Read Online One of the Boys by Merline Lovelace - Free Book Online Page A

vehicles.
    Even though this test involved an unarmed weapon, there was always the danger of a small explosion or fire on impact. Fire trucks, range safety vehicles, police cars and ordnance-disposal trucks cluttered the road. While Jake went to talk to the officer in charge, Maura unbuckled her seat belt and slipped out the passenger door, only to teeter precariously when her high heels sank into the soft soil.
    Grimacing, she glanced down at her shoes. She’d bought these bright red strappy sandals because they matched her dress so perfectly, but they certainly weren’t the right footgear for traipsing through the brush after downed missiles.
    â€œThey’ve found it,” Jake told her when he returned a few minutes later. “It’s about a half mile off the road and appears to be in pretty good shape.” His glance went to her shoes, sunk to the heels. “I’ve got some boots in the back of the truck if you want to trek through the woods to the site.”
    â€œThat’s what I came for, Colonel.”
    Unbuckling her sandals, Maura pulled on the boots and tried a few experimental steps. The rubber slapped at her knees and sucked away from her foot every time the heel hit the soft sand. Disregarding these unpropitious signs, she clumped over to Jake.
    â€œAll set. Lead the way.”
    She had to stop several times to tug a boot back on, but they finally made it to the perimeter of the impact site. Yellow tape was wrapped around tree trunks, enclosing a circle approximately the size of a basketball court. Explosive-ordnance personnel in heavy safety suits maneuvered a backhoe around a blackened hole. Inside the hole was the Maverick, buried up to its tail fins.
    The rest of the response team waited outside the circle. They greeted Jake respectfully, nodded to Maura and turned to watch while the crew inside the taped area worked to unearth the missile. The shadows cast by the tall pines gradually lengthened. The only sound was the steady grinding of the backhoe’s gears and a dull thud as each load of earth was dumped aside. Finally, after what seemed like hours,a recovery-team member slipped into the widened pit and fixed a harness around the exposed tail.
    At his signal, the crane operator slowly, inexorably, pulled the white tube from its shadowy depths. Maura breathed a relieved sigh when she saw the missile appeared pretty much intact.
    â€œWait here,” Jake instructed. Ducking under the tape, he went to examine the missile.
    Maura soon found herself engaged in friendly conversation with two of the range-patrol officers. In the ensuing twenty minutes she learned more about the strange events that could occur on Eglin’s half million plus acres than she would ever have imagined possible. The range officers had wild tales of marijuana growers and poachers and more than one party of skinny-dippers caught in the buff enjoying the reservation’s creeks and streams. One enthusiastic officer was just beginning a gruesome account of decomposing bodies found recently when Jake returned.
    Excusing herself, Maura shuffled beside him through the tall trees. When she lost her boot for the third time, he took matters into his own hands. Literally.
    â€œWe’ll never make it out of the woods at this rate.”
    Before she realized his intent, he’d bent, slid one arm under her knees and lifted her easily in his arms.
    â€œGrab the boot,” he instructed, dipping so she could retrieve the errant footwear.
    Her twisting movement brought her breast in direct contact with Jake’s palm. His body went on instant alert as the soft flesh filled his palm. He could feel the lacy pattern of her bra and the hard little bud of her nipple.
    Maura’s startled eyes flashed up at him. Her little speech about not mixing business and pleasure slid into Jake’s mind, then slid right out again. The stress of the past weeks, the crushing disappointment of the failure, the