felt the vibration of the motor deep within her chest as Tommy throttled up and the chopper lifted off. She shoved the Colt inside the holster, set down the backpack, then plopped down and pressed her back against the wall of the cargo hold. The adrenaline rush slowly left her, her heart slowing, the familiar pulsing of the chopper like a soothing glass of wine.
Relax. Breathe. Another mission down. One they could be proud of, and one they’d be very well paid for by Puerto Isla’s new democratic government. The new president was intent upon cleaning up the drug trade on the island. The team had been more than happy to oblige. That’s what they did. International mercenaries for hire.
Betsy moved past Lucy, clutching Sugar’s rifle case. Camouflage paint covered Betsy’s bronze skin and short bleached hair, but her beautiful Halle Berry face was still evident. Lucy wished she had such great skin and near perfect features. She had fair skin, freckles and brown eyes, gifts from her father. Chromosomes could be so cruel.
Betsy saw Cao watching her. She ignored him, plopped down next to Lucy and dropped the rifle case next to her leg with an impulsive thump. Betsy seemed to realize she had set the case down too forcefully so she ran her hands over its aluminum exterior as if to make sure it was okay.
Lucy pushed the strands of hair out of her face and saw Cao’s expression fall. She suspected Cao had a crush on Betsy. It seemed her instincts were on target. He was well above average in the male department, with his round face, dark intelligent eyes and straight black hair worn in a ponytail. Why didn’t he make a move? At least if Betsy wasn’t interested, he could stop with the calf eyes and the underlying tension that stirred between them. The romantic in Lucy decided to help them along.
“So, what’ve you guys got planned for R and R?” she asked.
Betsy spoke first. “Heading for Baton Rouge. My grand-mama’s sick. You going home?”
Lucy wished she could go home to her dude ranch in Montana to unwind. She grimaced as she said, “Ethiopia for me.”
Cao looked at Betsy, his mood changing, the stern mask softening, his caring side revealed in his eyes. “Sorry about your grandmother.”
“She’s been sick a while.” The pain of impending loss flashed across Betsy’s face; then as if the emotion were too raw, she turned to Lucy, which caused a crestfallen look in Cao’s eyes. “Your mom in Ethiopia now?” Betsy asked.
“Yeah, she’s kinda settled in there at a clinic. Been there for over a year and half now. A long time for her,” Lucy said, thinking of her mother. Dr. Abby Karmon contracted work for the World Health Organization.
“Is she going to stay there a while?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. When wanderlust strikes her, she’ll move again.”
“What about your father?” Cao asked, shifting so his elbows were on his knees, chin resting on his hands. “Is he back from China?”
At the thought of her father, Lucy narrowed her brows in a frown. Roy Karmon, an engineering specialist, built bridges, tunnels and dams. He had been hired to work on the engineering miracle of the twentieth century, the Yangtze River Three Gorges Dam project in China. “That’s why I’m going to Ethiopia. Mom says he’s coming for a visit.”
Lucy hadn’t spoken to her father in a year. And she wasn’t looking forward to this visit. She could have invented an excuse not to go this time, but she had heard the pleading in her mother’s voice and she couldn’t disappoint her.
“Your mom cool with that whole long-distance relationship thing?” Betsy’s eyes squinted slightly as if she were baffled.
“It’s always boggled my mind, but it seems to work for them.”
Betsy grinned. “Conjugal visits twice a year isn’t for me. If I’m going to marry a man, his ass better be in my bed at night keeping my feet warm.”
“I’m with you on that.” Lucy thought of her parents’ unconventional relationship. It wasn’t for everyone. She’d decided long ago it wasn’t for her, either. If and when the right guy came along, she wanted more than the casual connection that had kept her parents’ marriage together for the past thirty-two years. She had suspicions that her mother’s wanderlust was a coping mechanism for the loss of her husband’s presence, but Lucy had never questioned her for fear it might bring up resentment and emotions best left buried. “But there is a highlight to the trip. Val will be there. She’s stopping by on her way to the States.”
“Y’all have been friends forever, haven’t you?” Betsy asked.
“We have,” Lucy said proudly.
They’d been friends forever, or so it felt like. Their friendship had begun as pen pals. Val had already been attending the Athena Academy. Her glowing descriptions of the school and the challenges it posed in her letters had intrigued Lucy. There had been restlessness in her, even at fourteen, that she could hardly control. “Rebel Lucy” is what her mother had called her when her tutors complained about her lack of attention. Lucy just hadn’t felt challenged. Monotony was her enemy. She had always found her father’s work more than interesting and she had invented her own engineering designs just to keep from dying of boredom.
By age eleven, she could design and place explosive charges to bring down either a whole structure or simply a wall within that structure. It hadn’t seemed to impress her father, though.
In several letters, Val had suggested Lucy write to Christine Evans, the principal at the Athena Academy, and apply. Lucy thought getting accepted into the academy might please her father since nothing else ever had, so she took Val’s advice.
She had described her fledgling engineering designs and the knowledge she had gained from her father. She had been a ninth grader at the time. Most students entered the Academy in the seventh grade, like Val, so Lucy figured getting into the school had been a long shot. But to her surprise, she had received an acceptance letter.
She considered her years at AA the most important of her life. The Academy had taught her wilderness survival, martial arts, how to focus her physical and intellectual energies and find what she excelled at: demolitions. Somewhere along the way they also taught Lucy self-worth, confidence, and to achieve new heights to please herself—not her father. She didn’t know where she would be at this moment if the Academy had not been a driving force in those critical teen years. At the Athena Academy, she had become a part of something remarkable, made lifelong ties that could never be broken. Such as Val, fellow alumna and Lucy’s dearest friend, a sister in every way but blood.
“Where’d you say she worked again?”
“The U.S. Consulate in Egypt.” Lucy couldn’t tell anyone about Val’s real job, as a CIA operative. The consulate was her cover. Some Athena grads did internships for the FBI, CIA and NSA, and went to work for those agencies. Lucy had interned with the army’s special ops demolition division. Thoughts of her short stay in the army made her quickly change the subject. “So, Cao, what will you do?”
“Training.” He glanced longingly toward Betsy as if he wanted to ask her to go with him.
“For what?” Betsy asked.
“A triathlon.”
Betsy cut her eyes at him. “Sounds like torture.”
“It’s
