Page 48 of Gunn's Mission

If the team decided to stay, and Polardyne decided to salvage what they could of the work they were contracted to do, Gunn doubted they’d want to entertain any half-cocked suspicions he might have regarding Emily Raskin’s guilt.

Was it fair, if Em was innocent, to tell the rest of the team? If he told Navarro, would he be able to convince his higher-ups that Gunn needed to stay on-site for the duration? It couldn’t be cheap to keep him there. If he offered to stay on his own dime, would they allow it, given he’d be expending their resources?

After seeing how his own headquarters operated, he didn’t think the Brotherhood Protectors would mind if he stayed. They’d likely continue to provide him support should he need it. That wasn’t an issue.

But that was all dependent on the folks on this site deciding they wanted to face the winter on the floe after everything they’d already been through.

They might. They were a dedicated bunch.

If they learned tomorrow that they had to prepare to abandon the site, he wondered if he had enough time left to convince Maddie that their relationship was worth pursuing. Yes, she’d said she was willing to float a resume with Hank or Stone, but would she really give up the life she’d been leading to follow him back to Montana?

Gunn drew a deep breath and willed his mind to shut off. He needed to rest, or he wouldn’t be worth a shit to anyone tomorrow.

Just as he was drifting off, he heard a noise. It was distant, muffled by the wind, but it sure sounded like an engine firing up.

Frowning, he slipped his arm from underneath Maddie and sat on the side of his bed, patting the bedside table until he found his tablet. Then he opened the feed from the monitors, tapped on the one to the garage, and stared at the open door. From the angled view from under the eave of the roof, he could see one snowmobile was missing.

He reached behind him and shook Maddie’s arm. “Maddie, wake up.”

“What?” she mumbled. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“Wake up, Maddie. Someone took a snowmobile out.”

He put down the tablet and moved in the direction of the door to feel for the light switch and turned it on. Then, he began picking up his clothes and dressing.

Beside him, Maddie flipped off the covers and stood. She, too, dressed quickly. “You saw someone leave on your spy cameras?”

“I heard an engine in the distance. When I checked the feed, I could see the open garage and one empty space where Nate’s snowmobile was parked last night. I didn’t take the time to rewind and see who it was. I need to get out there.”

“Nate’s snowmobile? Do you think he went out in this weather?” She shook her head like she was trying to make it make sense, but she was likely too tired to jump to the conclusion he had.

“It wasn’t Nate, but we’ll check on our way outside.”

“Who then?”

“Em. I think it was Em.”

“How—”

“A feeling, baby. My gut’s rarely wrong.”

Dressed, they moved into the hallway and began knocking on doors.

Nate swung open the door to Hanna’s room. “What’s up?”

“Someone left the site,” Gunn said, moving to the next door and knocking.

“Jesus, fuck,” came a muffled voice inside Eric’s room. When his door opened, his gaze widened at seeing Gunn, Maddie, and Nate standing at his door.

Maddie moved onto Em’s door and didn’t bother knocking. She turned the handle and pushed inside.

Over her shoulder, Gunn saw that her bed was neatly made, and an envelope rested on her pillow.

Maddie moved quickly, snatched it off the pillow, and pulled a single sheet of paper from inside. Her gaze scrolled down the page, then looked up at Gunn. “You were right. Em killed Mateo.”

Eric stepped around Gunn and grabbed the letter from Maddie. “Jesus, fucking hell. This is a suicide note. ‘I can’t live with the guilt. After I killed Mateo, at least I still had Perry.’” He glanced up at the group. “What did you mean, Maddie? Gunn was right about what?”

Everyone looked at Maddie.

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