A Kiss in the Dark (32 page)

Sedona’s gaze slid from his face and fastened on the zipper of his flight suit. She couldn’t meet his eyes, not when his expression was so earnest. “It’s just lust, Angel. That and convenience. I mean, look at you. You could have any woman you want. You’re only with me right now because I came on to you pretty strong.” She wet her lips nervously. “I didn’t give you much choice in the matter.”

“Oh, come on, Sedona.” His voice was full of contempt. “Is that really what you believe? That this—this
thing
we have is nothing more than lust?”

She forced herself to meet his eyes without flinching. “Yes. Because one day you’re going to look at me and wonder what the hell it was you ever saw in me. This isn’t real, Angel. It’s like—like a fairy tale or something. It’s better to just end it now, while we’re still feeling good about each other.”

Angel let his hands drop to his sides and took a step back from her, looking at her as if he had no idea who she was.

“You’re wrong,” he finally told her. “I think you’re an amazing woman. You’re beautiful and brilliant, and I think we’re good together.” He rubbed a hand over his head. “Hell, we’re
great
together, and what’s more, you know we are.”

Sedona shook her head. “It would never work, and you know it. You’re like that jet you fly—more than most people can handle and best appreciated from a distance.” She shrugged helplessly. “I realize…you and the Coyote are a package deal. It’s the price of admission, but you know what? I can’t afford it.”

She turned away, wanting only to escape before she said or did something really stupid. Like throw herself at him and tell him she was completely, foolishly, head over heels in love with him. He tried to forestall her with a hand on her arm, but she pulled away, refusing to look at him, and continued to walk toward the hangar.

“You know what the problem is, Sedona?” he snarled softly. “You’re a coward. You’re afraid to take risks, afraid to reach out and grab your dreams with both hands and make them come true. Like that sketchbook of yours, you hide them away and hope nobody finds out about them.”

Sedona’s step faltered and she stopped for just a moment, but she didn’t turn around. Her heart was thudding hot and loud in her ears, but not enough to drown out the painful truth of his words. After a second, she started walking again, determined this time not to stop. Not to listen.

“But you know what,
mina?
” His voice was low and bitter. “Those drawings of me won’t keep you warm at night. Go ahead and carry them around with you, but they’re not me. They’re nothing but a flat caricature of the real thing. Kinda like you.”

She made it maybe another dozen steps before she stopped and turned around. Angel was striding away from her, back toward the Coyote and the maintenance crew, and the other two pilots who had landed behind them. His steps were hard and the set of his broad shoulders was rigid with anger.

For an instant, she almost called his name. She wanted to run after him and tell him…what? That she’d just made a huge mistake, and of course she was the right woman for him? A frown hitched between her brows and she chewed her lower lip. Better to let him go now than to see him grow bored and turn away from her later. And he would. Eventually, he’d need more excitement than she’d be able to provide. Guys like Angel Torres didn’t live happily ever after with plain-Jane engineers like herself.

She turned away, his words repeating themselves in her head.
You’re a coward…a flat caricature of the real thing…afraid to take risks.

She was going to be sick.

She ran the last few yards to the hangar and barely made it to the ladies’ room before she began retching. But there was nothing left in her stomach and after a few minutes she collapsed, weak and gasping, onto the sofa in the small, adjoining room. She swiped at the tears that blurred her vision, and sniffed loudly, staring up at the ceiling.

Her entire body ached. She felt nauseous and dizzy. Her head hurt. But even those physical discomforts didn’t match the gnawing ache that had settled in the center of her chest. With a small moan of distress, she curled onto her side.

You’re a coward.

The words mocked her, taunted her. Made her want to shrivel up and die of shame.

Angel was right. She
was
a coward, and in more ways than he knew. If she was honest with herself—and the cowardly part of her didn’t want to be honest—she’d been a complete wimp for most of her life.

All her life, really. For as far back as she could remember, she’d done things to make others happy. Never once had she stood up and done something to please herself. As a teenager, she’d been too afraid of defying her father to pursue a career in the arts. She’d been too afraid of his censure to purchase those fabulously feminine outfits with the short skirts and matching pumps. And she’d been too afraid of failure to try to make a go of a relationship with Angel.

She’d been too afraid for too long.

For a brief instant, she saw her entire life stretched out before her, filled with all the wrong choices she would make because of her own cowardice. Oh, she’d do okay. She’d have a good career and a nice place to live. But she’d be miserable and unfulfilled. Empty.

Like she felt right now.

With a groan of self-disgust, she swung her legs off the sofa and sat up, scrubbing her hands over her face. Even her decision to leave the agency was based on her own cowardice, because she didn’t have the guts to do what was required to expose the Membership.

Well, no more. God, she’d been such a moron.

She might not have the courage to make her relationship with Angel work, but that didn’t mean she had to be a coward in every other aspect of her life. It was time she took control, and she knew just where to start.

15

“H
EY
, S
TEWART
,
YOU
have a call on line three.”

Sedona turned away from the glass window that separated the calibration room from the test cell, where she’d been watching two of the maintenance crew prepare an engine for testing.

“Okay, thanks.” She acknowledged the engineering technician with a brief smile and picked up the receiver.

“Miss Stewart?” It was a deep, male voice and for just an instant, her heart leaped, until she realized that, of course, it wasn’t Angel. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since their ugly confrontation four days earlier.

Her entire body ached with longing for him.

“Yes, this is Stewart.”

“Ma’am, this is Senior Chief Hamlin over in Hangar 74. We’re conducting an engine teardown, and you asked me to contact you if I found anything…interesting.”

Sedona’s breath caught. “Yes? What did you find?”

There was a brief pause. “Maybe you’d better come over and check it out for yourself.”

“I’m on my way. Who else have you contacted?”

“Captain Dawson came over with a couple of his guys and took a look. He’s gone now, but he was pretty pissed. He’s called for a full investigation and is sending over a security unit. My guess is they’ll cordon off this hangar once they see what I’ve found. I’d hurry if I were you.”

“I’ll be right there.”

She replaced the receiver and turned to the engineering technician. “I have to go over to Hangar 74. Give Ken Larson a call and ask him to come up and oversee this test.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’d do it myself, but I’m in a hurry.”

He shrugged. “No problem, ma’am. I’ll call him right now.”

Sedona hurried from the test cell, wincing as she stepped outside into a blinding rainstorm. The sullen clouds, clustered on the horizon all morning, had finally moved directly overhead, drenching the air base with sheeting rain. The dismal weather completely matched her mood.

She hadn’t seen Angel during the four days since their confrontation on the flight line. He’d even packed his gear and moved out of his hotel room and into the Bachelor Office Quarters on base. Not that she blamed him. She’d been a complete bitch, taking all her fear and insecurities out on him.

She didn’t know how long she would have been able to resist him had he remained in the room next to hers. She’d picked up her cell phone more than a dozen times, intending to apologize and beg his forgiveness—anything to have him back in her life. But each time, she remembered his expression of contempt as he accused her of being a coward. He was right. She’d put the phone away without hitting the send button.

She bent her head, bracing herself against the soaking onslaught of rain. Wind howled across the open space, and through the downpour, Sedona could see the Coyotes sitting on the flight line, their profiles blurred by the spray of water.

Was Angel flying in this weather? She told herself it didn’t matter; he’d fly well above the cloud bank and would hardly be affected by the storm.

Shielding her eyes against the stinging rain, she skirted the far side of the building where Ken Larson was overseeing the removal of a Coyote engine. The last thing she wanted was to run into him. He’d demand to know where she was going, and there was no way she wanted him tagging along.

She entered Hangar 74 and paused for a moment to swipe at the rain that still dripped from her hair and down her face. As she did so, the sound of low, angry voices drifted toward her from the other side of a large compressor.

Cautiously, she peered around the edge of the machine. Airman Laudano, his face drawn in harsh lines, had Airman Wheeler shoved up against the wall of the hangar as he spoke in hushed, fierce tones to the other man.

“You say my sister means everything to you. Well, now’s the time to prove it. You screw this up and you’ll never see her again.” He gave Wheeler a brief, hard shake. “You have my promise on that.”

He let go of the other man, taking a moment to smooth the fabric of Wheeler’s flight suit where he’d had it bunched in his hand. Then he turned and walked away.

As if sensing her scrutiny, Wheeler turned his head and his eyes locked with Sedona’s. They stared at each other for a long moment. He was pale except for two patches of color that rode high on his cheekbones. For a moment, Sedona thought he would speak, would say something to explain the bizarre interaction she’d just witnessed. His mouth opened, then closed, and before she could say anything, he turned and followed Laudano toward the rear of the hangar.

She watched him go. Was Wheeler dating Laudano’s sister? What had Laudano meant by Wheeler not screwing this up? Had he been referring to Wheeler’s relationship with the sister, or something more sinister?

Thoughtful, Sedona turned and made her way to where several maintenance-crew members gathered around a Coyote. One of the engines hung suspended from a lift several feet away. Senior Chief Hamlin bent over the remaining engine, still installed in the jet, while the other technicians strained to peer over his shoulder.

“Hey,” she said as she approached the group. She tucked several loose strands of wet hair behind her ears. “I came as fast as I could. What do you have?”

The senior chief backed carefully out of the engine compartment, carrying a small mirror in one hand. “Well, this particular jet was out on the flight line this morning, and was mistakenly put into the queue for flight testing.”

“Did one of our pilots take it up?” She glanced out the enormous doors of the hangar to where the jets were parked. Where was Angel right now?

“No, ma’am,” Hamlin replied. “We caught the problem in time, but if someone
had
taken this jet up, it could have resulted in a catastrophic engine failure.”

Sedona’s breath caught. “Why?”

He held out his hand. Lying in his palm were three small, metal balls. “I found these inside the fan module.”

Sedona frowned. “You found three ball bearings just rolling around? Wasn’t that the cause of damage to the fan blades on the last engine we looked at?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hamlin’s voice was grim. “But these weren’t just rolling around.” He drew her aside and lowered his voice. “These were actually fastened to the back side of the fan blades with adhesive.”

Sedona stared at him, bewildered.
“What?”

“I’ve seen this before. It’s usually done to cause engine damage before the jet leaves the ground. However, in this case the adhesive is of such high quality, I believe the ball bearings would remain in place until the jet was airborne. Eventually, the sheer force of the fan suction would cause the adhesive to fatigue. When that happens, the ball bearings would get sucked through the fan modules and the afterburner, trashing the engine on their way out.”

“Enough to cause an in-flight failure,” Sedona said softly, her eyes wide.

“Exactly.”

Sedona met the senior chief’s grim expression. “Sabotage?”

“No question.”

“Whoever did this believed this particular jet was going to be flight-tested today.”

He nodded. “It would seem so. If we hadn’t pulled it from the lineup, the jet would have gone up.”

Angel.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “How many jets are in the air right now?”

“We’ve implemented a no-fly procedure until the remaining jets can be cleared, and the commander is sending a unit out to secure the entire area, but we have four pilots conducting test flights right now.”

“And they are…?”

Hamlin shook his head. “I don’t have that information.” Something on the flight line caught his attention. “There’s Captain Dawson now, with Lieutenant Palmer. You might ask them. Looks like they’re heading up to the control tower.”

Sedona followed his gaze and saw Captain Dawson and Lieutenant Palmer surrounded by several other naval officers, heads bent and black umbrellas tipped against the driving rain as they strode across the tarmac toward the building that housed the control tower for the naval base.

“Do they know?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Okay, thanks.” She began to turn away, when a thought struck her. “Senior Chief, do you happen to know what the relationship is between Airman Laudano and Airman Wheeler?”

“Excuse me?” His expression was bewildered.

“Is Airman Wheeler dating Laudano’s sister?”

“Oh, yeah.” The senior chief gave a brief grin. “Actually, I think Wheeler is engaged to Laudano’s sister. Met her when Laudano brought him home for Thanksgiving one year.”

“Thanks. I was just curious.”

Her mind spun as she turned away, alarm bells jangling in her head. It had certainly sounded like Laudano was blackmailing Wheeler, and she didn’t have to guess why. As a plane captain, Laudano had access to the Coyote engines. He could easily have planted those ball bearings.

Maybe Airman Wheeler had discovered what his future brother-in-law was up to, and had threatened to expose him. But even if Wheeler lacked the courage to do the right thing, she didn’t. She would go directly to the military police and tell them what she suspected. But first, she had to make sure Angel wasn’t up there, flying a jet that Laudano had inspected.

By the time she reached the control tower, she was drenched through to the skin and Captain Dawson and his entourage had already vanished inside. She pressed the buzzer next to the secure entrance, gasping for breath from her dash across the base.

“Yes?”

Sedona blinked up at the security camera mounted above the door and spoke into the small speaker beneath the buzzer. “Um, this is Sedona Stewart. I’m part of the Coyote inspection team, and I need to speak with Captain Dawson or Lieutenant Palmer. Right away.”

There was a momentary silence.

“Come on up, Miss Stewart.” The door buzzed.

She pushed it open and took the stairs two at a time as they wound upward, until her thighs cramped in protest and she thought her lungs would burst. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, she’d climbed eight flights. She paused in front of another door of dark, smoked glass. She pressed the buzzer and this time the door opened immediately.

The control room was cool and dark, dimly lit by neon blue halogen lights. Sedona struggled to check her ragged breathing as she climbed the last flight of steps. Through the observation windows, the air traffic controllers had unobstructed views of the flight line and the surrounding countryside, only slightly obscured by the sheeting rain that drummed against the glass.

The entire perimeter of the small room was occupied by a vast array of computer displays and digital readouts. Three men, each of them wearing a headset, rolled their chairs between the various monitors, watching the blips on the screens and dictating coordinates and flight instructions into their mouthpieces.

Leaning over them, crowding the small space, were Captain Dawson, Lieutenant Palmer and two other naval officers. They all turned to look at her as she rounded the last step and entered the room.

“Captain Dawson.” She paused to catch her breath. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“Miss Stewart.” His voice betrayed his astonishment as he took in her disheveled appearance. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Actually, yes.” She glanced out the window toward the distant Coyote hangar, where she could still see the senior chief standing next to the sabotaged engine. “I, uh, just came from the Coyote hangar, where I saw evidence of sabotage. I need to know if you have any Coyotes in the air right now.”

Captain Dawson considered her for a moment, and Sedona thought he was actually going to tell her what she needed to know. But then his lips compressed in what might have been sympathy, before turning back to the controls. “Thank you for your concern, Miss Stewart, but we have everything in hand.”

It was a dismissal. Sedona glanced at Lieutenant Palmer, but he stared resolutely through the windows and refused to meet her eyes.

“I understand, sir,” she forced herself to say, “but I have reason to believe the Coyotes scheduled for today’s test flights may also be compromised.” She stopped just short of demanding to know if Angel was up in one of those jets.

“We’ve already contacted the authorities, Miss Stewart,” Captain Dawson replied. “We have the situation contained.”

It seemed she wasn’t going to get any information from him, and she rubbed her hand across the back of her neck in an effort to dispel some of her tension. “Okay.” She sighed. “Can you at least tell me if Lieutenant Torres is up there? We’re…friends. I’m concerned for his safety.”

One of the men swiveled in his chair to face her, pulling one side of his headset away from his ear. “Hello, ma’am,” he said, extending a hand toward her. “I’m Tim Colletti, the flight commander. In answer to your question, yes, Diablo is up there, but I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about. I served with him aboard the
Lincoln,
and he was the best damn stick in the squadron.”

“Did somebody go over his jet before it went up? Who was the last person to check it, to touch it before it went up?”

Lieutenant Palmer finally turned to face her. “It wasn’t Airman Laudano, if that’s what you’re thinking. He hasn’t been on duty since yesterday, and he didn’t oversee any of the jets that went up today.” His voice held a note of defiance and more than a little smugness, but Sedona hardly noticed for the relief that flooded her. That Laudano apparently had not been on duty that morning, and hadn’t been near Angel’s jet, allowed her to breathe easier, if only a little.

“So, who was the plane captain for Lieutenant Torres’s jet?” she persisted.

Lieutenant Palmer leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Captain Dawson for approval, before turning his attention back to Sedona.

“It was Airman Wheeler,” he finally said. “He performed the final inspections. We already spoke with him. Everything seemed in order.”

Sedona nodded. “Okay, then.” Thank God.

They were each looking expectantly at her, and she shoved her hands into her pockets and took two steps backward toward the stairs. “I just, you know, wanted to make sure he was okay up there, but it seems like you have everything under control, so I’ll just be going.”