Operation Date With Destiny (10 page)

She knew who they were. She
’
d seen their photos in the research she
’
d done
.
She also knew that they would
,
and had in the past, do anything for each other. She should have known they
’
d come. She should
never have
underestimate
d
his ability to somehow get word out to his team for help.

Great! She couldn
’
t even pull off one simple kidnapping right!

“
Look—about back there—
”
he started.

Oh hell no!
They were
not
going there now.
“
We
’
re here to do a job and nothing more. I
apologize
for my
behavior
—you can be sure it won
’
t happen again.
”

“
What? You forgot for a minute that you were actually a
person
beneath that control freak exterior?
”

“
Obviously
,
I was hallucinating or something from lack of sleep! Now if you
’
ll excuse me, I have things to do.
”
She didn
’
t wait around for him to reply—she wasn
’
t up to hearing any more of his caustic dry wit right now.

****

Tupper stood staring after the woman who was walking away from him…
again, w
ho had just become his greatest source of frustration
.
He
’
d come ahead to announce the guys to the rest of the camp so no one got over excited and started firing off shots at the bunch of
strangers
,
when he
’
d seen her sitting so small and lost looking that he couldn
’
t help trying to reach out to her. Well, that
’
d blown up in his face hadn
’
t it?

He should have known she wouldn
’
t let one little kiss tear down
the
defenses s
he
’
d obviously spent years building up.
One little kiss? Were you actually participating in the same thing we were?
His ego asked with a sardonic smirk. Okay, so it was more than one little kiss…it was pretty damn lethal
…
and she
’
d just made it clear it wouldn
’
t be happening again. Well
,
one thing Tupper liked was a challenge and if
,
Destiny whoever she may be, wanted to go throwing down gauntlets like that
,
then she better be ready to back it up…cause he was up for it—on so
many
levels.

Later that evening as Tupper came back from giving his brief to the Cambodian
’
s about what would happen tomorrow; he saw
his team
crowded together and
noticed
Del was on the
satellite
phone. They
’
d set up their camp slightly away from Destiny and the other men—there was defiantly an undercurrent of distrust floating
amongst
the small band of warriors and Tupper decided it best to give them some space.

“
What
’
s goin
’
on
?
”
Tupper
demanded. He
had that
something
’
s not right feeling
in his stomach again and the look on Del
’
s face wasn
’
t exactly reassuring.

“
I
’
m putting you on speaker, babe. The guys are all here. Go ahead and tell them,
”
Del said, holding the phone in the
center
of the tight circle they
’
d huddled into.

“
She
’
s been living under the name, Destiny Dawson.
”

Tupper fought the urge to cover his ears and run around singing loudly to avoid hearing this…somehow he knew whatever Willow had discovered
about Destiny
—he wasn
’
t going to like it.

“
And?
”
Tupper prompted cautiously.

“
The name on her birth certificate
…
was Tre
’
ago.
”
Willows voice seemed to echo in the circle and the men stared at each other in complete disbelief as a chorus of muttered curses slowly filtered through his own profanity filled brain.

“
No way. You
’
re way off on the research this time, Lois Lane,
”
Tupper finally managed to push the words through his lips even though he knew Willow was one of the best investigative journalists in the business and didn
’
t make those kinds of mistakes.

“
Sorry guys—but I double checked. She
’
s Tre
’
ago
’
s kid.
”
Willows words were followed by an eerie silence.

Tupper
found
it hard to concentrate.
Tre
’
ago was Destiny
’
s father?
This had to be the worst joke
,
fate had ever played on him—and he
’
d suffered through enough
of them
to know there was
never
any
funny
punch line included.

“
Does anyone else feel like this is a Darth Vader moment?
”
Del asked gravely.

“
But listen—here
’
s something important—and I think it
’
s relevant to what
’
s going on over there,
”
Willow continued.
“
Tre
’
ago was posted there years ago and so she grew up around the area. After her parents divorced, she went back and forth between her mother in the States and Tre
’
ago who kept a place over there. Her mother, Claire, remarried when
Destiny
was thirteen, to a guy named Alan Dawson and her mother and step-father went on to have another kid. From all accounts Dawson was a good provider
and seems
they had a happy family life. Something happened when she was about fifteen, because she had no further contact with Tre
’
ago and changed her name legally to Dawson as soon as she was old enough. She got a ROTC scholarship and did an accountancy degree, then did four years in Army Intelligence. A year ago she pulled out and dropped off the grid. I found out she
’
s been working as an accountant for a small firm in some one horse town in Nebraska.
”
Willow paused for a moment.
“
This is where it gets interesting. T
wo weeks ago, her parents were found in a car wreck—both had been shot.
”

“
Sounds to me like your girl
’
s been on the run
,
hiding out in Nebraska. And that hit has Tre
’
ago
’
s name written all over it,
”
Del said darkly
.

“
So what the hell is Tre
’
ago
’
s daughter doing here—leading us into God knows what?
”
Tate asked
, gravely.

“
She
’
s not a Tre
’
ago,
”
Tupper
said
through tightly gritted teeth.
“
She hates the guy as much as we do.
”

“
How do we know that though? What if this is some kind of set up?
”
Del
continued warily
.

“
I think I have to agree with Tupper on this one, baby,
”
Willow cut in from the phone.
“
There
’
s more.
The kid, her step-brother…he
’
s
listed as
missing and there
’
s an alert out on him.
”

“
I have a feeling we just found out what the package is,
”
Tate said, as Del took the conversation off speaker and went away to say his goodbyes in private.

“
I don
’
t believe this!
”
Tupper said, spinning away from the others, leaving them swapping concerned frowns.
He needed to clear this up—now
.

He
found Destiny sitting on
the ground, cleaning her weapon.
“
We need to talk,
”
he said, watching as she placed the gun
down
in front of her and reach for a water bottle, tipping her head back to take a drink. For a minute he was distracted as he watched the sweat rolling down her slender neck, and had an insane urge to
catch it
with his tongue. A painful pulsing in his trousers reminded him that if he was going to start fantasizing things like that he
’
d damn well better be ready to do something about it
.

“
What
’
s up?
”
s
he asked, getting to her feet to face him.

He eyed her warily—he couldn
’
t tell if she was being smug or not. Then just like that, at the memory of Willow
’
s phone call he lost the last of his
hankering
.
“
Exactly when were you going to tell me that Tre
’
ago is your father?
”

He took a small amount of satisfaction in the way she blanched slightly before hiding it behind her cool,
and what he now knew as
Army intelligence trained
facade,
once more. At least that bit made complete sense!
Goddamn spooks—couldn
’
t trust em
’
as far as you could throw em
’
.
“
I think you owe me an explanation.
”

“
I don
’
t owe you anything,
”
she said making to turn away from him. His hand shot out and stopped her and he didn
’
t give a damn that she was staring daggers at him for doing so.

“
The fact Tre
’
ago is your father, kinda makes this a little more complicated than you
’
ve implied.
”

“
He
’
s
not
my father—Alan Dawson was my father. Samuel Tre
’
ago was just the man who happened to biologically create me,
”
she snapped.
“
Nothing has changed. You
’
re here to do a job.
”

“
Don
’
t play stupid games, Destiny. Why the hell didn
’
t you tell me this before?
”
h
is voice
raising a notch before
he
clos
ed
his eyes briefly
,
to regain some control over his temper.

“
Oh, gee…let me think, why wouldn
’
t I mention
that
to the guy Tre
’
ago tried to kill, had framed for multiple murder and a weapons heist, and who
he
’
s
terrorized
for the last seven years?
”