“Bullshit,” she spat, her voice tight with emotion. “I’m not leaving you. Not ever again, Jack. Do you hear me? I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. I can’t lose you now.”
She leaned in, brushing a tender kiss to his bruised and bloodied lips, careful not to hurt him, then tightened her grip around his waist. Seeing the trust, the faith in her eyes made Jack’s chest ache and his throat grow tight.
“You won’t,” he promised. “I’ll never be parted from you again, Maddie. I swear it.”
As one, they stood, pausing a moment to let Jack get his footing, then slowly made their way toward the door.
“Wait,” Jack gasped, gesturing toward the table where the tools of his torture still lay. “My clothes. And gun.”
Maddie eased out from under his arm and gathered up his things, helping him throw on his pants and a shirt as quickly as his injuries would allow. When she handed him his gun, it nearly slipped from his fingers, but he regained his grip and held it down at his side as they cautiously entered the hallway.
“Where to?” he asked, glancing up and down the corridor.
She shook her head. “No clue. The way I came in is blocked. And I can’t raise Finn on the comm.”
“Then I guess we go the other way,” Jack told her. “Lead on.”
He felt Maddie take a deep breath before starting down the hallway. The meager glow that had been provided by the light in the room waned with each step and soon they were in total darkness.
Maddie shifted, adjusting her night vision. “Just step where I tell you.”
“I was supposed to be the one protectingyou,” he murmured. “How did we manage to get ourselves in this position?”
She chuckled softly. “A new position now and then keeps things interesting.”
He couldn’t help but smile even though the movement brought on a fresh wave of pain. “Well, then, I have quite a few we can try . . .”
* * *
Maddie laughed, the sound coming out more like a strangled sob in her relief at having Jack back in her arms. When she’d opened that door and found him beaten and bloody, his injuries too horrifying to fully assess at a glance, she’d felt fear like she’d never known before.
With every step she’d been preparing herself for what she might find, but actually seeing him that way . . . the man she loved, the man whose strength and seeming invincibility she depended on . . . it shredded her. If she’d ever had any doubts just how deeply she loved Jack, they vanished at that moment. She didn’t have the words to describe it—nothing seemed even close to adequate.
“Well, we’d better get moving then,” she told him, taking a turn down a hallway that she hoped would lead them toward a stairwell. “I seem to recall this secluded beach near my family’s lake house that would be a great place to try out some of these new positions you’re talking about.”
Jack chuckled, a disheartening ghost of his normal laugh. “Seems fitting. That’s where you first kissed me.”
“I’m pretty sureyoukissedme,” she teased, her heart breaking for the time they’d lost, their stubborn refusal to admit their love for one another until it was almost too late.
“Hey, get a room, you two.”
Maddie gasped and released her hold on Jack’s hand to put her fingertips to her comm. “Finn? Wherethe hellhave you been?”
“Sorry,” he said. “We were experiencing some technical difficulties. Sounds like you’ve located our boy.”
“Yeah, but he’s in bad shape,” she told him. “Get us the hell out of here, Finn.”
There was a slight pause before Finn said, “I’m not sure which heat signature is yours. I have three groups of two showing up. Any idea where you are?”
“Still underground,” she said, but as soon as the words came out of her mouth, a set of metal stairs came into view. “Check that. We’re headed up.”
She led Jack up the stairs, careful to take them slowly. He wasn’t even groaning with complaint, but she could see the pain he was suffering in spite of his efforts to hide it from her in the darkness.
“Okay, I’ve got you,” Finn told her. “When you get to the top of the stairs, head to your left. The other way is toast from an explosion Kozlov’s men rigged. Took out at least two of ours from Detroit, and another guy may not pull through.”
When Maddie cursed, Jack glanced her way. She was glad he couldn’t see her expression. “Copy that. Left it is.”
As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, Maddie ditched her night vision, glad for what little ambient light was streaming in. “Okay, Finn—”
