Page 71 of Wyoming Heart

It wasn’t the mission Mina had signed on for this weekend. She was supposed to observe the guys handling a military cleanup of a recent combat operation. Instead, she was on the front lines of a rescue. She didn’t even hesitate. It was exciting. She loved the adrenaline rushes she got from participating in missions with these guys. They were like family.

Ry held them up just at the edge of the jungle. There was a shack in the distance. If their GPS was accurate, that was where the child was being held. Mina stood in awe of Ry’s ability to dig out information from the locals.

“Crad, see what you can see.”

Craddock shouldered his sniper rifle and looked through the telescopic sight. There was a long pause. “I see a man. The curtains are thick and they shelter the room.” He swung the weapon around. “Only cover is a few trees just to the right of the shack. Open land getting to it.”

“We’ll need a diversion,” Ry said at once. He looked at Mina and smiled. He was tall, with a light olive complexion, black hair and odd pale blue eyes. “Feel up to a little excitement, Bubbles?” he asked, using the group’s nickname for her.

She grinned. “Always.”

“Okay. I need you to fire at that caved-in barn to the left of the shack when I tell you.”

“Will do.”

“Reg, I think a few flash bangs might do the job.”

“I’ll need to be closer than this,” he replied.

“Let me do it. I’ve got the ghillie suit,” Craddock said.

“Don’t need to ask me twice,” Reg chuckled. “I hate crawling on my belly.”

Craddock got into the ghillie suit and took ages to get in position. Ry signaled him. He tossed the flash bangs and the man came running out of the building just as Ry signaled Mina and she opened up with the .45 automatic toward the distant derelict barn.

Ry ran out, his semiautomatic leveled, and yelled at the man to get down.

Minutes later, they had the scared child in custody and the kidnapper tied up like a tangled kite.

Mina laughed with pure delight.

“At least you didn’t get shot this time,” Ry teased.

“Ah, well, that’s the breaks,” she said with a grin. “And what a great chapter this is going to make!”

“I want to be twenty and blond and handsome,” Craddock told her.

“I want to be twenty-five, fabulously wealthy, dripping with gorgeous brunettes,” Reg added.

She smiled. “I promise to do my best!”

She cuddled the frightened child while they made their way back to the truck they used for transport. Sometimes, she thought, the most unpredictable things were the most rewarding. It was a reminder that you couldn’t choose exactly what experiences you got in life.

SHEWASBACKin Catelow on Wednesday, a week and a few days before she was due in New York. She hadn’t caught a bullet, but she’d had to take a course of quinine before, during and after the trip to ensure that she didn’t come down with malaria, which was rampant in Nicaragua’s rural areas. It was next to impossible not to get bitten by the mosquitoes that carried the disease, even with the best precautions. Poor Reg had forgotten to take his course of medicines and he’d come down with malaria just as they were all getting off the plane in Miami. Mina had felt guilty for leaving so soon, but she had to get home. Nobody blamed her. She also asked Ry if she could get back in touch with him about another mission they’d run in her absence. He said sure, just call him, and he gave her a new cell phone number where he could be reached.

She’d missed Cort. They’d been together almost every day since they’d been to the casino. She couldn’t wait to see him when she got home. But she was in for a shock when she called Bart to ask for Cort to call her. Cort was gone. “Gone?!” she exclaimed, devastated.

“He left you a letter,” he said. “Want me to run it over there?”

“Would you mind?” she asked, her mind still in limbo. “I’m writing up our mission while it’s still fresh in my head.”

“I want to hear about that,” he replied with a laugh.

“You can hear about it over coffee. I’ll make a new pot!”

SHEREADTHEletter while Bart sipped coffee. Cort had an emergency back home, he’d said. He was sorry he had to leave while she was out of town, but it involved a relative who was in big trouble and he couldn’t turn his back on the man. He’d be back in a couple of weeks, he promised.

She put the letter down. Doubts crawled in. Was there really a relative in trouble, or was he just getting rid of an uncomfortable love affair that he didn’t want anymore?

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