The Right Stuff

“Maybe?”

“Okay, I tend to come on a little strong at times. The point is, I shouldn’t have ragged you. Not about something so important. That isn’t the kind of decision a person should make right before taking off on a mission.”

The comment took Cari completely aback. After that bone-rattling kiss this afternoon, she would have thought he’d be the last one to suggest she’d make a mistake.

“When did my personal life become a matter of such interest to you?”

“Since the first time I laid eyes on you.” He dropped the bombshell so casually that it took a few seconds for the full impact to hit.

“Are you saying you’ve…you’ve…?”

“Had the hots for you since day one? As a matter of fact, I have.”

The Right Stuff

Merline Lovelace

MERLINE LOVELACE

spent twenty-three years in the air force, pulling tours in Vietnam, at the Pentagon and at bases all over the world. When she hung up her uniform, she decided to try her hand at writing. She’s since had more than fifty novels published, with over seven million copies of her work in print. Watch for her next release, Untamed, coming from MIRA Books in September 2004.

To Maggie Price—friend, partner in crime and the world’s greatest writer of romantic suspense.

Thanks for all the quick reads and the great adventures!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Chapter 1

“Pegasus Control, this is Pegasus One.”

“Go ahead, Pegasus One.”

U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Caroline Dunn tore her gaze from the green, silent ocean flowing past the bubble cockpit of her craft. Her heart hammering against her ribs, she reported the statistics displayed on the brightly lit digital screens of the console.

“The Marine Imaging System reports a depth of eighty feet, with the ocean floor shelving upward at thirty degrees.”

“That checks with our reading, Pegasus One. Switch to track mode at fifty feet.”

“Aye, aye, Control.”

Cari whipped her glance from the marine-data display to a screen showing a digital outline of her craft. There it was, the supersecret, all-weather, all-terrain, attack/assault vehicle code named Pegasus. It was in sea mode, a long, sleek tube with its wings swept back and tucked close to the hull. Those delta-shaped wings and their tilted rear engines would generate a crazy sonar signature, Cari thought with grim satisfaction. The enemy wouldn’t know what the hell was coming at him.

Once Pegasus completed testing and was accepted for actual combat operations, that is. After months of successful—if often nerve-racking—land and air trials, Pegasus had taken his first swim at a fresh-water lake in New Mexico, close to its secret base.

Now the entire operation had moved to the south Texas coast and plunged the craft into deep water for the first time. It was Cari’s job to take him down. And bring him back up!

Her palms tight on the wheel, she brought her glance back to the depth finder. “Seventy feet,” she reported, her voice deliberately calm and measured.

“We copy that, Pegasus One.”

Her steady tone betrayed none of the nervous excitement pinging around inside her like supercharged electrons. Pegasus had proved he could run like the wind and soar through the skies. In a few minutes, Cari would find out if the multi-purpose vehicle would perform as its designers claimed or sink like a stone to the ocean floor with her inside.

“Sixty,” she announced.

“Confirming sixty feet.”

The green ocean swirled by outside the pressurized canopy. A coast guard officer with more than a dozen years at sea under her belt, Cari had commanded a variety of surface craft. Her last command before joining the Pegasus test cadre was a heavily armed coastal patrol boat. This was the first time, though, she’d stood at the wheel of a vessel that operated equally well above and below the surface. Pegasus wouldn’t dive as deep as a sub or skim across the waves as fast as a high-powered cutter, but it was the first military vehicle to effectively operate on land, in the air and at sea.

So far, anyway.

The big test was just moments away, when Cari cut the engines propelling Pegasus through the water and switched to track mode. In preliminary sea trials at New Mexico’s Elephant Butte, the craft’s wide-tracked wheels had dug into the lake bed, churned up mud and crawled right out of the water.

Of course, Elephant Butte was a relatively shallow lake. This was the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico, to be exact. With Corpus Christi Naval Air Station just a few nautical miles away, Cari reminded herself. The station’s highly trained deep-water recovery team was standing by. Just in case.

Her gaze zeroed in on the depth finder. Silently she counted off the clicks. Fifty-five feet. Fifty-four. Three. Two…

“Pegasus One, shutting down external engines.”

Dragging in a deep breath, Cari flicked the external power switch to Off. The engines mounted on the swept-back wings were almost soundless. Even at top speed they caused only a small, humming vibration. Yet with the absence of that tiny reverberation, the sudden, absolute silence now thundered in Cari’s ears.

Momentum continued to propel Pegasus forward. Silent and stealthy as a shark after its prey, the craft cut through the green water. The depth finder clicked off another five meters. Ten. The sonar screen showed sloping ocean floor rising up to meet them dead ahead.

“Pegasus One switching to track mode.”

With a small whir, the craft’s belly opened. Its wide-track wheels descended. A few seconds later, the hard polymer rubber treads made contact with the ocean floor.

“Okay, baby,” Cari murmured, half cajoling, half praying. “Do your thing.”

A flick of another switch powered the internal engine. Biting down on her lower lip, Cari eased the throttle forward. Pegasus balked. Like a fractious stallion not yet broken to the bit, the craft seemed to dig in its heels. Then, after what seemed like two lifetimes, it responded to the firm hands on the reins.

The wheels grabbed hold. The vehicle began to climb. Fathom by fathom. Foot by foot. The water around Cari grew lighter, grayer, until she could see shafts of sunlight spearing through its surface.

A few moments later Pegasus gave a throaty growl of engines and broke through to the light. Waves slapped at the canopy and washed over the hull as Cari guided her craft toward a silver van positioned almost at water’s edge. The mobile test control center had been flown in from New Mexico along with most of the personnel now manning it. They’d staked a claim to this isolated stretch of south Texas beach to conduct their deep-water sea trials. Heavily armed marines from the nearby naval air station patrolled the perimeter of the test site. The coast guard had added its small Padre Island fleet to the navy ships that kept fishing trawlers and pleasure craft away from the test sector.

By the time Pegasus roared out of the rolling surf, a small crowd of uniformed officers had spilled out of the van. They hurried across the hard-packed sand as Cari killed the engines. Blowing out a long breath, she patted the console with a hand that shook more than she wanted to admit.

“Way to go, Pegasus.”

Her craft settled on the sand with a little hum, as if every bit as satisfied with its performance as she was. Smiling, Cari climbed out of the cockpit and made her way to the rear hatch. When she stepped into the bright sunlight, a tall blond god in an air force flight suit broke ranks with the rest of the uniformed officers. Ignoring the surf swirling around his black boots, he strode forward, wrapped his hands around Cari’s waist and swung her to the sand.

“You took Pegasus for a helluva swim, Dunn!”

She grinned up at the sun-bronzed pilot. “Thanks, Dave. I think so, too.”

The rest of the officers crowded around her. Army Major Jill Bradshaw shed her habitual reserve long enough to thump Cari on the back.

“Good job, roomie.”

Lieutenant Commander Kate Hargrave, a senior weather scientist with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Service, hooked an arm around Cari’s shoulders and gave her a fierce hug.

“I just about choked when the weather-service satellites picked up that squall developing out over the Gulf,” the leggy redhead admitted. “What a relief it blew south, not north.”

“No kidding!”

Doc Cody Richardson, the U.S. Public Health Service representative to the task force, ran an assessing glance over her face. In addition to providing expertise on the chemical, biological and nuclear defenses aboard the craft, the doc also acted as the cadre’s chief medical officer.

“Did you experience any dizziness or nausea?”

“None,” Cari replied, wiping out the memory of those few seconds of belly-clenching fear before Pegasus began his climb up the ocean floor.

Doc nodded, but she knew he’d be poring over the data with the bioengineers later to study her body’s most minute reactions during various stages of the mission.

“Nice going, Dunn.”

The gruff words swung her around. Major Russ McIver stood behind her, a solid six-two of buzz-cut marine. She and the major had locked horns more than once in the past few months. Mac’s by-the-book, black-or-white view of the world allowed for no compromises and tended to ruffle even Cari’s calm, usually un-rufflable temper.

This time, though, Mac was smiling at her in a way that made her breath catch. For a crazy moment, it might have been just the two of them standing on the beach with the surf lapping at their heels and the south Texas sky a bright, aching blue overhead.

Mac broke the spell. “Think you can get Pegasus to swim like that with a full squad of marines aboard?”

The crazy moment gone, Cari tugged off her ball cap and raked back a few loose strands of her mink-brown hair. “No problem, Major. We’ll add some ballast and take him out again tomorrow. Not much difference between a squad of marines and a boatload of rocks.”

Mac started to respond to the good-natured gibe. The appearance of the navy officer in overall charge of the Pegasus project had him swallowing his retort.

Cari whipped up a smart salute, which Captain Westfall returned. His weathered cheeks creased into a broad grin. “Good run, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I could feel the salt water coursing through my veins the whole time you had Pegasus out there, testing his sea legs.”

With the closest thing to a smirk the others had yet seen on the naval officer’s face, Westfall reached out and patted the vehicle’s steel hide. Cari hid a smile at his air of ownership and glanced around the circle of officers.

They represented all seven branches of uniformed services. Army. Navy. Air force. Marines. Coast guard. Public Heath Service. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Months ago they’d assembled in southeastern New Mexico. Since then they’d worked night and day alongside a similarly dedicated group of top-level civilians to see Pegasus through its operational test phase. Now, with the deep-water tests underway, the end of their assignment loomed on the not-too-distant horizon.

Regret knifed through Cari at the thought. She’d grown so close to these people. She admired their dedication, cherished their friendship. The knowledge that their tight-knit group would soon break up was hard to take, even for an officer used to frequent rotations and new assignments.

Without thinking, she shifted her glance back to Russ McIver. Her stomach muscles gave a funny quiver as she took in the strong line of his jaw. The square, straight way he held himself. The bulge of muscles under the rolled-up sleeves of his camouflage fatigues, known for unfathomable reason as Battle Dress Uniform or BDUs.

Her regret dug deeper, twisted harder.

Frowning, Cari tried to shrug off the strange sensation. She had to get a grip here. This was just an assignment, one of many she’d held and would hold during her years in the U.S. Coast Guard. And Mac…

Mac was a colleague, she told herself firmly. A comrade in arms. Sometimes bullheaded. Often obnoxious, as those who see no shades of gray can be. But totally dedicated to the mission and the corps.

“It’ll take an hour to download the data and run the post-test analyses.” Captain Westfall checked his watch. “We’ll conduct the debrief at thirteen-thirty.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

An hour would give Cari plenty of time to draft her own post-test report. Still exhilarated by the success of her run, she headed for the silver van and its climate-controlled comfort. Early October in south Texas had proved far steamier than the high, dry desert of New Mexico.

Racks of test equipment, communications consoles and wide screens filled the front half of the van. The rear half served as a work and mini-conference area. Captain Westfall went forward to talk to the test engineers while the others filed into the back room. Eager to record her evaluation of the run, Cari settled at her workstation and flipped up the lid of her laptop. A blinking icon in the upper right corner drew her gaze.

She had e-mail.

None of the officers working on Pegasus could reveal their location or their activities. The techno-wizards assigned to the Pegasus project routed all communications with families, friends and colleagues through a series of secure channels that completely obscured their origin. For months, Cari’s only link with the outside had been by phone or by e-mail.

She didn’t have time to communicate with her large, widely dispersed circle of friends and family now, but she’d do a quick read to make sure no one was hurt or in trouble. A click of her mouse brought up a one-line e-mail.

Marry me, beautiful.

“Oh, hell.”

She didn’t realize she’d muttered the words out loud until Kate Hargrave glanced up from the workstation next to hers.

“Are you having trouble bringing up the post-run analysis screen? That last program mod is a bitch, in my humble opinion.”

When Cari hesitated, reluctant to discuss personal matters in such a cramped setting, the weather officer scooted her chair over.

“Oh.” Understanding flooded Kate’s green eyes. “I see the problem. How are you going to answer him?”

Cari frowned at the screen. How the heck was she going to answer Jerry? She’d been dating the handsome navy JAG off and on for almost a year. He was fun, sexy, and up for an appointment as a military judge. He was also the divorced father of three children. He’d learned the hard way how tough it was to sustain a two-career marriage. A bitter divorce had convinced him two careers, marriage and kids made the situation impossible.

Cari didn’t want to admit he was right, but the figures spoke for themselves. The divorce rate among the seagoing branches of the military was astronomical, almost twice the national norm. Long sea tours and frequent short notice deployments put severe strains on a marriage. If she wanted kids, which she most certainly did, something would have to give. Jerry and her parents—not to mention her own nagging conscience—suggested it should probably be her career in the coast guard.

Sighing, Cari fingered the mouse. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell him,” she murmured to Kate. “I have to think about it.”

“What’s to think?” Russ McIver put in sardonically from her other side. With a silent groan, Cari saw that he, too, had scooted his chair over, no doubt to check out the glitch with the troublesome new modification.

“The choice looks pretty clear to me,” he drawled. “It’s either yes or no.”

Irritated that her private communication had become a matter of public discussion, she returned fire. “Why am I not surprised to hear that coming from you?”

Mac’s hazel eyes hardened. Although Cari hadn’t discussed her relationship with Jerry with anyone other than her roommates, there were few secrets in a group as small and tight as this one had become. Mac in particular had expressed little sympathy for Cari’s personal dilemma. She might have guessed he wouldn’t do so now.

“It’s your decision,” he said with a shrug. “Never mind that the coast guard selected you for promotion well ahead of your peers. It doesn’t matter that you were chosen for a prestigious exchange tour with the British Coastal Defense Force. Or that you’ve racked up years in command of a ship and a crew. If pregnant, barefoot and permanent kitchen duty is what you want, Lieutenant, you should go for it.”

Cari’s brown eyes lasered into the marine’s. “Last I heard, Major, it wasn’t a court-martial offense to want to get married and have children. Nor is every woman who chooses to leave the service a traitor to her country.”

The two other women officers present instantly closed ranks behind her.

“Lots of men leave the service,” Jill Bradshaw pointed out acidly. A career army cop, she took few prisoners. “In fact, the first-term reenlistment rate for women is higher than it is for men.”

“And in case you’ve forgotten,” Kate Hargrave snapped, “the military is like any other organization. It’s a pyramidal structure that requires a large base of Indians, with increasingly fewer chiefs at the more senior ranks. The services don’t want everyone to stay in uniform.”

Doc Richardson arched a brow and exchanged glances with USAF Captain Dave Scott. They were too wise—and had each grown too involved with one of the women now confronting McIver—to jump into this fray. Russ, however, appeared undaunted by the female forces arrayed against him.

“You’re right,” he agreed, refusing to retreat. “The military doesn’t want everyone to stay in uniform. Only those who are good at what they do. So damned good they’re hand-picked to field test a highly classified new attack/assault vehicle that could prove critical to future battlefield operations.”

Cari clamped her mouth shut. She had no comeback for that. Neither did Kate or Jill. Like the male officers assigned to the Pegasus project, they’d been chosen based on their experience, expertise and ability to get things done. They were among the best their services had to offer and darn well knew it.

Still, she wasn’t about to let the marine who alternately irritated, annoyed and attracted her have the last word.

“If any of us want to stay in uniform,” she said tartly, “we’d better get off the subject of my personal life and onto the task at hand.”

Swirling her chair around, she clicked the mouse to save Jerry’s e-mail. She’d answer him later, when she figured out what the heck her answer would be. Another click brought up the analysis program. Wiping her mind clear of everything but the task at hand, she began drafting her preliminary post-mission report.

She was still hard at work when Captain Westfall wove his way through the racks of equipment to join his crew some time later. His expression was unexpectedly somber for a man who’d watched his baby perform flawlessly.

“Let me have your attention, people.” His steel-gray eyes swept the crowded area, dwelling on each of his officers. “I’ve just received a coded communiqué from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Pegasus test cadre is being disbanded effective immediately.”

Shock rippled through the group, along with a chorus of muttered exclamations.

“What the hell?”

“You’re kidding!”

“Why?”

Captain Westfall stilled the clamor with an up-raised hand.

“Our cadre has been redesignated. We’re now the Pegasus Joint Task Force. Our mission is to extract two United States citizens trapped in the interior of Caribe.”

The announcement burst like a cluster bomb among the stunned officers. Cari’s mouth dropped open, snapped shut again, as her mind scrambled to switch from test to operational mode.

A map of Caribe flashed into her head. It was a small island nation, about sixty nautical miles off the coast of Nicaragua. Its internal political situation had been steadily worsening for months. The island’s president for life was battling ferociously to hold on to his sinecure. In response to his repressive tactics, rebels had stepped up their action and the fight had turned bloody.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff had alerted Captain Westfall weeks ago about the possibility of using Pegasus to extract U.S. personnel, if necessary. As a result, he’d compressed the test schedule until it was so tight it squeaked. Evidently the deep-water sea trial Cari had just completed would be the final test. From now on, it was for real.

But two hours! That was short notice, even for a military deployment. Westfall made it clear they were to use that time to draw up an op plan.

“The U.S. began evacuation of its personnel this morning,” he advised. “All are accounted for and are in various stages of departure except two missionaries. A squad of marines has gone into the interior after the missionaries and will escort them to a designated extraction site.”

“I’ve flown over Caribe,” Dave Scott commented grimly. “The jungle canopy is two or three hundred feet thick in places. Too thick to permit an extraction by air.”

“And rebel forces now hold the one road in and out of the area,” Captain Westfall confirmed. “The only egress is by river.”

“Pegasus!” Cari breathed. “Now that he’s demonstrated his sea legs, he’s the perfect vehicle to use for an operation like this.”

“Correct. Captain Scott, you’ll fly Pegasus on the over-water leg from Corpus Christi to Nicaragua. Their government is maintaining a strict neutral position with regard to the political situation on Caribe but has given us permission to land at an unimproved airstrip just across the straits from the island.”

Dave gave a quick nod. “I’ll start working the flight plan.”

“Once in Nicaragua, Lieutenant Dunn will pilot Pegasus to Caribe and navigate up the Rio Verde to a designated rendezvous point. Major McIver, your mission is to make contact with the marines and bring out the two stranded missionaries.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’ll be operating under strict rules of engagement,” Westfall warned. “To avoid entangling the U.S. in the internal political struggle, you’re not to fire lethal weapons unless under fire yourself. Questions?”

Her blood humming at the anticipation of action, Caroline joined the chorus of “No, sir!”

The steel-eyed navy officer turned away, swung back. His glance skimmed from Mac to Cari and back again.

“Things could turn ugly down there. Real ugly. Make sure your next-of-kin notification data is up-to-date. You might also zap off a quick e-mail to your families,” he added after a slight hesitation.

He didn’t need to explain. Since 9/11, Cari had participated in enough short-notice deployments to know this might be her last communication with her folks for a while. Or her last, period.

Cari followed the captain’s orders and zapped off one quick e-mail. Pumping pure adrenaline, she swung back around to find Mac contemplating her with a tight, closed expression.

“You didn’t bat an eye at the prospect of going into Caribe.”

“Neither did you,” she pointed out.

He hooked a thumb toward the now blank screen. “What about Jerry-boy?”