Page 38 of Saving Mr. Norcross
“Do you think Justin and Rhys made it out?” she asked.
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his voice.
“Should we contact Haven?” They’d hopefully be outside the jamming range now.
“We can’t risk that Navarro might have a way to trace the signal.”
Damn, he was right.
“Keep running.”
They picked up speed, racing through the trees. Finally, in the distance ahead, she saw the shadow of some outbuildings. The olive trees gave way to long rows of grapevines. They ran out of the trees and down a row of vines. She knew they didn’t want to get trapped in here.
The sound of dogs barking filled the night.
They were getting closer.
“Vander…”
“I have an idea.” He pulled her forward and she saw they’d reached the end of the row of vines.
Her gaze fell on the large pond glinting in the starlight. Probably water to irrigate the grapes.
On the other side of it, there was a long stone building.
Vander walked to the edge of the pond.
She groaned. “Don’t tell me you want to go in there?”
“The dogs will lose our scent.”
Crap. She tucked the gun in the waistband of her trousers and sighed. “Fine.” She pulled her boots off. “This was not the vacation swimming I had planned.”
“I’ll make it up to you.” He took her boots and tied the laces together. They both shrugged out of their vests, and he stashed them under a vine. Then he hung her boots around his neck and waded into the pond.
She followed and sucked in a breath. The water wasn’t freezing, but it was still fresh.
She pushed off. Vander was an excellent swimmer and moved through the water with powerful strokes.
Following, Brynn just focused on getting to the other side.
“We’re going to climb onto the roof,” he said. “That way, we won’t leave a scent trail on the ground.”
She nodded.
When they reached the building, she watched him grab the wooden railing of a deck, then climb up the side of the building.
She hauled herself up and followed. She clambered up far less skillfully than he had. When she got close to the roof line, he reached down and hauled her up onto the tiled roof.
“We need to stay low.” He gestured for her to lie on her stomach.
She shivered as the cool night air hit her wet clothes. Lying flat beside her, he wrapped an arm over her, his big body warm. She leaned into him.
They stayed silent and still, and waited.
A group of men with two dogs appeared in the vineyard. She watched them come closer, circling around the building, yelling at each other. One of the dogs barked, but then moved on.
“They’re inside,” Vander murmured.
