AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Eden shivered involuntarily. Devil’s Mining Camp was perfectly preserved under a layer of white, just as it must have looked a hundred years before. It wouldn’t have surprised her at all to see the ghosts of men seeking their fortune walking along the narrow street or saloon girls hanging from the windows, beckoning them to come inside out of the cold and get warm for a price.
She unzipped her jacket and pulled her gun out, holding it down by her thigh. The temperatures had dropped drastically after the sun went down and she flexed her grip around the butt, getting the blood flowing through her hands.
“Creepy,” she whispered. She didn’t knowwhyshe was whispering. Only that it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.
“There are no tracks going in that I can see,” Nate said, shining the LED light back and forth across the ground. “If anyone’s been here, it’s been a while. We’re going to have to take our chances. The dogs need shelter and rest for the night and so do we.”
“Shelter might be overreaching a bit,” Eden said as he got the dogs going again. “We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t come down on top of us.”
“It’s lasted this long. I figure it can hold another night.”
The town began and ended almost faster than a person could blink. It was just one strip of broken-down buildings that sat opposite one another and nothing else. The street down the middle couldn’t have been longer than fifty yards and she tried to envision it with horses and wagons making a pass through. A pass through to nowhere. People did crazy things to seek their fortunes and someone had to be the first explorer to find out there was nothing there.
The structures on each end of the street were in the worst shape and provided the least amount of protection, so they opted for one of the buildings in the middle—what had clearly been the saloon. It would at least provide protection from the wind and adequate coverage if anyone tried to sneak up on them.
“I’ll take care of the dogs and find shelter for them if you want to make base camp,” he told her. “I need to get on the sat phone and get in touch with Atticus.” He breathed out a white puff of air and left her alone.
“Strange man,” she said as he disappeared from sight. One minute she didn’t think he’d ever stop talking and the next he was distant and elusive.
She hefted his pack of supplies over her shoulder along with her own. She imagined the saloon at one time had swinging doors, but they’d long since fallen down, so only black iron hinges were left hanging from the doorframe. She carefully stepped over the threshold, setting her flashlight on wide beam and shining it slowly across the room.
It was a good-sized area and seemed sturdy enough. There had been wood floors once upon a time, but most of it had rotted, so only the black dirt beneath showed. The rubble of what had probably once been a bar and chairs and tables were scattered throughout, and the staircase that led to the second floor was completely gone, leaving only a gaping hole where it had pulled away from the wall and collapsed in a pile on the ground.
Part of the roof on one side had caved in, so snow had mounded on top of the debris. But she’d camped in worse places, and at least the other half of the room was dry and blocked from the wind. With their insulated gear on they’d be downright warm for the night.
She dumped both packs in the corner and immediately started taking out their weapons so they were ready in case they needed them in a hurry. She found a warped piece of wood that was still fairly sturdy and lined guns and knives up in a straight line along with extra magazines.
Provisions, maps, and the sat phone came out next, and she found a larger piece of wood so she could lay the map out flat. She almost didn’t set up the tent, but it was insulated and the added protection against the cold would be nice while they took shifts sleeping. She wasn’t sure being confined in such close quarters with Nate was the best of ideas, not after the way his kiss had affected her. But they were both adults, and they could act like it. In the middle of a mission was not the place to get romantically involved. Jonah had taught her that.
Eden looked over at the small arsenal of weapons and grabbed the baby Glock, slipping it into the pocket of her jacket. Just having it close by made her relax a little. Her gut told her Nate Locke was a man she could trust. He’d proven himself by standing next to her while disarming the land mine.
But she was afraid there would always be a part of her that held herself back—waiting and watching—to see if he’d betray her. Acting on physical attraction was one thing. But physical attraction had never been enough for her. Jonah, for all intents and purposes, had been her husband and her first and only lover. And though she realized the farce of it now, she’d thought at the time he’d respected her enough to marry her before trying to take her to bed.
She’d only been attracted to one other—a boy from her childhood. They’d had childish dreams of marrying young and coming to America to start businesses and grow a family, but those dreams had drifted away as they’d both served their two years in the Israeli Army and then she’d been selected to becomeKidon.That was a life that had no room for dreams and family. But it didn’t mean that those dreams weren’t buried somewhere deep inside her.
Before she could talk herself out of it she erected the tent and used what materials she could to wedge around the inside perimeter for insulation. Then she laid out the bedrolls, leaving an adequate amount of space between the two. She finished it off by setting one of the flashlights up in the corner so they wouldn’t hurt themselves if they needed to get out quickly. The light only gave it a homey, romantic glow, and she debated turning it off but knew that would be foolish.
“There,” she said, nodding, as if trying to convince herself she was on a normal op with a normal partner.
“Are you talking to yourself?” Nate said from behind her.
She didn’t jump, but it was close. He moved like a wraith. With an unnerving silence for a man of his size and strength.
“We’re set up here,” she said. “I’m going to take a walk around the perimeter while you talk to Atticus.”
“Avoiding isn’t winning,” he said cheekily. “You know you’ll have to talk to him at some point.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Last time I checked I haven’t actually received a paycheck from Dynamis Security. And to be honest, I’m not all that certain it’s where I belong. So until I make that decision, you’re the one who can talk to Atticus. I never asked for help on this job. You’re the one who elbowed your way in.”
He took a step closer and she had to look up to keep eye contact, but she held her ground.
“I would have come for you because that’s what my orders were,” he said, his smile fading. “But I took one look at your picture and I would’ve come even if my orders had been to stay as far away from you as possible.”
She sneered and her words sounded robotic to her ears. “Just like a man to fall in lust with a face and not think that there might be anything beneath the surface. They must have taken out the other pictures from my file. Believe me, my face is the only thing left of beauty on my entire body, and there’s nothing left on the inside except the need for revenge.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, but his voice was barely a whisper. “That’s where you’re wrong. And you don’t give either of us enough credit. I recognized something in you the second I saw your picture. You’re beautiful, yes. I’m sure you’ve been told that your whole life. But warriors know how to recognize other warriors. It’s in the eyes. There’s a depth of knowledge and pain and horror and courage that regular people don’t have.
“Those scars on the rest of your body tell a story,” he continued. “It tells me you’re a woman of resilience and fortitude and unimaginable strength. It tells me you’re loyal. It tells me you believe in what you do, no matter the cost. It tells me you have honor and faith. And it tells me that you’re the kind of soldier I’d want covering my six. And none of those things have anything to do with the fact that when I look at your face, I’m more than attracted to the whole package.”
