((Slow chapter is slow (and a jump off point to the next phase) but it will begin to pick up from here as I sluggishly begin to pick up this story again. Reviews fuel the fire and the fact that I still have people following this story even to this day…which dumbfounds and amazes me. Thanks guys. It's very humbling and exciting, all mashed into one big ball of 'cool'.))
Chapter 9
Her dreams slid this way and that from one strange event to another. The scent of pine and sandstone were faint in her nose as they swept away fears of enclosure by the sensation of flying high above the rugged peaks of some far off mountain range. Sounds of choppers and planes drifted within hearing distance but she never saw them, only sensed their power within her.
Then silence, like the early morning hours just before the birds heralded the first rays of dawn. She was hunting something, her footsteps barely upon the ground as she crept from cover to cover, watching and waiting for her prey to expose itself. What she was hunting, she had no idea but it was just the sense that something was barely within her sights.
An explosive noise erupted from behind her, loud enough to cause her to come awake in an instant as her instincts set in. Her muscles jerked her body upright in a fight or flight response causing her to gasp as several of them cramped from sleeping in an odd position for several hours.
Looking around with wide eyes, she came to the realization that she was in back in her bed at the trailer, still dressed in her evening attire. It must have been late morning by the amount of sunlight stretching across the carpeted hallway from the front windows. Shifting to ease a cramp in her shoulder, she noticed she was wearing something over her dress and looked down.
She was dressed in a gray jacket made out of durable wind breaker material and lined with some type of soft, lightweight thermal fabric meant to keep body heat in. Slowly pulling it off, she held it up for closer inspection. It had a high collar, cuffs and waist that strapped closed with velcro, while the whole jacket was secured with a long zipper. Two breast pockets adorned the front of the jacket, one on each side of the chest and thin fabric straps ran from neck to shoulder.
What caught her attention was the shoulder patch on each arm. It was the head of a snarling wolf flanked by the wings of a bat. She was busy inspecting one of the patchs when the sound of the trailer door was pulled shut, causing her to flinch at the loudness of it. She quickly shoved the jacket under the covers she was still half under, hiding it from view.
"It's about time you got up lazy bones," came Rachelle's voice from the doorway.
Looking up from the bed, Red blinked. "What time is it?" She hadn't even looked at the clock when she'd sat up, having been suddenly focused on what had been put on her person.
"Almost ten. It must have been late when you got back. None of us woke when you came in." Rachelle smiled a little. "I tried to wake you earlier this morning but you were curled up under the covers and so deep asleep you didn't even budge."
Red continued to stare at Rachelle. When did she get in? The last thing she could remember was dinner with Michael and Archangel. She'd prepared to leave with Michael and then…everything was a blank until now. Suddenly, her anger flared. They'd done it to her again!
She shifted to get out of bed and felt that her pistol had been returned to its rightful place as if it had never been missing. She saw Rachelle take a step back at the sudden change in her look.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, fine," Red offered back as she huffed out a breath, sliding out of bed, keeping the covers over the jacket she'd hidden there. She stalked over to the dresser that had been designated as hers and pulled open an empty drawer. Pulling her dress up slightly she unstrapped her gun and shoved it inside.
"Did something happen last night other than you getting us the biggest contract in the history of the company?" Rachelle's words were worried, softly spoken as if afraid to bring up possible bad memories.
This brought Red up short, "What?" she asked, looking startled. "I…what?" Her mind was quickly flipping through the events of the night. Nothing had been discussed about contracts to her knowledge. They hadn't even discussed her company being hired by Michael's.
"I mean, no. We had dinner and we discussed a possible business venture but I wasn't sure it was going to go anywhere. I allowed myself a glass of wine and I shouldn't have. I must have been more tired than I thought because I was so exhausted by the time I got back to the trailer, I didn't even get undressed, just crawled into bed. Plus, I had wanted to be up early today to see some of the shows before the heat set in." Red ran a hand over the top of her hair, pulling out the braid and half ruined hairdo. "I'm mad at myself for not setting the alarm or leaving you a note to make sure I was up."
Rachelle still looked a little worried but started to relax as she began to see Red's reasoning behind her 'frustration'. "You should have said something yesterday about wanting to be up early this morning. I could have pulled out the ice cubes or had one of the guys pick you up and toss you into the shower, clothes and all."
Red smirked, working to keep her anger in check at the two men from last night. Whatever they'd hit her with, it must have been strong enough to mess with her system a bit. She was having a hard time controlling her emotions right now. If that was the case, she didn't dare do any flying today until she was sure most or all of it was out of her blood stream.
Rachelle pulled the stack of papers off the counter and waved them at Red, "Well whatever you guys talked about, that must have been one heck of a bargaining session last night. There was a delivery guy with these first thing this morning for our review."
Red reached over and took them from Rachelle's hand and began flipping through them. The farther into the contract she got, the more her astonishment grew. This was the type of contract that could make or break a company and it was being handed to them on an 'almost' silver platter. Finally she had to stop reading before she let herself get carried away. The drugs still had a bit of a hold on her and she didn't feel she was thinking clearly.
Handing them back she nodded. "Let's keep this to ourselves and wait until we get back to the hanger. I want a few days to think about this and see if our lawyer can find any loopholes or if Mac can find anything either. Four minds are better than two on this and I'll be damned if I'm going to get caught in a corner by a bunch of red tape with restrictions on what we can and cannot do outside of our business with them. Not saying that would happen but I want to cover our butts on this before we go further."
Rachelle took the papers, nodded slowly and then tucked them back into the envelope. Looking Red up and down, she smirked, "Better get a shower or you'll be too late to see anything else today. They're calling for possible rain storms this afternoon."
With a sigh, Red looked down at her rumpled black dress and frowned. Without another word, she turned and headed to the bathroom in hopes of becoming more alert with a cold shower and normal clothes. Next on the list was water, lots of it and breakfast…well lunch at this point in time.
She had a lot to think about and she was desperate to talk to Mac and Sam as soon as they got back and rested from their trip.
