She glanced across the table to Brandt. He too was dressed to impress. A tuxedo, even. But his jaw was as square as ever, and those dark eyes? No matter whether in a tux or battle camouflage, Rebecca remembered how Brandt's eyes twinkled under the torchlight in that jungle clearing in Ecuador. Now they glistened in the candlelight. How far they had come.
Brandt smiled warmly, putting his hand over hers. She knew how he yearned to get back into the field, chasing down the baddest of the bad guys, but he hadn't complained a peep since being assigned close-protection duty to her while the rest of his team tracked down and eliminated the remaining members of the organization that had nearly killed both of them, the Knot.
Granted, she and Brandt had explored the "close" part of his protection duties in great detail. Her cheeks flushed at just the thought of this morning's "exercises." Six months into their relationship, and he could still make her blush.
And now they were here to celebrate the news that Brandt's team had taken down the last of the Knot. They could breathe easy again. Tomorrow, after a quick sightseeing trip to the Taj Mahal for her and Fort Agra for Brandt, they headed back to London. A part of her was thrilled to begin her research in earnest again. To have a fully equipped and staffed laboratory at her disposal? It was a DNA paleoanthropologist's wet dream. But another part of her feared for what would happen to their relationship.
Brandt was scheduled to go back out into the field in just three days. Could their bond stand the test of days, weeks, and even months of being apart while he was on classified assignments? Would he meet another damsel in distress, far thinner and used to wearing silk dresses?
"Well? Romantic enough for Valentine's Day?" Brandt asked as he nodded to the bay window.
Across the street lay the massive gates that led to the Taj Mahal. The red brick structure was lit against the night sky. In her mind's eye, Rebecca could see beyond the walls to the treasure they protected. The long, narrow pool reflected one of the modern seven wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal's huge white domes and minarets glowed brightly, reminding the world of Shah Jahan's love for his wife. Of course she was his third wife, but the monument had become a symbol of everlasting love, nonetheless.
Many may argue that Paris was the most romantic spot on earth, but with all the reconstruction going on after their last visit there, the Taj Mahal was absolutely the most romantic for her and Brandt.
Rebecca squeezed his hand. "You had me at 'Let's go to India.' "
Brandt leaned over and whispered. "You had me at 'Are you a moron?' "
Oh, God. He remembered the first words that she had ever spoken to him. In her defense she was tied to a stake in the rain forest with an anaconda wrapped around her chest. But still. Brandt was anything but a moron. How many times had he saved her life? In Ecuador, Paris, Budapest, Istanbul, and half a dozen other locales.
"Brandt, I am so sorry for-"
He leaned in and kissed her, interrupting her apology. His lips, tender yet firm against hers, asked her to stop talking and start kissing. Brandt's fingers interlaced with hers as his thumb stroked her palm. Rebecca could swear that steam shot out of her ears. Her body lit up as brightly as the Taj Mahal. Luckily, Brandt pulled back before someone asked them to go up to their room. Although the way her legs quivered, that might not be such a bad idea.
"Rebecca," Brandt breathed out.
"Dessert?" their waiter asked.
Brandt snapped back into his chair as she folded her hands on her lap. It was so easy to forget that they were in a crowded restaurant. For a moment it had seemed like only the two of them existed.
"Sorry, I'm going to need the menu again," she murmured. Anything that happened before that kiss, long forgotten.
As the waiter moved off to fulfill her request, Brandt whisked the napkin from his lap and rose. "I will take this opportunity to use the restroom."
Rebecca's eyebrow shot up. "Everything okay?"
"Absolutely," he reassured her, but his eyes didn't register reassuring.
This was the third time to the restroom for Brandt since they arrived at the restaurant. For a guy who didn't allow for a single potty break on a five-hour hike out of the rain forest, he sure was liberal with the latrine visits tonight.
She was about to rise and follow him, but then caught sight of his rear tightly outlined by his black pants as he walked away. Maybe, on second thought, she'd just sit here and enjoy the view.
Brandt kept his pace steady passing the elaborate saltwater tank filled with coral, sea urchins, and clown fish until he turned down the hallway. Then, he broke into a trot. He hit the bathroom door at a run. Bursting in, he found only the attendant. Brandt wasn't quite sure what these guys in swanky hotel bathrooms were supposed to do for you exactly, unzip your fly maybe, but he needed him gone.
Pulling out an American five-dollar bill, Brandt offered it to the guy with a nod to the door, but the attendant only frowned. Fine. Brandt pulled out a twenty. The man accepted it and left. If Brandt didn't button it up these bathroom excursions were going to cost over a hundred bucks.
Brandt stared at his reflection in the mirror. "Damn it, Brandt, pull it together."
But as he brought a small, red velvet box from the inside pocket of his tux, he couldn't pull it together if he tried. Slowly Brandt opened it. A diamond ring stared back at him. Was it too small? Would Rebecca be insulted by a ring less than three carats? What could he do, though? He was on a military man's budget, and he wanted to still save up for a house. Those things were more important than the bling, right?
What if she said "no?" How could he leave for a mission not knowing if she was waiting for him?
God, it was sappy and stupid, and his men teased him endlessly about it, but his stomach lurched at the thought of not having her arms to wrap around him at night. Well, and her legs too, but that was a different kind of yearning. The ache he was talking about went far deeper than his groin.
Brandt snapped the box closed. This was ridiculous. He'd step in front of the president to take a bullet, hell, even the secretary of education, easier than he could ask Rebecca to marry him. A narco-drug lord? He'd simply throw an elbow to his nose. But this... this churned his stomach like none other.
How many times had already tried to ask her? He was going to do it after they sat down at the table. Then he was going to slip the ring into her glass of champagne. Then after the salads came. Then forget about it after the chicken satay.
And now, dessert? He was running out of meal to make this happen.
No. It had to be now. This mission was time sensitive. He was not going to let this window slip by. Rebecca may not have the largest ring to brag about, but by God, he was going to give her an engagement to remember.
Rebecca waved the waiter off. He was determined to keep their champagne glasses full. And he wasn't even their waiter. Five-star restaurants, man. They did service with a capital "S."
She sipped the nearly overflowing glass of champagne as she glanced around the room. Was this what her life could have been like if she had applied her skills to the commercial sector? Being able to splice DNA fifteen different ways was an extremely well-paid career in the pharmaceutical world.
Could she dine like this every night? Forget what Top Ramen tasted like and learn when lobster was best in season?
Rebecca chuckled. That was so not her. Sure, tonight was grand, but tomorrow, she and Brandt would pick up some street food off a camel-drawn cart and be all the happier for it. Opulence was great, but a well-worn pair of jeans was much more her style.
Brandt came around the corner, straightening his jacket. He looked so sophisticated. But was that water dripping off his nose? Rebecca frowned. Was he sick? He had been acting a little odd all night. She had just assumed that his tuxedo's cummerbund was too tight. Lord knew that the silk dress had gotten itchy after the first five minutes. And the static from the garment? Rebecca feared she'd look in a mirror and find her hair standing on end.
He sat down rather abruptly, placing the napkin back on his lap like a little boy might at his first cotillion. She waited as he stared down at the white tablecloth. Finally his jaw bunched and he looked up, reaching for her hand.
"Your dessert menu," the waiter announced in a clipped British accent.
"Not now," Brandt rumbled.
The poor man's eyes dilated as he awkwardly placed the menu on the table, then scurried off.
"Sorry," Brandt said as he gripped her hand. "But if I don't say this now..."
Rebecca kept a cheerful smile even though her heart sank. They hadn't really discussed life post-Knot. Had Brandt realized he wasn't up for not just a long-distance relationship but a transcontinental one? Had he brought her to the shadow of the Taj Mahal to soften the blow of a breakup?
"Rebecca," he said nearly pained. She hated seeing the crow's feet at the edge of his eyes pinched in worry. She hated it even more when it spelled the bad news that was about to come her way.
"I, I..." Brandt stammered.
You what? She wanted to scream but also didn't want to hear the words that followed.
"Rebecca, will-" Brandt stopped, dropping her hand. "Crap. I almost forgot...
Seriously this was going to go down as the worst break up speech ever.
But then Brandt pulled something out from his pocket. A box. A red velvet box. A box just the right size for a ring. Breath caught in Rebecca's throat. Brandt wasn't breaking up with her. Not at all.
Was he really going to propose?
As Brandt fumbled with the box, he asked, "Rebecca Sasha Monroe will you-"
Yeah, that's about when the first explosion sounded.
Brandt slammed the box closed shoving it into his pocket while his other hand found Rebecca's and pulled her down, using his elbow to knock the table on end so when the car right outside their window blew, the wood took most of the damage.
Glass shattered, screams sounded, and chaos reigned.
The restaurant was plunged into quasi-darkness as the lights were replaced by yellow emergency lighting.
Everyone here was well aware of the Mumbai attacks. This current assault had all the earmarks for it. Car bombs to start then gunfire in the distance. The terrorists were known for hitting tourist spots, especially where Americans gathered. And the Taj Mahal on Valentine's Day? This restaurant was an all you can eat jihadist's buffet. The fundamentalists were getting more fundamental by the day. Even grabbing and beating native Muslims who expressed their affection too outwardly in public.
He held Rebecca close as the other patrons scrambled to flee. But he pulled in one breath after another, making certain that there wasn't a second car bomb waiting to go off. Once past five breaths, he tugged Rebecca behind him entering the stream of panicked diners who fled in all directions, falling, slipping, trampling one another.
Brandt grabbed a young girl who had tripped, lifting her into her mother's arms. Once free of the girl, he angled them across the restaurant, away from the bulk of the crowd. Unfettered, they broke into a full run. Brandt didn't know whether to be proud of Rebecca or feel a little sorry for her. She was so used to being under attack that she didn't complain. The woman knew when to run and when to ask questions later.
They found the stairwell and pushed through the throng trying to get down from the hotel's upper floors. Not Brandt.
Rebecca's heels clanged on the metal steps as they rushed upward. Making the turn from the second-floor landing to the third floor, Rebecca balked as an older man and woman burst through the stairwell door and hurried past them down the stairs.
"Our room is right here," she said trying to urge him into the second-floor hallway.
Yes, their room, booked under an assumed name with the best forged passports that the CIA could come up with, was right there. The nearest room to the emergency exit and on a floor they could make a jump from the window and hope to live. But that wasn't the room he was heading for.
"Trust me," he said, not having time to explain.
And God love her, she did. Without another word, Rebecca followed him up those stairs and through the third floor door. He pulled out the keycard and swiped it in the first room's lock but it flashed red.
Damn it. Wrong key. He fished for the second key, found it, opened the door, and rushed inside.
Rebecca stumbled to a stop as the door hit her in the butt. In the dim light, she scanned a room crammed with weapons. There were equipment bags everywhere and enough machine guns and pistols to arm a militia.
"What is this?" she croaked out, finding it hard to speak after the brutal shock of the last few moments. The explosion still rang in her ears. And the blood. They had run over and around dead bodies. How much devastation could one person see in a lifetime? And now this.
As Brandt dug around in the bags, tossing weapons like they were baseball mitts into a gym bag, he answered, "A shadow room."
"Shadow room?" she repeated even though she'd heard Brandt perfectly fine the first time.
"A room booked under a completely different identity used solely for this purpose," Brandt said as he nodded to the weapons. "An emergency armory."
"How did you... ?" Rebecca tried really hard to process everything that happened. The explosions. The gunfire. And now a shadow room. Not that she minded having a room full of guns, it was just, you know, not where she expected to end up on Valentine's night. "How did you know to have it?"
"I didn't," he said, grabbing fistful of ammo clips and shoving them into a thick black canvas bag.
"Then how...?" she felt like she was trying to understand quantum physics with an abacus.
Brandt shrugged. "We've had one of these everywhere we stayed."
Rebecca stumbled back, glad the door was closed behind her. "Everywhere?" she repeated yet again. They had been to Madrid, Monaco, and Mozambique. And each time they'd had a room above them loaded with weapons?
Brandt glanced over his shoulder a fierce smile on his face. "Why do you think I kept tipping the bellmen twenty bucks?"
For a moment a silly question, given their dire circumstances, flared though her mind. Did she want to marry a man who thought a shadow room was an essential part of any vacation plan?
He indicated the second bed. "That's your stuff over there."
Willing her legs to move, she found a scientist's equivalent of an armory. There were laptops, encrypted hard drives, satellite phones, the works. She opened a leather case, revealing a laptop that looked exactly like her own, sans the dents and scratches. When she opened the lid, the computer bloomed to life with exactly the same security window. Typing in her password, the desktop appeared, again identical to her own. How often did they clone her laptop?
"Clothes are on the pillow," Brand instructed.
She found a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, thick cotton socks, and hiking boots.
Rebecca reached for them but heard that distinct thunk, followed by a whistle. Having no time for the clothes, she grabbed the case with her cloned computer and sat phone. Brandt grabbed what he could as they headed for the door.
It was barely closed behind them when an explosion rocked the hotel. Thrown forward into the opposing wall, they fell to the floor as the door they just went through glowed red from the fire behind it.
Rebecca looked up at Brandt, ears squealing in protest. "This isn't random, is it?"
How Brandt wanted to lie to the woman he loved. To tell her everything was going to be all right. That they weren't the targets of a concerted and well-orchestrated ambush meant to mimic the Mumbai attacks. That this wasn't the Knot's last, grand attempt to wipe them from the face of the planet.
But he loved her, so he couldn't lie to her. He just shook his head and helped Rebecca to her feet. Brandt went to get them moving but she paused.
"Hang on just a second." They didn't really have a second, but he waited as she kicked her high heel against the stairwell concrete. Finally the heel broke off. She repeated with the other shoe. "Okay."
Again, he wasn't sure if he should be proud of her, standing there in her torn and bloody dress, or feel sad for her that this was her life now.
"What are we waiting for?" she asked.
Yeah, on second thought, he was just pretty damned proud. He took point as they rushed back down the stairs, hitting a logjam of people that poured out onto the second-floor landing, slowing their descent. Brandt went to follow the crowd done to the ground floor but Rebecca pulled him toward the door.
"Our room is toast," he said, confused on why she was obsessed with the second floor again.
"Trust me," she said.
And he did.
She rushed past their burnt-out room, took a sharp left, then went down a hallway and took another left. It wasn't until they were nearly in the room that Brandt realized that they were headed to the hotel's business office. What could they use here? An emergency fax? Nevertheless, Rebecca burst into the room and started pulling wiring out of the electronics.
Gunfire sounding from outside was met by answering screams. The Knot was advancing on their position. They had very little time to make it out of the hotel before the gunmen breached the hotel.