She drew herself up to her full height and shot him a glare over her shoulder. “I can walk. You didn’t have to do—”
He swung the rifle around and clipped her cheek with the butt.
She cried out before she could stop the sound, and Jolie grabbed her arm to steady her.
Pain flashed through her whole head. Her brain froze from the shock of being struck so brutally, and then suddenly she was seated in the back of the SUV with Jolie tucked next to her.
In the dark, Jolie’s gaze traveled over Stina’s face as if assessing her condition. Even though she wasn’t sure if she was okay, she squeezed Jolie’s hand in reassurance.
Physically, she would survive. But terror clawed her stomach and left behind a thick layer of ice that made it difficult to breathe or think.
Rome.Her brain snagged the name out of the fog of her scrambled thoughts. They needed Rome and the team. If this man drove away with her and Jolie, Sierra didn’t have a chance of finding them.
“You’re well trained.” Jolie’s voice came out deadly calm. “You’re totally concealed. Nothing on you is reflective, not even your scope. That’s not the work of an amateur. Who sent you?”
He said nothing, just put the vehicle in gear.
“Special forces?” Jolie continued almost conversationally. “Private contractor? You move like you know what you’re doing.”
“Military,” Stina jumped in, improvising from what her friend advised her to do. Her cheek felt huge and swollen already, the corner of her eye starting to feel tight.
“He’s definitely military,” she went on. “Or ex-military. The way you hold that weapon—”
“Stop talking.”
The SUV flew down the road. Trees whizzed past the windows, carrying them away from base.
Away from Rome and Archer and anyone who could help them.
Rivers too. Her stomach cramped, and she leaned forward, breathing shallowly through the sick sensation.
She didn’t have a clue where they were going, but in minutes, the mountain swallowed them whole. They passed a sign at high speed, and she couldn’t make out what it said besides PASS.
The road narrowed to a single lane. A rock face rose sheer on one side and a drop she couldn’t see the bottom of closed in on the other. The darkness pressed around them, disorienting her as much as the throb in her head.
Stina stared at Jolie. As her friend’s gaze moved to her cheek, her brows pinched with worry.
Stina gave a small shake of her head to let her know they had worse things to worry about than a bruise and black eye.
She turned her head and looked out the window. The sky was starting to lighten on the ridge enough to see the thick clots of snow and ice clinging to the mountain.
The realization slid through her like a glacier of ice.
He hadn’t driven them away to kill them.
Whatever he wanted, it still required them alive. That should have been reassuring.
It wasn’t.
Because if he needed them alive, then he was taking them somewhere.
Jolie’s cold fingers brushed hers, and Stina gripped them.
As long as they were in the SUV, they were together. If he stopped, that all ended.
He could march them into the mountains, or shove them off the ridge. No one would hear them scream. No one would find them until spring, if ever.
She turned her head and looked at Jolie. Her friend was staring back.
