The rest of his life yawned before him, as lonely and isolated as this, and for once, he couldnt push his fear of it away with an admonition to himself that he had years left before the end of life as a SEAL.
Now the end was only a few months away, looming bigger and more terrifying than the hurricane outside.
* * *
It was nearly morning before Bass woke with a start, looked at his watch, and swore. Why didnt you wake me up, boss? I missed my watch.
Cole turned to him. I was wide-awake, so I decided to let you guys sleep.
The quiet conversation roused Ashe, which was no surprise. SEALs were notoriously light sleepers. He asked, Hows the storm doing?
The worst of it has passed.
Did it hit New Orleans? Ashe asked quickly.
His wife, Sam, was a native and had refused to evacuate. But Ashe had convinced her to go to the naval station to ride out the storm in a hardened building close to the base hospital. Sam was seven months pregnant, and Ashe was having no part of anything bad happening to her or their baby.
Jessamine slid west of the city. New Orleans is still taking a lot of rain and some wind damage, but the levees are holding.
Thank God, Ashe breathed.
Shes fine, Cole replied. Sams tucked into SEAL Ops, and none of the guys will let anything happen to her.
Bass chimed in, A bunch of them know how to deliver babies, too.
Ashe scowled. Sams under strict orders not to have this kid until Im there to deliver it.
Cole grinned. And did you have a conversation with your son about that? Did you explain to him that hes not supposed to come until you get home?
Yes, as a matter of fact. I did.
Bass and Cole both laughed and ribbed Ashe about what a pushover of a father he was going to be as dawn broke outside. They ate tuna fish straight from the canit wasnt the most appetizing breakfast Coled ever had, but it was a whole lot better than some of the swill that had passed for food in his career.
Nissa wandered out of the bedroom around the same time the rain stopped, around nine in the morning. Is it over? she asked, her voice husky with sleep and sexy as hell.
Dear God, she was irresistible with her hairwhich turned out to be wildly curly when released from its braidtangled around her face, the formfitting leggings and turtleneck shed been given to wear under her wet suit leaving nothing to his vivid imagination. His gaze slid up her body hungrily, taking in every detail of her figure, before lifting to her face andoh, sh
She was watching him examine every inch of her. Her eyes were wide and startled, but as he gazed into them they went dark and sultry.
Dammit. She was thinking about her dream and that smoking-hot embrace theyd shared. And she knew darned good and well that he was thinking about the exact same thing. He tore his gaze away from hers, but that wasnt much better. He looked down and couldnt help but notice her chest rising and falling in short little gasps. Did she have to get so turned on every time she looked at him? It was really starting to mess with his head. And he wasnt going to be able to stand up without embarrassing himself for too much longer.
In fact, he moved over to the couch and sat down just in case.
Hungry? Ashe asked her from behind Cole.
Yes. Whatve you got?
Ashe put on a cheesy fake French accent. I have for zee mademoiselle a delicious tuna fish on zee half can. Or I can offer to her zee beans of later making music.
Nissas laugh was as musical and appealing as the rest of her. Ill take the tuna, thanks.
Good choice, Bass commented, opening the stove door to add more wood to the fire.
Nissa settled on a chair that put her knee about six inches from Coles. Was she trying to torment him? He was supposed to be the ice man. Nothing rattled him, and nothing ever shook his vaunted cool. He shifted uncomfortably, putting a few more inches between them, hoping he was subtle enough about it not to draw his guys attention. He stared fixedly into the fire, determined not to give them any fodder to harass him or, more important, to harass Nissa.
The iron stove door clanged shut, startling him into looking up at Bass. The guy was smirking knowingly. Dammit. At least hed had the decency to keep his amusement to himself and not embarrass Nissa. Cole made a mental note to have a private word with Ashe and Bass later to keep their remarks to themselves and be respectful of her.
How much longer until we can get out of here? she asked no one in particular.
He glanced at Bastien, who was the local and more accustomed to hurricanes than the rest of them.
Bass shrugged. Depends on how long it takes the water to go down. Could be a day, could be a week. When we can move out will depend on where we plan to move to.
Meaning what? Cole asked.
Are we heading back to the boat, or are we going to hike inland until we hit civilization? Bass responded.
What are the odds of stumbling across a marina out here where we can refuel?
Low, Bass admitted. Even if we had a water navigation chart, when a big storm comes through the bayou, the scouring action of the tides and the storm surge cut new waterways and clog others till theyre impassable.
So our best bet is to abandon the RIB and make our way overland toward New Orleans? Cole asked.
Ashe chimed in. The boat was out of gas. If we use it, well have to row all the way back to town. My best guess is were a hundred miles west of New Orleans.
So far? Nissa exclaimed.
Ashe nodded. Weather reports said Jessamine passed west of New Orleans, and her eye wall was about sixty miles across. I figure we didnt catch the eye wall, because as sturdy as this place is, even it wouldnt have withstood a direct hit. So were at least fifteen to twenty miles west of the path of the storm center. That puts us a good hundred miles or more west of New Orleans.
The others launched into a brainstorming session of possible ways to get back to New Orleans, but all Cole could think about was Nissas knee so close to his. Who obsessed about knees, anyway? And yet, here he was, taking note of how slender hers was and how perfectly proportioned to her legs.
Eventually, Bass distracted him by saying, What do you think, boss? Do we radio for help or try to make it back on our own?
He answered, The folks back in New Orleans are going to have their hands full with rescue operations. No matter how hard the government tries to convince everyone to leave, you know a bunch of the locals were too stubborn to go. The others nodded in commiseration. Were able bodied, uninjured and capable of taking care of ourselves. We dont need to divert resources to help us when civilians are dying. Whats out here by way of roads or towns?
Bastien pulled out the laminated maps that had been provided for this mission, and Cole was relieved to move over to the kitchen table to pore over the maps with his men. Close proximity to Nissa was doing weird stuff to his blood pressure.
Cole pulled out their GPS locator. Weve only got the one battery thats in the GPS to work with. The spare batteries got wet somewhere along the way. Lets get a solid position fix and then figure out where the closest place is that might have vehicles and gasoline.
As Ashe had guessed, they were, indeed, about a hundred miles west of New Orleans along the Gulf Coast. But what shocked Cole was that they were nearly fifteen miles inland north of the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. How did we get so far north? he asked.
Bass answered, Storm surge. All this coastal area, here, was underwater by the time we came ashore, and we motored right over it.
Were only about three miles southwest of this town, Gueydan. Can we hike to it overland, or will the area between us and it be flooded? Cole asked him.
Bass shrugged. Only one way to find out.
Ashe looked over at Nissa, seated on the couch. What about her? Do we leave her behind and come back for her once weve got transportation?
Cole was stunned by the visceral negative reaction in his gut at the notion of leaving her behind. Aloud, he answered, SEALs dont leave anyone behind, and for now, shes one of us. Besides, shes had a hell of a scareseveral of them, in fact. Lets not traumatize her any further by abandoning her out here in the middle of the bayou.
Nissa flashed him a brilliant smile that all but had him striding across the room to wrap her in his arms and capture all that joyous relief for himself.
They ended up having to wait a full twenty-four hours for the floodwaters to go down and for the sodden land to reemerge. They passed the time making repairs to the cabin, inside and out, by way of thanks to the owner for the shelter. Bright and early the next morning, however, they packed their gear and headed out.
Cole was plenty glad to get out of the small confines of the cabin. Its four walls hadnt been anywhere near big enough to contain the towering attraction between him and Nissa, and he was on the verge of losing his mind before they finally got outside and on the move, away from the momentary insanity that had been their impromptu hurricane party.
For the first time he could remember, he was antsy as all heck to get back to civilization and be done with this mission. And it had everything to do with a petite blonde CIA analyst and her big blue eyes.