“I’m clear,” she said in exasperation. “How the hell did I manage to survive a whole year without you?”
Oh, her sarcasm. He’d missed the hell out of that. He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m sure it was touch and go.”
She threw back her head and laughed. Loud. It was beautiful. “And that’s a truth you can take right to the bank. Cash that shit out and run for Mexico.”
He grinned at her, checked the monitor again, and punched in the code. “I’m first. Always.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied smartly.
“Smart-ass.”
She turned her head and tried to look over her shoulder at her butt. “You think?”
He shook his head as the door swished open. He stepped into the tunnel and checked for any disturbance. “We’re clear. We’ve got to move fast. I don’t know how the cave will hold up when those explosives he’s almost finished setting go.”
“Let’s move then,” she said. “I’ve got you, Chica. Hold on for the ride.”
His lips curved again, and he swore he hadn’t smiled so much in a year. “Let’s do it.”
They moved quickly. They’d made it about a quarter of a mile through the tunnels when the first explosion rocked the system. The way the walls and ceiling of the cave’s tunnels shook didn’t bode well for them.
“Run,” Jude said, turning around to get behind her. “Run fast,” he urged as he took off his headlamp and put it on her head.
The concussion of another blast nearly took them off their feet. He refused the fear that climbed up his throat. He wouldn’t lose her here. The earth rumbled as it absorbed the impact and sought to hold. Wind rushed by him, the wind of the approaching dust headed their way.
“Run, Ella!” he yelled, and she did just that.
He tore after her, but they weren’t fast enough. “Duck down, and cover your face,” he called as the dust caught up to them.
Jude covered her body with his as yet another rumble rocked the walls around them. The fear knocked on his mind again, and he again refused it entry. Instead, he held her close, making sure she kept the cloth in place over her mouth and nose. He shoved her face into his chest and bowed low over her, breathing through her hair and letting the silk of her tresses filter his air.
Another boom, and her body shook. His world was about to collapse around him. Horror choked his throat, and his hands clenched tighter around his woman.
He was scared he’d found her only to lose her again. And in the midst of one of the greatest terrors of his life, Jude was smiling because all he could hear was Ella talking softly to the damn cat.
Chapter 18
Goddamn Dresden! He was going to blow up the whole mountain! Ella’s entire body trembled, and she wondered if she’d just come back to Jude to lose him to Dresden anyway.
“We’ve got to move, Jude,” she said against his chest. She pushed against his side to get him to move, and he hissed in a breath.
He laughed, and it was rueful in the sudden awful silence.
“Let me look,” she ordered, pushing his hands away as she moved to her knees in front of him.
“No time,” he muttered. “We’ll patch it again when we’re safe.”
Ella gazed at him, either to judge his words for truth or to see if he was simply placating her.
She nodded at what she saw in his eyes. They would run, and she’d care for him later.
He stood and helped her to her feet.
“I’ve got you, Chica,” she said softly to the cat zipped inside her go bag. The cat meowed back. “You’re getting a gold bowl when we get home.”
“We’re keeping it?” Jude asked, dismay hugging his tone.
A laugh escaped her. “Her. We’re keeping her.”
Jude grunted.
As she began following him once more through the caves, it struck Ella that over the last forty-eight hours she’d fallen back into team mode. The past year she’d been solo, with the exception of Brody. She’d conditioned herself to the reality that she was the only one she could count on 24-7.
Jude had erased that line of thinking in two days. That was indicative of how tired Ella was, but more than that, it was a clear sign that she trusted him. Their connection hadn’t disappeared. It had grown in strength.
She still didn’t know if she’d survive Dresden, and she knew she had to go back in, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Dresden wouldn’t stop coming for her. She didn’t know everything about his operation, but she still knew too much. And he didn’t like being beaten. He wouldn’t take losing Ella to Endgame lying down, as evidenced by the continued explosions that rocked the caves.
She watched Jude’s back, kept her gaze trained on him. One foot in front of the other, she followed him without question.
He stopped once and sank down behind a cave wall. She lowered immediately. He held up his hand and waved her forward. “That wall wasn’t there when I came this way. It’s caved in, and I’m going to have to move some rocks so we can squeeze through.”
He took off his go bag, his weapons, and the light he’d taken back from her. “Train that light on the wall so I can see.”
She did, and he began moving rocks. And then he moved more rocks. And finally more rocks. The wall didn’t seem to be shrinking, and there didn’t seem to be any holes opening up.
“That’s not good, huh?” she asked.
He hung his head, glanced at her, and smiled. “Nope.”
She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Do you have reception on the sat phone?”
He rubbed his forehead as he pulled out the phone. “No.”
“We’re stuck?” she asked, unable to
