WAR: Intrusion by Vanessa Kier Page A

speak a few words of the local language.”
    “But you’ll understand the body language just fine. Particularly when we practice rolling on condoms.”
    Lachlan glanced over at her in time to see that blush on her cheeks again. Interesting. He imagined she’d given this talk often enough to have no embarrassment, so was she blushing because she didn’t like discussing such an intimate act with him? Or because the mention of condoms made her wonder what he’d be like in bed?
    The image of Dr. Kirk on her knees before him, rolling a condom onto his stiffened cock had the expected result on his body. To distract himself, he set the box down, then started pulling out the smaller boxes inside. “Where do you want these?”
    At Dr. Kirk’s choked laugh, he glanced down and discovered he’d picked up two boxes of what appeared to be erect penises. He burst out laughing. “Ah, never you mind. I’ll just set these right here.” He placed them on the table with as much nonchalance as he could muster. Once again, he gave thanks that his teammates were nowhere near. This was one story he’d be keeping to himself. He needed his teammates to respect him, not be distracted by the thought of their commander holding plastic cocks in his hands.
    Lachlan unpacked the boxes as quickly as possible, then fled back to the SUV with the empties. He’d just shut the rear door when an old school bus pulled in and disgorged about thirty women.
    As they headed toward the building they glanced at Lachlan with a mix of curiosity and feminine appreciation. Seeing a group of middle-aged women struggling to carry large display boards, he darted forward. “Here, let me.”
    He took the boards and brought them to the classroom, then returned to the bus to see if there was anything more he could do to help. But the vehicle was empty and the female driver had joined the others inside.
    Through the windows Lachlan saw the women talking and laughing with Dr. Kirk. A few of them gestured his way and one of the women even nodded toward the table of sex-related items before pointedly looking from Dr. Kirk to Lachlan. He wished he were close enough to hear the doctor’s response and see if her cheeks flushed again. But he had to content himself with watching her laugh, shake her head, then turn her back on Lachlan.
    Well, that appeared to be his cue to wander off.
    The rest of the grounds of the primary school showed signs of long disuse. The special black paint that was used to turn sheets of plywood into blackboards had all but disappeared in the other classrooms. Louvers were missing from windows and in the classrooms farthest from Dr. Kirk’s class, bird droppings covered the floor. This must not have been a boarding school because there were no dormitories. The outbuildings consisted of a dilapidated maintenance shed holding a rusted hand mower and a broken rake, and an administration block where all the offices were coated in dust and debris.
    So much for his hope that he’d find the missing weapons here.
    Laughter from the classroom let him know Dr. Kirk was still teaching, so Lachlan wandered into the jungle. He didn’t go far, not wanting to tempt Dr. Kirk to leave without him. After completing an exploration of the immediate perimeter, he called Tony.
    Lachlan reported the disappointment at the airfield, his discovery of the loan documents, his suspicions about Dr. Kirk having a hidden storage room, then explained that he’d found nothing suspicious here at the school. “Tell me you had better luck.”
    “Sorry, mate. The only luck I had was in snapping a number of headshots of the pilot. Did anything about him seem familiar to you?”
    “No. But I did notice that he kept his face averted. I doubt it’s because I’m that terrifying.”
    “I don’t know, Commander, you can be pretty scary.”
    Lachlan snorted. It still felt odd to be referred to as Commander, which he thought of as a bloke behind a desk, but WAR had attracted soldiers