Page 35 of Lucky Charm
“What was I supposed to hear?”
Hunt paused for a minute, and she got the impression there was a whole lot going on that she didn’t know. “Doesn’t matter. Sit tight. We’re going to do a bit of search and destroy, then we’ll move again. You okay?”
She wasn’t, not really. But it was warmer tucked into the crevice. She counted that as animprovement. “I’m fine. Do what you need to do.” Nerves were in the waver of her voice, and she hated that. Would he leave her here?
“I’m staying with you, Doc. We’re going to hang here for, oh say, four minutes and thirty seconds, and then we’re taking another leg.” She shrugged off how disconcerting it was that he read her mind.
She closed her eyes, trying to hold against the exhaustion, the fear, the panic. “Always up for that.” Especially if it got them out of these mountains.
She closed her eyes and listened. Random firing continued, but it seemed far off. She’d never been one for the outdoors. Oh, she liked her moments of sitting in the sand on a beach or on a bistro patio somewhere, but she wouldn’t have gone hiking anywhere at any time, and the desperate need to be done with this whole scenario had her biting her lip.
“Hang on, Doc. Fire in the hole.” He pushed her head against his chest and held on while she silently mouthed the lyrics toCalifornia Dreamin’.
Explosions sounded around them.
“God bless, K-Rock. Let’s go.”
He lifted her with an ease that was disorienting and retraced steps back to their spot on the trail. Seconds later, he’d picked her up in his arms and moved carefully over the path. The snow was thawing, making it easier to plow over the untouched surface. She closed her eyes, focused on the wind against her face, and savored Hunt’s arms around her. This time their stop was slow andcontrolled, near a flat area with a fork in the path. Nice of the goats to have a highway system. “Let me walk.”
“Nope. We gotta double time. We’re surrounded, and those explosions aren’t going to put them off for long.”
“Are we waiting for the others?”
“Nope, they’ll catch up.” Another explosion in the distance made her tuck in against him. “Who did that?”
Hunt grinned, the action erasing the brutal warrior expression off his face. “We did. Took care of the weapons cache with a timed explosion, per your request.”
Cait hauled herself onto his back, her tension releasing at Hunt’s ease with the situation. She had to be careful what she asked for. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Hang on, Doc. Don’t give up. I know it looks dicey, but they have to find us first. I’m not about to let that happen.” The words were a repeat of what he’d said earlier, but she accepted them as the truth, believing in his skill and commitment.
“I’m good. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“That’s the attitude.” He shifted to a downward path that went past several easily identifiable rock formations and then followed another Billy goat path indented up the side of the hill.
She put her face against his neck, determination flooding her.
Hunt had this and all she needed was a bit of trust. She wasn’t used to trusting other people. Shewas the doctor, she was the skill, she was the wall against calamity for most people. This time she had to let go and let Hunt.
∞∞∞∞∞
Hunt hoped his cocky grin had allayed some of Doc’s nerves. He’d never been an expert at reading women. He knew exactly what his men were doing and thinking without being there. It was a product of their training and the years they’d served together.
With her, he was flying in the dark and trusting his gut. She held him fiercely around his shoulders, and he wanted to shift and look at her, but couldn’t take his eyes off the trail and hesitated to move certain ways because his back and ribs were blazing in pain. They had no time to stop. He settled for squeezing her legs and kicking up his pace a notch. If it had been only the team, they would have spent some serious time trying to stop this bunch, but that was going to have to be left to another time.
Once he reached the connecting ridge, whether the others had caught up with him or not, he had to keep moving. They needed to get another couple miles, and they could be plucked off the mountain by a rescue crew. The plan to put him with Cait and travel separately while the rest took an aggressive stance against the attackers had been Quaid’s idea. The guy might be CIA, but he thought more like the Marine he was.
Hunt slipped on the slope and went down on one hand. Cait held on, her arms gripping him like a vise. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Obviously, this trail is treacherous.”
“Could we go off trail? Let me walk.”
He looked over the terrain, but the snow disguised the treacherous path ahead, making it debatable whether letting Cait walk was the better choice. His gut told him to keep her in his arms, but the sudden quiet – no firing, no explosions – pricked his senses. Discarding alternatives as he sorted them in his head, there was no choice but to stick to the plan and keep going.
He slowly straightened and eased Cait to her feet.
She put a hand to his face.
