Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

blue, but her touch was sure and steady. A streak of dirt over her cheek

made her look unexpectedly vulnerable, and Wes brushed it away

before she had time to stop herself. Evyn flinched and Wes dropped her

hand. “Shoulder’s okay. Sore, but no worse than at rest.”

“You’ll need to ice it,” Evyn said.

“I will. Thanks.”

Evyn looked away. “You’re welcome.”

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Oath Of hOnOr

“That was a pretty impressive sim.”

“You didn’t seem too bothered by it.” Evyn pushed to her feet and

moved back to give Wes room to dress. She resisted the urge to ask her

if she needed help. She didn’t want to touch her again. Not at all.

Wes looked up at her. “Did you expect me to be?”

“Well, seeing as how you’re a paper pusher and all.” Evyn grinned,

realized she was falling into the habit of bantering with Wes, and skidded

away from the friendly exchange. Relaxing her guard around Wes was

just too easy, and she couldn’t afford to get familiar with her. Even if

she wasn’t supposed to be training her, there was the little matter of

Wes probably being on Lucinda Washburn’s private security payroll

just now. Hell, for all she knew, Wes was evaluating her. And didn’t

that just throw cold water on her libido. “I’ll meet you at the cars. We’re

done for today.”

v

They didn’t speak on the trip back to the House, and Evyn

disappeared as soon as they disembarked. Wes couldn’t figure out what

had put that cold distance in Evyn’s eyes after the warmth that had been

there just minutes before, and the more she thought about it, the more

frustrated she became. She shouldn’t care—didn’t want to care. Since

the idea of sitting around her hotel room until the next day waiting for

her next exercise held no appeal, she went back to her office and spent

the rest of the afternoon setting up a schedule to review various protocols

with the team members. When she’d gotten everything organized to her

satisfaction, she turned to the last detail on her list and made a call.

“This is Captain Masters,” she said when a young man answered.

“Is Ms. Washburn available?”

“One moment, Captain,” he said pleasantly and put her on hold.

Lucinda answered. “What can I do for you, Captain?”

“I wanted to follow up on my request to schedule the president for

a baseline physical examination.”

“Yes, I have that on my list. Can you hold for a moment?”

“Of course.”

A minute passed, and Lucinda returned. “Are you free right

now?”“Certainly.”

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“Five minutes in the clinic?” Lucinda said.

“I’ll be waiting.” Wes hurried to the clinic and commandeered

the PA, a man she knew by name but hadn’t formally met yet, to assist.

“Hernandez, you’ve got the duty. Set up a room for a complete physical,

will you? The president is on his way.”

Hernandez, a navy corpsman, snapped to attention. “Yes, ma’am.

And welcome aboard, ma’am.”

“Thanks.”

Three minutes later, the president arrived, followed by a military

aide carrying nuclear codes in a secure briefcase. Wes saluted.

“Thank you for interrupting your schedule, sir.”

The president returned her salute and extended his hand. “Good to

meet you, Doctor.”

She indicated an exam room. “Right in here, sir. This shouldn’t

take very long.”

The military aide took a post just outside the door, his expression

neutral. Hernandez had laid out equipment on the counter next to the

exam table and had draped an ironed white gown on the end of the

chair. He stood at attention to the left of the door.

“I’ll leave you to change,” Wes said and stepped out to wait until

Hernandez signaled the president was ready. Two minutes later he called

her in, and she quickly worked her way through the exam, checking

vital signs, listening to heart and lungs, testing reflexes. Everything was

fine, which she had anticipated.

“All set, sir,” she said when she’d finished. She stepped out while

Hernandez assisted the president, and returned when Hernandez called

her. “What’s your verdict, Doctor?” the president asked as he knotted

his tie.“We’ll want routine bloods again in four months and an EKG in

six. But you’re cleared for duty.”

Andrew Powell smiled. “Glad to hear it. How are you finding the

post so far?”

“I’m honored, sir.”

“I promise it’s not always this quiet.”

She laughed. “In medicine, sir, quiet is not bad.”

“True about my job too. What are you doing for the holidays?”

“I have the duty, sir.”

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Oath Of hOnOr

The president opened the exam-room door and paused. “Well, be

sure and make the staff Christmas party.”

“I will. Thank you, sir.”

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon,” he said.

“Yes, sir. Happy holidays, sir.”

“Happy holidays, Captain Masters.”

Wes stayed in the hall until he disappeared. Today she’d been part

of a simulated rocket attack aimed at destroying this man and what he

symbolized to the nation and the world. The idea that someone close

to him might be a traitor made the urgency of her job even more acute.

She understood—at least rationally—a little bit better why Evyn didn’t

yet trust her, and as much as she resisted the idea, she couldn’t totally

trust Evyn either.

• 107 •

RADCLY f FE

chapter fOurteen

Evyn woke with Ricochet draped on her left ear. “Get off.”

Ricochet stretched, shifted, and settled around her forehead

like a fur hat. His belly reminded her of feathers dancing on her skin.

Feathers. Fingertips. Wes’s thumb tracing over her cheek. A shot of

adrenaline spiking her pulse, her clit instantly hard. Her eyes jolted

open. “Hell.”

She stared at the ceiling. Flat gray light. The weatherman had said

more snow was coming. More freezing cold. She wasn’t cold now. She

kicked the covers off. Ricochet complained and stalked haughtily to

the bottom of the bed. Evyn touched her cheek and her clit did that

twitching thing it had done yesterday when Wes had touched her. Wes

made her so freaking hot—didn’t mean a thing, though. Just good old

reflexes. Never mind the way Wes had looked at her when she’d been

moving her shoulder around—so serious, so right there . Wes looked at

her—looked into her, and okay, that freaked her out too. She’d grown

up in a houseful of men she wanted to be just like—tough, competitive

men who taught her to win. And any fear or uncertainty—and, God

forbid, tears—that cropped up along the way, she hid. And eventually

she didn’t need to hide those things because she didn’t feel them any

longer.

Except when Wes touched her, she felt the doors opening and light

leaking into the closed rooms where she kept her secrets. Not good.

Didn’t matter, though. She had a handle on it. She slid her hand down

her belly. Had a hand on it too. She was hard all right, and wet, and

damn if she couldn’t get Wes’s scent out of her head. So she closed

her eyes and let the green of Wes’s gaze and the piercing winter-bright

scent of her fill her mind as she came.

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Oath Of hOnOr

v

“Morning,” Wes said when she found Evyn in the ready room at

0730. A box, empty save for a lone white powdered doughnut, sat in

the middle of the round table. Evyn was dressed for fieldwork again—

khakis and a blue polo shirt with the USSS logo on the chest.

“Hi,” Evyn said, rising abruptly and dumping the remains of her

coffee in the sink. “Ready?”

“Another sim? Sure.”

“Nope. Today we go live.” Evyn raised her left wrist and said,

“Team One, ready to move out.”

Wes followed her out into the hall, waiting for Evyn to fill her

in on what was happening. They’d reached the south exit before she

finally asked, “Isn’t it customary to brief me?”

“There is no customary.” Evyn reached the door first and held

it open. “The only thing you can count on in this detail is that plans

always change. Today’s already have.”

“Am I the only medic?”

“You’ll have the usual backup in the follow car.”

Wes caught the door and followed Evyn outside. A limo idled with

the three black SUVs on the circular drive. Gary waited by the open

rear door of the first vehicle, sunglasses on, earbud just visible behind

his left ear. He nodded briefly to Evyn, and Wes thought she saw his

eyebrow quirk before his stony expression returned. Several other men

and a woman stood waiting by the other vehicles, and the profiles of

additional agents were visible inside each one. She hadn’t expected

so many people to be involved in a training scenario but said nothing.

Evyn obviously wasn’t planning to answer any of her questions.

“We’ll be in the first follow car,” Evyn said. “Eagle is on his

way.”Wes hesitated. “I thought this was a training scenario.”

Evyn met her gaze, no trace of humor in her eyes. “Did I give you

that impression? This is as real as it gets.”

Wes adjusted her expectations and reassessed the situation. “Then

shouldn’t I ride with the president?”

Evyn opened the rear door of the SUV directly behind the limo and

gestured for Wes to climb in. “Under most circumstances, no. You’re

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RADCLY f FE

part of the secure package now—we need you out of the kill zone. You

can’t treat Eagle if you’re dead.”

“Makes sense,” Wes muttered. She accepted the reasoning behind

safeguarding the first responder, but in light of the sim the day before,

she didn’t like it. If the vehicles were separated or the president’s

vehicle took a direct hit, she wanted to be closer than she would be in

a follow car.

Evyn must have read her displeasure, because she said, “If a threat

arises, we’ll do our jobs and you’ll stay out of the way until needed.”

“I know the protocol, Agent Daniels.”

“Then we’re all happy.” Evyn pulled out her handheld and started

flicking through screens. Conversation over.

Wes settled onto the black leather bench seat and watched out

the window as a group emerged from the White House. She caught a

fleeting glimpse of President Powell, flanked by four agents, striding

briskly toward the limo. Seconds later, they pulled away and exited

the South Grounds onto E Street. The streets had been plowed and

snowbanks lined the curbs. Somewhere in front of them, motorcycle

engines rumbled, probably a police escort clearing the way. Across

from her, Evyn texted.

Wes wondered what would happen next, and when. The thrum of

anxiety in her belly was probably something she was going to live with

indefinitely. Every trip the president took outside the White House was

akin to a military engagement. Danger was always imminent. Stress