her, could it? He'd already tried that damn route, and when the stubborn ass over as CO he'd dealt with refused, he'd tossed his badge on the man's desk, and stalked out.

His gaze locked with Dawna's over the dark heads of the shorter locals. She was as sunny blond as always, her lithe, strong frame made even more graceful against the backdrop of a cracked cement wall whose only adornment was a sign probably telling all service personal to report to the counter.

Dawna wore a lightweight pantsuit, with short sleeves and cinched at the waist. She looked like she'd stepped out of a trendy catalogue.

Her eyes were older, wiser, guarded, but their soft blue-gray color still snagged his attention and pulled it through the tense air between them.

Throughout the entire time he'd instructed her, he'd felt as if he'd been tied to a lifeline and dragged through choppy waters to a lifeboat. He wasn't the nautical type, and using the reference in this landlocked country sounded just plain stupid, but none of that calmed the unexpected and unwanted waves buffeting inside of him whenever he'd met her crystalline eyes.

Dawna remained unsmiling, and he wouldn't blame her one bit if she stalked over to punch his lights out and didn't speak two words to him the entire time he was there.

He deserved a whole lot worse.

Shifting his attaché case to his other hand, Tay quickened his pace across the terminal. He didn't stop until he reached her.

"Dawna."

"Tay. Good flight?"

She'd followed his example and avoided the formality of rank, but her words were cool. Regardless, it was a start.

A pretty good start, considering his face remained unslapped and she'd actually uttered three words to him. "Yes, thank you. You look well."

She glowed with a slight tan that tried to mimic the soft, golden hair she'd tucked into a bun. She looked better than well, exactly as he remembered. And he'd remembered it plenty of times in the last three years.

"You better grab your luggage. We haven't got all day." She spun around and strode toward the single, creaking carousel.

Tay remained where they'd stood, watching her supple grace, wondering again why she'd accepted such a desolate posting in the middle of South America. An embassy posting was usually a coup for an MP, but only if one could skate in after the hard work was done.

He'd reread her file on the plane. She'd grown up north of Toronto. Warm summers, cool crystal lakes, and lush forests to explore with her father before he'd died. The childhood he should have had, instead of the lonely one he'd spent in a seedy Ottawa apartment with his embittered mother.

So what drove Dawna to oversee the construction of this new embassy's security features, when other Military Police had flatly turned the posting down?

Because she'd been hand-picked by the Ambassador to hire his security staff and prepare for his arrival?

Maybe.

But Tay could guess the real reason. She had something to prove to the MSGU.

And to him.

Dawna stopped and turned, a question in her icy blue eyes. "You do have luggage, don't you?"  

He blinked, casting aside his speculations as he followed her. "Yeah, one suitcase. I've learned to travel light."

She said nothing.

A line of mixed luggage plopped onto the ancient, protesting carousel. One of the terminal's security officers unleashed a small mutt, and the animal sniffed each piece of luggage. The embassy could have used an explosive sniffing dog a few days ago, Tay mused.

The dog returned to its master. Nothing unusual today.

His suitcase caught his eye. When it reached him, he hauled it off.

Dawna spoke, her voice tight. "The car's outside. I'll brief you on the way. Let's go." She strode away, leaving him to follow or be stranded there.

A wry smile tugged on one corner of his mouth at her actions. He'd been all over the world. Getting stranded here in a nice little city like Cochabamba didn't worry him.

Outside in the glaring sun, he took a moment to slip on his sunglasses. In Ottawa this morning, the temperature had been a pleasant twenty-four degrees, but here, despite this month being their deepest winter, he already felt hotter than he'd been for ages.

Yeah, hotter than he'd been for three years, if the truth be told.

They walked to the car in silence. Dawna unlocked both doors on the passenger side first before interpreting his frown. "No auto locks on armored cars. Too easy to find the frequency."

She then watched as Tay pulled open the door. He found it surprisingly heavy.

She walked around the hood to the driver's side. "You'll have to use both arms to close the door."

After shoving his luggage into the backseat, he settled in beside her and glanced out the thick windshield. The bullet-proof glass, at least an inch thick, distorted the world around them, giving the dusty, hilly landscape an even more amber hue.

"The Liechtenstein of South America," he murmured. "Why would people bother coming here to plant bombs?"

"If you can't answer that question yourself, then you may as well go home," Dawna retorted.

Tay drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with her light perfume. Incredibly, the scent tore him away from the immediate and back three long years.

...when he tasted the warm skin of her neck, feeling the hum of the engine vibrate through the both of them, his body reacting to the crush of her breasts against his torso.

Three years ago, she'd worn the same soft perfume-

"There's a lot of potential here in Bolivia, for good and bad," she continued, slicing through his thoughts. "Sure this region is the poorest, but there's zinc and silver under those mountains and several companies have already started mining it. Plus, there's oil to the west and farmland everywhere else. Not to mention that there are some pretty good wines here."

A short smile twitched at Tay's mouth. He had barely heard her lecture, focusing instead on her perfume. Jet lag, he blamed. "And that's reason enough for terrorists to come?"

She shot him a hard look. "I thought you liked wine."

A subtle reference to that one disastrous evening, he thought with irritation. She'd consumed her share of whiskey and he'd had far too much wine. "I don't drink anymore."

She turned her attention to her driving. "Then you shouldn't have bothered to come. The coffee's too strong, you'll hate the coca tea and you'll get sick of the juice pretty fast. Not to mention the altitude."

She was goading him, and they both knew it. Challenging him to try to stay here for any length of time. "I'll manage. Why don't you update me on the investigation? Anyone claimed responsibility?"

Dawna pulled out onto the main road. "No. The local police gave us a full report and have allowed us to send the evidence away for testing. The repairs to the outer door are just about complete."

Her usual efficient self, he noted. She'd been efficient to a fault during her training, focusing on the task at hand with riveting concentration.

She'd been efficient, riveting even, in his car, too.

He shoved aside the intense memory. "I need a list of all the staff's whereabouts at the time of the blast. It may point to the target. Still have sixteen on staff?"

She tossed him a cool look, her right eyebrow arched ever so slightly. Hadn't she expected him to have done his homework, and know how many staff members they had? "The Immigration Section has arrived. We hired two local secretaries this past week for them. Lucy Porter, the Ambassador's secretary, had been doing the extra paperwork, but not since the Ambassador arrived."

Of course. Everything had to be in place before Dennis Legace even packed his suitcases. And with the embassy willing to accept refugees, Immigration would need Lucy Porter’s help.

Dawna pressed down hard on the accelerator and the heavy vehicle glided over the bumps on the rough pavement toward the highway. He could feel the powerful engine push the car up to the speed limit. He snapped his gaze over his shoulder. The airport faded into a landscape dotted with scrubby trees and mud-plastered buildings that still war campaign slogans from the last election.

On either side of the valley were deeply scored hills. What rain they get must come in short, heavy bursts. He faced forward again. "The personnel list should include locals. How many security guards?"

"Five," Dawna answered. "And they're called
vigilantes
here. Don't worry, you'll get your list. But we'll take Miguel Ramos around with us. He's been here the longest and speaks fluent English. We'll need him to translate."

And to chaperone?
Tay asked himself. He doubted Dawna wanted to be alone with him. Hell, he wasn't sure he wanted to be alone with her, either. He hadn't been a complete monk these last three years, and was old enough to control his own body. But considering the intensity of his initial reaction to her...well, a chaperone might be a damn good idea.

"Who was around when the blast occurred?" he asked, attempting to focus on the present, immediate problem.

"Ramos had just finished his shift and Alfonse Marconi had just started."

"Where were you?"

Her expression turned chilly. "I was driving up the street toward the embassy."

"At six in the morning?"

"I'd planned on catching up on paperwork before the Ambassador arrived." With a rigid spine and tight line to her mouth, she added, "I was expecting him to sleep in."

"Why?"

"Because we had attended a function the night before at the Vice-President's home. It ran late."

"You didn't sleep in?" Tay lifted his eyebrows.

Dawna's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "No. Like I said, I'd decided to get some work done in peace."

"Did anyone else know that?"
A lover, perhaps
?

"No. I woke up early and decided then. I think you can rule me out as a possible target. And the Ambassador thinks you should rule him out, also."

"What do you think?"

She slanted a calm, knowing look at him. "I told the Ambassador the device may have been planted to test our response."

Not good. "Which suggests another attack will follow."