Page 87 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

She sat down beside me, laying back as she stared up through the trees. “This wasn’t how I saw my night going.”

“It wasn’t exactly in my plans either,” I muttered.

“Sorry to be an inconvenience,” she snapped.

I folded up the map and tucked it away. “That’s not what I meant. There was a second team in there. Any idea who they were?”

“The first worked for Adam.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. We paid him a little visit. He seemed to think that you knew more than you were letting on about the men who broke into his facility. Any idea why that would be?”

She continued to stare up into the sky.

“Listen, you and I need to get a few things straight right now.” Her eyes slid to meet mine. “First, I’m not the enemy. I’m not here to hurt you or beat the truth out of you.”

She huffed out a laugh. “That’s not exactly the way you made me feel when you manipulated me into going back to your office with you, and then stuck me in an interrogation room.”

“I thought you were working with terrorists,” I retorted. “Someone is causing a massive failure in our system, and I need to find out who before more damage is done.”

She sat up, pulling her knees in closer to her body. I knew I fucked up the first time, but now I really needed her to trust me. With two different teams attacking her, she had to know more than she was letting on.

“Beth—”

I paused at the snap of a twig. Holding my hand out, I ducked down, pulling her with me. Scanning the trees, I looked for any sign that this was more than just an animal in the forest, and what I saw had my heart rate kicking into high gear.

“Beth,” I whispered. “They tracked us. We need to get out of here, and we need to do it fast. How are you at swimming?”

She winced. “Not very good.”

“Can you hold your breath under water?”

She took a shaky breath and nodded. “I can try.”

“Good. We’re going to slip down into the river. Try not to make any sound. I want you to hold onto my back as I swim across the river.”

Her eyes shot in the direction of the vast water. “We can’t make it,” she said, nearing hysterics.

“We can,” I said, gripping her hand tightly. “We have to, otherwise we’re fucked. Do you understand?”

She nodded jerkily and together we slid into the water as quietly as possible. With Sally still on my back, I had to help Beth slide into place. “Ready?” I whispered over my shoulder. She gave me a thumb’s up. “Deep breath.”

Together, we took in a gulp of air and then I plunged us under water, swimming as deep as I could while swimming across the river. Beth’s hands gripped me tightly, nearly strangling me. I knew she was terrified, but this was our only option. When we passed the point where the moon was reflecting off the water, I pointed to the surface, letting her know I was taking her up. I rose slowly, turning to face her and pressing my finger to my lips, letting her know to keep quiet.

As we broke the surface, I sucked in a breath of air, hearing her do the same. I quickly scanned the opposite shoreline, searching for our enemies. They were making their way toward the river, which meant they were tracking us pretty easily. “Ready?” I whispered again.

At her nod, we both sucked in air before I dove back under. I swam longer this time. We needed to get to the other side of the river and hide out until they moved on. I couldn’t risk them spotting us, and the more times we surfaced the more likely it was they’d find us. Finally, just as I was running out of air, I found a boulder and latched onto it, using it to fling us to the other side.

When we came up this time, the boulder was blocking us from their view. Beth was breathing hard, though she was trying to be silent. “Stay here.”

She gripped onto my sleeve, her teeth chattering as she begged me to stay with her eyes. I slowly pried her fingers from my shirt and pressed her hand to the boulder.

“I’m just moving a little ways so I can see where they are. I’ll be right back.”

She nodded, practically hugging the boulder as I swam around it, keeping my head low in the water. They’d definitely found where we went into the water. They were scanning the trees on this side of the shore, trying to find us. I heard the squawk of a radio, but they were too far away for me to hear what was being said.

It was clear they were coming for us when they started making their way into the water. I spun around, pressing myself to the boulder as I checked out my surroundings. There were smaller boulders along the shore, not nearly big enough to cover us both, but I could draw their fire and get her into the trees and under cover.

“They’re coming for us,” I said quickly. I pulled Sally off my back and opened the case, shoving it in her arms. “I’m going to draw their fire, and I want you to move when I shoot.”

---