“It’s—it’s DLGSP.”
“That’s it?”
“No. No, just give me a second.”
“We don’t have a second, Shea. Give me the rest of it, damn it.”
She closed her eyes and replayed inputting the password. The first letter of each family member’s name in order of age. Then the number of members.
“It’s 4. The number 4 and then Peterson spelled back-
ward. All uppercase. NOSRETEP. The entire password is DLGSP4NOSRETEP.”
Nathan typed in the letters and then entered a series of commands. He watched one of the monitors and zoomed in one of the men, who moved slowly down the hallway toward the panic room. He took a series of still shots and then captured a thirty-second video.
Shea surged forward. “Oh my God, Nathan. The cameras would have caught Grace when she was here! We’d know what happened to her!”
Nathan cursed and muttered under his breath as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “I’ll have to start the upload of that entire day and just hope it doesn’t get interrupted if they blow this place. We don’t have time to babysit it.”
“They’re coming down the hall,” she said urgently. She frowned and leaned forward as one of the men began attaching something to the wall. “What are they doing?”
“They’re preparing to blow their way in here.”
She glanced frantically around, cursing again that she’d dropped the gun when the flash grenade had gone off. She reached for the pistol tucked into Nathan’s back waistband, pulled it out and pointed it toward the wall.
“Come on, come on,” Nathan murmured as he hunched over the keyboard. He pounded a key and then reached for Shea. “Let’s go.”
He pushed her ahead of him and into the tunnel. After they’d gone just a few steps, another explosion rocked the pathway. The walls shuddered and she stumbled.
“Run!” Nathan urged.
They fled down the passageway. She hit the bottom rung of the ladder and started to scramble up, but Nathan grabbed her ankle.
“Get your gun up. I’ll cover you from behind. Don’t hesitate to shoot. I’ll be right behind you.”
She gripped the pistol tighter and then hauled herself up the rungs. At the top she only hesitated a moment before she leaped through the opening and rolled rapidly away, her gun up.
Seeing no one, she called down to Nathan, “All clear!” But he was already pulling himself over the edge.
“Get to the jeep. They won’t be far behind.”
She got up and ran.
When they got to where Nathan had parked the jeep, to her surprise, he directed her toward the driver’s seat. “How are you behind the wheel?”
“I can drive.”
“You’ll know the area better than I do. Get us the hell out of here and I’ll try to keep any heat off us.”
She jumped into the driver’s seat, still holding the pistol in her left hand. She keyed the ignition and roared onto the bumpy path leading back to the highway.
“Any particular destination?” she yelled.
“Just keep off the main roads and get us as far from here as possible. We’ll figure out the rest later.”
She spun gravel and dirt in a wide arc when she turned onto the highway. She pressed the accelerator to the floor and checked her rearview mirror for any sign they were being followed.
As they approached the driveway to her parents’ house, a black SUV shot forward to block the road. She slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the left to avoid a collision.
She hit the ditch on the opposite side and nearly flipped. The jeep went up on two wheels and she wrestled for control. The jeep came down with enough force to jar her teeth and she rammed her foot to the floor once more.
Nathan jerked around in his seat, leaned out the window and fired off several rounds. Glass shattered in one of the SUV’s windows and a tire blew as the vehicle attempted to execute a turn around to pursue them.
“Nice shot,” Shea yelled.
“Keep driving. I’m sure they have more than one vehicle.”
She glanced in the rearview mirror to see yet another SUV barreling up on them. “Yeah. I’d say you’re right about that.”
She rounded a sharp corner and did a double take when a Suburban crossed the center lane, then veered into her lane before easing back over just enough to straddle the dotted line.
“I’ve always sucked at chicken.”
“Huh?” Nathan said without turning around. He squeezed off another set of rounds.
Shea gripped the pistol in one hand, leaned as far to the left as she could while still maintaining control of the jeep and began firing at the oncoming SUV.
That got Nathan’s attention. He jerked around just as the windshield exploded on the SUV and it veered wildly to the right after one of the front tires came apart, tossing pieces of rubber in all directions.
Shea passed on the left after yelling at Nathan to duck. Surprisingly, he didn’t offer a single argument. Once they were past, he rose cautiously back up and glanced over at her, a glimmer of a smile curving his lips.
“You’re such a badass. I like that about you.”
“They off our tail?”
“Yes, ma’am. All clear, at least for now. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
She glanced sideways at him. “You got a plan?”
“Yeah. It’s time to call in reinforcements.”
CHAPTER 22
SHEA drove steadily east, keeping to smaller roads as Nathan had directed. It had been hard for her not to hit the interstate at the first opportunity. Wouldn’t their pursuers expect them to stick to rural roads? Wouldn’t it be safer on the interstate where there were more cars?
Trying to psychoanalyze a faceless enemy had left her exhausted and on edge. She kept constant look out the rearview mirror until her neck ached from all the back and forth.
“Pull over,” Nathan said.
Startled, she glanced over at him.
He pointed to the sign for an upcoming gas station. “Pull in there so we can get gas, but first, we’ll switch so that I’m driving. I want you to stay in the passenger seat and pretend to be asleep. There’s a blanket and a cap. Pull it low over your face and cover up with the blanket. You’ve got cuts from the glass. I don’t want to raise any suspicions, nor do I want anyone to get a good look at you.”
She pulled to the side of the road and they hurriedly rotated. He handed her the blanket and arranged the cap over her hair, pulling it low so her eyes weren’t visible. After he was satisfied that she was sufficiently covered, he pulled back on the highway.
A few moments later, the jeep slowed.
“We’re pulling in. Keep still and pretend you’re asleep. I’ll pay the guy in cash so I don’t have to get out.”
Though she remained still as he’d directed, she kept watch from half-lidded eyes as an attendant walked over to pump their gas. Nathan rolled the window down, put a finger to his lips and then handed the man some money.
Nathan rolled the window back up and settled back in his seat. To anyone else, he looked relaxed, but Shea knew better. His eyes were in constant motion, looking left, right, ahead, and then checking all the mirrors.
His hands gripped the lower portion of the steering wheel and even his feet were in position in case he needed to drive away fast.
A few minutes later, the attendant appeared at the window holding the receipt. Nathan waved him off and eased away from the pump.
Still, Shea waited until they were on the road and Nathan reached over to touch her arm.
“You can sit up now.”
“Where will we go?” she asked as she pushed the blanket down her legs.
“I want to turn south and head back toward Crescent City. The jet is hangared at the airport there and is the most expedient method of travel, not to mention the safest if we can manage to get there in one piece.”
“We can’t leave yet! We don’t know if Grace is here. Or where she is. We need to be able to watch that surveillance footage.”
“I said I want us there so we have that option,” he said calmly. “I’m going to call my brothers in. I sent the footage to Donovan. I just hope to hell it was all uploaded before they blew the shit out of that room.”
“Who were they, Nathan? I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of it. No normal people come into a house and blow a hole in the wall. They looked…military.”
His expression tightened. His face darkened into a cloud and his eyes took on a brooding heat. “They certainly looked professional.”
“I’m scared. If these people are military, what chance do we have against them?”
Nathan dropped one hand from the wheel and reached for Shea’s hand. Her fingers trembled against his palm and he squeezed, unsure of what to say to reassure her.
Hell yes, they’d looked military. Black ops. Off the books. Just like KGI. Who knew who was running the show, but they damn sure meant business.
Shea stiffened as if just remembering something and then pulled out the small leather journal that she’d found in the tunnel. She ran her finger over the surface, a mixture of grief and uncertainly in her eyes.
“You can turn the light on. It won’t bother me,” he said softly. It was getting dark enough that he doubted she’d be able to read for long in the fading light.
She let out a sigh that was tinged with sadness. “I don’t want to draw that much notice. I’ll read it when we get to wherever we’re going.” Then she glanced up. “Are we getting a room? What are we doing exactly?”
“I’ll get us a room. Not the same place as before. Then I’m going to call my brothers. After we talk, you and I will decide—together—what our next step will be.”
She stared at him in a way that made him want to pull the jeep over, forget the danger they were in and haul her into his arms.
It was like he hung the damn moon, and all he could think was that he’d damn near gotten her killed because he hadn’t listened to his first instinct, which was to get her as far away as possible and lock her in the deepest, most secure vault he could find.
“Thank you,” she said in a sweet, husky voice. “It means a lot when you say we. It makes me feel like I’m not quite so alone. It makes me not quite so afraid.”
A possessive snarl rose to his lips. He had to swallow it back. This caveman reaction he had around her was baffling. It took over his senses and rendered him incapable of rational thought where she was concerned.
Getting so crazy over a woman simply wasn’t him. He liked—no, he loved—women. He mostly understood them or at least he knew the right things to say and when to keep his mouth shut.
He never had a shortage of women friends or even sexual partners. At least before his captivity. But none ever commanded this overwhelming insanity that seemed to grip him when he was with her. Hell, not even with her. All he had to do was think about her.
“It’s going to be we from now on,” he bit out. “There is no you. No me. Only us.”
Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened but then shut as if she had no idea how to respond to his directive. Good. Some things she just needed to accept. This was one of them.
Their lives—their souls—had been inexorably entwined from the moment she slid into his mind. There was no easy way to separate her from him, and he had no desire to try.
He wasn’t some helpless captive. It wasn’t like he had no choice and was stuck with this connection to Shea. He wanted her with every part of his heart, mind and body. The connection that had been forged in hell was only growing stronger the more time they spent together physically and mentally.
“We have a few hours yet. I know you’re pretty keyed up, but is there any chance you can rest? Are those cuts bothering you?”
In response, she frowned and lifted her fingers to touch the nicks and cuts on her neck. The blood had long since dried and her obvious puzzlement told him that she hadn’t even realized she’d been injured.
There was one particularly long gash where a larger piece of glass had caught her. The blood was still wet there. It didn’t look too serious but it needed cleaning and possibly a stitch or two.
“I’m fine,” she murmured. “Not sure I can sleep, but I’ll
try.”
“We’ll figure this out, Shea. My brothers are the best there is at what they do. We’ll find Grace. We’ll find out who’s behind this.”
“I want to believe you, Nathan. I want it more than anything. I’m trying. I trust you more than I trust anyone.”
“I know, baby. Soon this will all be over and we can focus on more important things.”
She raised one eyebrow but he left the statement dangling. She knew damn well he referred to him and her, but now wasn’t the time to press further. He’d let her know she belonged to him. For now it was enough.
CHAPTER 23
NATHAN pulled off at a rustic lodge situated on Lake Talawa. He left Shea in the jeep and went inside to inquire about vacancies. There were several empty cabins situated along the shoreline and one deeper into the woods, away from the others. The clerk jokingly referred to it as the honeymooners’ lodge.