I leap as hard as I can once I get as close as safely possible, and my stomach slaps my throat as I fly through the air. My arms circle as I try to keep my body lined up, and I slap the center of the mines with a thud, while firmly planting my feet into the ground to keep from letting a momentum hop send me a fraction of the way too far off the mark.
“Damn it,” Jase says under his breath while running his hands through his hair.
“Aria! You stupid, stubborn, idiotic girl!” my brother chastises, but I ignore him while kneeling down to start inspecting the ground’s secrets. "Unc could have blown them up!"
"No he couldn't," I mutter, gently inspecting my small workspace. "If I'm right, and there's something worth hiding, then he would have blown it all to hell."
“There’s a defusing team on the way, damn it!” Jase adds, but I resume my task, ignoring the pissed off commander.
My hands play with the dirt under me to expose the dirty little tale someone worked damn hard to conceal.
I smile when I see a silver speck hiding beneath the ground, and I continue digging until I reach the hatch not meant to be found.
“They’ve got an underground facility here,” I murmur with a smug grin while looking up to the stark white faces.
Uncle Grayson hops out of the car the second it halts, but Jase stops him by placing his hand on his chest.
“There’re landmines all over the ground here. Aria is in the center.”
“How the hell did she get over there?” Unc muses, and then I see his protective eyes darkening when Jase scowls in response, giving me away without a word. “Damn it, girl!”
I just smirk before popping off the hatch’s keypad and examining the mess of wires inside that are all colored black to confuse anyone who might be able to stumble upon it.
“Don’t touch anything. It could be wired to explode,” Jase cautions.
“It is going to explode if you mess with the wrong wire. I spent quite a few centuries as tech girl since my dad refused to let me be in the field.”
“Don’t!” Rex gripes, his body ready to lunge over the mines and join me so he can halt my examination.
“The defusing team will be here in a minute, Sir” a man says to Jase instead of my uncle.
“Damn it, Aria. That’s an order. Don’t touch it!” Jase screams, and I tilt my head curiously.
“Sorry, Lieutenant. I’m apparently a little better than you are giving me credit for. There’s no one coming who will be more qualified to open this hatch any safer than I can. If I do this correctly, the mines will also be disarmed. They’re wired to it. Rookie mistake,” I say with a shrug.
“She’s right, C… I mean, Lieutenant,” Uncle Grayson huffs out. “Aria is the best at tech. She’s the one who trains the field techs, and she has more years logged on this than anyone.”
“I don’t want her out there,” Jase whispers in a scolding tone.
Good thing you’re not in charge.
“Unless you feel like outranking me, this is my call,” Uncle strains out, and then he walks over to the edge of the mines. “Are you sure you can do this?”
“I’m the only one who can. Create a safe perimeter just in case though.”
His jaw tenses. He knows I’m right, but it’s absolutely killing him.
“Don’t let her do this,” my aunt scolds.
“This is my call, honey. I’m sorry, but I have to trust Aria right now. Someone else could easily blow us all to hell.”
“And what if she blows herself all to hell?” Jase barks.
“As I said, unless you feel like outranking me, this is my call.”
Unless you feel like outranking me? What the hell does that mean?
I look up to see Jase ready to rip something apart, possibly me. I don’t know what his deal is. He’s so fucking confusing.
