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The visibility was absolute shit, even as we broke through the clouds.
We were in the jungle, all right.
The faintest glow of the moon above the clouds let me see blurry contrasts, but nothing more than that.
No signs of civilization.
We had an hour’s trek to Adrien’s hideout, a small place he’d shared with the DEA agent he’d lost, and he had two vehicles there too.
And I had twenty-four hours to build up my confidence for another round of going undercover…
Thank fuck I had no lines. I was just gonna heel and act like Rafael Delgado’s security detail. Considering I did that for a fucking living, I should be decent at it. Nobody expected me to speak. Adrien would do that for me.
I sucked in a breath and peered down, the ground rushing at me faster and faster. No obstacles that I could see. Just the pitch-black ground. Adrenaline pumped freely in my system, and no matter the challenges, I’d always pick action over passiveness. Like, hiding out in a goddamn closet on a smaller boat when Adrien had his sit-down with Carillo? Worst four hours. I hadn’t even seen the fucker! I’d literally been, what, twenty feet away from the old bastard? And I hadn’t been able to do anything.
I knocked my feet and knees together and pushed myself up by the handles, and a second later, I made impact with grass and cracked asphalt.Oomph. I grunted and cursed, got the wind knocked out of me just a bit as I dropped and rolled, and then I was on my feet again, panting and buzzing with impatience. Adrien had dropped already, hadn’t he? I wasn’t sure, but I might’ve heard something right before I landed. He weighed more than I did, so it would make sense.
I hurriedly detached myself from the harness and—
“Crew, are you all right?”
That was my question! I squinted in the dark, spotting Adrien some hundred feet away. I was supposed to ask if he’d survived.
“I’m great! How’s your hip?” I called back.
We met halfway, and it would’ve been the perfect moment for a celebratory kiss, but he was in work mode already. He told me he couldn’t get his satphone to work. Such a fucking romance killer.
“Lemme see,” I said, turning on my headlight.
“Hopefully, I only need to recharge it.” He handed it over to me.
Yeah, it was dead. I smacked it against my hand and tried to turn it on. “Once we get to your hideout, I can do more than hit it.” There might be moisture inside it or something.
One way or another, I had to get it to work, ’cause Elliott needed intel from me stat.
I killed the light again.
After we’d stashed our chutes in the thick underbrush at the edge of the airstrip, Adrien and I took off in a run, and I could admit I was surprised he was in such good shape. Ryan would’ve been panting by the time we reached the end of the strip, at least.
“Stop assessing my strength, you child,” Adrien told me. “If this is how it’s going to be, I’ll drop you off at Chuck E. Cheese for our first date and leave you there.”
I grinned and kept running.
We were going to beawesometogether.
My feelings already bordered on nuts for this man.
He drove me batshit in the best ways.
“Your sweet talk is weirdly exhilarating,” I said. I had to. That was how I felt. “I just wanna kiss you silly and hump your leg.”
He gusted out a labored breath and slowed down until he stood still. Then he removed his helmet and wiped a hand over his face. The humidity was turning me into a slip ’n slide too.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing is wrong. You’re just…you’re not allowed to change your mind now, Crew.”
I furrowed my brow and walked over to him. “Huh? Change my mind about what?”
