Page 90 of Montana Freedom

It all hit me at once. Empty buildings. Easy access. He’s already declared war on Resting Warrior, and he finally had one thing heknewwe would try to get back. “Get out!”I shouted. “Get out now!”

We ran for the door, sprinting outside and to the nearby trees for cover. The force of the explosion tossed me to the ground, along with everyone else. A bright fireball rolling into the sky blinded my night vision, and I pulled off the goggles, blinking to clear my sight.

“Move, move, move,” I called, getting to my feet and ignoring the fiery pain in my shoulder, hauling Liam up and getting him behind more cover. I heard shots behind us, and the others were firing back. A secondary explosion came from one of the vehicles, and then I heard boots on the ground.

Here was Simon’s army. I didn’t see nearly as many as we knew he had, but there were still enough for us to be outnumbered. Backup was almost here. We needed to retreat until it came.

“Use the trees,” I said into the comms. “Get back to the staging point. By the time you get there, we’ll have backup.”

The raging fire lit up the ground, and I looked around, searching for where Simon had gone. He’d known we were coming, and he was prepared. But he wouldn’t have run to the vehicles raining bullets. Not when they could explode.

Everyone started moving backward. A hasty retreat was the only option until we had better numbers.

There.

At the edge of the trees, a scrap of blue. A conversation sprang into my head.

Of course, it’s easier if whatever you’re tracking leaves you a trail. Broken branches, footprints. If it’s human, scraps of cloth. But you use whatever you need to in a rescue.

Emma, with her perfect memory, was leaving me a clue. Thank fuck.

I ducked away from the others and flicked off my radio. Keeping my steps silent and my pace quick, I dove between the trees and put my night vision back on, facing away from the fire. Simon Derine and I had unfinished business, and I was going to get my girl.

Chapter31

Emma

The cold barrel of the gun pressed into the back of my skull. Simon forced me faster than I wanted to go, and I stumbled. But the stumbling distracted him from the trail I was dropping behind us. My one last Hail Mary pass, trying to stay alive.

I’d spent the last while in the cage tearing my shirt. Especially once my guard got bored. Ragged pieces off the bottom of my jeans too. Every thirty steps, I dropped one, hoping it would be enough. If they were still alive.

I couldn’t even think about it. Tears were streaming down my face, a reflex to the terror and everything else. As soon as those shots went off, Simon pulled me from the cage and outside. We were already in the trees when the buildings exploded.

“As soon as we get far enough away from whoever your friends left behind, you’re done. Sorry, you’re not going to get a grave in North Dakota. You don’t deserve it.”

“You bastard.”

“If you think being called a bastard hurts my feelings, Emma, you’re wrong.”

I tried to drop another piece of fabric and dropped what felt like three instead. “Shit.”

“Have something to say?”

“Nope.”

He laughed, a vicious sound I was sure would haunt my nightmares if I was still alive to have them in an hour. “If I were you, I’d reconsider ‘nope,’ as your last word.”

Another piece of fabric.

I was running out of clues.

Simon stepped over a dip in the ground, and I didn’t make it, stumbling and falling this time. I caught myself, scraping my palms on the hard dirt. And the fabric in my hands went everywhere.

No.

“Get up,” he snarled, yanking me up by the handcuffs.

As soon as I was upright, he froze. He bent down, picking up a piece of the fabric. “Leaving clues for your lover?”

---