Page 39 of Gunn's Mission

The sofa sank beside him, and he glanced to the side.

Maddie sat, turning toward him, one foot beneath the opposite thigh. “That’s all you found? A phone?”

He nodded.

“No stray SD cards?”

“There’s likely under the snow somewhere.” Gunn stared up at the ceiling. “I need a list of everyone’s personal cell phone numbers.”

She nodded. “Why?”

“I’m going to have the tech guy at the Brotherhood Protectors headquarters check their phone records for their contacts. See if anything stands out.”

“Your guy call you back yet?”

Gunn shook his head. “I’ll get in touch with him to let him know I found a satphone, but I can’t be sure whose phone it is.”

“Even though you found it in her room?”

Gunn sighed. “Anyone could’ve put that phone in her room. If they were watching Eric and Nate today, they had to know we’d find where they cut the line. If I was trying to throw shade someone else’s way, I’d plant the phone on them.”

Maddie tilted back her head. “I’m so fucking tired of this.” Her voice rasped with strain.

Gunn reached out and lifted her onto his lap. Maddie melted against him, tucking her head into the corner of his neck. After a moment, he felt moisture dampen his skin there.

He’d never had to comfort anyone before, but he found it easy to do with Maddie. He cupped the back of her head and rubbed her back, not saying a word as he held her while she cried.

When he leftMaddie in his bedroom resting, he made his way outside to place another call to the Brotherhood Protectors. Snow was falling again, fat flakes that drifted at an angle due to the wind whipping up again.

“Gunn, wait a second while I add Swede to the call,” Stone said. “I have you on speaker here. Your team’s here.”

“Hey, Gunn,” Booker said. “How you holding up, man?”

“Freezing your balls off yet?” Wyatt Bixby, another member of Team Eagle asked.

“My balls are doing just fine,” Gunn said, grinning.

“That Madeline Russo isfine,” Ty Quigley, another Team Eagle member said.

“Yeah, Maddie’s…great.”

Chuckles sounded in the background, and he knew they’d jumped to the right conclusion about his feelings about her.

A throat cleared. “Swede here.”

Gunn’s grin eased. “You have anything?”

“Not sure. Nothing stood out when I reviewed the call logs for the cell phone numbers you sent. Lots of calls to Polardyne. Mostly to Clive Patton at Polardyne, which I suppose is to be expected. Nothing pops when I look at bank records, but there’s lots of emails, back and forth with Polardyne regarding a new project that’ll be starting up when the studies on your island end. Something in northern Canada. It’ll involve Perry Hughes and Emily Raskin. There’s no mention of anyone else on the current team joining the project.

“I’ve scrubbed the email accounts of the rest of the team, too. Some folks have been sending out resumes. Your girl, Maddie, has been in contact with Doctors Without Borders.”

Gunn felt his chest tighten at that news. She was thinking ahead. She should. So why did it bother him that she’d likely be heading off to some other dangerous part of the world?

“What’s been happening on your end,” Stone said. “Tell me what happened with the coax cable. You get any clues about who was responsible for sabotaging it?”

“Eric was assigned to check on the dish. He and Nate found the break. They came straight back to Maddie and me. Both seemed shocked.”

“Did anyone react weirdly when the rest of the folks were told?”

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