Page 57 of Dangerous Mission

I zip up one of the bags and stand from where I was crouching. “Looks good. I think that’s all we need.”

“I’ll come back for the tanks.” He hefts the largest pack onto his shoulder. “Someone set up a staging area over by the cave for you. There’s a canopy and a place to change into your wetsuit. Can you manage that small bag?”

I hold up the small duffel that’s got my mask and fins. “This is nothing.”

“If you want, I can carry that too.”

I laugh and give him a glare. “I’m small. I’m not weak.”

“Never said you are. You must be strong to deal with Scout.”

The man isn’t joking. Scout’s a tough case.

I follow Rory, carefully watching the muddy ground as I walk, to make sure I don’t fall. It’s a treacherous climb down to the staging area. Water is rushing down the hillside into a muddy pond that’s already at capacity.

“Here let me help.” Rory extends a hand and steadies me as I try to navigate a steep section. “This trail is going to be filled with water soon.”

Nerves tingle along my spine as I look around. “This is a sketchy situation.”

The entrance to the cave sits at the bottom of a muddy incline. The whole area is bowl-shaped so all water pours down toward the cave.

I wish Griff was here.

Rory must pick up on my unease. “You’re the one that makes the call. If you don’t want to dive, your word goes.”

I try to shake off my worry. A woman might be trapped. It's been days since her backpack was found by the entrance to the cave.

“No, we can do it. This is a short, straight-forward dive. Just one short passage and one chamber. We should be in and out in no time. But like the professor said, we should go soon. This area is going to be impossible to navigate if the water gets any deeper.”

I’m so busy talking, my foot catches in the mud sending me off balance. “Oh!”

When I slide into Rory, he simply locks an arm around me. “Steady now.”

He’s a gigantic wall of muscle on two very long legs. Rory is also incredibly good looking with dark hair, obsidian eyes, and a five o’clock shadow that most women probably throw themselves at his feet to feel on her inner thighs. But I’m not the least bit aroused by him.

Instead, I’m eager to get away from his hold. Claustrophobia instantly sets in.

“I’m fine.”

Heart beating a little too fast, I shift the bag to my other shoulder and try to smile.

He looks at me suspiciously. “You sure you’re good?”

I’ve heard Rory speaking Russian. To my novice ear, it sounds like his native tongue. But his English is so smooth, I question where he’s really from.

“Fine, really. That was close. Thanks for the catch. I think I’d be better off sliding down on my stomach. I don’t know how you can walk on this.”

“Years of training.”

I grumble at him as my feet try to go in two different directions. “I don’t know what you were training for.”

“Everything.”

I blink.Okay.

Rory forges down the hillside without missing a beatand my curiosity about the man grows until it gets the best of me. “Where are you from?”

“Everywhere.”