Page 47 of Breaking Danger (Ghost Ops #3)

Jon had broadsided her. They’d had sex before she even knew him and it had been so intense she thought her heart would blow. And the man was even better than the sex. Her body had told her what to do before her mind could boycott it.

She and Jon were a couple in the most primitive sense of the term—running for their lives, depending on each other completely, in total harmony. He was irrevocably a part of her. She studied his face in the faint light.

Handsome, yes. But there were a lot of good-looking guys around. Buff, too. But again, a lot of men went to the gym religiously, though Jon’s muscles were of an entirely different order. Muscles for work not for show.

She had no idea what his tastes in music and movies and books were.

Didn’t matter. Because those were details, like clothes covering a man.

The real man underneath the trappings, the essence of him, was brave beyond compare.

Honorable and true. Even when he’d told her his great gift was lying, he was telling the truth.

He’d completely glided over how dangerous undercover work was.

How one misstep could betray you. She was fiercely happy he was a brilliant liar because it meant he’d survived where other men would have been killed.

“You’re looking at me,” Jon said, eyes straight ahead. “What?”

That was another thing. No games with Jon.

“I love you,” she said quietly.

The vehicle swerved, then righted itself. “ What? ”

“You heard me.” Sophie had never felt more sure of herself.

It was insane to tell a man you’d just met that you loved him. In the mating game, don’t show your hand was rule number one. But that was in the old world. Now they were in a new world and the old rules didn’t apply here.

“I love you. I could beat around the bush and say I’m attracted to you—because I am—or that I like you—because I do—but it’s more than that. And on the off chance that we don’t make it, I wanted you to know. Because it’s important.”

He was silent. Something was going on inside of him. Though she could barely make out his face, she could see his jaw muscles working, bunching and releasing as if he were chewing on words.

Sophie wasn’t expecting much in the way of an answer. It didn’t make any difference. The world had become raw and violent, stripped down to bedrock. No time for games or ploys, no sense to them either. She’d said what she had to say and was happy with that. They could be dead in the next hour.

“Sophie.” Jon’s voice was a low growl.

Sophie kept her face forward. “It’s okay, Jon. You don’t have to say anything. Whatever you feel is okay.”

His hands opened then closed tightly around the wheel, face tight with concentration.

He took in a deep breath then let it out in a whoosh.

“Well, all I can say is that it’s a lucky thing you love me because…

I love you right back. And I have never said that to another human being in my life.

” In the deep gloom she saw him shake his head.

“I can barely believe I’m saying it now. ”

He reached out with one big hand and took hers, curling his fingers in hers. He brought the back of her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Her hand turned warm, as if his lips transferred fire.

After that, there wasn’t much else to say.

All the usual things Sophie supposed a man and a woman said to each other after declarations of love were perfectly pointless.

There was no talking of where to go from here.

The future for the moment didn’t exist. All that existed was right now, trekking slowly across California, hoping to make it to Haven.

And anyway, everything that needed to be said had been said. Jon had risked death for her when he didn’t know her. Sophie had no doubt that he would fight to the death for her now. In their escape from San Francisco, she’d have died for him.

That was it. That was what was important.

Everything else was noise.

Hour after hour rolled by. Though the cabin was warm, Sophie wasn’t even tempted to sleep.

The ride was rough but beyond that, Jon was doing something almost impossible, ferrying them across the state off-road and in the dark.

That they were still intact and hadn’t rolled over into a ditch or crashed into a boulder was entirely thanks to his driving skills.

She couldn’t help him but she could keep vigil with him, every step of the way.

There was the faintest change in the sky ahead, to the east. Not so much light as the promise of light. Dawn was about an hour away.

The land tilted upward. They were beginning the long climb to Mount Blue.

Red light flashed from the scanners. “Infected?” Jon asked. His posture was tense, raked slightly forward. The faint dawn light was beginning to interfere with the night vision.

Sophie studied the monitor carefully. “No. Two deer. I can’t tell the sex because antlers won’t show up in IR.”

“Why are they showing up at all?” Jon asked. “Are they infected?”

“I don’t think so. Animals have a higher base temperature than humans, that’s all.

Dogs have a base temperature of about 101.

They are sick if their temperature is 99° and below.

Deer typically have a base temperature of about 104°.

” She observed the monitor for several minutes then sighed in relief.

“They’re not infected,” she said decidedly.

“Their movements are normal and they can stand still. Human infected can’t be still.

Their nervous systems are too compromised. ”

She looked at Jon. She could see him a little more clearly now in the dawn light. To a casual observer, he looked exactly as he had when they started out. But Sophie was more than a casual observer. Deeply tanned, he was pale under the tan and the lines around his mouth were deeper.

Well, maybe she could make him feel better.

“That is actually very good news. The best. All this time, I’ve been terrified that the virus could infect animals as well.

If that happened, our vaccine wouldn’t work forever and we’d have to inoculate the entire population again.

It would be like what happens with the flu, where each year you are inoculated against last year’s mutation.

However, if animals aren’t acting as a reservoir for the virus, we really can hope it can be vanquished forever, like smallpox.

” She turned to him and smiled for the first time in what felt like forever.

“There’s hope, Jon. Hope that we can win this thing. ”

“Hope. Man.” He shook his head. “Hard to believe it.”

But he smiled, too.

The ground lifted even more as they began climbing the mountain in earnest. The Lynx was still silent but Sophie had the impression that it was straining a little.

After a few miles she could see individual trees, barely.

A dense morning fog curled around the trees, swirling and dancing in the morning breeze just off the surface of the ground.

Jon slowed the vehicle. “This is a dangerous moment. The light will blind me soon through the night vision goggles but there isn’t enough light to drive by. I’m going to have to go really slow until there’s more light.”

Sophie nodded.

He slowed even further, pulling the goggles up over his head, placing them in the divider container between their seats.

His eyes narrowed, hands tightened. Sophie’s eyesight was acclimated but not even she could see well enough to drive.

Still, she turned forward, determined to help him if she could.

The terrain grew rougher as they climbed. Rocks, fallen tree limbs, thick bushes. Jon was tense, checking their position constantly on the map. Then Jon glanced at the GPS and relaxed.

“Okay. We have a series of tiny EMP sources ringing the mountain, releasing when any electronic device crosses a waypoint. It will kill any engine with electronics.” He smiled at some memory.

“Killed Catherine’s little purple eCar stone dead.

Mac went down to get her and threw her over his shoulder. ”

“That sounds like caveman tactics.”

He shrugged one broad shoulder. “Worked, though. They’re expecting a kid. Some time in October.”

Sophie gasped. “Dr. Young—Catherine is pregnant? Isn’t that dangerous right now?”

“It was dangerous when she conceived because we had the entire US government looking for us, Mac top of the list. Doubly dangerous now. Danger hasn’t ever stopped people from having kids. Life goes on.”

Life goes on. Indeed it did, she thought. Children. Well, she’d been talking about rebuilding. You can’t rebuild without a next generation.

God, maybe they would already have begun rebuilding by the time Catherine’s child was born.

Jon wrenched the wheel again. “From now on, there will not be, there cannot be, any vehicles on the road. They were all killed dead half a mile back. Our vehicles have transponders in them so the sensors know not to emit the pulse. My scanner has been reconfigured to act as a transponder. So right now we’re making our way to the road that will lead us straight to Haven. ”

He tapped his left wrist and glanced at her, ice blue eyes flashing light. That paleness beneath the tan had disappeared, as had the lines of tension.

“Yeah,” he said suddenly, tapping his ear, straightening in his seat.

“You’ve got our bearings, right? I’m heading toward the road.

Turn off all the traps, for God’s sake. We’re friendlies.

” He grinned. “Roger that. ETA?” He slanted her another glance.

“About twenty minutes. Prepare us some food because we’re hungry and thirsty and tired. Tell Stella to get her game on. Out.”

Food. Good food, apparently. Shower and a bed. Sophie was still mulling that over when with a crack! the world exploded.