Her face fell and she struggled not to let the tears fall. Her throat was tight and not even Jackson's warm hands on her shoulders were making her feel better. Quent put one hand on Jackson's shoulder and the younger Were turned his head up to look at him.
"We need to know more, though. Can you sneak around a bit? Peek into that science building? If there's nothing there, then we'll find a new lead." Quent asked. Chloe looked up, hope filling her face. They weren't giving up; they were just being tactical. She had to admit that she wasn't quite sure what they were going to do once they were on the base. She just knew she needed to do something.
Jackson frowned slightly, his dark brows coming together. Then he looked at Chloe, her face full of hope and trust, and just a little bit of fire. If he didn't help, she was going to do something rash.
"All right. I'll do it," he said finally. Chloe's face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Thank you! Thank you!" She fell forward off the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. He felt so good under her hands that she didn't care if Quent saw or thought it was odd that she would hug him.
Jackson laughed, carefully pulling her off of him. "I need to get some sleep first, though."
She flashed him a wicked grin and raised her eyebrows.
"No, real sleep." He shook his head at her and she sighed, rocking back on her toes before standing back up. She glanced over at Quent but he was busy looking at the files on the table.
"You can have the bed. I need to take a shower anyway," she announced, giving him a wink before sauntering off to the bathroom. She made sure to swivel her hips just a little bit, and when she reached the door she turned to see Jackson eying her appreciatively. With a giggle, she disappeared behind the brown, wooden door and started the water.
Chapter 19
The late afternoon sun filtered down, making the leftover snow sparkle and shimmer. The trees were tipped with white and the gate guard’s breath frosted the air. Jackson barely felt the cold; not that he didn't usually feel warm, it was just with the taste of Chloe still on his lips, he didn't even need a coat.
He had slept a beautiful, dreamless sleep for the rest of the morning. When he had woken up, Quent was gone, but Chloe was sitting at the small table working on her laptop with three books open beside her. She hadn't heard him as he slid out of bed and behind her, feeling her jump when he put his hands on her shoulders.
"Researching your brother's condition?" he asked. She laughed.
"No. Homework." She grinned up at him and his heart soared. Even in the horrible motel lighting, her hair shone and her eyes sparkled. He was still afraid he was going to hurt her, but it was impossible to feel anything but happiness when he was this close to her. He would worry about the wolf later.
"I'll let you study, then." Jackson paused for a moment, and then kissed her head. The simple token of affection felt strange and wonderful. He had never been really been emotionally close enough to a woman to want to be affectionate.
"Okay. I'll see you tonight? Maybe we could do dinner or something?" she asked. He smiled at her.
"You got it. I'll bring something back with me."
Jackson smiled at the memory. He handed his ID to the gate guard and headed off to his office, feeling more hopeful for the future than he had in months. He didn't even hassle the poor private standing guard at his building this time. He whistled softly to himself as he sauntered to his office. Stepping inside, he sniffed the air, making sure no one had been in to tamper with his things. Just because he was happier than he'd been in a long time didn't mean that his old habits were going to disappear.
Everything was exactly as he left it and he let himself relax for a moment. The old chair creaked as he sat down and opened up the locked drawer and got out his laptop. The fact that there were fake orders for the young sergeant concerned him. It was a lot of trouble to go to in order to make someone disappear.
Jackson worked on his laptop for a little over an hour, digging into the fake orders and searching for the men who had attacked Chloe. The more he dug, the less he liked what he was seeing. It was as if Blake Madison had fallen off the face of the earth and the Army was doing its best to keep him there. Other than the orders he had found the night before, Jackson couldn't pull up a single trace of him after his disappearance date.
As far as the men who had attacked them, they were still in the hospital. They were ex-military. Dishonorable discharge after the debacle with Colonel Bronn in the Middle East. It made Jackson nervous that Bronn might be involved, but at least the men wouldn't be coming after Chloe again until they got out of the hospital.
Jackson glanced at the small clock on the lower right hand of his screen. It was almost the end of the lunch hour, and he had been in his office long enough; it would make perfect sense to anyone watching him for him to take a break. He closed his laptop and carefully locked it away. He grabbed his field jacket and went to take a walk around the compound.
The sun was shining brightly, making the snow sparkle like billions of tiny diamonds. The world was crystalline and white. His feet crunched against the hardened snow as he tread a well-worn path toward the science building. Ice gilded the pine needles surrounding the building and giant icicles hung from the roof like jagged knives. The air burned his nose with the cold.
He flashed his ID to the guard on the science building, knowing his rank would gain him entrance. The heat inside was almost a shock to his system after the cold sunshine. Florescent light-bulbs buzzed overhead as he worked his way down the white hallway until it split. A bathroom was straight in front of him with the hallway to the Medical area on his left, and an unmarked doorway with a key-card access pad to his right.
Jackson frowned slightly, unsure of what to do next. Without a key-card, he would never gain access. He could hear someone washing their hands in the bathroom and he came up with an idea. He opened the door and ran directly into a man wearing a white lab coat. Since Jackson had been expecting him, Jackson was able to discreetly swipe the man's key card. With an apology, the man continued out as Jackson hurried into a stall.
He heard the man go to the doorway and curse. Then the dial of buttons.
"Hey, Brad... yeah, I left my card on my desk again. Will you come let me in?" The man's phone beeped as the call ended and then a moment later the door buzzed. Jackson waited until he heard it close solidly behind the scientist before exiting the stall.
Jackson walked confidently to the door, sliding the scientist's stolen badge through the reader as though it were his own. The door clicked open and he stepped inside. There was another long hallway, but the first door to the right was definitely a locker room. He stepped inside. Three rows of ugly tan lockers filled the room. Spare lab coats of various sizes hung along a rack on the wall. Jackson carefully put one on, hoping to blend in with the rest of the scientists.
He looked around the small locker room, until he saw an office door with a cork board beside it. He checked out the bulletin board of information; there were various pictures of new staff and a giant calendar with holidays and birthdays written in neat handwriting. The room was empty, so he carefully pressed down on the office door handle. It pushed inward to a dark, nondescript little office. The only thing in the room that was useful was two spare lab key-cards on lanyards by the door. Jackson put them in his pocket. He had a feeling they would could in useful later.
Closing the office door quietly behind him, he stepped back out into the empty locker room and then out into the hallway. He walked past a lab with beakers full of various colored liquids, and then another with a giant spectroscopy machine. Luckily, the labs seemed to be deserted for the lunch hour and he was able to explore without detection.