Chapter 36
The ride to the surface had been slow. They'd been ascending for nearly forty minutes and still had quite a few more feet to go.
Parker and Alec were seated so close to each other in the two-seater sub their arms touched, but for as much as they communicated during their ascent, they could have been in separate machines.
"Do you think I'm the end result of Sonia's Prometheus experiment?" Parker asked when the quiet became almost unbearable.
She looked over to Alec, her eyes wide and seeking.
Alec took a thoughtful breath before he answered.
"Honestly, I don't know," he said as directly as he could. "You are different- and Sonia's hand is all over it. I don't know the extent of it or even if it's the same thing that Dr. Yates was talking about but, you know what, Park, you beat it. She doesn't control you as she'd like to. You're changing, evolving. You're finding your way back."
Parker nodded and let out a breath and Alec saw how much the question had been wearing on her. He reached over to squeeze her hand.
"Look, we finally got a break. For the first time since we started this thing we have a chance of getting the upper hand. I promise you as soon as we make sure Sonia doesn't blow up the world, I will commit everything I have to getting all of her cooties out of you."
Parker laughed nervously then her face softened into a genuine smile, "Thank you."
She had a sudden urge to be close to him. She wanted to be physically closer than they already were. The strength of the impulse made her bite the end of her lower lip.
It was the wrong time- the wrong place- an inappropriate feeling.
But the action of her lower lip slipping between her teeth caught and held Alec's attention. Her lips became all he could see; it was as though they were pulling him in. Alec's mouth instantly became very dry. This wasn't the time or the place, but he couldn't stop himself. He couldn't tear his gaze away.
And neither could she. The feeling and intensity of his stare heating her lips made Parker's compulsion that much stronger.
"Alec…" his name floated from her mouth on a sigh.
Without another thought his hand lifted to caress her neck. His thumb slid slowly over her lower lip and Parker's eyes drifted closed. She arched her neck, lost in the small moment of blissful abandon she allowed herself.
The smooth expanse of her neck beckoned him and the light blush that trailed up one side was like the teasing topping on a decadent dessert.
He had to taste her, if only just a little.
Alec kissed her neck and Parker gasped softly, a low, deep sigh filled with a just a hint of very much she wanted him to touch her.
He could taste the salty sweet of her skin, a mixture of ocean water and the addicting flavor of her heated body.
He could feel himself slipping. He was losing conscious recognition of where he was. All that seemed important was Parker's lips, the feel of her, the smell, the sound.
And then she lowered her head and found his lips with her own. She kissed him slowly; savored him. She lavished each of his lips with slow, deliberate attention. Alec wove his hands into her hair and slowly caressed her cheek with his thumb as Parker gave into the pull of her attraction to him.
Their hearts raced and the temperature in the tiny compartment of the sub spiked exponentially.
Parker reached up to touch Alec's face. The feel of her palm against his skin melted him even further but it also snapped him back to their present.
His body ached for her but his mind hollowly echoed- Another time. Another place.
With a deep breath he pulled his lips away but kept his forehead lightly pressed against hers.
He swallowed deeply; having one quick flash of regret as his lips protested the absence of hers.
"Parker, I…" he began.
"I know," she interrupted softly, understanding explicitly, even as she focused on getting her heart rate steady once more.
They opened their eyes simultaneously, each gracing the other with a small smile.
Parker let go first; shifting in her seat to face forward, "We'll be surfacing soon."
Alec turned to look out of their front screen but the discomfort of aborted copulation wasn't something the skintight wetsuit was willing to let him forget. His body was still humming with the intensity of his need for Parker- and it showed. He had to get control…and quick.
Gummy frogs…orange soda…π=3.144444 …energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared…'By the power of GreySkull'…'Live long and prosper'…
Alec's mind tried desperately to return to the task at hand but his body would have been very happy to stay in that tiny submarine and satisfy every urge Parker stirred within him.
'Get a grip, Hardison,' he chided himself. The admonishment didn't help.
"Alec, do you think they're going to be waiting when we resurface?" Parker asked.
The thought of Sonia standing on the shore, armed guards waiting to hurt him, hurt Parker. That did it. His focus returned with laser precision.
He pulled out the pen device and began to scan for radio chatter.
He didn't detect any but unease one again settled on him.
Sonia always seemed to be one step ahead. He wondered what she would do when she realized she'd been had.
He didn't want to dwell on it. He just had to ensure that once he got the upper hand, he kept it.
The submarine surfaced and leveled off with a bump, jolting Alec out of his thoughts.
As the powered-down machine floated clumsily on the lapping waves close to the shore, Alec opened the top hatch of the vessel and the cool night air swirled around them. They were greeted with the deep blackness of land and sea devoid of ambient light and the peppering of millions of large, bright stars overhead.
There was a peaceful stillness to the scene… but Parker knew differently.
They were not alone.
The scene was familiar; she had participated in quite a few just like it during her time in Sonia's employ. It was a blind ambush to assess the threat level before an assault.
She could smell the faint whiff of helicopter fuel hanging in the air, and the hair on the back of her neck was standing at attention.
She still had the confiscated sidearm but it would make no difference. There would no doubt be guns trained on both she and Alec's heads and hearts and at the water that surrounded them.
"Alec," she said calmly, belying the anxiety that was rising within her, "we're not alone."
Alec, who was in the process of scanning the area for radio chatter, froze and lowered his arm back into the sub.
"Where are they?" he asked as his eyes strained against the dark for any movement or reflective light. "Are you sure?" he questioned when his first glance revealed no threat.
"Yes," Parker replied definitively. "We don't have any other option but to go to shore. This machine doesn't have enough fuel or oxygen to take us to the mainland and they will wait us out."
"Okay," Alec complied, "but we do not separate again; Even if we have to fight."
"Agreed," Parker answered quickly. She'd been thinking the same thing. They seemed to fare far better together than they did apart.
She tucked the gun beneath the seat of the sub and held her hands up and above her head as she stood up. No sooner had she arisen than two small red dots landed on her chest. She could only guess there were two on her head as well.
Alec saw the lasers on Parker's chest and head and sprung up defensively but she stopped his panicked advance.
"They won't kill us…yet," she started quickly. "If they were here to kill us we'd be dead already. They just want us to know that they're here and they have us covered."
Alec steadied and realized his own chest was riddled with red laser light. He lifted his hands above his head in surrender and turned his focus onto the shore where at least six white headlights turned on one after the next.
"Amphibian assault teams," Parker informed him. "They're coming."
As they approached Alec began counting how many men were sent to collect them. He'd counted thirty before he decided that fighting their way out was not going to be plan A.
"T A 1," one of the armed men shouted as the first vessel approached the floating sub.
"Affirmative," Parker shouted back and lowered her hands to stoop and retrieve the gun from under her seat. She stood, holding the firearm firmly at her side.
She turned to Alec, unsmiling. "Step off of the sub and get into the boat." Her instructions were clear and cold and a sickening chill ran the length of Alec's entire body.
He stared at her for a few seconds before he could blink. His heart was racing again and his head felt light.
"Parker…" he softly said her name in disbelief.
"Please step into the boat," she instructed again with no compassion in her voice.
Alec swallowed and turned to the boat idling to his left and stepped gingerly onto its bow.
Parker followed closely behind.
Alec was stunned and numbed. His mind raced to figure out if this had been the plan all along. If he'd been suckered into doing Sonia's bidding because of his love for Parker. If Parker played into his feelings as part of Sonia's plan.
He'd been so preoccupied by his thoughts that he wasn't aware when the boat drove out of the water and rolled straight over the sand. It rolled through the first few lines of trees on the beach toward a cleared opening where a large helicopter was waiting.
"This is our transport," the same soldier who addressed Parker prior spoke again. "We rendezvous with logistics on the mainland. You'll get your travel docs and head back to HQ."
Parker nodded her response as the deafening whir of the helicopter's blades and engine roared to life.
Alec looked at her his mind racing to assess every look, every touch, every word she'd said to him over the course of the past few days, looking for any indication that she'd been playing him for a fool the entire time.
He couldn't think of one instance.
But as she loaded him on the helicopter taking him back to Sonia and possibly his death, he thought at least one thing for certain- even if he'd known she was working him from the beginning he wouldn't have done anything differently. And he still would have fallen in love with her all over again.