All too quickly, he could hear the sound of voices filtering in from the outside before Dalton’s voice yelled, “Hello, the cabin.”
Rose gave him a weak smile as he got to his feet and opened the door. “Hey, Boss.”
Dalton stepped into the room, and just as he always did, he swept his gaze around. He paused briefly on the bed they had slept in before continuing until they landed on Rose. “Did he take care of you, Rose?”
“Absolutely.” Her chin lifted. “He was the perfect gentleman.”
Dalton snorted. “Sure.” He moved into the cabin, allowing a man Caleb had seen around the barnyard to enter. “This is Joe Storm. He’s going to look after the horses while I get you back to HQ. We have a teleconference with Tex in a couple of hours.”
“Hey, man.” Caleb nodded to the hand. “I’ve just fed and watered them a little while ago. They should be okay for a few hours.”
Joe nodded and unzipped his coat. “Did you turn on the heater for the waterers?”
“Heater?”
Joe rezipped his coat. “I’ll be back. I’m just gonna flip that on and make sure the damn water doesn’t freeze. I don’t want to be melting snow for the next couple of days.” The door closed behind him almost before he’d finished speaking.
“Want some coffee while we put this place back in order, Boss?”
Dalton shook his head. “Nope, no need,” he replied. “Steve is keeping the helo running. We gotta make tracks before the rotors ice over.”
“Okay.” He drained the horrible coffee and placed the mug into the dish box next to the stove. “Then let’s roll.”
29
As they walked down the path to the building Caleb called HQ, Rose pushed down the unease that swept through her. Yesterday was an unexpected gift, she reminded herself. It wasn’t real life, no matter how much she wanted it to be. Her life involved running, hiding, and not making connections like this place, these people—Caleb, she corrected herself, like Caleb made her crave. But those hours in at the spring and in the cabin were a memory she could pull out and savor when the world closed around her. She shivered in her coat and decided it’d been worth the storm and the cold.
“Just like going through airport security,” Caleb reassured her when she glanced apprehensively at the security desk in the foyer of HQ. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”
Didn’t he tell her not to tempt fate just last night? “You don’t know that.”
“Despite the dumbass fucking around,” he placed his holstered sidearm in the box and dropped his keys next to it, “shit like that doesn’t normally happen here.”
Unlike going through airport security, she didn’t get pulled over for a random extra security check, and she entered the elevator ahead of Caleb. She’d expected them to go up. It took a moment for her to realize they were going down. “Are you bringing me to a dungeon?”
“Nope.” He flashed her a lopsided grin. “Our war-room is underground.”
“Like the bat cave?”
He snorted a laugh. “I dare you to say that in front of Trev.” He led her down a long corridor and paused outside a door. “Ready?”
No.
I don’t want this to end.
But I know it must.
She took a breath and let it out slowly. “Yes.” He pushed open the door before she had time to change her mind and tell him to wait. Rose paused, taking in the computers, maps, screens, and so much more techie stuff than she knew the names of. “You lied,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“This is the bat cave,” she explained. “Or maybe it’s Bat Cave 2.0.”
A bark of laughter from her left drew her attention, and she looked up at the screen over the row of computers. “Hi.”
“Hi, Rose.” The soft sound of Texas was evident in the man’s voice. “I’m Tex. We spoke the other day, but it’s nice to see you.”
“H—hi.” She winced internally at the nervousness in her voice. Tex wasn’t the problem. She had a feeling he was going to be a huge part of the solution.
