Oath of Honor

couldn’t think of a single reason not to say yes. So she had.

“Have any trouble getting in this morning?” Wes asked.

Looking up with a start, Evyn stood, wondering how long she’d

been daydreaming and if anything showed in her face. “No. You?”

“Got a cab. No problem.” A faintly puzzled look crossed Wes’s

face and was quickly gone.

“Ready?” Evyn heard the curt tone in her voice and consciously

relaxed her shoulders. Wes was too sharp not to pick up on her tension,

and she didn’t intend for Wes Masters to have an inkling of what was

going on in her head.

“Absolutely. Can’t wait to get started.”

Evyn laughed at Wes’s dry tone. The uneasy churning in her

stomach disappeared and she smiled. “I’ll just bet.” She walked to the

door and locked it. “Take your jacket off.”

Watching Evyn sort through a gear box she’d placed on the table,

Wes shrugged out of her jacket. “Shirt too?”

“Ah, no,” Evyn said, busying herself untangling the lines for the

earpiece and wrist mic Wes would need to wear. She hadn’t thought

of Wes naked for all of five minutes, and she’d really like to make it

ten—years—or so before she had to squelch another image of Wes’s

tight body sliding over hers. Her thighs twitched. Hell. She held up the

radio. “This clips on the back of your pants. Turn around.”

Wes complied. “I’ll be on your channel?”

“That’s right.”

Evyn secured the radio with the minimal amount of contact

• 99 •

RADCLYfFE

possible. Even clothed, Wes had a great body. Unclothed, she’d be

incredible. She smelled really good too—kind of woodsy and crisp,

like the breeze on Whitley Island before the storm had rolled in. Clean,

sharp, exciting. Evyn stepped away before her skin burst into flames.

“That’s it. You can dre—put your jacket on.”

“That’s it?”

“You need something else?” Evyn asked around the knot in her

throat. Maybe she ought to move up her date with Louise. This hair-

trigger arousal thing was new and damn annoying. A little regular sex

might put a lid on it. “Ah…any questions?”

“Nope. The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll be done,

right?”

“That’s the theory.” Evyn searched for a hint of resentment or

anger or resistance but found only the cool, confident tones she’d come

to associate with Wes’s approach to everything. Her body cooled off

and her head started working again. Game time. “Let’s go test it.”

“Where are we headed?” Wes asked, matching Evyn stride

for stride as they left the ready room. A trio of black SUVs waited

outside.

“The James J. Rowley Training Center—but we just call it

Beltsville.”

“What are we—”

“If you’re not in the president’s vehicle, you’ll be one behind it,”

Evyn said as they climbed into the rear of the second car. “Ordinarily

you’d have your own field-trauma kit, but you can use our FAT kit

today.”

“If I’m expected to use this equipment for any reason today,” Wes

said, “I’d like to see what’s in it before we leave.”

“You’ll have what you need if anything comes up. You can

customize your own later.”

Evyn settled next to the big guy Wes had seen at Whitley Manor.

He extended his hand. “Morning, Doc. I’m Gary Brown.”

“Wes Masters.” Wes shook hands and settled across from him and

Evyn. The cloak-and-dagger treatment was already starting to get old

and she’d just started. She understood she needed to know how PPD

operated, but she didn’t see why she needed to be in the dark. “So, will

I have to pass the physical before I get to play with the big kids?”

• 100 •

Oath Of hOnOr

Gary coughed and looked out the smoked-glass windows. To

Wes’s surprise, Evyn colored faintly.

“Can you?” Evyn asked.

As a matter of fact, she’d just had her annual re-quals and part of

that had been a fitness eval, but that had to be in her records. Which

Evyn had undoubtedly seen. “Well, I do spend an awful lot of my time

at a desk, but pushing papers around can be pretty tiring.”

Evyn grinned as if Wes’s sarcasm pleased her. “No sit-ups for you

today, Doc, but I hope you can run.”

• 101 •

RADCLYfFE

chapter thirteen

The first blast rocked the vehicle about forty-five minutes into

the trip. All Wes could see out the window was a tree-lined

road and a brilliant flash of orange somewhere ahead of them before

a cloud of dust—or smoke—enveloped the SUV. The vehicle swerved

hard right and she bounced against the door frame. Pain shot down her

left arm. She grabbed for the medical kit at her feet with her other hand

and held on.

“What’s the situation?” she shouted over a series of deafening

roars. The road beneath the heavy chassis vibrated.

“Rocket attack,” Gary yelled back.

Evyn pressed her fingers to her earpiece. Her mouth was moving,

but Wes couldn’t make out the words. She jolted forward as the SUV

jerked to a stop.

“Out, and stay with me,” Evyn said, pushing the rear door open.

Gary went out the opposite door and Wes scrambled after Evyn,

the FAT kit clenched in her fist. Acrid air stung her eyes and burned her