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  “Shut up, it’s funny. Anyway,” she went on, “the tech told him to stick his hands in his pockets and try not to flinch, so he did, and then another tech walked up and shot him with a Taser. Well, Marco suddenly hit the floor, just about fried from the electricity, and as he lay there looking up at the two technicians, one of them looked at the other and said, ‘Hmmm. It didn’t work.’ See, this new jumpsuit was made of some material that was supposed to keep a Taser from affecting him, but it was the first time they’d tried it on a person.”

  “Just for the record,” Marco said, “that was the first time I ever got hit with a Taser. Did you know you pee your pants when that shock hits you?”

  Neil cracked up laughing. “Oh, I wish I could’ve seen that!”

  “I heard about it later that day,” Renée said, “and it turned out that what happened was when he was putting the suit on he didn’t get it zipped all the way up. The zipper was part of the grounding or something, the thing that was supposed to make it keep the electricity away from his body, but when he didn’t get it done all the way, it didn’t close the circuit or whatever. So when they shot him, he got the full impact. And yes, he peed his pants.”

  “That’s hilarious,” Neil said, and both Sarah and Lacey were laughing along with him.

  Marco pretended to glare at the three of them, then looked at Noah. “At least one of you isn’t laughing,” he said.

  “Noah never laughs at anything,” Neil said, “he doesn’t know how. If he did, he’d be rolling on the floor about now. Oh, man, I would have loved to have been there. Next time you pick on me, I’m gonna remind you to check your diapers!”

  Noah shrugged his shoulders. “I know it’s funny,” he said, “but humor doesn’t affect me the way it does most people. It’s part of that disorder I’ve got.”

  Renée turned and looked at him. “I’ve heard about that,” she said. “You’re the man with no emotions, right?”

  “That’s him,” Sarah said. “Something happened to him when he was a kid, and his subconscious shut down all his emotional responses. Turns out that’s what makes him the best at what he does. Most people, even the best-trained killer, have to deal with some kind of emotional context in every situation. Noah doesn’t, so he never hesitates.”

  Renée looked from Sarah to Noah and back again. “But—no emotions at all? You two seem pretty close.”

  “We are,” Sarah replied. “It’s different, though, from the way most couples are. Noah knows I’m in love with him, but he can’t feel the same thing for me. The best I can get out of him is an admission that he thinks things are better when I’m around, so I just take what I can get.” She glanced at Noah and the look in her eyes said it all. “It works for us.”

  “When they told me I was being assigned to Team Camelot,” Marcus said, “I got the full briefing on it. Queen Allison says Noah always puts the mission first and his team second, and I can understand why that’s so important in this racket. When I read through your mission reports, though, it seems to me he goes out of his way to keep all of you safe, and then there’s the times he’s gone to extremes to rescue you, Sarah.” He looked at Noah. “You’ll forgive me if that doesn’t sound all that unemotional to me?”

  Noah shrugged again. “I can’t explain it,” he said. “It’s not anything I consider emotional. I just don’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have Sarah in it, that’s all. If that means I have to take action, then I take it.”

  “Emotions or not,” Renée said, “there’s still something romantic about it. Every girl wishes she had a guy who would do whatever it took to keep her safe, right?”

  Sarah and Lacey both nodded, and both of them were grinning.

  “Okay, let’s cut out the mushy stuff,” Neil said. “Isn’t anybody else getting hungry?”

  Noah opened one of the coolers and began passing out ham sandwiches while Sarah opened the other and offered soft drinks around. They continued chatting as they ate, and Lacey dug her elbow into Neil’s ribs.

  “So,” she said, “if some crazy maniac kidnapped me, would you do whatever it took to get me back?”

  “Absolutely,” Neil said, nodding his head. “I’d go straight to Noah and remind him that I’ve always been willing to help when we had to rescue his girl, so now he could help me rescue mine.”

  “You mean you wouldn’t come rushing in with guns blazing?”

  “I could do that,” Neil said around a bite of his sandwich. “But with my aim, I might shoot you by mistake. Trust me, it’ll be a whole lot better if I get Noah involved.” He looked over at Noah. “Hey, Boss, you’d help me rescue Lacey, wouldn’t you?”

  Noah looked him in the eye. “Don’t we always take care of our own?”

  Neil turned back to Lacey and grinned. “See? Your safety is in the best possible hands.”

  Even in the cabin of the boat, the air was cool. The six of them finally decided to go topside and enjoy the sunshine, and were delighted to find that it had actually warmed up a bit. They cruised the lake for a couple of hours, then made their way back to the boathouse and Noah tucked the cruiser inside.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent playing cards at Noah’s big kitchen table, and Marco learned quickly that Noah could bluff at poker better than anyone. He lost almost a hundred dollars before he insisted they play something else, so they switched to spades. Neil and Lacey, as a team, won the first two games, but Marco and Renée took the next one.

  It was nearly seven o’clock by then, so they decided to go out for dinner. There was a new restaurant that had opened in Kirtland and they all agreed to give it a try, and spent the next couple of hours just relaxing over dinner and dessert before everyone headed for home.

  Noah and Sarah slept late on Friday, planning to spend the day together at home. They were awakened at ten by the ringing of Noah’s phone, and he picked it up to see that it was Allison calling.

  “Since you seem to be satisfied with your plans,” she said, “I’m stepping up the timetable. Briefing tomorrow morning at 0900, and you will be flying out in the afternoon. You’re going to lose a whole day between the flight and the time zone changes, so we need to take advantage of your early completion. Any objections?”

  “No, Ma’am,” Noah said. “See you at 0900.”

  SEVEN

  “Here are your mission identities,” Jefferson said the next morning. “Sarah, your name is Kayla Maguire, and you’re visiting Thailand on vacation. You’ll be staying at the Dream Hotel, a popular spot for American vacationers. This Wednesday evening, you’ll go to the nightclub there and meet with one of our operatives to receive the drugs that will get you arrested. Later that night, your room will be raided by police and you’ll be taken into custody. It should take them about three days to get you sentenced and sent over to the prison.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Sarah said with a grimace.

  “Also, in order to avoid connecting you with Noah and the rest of the team, you will be arriving in Thailand on a different flight. You’ll all be leaving from Denver this afternoon at the same time, but Sarah, you will be getting on a different flight after you arrive at LAX. Noah, Marco and Neil will be on the same connecting flight together just an hour later, but your flight from LAX to Bangkok leaves two hours after theirs.”

  Sarah shrugged. “I’m a big girl, I can handle it. I guess this means I won’t have any contact with them until the mission comes to a head?”

  “That’s correct, I’m afraid.” Jefferson said. “Noah, you and the guys will be staying at a hotel called the Thai Cozy House, some distance from the prison. It’s within signal range of your tracking units, so once you get them in place you’ll be able to watch everything on your monitor tablet. Noah, you’ll be Peter Allen. Marco, your name is Joshua Stevens. Neil, you’re Sean Hendricks. The three of you will operate under the cover of freelance journalists, working on travel stories about Bangkok for magazines. While Sarah is going through her ordeal with the police and the jail,
you’ll be going to the prison and talking with the guards and staff, becoming familiar to them so you’re not as noticeable.”

  “Wait a minute,” Neil said. “We’re supposed to be doing travel stories, and you want us to go to a prison?”

  Jefferson nodded. “Yes. It seems that a lot of tourists, both Americans and Europeans, like to go and visit inmates at the prison. There are websites where you can choose the inmate you want to visit; it’s become quite a large part of the local tourism industry. That will be the basis of your cover story, that you’re doing an article on the uniqueness of visiting random strangers who are looking at ten years or more in prison.”

  “I’ve heard of that,” Marco said. “Not sure I’d think it was a lot of fun, though.”

  “I’m sure it wouldn’t be,” Allison said. “It’s simply a convenient fact that fits in with your need for a cover story that allows you to remain close to the prison. By the time Sarah is actually inside, you should have your tracking units in place and be ready to keep track of where she’s at.”

  “It’ll also give us a chance to get our entryway prepared,” Noah said. “Since we’ll be hanging around the prison a lot, we should get a decent opportunity to scout the wall we have to scale and get on the roof to cut our trapdoor out.”

  Allison grinned at him. “Yes, I heard about your exploits at the mockup. As far as we know, our intel on the prison and how it runs is pretty good, but don’t take any unnecessary risks. Be absolutely sure no one is inside that storeroom before you start cutting your way through.”

  Jefferson handed them their mission kits, containing their identifications, passports, cell phones, credit cards and everything else they would need to look legitimate. The men got press cards, digital recorders and cameras, while Sarah got a purse and all the detritus that tends to collect in them.

  “Incidentally,” Jefferson said, “the special equipment you’ll be using, including the monitor, tracking units, tools, vibration detection cones and even the special scopolamine guns, are being sent out today on a diplomatic flight to the US Embassy in Thailand. A CIA station officer there will pass it off to a local E & E operative, who will see that it gets to you, Noah, after your arrival in Bangkok.”

  Sarah was also given a couple of suitcases full of clothes, cheap jewelry and makeup. “Sarah, you won’t be taking any of your own things with you. This stuff is destined to be confiscated when you get arrested. Noah will be provided with another set of identification materials for you by the time you need it, passport and all, as well as a set for Ms. Ingersoll, and luggage with clothing and such for both of you. Those are already prepared and waiting in Thailand.”

  “Speaking of her,” Noah said, “is she aware of any of this? Does she have any idea someone is coming to get her?”

  “Yes,” Allison replied. “She got a visit from someone claiming to be an old friend—one of our operatives, of course—a couple of weeks ago, and the visitor was able to convey that information. Unfortunately, there was no way to give her a lot of details. She has no idea how soon rescue is coming, or that she’ll be given a complete new identity afterward. You’ll have to explain that to her after you get her out, Noah. Sarah shouldn’t try to give her too much information while they’re inside. There’s too great a risk they might be overheard, or that too much information might be more than the girl can handle, under the circumstances. Better if she finds out the details after you get her out of there.”

  Noah nodded, and Sarah agreed not to try to tell the girl too much. The briefing lasted only a few more minutes, and they were told to go home and pack, then head off to the Denver airport by four o’clock. They had been out to R&D even earlier in the morning, and Sarah’s implants were already in place.

  Except for Sarah, each of them had driven their own vehicles to the briefing. Sarah rode with Noah, of course, and they talked on the way back to the house.

  “I’m scared,” Sarah said. “This mission isn’t at all what I thought I signed up for. I don’t know if I can handle it, Noah, not without you looking over my shoulder.”

  “But I will be,” Noah said. “One of us will be watching that monitor every second. I’ll know exactly where you are at all times, and the minute you signal us we’ll be on the way in. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She reached across the console and laid a hand on his arm. “That makes me feel a little better,” she said, “but I won’t even see you until then. Once we change planes in LA, I’m on my own. I told Allison I could handle it, but between you and me it scares the hell out of me. I’ve been questioned by cops before, it can get pretty intense. What if I blow it?”

  “You just stay in character. Kayla Maguire would be a terrified girl in a situation like that, so it’s okay to be scared. Use it, make it part of your whole performance. If they start pushing you too hard, just start crying and refuse to answer anything. I’m sure that’s what they’re used to, so it won’t seem out of character and will give you a chance to think, pull your thoughts together.”

  Without warning, Sarah suddenly began chuckling. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I just suddenly caught myself imagining you trying to use that technique. The thought of you ever breaking down and crying was just too much and I had to laugh.”

  Noah shrugged. “I probably couldn’t do it if I tried, so my equivalent to that would be to simply glare at whoever was questioning me and dare them to do their worst. It’s pretty much the same thing, just a way to shut out what’s happening and organize my thoughts.”

  Sarah looked at him and cocked her head sideways. “You’ve actually thought about how you would do something like that, haven’t you? Are you always prepared for anything?”

  “No. No matter how much you try to prepare, some things will always catch you off guard. That doesn’t stop me from trying, though. Whenever I’m faced with a mission, I try to imagine everything that could possibly go wrong and develop some idea of how I would handle it if it did. Most of the time, I can at least adapt a plan to fit whatever situation catches me by surprise.”

  Sarah shook her head but said nothing more. They rode in silence the rest of the way to the house, then Sarah led the way inside. With nearly six hours to kill, they spent some time watching a movie, but then Sarah said she wanted to lie down for a bit. Noah followed her into the bedroom, where she suddenly spun and threw her arms around him. She kissed him passionately, then tore his shirt as she was trying to take it off him.

  Four hours later, as they lay in bed with their arms twined around each other, Sarah whispered, “Noah, I’m scared. What if this mission goes wrong? What if—what if this is the one I never come back from?”

  “We’ll all be watching over you,” Noah said. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you, if I can possibly prevent it.”

  She gave him a droll chuckle. “It’s the things that you can’t prevent that I worry about,” she said. She twisted herself a bit so that she was looking up at his face, and propped her chin on her hands, which were on his chest. “Part of it is just that I’d hate leaving you alone. I know you’re tough, I know you’d get over it, but you’ve kinda gotten used to me taking care of you in a lot of ways. I’d hate to just suddenly be gone.”

  Noah looked at her, and for a brief moment she thought she saw sadness in his eyes. “I don’t want to be without you,” he said. “Life is better when you’re with me.”

  Despite her concerns, Sarah couldn’t help laughing. “Considering who I’m talking to, I figure that’s the equivalent of a romantic soliloquy. If you were anybody else, we’d be talking about wedding plans.”

  Noah cocked his head. “Would you like to?” he asked. “Get married, I mean?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “Queen Allison would have a fit, and marriage isn’t something you really want, anyway.”

  “If you want to get married,” Noah said, “then I want to marry you. I don’t ever want to be with anyone else, and I don’t want you
to be with anyone else. Logically, that means that marriage is the type of commitment I want with you.” He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face slightly so that she was looking him in the eye.

  Sarah’s eyes were wide, and her mouth was slightly opened as she tried to catch her breath, but that didn’t stop Noah. He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “Sarah, will you marry me?”

  She stared at him for a moment, then rolled off of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Noah heard the shower run a moment later, so he got up and followed her. She was standing under the water, just letting it run down her face and body, but she turned to look at him as he entered.

  “Did you really just ask that?”

  “Yes,” Noah said.

  She stared at him for a few seconds, and then slowly began to nod her head. “Yes,” she said.

  After they had showered and dressed again, she helped Noah pack his two suitcases. They would be riding to the airport in Hummer-Stein, the big Hummer that Neil used as a personal vehicle. Besides being big enough for all four of them, it had plenty of cargo space in the back for their luggage and the suitcases Sarah had been given were already loaded into it.

  Packing took less than half an hour, so they were ready to go when Marco pulled in. Noah and Sarah joined him in the walk over to Neil’s trailer, where the Hummer sat with its tailgate open. They put their bags inside and then Noah tapped on the trailer door.

  Neil and Lacey stepped outside, and the girl put her arms around him and pulled him close. “You come back safe, you hear me?” She kissed him thoroughly, and then gently pushed him toward Noah. “He’s all yours for now, but you bring him back.”

  Noah nodded. “I plan to.”

  The four of them climbed into the Hummer and Neil waved once more to Lacey as he started it up. A moment later, they turned onto the road and headed toward the highway that would take them to the interstate, and to Denver.