Page 23 of Brave Horizons (Barrington Billionaires #19)

“But there is something we can do. Let me call my sister,” Hillary pleaded desperately.

“She’ll know what to do. I understand it might not exactly be standard operating procedure but she’s been doing this a long time.

She’ll have options for communication with them we never would with the position we’re in.

I know I haven’t given you an abundance of reasons to trust me but I really think it’s the right move.

There is no way she’s burned. She wouldn’t let that happen. ”

Alex gave this some thought. This morning he’d have assumed Hillary was being driven by familial loyalty and a desire to make this up to her sister for the mission going poorly.

But she’d made the very difficult choice to continue on with them this morning.

If her only goal was to get back to her sister and try to make this right, she wouldn’t be in this truck right now.

Alex furrowed his brows and gave her a very serious look. “It has to be a very quick call. You cannot disclose too much information and we ditch the phone immediately after. You need to think of this as our one shot. Do you understand?”

“I do.” Hillary asserted confidently. “She’ll know what to do.”

“If she doesn’t pick up, we have to ditch this phone.” Alex wanted to make sure he was being abundantly clear.

“She’ll pick up. She wants to know where I am and if I’m alive. She’s sitting by her phone. I’m sure of it.”

Hillary dialed the number, her fingers trembling as she put the phone on speaker. The rings seemed to last forever, each one increasing the tension in the truck. Finally, a familiar voice answered, filled with relief and worry.

“Hillary? Is that you?” the answering voice cracked slightly.

“It’s me, Mia,” Hillary replied, tears welling up in her eyes. The sound of her sister’s voice was clearly both comforting and heartbreaking. “I’m okay. I’m with Alex and the others. We’re safe for now.”

“You’re alive,” Mia gasped. “I thought you’d been taken from the safe house. I thought they’d killed you.”

“No, we made it out of there. It was close. A storm blew through and everything went to hell.”

“What happened?” Mia asked, her voice steadying but still laced with concern. “Where are you?”

“We were compromised,” Hillary said quickly, her words tumbling out.

“The security team didn’t make it, the storm slowed them down.

We left the safe house to take shelter from the storm and when we got back it was clear it had been compromised.

We’ve been on the run. We’re heading for the mountains east of our current location, trying to stay under the radar. Alex thinks it’s our best shot.”

Alex took the map and relayed the coordinates of where he thought they would end up.

“We’re looking at this area,” he said, pointing to a remote section on the map.

“But time is limited. We don’t have the right gear, and none of us are really equipped for this kind of hike.

We’ll be ditching this phone but keeping the satellite phone. ”

Mia was breathless, obviously trying to stay professional despite the clear emotion in her voice. “I’m so sorry I let you go on this job, Hillary,” she said, her voice breaking with guilt. “I should have been there. This is my fault.”

“Mia, stop,” Hillary interrupted, her own voice cracking. “You were sick. You had no choice. I wanted to help. It’s not your fault.”

Alex cut in, sensing the need to keep the conversation focused.

“We need to stay brief. I promise you, I won’t let anything happen to Hillary.

She’s been an amazing asset to us. I can get us up into the mountains but I need you to get a message to Kenan about where we are and the fact that we still have the satellite phone.

We’re going to need a way out of here. Our faces are plastered on the news. ”

“I know,” Mia said somberly. “I didn’t see anything about Hillary though. That’s why I thought...”

“I’m okay,” Hillary reminder her sister.

Mia cleared her throat, regaining her composure. “Did you gather all the recordings and documented statements she was supposed to?”

Alex answered for her. “Yes, everything she gathered is safe with us now. She’s done an incredible job.”

“Good,” Mia replied, her voice f shaking slightly. “Stay safe and get to those coordinates. I’ll figure out a way to get help to you the moment I can.”

Hillary wiped her tears. “Is the security team, okay? I think maybe I screwed that up and if they were hurt or killed because I...”

“They are okay. They got to the safe house and saw it was tossed. The storm brought a tree limb down on their SUV and they had to scramble to find a way to get back on the road. They weren’t compromised but weren’t able to catch up with you all either.

That’s when Kenan had to call a code black and shut down communication.

We weren’t sure if you’d been taken or if comms had been compromised and could be tracked at that point.

We didn’t want to run the risk of leading anyone straight to you by reaching out.

But I knew if you were alive, you’d find a way. ”

“You trained her well,” Alex said kindly. He nodded to Hillary, signaling that it was time to end the call.

“We have to go now. We’ll be in touch when we can.”

“Be safe,” Mia said one last time before the call ended. The weight of her words hung in the air.

Hillary handed the phone to Alex, who immediately crushed it under his boot.

“Let’s head for the mountains and find a place to set up camp. We can’t stay here. Now they’ll have an idea where we are and we just need to make it work until they can get to us.”

Topeka nodded, feeling a little choked up by the exchange between the sisters. Her family was gone now. Her father was really all she had and that chapter of her life had been punctuated with violence. That book would never open again.

They drove on, the terrain becoming more rugged as they approached the mountain range.

Alex’s mind raced with potential scenarios, each one more challenging than the last. He couldn’t shake the nagging fear that something would go wrong and they would be caught off guard.

But he pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the task at hand.

As they neared the base of the mountains, Alex found a secluded spot to park the truck. He turned off the engine and looked at the others. This area is rugged. It’s going to be taxing to set up camp but we don’t have a lot of other choices. Keep your eyes open and stay close. ”

They gathered their gear and stepped out of the truck, the cool mountain air a stark contrast to the tension that gripped them. He piled the brunt of the gear on his back and Russ took note, walking over and peeling some away.

“I’ve been out in the dessert attached to the Army wearing body armor and sixty pounds of gear in my ruck.

I can pull my weight.” He gave Alex a knowing look.

“I can’t say I’ve spent a ton of time in this exact type of terrain but I’m good with a weapon and I can keep up.

Don’t feel like you’ve got to carry this all on your own. ”

It wasn’t lost on Alex that he was speaking about more than the gear.

“Thanks,” Alex replied simply as he handed over some of the gear.

As they moved in toward a clearly he could hear them all laboring forward.

The irony was he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be tracked or not.

There would have been next to no way for their group to not leave a trail.

Unexperienced people trampled their way down a path.

But the trail they left might be helpful when it came to them being found by the right people.

At this point he couldn’t focus on the small details.

It was about getting all four of them a decent place for the night.

Having enough time to set up camp and then trying to stay sane.

The staying sane part was going to be challenging.