Guide Me Home (SEAL of Fortune) Read online

  Julian listens without comment as Ryker lays out the stories in broad strokes. He minimizes how near death Ronnie had come in the second attack, but Julian seems to be able to read between the lines.

  “Thank you, Ryker. Thank you for saving my daughter. I feel better, having talked to you, and know that she will continue to be safe under your protection.”

  “I will see that nothing happens to her, Julian. I promise.”

  “Yes. I know that you will. She is the most important thing in the world to me.”

  Ryker smiles sadly. “From the short time I have known her, she seems like she is an amazing woman.”

  Julian smiles in return. “That she is, Ryker. That she is.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ryker walks into the motor pool. Ronnie and Julian are already there, standing in the back of a two-ton box van, peering, pointing, and talking excitedly. Ryker walks up behind them and looks through the door into the cargo box. From the outside the truck looks like any other city delivery van. But the inside of the cargo box is another matter.

  Julian feels Ryker’s presence and turns to face him. “This is about the most amazing thing I have never seen. There is a complete genetics lab in the back of this truck. The only thing my lab in Berkeley has that this thing doesn’t is space.”

  “Now that everyone is here,” says a fat man with sweat stains on his shirt, “I’m Garland Tomlinson. People just call me Gar. This is little beauty here is something we threw together over the last week or so. We call it the Mobile Genetics Lab--Mogle for short. As you can see it has everything you need to perform a variety of tests on…”

  As the man talks, Ryker tunes him out. Two minutes into his orientation with Drs. Baker the tech-speak is so far over his head they may have as well been speaking Mandarin. The Drs. Baker seem immensely impressed with their new toy but the only thing he gets out of it is that that the Mogle is self-contained and has everything Ronnie will need to test for the modified virus they are looking for. He might not understand everything that will be going on in the back of the truck, but it is an impressive bit of kit nonetheless.

  “Any questions?” Gar asks ninety minutes later.

  Ronnie and Julian look at each other. “Who do we call when something breaks?” Ronnie asks with a grin. “Somehow I don’t think we can have this thing fixed at the local Ford dealer.”

  Gar grins. “No. Probably not. We are building another one right now to ship over so you will have a backup. But otherwise, we will have to send out a field tech. Mr. Spreck will know how to reach us.”

  Ronnie’s smile quickly fades at the mention of Spreck’s name. In the excitement of learning about the Mogle she had momentarily forgotten what the truck was going to be used for. “Great. The less I have to deal with Mister. Spreck, the better,” Ronnie mutters.

  Gar glances at his watch. “If you have no other questions, I have a couple of hours to get some chow and some shuteye before my ride leaves. Where’s the cafeteria?”

  “Follow me,” Julian says, taking charge of Gar. Ronnie starts to follow, but Ryker stops her.

  “Ronnie… may I speak with you for a moment?” he asks softly.

  “What?” Ronnie snaps. She a bit surprised at the venom in her tone.

  “Are you okay with this? Are we going to be able to work together or should I tell Hargraves this isn’t going to work? I don’t have any choice, but you do,” Ryker’s says, his tone gentle and non-combative.

  Ronnie softens slightly. “No. I can make this work. What about you?”

  He smiles somewhat. “To be honest, I would rather have Julian. But you have made your feelings clear so…” he says before trailing off with a slight shrug.

  “Let’s just find the virus so we can get the hell out of here,” she says.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he agrees softly. “See you in the morning, Dr. Baker.” He looks at her for just a moment then turns and walks away, leaving her alone in the motor pool.

  Ronnie watches Ryker leave. For someone she can’t stand, why does she feel disappointed he left without her?

  ***

  Ryker stops by the Marine barracks looking for Sergeant Linda Betts. Sergeant Betts had made her willingness to keep him company known when he started hanging out with the Marines while waiting on new orders. At the time he hadn’t taken her up on her offer of comfort, but tonight he could use some company. Some female company. If Ronnie doesn’t want him, he will find someone that does. The Marines relaxing in the NCO lounge direct him to the gym when he queries them for the Betts location. By the time he finds her in the Marine’s private gym, sweating on an exercise bike, he has changed his mind. He spends a few minutes talking with her, along with a couple of the other Marines there as well, covering his visit by thanking them for making him feel welcome and saying his goodbyes. He and Ronnie will be leaving the next day, on the search for the missing virus. Leaving the gym, Ryker stops back by the lounge and repeats the thanks and goodbyes before returning to his room.

  ***

  “Hello Kenneth,” Ronnie says softly into the phone.

  “Veronica! Thank God! I have been worried about you. Why haven’t you called?” Kenneth asks breathlessly.

  “I’m sorry. I know I said I would call, but I have been busy. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. How about you? Did they find Julian?”

  “Yes. He is safe now. He should be leaving to return home in a day or two.”

  “Thank God for that. But you said he. Aren’t you coming home, too?”

  “No. I have to stay a while longer.”

  “Why?” he asks in surprise and annoyance. “I miss you, babe. I want you to come home. There is so much going on right now. I could use your help.”

  “Help?”

  “Yeah. Remember? We are hosting the group from the Theoretical Astrophysics Center?”

  “Oh yeah, I remember. Elliot and you were going to talk about a joint research project, right?”

  “Yeah. But with finals and everything, I could use some help getting that all set up. When do you think you might be home?”

  “I don’t know, Kenneth. At least several weeks probably.”

  “Several weeks! That will be after the symposium! Can’t you get away sooner? Or maybe come home for a while then go back?”

  Ronnie rolls her eyes. It’s always about what he wants. “I don’t think so, Kenneth. This is important.”

  “So is this symposium!”

  “Oh for Christ sake, Kenneth! Get one of your graduate students to help you! Jesus, what are you? Helpless?”

  “Fine!” Kenneth snaps. “If I can’t depend on you I…”

  “Stop being such a baby!” Ronnie interrupts. “Is that the only reason you want me to come home? So I can get this dinner party set up?”

  “Veronica! Of course not! That’s not it at all! What’s wrong with you? Why are you being such a bitch?”

  “It’s what it feels like to me! Here I am, stuck in this godforsaken country, and when I call to talk to you, all you can do is bitch at me for not being there to help with some stupid dinner party that doesn’t amount to shit!”

  “Veronica! Why are you acting this way? You know how important this is to my career!”

  “So is potentially saving millions of lives,” Ronnie says, her voice flat.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing. Sorry. I’m just stressed out, that’s all.”

  “Well, it isn’t exactly milk and honey here either, you know.”

  She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “You’re just going to have to do the best you can, Kenneth. I don’t know when I can get home. It could be a while.”

  “That’s just great. Just fucking great,” he says in annoyance.

  “I have to go Kenneth.”

  “Yeah. Fine. Whatever.”

  “Goodbye, Kenneth,” she says before hanging up. She sits looking at the phone for a moment, wondering what she ever saw in him. She can feel
tears trying to start, feeling so utterly alone she doesn’t know what to do.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “The good news is, one of the prisoners you took in the raid on the lab finally cracked last night. The bad news is, the information is compartmentalized,” Mr. Spreck says.

  “What does that mean?” Ronnie asks. She and Ryker had been summoned to Hargraves’ office right after breakfast.

  “It means, we only have the next link in the chain,” Spreck says. “Or rather, a drop to find the next link in the chain. The prisoner rolled on where and how to make the drop and we have an agent making the drop right now. But you need to be ready to move on a moment’s notice.”

  “Move?” Ryker asks. “Move how?”

  “After he picks up the drop we’ll follow him. See where he goes. But then you will have to move in. If he leads you to the virus, great. If not, bag him. We’ll use him to get to the next link in the chain.”

  “How am I supposed to do that and protect Ronnie—excuse me, Dr. Baker—too?”

  “Evans, I know it is a tough spot. But the embassy can’t be caught running an op again. Stash her some place where she will be safe if you have to bag him,” Hargraves says.

  “Goddammit!” Ryker snarls. “You’re going to get her killed!” He knows he has crossed the line, but he doesn’t care. Let them bust him for insubordination.

  Ronnie is surprised at the vehemence in Ryker’s tone. “Ryker…” she begins, trying to defuse the confrontation.

  “Evans, you will have nearly unlimited monetary resources to work with. You can rent or buy whatever you need to accomplish your mission if the embassy can’t provide it. But this has to be the way it goes down,” Hargraves says, his voice hard. “If you can’t do it, Petty Officer, I will find someone that can. Do I make myself clear?”

  Ronnie watches as Ryker’s jaw muscles work. “Yes, sir!” Ryker says, his words respectful but his tone is anything but.

  “Dismissed!” Hargraves barks. Ryker salutes, pivots, and storms out Hargraves’ office, Ronnie hurrying along behind.

  “Mother fuck!” Ryker shouts into the hall the minute the outer door closes behind him, the eyes of the Marine guard on duty flicking to him but otherwise making no indication he heard.

  “Ryker, what’s wrong?” Ronnie asks. She has never seen Ryker like this. Even when he brought in Baltasar for questioning, someone he had been waiting two years to kill, he wasn’t this out of control… and it scares her.

  “What’s wrong, Ronnie, is they are putting your life at unnecessary risk! I can’t bag the bad guys and protect you at the same time! I can’t do this!” Ryker snarls before turning and storming away down the hall.

  “Ryker! Wait!” she says, running briefly to catch up. “You’re scaring me! Please, tell me what is going on.”

  He pauses and looks up and down the hall. “Not here. My room,” he says before turning and walking away.

  She follows him into his room. It is small, barely more than a closet with a bath. Ronnie takes the only chair while he sits on the bed. “Tell me,” she encourages softly.

  He takes a deep breath. “The problem, Ronnie, is I can’t be in two places at the same time,” he says in exasperation. “When this mission was set up, I was told that I would have logistical support. That should mean that I go in, do what needs to be done, then you show up and do your thing. Like we did with the two labs we raided. I wouldn’t have the Marines to back me up, but I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is having you in the line of fire.”

  “So why can’t I just wait somewhere until it is safe?”

  “Because no place is safe short of the embassy, and they won’t let us stay here. What if the bad guys get wind of us? While I’m out trying to get into the lab to secure the virus, they send someone to take you? Now we are right back in the same situation we were in before and I will be on another extraction. Yours. And that is if we are lucky. They could just as easily kill you. I can’t fight this—they’re my orders. But you should tell Spreck to go fuck himself and that you won’t do it. This is unreasonable and they can’t make you do it.”

  She feels her blood run cold. “I can’t.”

  “Why Ronnie?” he asks, his tone almost pleading.

  “Because if I don’t do this, Dad will. I… can’t let him do that. He is getting old, Ryker, and he is borderline with high blood pressure. It could kill him.”

  Ryker fumes. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. They are setting us up to fail… and failure could cost you your life.”

  “And yours,” Ronnie points out gently.

  “This is my job, Ronnie. I could die every time I go out on a mission. I’ve accepted that. But I can’t accept that for you.”

  Ronnie feels her mouth pull down in a pout. Once again, the differences between Ryker and Kenneth couldn’t be more clear. Ryker is worrying about her life above his own, and Kenneth is worrying about his career. “Then I guess I will just have to stay with you all the time, so you can protect me and do the mission at the same time.”

  “Out of the question!” he says firmly.

  “You have a better idea?”

  “No. But there is no way in hell I am bringing you into a potential firefight. Forget it!” he says firmly.

  “Then what do you suggest? Huh? You just said you can’t leave me unprotected. If I am with you, then you can protect me right?”

  “Ronnie, for God’s sake! You don’t know what you are saying. They are going to be trying to kill me. One tiny mistake on my part and you will be dead. I…”

  “Then don’t make any mistakes,” she says firmly, interrupting him.

  “I can’t promise that!”

  She leans back in the chair. “Fine. Your call. But I’m going so you better decide if I am safer with you or without you.”

  Ryker stares at Ronnie then stand up. “Fine.”

  “Where are you going?” she asks, keeping her seat.

  “I’m resigning. I can’t do this.”

  “That will ruin your career!”

  “Better that than seeing you dead,” he says as he takes the three steps to the door and opens it.

  She is shocked at his words. She knows he is proud of his service, and to have him throw it all away to protect her… She jumps to her feet, putting her hand to the door. “Wait! Wait a minute! Think about what you are saying. You know as well as I do that they will just find someone else. Hargraves said so. And the mission will go on... and so will I.”

  “Why, Ronnie? Tell me why?” Ryker asks, allowing her to close the door again.

  “Because… I don’t want to be the cause of people dying,” Ronnie says quietly, looking at the floor.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “If we don’t recover the virus, someone may be able to eventually engineer the virus into a weapon. There is no way to know if they still have our data from the lab. I would assume they do. With the data, and the virus, they have two of the three pieces they need to engineer a weapon from our virus. I can’t run the risk of having our work perverted like that. I just can’t.”

  “But what about all the fail-safe you said are in the virus? You said it could take years to remove those.”

  “And it probably will. But does it matter if a pandemic starts tomorrow or in ten years?”

  “No. But you could train someone. Hell, in ten years, you could even train me to be able to detect the virus.”

  “Yes, probably. But CIA still thinks the virus is here, in Lebanon, right? Where could it be in ten years? They could have grown in it and it could be spread it to locations throughout the world, right? How will you ever get it back then? Ryker, the only reason we have a chance now is you have been harassing them and they wouldn’t have had the time to culture and grow the virus. We can’t give them that time. You know that.”

  Ryker looks at Ronnie. She is right, and he knows it. But… he can’t protect her and do his job. No one can. Once again Hargraves and Spreck have plac
ed him in a no-win situation. He finally steps back to his bed and sits down again. “I can’t do this Ronnie. I can’t.”

  He looks so sad that she can feel her lips pulling into a pout again as her eyes tear in sympathy. She joins him on the bed, sitting beside him and puts her arm around his shoulder. “You can, Ryker. You have to. It’s your duty… and I won’t feel safe with anyone other than you.”

  He stares at his feet for a long time. “Okay,” he finally says, quietly. “We’ll figure something out.”