Page 25 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

She nodded and sat up, turning to face me. “When he was a sniper, he took out another sniper, then crossed enemy lines to take the chambered bullet that would have taken him out.”

“Why? Isn’t that really dangerous?”

“Yeah,” she snorted. “It’s more than dangerous. It’s fucking stupid in my opinion. But it’s a superstition. He’ll tell you about it if you ask him.”

The truth was, Cash and I hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to get to know each other. Everything was so rushed between us, going from one car chase to the next gun fight. I knew he was strong and would protect me, but I didn’t really know anything else about him. And he knew hardly anything about me, other than the few details about my past I’d let slip.

“Look, here’s how I see it. You can stay up here for a few hours. Eventually, Cash will leave, and he’ll have no choice but to send you home with me. Fox will most likely meet us somewhere along the way. But you won’t truly be safe. The governor knows that we’re protecting you, which means he’s already got men digging into every possible safe house we have. We’ll do everything possible to protect you, but it’ll only be a matter of time before they find us and kill every last person standing between you and them. Then, they’ll grab you, torture you—probably with lots of knives. By the time they’re done with you, you’ll pray that you were dead. Eventually, you’ll tell them everything you know, because you won’t be able to stand the pain. And while you’re hearing that death rattle in your chest, you’ll be wishing that you had just done things a different way.”

“Wow, that’s…a very vivid picture.”

She shrugged. “Or…you can give me some information about your aunt, and I can try to help you. Then, we can go downstairs and you can finish telling Cash and his team everything that happened with the governor. The more information they have, the more likely it is that Rafe will allow you into the super secret government compound. You’ll be safe, Cash can do his job without worrying every five minutes about you, and I’ll work on finding the evidence—if it still exists.” She cocked her head at me. “So, which one will it be?”

I huffed out a laugh. “Well, since you make such a compelling argument, I guess I have no choice.”

“See? I knew you were a smart girl.”

“So…what do you want to know?”

“Cash said your aunt ran away with some guy, a prepper. Any idea what his name was?”

“Noah. I don’t know his last name.”

“Any idea where they met?”

“In her hometown, I think.”

“Okay, that’ll give me something to go on.”

I was baffled. I didn’t know what she thought she would get from a first name. “That’s literally nothing to go on.”

“Maybe for you, but for me, that’s a gold mine. I’ll do a search on him and see what I come up with. In the meantime, you have to go down there and tell Cash the rest of what happened.”

“I’ve been running. That’s the gist of it.”

“Maybe to you, but to him, details mean everything. Don’t leave a single thing out. It could be the difference between him keeping you safe and the other option, which isn’t nearly as pleasant.”

I nodded and stood from the bed, following her to the door. “Did you really mean all that stuff about me eventually getting captured and tortured?”

She smirked at me. “There’s no way in hell they’d get through us.”

* * *

When I walked downstairswith Rae, the other men were already packing up their things. Cash looked up at the clock, then back to me. It was clear he was waiting on me to answer all his questions.

“Eva, we have to leave in fifteen minutes.” The warning in his voice was clear. Either I started talking or I’d be left behind.

I nodded, waiting for the rest of them to gather around. “Cash already told you part of what happened, why I’m running. But he doesn’t know the whole story.”

I took a deep breath and launched into the story, not leaving out a single detail. Their faces went from skeptical to pissed off. I hoped I was conveying the information needed. If not, this was all for nothing.

“After they caught me in the barn, they locked me in a room. They had beaten me pretty badly because they were trying to get information out of me. I told them I’d recorded everything they said, hoping that would spare my life. Maybe it would have been easier to just let them kill me.”

I swallowed hard, avoiding their gazes. I hated talking about anything to do with myself, but I hated even more that I had an audience this large. It was totally different just talking to Cash about it.

“Governor Walton was desperate to get that recording. He knew I must have sent it to someone, but the phone was destroyed when I tossed it in the bleach.”

“Hold on,” Jack cut in. “Tell us exactly what you saw when you walked in that barn. What kind of operation was it?”

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