Page 30 of Firestorm

On an impulse, she touched his cheek. Felt the rough stubble there. “We don’t know how long we all have before the church is removed.”

Something shifted in his eyes and he stepped closer. “No, we don’t.”

Her heart beat a crazy rhythm in her ears. He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers, cutting off the sigh that escaped hers. She linked her arms around his neck and kissed him back. She and James had been ignoring what they felt for each other for many years. Now, with the world racing toward the worst period in human history, she couldn’t deny it any longer.

He pulled away and looked into her eyes. “This is probably not the wisest thing to be doing, considering what we’re facing right now.”

“Maybe not,” she whispered without a single regret.

Still, he didn’t let her go. A slow smile spread across his face. “Your brother is not going to be happy with me for kissing his kid sister.”

She laughed and let him go. “He is protective of me.” But Blake wasn’t blind. He’d seen the way she and James looked at each other. Had even teased her about it from time to time.

“We should head back,” he said with regret. “It’s getting darker, and it’s almost time for the meeting.”

She fell into step beside him. “Do you mind if we swing by my cabin and grab Blake?”

“Not at all.” They strolled in silence for a while. “I’m sorry you and Blake had to go through so much. Being forced into hiding and now this.” He glanced around the countryside at the settling night. “But I am glad you’re both safe. And I’m glad you’re here.”

She glanced at his handsome profile. Despite everything they’d gone through and the uncertainty of the future, she was too.

???

James scanned the room filled with his family. They’d all endured so much together. He had a feeling the approaching times were going to put what they’d gone through to shame.

“Thank you all for coming,” Victor said. “I know it’s been a difficult few days, and we’re all still reeling from the attack, but we’re alive and safe for the time being. We’ve put every possible security precaution into place, and we’ll have teams taking shifts to patrol the campsite.”

Someone tapped James’ arm. Garrett and Mark Vermillion, one of the newest members of James’ team and the brother of Lizzy Grayson, stood behind him. Garrett had his tablet with him. Something had happened.

Garrett leaned in close. “You need to see this.”

James rose and followed the two out into what had once been the living area for the lodge. “What’s going on?” He had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever it was.

“Right before the meeting, we managed to get the website operational again.” Garrett handed him the tablet. “As you can imagine, there are thousands of messages waiting.”

James stared at one message on the screen by a user named only Awakened.

“That one caught my attention right away,” Garrett told him. “This guy hints that he may be part of Pamphili’s inner circle.” He held James’ gaze. “He’s worried.”

James scanned the message.

I have questions I believe you can answer. Can’t speak freely here. Too many eyes in the kingdom of darkness.

A chill sped down James’ spine. He reread the message. “Have you tried checking the IP address?”

Mark nodded. “No luck. It’s being disguised.”

“So, we can’t confirm this isn’t an attempt by Pamphili to infiltrate Strike Force.”

“We can’t. How do you want to handle this?” Garrett asked.

James’ first instinct was to send a response asking for more identification, but this wasn’t his decision alone. A lot of people had lost pieces of their lives, not to mention those they loved to Pamphili and those who had been the forerunners to his evil plot.

“I’d like to run it by Victor and the rest of the core team. They should all have a say in how we proceed.”

“Understood,” Mark acknowledged. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep digging around. See what I can come up?”

“Absolutely.” Mark was one of the best computer analysts James had the privilege to work alongside. All of his skills had been self-taught out of necessity—much like James. Mark was actually a hacker who went bySpiderand had helped the team on several cases before he and Lizzy connected and he joined Strike Force.

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