Page 7 of Operation Heartbeat
As soon as she reached the lecture hall, she spotted Con. He resembled a statue standing sentry outside the door. When he saw her, he switched into motion. His long strides ate up the distance between them.
“Follow me. There’s no time.”
TWO
In the two minutes they’d been walking, the rain had settled in for the day and came down in heavy plops that left wet polka dots all over her blouse. She already felt her hair starting to frizz.
He walked too fast to keep up with him easily, and she found herself jogging alongside him. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll be given that information on a need-to-know basis.”
“I need to know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Could he be any ruder? But what did she expect from a man named after a Roman emperor?
“Can you at least tell me how we are getting there?”
He waved a hand toward a golf cart with a roof that belonged to the grounds crew of the university. When they reached it, he took up the entire vinyl seat.
“We can’t just take this.”
He gave her a level look. “Get in.”
With no other choice, she slid onto the hard bench. He wrapped long fingers around the wheel and they shot forward, zooming across the lawn to a part of the campus she didn’t spend much time on.
When she spotted the helicopter sitting in the middle of the grass like a giant bug about to take flight, realitysmackedher.
This was the real deal.
Con stopped the cart a short distance from the chopper. “Give me your bag.”
She looked down at the brown leather bag she had tucked between her feet and passed it to him. When he took it, hestopped, a frown between his brown eyebrows. “What do you have in here? Books?”
She stared at him. “Of course not. Who needs books?”
He let out a groan. “So you brought books. Fine. C’mon.” He extended a long leg to the ground and climbed out of the golf cart. He waited for her to catch up before taking off at a fast clip to the waiting aircraft.
Sophie gulped. If she had any doubts that this was really happening, the sleek black helicopter waiting for them with its blades spinning shocked her into reality.
He ushered her forward, head ducked. She followed his example and climbed into the helicopter.
He dropped the bag at her feet and handed her a set of earmuffs to protect her hearing, then showed her how to strap into the seat.
“Just a short flight and we’ll be there. Okay?” His dark eyes lingered on her face for a beat, but she didn’t have time to analyze why the man had such amazing lashes for a guy because they immediately lifted off.
Sophie gripped the seat so hard that her fingers started to ache. She quivered with tension, and her rain-damp clothes didn’t help the shivers.
Clenching her teeth, she breathed slowly through her nose in an effort to get control of her body. She wasn’t afraid of flying, but she’d never been in such a small craft.
She’d also never been asked to work with the government on a level like this seemed to be. Part of her shivers might actually be from excitement.
The hum of the helicopter blades sliced through the air as the sleek chopper zipped through the sky. The blue of twilight mixed with a deep purple on the horizon they seemed to be heading right toward.
At her side, Con swallowed up most of the cramped interior. Since it was so loud, they didn’t speak, and he didn’t say a word to the pilot either.
He wasn’t exaggerating about the short flight. When they began to descend, whipping over a few big houses, she had to question where this military base could be located. They were still in Jersey, by the looks of it. She recognized the mansions and estates as some of the prominent ones only a certain type of wealth could buy.