Page 295 of Shadowblood Souls
I couldn’t agree more.
We race out the back door, scanning the night for assailants drawn by the sounds of the fight. The yard is empty.
The staff fled for safety after all—after the woman screwed us over.
I grit my teeth and run for the surrounding wall. Jacob is right behind me.
He offers me a boost up and I lean over to grab his arm, helping each other in turn. Then we sprint for the van we parked half a mile away in the cover of a short stretch of forest.
The metal band around my ankle shifts with my movements. Clancy will know that we left and that we made it through the attack okay. Dominic will be safe where he’s waiting in his own van to find out if he’ll need to rush to anyone’s rescue.
Safe for now, anyway. I can only hope that the team of younger shadowbloods doesn’t need to deal with too many late arrivals.
We leap into the van without breaking stride, Jacob having disengaged the locks from a distance. He starts the engine while I strap myself into the passenger seat.
As we tear off down the road to put even more distance between us and the site of our assignment, a message pops up on the touchscreen mounted on the dashboard between us.
Targets eliminated?
I tap in a hasty answer.Several including the big one.
Good work. Get to the rendezvous spot and wait there. Expect the others in approximately 2 hours.
At the command, I can’t help looking down at my ankle. Jacob studied his tracking band on the way out here and indicated to me that he couldn’t feel any simple way of removing it.
The knowledge passes through my mind that we could make a run for it. We don’t have much, but we’ve gotten by with hardly anything before, and we’d have a two-hour head start.
But even if we can bash the anklets off before Clancy’s people find us, even if we could navigate this country without a clue where the plane brought us… we’d be leaving the others behind.
I don’t even need to voice the question to know Jacob would reject that idea just as vehemently as my heart is recoilingfrom it. I’m not even sure we aren’t better off in our new circumstances, at least in some ways.
I paid attention during the trip leaving the island, though. I know where the runway the private jet took off from lies relative to the mountain facility, and that there’s a harbor in sight within a few miles of it on the island’s coast.
We’ve learned useful things for ourselves on this mission as well as taking out villains who deserved it. If we decide it’s time to leave, hope isn’t lost, not by a long shot.
Jacob pulls into the open field a short distance from the currently vacant airfield. The second he’s turned the engine off, he twists toward me.
His gaze skims over my body. “Are you okay? None of them got to you?”
I adjust my position, cringing inwardly at the feel of the still-damp patches of blood on my shirt. “None of this is mine, as far as I know. We should get out of the bloody clothes, though.”
Clancy didn’t leave us much in the large space at the back of the van, but we do each have a change of clothes—and a bag where we’re supposed to stuff the evidence of our mission for burning. I push into the back and tug at my long-sleeved tee.
Jacob follows me. I expect him to change his own clothes, but when I toss my bloody shirt into the bag and move to reach for the new one, he touches my arm to stop me.
The next sweep of his gaze over my nearly naked torso lights a flicker of heat under my skin despite the cool air. I open my mouth to say something about personal space and privacy, but the turmoil in his eyes when they rise to meet mine stops the sardonic remark in my throat.
“You’re really all right?” he says, like he can’t quite believe it.
He wasn’t checking me out just now. He was confirming I don’t have any wounds.
A little of my self-consciousness fades. I hold out my arms so he can see the sides of my torso clearly, everything that isn’t covered by my sports bra or the slim chain of my necklace.
“Yeah. Not a scratch. Up until the end, they had no idea what hit them.”
Another shudder like the one I saw in the kitchen ripples through Jake’s frame. “The asshole with the fucking gun—he almost shot you. I almost didn’t get there fast enough.”
Oh. That’s why he’s so keyed up.
