Page 36 of Being Bold
Another flash of teeth. “You know that already. So why don’t you tell me where it is?”
He had to be talking about the microchip Yumi hid in her apartment. Mr. Dao had found out the one she’d given him was a fake and sent his men to find the real one. But she wasn’t going to make this easy.
Scanning behind the suit for any sign of Bo, she told him, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I said stop moving!” the man growled out the warning and lifted his gun toward her head.
She’d made him angry. Gulping against the sight of the weapon, she stopped backing up, or she would have if her heel hadn’t caught in a hole and thrown her off balance.
She screeched, and a bullet whizzed over her head as she tumbled backward down the hill toward the retaining pond. The sides were too steep. She couldn’t stop her fall. She felt like a bowling ball, picking up momentum as she somersaulted toward the frozen water. After one final flip, she squeezed her eyes shut. A breath later, her body smacked the ice.
A cry of pain burst from her lips as her head connected with the solid floor of frozen water. It stunned her into stillness.She stared up at the twinkling stars while the ache spread throughout her body. Everything hurt, but she couldn’t stay here. The suit would come after her.
Get up, Selene!
Before she could make her body obey her frantic mind, an ominous cracking sound broke the stillness, then her head plunged into the freezing pond.
???
Bo
Bo’s eyes searched the darkness for Selene, his actions desperate after hearing her cry out. He’d scoured the edge of the woods but didn’t track any movement through its snowy branches. When he was about to plunge into the foliage, Nugg appeared. Bo sucked in a sharp breath.
I don’t fucking have time for this!
Nugg stood at the edge of the tree line next to a pine, arms crossed over his tan desert fatigues. With a shake of his dark blonde head, he nodded in the opposite direction. “You’re forgetting she’s a civilian, man.”
Bo spun around. Nugg was right. She wouldn’t have gone into the woods.
Adrenaline flushed his veins as he took off running. He made it from one end of the complex to the other in record time. Tagging the suit standing on the ridge above the retaining pond, Bo barely stopped to lift his pistol, taking the guy out. The asshole hadn’t even seen him coming.
“Selene!” he called down to her.
She came up gasping, struggling for a handhold on the cracking ice as he slid down the slope toward her. Instead of running for cover in the woods like a member of TOP would’ve,she’d headed for the road, which left her exposed. He cursed himself for not giving her more direction as he skidded to a stop at the edge of the frozen pond.
While he tested the ice, she climbed out of the water, sliding onto her stomach, then collapsing. He took a step, and the ice creaked under his feet.
Shit!
It was too unstable to risk walking on. The last thing he needed was to plunge them both back into the freezing water.
“Selene! Can you roll toward me?” He needed to get her off the thin section so he could reach her without cracking more ice.
She didn’t respond to his shout, and the sight of her body violently trembling pitched his stomach.
Fuck!
He needed a rope. He had one in his truck, but he hated to leave her. Hoping she heard him, he yelled, “Hang on, Selene! I’m getting a rope.”
She didn’t acknowledge him. Fear and anger started to claw at his focus. Shoving the emotions aside, he flew up the slope, through the parking lot, to his pickup. After snagging the length of black climbing rope from the bed, he raced back to the pond.
He tied a loop and tossed it to her. When the rope hit her back, she lifted her head. “Grab it and I’ll pull you away from the edge.”
She blinked at him, looking dazed.
“Come on, ocean-eyes, grab the rope for me.” He tried to keep the worry from his voice, but considering how rough it sounded, he didn’t think he’d succeeded.
He pulled the rope so it lay next to her face and silently begged her to take hold of it. If she didn’t . . . he was going to have to risk crawling toward her.
