He blinked one time—as if blinking was an act of conscious control as opposed to subconscious physiology. She got the sudden impression that everything this man did had a purpose. Somehow his gaze still pinned her in place while her mind scrambled to form a logical response. She’d settle for any response right now, logical or not.
And then that steely gray gaze flicked down her body and back up. There was the briefest flash of fire and then nothing.
What was that?
That tiny movement clued her in to the fact that this colonel, whatever his name was, was actually a human being like her. In the last thirty seconds, he’d stripped her of her ability to think and react—two absolute essentials for a pilot.
Her heart fluttered again, in anger as opposed to lust, and she squared her shoulders and clasped her hands behind her back. Falling back on her training, the best safety net in moments of weakness, she said, “Sir, flight check is complete. We are ready for takeoff.”
Please let her voice sound stronger to them than it did to her. The operators would naturally hone in on weakness for the kill.
Plane meet lightning.
But for whatever reason, maybe it was mercy, the colonel chose not to acknowledge her thready tone and instead spoke to her like an equal. “Captain, I’ve heard only the best from your superiors and your equals. I’m glad to have you as my pilot on this mission. I’ll have my men ready for takeoff within the next minute.”
Great, he spoke in that clipped voice her father always used—the kind favored by men who were used to being in absolute control of everything around them.
Good thing Marley had dealt with that kind of command since birth. Her face smoothed into the expressionless mask she’d perfected long ago, her lips even quirking up at the corners as an added bonus. “Thank you, Sir. Due to the hostile guerrilla activity in the region, I’ll be doing a rapid ascent to 8,000 feet. Once we’re out of range for any surface-to-air missiles or rocket-propelled grenade launchers, I will level off. I will alert you when we are thirty minutes out from your scheduled jump.”
Marley paused for air, and then asked, “Do you have any questions or concerns I should be aware of?”
“Thank you, Captain. We are mission ready. As soon as you give us a go, we’ll be out of your plane.”
“Yes, Sir.” Marley spun, fighting the urge to turn and run and hide in the cockpit. Instead, she placed one foot deliberately in front of the other and ascended into the cockpit. Still, she was barely aware of her surroundings as she slid into her seat.
She’d been around plenty of elite operatives before, Marine special operations, Navy SEALs, CIA covert spies, but she’d never been crushed under the intense wave of absolute dominance emanating off every man in her cargo hold. Let alone their colonel—he’d had no name tag or identification on his black shirt and black tactical pants. To the innocent bystander he would look exactly like the rest of his team, but any person who slowed down enough to notice his air of authority would realize he was unmistakably the leader of that daunting group of warriors.
She was woman enough to acknowledge why her hand was trembling as she reached up and brushed a stray strand of brown hair back from her face.
“Everything okay over there, Mitchell?” Her copilot’s level tone brought her back into the cockpit and she glanced at him, afraid he’d picked up on her attraction for the colonel.
But he simply stared at her as if it were any other day and he were waiting on her to do her check . . . her check . . . dammit. Marley yanked the manual from the side pocket on her right and quickly flew through her round of crossed checks. Two minutes later, a full minute past the time she’d promised the colonel, Marley gave the signal for a go.
Her copilot didn’t need to radio the tower for takeoff, not for this kind of mission. This was the only airport within two hundred miles, and breaking radio silence would be a disaster. Any idiot with the talent and communications could hack into their frequency, paint a red target on her plane, and blast it into one million pieces—even if they didn’t know who they were shooting down.
As far as everyone in the area knew, this airport was used by drug cartels and terrorists—an impression it benefited the intelligence community to encourage. The only way people would discover its true purpose was to spy on it 24/7. She and the copilot wore flight suits, sure, but that was the only real tell. The men in the back were dressed as unobtrusively and deadly as possible.
“Firing engines one and two.” As if on autopilot herself, Marley reached forward and flicked the switch. The other propellers kicked into gear, followed by a loud whine as they hit full speed and powered to life.
The blasting sound gave her the same adrenaline rush it always did.
Palms sweaty—check.
Chest tight—check.
“Accelerating,” she said, embracing the rush like the pure sweet heroin that it was. Marley pushed the yoke forward, increasing speed rapidly.
Her copilot said, “Thirty miles per hour. Forty. Sixty.” The cracks beneath the plane whirred into a solid gray slab. They were approaching the dark green jungle like a bullet. Marley’s grip tightened on the yoke.
Her copilot kept going. “Eighty, Ninety.” He flicked up a cap on the right side of the dashboard. “Lowering flaps.” With another flick of his finger, he enacted the hydraulic system to push the flaps out and down on the wings. The plane lifted, settled back onto the running concrete, and lifted again. Marley yanked back on the yoke. The treetops couldn’t be more than twenty feet away. She pulled harder. The nose of the plane shifted upward. Blue skies filled her windshield, clear sailing as she ascended straight up into the lower level of clouds covering the atmosphere.
“Landing gear up. We’re at 8,000 feet. Enacting the automatic pressure control now.”
Her copilot pressed the button to automate the pressure inside the entire plane to ensure no one passed out from lack of oxygen as they continued to climb.
“Cruising altitude reached. Engaging autopilot,” Marley said.
“Roger,” her copilot confirmed.
