Lone Wolf Read online

  Moose grabbed Neil's shoulders and gave him a little shake. “Neil, Neil,” he said. “I know it's hard for you to look at reality, but that's what we do, here. We kill people. Isn't it nice to have a complete laboratory working out new ways for us to accomplish it?”

  FOURTEEN

  “These guns are awesome,” Moose said as they left the firing range that afternoon. Noah had insisted that they take the new Glocks and try them out, since every gun has a slightly different feel to it. These were typical Glock weapons, with the minor addition of electronic grips.

  “They handle nicely,” Noah said. “I got two-inch groups at twenty yards, firing fifteen rounds from standing. That's better than the Glock I was carrying before.”

  “Yeah, mine is more accurate than my old gun, too. And it's kind of nice to know that no one can take it away and shoot me with it.”

  They walked the half-mile to where Sarah and Neil were waiting at a small restaurant. This one was inside the restricted area, so that E & E operatives could grab a bite to eat while they were taking care of business. They stepped inside, and both of them felt relief as the air conditioning hit them. Sarah saw them and waved, and a moment later Noah slid in beside her while Moose shoved Neil over.

  “Good timing,” Sarah said. “I just ordered us lunch. I hope you both like spaghetti, because it's on special today.”

  “Spaghetti is fine,” Noah said, and Moose nodded his agreement.

  “So how are the guns?” Sarah asked. “Does the high-tech stuff mess up their aim or anything?”

  “No,” Noah said, “if anything, I think they're more accurate than the standard models.”

  “Really?” Neil asked. “Maybe I should get me one, maybe I could hit the target with it.”

  Moose laughed. “Neil, these guns have enough recoil to throw your skinny ass backward ten feet. What are you complaining about? We gave you a twenty-five-caliber automatic. That's your gun.”

  Neil narrowed his eyes at Moose. “Hey, you know what? I looked up everything I could find on the twenty-five-caliber automatic pistol, and you know what it says in some of the best books about guns? It says this is a wonderful weapon if you're hunting mice! Somehow, I don't think mice are going to shoot back, so if I ever really need a gun, I'm going to be pretty well screwed! And if you were half as good a friend as you pretend to be, you'd take me out and teach me how to shoot something serious.”

  Moose threw an arm around Neil and pulled him over close, then rubbed the top of his head with his knuckles. Neil pushed him away and got loose, and Moose said, “Neil, I'm just picking on you! You want to learn how to shoot? You and me, we'll start going to the range together, how about that? No gags, no joke, I'll teach you how to handle a nine millimeter. That work?”

  Neil continued to look sulky, but he nodded his acceptance of the invitation. A few moments later, the spaghetti arrived and everyone gave up talking while they ate. Shortly before they finished, Noah's phone rang, and he walked away for a moment to take the call privately. It was Allison, telling him that the mission was approved and giving him the initial travel details. When he returned to the table, Noah tapped on it for attention.

  “Look, guys, we're going to be heading out for London tomorrow morning. This is an incredibly important mission, and I genuinely appreciate each one of you going with me. This isn't one of our usual missions, but I think it could be important for the organization, and for each of us individually.”

  Sarah nodded. “I agree. If Nicolaich has gotten wind of who we really are, we run the risk of having him and his kind coming into Kirtland. There are a lot of good people here who don't even know what we do, and some of them would probably end up getting in the way and getting themselves killed. We can't have that, not on our own consciences. Nicolaich has to go.”

  She picked up her glass of iced tea and held it over the center of the table. A couple of seconds later, all three of the men clinked theirs against hers, and unanimously declared, “Nicolaich must go!”

  “Anyway, we're all going to need some rest. Neil, you wanted to go out to the Saloon for dinner tonight, and I just want to let everybody know that it's on me. We've got a nine-hour flight leaving Denver at nine AM tomorrow, so if you want to drink tonight, that's okay. You'll have plenty of time to sleep it off on the airplane.”

  “Commercial flight?” Moose asked.

  “No,” Noah said. “The Dragon Lady got us a leased Gulfstream V. It's ours for the duration of the mission, with flight crews provided by the company it came from as we need them. As far as they know, we're just traveling on business.”

  The four of them finished their drinks and headed out to Sarah's Camaro, parked beside Moose's Chevy Malibu. Neil was about to climb into the back seat of the Camaro, but Moose called out to him.

  “Neil,” he said. “Why don't you ride with me? We're all going to the same place, anyway, right? Boss? We going to your place?”

  Noah nodded his head. “Yeah, we can relax there a bit until it's time to go have dinner. If you want, we can take the boat out for a while.”

  Neil let out a whoop. “Boat! Boat! Boat! I've been dying to get out on your boat, how come you never offered before?”

  “Because it's a lot cozier when it's just me and him,” Sarah said. “Ever heard that expression, three's a crowd?”

  Neil shook his head. “I have got to find me a girlfriend, that's all there is to it.”

  They made a small, two-car convoy out to Temple Lake Road, and arrived at Noah's place slightly more than half an hour later. Noah and Sarah had discussed the idea of taking the boat out, so she grabbed Neil and had him help her load a cooler with soft drinks while Noah and Moose went down to the boathouse to get the boat ready. Twenty minutes later, the big Mercury engine idled the boat out of its slip, and then roared as Noah poured on the power.

  The lake was beautiful, and the air was warm. They cruised for about an hour, waving at other boaters out on the lake, and then Noah guided the boat into a small cove-like inlet that was surrounded by trees that hung over the water, creating a shady, pleasant atmosphere.

  “This is gorgeous,” Moose said. “Wish I'd brought swimming trunks, I'd dive right in.”

  “Who needs trunks?” Neil asked, stripping his shirt over his head and kicking off his shoes. A second later, he shoved his pants down and stepped out of them completely naked, then ran and dived off the back of the boat. He came up sputtering a few seconds later, and yelled, “Ain't you ever heard of skinny-dipping?”

  Sarah burst out laughing, then looked over at Noah and shrugged. “I'm not putting on that good a show,” she said, but then she shimmied down her jeans and kicked them off, and followed by taking off the T-shirt she was wearing. In nothing but bra and panties, she took two running steps and followed Neil into the water.

  Moose looked at Noah. “What do you think, Boss? I'm not gonna strip in front of your girlfriend unless you say it's cool.”

  Noah shrugged, then took off his own clothes and dived in. Moose was left alone on the boat, but he hesitated only a few seconds before following suit.

  They swam together in the warm, clear water for a couple of hours, but then Noah said it was time to head in. Reluctantly, they all climbed onto the swim platform on the back of the boat, then clambered over the transom and began putting on their clothes. Moose did his gentlemanly best not to stare at Sarah, whose wet underclothes had become essentially transparent, but Neil ogled her openly.

  “Geez, Neil,” Sarah said, “you'd think you've never seen a girl before! Do you mind?”

  “Not a bit,” Neil said as she struggled to pull her jeans up her wet legs. “Please continue.”

  Sarah mumbled something, but no one caught it. Noah watched Neil for a moment, then picked up his own clothes and put them on. When everyone was dressed and had a bottle of something cold, he started up the boat and they cruised sedately back to his boathouse.

  He tied the boat to its stanchions and they all climbed out and h
eaded up to the house. Moose carried the cooler, stopping outside the boathouse to dump out the water from the ice that had melted. When they got inside, he set the cooler on the floor in the foyer, then took the remaining bottles of soda into the kitchen and put them back into the refrigerator.

  Their clothes had dried on the way back in, or at least for the most part, but Sarah insisted on taking a shower and changing before they went to dinner. While she went into the bedroom, Noah, Moose and Neil went to the living room and watched another episode of Star Trek.

  Sarah came out just as the episode ended, wearing shorts and a tank top. She had washed and dried her hair, and put on fresh new makeup, and Neil whistled appreciatively. Sarah grinned and thanked him, then went into the kitchen.

  Noah looked over at Moose, sitting beside him. “She's really quite a beautiful woman, isn't she?”

  “She is that,” Moose said. “Are you starting to recognize that for yourself?”

  Noah turned his head and looked toward the kitchen door, where Sarah had disappeared only a moment before. “Logically, I know that she's beautiful because I know what people consider to be beautiful in a girl. She's well proportioned, her skin is smooth, her eyes are bright and blue and her hair is blonde and long. All those things can be said of many of the girls that people seem to think are beautiful.” He turned back to Moose. “I've never felt any kind of excitement or rush just from looking at a woman, no matter how beautiful other people might think she is. Lately, though, I started to feel—I don't know, maybe a sensation that could be called pleasant, whenever I look at her. I wonder if I'm starting to actually notice how pretty she is.”

  Moose stared at him. “Boss man, are you starting to turn human on us? Aren't you taking this Pinocchio thing just a little bit too far? We sort of count on you being the human computer, don't go all mushy on us now, please!”

  “Shut up, Moose,” Neil said. “Can you imagine what it would be like to not ever feel any kind of emotion? If he's starting to come out of that, all I can say is more power to ya, Boss.”

  Sarah came back a moment later, and Noah announced that it was late enough to head out for dinner. This time, Moose offered to drive, so they all piled into the Malibu. Because of his long legs, Noah let Neil sit in the front passenger seat, which required Sarah's tiny frame to sit behind him. Noah squeezed in behind Moose, and they were off.

  Elaine Jefferson, Moose's girlfriend, was working that night at the Sagebrush Saloon, and he caught her attention as they came through the door. She made certain to put them at one of her tables, and took their drink orders. When she had time between customers, she would come over and hang out with the four of them, standing beside Moose's chair with an arm draped around his shoulders.

  Sarah had pulled her own chair a little closer to Noah, and noticed that Neil's eyes were bouncing between the two couples. She waited until Elaine had walked away again, and then reached over and tapped Neil on the arm.

  “Hey, little bro,” she said. “You okay?”

  “Me? I'm fabulous. Life couldn't get any better, unless maybe there was a beautiful female in my future. Strike that; make it any kind of female at all, as long as she is reasonably close to being human.”

  “He's lonely,” Noah said. “I've seen that before, lots of times.”

  “Yes, I know,” Sarah said. “You didn't have to point it out.” She turned back to Neil. “Don't worry, Buddy, there's a girl out there for you. You'll find her, sooner or later.”

  “If I get an option on that, I'll take sooner, thank you. Later just sounds so—late, y'know? Like, it might never get here?”

  Their dinners arrived, and they slipped into normal conversation as they ate. When they were finished, Noah ordered a beer, and the others followed suit. Neil, who was not anywhere close to twenty-one, knew that Elaine wouldn't ask any questions, and happily took a swig of his own bottle as soon as they arrived.

  The Saloon was a Bar and Grill type of place, and after seven, it often had a band performing live music. This particular night was one of those, and Moose waited until Elaine had a break, then grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dance floor. Sarah looked at Noah, and he grinned. A second later he was up and leading her onto the floor, as well.

  Neil sat at the table alone, watching his friends dance. He finished off his first bottle of beer, and reached over to take Moose's, since he was monopolizing their waitress. He tipped the bottle out and took a drink, then heard a snicker from the table beside them. He glanced over and saw a girl who looked to be not much older than him sitting there, and smiled when he noticed that she was smiling his direction first.

  “You took your buddy's beer,” she said. “Aren't you worried he'll get mad?”

  Neil shrugged. “That's Moose,” he said, “he's pretty much always mad about something. I'm Neil.”

  As soon as he blurted out his name, he wanted to bite off his tongue. There had been times in the past when he had tried to talk to girls, but he never seemed to know exactly what to say. He should have waited to see if she was interested enough to ask for his name, but he had blurted it out, showing that he was desperate. He found himself looking at the bottle in his hand, rather than at the girl.

  “I'm Lacey,” she said after a few seconds. Neil looked up again, and that's when he realized that she was sitting at a table alone, but where two other places had obviously been occupied a few minutes before. She saw his glance, and grinned. “My mom and dad,” she said. “They're out there on the dance floor, too.” She pointed, and Neil followed her finger to see the couple she was indicating. A second later, he did a bit of a double take.

  “Is that Mister Jackson?” He blurted out the question before he thought about what he was doing, and was about to apologize when he saw that she was nodding.

  “Uh-huh,” she said. “He's my dad.” She leaned as far toward him as she could without getting out of her chair, and whispered, “He works where you do.”

  Neil's eyebrows shot up. He made a face that he thought would indicate that he sort of understood, but wasn't sure. Lacy grinned wider, then startled him when she stood up and walked over to his table. He sat there looking up at her, suddenly realizing that she was probably at least six feet tall. She waited for a moment; then, deciding that he was not going to offer her a seat, she simply snagged a chair from an empty table and pulled it over to sit beside him.

  “Don't worry,” she said, “I'm cleared. I work in the Neverland data center. I know who you are, Neil.” She indicated the other chairs at the table with her eyes. “I know who all of you are. You're Team Camelot. I just finished compiling your after-action reports on your last mission.”

  “Oh,” Neil said, then mentally kicked himself for sounding so lame. “That sounds like an—interesting job,” he finished.

  Lacey laughed. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, “you're a shy one, aren't you? Don't worry about it, I know I tend to be a little overbearing, sometimes. If I get annoying, just tell me to get lost, okay? Believe me, I won't be offended.”

  Neil tried to smile, but he wasn't sure if he made it or not until she smiled back. “Oh, I'm not really shy,” he said. “I'm just not used to girls who want to talk to me.” Again, he wished he could bite off his own tongue, but he followed up with, “I mean, it seems like when you're this tall and skinny, most girls are a little put off. I mean—I'm really messing this up, aren't I?”

  Lacey laughed again, and the thought crossed Neil's mind that she had the laugh of an angel. “Neil, relax,” she said. “Trust me, I know the feeling. There aren't a lot of guys who want a girl as tall as I am, either. Oh, you know, if I was built like Geena Davis, then maybe that would work, but I don't have her boobs. My dad calls me Six O'clock, because he says I look like the hour and minute hands on a clock at exactly six.”

  Neil's eyes got a little wider than they already were. “But you're very pretty,” he said, and then cringed once more, afraid he was being too forward.

  Apparently Lacey didn
't think so, because she put a hand on his arm and said with a smile, “Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you.”

  The music suddenly ended, and Noah, Sarah and Moose all returned to the table. Neil fumbled the introductions, so Lacey took over and introduced herself. A moment later, her father stopped by the table and shook hands with the men.

  He looked down at his daughter. “Well, you finally found him,” he said, and then he looked up at Neil, who had stood as he approached. “She saw your picture and read your file when you were first recruited, and kept asking me if I had ever met you. When I finally did, and told her so, she drove me nuts with questions for two solid days. I guess it isn't often she spots a guy that really interests her. I hope she doesn't drive you crazy, but if she does, please don't shoot her. Just send her back to me, I'll try to straighten her out.”

  Neil made a sickly grin, and waved as Jackson walked away. Sarah and Lacey were talking, and it took a moment for Neil to realize that he was the topic of their conversation. He did his best to ignore what they were saying, but it pleased him to know that Lacey had wanted to meet him even before they ran into each other at the Saloon that night.

  The five of them sat and talked for a while, but then Sarah asked Noah to take her back onto the dance floor. Elaine was busy, so Moose waved at them to go on, then looked at Neil. “Well, come on, boy, aren't you going to ask the young lady to dance?”

  Neil's face went into full-blown panic. “Dance? I have enough trouble walking across an even floor, and you want me to try to dance? Are you insane?”

  Lacey laughed out loud again, then got to her feet and grabbed his hand. “You can dance, don't give me that. Anyone can dance. Come on, I'll prove it to you.”

  Unable to argue, Neil let her pull him to his feet and onto the dance floor. She grabbed his hands and positioned them onto her waist, then took hold of his shoulders and began moving. “Just do what I do,” Moose heard her say, and a moment later Neil looked like he was actually enjoying himself.