Mission: Christmas: The Christmas Wild Bunch / Snowbound with a Prince

Chapter 2

The September dawn was cool in the Sonoran desert. Girding herself, Dallas carried her flight bag across the tarmac of the airstrip, an M16 rifle across her shoulder. Parked just ahead of her was the tan-and-white Cessna 206 Stationair she would fly. This was her first day on the job, and she knew Murdoch would test her.

The sky to the east was pink, and she enjoyed the desert scenery, which reminded her of Israel. Dallas lamented that her month-long visit to Tel Aviv had gone by so quickly. She missed her parents already.

This latest assignment would be temporary. There was a new black ops forming for the Black Jaguar Squadron. Right now, it was in the planning stages at the Pentagon. Dallas had been alerted that she was up for consideration as the C.O. of the as-yet-unveiled project. Because the all-woman BJS had been so successful in Peru, the boys at the Pentagon had finally seen the light. They wanted to take the BJS model to other parts of the world, only with men added to the mix.

Still, it was going to be overseen and run by a woman—her—and that made Dallas feel good. At least the military was getting over its hissy fit about women pilots performing in combat. They could and did, as well as any man. In the meantime, Dallas wanted to stay active out in the field, until the important new ops assignment came together.

Tightening her grip on the handle of her duffel bag, she greeted the mechanic just opening the doors on the C-206.

“Morning to you, Major Klein,” the man called, lifting his hand in a wave. “I’m Scotty, your mechanic.” He flashed her a toothy smile, doffed his dark green Border Patrol cap and ran a hand through his thick, gray-streaked brown hair.

Smiling, Dallas walked over and shook his hand. “Thanks for the welcome, Scotty.” The mandatory Kevlar bulletproof vests were sitting in the cockpit, she noted. She placed her duffel bag next to her vest on the copilot’s seat. “Can you tell me where Agent Murdoch might be?” She glanced at her watch. “Take off is in ten minutes.”

Chuckling, Scotty finished cleaning the cockpit Plexiglas and said, “Hey, the Wild Bunch parties hard and plays hard, Major.” He raised his bushy brows. “I’m way past that kind of scene myself, but those rascals…Before Randy Grant got killed—he was Agent Murdoch’s partner—those four dudes would take off for the nightclubs in Nogales as soon as they hit the tarmac and finished their reports. You would see them staggering back here the next morning, smelling of alcohol…”

His smile waned and his brown eyes grew serious as he walked back around the single-propeller Cessna to where she stood. “I’m a teetotaler now, and don’t go for any of that, but the Wild Bunch does.” Shrugging, he added, “They get the job done, despite everything.”

“They come out here for a mission still drunk?” Dallas couldn’t keep the alarm out of her voice.

The lean mechanic gave her a pained look. “This is your first day here, Major. Before you hang ’em, see what they do.” He patted the fuselage of the C-206. “You’ve just signed on to a very dirty, dangerous business.”

The cool breeze brought the sweet scent of broom snakeweed, a huge desert bush covered with tiny yellow flowers. Dallas looked around the quiet facility. A black-eared jackrabbit loped across the small airstrip and disappeared up a hill covered with the blooming plants. “I know it’s dangerous, Scotty.” Frowning, she asked, “How did Agent Murdoch’s partner die?”

“It was pretty bad. Him and Mike tailed two C-206s flying near Los Mochis. They followed one down to what looked like a deserted dirt airstrip. When they went to arrest the pilot, smugglers hiding in a nearby hangar opened fire on them. Randy died in the firefight, but Mike got them all.” Proudly, Scotty added, “Murdoch’s a cando kind of guy, Major. You want him at your back in a crunch ’cause he’s fearless. Not only did he nail the druggies in the Cessna, he captured seven hundred pounds of marijuana, plus killed the three bad guys who were hiding in that hangar.”

“How long ago did this happen?” Dallas began to wonder if Murdoch wasn’t wrestling with grief over his partner’s death. It would be normal to do so.

“A month ago.” Scotty lowered his voice. “Major, he’s had a bad run of luck of late. He just got finished with a nasty divorce. First, Randy dies, and then his ex-wife tore up his life. And now, well, you’re his new partner.” The mechanic eyed her wryly, and added, “You’re a woman. He’s not real keen on females right now, if you know what I mean. Not that any of this is your fault. You’re the innocent walking into it.”

Great. Dallas understood anyone dealing with the death of a loved one had a lot of grief to plow through. Her good friend Kat Wallace, commander of a C-17 that delivered supplies to Lima for the Black Jaguar Squadron, had lost her brother last January. Mack Wallace had been a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq. Kat was not part of the all-female black ops of the BJS, but Dallas had struck up a friendship with the Air Force pilot. She had seen the thirty-year-old, baby-faced woman shut down emotionally after her brother’s death.

Kat had started wearing her brother’s dog tags during the last flights she’d made into Lima, before being reassigned to a unit in eastern Europe. It helped her ease her grief and stay connected to Mack, she’d told Dallas over shots of pisco, a powerful local drink in Peru. Seeing Kat suffer so badly, Dallas had ached for her friend.

As she sifted through those recent memories, she looked up to see a lone figure in a dark green flight suit making his way toward them. It was Mike Murdoch.

Okay, he was grieving, too. That was good to know. Further, with a fresh divorce making him emotionally raw, his hostile demeanor of yesterday could be understandable. He might not be angry at Dallas, but she was female, and therefore, the enemy. Great. Just great. It was hard enough fitting into a new squadron, but this made it doubly tough.

Dallas turned to Scotty, who was finishing up his ground duties around the Cessna. “Thanks for the info,” she called softly. “I appreciate the heads-up.”

He grinned. “You seem like a nice lady, Major. We’re lucky to have someone of your caliber step in and fill the slot as Mike’s partner. That dude needs a good, solid, steady person working with him. That’s what Randy was, you know. He was always the cooler head that prevailed when things heated up, in the air and on the ground. Mike’s the leader of the Wild Bunch for a reason.” The mechanic flashed his uneven, toothy smile once more.

Nodding, Dallas wished she’d gotten this info from her commander. But then, life didn’t work that way. The rank hierarchy often didn’t know the facts of a situation unless someone like Scotty was around to let them in on the real story. “I owe you one,” she called.

The mech gave her a shy smile. “Nah, you don’t, Major. You just come back safe and sound. That’s all I ask.”

“That’s my goal,” she promised him.

The sun was barely peeking above the horizon when she turned back to Murdoch. He had his head down, his duffel bag slung over his one broad shoulder, M16 over the other, as he shuffled toward her. He was weaving slightly, and Dallas caught the odor of alcohol long before he arrived. And when he lifted his head, she noted his skin, bloodshot eyes and the thin set of his mouth. He was still drunk. Damn.

As he approached the C-206, Murdoch glowered at his new partner. Scotty said hello, and Mike merely grunted in answer. Why the hell did the major have to be so damn sexy? Dallas Klein made a rumpled, unisex flight suit look good. She was tall, and though she was slim, her full breasts and curving hips showed she was definitely female. Plus those long, long legs would be definitely worth exploring. Though unhappy with his libidinous reaction, he acknowledged the fact that the major was a damn fine-lookin’ woman. Well, he was fried on women right now, and they were off-limits. So his reaction to this military pilot didn’t make sense at all. But then, he was still drunk from a night of partying in Nogales.

He noticed Klein frowning at him. She had the most beautiful gold eyes he’d ever seen. They contrasted appealingly with her shoulder-length hair, which was caught up in a girlish ponytail. Her olive skin was so smooth, and that mouth of hers made his loins sizzle. Mike couldn’t decide which was her best feature, those large, inquisitive eyes or those sinfully shaped full lips just begging to be kissed…

Mike seemed to come out of a fog as he saw her eyes narrow speculatively on him and her soft mouth purse. Trouble.

“Good morning, Agent Murdoch,” Dallas said as he approached.

“Yeah, it is,” he grunted. He started around the nose of his Cessna to take the pilot’s seat.

“Hold it,” she ordered.

Murdoch turned. What the hell? She was picking up her duffel bag from the copilot’s seat and heading toward him. “What are you doing?” he groused. “You’re my copilot.”

“Not today, with the way you look and smell, Murdoch.”

Shocked, Mike took a step back as she brushed by him. “What? Hey! Come back here, dammit!” He reached out, grabbed her upper arm and swung her toward him. What happened next, he wasn’t expecting. The moment his fingers wrapped around her arm, she dropped her bag and turned swiftly. In seconds, Murdoch found himself flat on his back. Her knee was in the center of his chest, and she was scowling down at him.

“Don’t ever grab me again, Murdoch. You won’t live to talk about it with your buddies the second time around. Got it?”

Blinking twice, Mike stared up into her darkened eyes. What the hell had just happened? “Uh, yeah…”

Dallas removed her knee from his chest and stood back. She didn’t offer to help him to his feet. The mechanic gave her a brief nod, as if to say she’d done the right thing under the circumstances.

“Now, Agent Murdoch, here’s how things are going to go on this mission of ours this morning. I’m commander today. You’re copilot. You’re obviously hungover, still drunk. I can smell the alcohol from six feet away. You’re my partner, and I’m not going to allow you to pilot a plane under these circumstances. Are we clear about our job assignments?”

Murdoch picked himself up off the tarmac, dusted off the rear of his flight suit and grudgingly reached for his duffel and rifle. “What the hell kind of move did you make on me?” he demanded, holding her furious stare.

“I’m Israeli, Agent Murdoch. I’m on loan to the U.S. government. Every Israeli soldier learns krav maga. It’s how we protect ourselves.”

Rubbing his stubbled jaw, he eyed her. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s a nasty way to fight.”

Giving him a brief, cutting smile, Dallas said, “It’s a way to stay alive, Agent Murdoch.”

“You’re good.”

“I have a black belt, the highest level in this style of fighting.” Krav maga combined the best moves from different combat techniques and turned them into a lethal back-alley mix.

“Wouldn’t you know it…” Murdoch muttered, finding new respect for her, as a woman and a soldier. “Damn good thing my ex-wife didn’t know krav maga, or I’d be dead by now.”

“Then don’t ever make the mistake of thinking I’m her.” The major pointed to her arm. “I’m off-limits to you, Agent Murdoch. You’d never have reached out and grabbed me if I were a man. So whatever rage you feel about your divorce and women, don’t dump it on me. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Smarting at her cool, husky tone, he watched her pick up her flight bag and head for the pilot’s seat. Scotty said nothing, just stood in front of the Cessna, waiting for them to climb in and get harnessed up. After running his fingers through his hair, Mike changed direction and walked to the copilot’s seat. Dallas was putting on the Kevlar vest near the open cockpit door. He threw his duffel in the back seat, after getting his revolver and tucking it in the leather holster beneath his right arm. Climbing in, he saw her glare at him. Now what?

“Mr. Murdoch, I’m assuming you forgot to put on your Kevlar vest because you’re still drunk?”

He flinched beneath her warning voice and jerked the vest off the seat. “I don’t ever fly with it,” he snarled.

“You will with me. Put it on.”

Anger swilled through Murdoch. His mind was still fogged with whiskey and he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Dammit, I told you, I’m not flying with it on. It’s too friggin’ uncomfortable.”

Fastening the Velcro straps of her chest armor, Dallas met his bloodshot eyes. He was acting like a pouty six-year-old. “Tell me, Agent Murdoch, was your last partner, Randy Grant, wearing his Kevlar vest when he died?”

Stung, Mike reared back. How did she know about Randy? And then he noticed Scotty’s sheepish look. The mech had told her. Swinging his gaze back to her, Mike couldn’t help but admire her in one way. But he sure as hell didn’t want to take orders from any woman right now, X.O. or not. “Neither of us was wearing one at the time we nailed the bad guys.”

“And if Randy had been wearing his vest, do you think he’d be standing here today instead of me?” Dallas slid her dark green flight helmet over her head and pushed up the visor.

Her low voice penetrated Murdoch’s mounting anger, and he saw a flicker of compassion in her gold eyes. He realized belatedly that this woman really was a tour de force, certainly no office pogue who hadn’t been around combat. Maybe that black ops down in Peru had given her the type of experience to see the truth of a situation. Rattled, he snarled, “Yes, Randy probably would be here. He took a slug to the chest.”

Mike didn’t have to finish the rest of the sentence. If he and his partner had worn their bulletproof vests, Randy would have survived that gunfight. Cursing softly, Mike reached behind the seat and jerked on the stiff garment. “There. Satisfied, Major?”

“I am now. Do the walk around, Agent Murdoch. That’s what copilots do, unless you think you’re above such an activity.”

Mike’s nostrils flared. Of course he knew the copilot always walked around the aircraft, looking for leaks, testing the propellers, wing flaps and rudders to make sure they were in working order. After the customary trip, he returned to his seat and climbed in. He let Klein know everything was in working order, and they got down to business. She was already harnessed in and waiting for him. No matter what way Mike looked at her—in profile or full-on—she was pretty.

As he fumbled with his harness array, Murdoch wondered if she was married. For sure, someone with her looks and body had to have a significant other. Grousing at himself, he shut the door and locked it. “Okay, I’m ready for preflight, Major.” Normally, Mike didn’t wear his flight helmet, either, but he figured he’d better this morning. He settled it on his head and donned his aviator sunglasses. His skull throbbed even more, but he remained silent. Where the hell had he put his aspirin?

Dallas handed him the preflight card. Moments later, they had finished with the short checklist, and she tucked it back in the net pouch beside her seat. She noticed Murdoch digging into his flight suit pockets, eventually pulling out a plastic Ziploc bag containing white tablets. Aspirin? She refrained from asking as he popped a couple into his mouth and washed them down with water.

Scotty removed the chocks from the nose wheel and then stood off to one side. He twirled his index finger in the air, which meant she could start the engine. In no time, Dallas had the C-206 idling. The whole plane shivered, and she applied rudders and throttle to take the Stationair out to the end of the short runway. A couple of jackrabbits raced across the asphalt in front of them.

“I had the opportunity last night to look over the Sonoran corridor, Agent Murdoch,” she told him, fitting the mike close to her lips. “And today I want to make this mission count in two ways. First, I see that Santa Ana hasn’t been checked out in the last three months. Your efforts have been focused in the western part of the state. Secondly, I need to acquaint myself with the whole terrain, and that area is close enough. I don’t want to undertake a real mission with you today, given the shape you’re in.”

Moving his mike to his lips, Murdoch spread the map across his thighs. “Santa Ana is quiet. You’re wasting our time.”

“We’ll see.” Dallas anchored the small plane, pressed both rudders to the floor and gently eased the throttle to takeoff speed. In moments, the reving engine made the C-206 shake and shudder as she held the craft in place. Releasing the rudders, which also acted as brakes, Dallas smoothly eased the plane off the runway and into the quiet morning air. As she got her bearings and banked left toward the border, she told him, “Make the calls to the Mexican officials that we’re entering their airspace. I’ve already filed a flight plan with them, and they should have it in hand.”

“You’re efficient,” he grunted, adjusting the radio frequency to report to the appropriate officials. Speaking in Spanish, he gave their call sign, Wolf One, and let them know their latitude and longitude. Then he switched the frequency back to their Nogales unit, so they could be continuously monitored.

“I’m deeply disappointed in you, Agent Murdoch.” Dallas leveled off the plane at three thousand feet. Below them desert stretched in every direction. To the south she could see the purplish peaks of mountains washed by the rising sun. “Do you fly drunk every day?”

“Dammit, get off my back, Major.”

“Not a chance. I have to fly with you, Murdoch. How can I trust you if we find druggies, have to land and go after them? What part of your alcohol-drenched brain will be working? Right now, I’m hoping there is no action in Santa Ana, because frankly, you’re a liability to me. You sure as hell can’t protect my six.”

“Okay, point taken.” Murdoch was familiar with the term—pilot lingo for the back or rear of something. In this case, she referred to the fact he couldn’t really protect her in a firefight. To have someone’s six meant being there to save that person’s life.

That comment hurt. He’d already lost Randy, and he couldn’t argue with her, either. He’d drunk more than he’d meant to last night. Realizing a woman would replace his best friend for four years was just too much for Mike to take. The whiskey had taken the sting out of the situation and given him a reprieve of sorts. Now, reality glared at him like a blinding light.

“It’s more than a point,” Dallas told him, holding his stare briefly. “You won’t ever show up for a mission in this shape again. You got that, Murdoch? You and the Wild Bunch can party all you want, but you’d better arrive at work clean shaven, your hair combed—and not wearing yesterday’s flight suit, which reeks of sweat.”

The sun rose higher, and Dallas put on her dark aviator glasses. Anger raged through her, but as an X.O., she had to hold on to her feelings, say and do the right things. She noticed Murdoch had lost some of his gruffness and was looking pasty and hangdog. He said nothing, just picked up a pair of binoculars to scan the desert for druggies.

Her heart went out to him. To have lost his partner a month ago, and then finalize a divorce, the guy probably had lots of reason to get drunk. Still, Dallas wouldn’t let that be an excuse. What they did for a living was dangerous, and Murdoch had to be a hundred percent when he flew with her.

Piloting the Cessna in the quiet air was a pleasure for Dallas. The sky was a light blue above the bright gold horizon. The half yoke used to guide this plane was a far cry from the cyclic and collective of the Apache helo she had flown almost daily in Peru. And this civilian airplane was a slug in comparison to that speedy military helicopter. But her mission was different. At least for a while, until her new Black Jaguar Squadron assignment came through.

“Hey,” Mike called, suddenly sitting up straight. He’d been looking below, through the binoculars. “I think we got a bad guy at three o’clock, Major. It’s a C-206 like ours, painted desertbrown so we can’t see them all that well.”

Tipping the wing slightly to the right, Dallas caught sight of the plane. “Good spotting,” she exclaimed. Hearing the sudden excitement in Murdoch’s voice, she grinned. “What’s your next move when you spot a possible drug plane?”

“I’m calling the Mexican air channel people right now. If this guy has a flight plan, he’s not a smuggler. The druggies never file flight plans.” Mike jabbed a finger toward the fleeing plane. “He has no numbers on the sides of his fuselage, a dead giveaway that he’s a smuggler. Still, we always check.”

Pleased, Dallas dropped the plane down to one thousand feet. They were on the six, or rear, of the C-206, which was flying at about five hundred feet. Even if he was swiveling his head around, looking for them, the pilot would never see them at this angle. She gave a wolfish grin.

In no time, Murdoch had gone through the required steps. He sent Dallas a triumphant smile. “We got ourselves a druggie on the run.”

“And Santa Ana is probably where he originated from, based on his flight trajectory.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Mike’s assessment of her tactical abilities rose accordingly.

“What next? Do we force him down?” she demanded.

Surprised, Murdoch looked over at her. He saw her set profile. Right now, she was like a hawk intent on a victim. Gone was the soft, luscious mouth and the curvy, feminine woman. No, he was seeing an air combat warrior. “We have choices here, Major. We can call ahead and ask someone to force them down. Or we can do it. We can just follow the pilot until he lands at his intended airstrip, where he’ll meet men planning to drive the bales across the U.S. border. What’s your pleasure?”

“Let’s force him down.”

He liked the edgy excitement in her husky voice. She had both hands on the yoke and was within five hundred feet of the unsuspecting smuggler.

“You can fly up alongside him and gesture for him to land,” Mike said, “or pull up to the pilot’s side, and I’ll poke the barrel of my M16 out the window here. I’ll put a couple of shots right in front of his cockpit window. That is guaranteed to get his attention.”

“What are the chances of them returning fire?” Dallas missed not having the missiles and rockets that were part of the Apache’s vaunted arsenal. The Cessna was a civilian plane and had no armor, no weaponry.

“Depends,” he said, twisting around and reaching for his rifle. With quick, knowing movements, he prepared to fire. “You never know.”

“Good thing we have our vests on,” she said, slanting a glance in his direction. She saw Murdoch smile sourly as he quickly and expertly readied the weapon. “Okay, I’m going to drop like a rock to his altitude and try to surprise him,” Dallas warned. “You poke that rifle out the window, but don’t fire. Just gesture for him to land.”

“Are you always this nice, Major?”

Laughing, Dallas felt the adrenaline pump through her bloodstream. “I’m not known as nice to the druggies in Peru, Murdoch. They don’t like to see me coming. Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go for it.” Murdoch’s brain was clearing, especially when he opened the window and fresh air started whistling through the cockpit. He stuck the barrel out the window. “Now,” he told her gruffly, positioning himself.

Murdoch wasn’t prepared for the swift, calculated movements she made with the plane. To say she was an adept pilot didn’t quite cover it. She dropped the Cessna with a professionalism and swiftness that made him gasp. In seconds, Murdoch was staring at the surprised face of the Mexican pilot.