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She glanced down at the red cast, resting in her sling. Sighed. She might be the alpha when it came to her clients, but not here. In her new world, she was the client. Gideon and the rest of the Blackhawk Security team told her what to do. And she did it.
Just like her clients followed her orders.
Watching the four Blackhawk operatives, she ran her fingers over the hard, slightly rough red cast. Her arm still ached, but immobilizing it had taken away a lot of the pain. Showering would be a pain in the ass, but she’d deal with it.
Just like she dealt with everything that came her way -- assess her options. Choose the best one. Go forward.
Finally Gideon came over to her car and opened the door. Held out his hand to help her out of the car, and she gripped his fingers. Slid off the seat and stepped into deep snow.
He let her go as soon as she was steady, and she missed the comfort of his hand. “There’s a shovel in the garage,” Gideon said. “I’ll tamp the snow down later. If I shoveled it, anyone arriving would know someone was here.”
“Okay,” she said, glancing around. Pine trees crowded around the cabin and extended up the hills on three sides. A rack holding firewood sat against the left side of the building. On the right was small log structure that looked large enough for a car.
It was noticeably colder here in the mountains than it had been at the compound.
Gideon must have noticed her looking around, studying everything, because he said, “The cabin and the garage are a lot stronger than they look. Mel and Devlin made this place secure and safe. It might look like a log cabin, but those logs are actually steel-covered cement. The roof is steel, too, so the cabin can’t be set on fire. The windows are shatter-proof, so no one will be shooting through a window. It’s not a good safe house if they can get in or shoot through it or burn us out.
“The place has satellite internet and wifi, and Nico brought a satellite phone.”
Alex looked around the small clearing in the forest. The murmur of voices from the group of operatives was the only sound besides the chirping of birds. A whoosh of snow falling from a tree startled her. She looked around uneasily. “Um, how long will we have to stay here?”
“Depends on how long it takes for Mel, Devlin and the rest of them to find Trotter and the Russians and neutralize the threat,” Gideon said casually. As if spending days in a remote cabin with someone he’d fought with only yesterday was no big deal. “I’ll get updates from Mel or Dev every day.”
The meeting in front of the cabin broke up, and Brynn walked over to them. “We’ll need you to check in three times a day. Eight a.m, four p.m. and midnight. Or earlier, if you go to bed earlier.” She glanced from Gideon to her, and back to Gideon. “If you forget, Mel will call you. If you don’t answer, someone will be on their way to the cabin. So do us all a favor -- don’t forget to call, and answer the phone when it rings.”
“I think we can handle that, Brynn,” Gideon said easily. “It’s not like our schedule will be full.”
“Right.” Brynn shoved her hands into her pockets, and Alex was pretty sure she saw the outline of a gun in one of them. “Be careful, Wolf. Trotter and the Russians are desperate. There are two tactical vests in the cabin. Anytime you step out the door, be sure you’re wearing one.”
“Will do. I’ve got this,” Gideon said. He nodded at Brynn. “Thanks for all your help today. Nico and Spence, too. Tricky to have gotten away from the hospital if it was just me and Alex.”
“Which is why we went with you.” Brynn nodded at both of them and climbed into the driver’s seat of one of the Suburbans. Nico joined her, and Spence got into the other one. With a wave, both drivers started the engines and bumped down the driveway. In less than a minute, the roar of their engines had faded to silence.
Alex stood outside the cabin, feeling awkward and uncomfortable. It had been relatively easy to be with Gideon when they were focused on getting to the hospital, then getting her casted, then escaping Jerry and the Russians.
Now they were alone in an isolated cabin deep in the woods. Just the two of them, with no outside distractions. Tension twitched between them like a live wire crackling at their feet. All the unspoken words she needed to say to Gideon hung between them in the cold, pine-scented air. Taking a deep breath, Alex blew it out as she stared at the trees, the ruts in the ground, the snowflakes twirling slowly down from the trees in the light breeze.
She squared her shoulders. She had no idea where to begin. But she needed to make this right with Gideon as soon as they were settled in the cabin.
“Might as well go inside and check the place out,” Gideon said eventually.
“Yeah.” Alex turned toward the cabin. The door was ajar, and she crunched through the snow toward it. Nudging it open, she stepped inside onto a large rug by the door.
She untied her running shoes and toed them off. Then she stepped onto the gleaming wood floors and looked around the place where she’d be living for the foreseeable future.
A coat rack stood close to the door. Two black vests hung from it, a large one and a smaller one. She touched the smaller one. It was heavy. Thick. She shuddered when she thought about a situation where she’d need it.
She turned to look at the kitchen instead. The stove, microwave and refrigerator looked relatively new. So did the oak cabinets. A tiny island sat in the center of the small kitchen, and the counters were white speckled quartz or granite. A small table off to the side had four chairs around it.
The kitchen was a comfortable place to cook a meal. She wondered what was in the freezer and those cabinets.
In the living room, a leather couch and two chairs clustered around the fireplace, which had a black box with glass doors inside the hearth. The hum of a fan seemed to come from the black box, and the air in the cabin was comfortably warm. A desk and ergonomic chair stood along one wall, along with a bookshelf full of books and magazines. Someone had put a lot of thought into this safe house. Everything they could ask for, besides a television. And they could probably use that wifi to watch something on their computers.
All the luxuries, even when they were hiding out.
Two queen beds stood against the far wall, and both had a heavy curtain that could be pulled around it for privacy.
“Wow,” Alex said. “For a place that probably isn’t used much, this is really nice.”
