Chapter 14
All the way back to the cabin, Sam checked the signal at regular intervals. He was pleased with the results. "I don't know why Viv and I couldn't get signals from our phones out near the crash site, but I'm having no trouble here." He stood inside the barn holding onto the plastic bags containing Harvey's purchases while Harvey unsaddled and groomed the horses after their ride.
"Maybe the cell tower was busted? That was a wicked storm we had the other night," Harvey replied. "'Twas one of them nights we was glad we didn't have no electricity hooked up to our house. Oil lamps work all the time, long as ya have oil in 'em."
"Well, there are some things you don't need oil lamps or electricity for on a night like that." Sam leered at him.
Harvey laughed. "Thats' very true, very true, Sam. 'Cept it's kinda hard to get snugglin' when the dog gets scared and jumps into bed with ya."
"Yeah, I can see that." Sam laughed. "I can also see how it'd be tough to get much technology out here," Sam said as he looked around the barn. "But I tell you, Harve, if you came to Miami, you'd be blown away I'm sure."
"We kinda like it this way. Our neighbors up the way," he pointed northwest. "Now, they got electric lights, gas heat and all that stuff. Cable TV. Internets. Cars, ATVs. You name it, they got it." He tossed the brush into a tool box, leaned against the stall, and crossed his arms in front of himself. "But I tell ya, Sam, they are some of the unhappiest people I done ever seen."
"Yeah. You can have everything and still want more. Then again, you can have nothing, and be incredibly happy. Me, I've always kind of been in the middle somewhere." He handed Harvey one of the bags, and he kept the other as they walked back to the little house. "I could enjoy this peace and quiet for awhile, but soon I'd be missing the excitement in Miami. All the bars, the clubs, the women..." He grinned.
Harvey gave Sam a sidelong glance. Despite the flash of his pearly whites, Harvey suspected that Sam wasn't as happy with things in Miami as he'd like to let on. He almost wished things were different, that there was no crisis with the fort, and that Sam and Vivien could spend more time here and relax. Civilization wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and he knew it. He'd been there once, and he was never so glad to run back to this beautiful Tennessee valley and the simple life it afforded.
Sam and Harvey entered the cabin and found Vivien sitting up in bed, working on a bowl of soup. "Hey, Sam."
"Viv, how are you doing?" He noted she'd regained some color.
"I'm doing okay. Still disoriented, having headaches and dizziness, but otherwise, not too worse for the wear."
Sam set the bag on the table and knelt beside the foot of her bed. He pulled back the covers and checked on her ankle. "How's this?" He checked the bandages. They were fresh.
"Liza took care of it for me. I had to ask her what those herbs were, because I tell you, Sam, they're working like a charm. I mean, look, there's hardly any swelling, and even the bruising is clearing up quickly."
"I see that." But will you be able to run if necessary? Not likely.
"How did things go in town?"
He told her about his conversation with Michael and that he and Jesse were planning to be in town within 24 hours. "I'm getting a signal now, so I can call out when I need to."
"Thats's good news. Are you sure the three of you are going to be able to pull something off?"
"I don't know. Mike's the man with the plan. He said he'd fill me in more when I called him to give him the coordinates."
"And just how are you going to do that? You don't have a GPS."
"No, but Harvey's got a neighbor with a computer." Sam smiled.
"That's right. I'm gonna walk over there with Redbone, see if I can have 'em look it up. I'll be back in a little bit." Harvey left the cabin.
"Well, I need to get my washin' done. Will y'all be okay in here?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine. Thanks, Liza."
Liza hefted a large laundry basket full of clothes against her hip and walked to the back door. "Y'all be good now, y'hear?" She winked at the two and closed the door behind her.
Sam laughed and shook his head as he took a chair at the table. "I don't know what is with those two. It's like they're trying to get us together or something."
"Like that would be a bad thing?" Vivian mumbled behind the barrier of her soup bowl before slurping up the last of her meal.
"Did you say something?" He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees as he cocked an ear toward her.
"Nope. I didn't say anything."
"Uh huh." A cocked smile spread across his face as he leaned back into his chair, threw an arm over the back, and turned away. He absently traced a crack on the table surface for a few seconds, deep in thought, before turning back to her. "Viv, you're a great girl. I really like you..."
"Oh yeah, here it comes." She rolled her eyes.
"But...you're on the rebound. I've discovered that rebounding isn't a good ingredient in a solid relationship." He paused. "Not that I've had too many of those myself. Probably because I've been too busy bouncing from one bed and one woman to another."
"Well then, you'd be sorely disappointed in me, Sam. I'm a one-man woman." Her eyes pierced his. "I'm loyal to the bitter end, but I don't take kindly to other women taking what's mine." She blinked and turned her head toward the wall. "It's just sometimes there's no way to win...when..." She dropped the bowl in her lap and covered her face with both hands as she began to sob.
Sam looked away. He was never good with crying women, at least not the heart-wrenching sobbing mess that Vivien had become. But it hurt him inside to see her so distraught. He'd never felt that way before, and since it was such an alien emotion, he didn't know how to deal with it. He felt a pull toward her despite a small part of his brain screaming at him to escape. Finally, he got up, took the bowl from her and placed it on the table, and picked her up. He moved her to sit against the wall running along the length of the bed, and he sat beside her. Her head tilted and rested on his shoulder, and he touched her face, wiping away the tears.
Vivien moved her arm across his chest and he held onto it as he put his other arm around her. She looked up at him with eyes still brimming with tears. "I'm sorry, Sam. I...I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Sometimes people get out of sorts when they've had a head injury," he explained, but he really didn't believe that's what set her off. He looked down at her lips. They were just too inviting, and as he groaned and moved in to press his against hers, he knew he'd hate himself later for taking advantage of her.
If she were being taken advantage of, she certainly didn't act like it. She was surprised at first, but then she turned into the kiss, moved her hand from his shoulder to his jawline, touching him, urging him to continue. She moaned softly and slipped away to take a breath and smile, planting small kisses on his lips. "Oh Sam...I have to confess..."
"What," he asked, his voice a whisper.
"I've been wanting to do that ever since we chatted on the airplane."
"You have?" He pulled back to look at her intently.
"Yes. And when I kissed you in our prison, well, that was just a happy accident." She caressed his cheek and smiled. "I also have to confess, that even before you introduced yourself, I knew who you were."
"You did?" A part of him was beginning to get suspicious.
"Yes. And I have another confession to make, but first..." She turned her body so she sat in his lap and kissed him deeply. She couldn't stop until her breath came short and fast. She was glad that he accepted her and took what she gave. Vivien placed a hand over his heart and felt the fast beating there. She smiled, knowing that she'd done to him what he'd unwittingly done to her.
"You were saying, Viv?" He tilted his head against the wall and looked at her with passion in his eyes.
"My last confession...I'm not who you think I am."
He expression changed to one of confusion. "Who are you?"
"I am Lieutenant Vivien Chase, and I do work at Bethesda Naval Hospital. However, I'm also working with the CIA. Did you tell Michael about me?"
"Yeah, I did. He seemed to know you, but I thought because you're an author..."
She shook her head. "That's just my cover. I never wrote any of those books, although, I do have to admit I have a bit of a talent for that sort of thing."
"How does Mike know about you? Have you worked with him?"
"We might have had a mission in the Middle East awhile ago, but I cannot either confirm or deny such a thing happened." She replied with a smug expression. "You know the drill, Sam."
"Yes, I do." Suddenly, he felt like he was the one being taken advantage of, and not the other way around. He pushed her legs off his and got up, pacing the room. "Viv... if that's your real name..."
"It is."
"Okay, Viv, tell me what the hell is going on. Was this plane crash part of some plan?" He came back to the bed and stood over her with a sense of distrust and betrayal in his eyes.
Vivien blinked, sorry that she had put those feelings there. "Sam, the plane crash had nothing to do with my mission. But I was on that plane for a reason." She paused. "Please believe me. I was there because I was ordered to help you find Fiona."
"What?" The word came out on a pained whisper. "Why didn't you say so? Why tell me now?"
"There wasn't really a good time."
"At the cabin you could have come clean. Maybe then I would have been more likely to believe you!" He straightened and turned away from her, his hands on his hips as he moved about the room.
"Sam, I'm sorry. I should have sat down next to you while we were in the air and told you, but I wasn't sure how you would take it."
"I would have been glad for the help, that's how I would take it." He threw his hands up in the air as he walked and let them fall to his sides. "Now...now I don't know...I don't know what to think about you, about this mission..." He let out a deep sigh and moved to the door. "I'm going out for some fresh air."
"Sam, please don't be mad at me. I'm s..." But it was too late. He was already out the door and walking away from the cabin.