Page 71 of The Fallen One

She met my eyes but didn’t do as I asked.

“What’s on your mind?” I reached out and petted Dallas’s head, waiting for her to share her thoughts.

“Compartmentalization,” she said again. “What if we were all taken in different directions, not just myself and Pierce Quaid? And the goal was to reunite us somewhere and work for them there?”

“You’re thinking they split you up to throw us off their tracks leading to the final destination,” I said, translating her words. “A backup plan, too. If one of you is rescued, at least it’s not all of you.” These fuckers had their own PACE plan.

“They want us alive, then, right? So, my friends should be okay. We have time to find them.” Her hand was shaking a little. Not enough to worry me that she was slipping back into shock, but enough that I was worried she’d spill the hot broth and burn herself.

I stopped petting Dallas and took the mug, setting it on the nightstand. “I’ll find them, don’t worry.”

“And if there are more labs that were hit? More people missing? We have no idea how big this whole thing is.”

“I’ll handle it, I promise.”

She stood but stumbled, so I secured my hand around her forearm to steady her.

“Easy there. You haven’t eaten in days. You’ve been running on shock and adrenaline, but without those drugs in full effect, the pain and hunger are probably kicking in.”

“I’m feeling better and also worse at the same time. Is that normal?” Her eyes fell to my hold of her arm. I had no plans to let go until she was back on her ass and safe from collapsing.

“I think that’s normal,” I reassured her, then nudged the air with my chin, a request to sit. “Once we finish the call with your mom and the President, we’ll get on the road, okay? You can sleep in the car. We’re going to need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to our next location, though.” I hated this part, but we had no choice.

“I’m bait, right?” she asked, reading between the lines.

“In a perfect world, I’d never allow you to be bait.”

“But things are far from perfect,” she mused. “If someone gets their hands on an effective EMP weapon, all hell will be unleashed. It’s not just the loss of conveniences like Wi-Fi and electricity that’ll wreak havoc, it’s the loss of the things that depend on those systems. Banking. Infrastructure. Communication. It’ll send communities into chaos. Then fear will take over. People will turn on one another.”

Yeah, it’ll probably be even worse than we can possibly imagine. “I know, but I won’t let anything happen to you. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be placed in very capable hands, and they’ll protect you.” I meant that. Word for fucking word. I hated losing sight of her, but I trusted Bravo Team.

“What if I don’t want someone else to protect me?” Her eyes slowly moved up to my face, and I wanted to kiss away the little quiver in her lip.

“I have orders from the President. Rescue you first. Find who’s responsible after that.” Technically, rescuing Diana hadn’t been step one, but I’d made finding her my priority regardless. “I can’t do what I need to do with you at my side. It’s too dangerous.”

“So, who are the breadcrumbs for? Why is it safe to make me bait now and not the day after, or the day after that?”

Dallas howled as if hating the bait idea as much as I did.

I glanced at him, sometimes feeling as though he could read my mind. I know, but what choice do we have? “Say the word, and I’ll get you to the President’s men tonight instead.”

“I think you skipped over a few things I just said.” She’d called me out, and I pinned her with a hard look, hating the conflict warring inside me at how to truly handle the next steps when it came to this woman.

But no, the farther away from me, the better. Safer for her. Not just for this mission but in general.

“I have concerns that the woman who helped me locate you may be playing both sides. Until I can be certain she’s not, I’d rather not pass you over to Bravo Team. If she’s fucking me over, she’ll ambush the extraction,” I finally shared, opting to be honest with her.

“What makes you think she’s betraying you?” She started to wiggle free of my grasp, a cue for me to let go of her arm, but I waited until she was seated by Dallas to do so.

“Those traffickers took you from that room this morning five minutes before we arrived. It was too clean. As if someone tipped them off we were coming,” I explained, once again securing my hands in my pockets so I wasn’t tempted to reach out for her. “She could’ve alerted them they’d been blown to protect herself from anyone thinking she was the one who provided the location. She cut the window down to five minutes knowing I’d still be able to get to you in time, though.” I sure as fuck hoped that was all Alyona had been doing. It’d be a typical chess move of hers to make. The problem was I knew she was capable of making other moves, and I had to be certain she didn’t have any other plans, too.

“Who is this woman?” She scratched behind Dallas’s ears, and he moaned in pleasure.

Lucky bastard. “She’s just someone I used to know.”

“Well, if she helped bring you to me, then I’m indebted to her even if she played both sides.”

Her words had my spine going ramrod straight. “You don’t want to be indebted to that woman, trust me.”

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