Page 109 of Peace Under Fire

“Sir.” A stewardess leaned toward him. “You need to turn that off and stow it away.”

He thought about refusing, but fuck—they’d probably kick him off the plane. Besides, it wasn’t like he could do anything from here anyway.

“I’ve got to go,” he ground out. “Plane’s about to go wheels up. You got my email, right? Send me updates that way.”

Hopefully the plane had a paid option to access their wi-fi.

“Sir!” The stewardess’s voice had climbed an entire octave.

“Got to go. For fuck’s sake keep me updated.” He disconnected the call and dropped his phone into the pocket hanging on the back of the seat in front of him.

And just like that, he was out of contact, unable to do a damn thing while his life went up in flames.

Completely helpless.

With his gut burning and his chest throbbing, he settled back and tried to find his equilibrium again. But for the first time in his career—or hell, his life—he couldn’t silence the ‘what ifs’. What if she was gone when the plane set down? What if he lost her? How would he ever find her again? How would he live without her, mired in this awful emptiness? Terror seized every synapse in his brain as he waited to find out whether the woman he loved had been taken from him.

His lips twisted in self-disgust. What an asinine way to find out that he was in love with her.

CHAPTER 29

The bunker Brick rushed them too had been buried, and the interment site scrubbed of any signs it was there. It was a good thing Brick knew where they were going. She would never have found it on her own.

Alaska, with her wavering flashlight beam, had led the way down the steel ladder. Mandy had clambered down next, and Brick followed, stopping long enough to drag the hatch down and lock it in place.

Mandy studied her new home while Brick unlocked the first of four narrow metal cabinets in the corner. He pulled out a couple of rectangular, battery-operated lanterns. Light flared, and a subtle glow illuminated all but the corners of the bunker where shadows still seethed. The additional light didn’t improve the concrete ambience. The place was chilly and damp and smelled…musty?

“We refresh batteries every month.” Brick picked the lanterns up and placed them on either side of the concrete room. “We’ve got enough batteries, food, and water to last several days.”

Days?

Mandy cringed.

Did they even need to hide? No voices, familiar or otherwise, had hijacked her mind since they’d left Brick’s cabin. What if she’d imagined those moments? What if hiding out here was unnecessary?

She fidgeted, glancing around the austere room again. What if she’d overreacted?

“Do you know if the cockroaches even showed up?” Someone would know by now, right? Nightfall was well behind them.

Brick shook his head. “We won’t know for a while. I shut my phone down after alerting Pipe to the situation. Didn’t want anyone pinging my cell and getting a partial location.” He glanced around the bunker and shrugged. “The walls in here are too thick for cell signals to penetrate. We’re blind and deaf while we’re inside.”

Great. Mandy winced. Boy, was she going to feel like an idiot if this flight was for nothing.

“If no one shows up, Pipe will bang a code on top of the hatch to let us know it’s safe to come out.”

He went to the big metal locker and returned with several blankets, handing them each two. “It’s kind of chilly, so sit or lay on one and use the other over your coat for warmth. There’s no electricity, so we’ll have to keep ourselves warm.”

Alaska took charge and shook one of her blankets out, spreading it across a large swath of the concrete floor in front the back wall. “We could spread two or three of the blankets down and share them, they’re big enough to accommodate all of us. The extra blankets on the floor will give us another layer of insulation. We can use the remaining blankets to cover us.”

She helped Alaska spread a second and third blanket on top of the first. Brick set some kind of automatic rifle against the wall to the right, and they each claimed a section on the blankets. Once they were settled down with their backs against the wall, they shook the remaining blankets out above them. As their combined body heat filled the hollow between the blankets, she started feeling nice and cozy.

“This isn’t half bad,” Mandy murmured, relaxing as warmth filled her.

“Just don’t think about peeing.” Alaska’s voice was wry, as though she was speaking from experience. “Because I guarantee that once you start thinking about peeing, that’s all you’ll be able to think about.”

Mandy craned her neck to inspect their surroundings. There was no sign of a toilet. Almost immediately her bladder woke up.

Great. They needed a diversion. One that would also distract her from what might or might not be happening above them. “I take it you’ve spent some time down here before now?”

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