Chapter Seven
The ride up to the cabin was going to suck. Sabrina had been a champ for three days. Three. Days. It wasn’t fair to ask the six-year-old for more, and yet, more than ever it was clear that their lives were in danger. In the past seven hours there had been two attempts on their lives. Isaac had been shot. Shot . Before they’d ditched the Hummer, Isaac had ripped the blood soaked t-shirt binding his arm the same way she tore the wrapper off of a burrito—with careless abandon. Like it was no big deal a bullet had sliced over his shoulder. He’d rewrapped it and they began the mile hike to the spot where Rowan stashed his four-wheelers in a hunting cabin that had seen better days.
That’s where she failed Sabrina by missing a critical opportunity to share the sensory overload that was about to ensue. Whether it was the post-adrenaline dump or the pure magnitude of the danger they’d faced, she didn’t prepare her little friend for the rumbling of the engines, the vibrations of the ground, or the scent of gasoline. When Rowan backed one of the four wheelers out of the cabin, Sabrina clapped her hands over her ears, collapsed to the ground and shrieked so loud they might as well have had a fog horn shouting out their exact location. Rowan immediately cut the engine and Isaac bounded forward, dried twigs snapping beneath his feet.
“How can we help?” That was Isaac, always ready to give willingly of himself. Well, in most things.
“Do we have a blanket?” She was careful to keep her voice calm and quiet despite the screams piercing the air. Isaac would pick up on that and follow her lead. Without a word he turned and began rummaging through the shopping bags. He ripped the tags off of a fuzzy kid’s blanket.
“That’s perfect. Lay it on the ground.” Jules hitched one hand behind Sabrina’s back and the other one behind her knees and gently placed her in the center of the blanket. “You take those two corners and I’ll lift mine. This will be our makeshift sensory swing.”
They raised the blanket in tandem, slowly rocking it back and forth. Sabrina’s screams faded to a whimper then ceased until the only sound was the cold night’s air weaving between the bare branches. Isaac’s eyes grew wide at the silence, and at the expression of approval on his face, warmth hit her chest chasing away the chill that seeped beneath the collar of her coat. Just as quickly, a sour note overtook the warm and fuzzies. It was toxic to let herself hope. Isaac was never going to change his mind about their relationship. And really, the last thing she should be doing as they snuck around beneath the blanket of night was thinking of how much love sucked. What would suck more was getting slugged by a bullet because her head was muddled. “Okay. Ease her down.” She winced at the sharpness of her voice. Once the blanket was on the ground she scooped up Sabrina. The girl sniffled and wrapped her arms around her neck. She took a moment to explain what was going to happen next, and that the machine was going to make noise. The experience went better the second time around.
“Can we roll out?” If Rowan was anxious, it didn’t show. Nope, he and Isaac were unflappable. Their calm demeanor was the exact opposite of the churning in her gut. The more time they spent in this clearing the more likely that someone would close in on them. Isaac’s body shifted as he glanced over his shoulder. She was sitting on the back of one of the four wheelers, with her hands planted on Isaac’s sides and Sabrina between them.
“Jules?”
She shook away the sweetness of his tone and shored her defenses. “Hold onto Isaac, Sabrina,” she said against the girl’s hair, and then gave Rowan the go-ahead. With a nod of her head the four wheelers shook to life, and before she or Sabrina could protest, they were jerking forward, weaving through the forest. There was no light illuminating the path. All she could do was trust in their skills to navigate the terrain. The equipment jerked over rocks and branches, and wheeled around tight corners.
The trail seemed to go on forever. Her arms ached from holding them up like twin barriers around Sabrina’s body. She clutched Isaac’s waist, curling her fingers into his shirt. By the time the men slowed the machines to a stop her arms and legs were quivering. She scrambled off of the four wheeler while Isaac’s back was still turned so he wouldn’t see how unsteady she was. Looking weak in front of two hardened SEALs would not only be embarrassing it would cause Isaac to hover. As soon as they got inside, she wanted to retreat with Sabrina and put some much needed distance between them. Of all the emotional upheavals of the day, deciding she’d given up on Isaac, that she finally had to let the dream of them die, was the hardest to accept.
She picked up Sabrina, still waiting for her legs to stop vibrating when Isaac circled the machine and lifted the girl from her arms. “Let me.” He easily shifted her to his hip and with one hand brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. When the rough pad of his thumb caressed her cheek, a burn settled behind her lids. “You had the hard job on the ride up. Arms must be killing you.
“I’m fine.” She blinked and looked away. Maybe Isaac had the right idea keeping distance between them. With each soft word, each touch, her heart was shattering over and over. Hope had fueled her through many family dinners and events. Now that it was gone, how could she endure those things and still be whole?
Rowan had his head bent over his phone. “Just checking security and getting some lights on before we do a sweep.” As soon as he said the words small spotlights illuminated a path to the house—if it could be called that. The structure itself was difficult to make out, but it was much smaller than she expected. Actually, it appeared to be no bigger than the shed where the four wheelers were housed. Any place they could shore up was better than nothing, but after Isaac had told her it was set on 25 acres, she’d formed a picture in her head of some kind of impenetrable fortress.
“I’m going to hand you Sabrina. It will take us few minutes to search the house, but I want you to stay right at my back.”
“Okay.” She doubted the sweep would take more than a few seconds, never mind minutes, but she kept her mouth shut. The men flung open the door, weapons drawn. The cabin consisted of a bedroom large enough to hold a twin bed, a rustic bathroom, and a kitchenette. Not only was she going to be forced to be in close proximately to Isaac, they were going to be virtually on top of each other. She was trying to think up sleeping arrangements when Isaac turned to her.
“Do you think you can hold her going down the stairs?”
She glanced behind him to the floorboards Rowan was holding up, revealing a steep set of stairs so deep, the bottom looked like a dark pit. She swallowed hard. Sabrina would be safer in Isaac’s capable arms. She wouldn’t call herself clumsy, but she wasn’t exactly a graceful swan either. After passing a still sleeping Sabrina to Isaac and ignoring the scorch of his skin against hers as they made the exchange, she took the first step behind Rowan into the cellar. When they made it to the bottom, they took a left into a concrete hallway and opened another sealed door. It was as though they’d just stepped into an action movie complete with a hidden safehouse. Actually, that was exactly what this was. The house above was just a facade. Someone coming on the property would have to be highly skilled to determine the exact way to uncover the hidden staircase. Rowan turned the wheel on the thick door, and flipped on the light switch. Even exhausted, with her head pounding and her eyes blurring it was hard to believe they were underground. Where the cabin upstairs was rundown, the subterranean space was luxurious. Like something out of a prepper magazine. Light butterscotch oak flooring stretched through a foyer. It was long and narrow, so any intruders would have to invade single-file and could be quickly eliminated. The entryway opened up into a kitchen and living room.
“Stay here.” Isaac cupped her cheek, and she did her best to push down the hope flaring through her. No. Just no.
“Just a precaution,” Rowan shot her a reassuring grin. “This place has floor to ceiling motion sensors when the alarm is on. If it was breached, I would’ve gotten an alert on my cellphone.”
She nodded, slumping against the wall slightly when they turned their backs to her to search the house. Even though Sabrina was slight, her arms ached from holding her weight. Her injuries, old and new, were making themselves known. She slid down and sat with her legs crossed, cradling Sabrina on her lap. Typically, her student was a light sleeper. She had a difficult time both falling and staying asleep. Right now, though, she was out cold. The trauma of the past few days was catching up to her.
“All set,” Rowan said, striding towards her. Now that they weren’t running for their lives through the dark, she noticed his unique features. His hair was the color of Sasha’s—a fiery red, cropped close. A neatly trimmed beard framed his face and accentuated a pair of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. “You’ve done amazing today. I’ll show you the bedrooms so you can get settled in.”
Isaac stalked toward her and squatted down. She caught herself on the brink of drawing in his woodsy, clean scent. Before she could protest, his arm was around her back and the other was below her knee. He lifted her and Sabrina in a way that was so effortless, laughter threatened to bubble from her throat. Not the happy, careless kind of laughter that happened when your heart was light and full, but the kind bred from nervous energy. From having your world turned inside out. From losing your heart to someone, loving them so much you’d never considered having to live without them. It was her last thought that sobered her. The death of a dream. Isaac was so close holding her like this, but they’d never been more distant.