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He shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”
Embrace the suck.
It sounded ridiculous, yet there was a weird sort of wisdom to it.
She squinted into the growing brightness outside and strained her ears, hoping to hear… something. Anything. She desperately wanted to know what was happening beyond those trees.
She heard nothing. Saw nothing. She didn’t know whether that was a good or bad sign.
Embrace the suck.
With a sigh, she leaned back in the seat and forced herself to loosen her death grip on Puzzle’s harness. The dog woofed softly and rested his head on her lap, all but melting into her.
Embrace the suck.
It felt like an eternity before Zak’s voice finally crackled over the radio again. “HORNET secured perimeter. Spirit, you’re clear to move in.”
“Copy that,” Donovan replied and fired up the engine.
The commune appeared out of the foggy dawn like a specter— eerie and ghostly quiet. Several men stood under the Hope’s Embrace archway in camouflage gear with large guns in their hands. None of them seemed to be in much of a hurry, which could only mean one thing…
There was nobody left to save.
Oh, God.
Ellie surged out of the truck before Donovan had it completely stopped. The men swung toward her, raising their weapons as one, and she skidded to a halt, holding up her hands.
“Shit,” Zak said and pushed to the front of the group. “Fuck. Stand down. She’s one of mine.” He strode toward her, his face a carefully blank mask.
“Zak.” Her voice cracked on his name, and she swallowed hard against the knot of tears in her throat. “Where’s Cal?”
Without answering her question, he glared at Donovan, who had just jogged up to join them. “What the hell is she doing here?”
Donovan shrugged, unabashed. “She’s stubborn. I like that about her.”
Zak swore under his breath before turning back to her. His gaze softened slightly around the edges. “Ellie…”
“Tell me.” The words came out as a command more than a request. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure it was going to burst.
There was a long pause before Zak finally spoke. “Ellie, listen. They’re all dead, but?—”
The world dropped out from underneath her.
“Whoa.” One of the mercenaries darted forward and caught her before she collapsed. “Easy now, darlin’. Take a breath. C’mon. Breathe. There you go.”
As he lowered her to sit on a nearby stump, she stared at him, uncomprehending the words he was saying. But he had a kind face under the camouflage paint, with blue eyes the color of worn denim. His accent called to mind dusty plains and cowboys astride horses herding cattle.
“Hi… Ellie, is it? I’m Jesse. Here.” He pulled a canteen off his pack and handed it to her. “Take a sip.”
“Shit, Hendricks,” someone else from the group said, and his accent was from deep in the Louisiana bayou. “Maybe you coulda dropped that bomb with a little more tact?”
“She didn’t let me finish,” Zak muttered and crouched down in front of her. He took the canteen from her shaking hands and handed it back to Jesse. “Cal and Pierce aren’t among the bodies. It’s just the commune members.”
“They mostly committed suicide,” Jesse added.
“Mostly?” Wow, was that her voice? Why was it so faint, so far away?
Jesse’s eyes brimmed with sorrow. “Some appear to have been forced. Especially—” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. “Especially the kids.”
