Page 5 of Undercover Shadow
I cleared my throat. “Yes?”
“Never mind.”
From the corner of my eye, I caught the flush of her cheeks before she turned her head toward the window. I rested my head against the seat and silently repeated the words that had become my mantra.
She was Idris’ sister. She was twenty-two to my thirty-four. She was my responsibility to protect. It could never be more than that. Wecould notbe together. It didn’t matter how magnetic the pull between us was.
I knew better than to succumb. I’d learned not to from my parents, who’d taught me what happened when people whoshouldn’t be together tried to force it. The vow I’d made at my dad’s funeral held—never marry, never risk becoming them.
I didn’t openmy eyes until the plane touched down at the private airstrip at Dornoch. As anticipated, a Land Rover waited with keys in the ignition and basic supplies loaded in the back.
The drive north to Dunravin took less than ten minutes through the Highland predawn twilight. The road narrowed as we climbed to where the castle sat, high on the cliff where there was nothing but the historic edifice, tempestuous sky, and the smell of the sea.
“The storm is moving in faster than predicted,” Leila observed as clouds raced across the moon.
The radio confirmed it with severe weather warnings, recommendations to seek shelter, and advisories to avoid unnecessary travel. The forecaster predicted that by tomorrow night, the Highlands would be entirely cut off from the outside world.
“What do you know about this place?” Nightingale asked as I drove through the gates that had been left open.
“Renegade said the place was solid but needed work. The heat functions well enough in the east wing, but is intermittent everywhere else.”
The driveway curved, and Dunravin Castle came into view, its towers and battlements showing little of what it had withstood during six centuries of Highland squalls. Even as old as it was, it was formidable.
“Christ,” Leila breathed.
“Gothic enough for you?”
“I was thinking more ‘defensible position with too many unknowns,’ but sure. Let’s go with Gothic.”
I parked as close as I could to the entrance, and we raced to the main door. It was constructed of massive oak reinforced with iron and opened with a key old enough that it should belong in a museum. Inside, the main hall was shrouded in shadows until I found the lights.
“There’s supposed to be a generator in the undercroft,” I said. “Solar panels with battery backup.”
“Solar,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Zero redundancy.”
Leila moved farther inside, cataloging exits and evaluating positions. With every step, she appeared more exhausted, running on fumes, yet thinking strategically.
“Renegade said there are four bedrooms in the east section,” I said, reading more of the message I’d received from him.
She paused at a window and gazed out at the sea. The wind was picking up, rattling the centuries-old glass. “How long has it been since his family was here?”
“No idea. My guess is it’s too isolated for regular use,” I responded.
“And yet ideally isolated for hiding someone being hunted.”
“Exactly.”
She turned from the window, and for an instant, her composure slipped. I saw what the last few weeks had cost her—the fear she’d never admit to caused by the weight of whatever she’d discovered in Syria.
“We should talk about?—”
“Whatever it is can wait until we’ve both had a chance to rest.”
“There’s vital intel,” she pressed.
“Most of which I probably already know.”
She raised a brow.
