Page 92 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

I sank back down beside Eva and shook her until she woke up. She groaned, rolling to the side before pressing a hand to her forehead.

“What happened?” She frowned as she looked up at me and then she exploded, as I expected. “What the hell did you do?”

“Now, Eva—”

“Don’t youNow, Evame! You tried to kill me.”

“Technically, you were going to drown us both. If we’re going to cast stones, it was you trying to kill me. But I digress—”

“You digress?” she argued. “You’re insane!”

I nodded, feeling the same way. “You’ve mentioned that, and at this moment I agree. I never thought we’d have to jump through a waterfall, or that you’d try to kill me.”

Rae snorted. “I saw it coming.” I shot her an evil look. “What? I’m just saying. Think back to the moment you first met her. Well, maybe the second time. You weren’t exactly Prince Charming. It was clear that she didn’t trust you, and eventually, one of you was going to attempt murder.”

“Rae,” I snapped.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

She saluted me, which just pissed me off even more. I turned back to Eva to try and make her see reason. “Eva, you were pushing me under the water. I had to knock you out so I could save you.”

“Do you even hear yourself talk? That’s like saying you had to kill me to save me.”

“That’s not at all what I’m saying.”

“It sure sounds like the same bullshit coming out of your mouth.”

“Alright,” Fox stepped in. “Not that these marital spats aren’t very entertaining, but we have to get moving. By now, Rafe has everything that was in Jones’s car.”

“That’s not much.”

“If I could interject,” Mole cut in. “From here—”

“Thanks, Mole, but I think we can take it from here,” I stepped in. I was tired of blindly following this guy, even if he promised us everything we needed.

“But from here, it’s only—”

“Listen, Mole. I know you’re great at what you do, but how about you let the professionals step in and take it from here. Now, we have to be close to a town or something, right?”

“Well, sure. It’s about a five mile walk to town.”

“Great,” I sighed. “We need food and clothes.”

“But—” Mole started again.

“No, food and clothes in that order. Then we’ll get back to the search for Noah. Am I clear?”

He shrugged and pointed toward the trees. “Have it your way. Let’s go get some food.”

* * *

After walking for two miles,I insisted that Eva take a break and piggyback it with me. I knew she was exhausted, though she was hiding it well. Everyone else was tired too, but they were used to the rough conditions. When we finally reached the outskirts of town, our clothes were getting close to uncomfortably dry, meaning they were that damp feeling that chafed the skin.

We stopped and took a few breaks. As it turned out, Mole was quite capable of running when he thought he was in danger, but his stamina sucked. We stopped for the fourth time and watched as a tumbleweed blew past us. Mole was bent over, sucking in large breaths as he held his side. I could see the town from where we were. The promise of food made the choice to keep walking easy, but apparently Mole didn’t feel the same way.

“Look, Mole, I get that you’re tired, but we have some government assholes on our tails and we’d really like to avoid getting caught.”

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