She kissed me back. “Absolutely. What do we do?”
“First, lie down like you’re a snow angel.”
Iwoke up with a warm, soft woman in my arms. I buried my face in her long hair and sighed in contentment. I could get used to this. I wanted to explore my budding relationship with Cara. I no longer gave any fucks whether I was too old for her because that was for her to decide. And after the last two days and nights together, I felt comfortable saying she’d made her choice.
She turned in my arms to face me and ran her hand down my naked chest and belly, then lower. This was sheer heaven. I would never tire of the way she touched me.
A God-awful sound blared around us. We both bolted upright and surveyed the room. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and hit a red X to make it stop.
“Is that a tornado warning or something?” Cara asked. She was out of breath from the panic the damn noise had caused.
“Worse. It’s Pasco.” Since I’d never received that kind of message from him, and in fact I hadn’t known he could send that kind of signal to my phone, I immediately called him. “What the fuck, Pasco? It’s 0630 here.”
“You’ve been breached. You need to move.”
I leapt out of bed and motioned for Cara to do the same. When she turned pale with fear, I regretted it. “Everything’s going to be all right, but I need you to make a pit stop, then get dressed. We’re leaving in 10 minutes.”
She ran to the bathroom and I turned my attention back to the call.
“What’s going on?” I asked Pasco
“It was a geolocation tag breach. I’ll explain the details later. What you need to know now is your location has been IDed by the group that’s been tracking you and the others with your skillset. We’re also monitoring chatter, which is how we know they’re sending firepower.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere.” I pulled on my pants and a tee shirt. “How close could they have a team with firepower?”
“A couple hundred miles, give or take. These kinds of groups have ties to mercenaries throughout the country. Two unregistered helicopters went up a minute ago in your general vicinity. I estimate they’ll be on top of you in less than an hour.”
“Fuck me. You have any suggestions about where we should go?”
“You’re twenty minutes by car from a military base, but the roads are closed. It’ll take a hell of a lot longer on foot.”
“Send me the coordinates of the base and alert them htat we’re coming,” I said. “I have a plan.”
“Roger that. I sent a comms unit along with your secure phone. Get it in your ear so we can be in constant contact.”
“Roger that,” I said, reaching for the small case inside my toolbox where I’d packed the comms unit. I also unfolded my canvas weapons bag I’d stored there in case of emergency, hoping to hell I’d never have to use it.
I disconnected from the call, but I heard Pasco and the rest of the team through my earpiece. Apparently, this emergency situation had elevated me to important enough status for the team to be allowed to commandeer a military plane to come for me. “About fucking time,” I mumbled as I assembled a long rifle and pulled out two pistols from the bottom of the toolbox.
I never should have been in this position. Lang’s organization putting me in it was unacceptable. But getting Cara mixed up in it was un-fucking-forgivable. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. And if anything happened to her, it would all be my fault.
CHAPTER 18
CARA
“You can’t be serious.” I stared at the snowmobile Nick had rented. “How far did you say we have to go on this?”
Despite being bundled up in our borrowed winter outwear, I was shivering. But that was probably because Nick had told me someone was coming for him. He hadn’t said they were after me as well, but it was implied. So, we’d run out of the inn with nothing but the clothes on our backs, our phones, and Nick’s bag of weapons. And now we were half an hour into a countdown that had started with less than an hour to get to safety.
“Following the route along the woods, it will be about thirty miles,” he answered me as he positioned his bag and loaded his guns. “And there’s no cleared path, so we won’t be able to go anywhere near top speed. It will only take a little longer than it would on the roads.”
“Yes, but then we’d be in a car.” I heard the whining in my voice. “Sorry. I know the roads aren’t passable so that’s not an option. But I don’t know if I can do this.” I was sucking in panting breaths by the end of my statement.
He grasped my shoulders. “Cara, baby, you can do this. You can do hard things. I’m going to be right here with you, sitting behind you, keeping you safe.”
“Behind me? You mean I’m driving?”
“I need my hands free, in case…” He didn’t finish the thought, but I understood the implication.
