Page 30 of Covert Obsession

A loud boom shook the ground. Moe didn’t stop, urging her on, but losing his footing. They hit the tree line and he regained his balance. “What about the backpacks?”

“They’re there.” But there was no way she could make it up that hill. “That dead tree trunk over there.” She tried to point, failed. “I’ll hide while you retrieve them.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You need to make it to the top of that ridge and use that cell. Alert the others. Grab the water and return for me.”

He hesitated a moment and swung the gun around to his back. “No.”

A squeak left her mouth as he scooped her up like a bride and started running. His jaw was set, his lips pressed together in a grimace. “I order you to put me down.”

“Heard it.”

The bastard kept going. She blinked to clear her vision and forced anger into her voice. “This is going in your permanent record.”

He glanced at her, giving her a wicked grin even as he huffed. “If you’re busting my balls, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

He winked and she smacked his arm. A nice arm it was, too. She was too weak to convey the true depth of her irritation. “You’re putting lives in danger by doing this. I’m slowing you down.”

“The cell won’t be able to connect. I’ll have to rig something.”

Below, yelling started. They were high enough on the ridge, the trees and undergrowth gave them camouflage. She didn’t dare look over Moe’s shoulder to see what was happening. Closing her eyes instead, she tried to think of another way to warn the team. In the field, there were times when communications were dead and they had to use other means. “How much explosive do you still have?”

Breathing hard as they ascended the incline, Moe grunted. “A few sticks, why?”

Before she could tell him her idea, he pulled up sharp and nearly dropped her.

She flipped open her eyes and saw raw fear on his face. When she whipped her head in the direction he stared, her insides turned to mush.

There, helping himself to their supplies, was the huge black bear.

EIGHTEEN

“They booby trapped the only path in by vehicle,” Cal told Beatrice. While the jet screamed through the sky at several hundred miles per hour, it wasn’t fast enough. “Camouflaged road spikes. Jeb scouted ahead and found them. Not unexpected, but we have to switch to ATVs to take us the rest of the way in.”

“How many guards do you have on Emit?”

“Yeah, about that…”

Cal’s baritone was interrupted by Emit’s laid-back West Coast cadence. “The best bodyguards on the planet are with me.”

Her jaw dropped. He was with Cal. “You’re not at the ranch? Oh, Emit. What are you thinking?”

Cal, still on the encrypted conference call, came to his defense. “He’s safer with us than at his place. This way, I can keep an eye on him.” She’d heard that aggravated tone plenty of times—she’d bet her diamond ring that Cal was glaring at their mutual boss. “The three other members of Ghost Fox are under surveillance by Ash and Tate. Trace and I will access the mine via the quarry’s side entrance and find Jett. Emit and Jeb will hang back.”

Shredding her possible pardon, she’d already alerted Torrison and Flynn about the circumstances and explained in no uncertain terms that SFI would be in on the takedown because now one of their own was at the mercy of the terrorists. “What about Colton?”

“He’s on standby for anyone who needs assistance.” He cleared his throat.

A tell. He was keeping something under wraps, no doubt because he knew how freaked out she was about Parker. “What is it? Tell me what else is going on.”

He hesitated for a heartbeat, then sighed with resignation. “There was an explosion at the mine.”

Her blood froze. Her heart stuttered. “How bad?”

“Minimal, but appears to have collapsed the main entrance, closing off at least one escape route.”

Which also meant it had destroyed anentrypoint. That could be good or bad. “You think RING blew it to keep you out?”

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