The confidence in the way he leads his team sends a wave of heat rushing through her body, settling between her legs. She curses at herself, now is not the time to be turned on.
“I have the map, but it’s too risky to stop and check it. If you know the direction, I snagged the compass,” Tyler tells him.
“Northwest. We’ll follow you until the sun is nearly gone. We go the rest of the way together,” Riley says.
They march on. Their escape is no different than any other mission. Although Liz struggles to slip into the mission headspace, she keeps quiet, focusing on picking her path through the underbrush, trying not to trip over the thick roots hidden beneath. That task becomes increasingly harder as the sun continues to set, taking away what little light she has. Every so often, Riley signals for them to stop, listening to their surroundings to make sure it is just the sounds of the forest and not Scott’s men catching up to them.
“It’s getting dark, huddle up. We should be clear to check the map,” Riley orders, stopping to sit on a fallen tree. Liz is quick to join him. Her legs already ache from the miles they walked earlier in the day.
Tyler pulls the map from his bag, along with a flashlight in case it gets too dark before he is finished. He carefully goes over every detail with the team, explaining the safest route for them to take along with the fastest, suggesting one in the middle that will take them a bit longer, but should hide their position better. Alex pulls a handful of glow sticks from his bag, handing one to each member of the team.
“Crack it when it gets dark and keep it in your pocket. We don’t know who could be out here with us.” He looks right at Liz, and adds, “If it’s in your pocket, it will hide the glow from anyone not in our formation, but we can still see it and know where you are.”
She thanks him and slides it into her pocket, planning to waituntil the rest of them activate theirs before she activates hers. After only a few short minutes, they get back to it. Eight miles will take them hours to walk on easy terrain, through the woods in the dark is only going to add time.
Sticking close, they follow Tyler as he leads them through the charted path. The forest is chilling at night. The birds are quiet, animals asleep. The only sounds are the twigs snapping and leaves crunching under their boots. They walk for hours before any of them feel safe enough to lower their weapons, slinging them across their chests when the moment allows. So focused on not falling flat on her face, she doesn’t notice Riley getting closer, jumping when his hand brushes hers.
“The van isn’t much further. Are you doing okay?” he asks, stroking his thumb idly across the back of her hand.
“Shouldn’t you be asking them how they are doing?” she asks, struggling to make out his features in the darkness.
“Yes, he should,” Mikey teases, taking a step closer as he pulls out his red glow stick, letting it illuminate his face.
“They are trained for this. I also don’t love them the way I love you,” he says, squeezing her hand despite the various boos now filling the silence.
“Van should be at the bottom of this hill. May have to walk around a bit to find where it’s parked, but if I mapped it right, we should pop out within thirty feet of it. Give or take,” Tyler announces, picking up his pace.
“I’m better after hearing that, but I don’t think I’ll be able to move my legs for days,” Liz says, practically jogging, a death grip on Riley’s hand to keep her from tumbling down the hill, taking everyone out with her.
If there is one thing Tyler excels at, it’s land navigation. Even after being ambushed, thrown in jail, and forced to navigate in thedark with nothing but the light of a glow stick, he still was able to get them where they needed to go.
The van was even closer than she thought it would be, a true testament to his skill. Liz can’t help the tears that spring to her eyes as that beautiful van comes into view. She blames it on the fact she is going on twenty-four hours with no food or sleep and hiked nearly twenty miles through dense forest that day.
Riley forces her into the middle bench seat with Mikey, claiming no one knows his face so he is the safest one to drive. Alex and Tyler take the back seat, snuggling up like teenagers, happy to be reunited after being locked away. Riley wastes no time pulling down the dirt road, heading right to their safehouse, leaving the evil overtaking the base behind.
CHAPTER 30
Pale moonlight filters in through the darkened windows, rousing Liz. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she scans the van. Alex has an arm thrown over Tyler’s shoulder, his head resting peacefully on Alex’s chest, both of them fast asleep. Mikey snores lightly next to her, their hands still interlocked. She pries her fingers out of his, gently placing his hand onto his lap, allowing her to sneak away.
Climbing into the passenger seat with Riley, Liz urges him to pull off the road so he can get some sleep. He has deep bags under his eyes, every line in his face hardened, filled with worry. His knuckles are white from the grip he holds on the steering wheel. Without looking over, his hand finds its way to her leg, holding tight while he drives.
“Are you doing alright?” Liz asks quietly, hoping she doesn’t wake anyone. “If you tell me where we are going, I can drive so you can get some rest.” Only then does he look over. His features soften, but only slightly.
“I’m okay. It’s pretty normal to go days without sleep onmissions. This is nothing,” he says a little too sharp, trying and failing to hide his stress. “And it will be a lot harder to find us if I am driving. There are no photos of me floating around and Scott’s dumb ass wouldn’t be able to pick me out of a line up, so, if he does use any facial recognition surveillance, it won’t do him much good,” Riley explains.
“Oh,” she says, watching the dark trees whirl by each time they pass under a light. The time on the clock reads 2:17 a.m. while soft rock plays from the radio. If she wasn’t panicking before, she is now.
Her breathing quickens. Unable to control her thoughts, her mind rushes back all those months ago. Like tonight, Riley was driving her through the woods, same music on the radio after the base had been attacked, and they were forced to flee. The hand on her leg starts slow, methodical movements, while another feels around until it finds her arm propped on the arm rest.
Liz peeks at Mikey, still fast asleep, now sprawled out across the bench seat with one arm reaching out for her. His hand sits against her skin, thumb lazily rubbing her arm. The deep scowl plastered on Riley’s face has her gently setting Mikey’s hand on the floor next to him.
“What’s that look for?” she demands, crossing her arms to scowl right back.
“Nothing, love,” Riley responds, trying to push the annoyance from his voice. Liz isn’t buying it for one second.
“No. If you are going to make faces, you are going to tell me why you’re making them,” she demands.
“Calm down, killer. It’s nothing important, just hard to see him grab for you, dead asleep, because your mind started to drift. And now, instead of checking on you, I have to explain that I’m jealous,” Riley admits.
