Page 35 of Out of the Shadows
Next to me Daniel’s not moving a muscle, but I can hear his steady breathing. Glancing at him I bite down on my lip to stop me from gasping.
He’s looking straight ahead, tracking them both, watching every single step. I should be doing the same but I can’t drag my eyes away. Determination is etched across his mud and dirt smeared face, and the tell-tale sign of dark stubble is beginning to break through. Hot Fox? Oh yeah… My stomach muscles clench down hard and my chest tightens but it’s got nothing to do with the game that’s not a game anymore…
There’s the loud snap of wood, more than a twig, and it jerks my attention back. Fiona and Tariq have stopped. They’re waiting and listening, just as much as Daniel and I are. They start to move again, skirting along the edge of the trees, too smart to emerge, but their skirting’s bringing them closer to us. Next to me Daniel shifts closer.
“On my count we stand and fire, then duck back down into the hollow. And this time, no leaping up and down like an over excited kid. You understand? You take Fiona and I’ll take Tariq. Aim for the torso, remember.” His words are hard and direct, confident his order will be obeyed without question. I nod hard, because as his eyes bore into mine, I know I’ll follow every command he gives me. Insubordination isn’t an option.
We wait in tense silence. My whole body’s thrumming, but it’s got little to do with my workmates who are unknowingly creeping closer to me and Daniel with every step. My muscles are so strained, they’re starting to shake. If I don’t get some relief from the tension soon I’m going to explode.
“On my count. One… two… go!”
Daniel explodes from his crouching position and aims straight for Tariq, and I do exactly the same to Fiona. She screams, furious at being bested, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard such angry, blue and downright filthy language. I’ve got to say, I’m impressed.
Daniel and I are a paintball killing machine. Good as they are, Tariq and Fiona don’t stand a chance, and as soon as they’re covered, we drop back down into the hollow and out of sight.
“I’ll get you Cosmo Stern, I’ll get you where it hurts and when you least expect it,” Fiona rages, as she and Tariq stride off, muttering god alone knows what to each other.
“In your dreams, baby, in your dreams.” I turn to Daniel, knowing I’ve got a massive grin on my face — and gobsmacked to find I’m not the only one.
“Well done, that was an excellent shot.”
The unexpected words of praise are nothing to the huge smile that’s lighting up Daniel. All the tension, the seriousness that puckers his brow in an almost permanent frown has all gone. He looks younger, and somehow more alive than I’ve seen him since he walked into the boardroom at Cleaver Jackson. My stomach lurches. He looks how I remember him, from before it all went bad, when I fell more than a little in love.
“There’s still another team out there. We’ve not finished the job.”
His voice is tight. The lightness has gone, along with his smile and his eyes are watchful once again. Five years is a long time ago, and we’re back in the present and back to business, and somehow I can’t stop the small slump in my shoulders.
“Then we should find them.”
I go to clamber out of the hollow, but Daniel grips me by the arm. He shakes his head and presses a finger to his lips.Listen, he says wordlessly. I strain my ears, and just about hear. Another team.
Daniel half pulls me closer, half leans in, and for a startling moment I’m sure he’s going to kiss me. My heart leaps and my pulse rate rockets as shock, dread and simple, stripped down want pulses through me.
It’s the crazy circumstances, it’s the enforced close proximity, it’s all it is, because how could I ever again want Daniel Russo—
“They’d have heard all the noise, so they know we’re in the vicinity.”
I watch his lips as he speaks, because I can’t not.
Years ago, I dreamt of kissing those lips and so much more. Dreaming of how they would taste, and feel, of the damp slide of them against—
No. Just a stupid, clichéd fantasy. I’ve learnt the hard way if I don’t want to get kicked, beaten and bruised, there are some worlds I stay away from. Daniel and I play in different fields, and there’s a big, high fence separating us. I force myself back to the task in hand.
“I think they’ve gone,” I whisper.
“Not quite. They’re heading back the way we came.”
“How do you know? I can’t hear them.”
He smiles, but it’s thin and tight. “Trust me, it’s what they’re doing. I’ve done this sort of thing before.”
No shit, Sherlock?
If I wasn’t convinced before that Daniel had, in a previous life, been in some secret commando unit, I am now. Because who the hell is trained to track the movements of others? Daniel, more than playing soldier boy… it piques my interest a whole lot more than it should.
“So what do we do now? It’s starting to get really cold.”
“We give them time to get a little ahead and then we follow. We’ll hijack them, take them by surprise.”
