35. A Prison Cell Built for Two
CHAPTER 35
A PRISON CELL BUILT FOR TWO
LEDGER
Z oe stands from where she’s crouched next to one of the guards who brought me down here and looks intently at the bars that separate us, starting from one end and going to the other. She must see something in the last one, because she walks over to it. She glances at the spaces between it and the stone wall and then it and the next one.
She must decide that the space between the last one and the wall is greater, because she tests it by putting her head between the bars.
“ Zoe … What are you doing?”
She turns her mic off again and checks to make sure her camera is still off, puts her head between the bars all the way to the other side, and then she turns sideways and squishes her entire body between the bars. Like a cat, she somehow manages to get through it. When she gets to the inside of the cell, she grins and says, “ I’m going to be captured with you.”
I point at the iron bars as she’s walking toward me. “ Did you really just—”
“ I couldn’t kiss you like I wanted to from out there,” she says as she comes up close to me and puts her hands on my chest.
“ Okay , this… This I can get on board with.”
She runs her hands up over my shoulders and to the back of my neck, leaving a trail of something tingly and wonderful. My muscles no longer care at all that 1200 volts of electricity just went through them, causing them to seize. All they care about is Zoe’s touch. She plays with the hair at the nape of my neck, and it sends shivers across my shoulders and down my back. A moan escapes me at the touch.
Then her lips are on mine, hard and urgent, and it’s like she’s trying to show me through a kiss all of the things she just told me, almost like a confirmation, and I am all for it. I cup her face with my hands, caressing her cheek with my thumb, and our kisses slow. Soft and purposeful, sweet. Our lips are moving together like this is what they were always meant to do. Her body is pressed against mine, and nothing has ever felt more right.
I release her face and wrap one arm around her waist, the other at her back, and I turn us so that she’s against the wall. With one hand on the wall, bracing myself, I move the other to cup the back of her head and brush soft kisses down the side of her neck. This time, she’s the one to let out a moan, and the sound of it sends a thrill through me.
My muscles haven’t quite recovered from being tased yet, and I need to sit before I collapse. I place a kiss on her forehead, then touch my forehead to hers. “ I love you, Zoe .” Her smile lights me up because now, I know she believes my words.
“ And I love you right back, Ledger .”
Before long, we’re both sitting on the stone floor. My back is against the wall, and her back is against my chest, just like we were in the canoe. My arms are around her, my hands resting on her stomach, and she’s got her arms over mine, running her fingers lazily along the backs of my hands. I don’t care how hard this cell floor is— I could stay like this forever.
Zoe shifts her position so she can see my face a bit, and says, “ For real, though. I’ve never been in a long-term relationship before. Of any kind. Well , I guess you could say I’ve had a relationship with the CIA for four years. But I don’t have any experience or know-how. Are you really okay with that?”
I shake my head. “ Zoe , you don’t need any of that. You are enough.” I pause a moment. “ Besides , since when have you ever let a lack of experience or know-how stop you from becoming an expert at something?”
Zoe blinks.
“ If you ever want something, I have one hundred percent faith that you can figure out how to get it. There is nothing out of your reach. No matter what it is that you’re reaching for— whether it has to do with our relationship, some life goal, or anything else at all, just know that I will be there with you, supporting you in whatever way you need, cheering you on.”
“ Someday ,” she says. “ Someday I’ll be as good at this as you are.” I chuckle, and she turns back around, resting her back against me again, her head at my shoulder. “ So , have you ever been captured and kept in a dungeon cell before?”
“ Yep . When I was tracking a weapons smuggler in Sudan , I was captured by local rebels.” I look around. “ The stone was a warmer color. Less silver and gray, more golden brown. And the bars weren’t far enough apart for you to sneak in. I snuck out through an old drainage tunnel. How about you?”
“ Once , when I was on an undercover operation in Colombia and captured by a drug cartel. I snuck out by disguising myself as one of the guards.”
“ Oh , nice,” I say. “ Have you ever escaped from somewhere using something the bad guy left you with because they thought it was harmless?”
She nods. “ I got out of a handcuff situation using a broken sunglasses arm. How about you?”
“ I escaped from a zip tie restraint using a plastic straw from a juice box.”
“ Wow . Really ?” she asks. “ You’ll have to show me what you did sometime. Have you ever sweet-talked your way out of captivity?”
“ Of course. Once , I talked a particularly vain guard into not actually locking my restraints before leaving the room by complimenting his shoes and asking where he got them.”
“ I should’ve known better than to ask you such an easy one.”
“ How about you?”
“ I was in a mansion, tied to a chair, when someone came in to bring me food. I flirted with them and convinced them to ‘adjust’ my bindings. Once they left, it was easy to slip out.”
“ Impressive . I wish I could’ve witnessed that one.”
We continue to swap stories, with Zoe occasionally updating me about the situation above from what she hears on her earpiece. A few times, she turns her mic back on and responds to a question or two. But mostly, we just sit there, holding each other, and I soak in every bit of bliss.
Eventually , Zoe hears that they have cleared the main floor and will be sending people down. A moment later, we hear voices and footsteps on the winding staircase, and then three guys from the extraction team come into view. They take a look at the two guys still unconscious on the floor, then the two of us in the cell.
One of the guys, Oscar , points between the two of us, his brows drawn together. “ I thought it was just one of you in the cell.”
Zoe lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “ It got boring on the other side of the cell, so I joined Ledger .”
The guy doesn’t look any less confused, but he pulls out a lock pick set while the other two lift one of the unconscious men and carry him up the stairs.
“ How did it go up there?” I ask him.
“ Better than expected, actually. A good number of their guys were drawn out by the distraction team’s very effective distraction. It helped that we did it in the middle of the night— I think it kept them from making good tactical decisions on that front. So we got all those guys captured before heading inside. It took us a bit longer on the inside because that secret passage those two guys came out of when they grabbed you actually wove throughout the fortress.”
Oscar glances up from the lock for a second. “ Zoe , you took down one of the Barno Brothers in the tactical planning room, right?” Zoe nods. “ When we cleared out the main floor and the towers and got all those guys out with the others, the other Barno Brother was still MIA . But we eventually found him weaseling through the secret passages.”
A smile spreads across my face. “ So we got them both.”
An audible click sounds, and Oscar smiles as he pulls the lever and swings open the cell door. “ We did. Between us, we accomplished all of the mission objectives. We also got a lot more information on Aragundi and the Barno Brothers ’ contacts than we ever thought we’d get.”
I give Zoe a high five, then high-five Oscar . Zoe and I both walk out of the cell, and I shake the man’s hand and say, “ Hey thanks for letting us out.”
“ I never miss a chance to pick a lock.” He glances at the two of us. “ I hope you weren’t in here too long. They said to get everything wrapped upstairs first— that you two wouldn’t mind waiting.”
I look over at Zoe and smile.
“ We didn’t mind waiting,” she says, and smiles back at me.
Even though my muscles are still protesting, Oscar and I pick up the second guard and haul him up the stairs. I got to hang out and kiss Zoe while all the action was going on— it’s the least I could do.
When we make it back outside, the sun is coming up, lighting the mist rising from the forest, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Then my eyes fall on Zoe , and I think, But it doesn’t even come close to comparing with her . “ Well , we made history,” I say. “ Should we head home?”
She grins and nods. “ Yep . Let’s go home.”