Page 140 of Burn Bag

“But what?”

His face blurred in my vision as tears filled my eyes. I quickly swiped at a stray tear, feeling like an idiot for getting so sentimental over a man I’d known for only a few weeks.

“I don’t want to leave you,” I admitted, my voice barely a whisper. “I’m afraid that I’ll leave and everything will fall apart.”

Sighing, he pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back and consoling me when I was talking about leaving him! The insanity of that struck a chord deep inside me.

“Daphne, I’m not so far removed from your world to not realize how important this is. Obviously, your parents are a little oblivious to things like head injuries and romance, but they mean well.”

“They always mean well.”

“Because they know how big this is,” he grumbled, his voice vibrating against my skin. “It would be selfish of me to keep you from such a great opportunity, even if I want to tie you to the bed and have a snake guard you to ensure you never leave.”

I chuckled against his chest. “Is that all it takes to make sure I get to keep the pets I bring home?”

“I think at this point, I would allow you to bring an elephant home.”

“Don’t be silly. An elephant would never fit in this house. We’d have to upgrade,” I chuckled.

“I’ll build you a bigger house while you’re gone,” he croaked out, squeezing me harder.

Sighing, I slipped my arms around him and held him tight. I couldn’t imagine leaving him, even if it was only for a couple of weeks. This would prove to be much longer.

“It’ll be okay. You’ll call me and tell me about your day, and I’ll pretend that I’m not utterly terrified of mummies.”

“You could come with,” I hedged, hoping he would say yes.

But that didn’t happen, and deep down, I knew that would be his answer. “No, this is about you. I’m not cut out for digging around in the ground for ancient remains. And furthermore, I’m terrified as hell of some Egyptian curse following me home.”

“But you’re not worried about me?”

“Hey, if you choose to take that risk, the fallout is on you.”

We sat for a few moments in silence, neither of us wanting to discuss how this would work or what we were in for. I knew it would be hard, and so did he. But he was right, it was an opportunity that would only come around this one time. Then I could come back, happy that I had gone for it. There would be no regrets.

Except maybe leaving him.

34

KAVANAUGH

Week One…

“What we’re lookingat is a layout of the facility,” Johnny said, pointing to the entrance at the top of the page. “If we can get in and out without being seen?—”

“How the fuck do you think that’s gonna happen?” IKE asked. “This is the Shadow Government. They have eyes everywhere. Hell, we wouldn’t even know they existed if it wasn’t for the intel Knight brought back.”

I glanced over to where Knight sat in the corner silently, listening as we all debated how to handle the latest intel. For a man who’d been shot by his brother, he sure was willing to go back in and risk everything to get his brother back. I didn’t understand it, but I respected it.

Jack shoved to his feet, storming over to the board. “Realistically, there’s not a good way in or out. Chances are, we’ll be caught.”

“So, it’s a suicide mission,” I clarified. “To gain intel that will most likely change the minute they see us set foot on their property.”

“Hell, they probably already have eyes and ears on us,” Jason muttered.

“Then what are we doing here?” Lock asked, pushing to his feet. “Rae, where do we stand on the headcount?”

“Not looking good,” she admitted. “So far, I haven’t been able to track any more of them. We only have five members. That’s not enough for a takedown.”

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