“No,” he said, assurance in his voice. Then he started moving rocks again.
The cat meowed, and Ella opened the bag. The cat ventured out, looked around, and stepped right back into the bag. “Huh. She likes the bag,” Ella mused.
Jude grunted.
“Can I help?” Ella asked.
“No.”
She cleared her throat. “I really can’t help?”
“No.”
“Do you know any other word at the moment?”
“No,” he said, but there was a laugh in his voice. “You feel that?” He held his hand up above his head.
“No,” she responded with a smile. “Feel what?”
“Fresh air,” he told her and began to move faster.
He moved three more fairly large rocks, and a gust of fresh air rushed into the cave. He grinned. “We’re almost there.”
He climbed up the rocks a little and moved more. “Need you to move, Ella. Some are going to fall.”
She picked up their stuff and moved back, watching as he opened up a hole big enough for them to climb through.
“Let’s get out of here,” he called down.
Ella handed their gear, the headlight, and his weapons up to him. He pushed their things through and then slithered through the hole. Ella was left alone. The gaping maw of the cave rose behind her, and she shuddered. She hated the dark.
Jude was back through the hole in a minute at most, holding out his hand to her. “Climb up, baby,” he ordered.
She climbed after giving him her go bag. She slid through the small opening and reached back for the bag. He handed it to her, and then Ella wasn’t alone in the dark anymore.
They made good time to the mouth of the cave system. Again, Jude went ahead to do recon and came back telling her they were going to bed down there.
“It’s snowing hard,” Jude told her. “The opening is hidden, and I doubt anyone will move tonight.”
“Do you think Dresden breached the comm room?” she asked him.
Jude met her gaze. “No. But I think he destroyed it, and until he can verify you’re either dead or gone, he’ll be busy trying to dig through tons of rock to get in.”
“He’s smart, Jude. Don’t underestimate him,” she warned. “He’s a master strategist and will think of every move I could have made, including escaping. Don’t doubt he’s looking for that opening right there.”
“He’s the devil, Ella. I never underestimate evil like Dresden.”
She nodded and moved to set up a place to bed down. “Can I let Chica go? Do you think she’ll come back?”
“Let her out. She’s not going anywhere. You’re feeding her. You talk to her. She’s yours now, whether you like it or not,” he said.
Another ray of hope speared her chest. “I’ve never had a pet.”
“And now you do,” he affirmed with another patented Jude grin.
Ella rubbed the area over her heart. She was afraid to trust how much her world had changed in just a few days. She’d gone from wanting to shove a wineglass stem through Dresden’s eye socket to teasing parlays with Jude.
But it felt good. It felt right. So she’d take it and keep moving until she had to change directions.
Jude hunkered down in front of her as she unzipped her go bag. He reached for her hand, pulled it to his mouth, and gently kissed her palm. “He’s never getting to you, Ella.”
“You can’t promise me that, Jude. And the fact remains that I may have to return.”
His gaze darkened, and he lowered her hand as he stood again. “Over my dead body.”
“That’s what I’ve always been afraid of,” she whispered.
“We’re going to talk about this habit you have of trying to protect me. But right now you’re going to sleep. I’ll take first watch. You rest,” he ordered.
Fatigue pulled at her. She watched as Chica remained in the bag, refusing to leave. The gorgeous cat curled into an indistinguishable ball of brown, white, and black fur, then went to sleep. Ella lay down beside the bag, petting the cat. “Wake me when it’s my turn,” she told Jude around a yawn.
“Will do,” he promised.
* * *
He was going to allow them an hour at the most before he woke her and they left this cave. Dresden was a former Navy SEAL. He’d have gone over every possibility before blowing up the ground Jude’s house had sat on. That meant he was definitely searching for Ella’s path of escape.
Dresden knew damn well that Jude wouldn’t have left her safety to chance. Nothing was one hundred percent. Not even safe comm rooms built into rock.
Jude took a few moments to watch her sleep. He loved her with every molecule of his being. She was never going back to Dresden if Jude had anything to say about it.
Her hand rested on the cat’s back. Jude shook his head and let a smile curve his lips. Only Ella with her soft heart. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. His gaze traveled over her face—over the scar at her temple, across the slope of her cheeks, down past her lips to the small dent in her chin.
She was everything to him. He could admit it here in the darkness of the cave that sheltered them. Hell, he’d admit it to the world. He just had to convince her that he could keep them both safe before she left again.
There were so many angles to this thing with Dresden. The Piper, his daughters, Anton Segorski, people in Jude’s own government, and on top of that, there was now some nameless organization attempting world domination?
“What the hell have we gotten into, El?” he asked softly.
She turned her face to his, a frown creasing her brow as if she’d answer him, but her eyes never opened. She was tired. God knows she’d been through hell during the last year. He needed the entire story, but right now he needed to get them safe.
Jude stood, pulled a thermal blanket out of his go bag and placed it on top of Ella. He headed
