Page 78 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

It was quiet as we all looked around at our surroundings. I nearly put the truck in reverse, but I didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

“Everyone, stay frosty,” I said, slowly moving forward again.

“For those of us that don’t speak military lingo, what is frosty?” Eva asked.

“Stay alert,” Rae answered.

“Then why don’t you just say that? It’s literally the same amount of letters.”

“Actually,” Fox spoke up, “Frosty has one more letter. But why do things the easy way?”

I parked the truck outside and shoved the door open. I didn’t want to enter the house with Eva unless I knew it was clear, but being out in the open was dangerous too. Once everyone was out, we approached the house. I drew my weapon, fucking hoping like hell that Jones was safe inside.

“Fox, Rae, you got my six. Eva, stay right the fuck behind them.”

I walked up the steps to the house slowly, peering through the windows as best I could. When I didn’t see anything, I turned the knob on the door and pushed it open, my gun trained and ready. Moving down the hall and into the living room, I didn’t hear a sound, and that worried me more than anything. I spun around at the sound of metal scraping on something, nearly blowing Jones’s head off as he walked into the kitchen.

He slowly raised his hands, looking at us strangely. “Do I need to watch myself in my own house?”

“Is everything good?” I asked.

“Yeah, no movement. Why?”

He walked over to the window and peered outside, but it seemed my gut was wrong this time. So why was it still gnawing at me? I walked over to his study and flicked through the footage. There wasn’t a single sign of anyone coming or going from the property all day besides us. When Jones walked in, he closed the door.

“What’s going on?”

I shook my head, still unsure. “Bad feeling.”

“Maybe you don’t want to wait until nightfall,” he suggested.

“You might be right.”

“Did you see any tangos?”

I leaned against his desk, and shook my head. “No, but something felt off. I can’t put my finger on it.”

He walked over to the wall and pressed on a board. A section of the wall jutted out briefly before Jones grabbed one end and spun it around one hundred and eighty degrees, then pressed it back into the wall. A map filled the space, and on it were routes from his house in all different directions. I studied it for a while, wondering what exactly he was expecting up here. But then again, I came up here because I knew he was paranoid as hell.

“How long have you had this?”

“Since I moved up here.” He pointed to the map. “This is the route I was thinking you should take, but if you go this way,” he pointed to another line, “you’ll have to off-road it, but there’s a ranch over here where you could lay low for a few days. They have a hunting cabin that no one uses. I know they keep it stocked. I’ve been out there a few times myself.”

“For what reason?”

“When paranoia strikes,” he grinned.

“It won’t be easy to make that trip undetected.”

“Nope, but if shit happens, it’s your best bet to get away.”

I nodded, memorizing the route just in case.

“Have you heard from your team?”

“Rae checked in with the guys this morning. Everything was fine.”

“Any word on Rafe’s location?”

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