“Why?”
“It’s my favorite color. My favorite building in the park.”
All at once, he remembered her purple sports bra. He’d met her after a long day of fieldwork, and her bra and panties had been all business, no play, but the color—and the woman who filled them—had been sexy as hell and plenty playful.
This was not the time to remember those sorts of details.
He shoved open the door and groped for the light, but old buildings like these didn’t always have switches next to the door. Audrey unerringly crossed the dark room and flicked the switch. Flame-shaped sconce lights mounted to vertical log posts filled the room with a warm yellow glow.
She nodded toward a door to his left. “The electrical relay station is in there. It powers this building, George’s shop next door, landscaping lights, and everything else at this end of the lodge complex.”
He opened the door and flicked on the light. A bare bulb illuminated a small utility room with high tech wiring not in keeping with the old blacksmith shop.
He studied the panel. A row of lights glowed green, but the last one on the end was yellow.
“The yellow light is the line for my cameras,” Audrey said. “Yellow means there’s power, but there’s a break in the circuit.”
He snapped a photo and texted it to the five SEALs overseeing this training. They’d all have cellular service for the next thirty minutes, then the van they’d set up to act as signal jammer would kill all radio, satellite, and cellular communication within the lake basin. Given that there were no cellular antennas in this part of the park except for the ones close to the lodge, a large swath of the forest would be effectively cut off from all wireless communication. This was one of the hurdles the SEALs would have to overcome for a successful mission.
It was a good simulation for real-world ops. Teams were often dropped into parts of the world that lacked infrastructure, and satellite phones could get shot, dropped, be jammed, or just plain fail. But it also meant the trainers themselves would be without radios and cell phones and would face their own challenges.
He radioed his team. “That photo I just sent means we’ve got a problem. I’m going to accompany Dr. Kendrick to the archaeological site to see what’s up with her cameras.”
“Do we need to delay the op, Rivera?” Reichmann asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.” He paused. He could be blowing this out of proportion. The cameras were guarding an archaeological site and had nothing to do with the lodge. Nothing to do with the training. “It’s probably nothing. But it needs to be checked out just the same.”
“Roger. How long will it take you to get to the site?”
He turned to Audrey, who could only hear his side of the conversation. “How long will it take to get to the site, Aud?”
“It’s only a half mile from here, but it’s uphill, and steep in places—up the first leg of the cliffside trail that dead-ends at the falls. With wet, muddy ground, it could take fifteen minutes.”
For a civilian maybe. “We don’t have fifteen minutes. Seven or eight, tops.”
“Then we’d better get moving.”
He relayed the information to his team, then closed and locked the blacksmith shop. She turned to the SUV. “Unlock my car. I need to grab my pack.”
“It’ll be faster if we leave it.”
“I don’t hike without supplies, ever. There are bears in these woods, it’s getting dark, and the ground is slippery. Things can go wrong.”
“The bears are hibernating, and you’ve got a SEAL with you.”
She cocked her head. “You’re a SEAL?”
Her question startled him. “Yes. I thought you figured that out when I was in your office.”
He hit the button to unlock the back of the SUV so she could grab her pack. Arguing would only waste more precious minutes. She grabbed the pack, then pulled gloves from a side pocket.
He hadn’t realized she was cold, but then, he wasn’t exactly focused on her comfort. After donning the gloves, she settled her pack on her hips, adjusting the straps with practiced ease. There was a grace and competence to her movements that he found all too appealing.
But then, that had been the problem from the start. He’d been utterly charmed from the moment she’d interrupted his conversation with Jae. He remembered the first words he’d ever heard her say: “Jae, my dearest, bestest friend, I will name my firstborn child after you if you have a room and will let me use your shower.”
Her reservation had been inadvertently canceled. Exhausted and grubby after a day in the field, she’d hoped to shower before sleeping in her car.
Jae didn’t have a room, as he returned to his home in Port Angeles that night. Luckily, Xavier had a room and shower, which he’d been happy to let Audrey use. What happened after that had been unexpected…and incredible.