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Thirty

SOMETHING CRAWLED along Riley’s leg in the tight confines, and she bit back a scream—her skin crawling as much as whatever was moving up her leg.

The men’s boot steps grew near in tandem with their flashlights.

Greyson sat dead still as the boots stopped at the edge of the rock face.

“What does the tracker say?” the other man asked.

“It don’t say anything, Steve. That’s the problem. Zero flipping reception out here.”

“Well, this was the last area it blipped before it went out. I bet they’re up in one of those cave dwellings.”

“You expect us to search them all?”

“There’s only a half dozen, and it’s what the boss would want us to do,” Steve said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not calling him and telling him we failed.”

“Fine. Let’s go up the back side,” Kevin said. “It’s an easier climb. We’ll start from the top and work our way down systematically.”

Once the boot steps and flashlights faded away, Greyson spoke low. “We need to move to the tree cover before they crest that ridge. You ready?”

She nodded.

Greyson slid out, helped her up, and they bolted for the tree cover, just making it before flashlights crested the ridge.

“Keep moving,” he said. “Stay behind the tree line.”

If only it wasn’t so sparse.

“We need to figure out how they’re tracking us,” Riley said.

“There are more caves up ahead at the edge of the tree line. We’ll stop there and figure it out.”

Branches slapped her face as she ran, but she kept going, her thighs burning, her lungs heaving.

Soon the copse of trees thinned, and another, denser, tree line lay ahead.

“To the right. Ten yards,” he said.

She followed his directions and reached the cave.

“Okay,” he said, once they were deep inside—far enough he could turn on the pencil flashlight and it wouldn’t be seen from the mouth of the cave. “Strip everything off.”

She blinked. “I’m sorry, what ?”

“They’ve got some kind of tracker on us. I’ll go in the tunnel on the right. You take the one on the left.”

She nodded. The tunnel was dark save for the thin beam of her flashlight that she positioned on the floor. She hated to think what was crawling outside the beam of light.

She stripped down, thinking of Greyson doing the same not far from her, then chastised herself. They were running for their lives. She should not be thinking about ...him.

Once she finished taking everything off, she shook out all her clothing and turned everything inside out. Nothing.

Lifting her boot, she felt under the sole lining and, sure enough, found an AirTag.

“You dressed?” Grey asked.

“No, give me a minute, but I found the tracker.”

“AirTag in your shoe?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a river nearby we can dump them. They’ll be tracking them the opposite way we’re going. That is, once they can pick them up.”

Reaching the river, they placed the AirTags on floating pieces of ice heading downstream, while they’d be trekking up. Night encompassed them. Its dark fingers wrapped tightly around them.

Some time later, a charley horse attacked her right calf and she limped through the pain.

Greyson halted and, turning his back to her, hunched over. “Hop on.”

“What?”

“Hop on. I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”

“You’re joking.”

“I never joke.”

“Your arm still isn’t healed. The last thing you need to be doing is carrying me.”

“You’re a slip of a lass.”

“Lass?”

“Sorry. Family heritage kicking in. My grandpa used to say it to my grandma.”

“That’s sweet, but I’m still not doing it.”

“We can move faster if I carry you.”

She sighed. He probably had her there—at least for a little while until it stopped smarting. “Fine, but for the record I think it’s a bad idea for your arm.”

“Noted. Now come on.”

“Okay.” She climbed up. “You’re sure I’m not too heavy for your injured arm?”

“We did dead-body drills in the military all the time. You’re a feather compared to some I’ve carried, and I’ve done it injured before. This flesh wound is nothing.”

“All right.”

“Now settle in. You feel like a robot, sitting back all stiff.”

She bit her bottom lip and went for it, resting her head against the back of his neck and cuddling into him. He was so strong and solid, and if they weren’t being hunted, she’d be in bliss.

She just prayed they reached Greyson’s friend before the men reached them.