Page 36 of Jason Bourne (Seals on Fraiser Mountain #7)

Lane

T he shed crouched at the edge of the creek like a dark wound against the snow. Red paint peeling, padlock glinting in the moonlight. Too quiet.

Jason raised a fist, halting the team. His eyes met mine, sharp, questioning. Your call.

I nodded once. “Forest, Rush—cover left. Nate, Fraiser—take the right flank. Jason, you’re with me.”

They peeled away like shadows. My pulse pounded so loud I swore the whole mountain could hear it.

We crept closer, weapons drawn. Jason bent, checked the lock. “Fresh. Put on within the hour.”

Which meant she was inside. Alive.

I signaled three…two…one—

Jason ripped the lock, booted the door open, and I went in first.

The smell hit me first—sweat, mildew, fear. Then the sight. Marcie, bound to a chair, eyes wide, a gag cutting across her bruised face.

“Clear!” I shouted, rushing to her side.

Jason cut her bonds with one swipe of his knife. She fell forward into my arms, shaking like a leaf.

“You’re safe now,” I whispered, pulling the gag free.

But before relief could set in, Forest’s voice thundered from outside. “Lane! Tripwire!”

The shed shuddered with a deafening crack as something detonated at the far wall. Dust and splinters rained down. Jason shielded Marcie and me with his body, the blast rocking the floorboards.

“Booby-trapped,” he hissed, hauling us both up. “We move—now!”

We sprinted out into the night just as a second charge went off, fire lighting up the creek bed behind us. Nate and Fraiser fired back into the treeline—more shadows moving, more gunmen closing in.

Rush yelled over the chaos, “They want her back!”

I shoved Marcie behind me, leveling my Glock with both hands. “Over my dead body.”

Jason’s eyes cut to mine, fierce and unyielding. “Not tonight.”

And then the firefight exploded around us.