Page 77 of Talk to Me
No, not burrowed.
They were already there. I’d let them in when I hadn’t been looking. Growing attached when it was the last thing I should have done.
Dipping my head, I let their words roll over me. I wanted to believe them so badly. Eyes closed, I dragged in a deep breath of air.
“Yes,” Remy said, the softness of his tone wrapping around me like an arm over my shoulders, or a hug. It provoked hot tears to burn in my eyes. “Talk to us.”
Isolation might be safe but it was damn lonely. Blinking rapidly, I forced the tears back then lifted my head. “What I have are?—”
Before I could even finish forming the words Remy’s hand came up as did McQuade’s. All three men moved. The lights cut off abruptly and then Remy reappeared out of the darkness right next to me.
McQuade was a half step behind him and he had a weapon in his hand. His nearness dwarfed me even as he dipped his head. “Go with Remy. Locke will be right behind you. Do what they say and stay with them.”
“How are you getting out?” I understood extraction plans. He was covering our exit.
“Don’t worry about me, Sugar Bear.” McQuade’s breath teased my ear and I was barely able to suppress a shiver that raced over me from the brief contact. “I’m extraction and cleanup. I’ll find you.”
The last three words were a promise. “I’ll hold you to that,” I told him as sternly as I could manage. It came out breathy but I meant it.
“Yes, ma’am.” Then he shifted his attention to Remy. “Take care of her.”
“Of course.”
“Why do I feel like we’re not getting my deposit back?” Locke said with a manufactured sigh.
“Because you’re not a stupid guy,” McQuade said. “Give me sixty seconds then straight out back and down the hill.”
I didn’t have any shoes…
Locke passed a bag to Remington then he closed the distance. “I need to carry you, Patch. Trust me to get you down that hill?”
“Yes.” No hesitation was left in me. Not with the threat imminent right outside. Car doors closed. The slam of them increasing the danger with every second we lingered.
“Arms around my neck,” he murmured then I was being lifted. Contact sent fresh alarm through me, but his touch was gentle. “Can you wrap your legs too?”
I licked my lips, suddenly grateful for the darkness because my face caught on fire. “Yes.” I hitched my legs around him. His shirt was stiff—oh, he’d put on Kevlar.
“Helmet,” Remy said then something tugged over my head and there was something draping my back, not a blanket but… a jacket. “Keep your head down and tucked against him. Just let Locke run, don’t throw off his balance and stay as quiet as you can. We’ll get you out of here.”
The instructions all made sense. I lifted my head and pressed a kiss to Locke’s cheek. The two of them went dead still. “For luck,” I whispered.
“I’ll take it.” Locke’s voice dipped to a darker place for a moment, then he cleared his throat. “Ten seconds, Patch.”
I was glad they’d remembered. Hard to believe that was my job before. I’d get it back. Locke had one arm around me and he was moving. The position was extremely intimate, but he didn’t take any advantage of it at all. If anything, he’d gone into mission mode as I liked to call it.
Their focus was on escape.
Glass shattered somewhere and I couldn’t help the little jerk.
“Shhh,” Locke said, hum of sound soothing over the jagged bits of adrenaline scraping under my skin. “I’ve got you.”
His grip was firm, confident and then more glass shattered and the distinctive pop of gunfire erupted. We didn’t linger, Locke was on the move. He went from slow and deliberate to running.
I tried to shift my center of gravity with him, obeying the subtle signals of his body as he increased his speed. I wanted to lift my head and make sure Remy was with us. More gunfire filled the night, silencing whatever creatures might normally be out here.
So weird. No crickets. No frogs. No birds.
Just bullets.