Page 22 of Explosive Vengeance

“Perfect.” She smoothly merged onto the freeway. There were barely any cars on the road at this time of night. “So, why a PJ?”

The abrupt change in subject threw him for a sec. He didn’t feel like talking if he wasn’t getting anything back, but the alternative was spending the next three hours in a brittle silence. “I liked the job description. I didn’t know about Pararescue when I first joined up, but once I heard about it, there was nothing else for me.”

“Did you get through the pipeline the first try?”

He blinked, surprised that she knew about the pipeline. “No. I failed the pool section the first time.” They called it Superman school for a reason, and it had taken all of his effort and mental toughness to get through that section—especially since he knew what was coming the second time around.

“That’s pretty common. The water’s always the great equalizer.”

She made it sound like she knew that firsthand. “And you know that because?”

She shrugged. “I went through it too.”

No way.He stared at her. Was she screwing with him? Why the hell would she have gone through that course? “For what?”

“For my training.”

Okay. Seriously. He frowned. “Are you Israeli Special Forces?”

She laughed. “No.” Then she shot him a smug grin. “Better.” She faced the road once more. “But I still can’t tell you everything yet. You’ll just have to be patient.”

He was starting to believe she wasn’t kidding. About any of this. “What were you training for?” he couldn’t help asking.

The hint of a smile tugged at her mouth at his persistence. “To be prepared for anything.”

“Like a life of crime?” he said, a sardonic bite to his words.

She chuckled under her breath, and it sounded a little evil. “You could say that.” She shifted in her seat, easing back, and he could see the tension drain from her as they drove away from Strasbourg. “I love how they call it ‘water confidence’. Confidence my ass, they just throw you in the deep end and then do their best to drown you. The only way you get confidence is if you survive to pass.”

“And you obviously did.” He was still trying to envision it. Some instructor throwing her, feet bound together, hands bound behind her back, into the deep end of a pool and then holding her under. He didn’t like the images that put in his head. Not at all.

“Not until my third try. I almost flunked out of the program because of it.”

What program? Something black ops related, some intelligence agency. Nothing else made sense. It was driving him nuts, the little snippets she was giving him when he wanted to know the whole damn picture.

“Megan passed the first time. I was so pissed. Good thing I liked her.”

Heath digested that in silence. Just what had these women been trained for? How had Ty gotten involved with whatever this was?

She glanced at him. “Sleep if you want. You have to be pretty tired by now.”

He shot her an incredulous look.Sleep? “Nope.”

Her grin flashed in the light from the instrument panel in the dashboard. “Don’t trust me, huh?”

“Not so much, no.”

She laughed, a low, sultry sound that stirred him up inside, and damned if he didn’t find himself fighting an answering smile. “I deserve that.”

“At least tell me who you’re working for.” CIA? NSA? His inner radar was pinging like crazy.

“Myself. And I’m sorry you got dragged into this. Your friend shouldn’t have involved you.”

She said it like he was in way over his head, and that insulted him. “I can hold my own,” he bit out, his pride stinging.

“No doubt. But not against this.”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “Look. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, and no one can overhear us. Why are you on the run?”

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