They were coming up on the guard shack. Just a hundred more feet.
“Are they mated?” Piper gave him a sideways look, then kept her eyes on the road.
“Yeah.” Jace grimaced. “I didn’t know Jaxson couldn’t have a mate until after it was all over. He kept it secret for a long time.” He watched her carefully to see if she would probe for more.
“Am I the only one who knows your secret?” She was sneaking looks at him again, not watching the road. They were almost there.
“Just you, me, my brothers, and the entire United States government—or at least the ones involved in the tribunal in Afghanistan.”
She just nodded, and there was no more talking possible, due to the fact that they’d arrived at the shack stationed next to the chain-metal gate that surrounded the airfield. It wasn’t the kind that would keep out any serious attempt at infiltration, more a demarcation with an “Off Limits, Private Property” warning hung on it to keep out the curious and the idle.
The guard was dressed in desert camouflage, with an M-16 looped around his shoulder. He was either military or ex-military, but either way, he meant business. And he wasn’t pleased to see them arrive, according to his stiff gait as he approached.
Piper threw him a sexy grin, and even though Jace knew it was all for show, he couldn’t help having a twinge of jealousy. She had to deploy all her assets on the job, and he was getting a chance to watch her in action, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In general? Very hot. Specifically, today? He didn’t like it at all.
“This airfield is closed, ma’am.” The guard’s voice was gruff, as if that might dissuade them more than the gun. Or perhaps convince them he would use it.
“Well, I’d imagine so,” Piper said with a smirk. “But we’re here to see the secret hangar where you’re hiding the shifters. Colonel Wilding sent us.” She beamed a faux-innocent smile at him.
The guards face opened in surprise, but it didn’t take more than two-tenths of a second for his rifle to come up and point at her head. “Step away from the car!” His boots scuffed the ground as he stumbled back.
Jace held in his growl. He had to play this cool, or it wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t like a gun pointed at her, no matter what. Piper already had her hands up, but she had to reach down to open the car door.
“Hey, hands in the air!” the guard shouted.
“Well, Hot Stuff with a Rifle, I can’t really do both, now can I?” Her voice was dead-on sexy and teasing, and Jace couldn’t hold back his smirk.
On second thought, he kind of liked watching her work.
Jace’s hands were already in the air as well. “Can I stay in the car, too?” he shouted, just to prod the startled guard a little more.
The man’s snarl was clear even from ten feet away. His rifle point wavered uncertainly between Piper and Jace.
“Stay right where you are!” The guard stumbled backward toward the shack, obviously changing his mind about the protocol.
Jace and Piper kept their smiles and their hands in the air and waited.
“Do you think this idiot can actually get us inside the airfield?” Piper asked out of the side of her mouth.
“Well, not if you flummox him anymore. Take it easy on the guy, Piper. He’s probably only human.”
She bit her lip in a way that made him want to bite it himself.
“Hey, knock it off,” he said. “I don’t want to be sporting wood when they come to take me away in handcuffs. Could be embarrassing.”
She tried to keep in her laugh, but her shoulders were shaking. The guard was on his short-wave radio, gesturing furiously at the car with his gun. It took a few minutes, but eventually a Jeep pulled out of a distant hangar and rumbled down the cracked concrete toward them.
“I hope you’re seeing this, Jaxson,” Jace said quietly. “Jeep at twelve o’clock, sourced from the small hangar next to the target.” He had stowed his binoculars already, but by squinting through the afternoon sun, he could see at least four figures in the military-camouflaged vehicle. “I see two thugs and two suits.” He flicked a glance at Piper.
She was keeping her eyes on the nervous guard. “Copy that.”
The chain-metal gate rumbled on some mechanical servo that pulled it aside as the Jeep approached. The vehicle stopped on the far side of the gate, even though it was open. Two men in desert camouflage spilled out, followed by two men in dark suits. The paramilitary guys hustled toward them.
“I’ve got eyes on Agent Smith,” Jace whispered, mostly for Piper’s knowledge, but also in case the cameras and Jaxson’s scope missed it. “He’s the tall one. Unknown suit accompanying him.”