Page 2 of Wired Ghost

Yes, she and Jake were reconnecting and taking it slow, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a history—an intense one that had been blossoming until Momi’s kidnapping as a newborn, when the circumstances around that devastating event had torn them apart.

Sophie continued to watch carefully as they trekked through the vog along the stony, uneven trail worn onto the raw lava surface. “All we really know about the case is that Lia is supposed to be with this guy Finn O’Brien. He’s an undocumented Irishman who supposedly came to the Big Island on vacation, and outstayed his visa. The man found a way to make an illegal living out here, and has gathered a close team of scoundrels and rogues to help him with that.”

“Scoundrels and rogues?”

“If the adjective fits . . .”

“I think we should be prepared for resistance, beginning with our target. Lia’s a minor, but she’s not likely to want to come back to daddy because, although Ayabe won’t admit it, she basically ran away. O’Brien’s a meth cooker and dealer with a record and not much to lose. Let’s recon their camp first, then pull back and figure out a plan. We might need reinforcements.”

“Just what I was going to suggest.” Sophie flashed her smile at him. The last wisps of her depression, easily activated when her daughter was gone, had been dispelled by the upcoming action.

“Would you mind if I moved out in front?” Jake raised his brows, steel-gray eyes serious.

“Not at all. I was wondering how long you’d be able to hang back,” Sophie said. “I wasn’t joking when I said I relied on your Special Ops background in situations like this.”

“Thanks.” He kissed her as he passed by, a quick touch on the lips that lit her nerve endings.

Yes, she had a boyfriend in Jake—but the jury was still out on whether they would make it. So much had happened between them, and others. . .like Connor. Now the de facto leader of a clandestine spy organization with its roots in guarding Thailand’s royal family, her former lover known as the Ghost continued to practice his unique brand of cyber justice, and through that organization he now commanded an army of ninjas. He wanted her to help him with his “mission,” and though Sophie had dabbled in equalizing the scales of justice, she wasn’t ready to commit to anything more.

Maybe this time with Jake would show her a new direction—and meanwhile, his rear view wasn’t hard to look at. She suppressed a grin.

They reached a fork in the trail. Jake stopped. “You’ve got the GPS. Which way do we go?”

Chapter Two

Jake

Sophie removedher phone from her pocket while Jake scanned the spooky, vog-shrouded plain. “I don’t like this,” he said.

“I don’t, either.” She frowned down at the device, and when she did, the gunshot scar bisecting her cheekbone pulled up like the cord on a window shade. “We’re within a half mile. Take the left fork.”

Sometimes he forgot how close Sophie’d come to death that time, but the scar would always be there to remind him. The terrible experience of carrying her unconscious, blood-soaked body out of a grave-like pit, as he tried to keep her alive, would always be etched on his memory.

Along with their camo fatigues, they carried small backpacks that, instead of snacks, contained extra weapons, ammo, supplies for a quick shelter, and even a dose of sleepy drugs to hit the target with if Lia Ayabe proved too belligerent.

But Jake hated going into a potential conflict situation with so little information.

All they really knew was that the girl was underage, that she was shacked up with a dangerous meth cooker and his crew, and that the drug gang was holed up in an extremely remote and volatile lava area.Not good.

“Let’s go off comm,” Jake said. “No more talking. We don’t know how far out they might have countermeasures.” They didn’t need the GPS anymore now that he’d gotten a look at the distance, and taken the trail leading to the coordinates.

Sophie nodded and fell in behind him. Her trust in his leadership warmed him.

Jake palmed his weapon and kept his eyes moving and ears tuned, walking light on the balls of his feet to minimize the crunch of the gravel—and still, he almost hit the tripwire.

He stopped so suddenly, leaning over, that Sophie collided with his back.

Jake held up a fist. Sophie moved back and out of the way as Jake bent carefully, taking a penlight out of his pocket and lighting up the thin wire strung across the path. Sophie sucked in a breath and went very still.

The only thing that had clued him in to the line was the slightly different shade of a rock on the side of the trail to which an IED had been attached. Jake followed the wire from the rock to the other side of the trail. A grenade’s pin had been connected to the line.

Tripping on the wire would have pulled the pin, and the grenade would’ve gone off—a simple but effective trap for the unwary.

Jake disconnected the pin and picked up the grenade. He tucked it into his leg pouch, turning to Sophie with a wink and a smile, hoping to reassure her. “Might be able to use this later.”

Sophie nodded, but her eyes were wide and her tawny skin had paled.

Jake kept his pen light on and they walked slower—but he saw nothing further as they approached thekipuka.

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