Page 51 of Deadly Sins
“Fine,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation. “If it’s for Jason, I’m in. But––”
He was going to reiterate that she needed to stick close to him through the entire mission, but the sat phone in his gear bag started bleating, its sound muffled by the thick fabric. He rolled off the cot, his muscles protesting the sudden movement, and rummaged through the bag until his fingers closed around the phone.
“It’s Bridger,” he told Kate, his voice low as he pressed the phone to his ear. “Yo, dude, what’s up?”
The line crackled and popped, Bridger’s voice breaking up as he spoke. “Fenn… Jason… warning… Consortium… in the area.”
Fenn’s heart raced as he strained to make out the words, the static threatening to drown out the critical information. Sat phones were ultra reliable…except when beaming signals through heavy snow or rain.
“I understand,” he said, his voice calm despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins. “We’ve made contact with another player here––”
He was about to tell Bridger more about Steele when the line went dead, the silence deafening in the small supply room. Fenn cursed under his breath, his frustration mounting as he tossed the phone back into his gear bag.
Kate was by his side in an instant, her eyes wide with concern. “What did Bridger say?”
Fenn glanced towards the door, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “Jason warned him that the Consortium is in the area. We need to be careful.”
Kate nodded, her expression grim. “And Hawk?”
Fenn sighed, his mind racing with the possibilities. “I didn’t get a chance to tell Bridger about him. The line went dead.”
They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the situation heavy on their shoulders. Finally, Kate spoke, her voice barely audible over the hum of the backup generator.
“We’re both going with Hawk to get the evidence,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.
He zipped the phone back into his duffle. “Once the storm eases up, I’ll have a clear line to Bridger. We need background on your boy toy. The kind of background only Paige can dig up.”
Kate stiffened. “He’s not my boy toy.” She turned her back, stuffing herself back into her sleeping bag with abrupt movements.
Fenn smiled in the dark. Got her goat. He hadn’t meant to. Okay, yeah, he had. There was no way Kate could even know how she felt about her former fiancé. Or was it actual fiancé still?
Fenn had no idea how these things worked.
But her touchy reaction to his teasing was a good sign. Given the circumstances, he’d take what he could get.
He flopped onto his back, laced his fingers together over his chest, closed his eyes, and prayed.
Please, Lord, guide Kate through this difficult time. And Lord? If it seems like the thing to do, put in a good word for your boy, Fenn, would you? You know how I feel about the woman.
32
Kate woke up,though calling the continuing blackness morning seemed like a stretch. Her watch read 0700, but the numbers held little meaning in this disorienting environment. She felt like an astronaut, or at least what she imagined astronauts felt like, with no physical rhythm to the day except the self-imposed.
Or maybe she was just grasping for excuses to explain her own disorientation. Hawk’s reappearance had hit her like a tidal wave, knocking her end over end and destroying what little equilibrium she had left.
The quiet didn’t help. The storm had abated hours ago, leaving power restored. Gone was the shrieking and shaking from the wind and the pervasive thrum of the generator.
Across from her, Fenn snored softly, his breathing a steady rhythm in the darkness. Unable to lay still any longer, she grabbed her pillow and launched it at him.
Fenn’s eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright. “Hey!” He reached for his own pillow but paused, setting it back down with a smirk.
“Afraid you’ll miss?” she teased, desperately wanting to recapture the easy camaraderie they’d developed in Endurance before Hawk’s sudden reappearance.
“Afraid I’ll break that pretty nose of yours.”
“Please, you couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”
“Is that a challenge?”