“The rendezvous point’s not far.” Rivers gripped the wheel hard. The sky had begun to lighten, but it was still too dark to make out anything but snow.
He braked at the end of the road. Pine trees lined either side, closing them in.
She gripped Jolie’s cold hand, waiting for whatever was to come.
Only heartbeats passed before headlights broke through the pines.
“This is it.” Rivers jumped out and reached for the back door.
The crack came before she understood what it was.
Sharp. Final. The kind of sound that rewired her brain the second it rang out.
Then Rivers was shoving her and Jolie down hard and the world became noise and movement and the floor rushed up and she didn’t know which direction was safe because none of them were.
More shots. All close enough that she felt them vibrate her teeth.
She lifted her head.
Rivers was on the ground.
One hand pressed flat to his side, his jaw locked and his expression doing something she couldn’t find words for. He was breathing. She could see it.
But he wasn’t getting up.
The scream stayed locked in her throat because making noise would get them killed.
A figure emerged from the dark—large, and moving with certainty.
She saw the gleam of the barrel in the dark.
“Get out of the vehicle.” His voice was cold. Clipped. The voice of a man who didn’t expect to be argued with.
She looked at Rivers on the ground.
She looked at Jolie.
Jolie looked back at her.
“Get out! Now!”
Her mind ran through their options.
Refuse and die here on this road in the dark with Rivers bleeding out feet away, and Rome on an op, not knowing any of this was happening.
Or obey. Stay alive. Buy time.
Find a way to fight.
She reached for Jolie’s hand and gripped it hard.
Then they climbed out.
SEVENTEEN
Rome took the lead, hammering down on the snowmobile throttle. The rush of wind at his face didn’t wash away the knot sitting behind his breastbone no matter how hard he drove the engine.
He’d been through countless ops, both successful and unsuccessful. But he’d never had one be a dead end. Usually when things were quiet, they were walking into an ambush. Tonight, that didn’t happen.
