"There." I spot what I'm looking for—a cave entrance, partially hidden by fallen trees.
"We'll be trapped?—"
"Trust me."
We squeeze through the entrance into darkness. I click on my tactical light, revealing a narrow passage that goes deeper into the mountain. I've explored these caves before, mapped them during my bolt-hole preparations. There are three exits, two of which they won't know about.
If they manage to track us to the cave, they’ll have an impossible time finding where we exit.
"Stay close." I lead her deeper, the passage narrowing until we're sideways, rock pressing from both sides.
Her breathing is fast, on the edge of panic. "I can't—it's too tight?—"
I turn awkwardly and cup her face. "Hey. Look at me. I’m bigger than you, and I fit. You're okay. It opens up just ahead."
She focuses on my eyes, using them as an anchor, the way I taught her on the cliff. We shuffle through, and then the passage opens into a larger chamber. Water drips somewhere in the darkness, an echo telling me the space is significant.
"We can rest here a minute," I tell her, but when I turn, she's right there, closer than expected.
The tactical light throws harsh shadows, making her eyes look darker, the blood on her face stark against pale skin. She's shaking—adrenaline crash, cold, fear, all of it hitting at once.
"You saved my life. Again." Her voice is rough. "That's becoming a pattern."
"It's my job."
"No." She steps closer, and I can feel heat coming off her despite the cave's chill. "Your job was extraction. Everything since has been personal."
She's right.
It’s been personal from the moment she kissed me back on that motorcycle. "Savannah?—"
I kiss her. Can't not kiss her. She makes a sound that goes straight through me, pressing closer, and I'm lost. My hands tangle in her hair, and hers fist in my shirt, and we're trying to crawl inside each other's skin.
She makes a sound that echoes in the chamber—need and relief and something desperate.
My back hits the cave wall, and she follows, pressed against me from chest to thigh. Heat builds between us, inappropriate and perfect, and absolutely the wrong time. Her leg slides between mine, and I groan into her mouth, control slipping.
"Want you," she breathes against my jaw, and those two words nearly undo me.
"Not here." It takes every ounce of willpower to catch her hands, still them. "Not in a cave while we're being hunted. You deserve better than that."
She makes a frustrated sound that turns into a laugh. "You're too noble for your own good."
"You're too tempting for mine."
I lead her through the cave system, following mental maps laid down years ago. We take passages no one would think are passable, moving steadily toward the exit that opens a mile from where we entered.
"How did they find us?" She asks as we navigate a particularly narrow section.
"Satellite surveillance, maybe. Or they've been checking all the abandoned structures in the area." I pause at a junction,choosing the left passage. "Doesn't matter now. What matters is they showed their hand—they want you dead, not captured."
"Because I have the evidence."
"Because you're the only one who can decode it fully." I help her over a rock formation. "Kill you, destroy the laptop, and Prometheus continues as planned."
Light ahead—natural, not artificial. The exit. I motion for silence, move forward to scout.
The opening is clear—no movement—but that means nothing.
