Chapter 8 #3
She broke off, then pretended she hadn’t stumbled over the thought of the child being unable to walk.
“Food and emergency shelters are as important as rifles in certain situations.” She raised a brow that contrasted dramatically with her white-blonde hair.
“Unless you guys really do eat bullets and shit lead.”
That made him laugh. “I prefer a good steak, but will settle for some bacon and egg MREs if necessary. Ryan’s the only one I think might eat lead.”
“Ouch. Poor Ryan.”
“Yeah. Sure.” The last thing he wanted was for his sex-addicted teammate to gain sympathy from a woman like Nora.
Ryan’s way with women was legendary, and Sebastian had no desire to watch him work his wiles on Nora.
The fact Ryan knew about her background was a good thing.
Ryan wasn’t a dick. Women just fucking loved the guy for some bizarre reason.
“Anything new?” Nora noticed his scowl, and he blanked his expression.
“No. We’ve been given a quadrant with a list of potential structures where he might take shelter—high possibility area given his direction of travel yesterday. We check out each one, covertly to start with and eyes-on if we don’t spot anything obvious from the outside.”
“You realize other people might be out there in the backcountry?”
He frowned. “Let’s hope he doesn’t encounter anyone. I can’t see him wanting any witnesses.”
Her lips canted to the left in somber acknowledgment. “Chance and I were lucky.”
Sebastian nodded. He didn’t want to think about how lucky. No way would Eastman have let Nora walk away if she’d seen him, knowing it was only a matter of time until his ex-wife’s body was found and his face was plastered all over the news.
She grabbed gloves and mitts out of the back of the truck. Put the gloves on. Attached the mitts to another strap on her pack.
She wore an olive Gore-Tex fleece and jacket over black pants that hugged every curve.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll fetch the snow camo. Donnelly had a spare set you can borrow, which should fit over your clothes.”
Because that’s why he was measuring her with his eyes.
She ignored him, busy securing her kit to the sled. Doing her job the way he was supposed to.
He came back with Donnelly’s spare white outer layer and watched her pull it on.
He told himself he was looking for anything that might jeopardize the mission or her safety, but if he were honest, something about her drew him in…
Her strength? Her grit? Those violet eyes?
To survive that childhood nightmare, not only to survive, but to thrive in a similar arena—it was inspiring. He pushed the thoughts aside. Summer Eastman was the focus here. Not Nora Deacon. Not an inconvenient curiosity that would complicate a professional relationship.
She unzipped her jacket and flapped her arms. He spotted her holster and SIG. Reminded himself she was a trained law enforcement officer.
“I feel like a Pillsbury doughboy.”
He scratched the side of his neck, wise enough not to comment on her figure. “You might need to take off a layer when we’re hiking.”
“Hmm.”
He’d obviously said the wrong thing, but he wasn’t sure exactly what.
Truth was, he felt a little awkward and a bit nervous around her—not emotions he was used to dealing with.
As the person in charge of this part of the mission, he needed to be firm and decisive.
Part of him wanted to tell her he knew about her past just to get it out into the open, but that wasn’t fair when they were about to deploy on such an important assignment.
How did he assure her she was safe with them? Four strange men and a woman she had no reason to trust? There were plenty of predators in the world. Most of them didn’t have visibly sharp canines.
But she knew that, and so far, he hadn’t seen her falter.
The hum of the helicopter sounded in the distance, the faint buzz of rotors off the snow-covered land grew steadily louder. Nora bent and attached a faded gray service vest around Chance’s ribcage. The dog immediately calmed and sat.
“How’s he in a helicopter?”
She clipped on a short leash and placed a longer one in her jacket pocket. Looked up at the tiny black dot that was getting closer.
“He loves them. Unlike me. They make me want to vomit.”
“Awesome. You can sit next to Ryan.”
Her lips twitched again.
“I should have introduced you to the team, but now it’ll have to wait.
” He raised his voice over the growing noise.
The rest of the squad had headed to a corner of the field that the Sullivans had graciously let them use as a helipad.
Thankfully, the animals were all in the barns and stables and would hopefully not be too freaked out by the noise.
“Lead the way.” She indicated he go ahead as she used one hand to drag the sled and the other to hold onto Chance.
Sebastian closed his hands over hers and felt her jolt in surprise. He took the sled string from her fingers, and they walked side-by-side to the chopper, the dog wagging his tail, eager to get started.
Sebastian was eager too. He had no intention of Summer Eastman being out there for forty-two days. He would find her. He would protect her—if he got the chance.