Page 80 of Covert Mission

Anger tightens the muscles of my neck.

Why do I care so damned much that she doesn’t listen?

I’m losing my edge. Getting soft.

Right. That’s not happening. Camile makes me anything but soft.

I spin around and stalk in the other direction, heading toward the operations area where the communications equipment is staged.

Someone had to see her. She’s impossible to miss. I haven’t seen another woman with red hair in a thousand miles.

My stride falters when a deafening roar, like rolling thunder, splits the air. I turn in a circle, looking up.

What the hell? There’s not a cloud in the damned early morning sky.

The crowd suddenly sways. The ground jolts below my feet, bucking me into the air.

Holy fuck!

It’sanother earthquake.

The horde of villagers tumbles like dominoes as a wave of energy violently shakes us.

Shocked screams mix with the unnerving sound of the earth’s cover shifting. It’s a sound that you will never forget. The kind that fills nightmares.

This goes on for a solid twenty seconds that might as well be an hour for how long it feels.

When the ground stops moving there’s an eerie hush. People cautiously climb to their feet. Steadying each other, checking for injuries.

Jesus.

My stomach clenches. A flash of nausea hits me. I hope everyone was out of that other rescue site before the quake hit.

Around me, men and women start to talk in hushed tones. There’s a crying baby. Dogs are circling, sniffing the ground.

Something makes me look down the road, toward the area where FamFind is staged. Maybe it was a flash of movement. Or possibly a sixth sense. But what I see makes an animalistic sound tear out of my throat.

I don’t know who that asshole is, but he better have a damned good reason to be touching Camile.

“Camile!” I bellow.

She snaps her head my way, the light catching on her crimson locks.

What unfolds next all happens in a hot second.

We’re too far apart for me to see her expression, but her hand flies up and she covers her heart. He leans down in her face, but she jerks back and breaks free of his hold. Then she’s sprinting toward me, arms pumping, hair flying behind her.

A murderous fury barrels me, turning my cells to ticking bombs. I stride toward her to close the distance. My heart is thundering, pounding out a war march.

Fuck me sideways.

She’s safe.Take a breath.

But when I see her face up close, it’s clear something’s very wrong. She leaps into my arms, burying her nose against my neck.

“I’ve got you.”

I glare at the man as I look over her head.

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