“A what now?” I joked back.
He smirked. “Take the lead, Nancy Drew.”
That made me chuckle. He’d exponentially thawed since threatening to cut off my tongue and feed it to me after I’d connected the dots about his past. He seemed to slowly grasp that not every man wearing a habit was a pedophile.
“Want my S&W?” He held up a gun with a flashlight attached to it.
I shook my head. Even if I’d known how to handle one, I wasn’t willing to pull the trigger. I’d leave that to him.
Flashlight directed at the maze of trees and vines, I took the lead. There wasn’t really a path, so we had to climb over roots, shove through bushes, and occasionally climb over or duck under a fallen tree. The air reeked of dirt and rotten wood.
The reason why I knew this area so well was because I used to go on prayer walks here when Silent Wharf was still populated. At some point the governor had decided to barricade the entire area because a lot of the buildings were so run down that living in them was too dangerous.
The hike through the jungle was longer than I remembered, leading over a hill and down an incline, but we eventually made it to the bunker. I stopped several yards away from it.
“That it?” Rome asked behind me.
I nodded.
“A’ight. Stay here with Harley, and I’ll take a look.”
Before I could get a word in, he snatched his phone out of my hand and took off. I watched him approach the stone steps and descend them down to a reinforced steel door. The flashlight stayed there for a while as he probably picked the lock or whatever else secured the door, then it disappeared, leaving me and Harley in the dark.
“What if someone comes?” she whispered. “We should have agreed on some kind of warning signal.”
“I don’t think he’d hear that,” I answered.
Her fingers curled into my habit at my back. Man, I wanted to hold her. Reassure her that everything was all right. But even the slightest touch ignited memories I shouldn’t—couldn’t—dwell on. What we’d done was bad enough, but allowing the unholy thoughts to linger was even worse. If only there were a way to shut them down. But there wasn’t. No matter how hard I tried to focus when praying or chanting or in class, my thoughts always drifted to Harley Raines. Add to that the primal need for her that inhabited me like a virus. It consumed me. Heck, I was hurtingphysically because my body craved her so badly. It was like a beast had been unleashed when we’d slept together for the first time. No amount of hardcore swim sessions, aggressive wood-chopping, and cold showers worked.
Forgive me, Lord.
Frustration and desperation seized me once again. Why was I so weak? Since when couldn’t I control my thoughts? I’d just balled my eyes out in my brother’s arms, yet here I was again, thinking about repeating the same stupid mistake.
A low rumble broke into my internal battle. It grew louder until it drowned out the crickets. Headlights broke through the dark. There was a road? Had to be relatively new.
The screen of Harley’s phone lit up. “I don’t have any service—”
I shoved her behind a thick tree trunk and pushed down on her shoulder until she hunkered on the ground. I crouched next to her, an arm around her trembling body.
“We have to warn Rome,” she whispered.
“No.” It was too late. He was on his own. “Don’t use your phone again.”
A big pickup appeared between the trees and stopped in front of the bunker. Four men in civilian clothing and a gun holstered at their hip climbed out, one of them Harley’s ex. I didn’t recognize the rest. They left the vehicle running and the headlights on as they headed straight for the bunker.
“We need to help—”
I clamped a hand over Harley’s mouth. Pulled her against my chest. The last thing we needed was to draw attention. Rome was armed and certainly had plenty of experience in defending himself.
I prayed quietly, my heart jackhammering in my chest. Once the men had disappeared downstairs, I slowly released Harley and interlaced our fingers. Her palm was as clammy as mine.Fuller and another guy came back up the stairs, carrying a long wooden crate.
The screen of Harley’s phone lit up with the camera application. I grabbed it, covering it with my hand. Was she crazy? Sure, footage would be helpful evidence, but this was way too risky. I locked the screen and kept the cell on me.
The two men loaded the crate into the bed of the pickup, grunting and cussing. This had to be one of the MANPADs.
A shout echoed from inside the bunker.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
