Chapter 34 #2
I nodded slowly, taking Brooke’s hand. Taking strength from her presence. I had too much to look forward to for this job to go south. “So the question is, where’s the pea?”
One of the drones launched from the ground, rotors spinning, barely louder than a whisper. “Camera feed is crystal clear. Let me test the second one.”
As the second tiny aircraft rose and pivoted, Scarlett said, “We’ll talk it over here. See if we can figure something out. Maybe I’ll get on a call with Bobcat myself.”
Under Will’s expert guidance, both drones disappeared into the tunnel ahead, then zipped back to us. He said, “Both birds are working perfectly. Path looks clear for the next hundred feet.”
“Want to scout ahead for us?”
“Roger that.” Both drones quickly vanished from our sight. “Switch your comms to passive, and we’ll let you know if we find anything.”
We muted our microphones but left the channel open. Random chatter from the team filled my ears, but I turned down the volume.
I secured my phone to the attachment point on my forearm so I could monitor its display. “Ready to move?”
Brooke shouldered her pack and mounted her phone as well. “Let’s go hunting.”
We followed the route Mario had mapped for us. Somewhere ahead, Will’s drones would be checking the same tunnels, as well as any offshoots we could or couldn’t fit into, ensuring no one was lurking. They moved far faster than we did, covering a lot of ground.
The ancient Roman engineering channeled water toward the sea through carefully calculated slopes and junctions. Even after two millennia, the system functioned exactly as designed.
We walked, crawled, and squeezed through tunnels for another hour and a half. We chatted about our lives, things we’d done, and even about our childhoods. The drones had returned to us a few times after mapping ahead, needing to rest their batteries.
It was six o’clock, and we were supposed to be in place already. Mario’s estimate of an extra hour might have been appropriate for someone familiar with the tunnels, but not for us.
As she stumbled over some uneven rocks in the tunnel, Brooke let out a frustrated sigh.
“We’ll get there,” I said, attempting to reassure her as much as myself.
“That’s not it.”
“Something else on your mind?”
“I was just thinking…” She was quiet for several steps, her headlamp beam dancing across tunnel walls. “You love your team, don’t you?”
“Of course.” They were my family.
“Would you ever…” Silence again. “Would you ever leave them?”
“Leave the team? Why would—” I cut off, actually considering it instead of defaulting to the obvious answer.
I couldn’t leave. Scarlett needed me to watch her back.
But was that still true? Malcolm had told me it wasn’t. She didn’t need me to be the one.
So what was my actual role anymore?
“I’ve never thought about it,” I admitted. “Five years of my life have been built around Scarlett. Making sure she stayed safe, that the team could handle whatever came at us.”
Brooke made a slight hum of consideration, but nothing more. Was it the Scarlett part that killed the conversation? Did she think—like so many had over the years—something romantic existed between Scarlett and me?
Or was the question—
The realization hit me like… like three fucking bullets in my shoulder.
I halted and turned to look at her. Really look at her. Not just the strong woman I’d served with in Afghanistan. Not the soft one I’d spent last night with. But the one with tense shoulders and hopefulness in her eyes.
Hopefulness that warred with worry.
“You’re asking about us?” I finally said.
She covered her face with her gloved hands. “I know. It’s stupid to talk about this, considering everything that’s going on. We’ve been underground for two fucking hours, we’re totally lost, facing this whole threat, and my team’s—”
“Don’t do that.” I closed the distance between us and pulled her hands down, encouraging her gaze to meet mine. “One, we’re not lost, we’re just slow. And two, when things are at their worst, is the exact time you should be thinking about what matters.”
“Is that what’s going on here? Are we what matters?”
I’d been a protector all my life. But how could I protect a woman like Brooke? One who didn’t need it? All I had was my body to sacrifice for hers. I’d already done that, and the fallout had nearly destroyed both of us.
But somehow, here we were, together again. Ready to face the danger as a team.
I draped her arms around my neck, then wrapped mine around her. “Sweetheart, we are all that matters.”
“Rav LaPierre, I do not want to lose you again. But my job with Pendragon takes me all over the world. How could it ever work?”
The real question was buried under that one.
She wanted to know if I’d leave Reynolds to be with her. Could I? I’d have to take a job with Pendragon just to keep up with her. Or would she consider leaving her position? She’d joined them to track down the last of the Greek Fire threat, and that mission was almost over.
I didn’t have an answer. That required too many long discussions and weighing of pros and cons. We’d make it work. We had to.
Instead of answering, I leaned down and kissed her. Slow and tender, pouring all of me into the kiss. This was what we were fighting for today. When I broke apart from her, I whispered, “Do you think this drainage tunnel’s ever been properly christened?”
She laughed quietly, shaking her head at me. “You are going to—”
Suddenly, Will’s voice came through the earpiece in a rush. “Bloody hell! It’s all in an offshoot tunnel near the scaffolding!”
I snapped apart from Brooke and reactivated my microphone. “Where? What are you seeing?”
“It’s on the first drone’s feed!”
I held up my arm, and Brooke huddled close to see the dark images on my phone.
“Oh, fuck,” she breathed, pointing at items as the drone pivoted slowly to sweep across the discovery. “Containment unit. Pressure tank. Hoses.”
“Where is this?” I asked.
A map notification popped up on my phone, and I swiped to it.
Tiny red pins marked our target locations, including the entrance we’d used at the Small Theater, the exit we’d used last time at the House of the Arches, the maintenance shed from the first trip down, and finally, where we’d found the scaffolding under the amphitheater.
And two little dots where the drones were.
Not even a hundred feet away from the chamber with the scaffolding.
I slammed a fist into the stone wall next to me. “We fucking missed it.”