Page 59 of Trapped with the Covert Ops Soldier

The creaking stopped.

“I am officially freaked out,” she whispered as the bottom of her stomach dropped down into her shoes.

“Took you long enough,” Jack muttered as he stuck his hand into the barrel. He froze, staring into the dark. “Abby, come over here.”

“Did you find something else?”

“Something.” He grabbed her by the arm and tugged until she was next to him. “Do you feel it?”

The air in the cellar was heavy, but not in this spot. Here, a barely perceptible breeze tickled the skin on her forearms.

A breeze?

Her jaw dropped, but before she could say anything, the sound of voices and running feet penetrated the wooden floor above them.

“...in here. The shelf fell over, blocking the door to the hatch and I couldn’t move it by myself.” That was Virgil’s voice, but his tone was new. It sounded soft and concerned.

“I’ve got it.”

Her heartrate jumped,Smitty.

“Smitty,” she yelled, turning away from the barrel and stepping toward the mostly broken stairs.

“Hang tight, Abby,” he shouted back as thescreechof something heavy being moved across the wood nearly drowned out his words.

“Be careful,” she said, putting every ounce of warning she could into her voice. “Virgil is the shooter.”

The noise ceased.

“Hands where I can see them, boy,” Virgil said, hard and confident. “Open the hatch and get in the hole.”

One footstep... two. “You look like you know what you’re doing with that rifle,” Smitty said.

“Eighty-three confirmed kills.” There was a pride in Virgil’s voice that shouldn’t be there, not for that accomplishment.

“How many unconfirmed?” Smitty’s tone was glacial, but she knew there was a volcano underneath all the ice. When it erupted, someone was going to die.

The hatch swung up and Smitty’s outline appeared in the opening.

“Get in,” Virgil ordered.

Smitty glanced over his shoulder, then put his hands on the floor to either side of the hatch, then dropped into the cellar. He didn’t look at Abby or Jack, but kept his attention on Virgil and his rifle.

“Jack,” Virgil said. “Come on out of there.”

Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but didn’t otherwise move. “Just me?”

“Yes.”

Jack scratched his head, then met Abby’s gaze and lifted an eyebrow.

She shrugged. She had no idea what Virgil was up to.

“No, thanks. I think I’ll stay down here.”

“Get your ass up here, Jack,” Virgil snarled.

Jack snorted. “So, you can kill me or blame me for everything you’ve done or both? I’ll pass.”

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