Page 85 of Agent Zero
“Holly!”Reese skidded to a stop, sliding a fresh clip of ammo into his gun.“Come on!”
But Trinity?—
There was no time.Reese grabbed her right arm and pulled her along.When they passed Cal, the other man grabbed her left arm, and hanging between the two of them Holly didn’t have to time to think about that awful cracking sound, the blood, or Trinity’s blank, horrified gaze.
FIFTY-FOUR
Gettingoff a high-security base smack-dab in the middle of the desert was made fractionally easier by the dual facts that it was the middle of the night and the alarms hadn’t started going off.The key fob Cal had plucked from a casualty’s pocket matched a nice little sedan belonging to a ghost of drive-thru meals and the heavy smell of a man who wouldn’t ever be eating another one again.Holly took the backseat and Cal drove sedately through the base, navigating by feel and instinct, until they found a gate.Flashing Bronson’s badge got them through, and as the klieg lights faded behind them Reese could finally let himself sag in the seat, blowing out a long breath.
“She didn’t give another name?”Cal asked, again.He couldn’t let it go.
“Just Trinity.They called her Three, but she...”Holly’s voice broke.
Reese reached down to find the lever on the right side, hitting the seatbelt’s catch with his other hand.All the way back, and he could squirm into the backseat as Holly scrambled to make room.Cal let out a short, frustrated sound, but twenty seconds later the passenger seat was back up and Reese had Holly in his arms.Trembling, full of sharp fearsmell cutting through the rest of her glorious scent, she was still whole and alive.He buried his face in her hair.
“Christ.”Cal snapped the radio on, flipping it to AM and searching through the bands for any news or emergency chatter.“Get a room, you two.”
“God,” Reese said around a mouthful of Holly’s tangled hair.“God.”True to form, his body wanted to prove she was alive another way, but that could wait.
Everything could.She was here, alive, reasonably unharmed, and all else was just noise.
She shook like a leaf, but she wasn’t crying.She just clung to him, and after a little while Cal cleared his throat.“I, uh, should probably split off from you guys and go find her.”
What?Reese’s brain started working again.“You think she’s?—”
“She smells good, Reese.”Cal tapped at the steering wheel, once.“We have a freeway.Looks like Utah, good deal.So, north or south?”
That was an easy one.“South.”Lost my damn backpack.Need liquid resources and fresh ID.Wonder if that place in Phoenix is still open?“How good does she smell, Cal?”
“Good enough.”The other agent sounded very certain.“Ma’am, when we’ve had some time to calm down a bit, I’ll ask you for everything she said that you can remember, all right?”
“She...she’s...”Holly shook her head, and the movement against Reese’s chest made his entire body ache in the most frustratingly pleasant way imaginable.
“Not now,” he said, low and easy.“Just breathe, honey.Everything’s okay.I’m here.”Lucky.So goddamn lucky.
“I th-thought you were d-dead.”Maybe she was going into shock.Her teeth were chattering; he hugged even harder.
“Not even close.”And if I was, I’d come back for you.
“I hate to interrupt, lovebirds, but we have things to do.”Cal peered at the signs flashing by.“They’ll be on us as soon as Bronson’s missed.”
He had to think; they were both depending on him.Fortunately, the answer was easy.“Just keep going south.We need to get urban and vanish.”
“Right.”Another tap at the steering wheel, probably a habitual motion.“Campgrounds around here, too.”
“Start of winter.Might be a cabin or two.”
“Want to risk it?”
“No.”But it was good to bounce ideas off another agent, Reese discovered.“Installation this size has to have a hub near it.”
“It’sUtah.The hub might be a survivalist compound full of polygamists.”
“Then we’ll deal.Does the glove box have a map?”
“I’m busy driving.Sir.”
And I’m busy.But he had a job to do.“Holly.Baby.Be easy, okay?It’s over.It’s all over.”
