Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Once again Scout left so abruptly, my head is almost spinning.
Rory pushes a duffel bag into my hands. “Come on. He can deal with that. We can go down to the cave entrance and get set up.”
“What’s wrong?”
Rory’s unreadable exterior is harder than usual. “Don’t worry about that. Scout and Justice can deal with it. You just need to go over your dive gear.”
I blow out a breath, fist my hair in my hand, and follow him around the back of the truck. “You’re right.”
It’s not my job to worry about whatever political mess is swirling around the missing woman’s case. I’m here for one job. To dive.
Rory and I spend the next few minutes going over everything and deciding what gear needs to go down to the cave.
I zip up one of the bags and stand from where I was crouching. “Looks good. I think that’s all we need.”
“I’ll come back for the tanks.” He hefts the largest pack onto his shoulder. “Someone set up a staging area over by the cave for you. There’s a canopy and a place to change into your wetsuit. Can you manage that small bag?”
I hold up the small duffel that’s got my mask and fins. “This is nothing.”
“If you want, I can carry that too.”
I laugh and give him a glare. “I’m small. I’m not weak.”
“Never said you are. You must be strong to deal with Scout.”
The man isn’t joking. Scout’s a tough case.
I follow Rory, carefully watching the muddy ground as I walk, to make sure I don’t fall. It’s a treacherous climb down to the staging area. Water is rushing down the hillside into a muddy pond that’s already at capacity.
“Here let me help.” Rory extends a hand and steadies me as I try to navigate a steep section. “This trail is going to be filled with water soon.”
Nerves tingle along my spine as I look around. “This is a sketchy situation.”
The entrance to the cave sits at the bottom of a muddy incline. The whole area is bowl-shaped so all water pours down toward the cave.
I wish Griff was here.
Rory must pick up on my unease. “You’re the one that makes the call. If you don’t want to dive, your word goes.”
I try to shake off my worry. A woman might be trapped. It's been days since her backpack was found by the entrance to the cave .
“No, we can do it. This is a short, straight-forward dive. Just one short passage and one chamber. We should be in and out in no time. But like the professor said, we should go soon. This area is going to be impossible to navigate if the water gets any deeper.”
I’m so busy talking, my foot catches in the mud sending me off balance. “Oh!”
When I slide into Rory, he simply locks an arm around me. “Steady now.”
He’s a gigantic wall of muscle on two very long legs. Rory is also incredibly good looking with dark hair, obsidian eyes, and a five o’clock shadow that most women probably throw themselves at his feet to feel on her inner thighs. But I’m not the least bit aroused by him.
Instead, I’m eager to get away from his hold. Claustrophobia instantly sets in.
“I’m fine.”
Heart beating a little too fast, I shift the bag to my other shoulder and try to smile.
He looks at me suspiciously. “You sure you’re good?”
I’ve heard Rory speaking Russian. To my novice ear, it sounds like his native tongue. But his English is so smooth, I question where he’s really from.
“Fine, really. That was close. Thanks for the catch. I think I’d be better off sliding down on my stomach. I don’t know how you can walk on this.”
“Years of training.”
I grumble at him as my feet try to go in two different directions. “I don’t know what you were training for.”
“Everything.”
I blink. Okay.
Rory forges down the hillside without missing a beat and my curiosity about the man grows until it gets the best of me. “Where are you from?”
“Everywhere.”
Typical. I laugh. “Someone’s been watching too many Jason Bourne movies,” I tease.
“Watching? Those moves are inspired by men like me.”
When I roll my narrowed eyes, he chuckles. It’s such a rusty sound.
How long has it been since he’s really laughed?
Rory reminds me of Scout. I know the kind. Just like Griff. All of the men have that hard edge to them, but Scout’s is next level.
And his barrier is by far the only one that makes my breath feel tight.
Which reminds me that he’s MIA and must be stuck dealing with something.
“Rory, what did you see up there?”
Guiding me down to the only even terrain, an opening by the cave entrance, he doesn’t reply.
“Why can’t you use a robot?” he asks instead.
“A robot?” I set my gear bag down on the tarp that’s been stretched over the ground under a rain canopy. “Oh you mean an UUV—unmanned underwater vehicle. They work in some cases, but not all. It’s better to get a human in there, especially when it’s time sensitive.”
I realize he’s very still, watching me. The tingle on my spine grows. “What’s wrong?”
He’s not really looking at me, more looking through me, “Nothing.”
“You might be an operative, but you’re terrible at lying.”
He glances at the cave, his nearly black irises flashing in the cloudy morning light. “Just concerned.”
I don’t tell him I’ve been getting non-stop tingles on the back of my neck. Instead I focus on getting my gear ready.
“In this business it’s good to be cautious. Now where’s the map? I want to go over it again before I get changed into my wetsuit.”
He unzips the outer pocket on the bag he carried and extracts a laminated document. “Don’t go near the water,” he warns as he passes me the map. “I’m going up to get the tanks.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. You guys are worse than a bunch of mother hens.”
“I’m not letting anything happen to you on my watch. Scout would take it out in blood.”
After the way Scout talked to Griff, I wouldn’t be surprised.
My stomach knots as soon as I think about the impending nightmare—the clash of titans that’s going to take place as soon as Griffon gets out of the hospital.
And that worry doesn’t even include the blowback from what happens with Brundage.
God. I’m in a hornet’s nest.
And it’s all because of me.
I glance up the trail and see Scout descending through the slippery ravine.
My heart flutters, but when he glances up, the anger on his face makes my heart sink.